Ever want your house to smell like a home? Bake! The sweet smells of food cooking warm the hearts of all around. It's one thing I wanted my children to remember about their childhood: their mama cooking and the house smelling like someone cared for them. Short on time, but still want that feeling? Try baking granola. It's easy and smells glorious and the perk is that you've made a fast healthy snack to be enjoyed over fruit and yogurt.

For years, there were some recipes I just thought you had to use a box to make them. Like buttermilk pancakes. I can't remember when it was that I started making my own, but it wasn't that long ago. First, I experimented with vegan options because I have a son who is allergic to dairy. At the same time, I make the non-vegan version. What I found was that the vegan pancakes usually were fluffier and tasted better! But that recipe is for another time.

For many years, we called crepes pancakes because those were the only ones we made. It wasn't until I was teenage that I realized that pancakes were thick and moist. Now I'm sure to distinguish between the two because I've learned that for some people crepes are definitely not pancakes! One day a couple years ago, I invited my family (several siblings and their spouses and kids) for 'Grandpa's Pancake Breakfast'.

This recipe for a chicken hummus bowl was such a winner in our home, we have since made it often with great success! One thing that will make preparing this dish even faster is to use store bought hummus or make it from a can. I make mine from scratch so I have to plan ahead when I made this.

I’d say that a good portion of the recipes I make are inspired by restaurant food we have had and liked well enough to recreate at home. Today’s recipe is inspired by the Caprese Piadine from a northern California Italian restaurant called Tomatinas.

We didn't do a Hello Fresh subscription for the convenience of having food delivered to our home, I did it for two unrelated reasons. First, I used it as a means to do a cooking class for my homeschooled children, and second, I used it as a means to learn new recipes.

It's practically a universal favorite: pizza. And how could you go wrong with bread and cheese?! Well, I'm sure there are many ways, and I have alternatives down below if you are opposed to using dairy or genetically modified wheat. But in the meantime, this pizza is a hit, not just for adults but for kids, too!

This is one easy, tasty recipe that's sure to become a family favorite! If you don't believe, you must try it!! This vegetarian meal and easily become by omitting the brie cheese. No need to substitute the dairy, the tomatoes, garlic and basil add tons of flavor!

Nearly all my Persian recipes come from my friend Teyebeh who often gets from her mom, and I'll take a good guess and assume she gets them from her mom.

This recipe is from the book The New Persian Kitchen by Louisa Shafia. We do a lot of cooking anyway, but especially with our homeschooling. While doing our ancient Persia lessons, we got this and other Persian cookbooks to try some new recipes.

I do love adding sweet to savory and even like orange flavored Chinese chicken, but I didn't seem to like this dish quite as much. However, my 18-year-old son said it was the best chicken I ever made. So the following day, I made the recipe again and cut down on the orange accents.

We paired it with orange chicken koresh which is a sweet dish which probably would be better balanced with a plain rice dish, but my children loved the combination. Both recipes are from the book The Silk Road Gourmet by Laura Kelley

This has got to be the best tastiest rice in the world!! I'm not a fan of rice, but this is one rice dish, I'll gladly eat. Packed with dates, currants, lentils and fried onions, what's not to love?! I season mine with olive oil, grapeseed oil, salt and saffron. Occasionally if I make a whole roasted chicken to go along with this rice, I'll add my secret ingredient: pan drippings!

Did you know turmeric is so good for you? Aside from being an antioxidant, it's full of other other benefits for your body and brain. I tend to overdo my turmeric consumption, and this is one chicken recipe that's full of it! This chicken dish perfectly accompanies Adas Polo, Zeresh Polo and Baghali Polo.

This is one of the most refreshing salads you'll ever taste! What I love about Persian food is that the ingredients are simple, flavorful and nourishing. Salad Shirzi or Cucumber Salad as I like to call it accompanies many Persian meals. It's one of two salads you'll typically find on Persian menus, and this one is so easy to make, you'll wonder why you don't have it all the time!!

