Can y'all believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away? That means it's the perfect time to throw a relaxing Friends-giving before the real turkey day shows up. I love the idea of "friends-giving" (basically Thanksgiving with a group of friends) because it always feels so relaxed, no pressure, and it's all people you choose to celebrate with. Not that we don't all love every member of our family, but like they say you choose your friends. It's nice to celebrate and be thankful for them too! Oh, and another great perk? A second Thanksgiving dinner. I mean come on it's the best meal and it only rolls around once a year, why not make it worth while by getting another meal out of it?! Lastly, I'll take any excuse to open up some good wine to share with friends, and I think Friends-giving is a pretty darn perfect excuse. 

Tis the season for holiday family gatherings! These honey soy garlic meatballs, lightened up by using turkey meat and low sodium soy sauce are so easy to make and are a perfect appetizer to serve up at any gathering. 

Bring on the holiday entertaining y'all! I try to save my favorite Thanksgiving and Christmas sides for those meals so that I really appreciate and enjoy my holiday dinners but I must admit, when I see stuffing hit the shelves, it's hard to resist. I LOVE stuffing. I partnered up with Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry again this holiday season which I always love doing because Puff Pastry sheets are so easy to work with and can be cooked in so many different ways. Last time I made aPuff Pastry brie flatbread so decided to switch it up and make an easy pastry cup full of all the fall flavor goodness, aka - yes you guessed it, stuffing. This recipe is so simple and perfect to serve up during the holiday months as an easy bite sized appetizer. I loved it because I got a little taste of stuffing without totally spoiling the Thanksgiving dinner I am so looking forward to. Top it off with a little cranberry sauce mixed with balsamic for extra flavor. I hope y'all are having a great holiday season and enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

Why avo-toast with your morning coffee when you can pesto toast with your evening wine? I'm just saying... Seriously though, now that Halloween is officially behind us we're on to my favorite holiday months - bring on the sweater weather, good food, and of course, the good wine. I feel like a giddy kid every year when November rolls around and I can start holiday decorating, looking forward to holiday meals with friends and family, and having a reason to cozy up and relax with my unnecessarily large collection of soft fluffy blankets and equally unnecessarily large collection of wine. Neither of which I'm apologizing for because they all felt like necessary purchases, and well you can never have enough of something you truly love, am I right? 

Sweater weather is officially here in California and I couldn't be more excited about it.  Call me cliche for loving fall so much - spending Sundays watching football, getting cozy in sweaters & blankets, fall cuisine, and knowing that the holidays are on the way are most definitely a few of my favorite things. One thing I'm not ready to set aside as we head into fall? Wine.... especially my refreshing roses. Something you may or may not know about me is that wine is almost a bigger passion to me than cooking. I got my virtual cellar set up today which felt like a great organization project off my to do list (you can find me on Vivino under "Luca Neutze" if you're interested in connecting)! Anyway considering my love for vino I am so excited to be partnered up with The Wines of Provence to talk a little bit about rose. I mean who doesn't love a good glass of rose?!

I can't rave enough about how great this chicken was. I feel like I can brag on this one a little harder because I can't actually take the credit for it. For those of you new to my blog I participate in a recipe swap club where I partner with another blogger each month to trade recipes (of our choice) to try and write about. This month I partnered up with Payal from Don't Give A Fork. Payal lives in Mumbai and has a fab collection of Indian recipes as well as some others that she has picked up on her world travels. I mean she takes cooking classes all over the world when she travels - how amazing is that?! It is so neat to me that I get to connect with other food bloggers not only locally but all over the world. I had so much fun chatting with the gal behind Don't Give A Fork, learning her story, and feeling like I now have a friend in Mumbai. 

Have y'all ever tried making your own popcorn? It is seriously so much easier than you might anticipate - plus a lot better for you as you can control how much oil, butter, seasoning, etc... is added. Not to mention it's fun and only takes about as long as waiting for a microwave bag to make. Have I sold you yet?! This time around I used a tiny popcorn variety and a garlic jalapeno spice blend to make a fun snack with a kick to pack and take to work as snacks. 

hi guys! This recipe was so much fun to work on. I was challenged to create a fusion dish with flavors inspired by Latin and Italian cuisine so I decided to make a slightly spicy penne pasta tossed with chorizo and Alfredo sauce topped with fresh Parmesan, diced tomatoes and cilantro. Chorizo meat as well as cilantro are both ingredients that get a lot of love in traditional Latin dishes while Alfredo sauce, Parmesan cheese, and roma tomatoes are often found in Italian dishes. The flavor combination here is SO good y'all. Just make sure you give this dish a try when you're planning on having a cheat meal, ha!  I mean we all deserve to splurge a little (or a lot) right?! Oh, and did I mention that this whole dish is prepared using  one pan? Little dishes with lots of flavor is a winner in my household! I hope y'all enjoy this dish as much as we did! 

Where to even begin with this post. It covers so many things I love, all for very different reasons- hurricane relief support, a new way to discover cleaner dairy, and a really effin' cheesy sandwich. For those of you not so familiar with me or my blog I currently reside in California, but my heart is always at least halfway in Texas where I moved here from. Going about my normal routine during these hurricane's (especially Harvey) felt awful. I know I should be so lucky to be away from the crazy storms, and don't misunderstand me - I am SO grateful I stayed dry and my home and belongings are safe, but being away from what feels like home and watching the devastation left me feeling absolutely helpless. I cried every night seeing updates from friends and family affected. It didn't feel right just going to work and being social and enjoying life, I felt like I should be doing something, anything to help. 

I did my part sharing helpful information and news with social media friends, I donated to a children's hospital, I provided moral support but it just didn't feel like enough. But what am I supposed to do if I can't leave work and don't have the means to support in a big way? I know I can't be the only one who felt like this.

I am so excited and so proud to have partnered up with Real California Milk to bring relief to families in Texas and Florida. See that "Real California Milk" stamp on the below dairy products? If you spot it in your grocery store between today and December 31, 2017 snap a photo and share it on any social media channel tagging @RealCaliforniaMilk and hashtagging #SealsForGood and Real California Milk will donate $5 to the national milk drive to support families affected by the hurricane, up to $20,000. Best part? This is free for you to do!