This Chocolate Hazelnut Latte recipe is the perfect pick-me-up coffee drink for mornings, afternoons, or whenever you need a little extra oomph with a lot of creamy, chocolate-hazelnutty flavor. It comes together in less than five minutes and tastes just like (dare I say, even better than) anything you’d get from a coffee shop!

One of our goals when we moved into our new place earlier this month was to give the space some major hygge. If you’re not familiar, “hygge” is a Danish term that implies a cozy lifestyle filled with friends, family, candles, chunky throw blankets, reading on rainy days and drinking hot drinks on snow days.

And while yes, I have accumulated my fair share of throw blankets (perhaps to my husband’s chagrin, who can say), we also love to embrace these chilly winter months by enjoying a warm, indulgent beverage every now and again — like this chocolate hazelnut latte. It’s major hygge in a cup.

This Crockpot Swedish Meatballs recipe is more than just a recipe — it’s a dinnertime savior. When life gets crazy (which happens more often than not, amiright), let the slow cooker do the heavy lifting for you when dinnertime rolls around. Add lingonberry jam and mashed potatoes and just like that, you have a satisfying, family-friendly dinner ready to go.

In case you’ve missed it on Instagram, we officially moved! We’ve settled back into apartment life in the Twin Cities after spending last month in Wisconsin with my parents and the six months before that traveling the country in an RV, as one does. We’ve spent the last few days unpacking all of our things — which, since moving out of a less-than-200-square-foot space and into a 1,000-square-foot space, isn’t too much — and making our place feel like home.

So much has changed in the last year for us, and yet, so much hasn’t — including our love for the slow cooker. From house life to RV life to apartment life, I’ve schlepped my slow cooker to and fro and used it to make meals everywhere. And these crockpot Swedish meatballs always reign supreme in my household — wherever that has been or will be.

Stop trying too hard to bake the perfect bread! With this no knead ciabatta bread recipe, you can make the best-ever, foolproof scratch bread in your own kitchen with ease. Promise.

Happy 2019, friends! I hope the holidays treated you well with plenty of people you love and more Christmas cookies to devour than you ever thought possible. We spent the holidays (and actually, the greater part of the month of December) with my family in southern Wisconsin. We’ve been living here while we transition from RV life to apartment life back in Minneapolis (THIS WEEKEND. We move THIS WEEKEND), so it was good to be part of all of the family festivities this year.

But once the hubbub of the holidays died down, it was time to get serious. No, not with packing, SILLY — with baking this glorious no knead ciabatta bread for y’all. OK, also with packing. But that’s far less exciting.

When Christmas is around the corner, forget the cookies — only eggnog bread (with spiced rum glaze, YES PLEASE) will do! OK, OK — the cookies can stay, too.

SO. Christmas is but a few eves away — how do we feel about this? Are we cool as Jack Frost, or are we roasting chestnuts solely with our stress-induced body heat? For a while I was pretty chill about everything, and then I realized that I was looking at the calendar all wrong and suddenly, Christmas is not two weeks away but ONE week away, and now I’m fairly certain the reason we’re going to have a green Christmas in the upper Midwest is because of me.

Thankfully, there is still some of this eggnog bread to be had, which is made with real eggnog and spices and yes, rum, both in the bread and in the glaze, and it tastes mighty fine with some eggnog on the side. That’s just a suggestion — but a very strong one.

This recipe is a collaboration with Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner, on behalf of the Beef Checkoff. I received compensation, but all opinions are my own.

If ever there was a recipe that is meant to impress, it’s Beef Wellington. Beef tenderloin is wrapped in a savory mixture of mushrooms and flaky puff pastry, and the whole thing bakes in the oven to maximum magnificence – and maximum deliciousness (ask my husband, who ate almost half of it in one sitting).

If you want to wow your crowd this holiday season, I highly recommend going for this Beef Wellington recipe. Everyone will be happy and full, and you can claim another victory in the kitchen. Wins all around.

Friends, how do we feel about our Christmas shopping? Have we had presents purchased for everyone on our lists since Halloween? Or do we not even think about it until December 23? Usually, I’m firmly planted in between every year — after Thanksgiving, I go into a little bit of a panic mode and then I buy everything for everyone in an anxious flurry. Then, it’s December 1 and I’m done (though wrapping presents never, ever happens until it’s the night before Christmas and I forget and frantically wrap everything together with Mom’s extra wrapping paper, THANKS MOM).

This year, I’ve been much more relaxed on the shopping situation, pacing myself on all fronts in hopes that this new approach keeps me more calm and collected. Though I still haven’t wrapped anything. Should probably get on that.

ANYWAY, if you’re scrambling to come up with gift ideas, I say bake a batch of these ridiculously (no, really, ridiculously) soft gingerbread crinkle cookies and give them to friends and family. Or, if you’re all set on shopping, bake a batch of these cookies for yourself and enjoy them on the couch while watching Hallmark Christmas movies (I hear A Christmas Prince is worth a watch, FYI).