My Top 22 Recipes of 2022

Cranberry Chicken Sandwich

Looking for a great way to use leftover chicken and cranberries? Look no further than this cranberry chicken salad recipe! With its mouthwatering blend of flavors, you can create a quick and easy meal that’s sure to please everyone. Plus, if you have any leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, you can easily substitute it in for the chicken and enjoy a whole new twist on this delicious dish. So why not give it a try today?

Golden Milk Latte (With Coffee)

If you’re a fan of chai lattes, turmeric, and coffee, you’re going to love this coffee recipe. Did you know that the original Golden Milk Latte was created by Chef Paul Bertolli? It was a mixture of warm water, ground coffee, raw sugar, coconut milk, and spices. While I enjoy the original version… I decided to change it up a bit and make my version with one of my favorite spices. I add Chinese Five Spice to mine to add some wonderfully warm and familiar spices.

Recipe: Lemon Chicken Taco Dinner

You know what that means… I have a fun new recipe to share with you! This Lemon Chicken Taco Dinner can be as easy or homemade as you want. This is a no-shell taco dinner (but of course you easily put it all in a taco shell and it would also be AMAZING). I have included the recipes for each element of this dinner, but if you prefer, you can simply buy everything pre-made (except the chicken), and just assemble it after you grill the chicken.

I remember what it was like coming home from work and just wanting dinner done. So of course, I don’t want this to be daunting for you. If you happen to have the time to make it completely from scratch, I promise you won’t regret it. Price-wise, it is cheaper to make everything instead of buying it pre-made; but do what is best for you, your family, and your sanity.

Orange Sesame Chicken

This take on the Chinese-American Takeout fav, Sesame Orange Chicken, uses my beer batter for the chicken and a secret ingredient to make the perfect sauce! It’s sweet, a little salty and it’s full of umami goodness!

One-Pot Asparagus and Bacon Rigatoni

My one-pot Pasta Dish is one of my favorites! It uses minimal dishes and seriously, all my kids eat it! You can’t go wrong with that! No baking, no separate boiling for the pasta. LITERALLY one-pot.

I’ve seen this technique done only a handful of times, and every time it was done by a chef (my father was one that would do this technique, often). But I don’t know why it’s not embraced more in homes. It really saves on time and dishes!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Do you love tacos? Me, too. I mean, doesn’t everyone love some sort of version of tacos? Fish, chicken, beef, or a fun veg taco with mushrooms and bell peppers (I’ll share that recipe soon). Well, I have found that amazing tacos are the result of amazing seasoning. This taco seasoning recipe is my personal recipe and was honestly created serendipitously.

That’s right, it happened completely by accident! I was talking to my then 4 yr-old, MJ, and accidentally used paprika as the main ingredient instead of chili powder. At first, I was a bit frustrated and was like “Well, this is ruined”. but my husband Nate and I don’t like to waste, so we decided to try it anyway, cross our fingers, and hope for the best.

Everything BBQ Rub

This everything BBQ rub is perfect for beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and sloppy joes. I have used this on wings, beef and pork ribs, and even lamb ribs, and have found it to be incredibly universal and flavorful.

This makes a small batch of the bbq rub, to make quantity adjustments easier. If you double or even triple it, simply add the bbq rub to a mason jar, put the top on, and shake it up. You’ll always have it on hand.

Recipe: Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

Summer is a great time for pasta salads and one thing I’ve been really enjoying is revamping some favorite Tex-Mex recipes from my childhood. Many of you know that my dad is Chinese, but what many of you may not know is my mom is a Texan, and my dad, although Chinese, is associated greatly as a Texan himself (growing up there much of his life). So even though I was born and bred in Wisconsin, I grew up eating a lot, and I mean a lot of Tex-Mex food.

Banana Muffins

I will warn you, that because bananas (like most fruit) hold a lot of liquid, it might take a good amount of time to bake (depending on your oven, it could take up to 45 minutes to bake), so if needed, plan ahead and bake them the night before (it tastes amazing hot or cold and is totally worth the time).

Recipe: Zucchini Bread

I try to make recipes that you can adjust for your family. If you actually prefer nuts, you could add 1 cup of walnuts or pecans to it if you wanted. My kids don’t always want nuts in bread like this or the banana bread I make, if I feel like adding nuts, I’ll make muffins instead and split the batter so that I can add nuts to half.

