I’ve always wanted to make homemade dog treats and I’m so happy that I could finally bake up some liver goodness and share it with my honey bee’s! I will warn you, this isn’t very pleasant to make, as you have to puree raw chicken liver, but I promise your doggie will love you for it. And isn’t that what’s most important? Here is my recipe for homemade chicken liver dog treats:

I hope your fur baby loves these cookies as much as mine does! I would love to hear how your cookies came out and if you’ve ever made any other types of homemade dog cookies. Please share in the comments!

Cinco de Mayo is always the perfect time to make a delicious bite-sized appetizer. And why not make a freaking adorable Cinco de Mayo appetizer, while you’re at it? This easy app is made with chicken, but can easily be switched out with pork, steak, fish, tofu… really anything that goes well on a taco will go well here. Think Chipotle. Got it? Good. I can guarantee this will impress everyone’s sense of sight and taste. They are pretty amazing. Oh and PS – yes you can make these any time of the year! Who doesn’t like Mexican food? And who doesn’t like Mexican food that comes in bite sized crunchy cups? The answer is no one! So let’s get started.

Now – fix yourself a strong margarita and enjoy these simple and BEAUTIFUL cinco de mayo appetizers! If you try any other protein, I would love to hear how they come out in the comments!

Who doesn’t love some Julia Child?! As she provides the best basic instruction for French food – I figured that would be the best base for a French Onion Soup Recipe. And boy, was I right! I have honestly been wanting to make French Onion Soup for years and I’m so glad I finally got to create this masterpiece of soup! The best French Onion Soup I’ve ever had was at my favorite restaurant in the entire world – Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. I’m not sure my onion soup will ever measure up to the soup at APC, but I can only try! Here is my recipe for French Onion Soup:

Try out the recipe and comment if you have any other ingredients in your version of French Onion Soup!

I hope you enjoy my recipe for a coffee cocktail. Please rate and comment with any questions or ideas on different ways to create the perfect coffee cocktail!

I will provide the recipe I used for the sugar cookies and give you a link for royal icing. Don’t go into this task thinking it’s going to be easy… this was literally probably the most difficult, tedious, and time-consuming recipe I’ve done for Honey Bee’s so far. But the finished product is well-worth the effort if you’re up for a challenge!

If you wish to decorate your cookies with royal icing – which I highly suggest! – follow this recipe from my homegirl Martha Stewart. Hint – the meringue powder is in the cake decorating / baking utensils aisle! Took me forever to find it the first time I bought it. Also, just to caution you guys, this part is very tedious! Don’t get discouraged if the decorating isn’t going just as you planned. The best part is eating them anyways and practice makes perfect. Enjoy and please rate this recipe if you liked the cookies!

The great thing about quiche is that you can make it pretty much however you want. Imagine your quiche as an omelet, and add any toppings you so desire! For this quiche, I decided to go with the fabulous combo of bacon (and a lot of it), fresh baby spinach, and chopped baby bella mushrooms. And I have to say, it was seriously amazing. I made my own fresh crust (which was really easy and delicious, btw!) but you can also buy a premade pie crust. I will list the recipes for the crust and the filling separately to make it a little easier to navigate.

Homemade Quiche Crust – Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of ice water

Directions:

1. Gently mix flour and salt together in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil and water together to thicken.
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the larger bowl and mix together with a fork.
4. Once thoroughly combined, press the dough evenly into the pie or quiche plate.

Ta-daaaa.

Once your crust is ready and pressed into the pan (if you don’t have a beautiful quiche plate like this one I got for Xmas from Crate & Barrel – yay!, you can use a pie plate), you’re ready to place your filling! Here is the recipe for the quiche filling:

That’s it! Enjoy your quiche – I know you will. Please comment and rate this recipe if you enjoyed it. Anyone try any other combinations? Leave your comments with any new quiche suggestions. Happy New Year, my Honey Bees!

Attention Honey Bee’s readers! This is my first official “healthy” post!! Very exciting, I know. The Boo Boo wants to start eating healthier and since I’m such an awesome girlfriend/future wifey, I have started making better and healthier food. My first attempt at such a meal was this wedge salad with blue cheese crumbles, bacon bits, avocado chunks, and tomato. It’s very easy to put together and you can pretty much just add whatever fresh veggies you have on hand! This is the perfect recipe for a light lunch before your big holiday meal. Great for saving room or for saving calories… or both! I want to wish everyone a very happy holiday and I hope everyone enjoys the time with their families and loved ones.

Assembling a salad is pretty self explanatory, just make sure you cook your bacon until crispy and delicious!

And if you want your salad to be even healthier, reduce the amount of bacon and blue cheese crumbles and substitute in more veggies! But if you ask me, the fattier version is better. Am I ever going to change?? Probably not. Enjoy the fattier or skinnier version of this salad and leave a comment with your opinions and rating! Oh, now you can rate for recipes! Fancy, right?

Their menu is not vast, but the options available are perfect for anyone in the mood for a fresh burger. My personal favorite is the shake stack (pictured below), which combines a cheeseburger and a deep fried portabella mushroom stuffed with cheese. Yeah, I know. You really can’t go wrong with that choice. Just be careful on the first bite, the cheese literally spills out everywhere in an amazingly messy sort of way.