I made a huge batch of shami kebabs! You can cut this recipe down quite a bit, but whenever I make these, because they are so labor intensive to begin with, I make a huge batch and freeze them for easy meals.

I'm may not be a fan of rice by my family is! Being married to an Indian, I quickly learned how to make the perfect basmati rice from my mother-in-law. Thereafter, I sort of stalled in my skills for rice making and for years made simple basmati rice.

If you're in a pinch to make dinner, I recommend learning this recipe! It's my fast version to making Indian ground beef (keema). It's usually served with rice, which could take 15 minutes to make, so if you are really short on time, serve it with naan which you can find in the frozen section of many grocery stores.

There are three things I want my children to know how to cook well: Rice, fried onions, and eggs. It seems silly, I know, but these three simple recipes are often easily messed up and can be tricky at times. Today, I’m making basmati rice. I learned this method from my mother-in-law and have made it this way for many many years.

There are some dishes I tend to make just during Ramadan. This is one of them. It's an Indian inspired recipe was shared with my by my sister-in-law who knows how to make good food, fast! I even have a secret shortcut to this recipe that you can find on the blog post that accompanies this video tutorial.

If you've never tried fruit salad with spices, I encourage you to try this. You fruit will get a kick out of it, and so will you! You'll impress your taste buds with cayenne, salt and pepper mixed with sugar and the sweetness of seasonal fruit and fresh juice. The recipe is on my website at the blog post that accompanies this video.

Dahi Pulki or Yogurt Tortilla is a family favorite, especially during Ramadan. We like to break fast with fruit chaat and this layered tortilla dish that's thick with yogurt and fried onions. While this appetizer is a Ramadan family favorite of ours, you could really have it any time of year. It's simple to make and other than frying the onions, it's really fast too.

Are you looking for a tasty, filling vegan meal? Try Indian Daal! It's fast (if you use my fast recipe), nutritious and delicious. For this recipe, I included many toppings and garnishes we love to include when making Daal, but only if Daal is going to be the main dish rather than a side dish because all these extras that I show take a long time to make.

So the thing is that I only make these during Ramadan, but really, you can make them any time of year. This year, I didn't make them once for Ramadan. And now that Ramadan is over, I'm making up for lost time and turning out samosas like it's nobody's business. This recipe utilizes leftover ground beef or freshly made with a sprinkling of Indian spices and good old fashioned Mission Tortillas.

I've been both praised and despised for my tea. Praised because it always tastes so good, cursed because it's so strong that my tea drinkers are usually up until the wee hours of the morning, tossing and turning because they can't sleep. So with caution and fair warning, here's my tea recipe (which is a combination of tea recipes from my sister in law and a couple of close friends)

I've seen green beans in tomatoes in many different cuisines so I don't immediately think of these are being Moroccan, but I have to admit, while I enjoy eating this one, I have never made it before or any variation of it!

I'm still kicking myself for overcooking this recipe. Just five minutes less and it would have been just right. So my first tip is mind the grill or oven when you are making this. I opted to broil the chicken in the oven rather than grill them or barbeque them. I was a little rushed so I also decided not to skewer them.

This Moroccan soup became an instant favorite for my family and friends. I highly recommend you give it a try. It's an easy recipe that's harty, filling, nutritious, and delicious. You can serve it as an appetizer or as the main meal; we've done both.

This recipe, Buried Vermicelli, is from the book Arabesque A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon by Claudia Roden. I loved this recipe!! It's than the Moroccan food I typically make so I was excited to explore pairing orange water with cinnamon and sugar for a slightly sweet take on a pasta and chicken dish.

This is one of my favorite recipes of all time! It's so warming, nourishing and healthy; it's perfect for cool autumn days or for a cozy dinner with friends. I have my dear friend, Laura, and her husband to thank for sharing this recipe for me.

What a great way to end (or start) a meal than with sweet seasonal oranges garnished with dates and blanched almonds with a drizzle of lemon. The key to the success of this recipe is sweet seasonal oranges! We live in Southern California and our oranges are delicious!