If you make muffins, they will take less time to bake, A LOT let less time, so keep that in mind.

Tortilla Soup Gumbo

Create a cozy and comforting meal with this Tortilla Soup Gumbo. The recipe is easy to follow and customize with aromatics and veg.

Recipe: Basic Homemade Pancakes

This an easy recipe for pancakes at home using simple ingredients you should have in the pantry and fridge.

Wisconsin Supper Club Beer Batter Mix

Here’s an easy, gift-worthy version of my Wisconsin Supper Club Beer Batter Fried Fish. This mix is a cute, thoughtful, and affordable gift for really any time of the year, but with father’s day coming up, and if the dads in your life are anything like my husband, this gift is sure to please.

This recipe yields enough dry mix to make 2 – 4 lb fish batches. To make a batch, simply whisk together this mix with your favorite pale ale.

Bread Machine Steamed Bao Buns or Hé Yè Bāo (荷葉包)

Steamed Bao Buns (Baozi, 包子) are amazing. They are such a fun change-up to your typical US bread/biscuits. For me, they are incredibly nostalgic. I have memories of helping with my dad and my nai nai when we visited Texas in much younger years. It wasn’t a common meal in my house, but I was feeling a little nostalgic one day and decided to attempt the recreation of my nai nai’s version and way of making them (and she did use a scale 🤫).

Recipe: Asian Cucumber Salad

I love, love, love this salad! Cucumbers are wonderfully cooling and even with that touch of spice, this salad is still a welcome snack during the summer heat. I went on a bit of a hiatus eating this salad, I grew up with my dad eating it a lot in the summers and when I was little, cucumbers were not my thing. but recently, I came back to it, want to try it again, and found a new love for it. I introduced it to my husband this year and he loves it so much that he said he wants to grow some cucumbers just so I can make it.

Recipe: Big-Batch Chili

Impress your family and friends with this mouthwatering chili recipe that is guaranteed to delight your taste buds. With just a few simple steps, you can create a big batch of delicious chili using your roaster oven. Plus, you can freeze it in batches, making it the perfect go-to meal for those busy weeknights when you don’t have time to cook. Don’t miss out on this easy yet impressive recipe that will surely become a crowd favorite!

Chinese Almond Cookies

This recipe for Chinese almond cookies is buttery and sweet with a light nutty flavor. They’re a must for your Lunar New Year Celebrations! But they’re so good I know you’ll serve them all year long!

Chicken, Spinach, and Gnocchi Soup

How great is soup? It’s warm and cozy, great for blah spring or chilling fall days. I personally can’t get enough of soup, especially on spring and fall days.

Today’s recipe, chicken, spinach and gnocchi soup, is a play on a certain “Italian-American” restaurant favorite. This is my version of a chicken and gnocchi soup. It’s all my favorites in a perfectly creamy, full chicken flavor soup, packed with tons of veg.

Healthy-ish Stovetop Mac and Cheese

Meet my family’s all-time favorite mac and cheese recipe! This recipe was a necessity to convince my now 6-year-old MJ that homemade mac and cheese was better than any boxed mac and cheese. But at the time… my then 4-year-old only ate orange mac and cheese.

Marinated Cherry Tomato Mozzarella Salad

This marinated cherry tomato mozzarella salad is everything I love about summer food: no cooking (unless you want a crostino or two), fresh ingredients, and vibrant flavor. The cherry tomatoes marinate with olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt, and pepper for an hour or more if you so choose, so the flavors marry together well.

Recipe: Homemade Waffles

I’m a bit (or maybe a lot) particular about my waffles. I want light, crisp-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside, Belgian-with-deep-pockets WAFFLES. No soggy waffles or sad-looking waffles are allowed in this house! Freezing well is another must in my book. My kids need to be able to pop that suck in a toaster like an Eggo (but taste better).

Pizza Pasta Bake

I don’t know about you, but I have 2 major loves (other than Chinese food), Pizza and Pasta. So today I’m sharing my perfect mash-up, a pizza-inspired pasta bake, perfect for meal planning and great for those of you that need to make things ahead of time and then shove it into the oven while homework is being done, and boots are being cleaned off! I actually made this recipe back in 2016 when my blog was a side thought and I had recently had my third child, MJ as a way to sneak veggies into my son’s diet. Back in 2016, he was PICKY. Thankfully, that is no longer the case.