For those veggie lovahs out there, they also have a plain mushroom burger that I’m sure is pretty fantastic as well. Oh, and don’t pass on the fries. They are to die for.

If anyone has tried the shakes I would love to hear some opinions! Also, for those of you who have had both, I want to know which is better: Shake Shack or In ‘N’ Out? I’d have to say In ‘N’ Out personally, but I feel like that’s simply because I want what I cannot have… Comment below to share your feelings on one of my favorite fast food burger places, Shake Shack!

Update: By popular request I am adding Five Guys to the competition… so:

Five Guys

Shake Shack

or

In ‘N’ Out?

The question remains

I don’t want to drown this post with my sad thoughts, so I will simply cut to the chase. This is a simply recipe I made up on the spot for an incredible roasted chicken. It serves 2-3 with a little leftover and takes almost 2 hours from start to finish.

Ingredients:

• 1 3-4lb whole chicken
• 1 lemon; save 4 very thin slices, the rest in chunks
• 1/4 cup of softened butter
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary; 1 sprig finely chopped (discard the stem) and 1 sprig for roasting
• 5 cloves of garlic; 2 chopped finely, and 3 left in their shells for roasting
• 3 carrots; chopped in 3 inch long chunks
• 1 onion; chopped into large chunks

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 425°F.
• Combine the softened butter with the finely chopped rosemary and garlic. Set aside.
• In a roasting pan, cover the bottom with the carrots, 1/2 the onion chunks and 3 cloves of garlic (with skins on).
• Place the bird on top of the roasting pan and coat with the butter mixture.
• Salt and pepper inside and out to taste.
• Stuff the bird with the lemon, onion, and rosemary sprig.
• Next, gently raise the skin from the bird, starting with the breast. Spread a little butter mixture under the skin and place the thin lemon slices neatly under the skin.
• Tie the legs together with twine and place in the oven for 30 minutes.

• After 30 minutes, turn the heat down to 375°F and cook until an instant-read thermometer reads 165°F in the thickest part of the thigh. This should take around 1 hour, but I recommend to watch it and check with the thermometer to make sure you perfectly roast the bird. **Hint: you may need to cover the wings with foil if you notice them getting too brown.
• Once it reaches the correct temperature, remove it from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes before slicing. This is imperative for a juicy bird!!

I served this lemon roasted chicken with rice and the veggies from the roasting pan but there are many options for sides (think cous cous, mashed potatoes, etc!). This was a very simply recipe and does not need too many ingredients. Try it for your next dinner and let me know how it goes in the comments!

Oh, flu season.Getting sick during the winter months is inevitable. Why not make the most of it and make homemade chicken noodle soup! And if you aren’t sick, word on the street is that it’s good for the soul too. So it’s pretty much a win-win. There’s an easy way to make this recipe and a hard way. Of course, over at Honey Bee’s kitchen we went the hard route. We made our own chicken broth but you can also used canned chicken broth if you want to eat this soup sooner rather than later. Makes about 6 servings and takes 4 hours if you are making your own stock (around 30 minutes if you aren’t).

Ingredients – Homemade Chicken Stock

• 4 sprigs of fresh dill
• 4 sprigs of fresh parsley
• 1/2 tbsp of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 carrots, cut in thirds
• 2 celery stalks, cut in thirds
• 1 4 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces (wings, legs, breasts & body)
• 1 48-oz can of low sodium chicken stock
• 3 cups of cold water

Ingredients – Homemade Chicken Soup

• 3 quarts of homemade chicken stock (use all homemade stock)
• 3 carrots, cut to 1/4 inch thick slices
• 2 celery stalks, cut to 1/4 inch thick slices
• 8 ounces of medium-sized egg noodles
• cooked chicken meat, shredded (from the chicken stock)
• 1/4 cup of chopped fresh dill (or 1 tbsp of dried dill)
• 1/4 cup of fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions – Homemade Chicken Stock

1) Add all of the ingredients to a large stockpot. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer and leave on the heat for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, remove the skin that has formed at the top of the stock. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside until it is cool enough to handle.

2) Remove all of the meat from the bones and return the bones to the broth. Shred the meat and set aside in the refrigerator.

3) Continue to simmer the stock on low heat for 3 hours. Skim the top as needed.

4) Strain the stock into a large bowl. Throw out any solids. Now the stock is ready for the chicken noodle soup…

Directions – Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

1) In a large pot, boil water for the egg noodles. Once boiling, add the noodles and boil for about 6 minutes or until just tender.

2) While the noodles are cooking, place the stock in a large stockpot over medium heat. Bring it just to a simmer and add the carrots. Simmer for 2 minutes, add the celery and simmer for another 4 minutes.

3) Drain the noodles, and add them to stock, along with the shredded chicken meat. Season your soup with salt and pepper. Add the fresh dill and parsley upon serving.

Not too difficult, right? Plus, it makes having a cold much more fun! And if you are looking to impress your significant other, be sure to make this for them when they are sick. Do you have a special recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup? Share in the comments!