I love a good salad, and while I prefer more in my salad than just tomatoes and red onions, this Moroccan salad makes the ideal side dish to a main entree. I paired it with BBQ chicken and spicy green beans. This side dish was part of a mini Moroccan feast we made for our lessons on Ibn Battuta and North Africa.

We often head to the kitchen when doing our homeschool unit studies as this adds flavor to our lessons. Sometimes we simply cook a single recipe, other times, like today, we cook up a whole feast! But this was mini feast and included dishes you might not immediate think of as Moroccan. When I think of Moroccan food, I think of tagine, couscous and harira.

We almost always cut our recipes in half when we are trying something new. That way we can explore new cuisine without worrying if we are going to waste anything if we don't like it. For this recipe, that was a mistake!! As soon as I was done making it, and we started sampling it, it was nearly gone before I had completed the rest of the meal. I hustled to defrost more Alaska cod, and my 14-year-old son helped chop the ingredients we needed for this simple, yet wholesome, warming and delicious soup.

So far these are the best kebabs I've made my family. We got the recipe from The Silk Road Gourmet, a cookbook that brings recipes from the Silk Road to the modern cook. The book covers nine different regions: Republic of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

This is one of our favorite recipes!! I've only added fried onions to the recipe as well as a sprinkle of saffron. If you don't have fresh dill, I've swapped it out for dried dill on many occasions. We pair this with a rack of lamb. We got this recipe from the Martha Stewart Living magazine and it's become on of our favorite recipes ever!!

This recipe is hands down my family's favorite recipe of all time. There's never enough even when I double the recipe. It's just one of those special treats that we can only do once in a while because a rack of lamb is quite pricey. For me too, it's one of the most delicious recipes I've ever had.

I've altered a recipe we love from the Martha Stewart Living magazine which is an herbed rack of lamb that is paired with a pomegranate rice. We love that recipe so much we cook it often. One day, I made the pomegranate rice but didn't have anything except ground lamb. So, this is the recipe I came up with to pair with the rice.

There's a local fish market restaurant my family loves. They serve simple, delicious and healthy fish dishes with your choice of sauce. It's really the sauce that characterizes each dish, and one of our favorite is the Asian inspired sauce that has our family returning often to this restaurant.

Lunchtime is usually our main meal. While this quick Asian inspired chicken and broccoli is a smaller meal with no sides, it is quick, filling and delicious. This meal takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish (minus clean up). It's also a forgiving recipe, as long as you have soy sauce, you can get creative with your spices and vegetables. You can even sub out the chicken for tofu and make this vegan.

I've been on the hunt for a cucumber salad recipe that tastes just like the one I love from a local Shabu Shabu restaurant. While this one is so tasty, it's not quite the same. My 10-year-old daughter, however, loved it soooo much and asks me to make it everyday. This recipe is super easy and quick, but it will take time to chill to allow all those flavors to mix and develop. For that reason, you may want to make this in the morning or the night before, or how we made it where we only let it chill for about an hour or less.

What better way to learn about a time period in history than to eat your way through it! That's just what we did during our Ancient Greece main lesson block. With the help of Food and Cooking in Ancient Greece by Clive Gifford, we baked, cooked and grilled an authentic and tasty Ancient Greek meal.

Today’s dish is chicken kebabs, and it turned out to be our favorite recipe from the book. We continue to make this dish! We made some alterations from the original recipe which calls for yogurt, but because my son has severe dairy allergies, we omitted the yogurt.

Today’s dish is stuffed cabbage leaves and it tasted surprisingly delicious. This vegan dish disappeared very quickly and considering it’s packed with spinach, this healthy side dish is one to add to any meal or as an appetizer on its own.

Few family recipes are all around crowd pleasers. There's usually at least one person who doesn't like something I cook. Usually that person is me. And yes, I'm not a fan of this dish...well at first that is. I'm not a rice fan (except for Zeresh and Adas Polo and a new pomegranate rice), so biryani and kibsas don't interest me.

Whenever we do our history main lesson blocks for homeschooling, we always do our best to include some historical or regional recipes to enhance our lessons. While I attempted to look for historical Malian food, we ended up buying two modern cookbooks, one on Ghanaian food called The Ghana Cookbook and one on Senegalese cooking called Senegal by Pierre Thiam.

This is a show stopping center piece that tastes great and looks amazing! Add drama and intrigue to your dinner party with this perfect-for-fall vegetable soup served in a pumpkin. It's actually easier than you'd think to make, is the perfect meal or appetizer for large groups and warms you to the bone on cold autumn nights.

Tortilla soup is a family fall and winter favorite because it's so warming, hearty and delicious. It's also super fast! Not only can you make the soup in about 30 minutes, while it's simmering, you can garnish the soup with cilantro, avocado, pepper jack cheese and fresh homemade tortilla chips.

When I was younger, I found a lot of cooking inspiration from the restaurants we used to frequent. If I could make it at home, we could enjoy those dishes more often and save money. Sometimes it works, other times it's just acceptable and other times it fails! This Chipotle inspired Mexican rice is my version of the rice you can find at this chain restaurant which we have been going to for years.

After receiving a free box from Hello Fresh, we decided to try the service out because we liked it so much and were impressed with the recipes and quality of the food. We soon realized that this food subscription box would work perfectly for our homeschool cooking class and the added perk is that it has enlivened our menu and brought our cookbook to life!

We ordered the box for two people with three meals, so a total of six meals for about $60. At $10 a meal, some would argue they could just eat out or buy far cheaper food from the grocery store and feed three times as many.

While both statements are true, what that won't do is inspire you to cook, try new ingredients and recipes and enliven your menu with new recipes. For me, $60 is a cooking class for the kids and me, delicious meals, new recipes and ingredients we get to try and most importantly, we now have several new recipes that we cook often, love and have become family favorites.

The salad was so good that I kept eating it while we cooked, and by the time the burgers were ready, there was hardly any left to serve. The simple dressing, made with tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, and garlic, was perfectly tangy and flavorful, and I’ll definitely be making it again. My son sliced the ciabatta rolls while I shaped and seasoned the burger patties, which we grilled for a few minutes on each side before topping with cheese.

We’re currently on our fourth HelloFresh box, and it has been a great way to try new recipes and decide which ones to add to our family’s regular meals. We use the subscription as part of our homeschool cooking class, and my six-year-old daughter and ten-year-old son helped with chopping, cleaning, and preparing ingredients. It’s been a fun and practical way for them to learn cooking skills and how to follow recipe directions in the right order.

Saute onions and bell pepper with oil and half seasoning pack. Add chicken and continue cooking until done. Squeeze half lime into small bowl and let sit with sliced jalapenos. Squeeze other half lime into dish with sour cream. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on tortillas and warm in the oven until cheese is melted. Top tortillas with chicken filling and marinated jalapenos. Drizzle sour cream on top and serve.

HelloFresh is a meal subscription service that delivers all the ingredients and recipe cards for three meals, each meant for two people, though I find the portions generous enough to feed more. The box arrives well packed with cotton insulation, two ice packs, and neatly organized bags for each meal, plus a section for meats and fish.

Today's recipe is easy and inspires anyone to eat more vegetables. The chicken and pasta are simple, but the zucchini is what takes this meal over the top. You'll want to make this just for the grilled zucchini with browned parmesan cheese.

Today's recipe is definitely a new family favorite. I love the steak topping and have already made this one again. The potatoes are easy and tasty and a great alternative to French fries.

Today, I'm showing you how we made Lobster Ravioli. Put water on for ravioli, and cook ravioli. Cut tomatoes in half. Smash garlic. Roughly chop tarragon. With a drizzle of oil, cook tomatoes and garlic for a few minutes, then add shrimp and cook until done. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This box included three meals: Lobster Ravioli and Shrimp, Buttered-Up Steak, and Winner Winner Chicken Orzo. Each meal came in a labeled paper bag with all the ingredients neatly organized except for the meat, which was stored separately between two large ice packs inside the insulated box. The packaging was impressive, keeping everything cold and fresh, with cotton insulation on all sides.