Hello everyone! This is Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, and I’d like to welcome you into my kitchen today to make homemade garlic sausage. Not many people make their own sausage these days, when busy schedules have left your average person looking for more convenient alternatives. Sausage-making may be a forgotten art to most, but once you’ve tasted the results for yourself you may be ready to bring it back.

Serve this recipe with pasta for a dish that’ll please all ages. My family’s favorite is homemade ravioli! You can adjust the ingredients of this sausage to make it spicy by using hot paprika or any other seasonings you prefer. This is your chance to get creative. It’s sausage, after all. How can you go wrong with homemade sausage? You can’t!

If you live in an area with ...

Hello from Kathleen Raskin’s Las Vegas kitchen! April 2^nd is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, but for millions of parents across the US, this holiday is observed 365 days per year. Some kids never seem to get tired of PBJ, but adults require more variety. There’s no need for you to get stuck in a PBJ rut when there are so many ways to have fun with it.

Believe it or not, peanut butter was first used by the ancient Aztecs, and the first reference to the PBJ was published in the Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science and Domestic Economics by Julia Davis Chandler in 1901. At the time, peanut butter was considered a delicacy, and it was served in the finest tearooms of New York. It is unclear when children hijacked the dish and made it their own.

You may be surprised...

I’m Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, and I’d like to welcome you into my kitchen to enjoy a bread bowl filled with the most delicious spinach artichoke dip you’ve ever experienced. This is a real crowd favorite, and it’ll quickly become one of your go-to favorites as well because this dip is so easy to make. Don’t serve your guests store-bought when this version will have them coming back for more, and maybe asking to be invited to more of your parties!

You can make this dip a day ahead of time. Just be sure to bring it to room temperature before you bake it. Heat it up for 30-60 minutes in a low oven. You can also microwave any leftovers you have and enjoy them the next day. Don’t get too attached to this idea though, as there’s rarely any left!

Ingredients

8 oz cream chee...

I am Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, and today I’d like to welcome you into my kitchen to celebrate National Sloppy Joe Day. There are a lot of variations on this recipe, but today I’m bringing you the classic Sloppy Joe.  This ground beef and tomato sauce sandwich may have originated at a café in Sioux City, Iowa in the 1930s, after a cook named Joe got the innovative and delicious idea to add tomato sauce to the café’s loose meat sandwiches. History also suggests the original Sloppy Joe may have been created at Key West, Florida’s Sloppy Joe’s Bar. While we don’t have any definitive proof of one story of origin or the other, we have plenty of proof that this sandwich has remained an American favorite over the decades...

The potato chip was first invented at Saratoga, NY’s elegant Moon Lake Lodge on August 24, 1853. Since then, it’s gone on to become one of America’s favorite snack foods. Join me, Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas, in observing National Potato Chip day by deep-frying up a batch of these crispy, savory treats. One of my favorite things about homemade chips is you can add any seasonings you like. While I have provided seasoning instructions in my recipe, I encourage you to experiment and come up with your own family favorite recipe. Bon appetite!

Ingredients

1-1/2 lbs medium russet potatoes

7 to 8 cups oil, for the best taste use peanut or canola

Kosher salt to taste

2 tsps garlic powder

1 ½ tsps celery salt

1 ½ tsps pepper

Directions

Fill a large bowl with ice water and then soak the ...

March 9^th is National Meatball Day. Let’s observe this delicious holiday with a Crock-Pot-friendly spicy meatball recipe! The secret to my spicy curry crockpot meatballs is madras curry, which is the fiery cousin of the common yellow curry powder many of us have in our spice rack. The two spices share many ingredients in common, such as cumin and fenugreek, but madras has red chiles that turn it a deeper, darker red hue.

This is one of my favorite recipes because you can adjust the heat by adding more or less curry depending upon your guests’ tastes. It’s so easy, too—just pop it into the Crock-Pot and forget about it while you get ready. It couldn’t be easier or more delicious...

Do you love strawberries? Who doesn’t? If you want to learn how to make incredible homemade ice cream, celebrate National Strawberry Day with me, Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas, this Wednesday, February 27^th! Strawberries are showing up in the markets again just in time for this favorite food holiday. Once you’ve had a taste of this rich, decadent strawberry ice cream, you may not be able to go back to store-bought!

This is the perfect dessert for spring and summer, and here where it’s warming up already it’s a good choice for winter as well. I promise this will be the best strawberry ice cream you’ve ever tasted, with a burst of fresh berries and vanilla in every bite. There are recipes with egg and without, and this one is the latter...

February 20^th is National Cherry Pie Day! Celebrate with me, Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas, by trying my favorite cherry pie recipe. I know apple pie is the traditional American dessert, but cherry is a close second, which is funny when you consider that the first cherry pie was made for England’s Queen Elizabeth I. Traditionally this favorite dessert is made using tart cherries rather than sweet. Tapioca starch is the key to making your cherry pie turn out just right every time. Are you ready to get started? Let’s bake!

Crust

The secret to perfect crust: pastry flour.

Ingredients

3 cups pastry flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup ice water

1 tbsp vinegar

Directions

Using a pastry cutter, cut cold butter and shortening into your flour, then mix in vinegar and ice wa...

I am Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas, and I’d like to invite you to celebrate National Peppermint Patty Day with me! Since they were introduced in 1940, York’s Peppermint Patties have remained a favorite with candy lovers around the world. If you think the temptation is too much to resist when you see these candies in the grocery store checkout aisle, just wait until you try the homemade version! These should come with a warning label, because they’re addictive.

Ingredients

5 cups sifted powdered sugar

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract

1 tbsp refined coconut oil

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

24 oz finely chopped dark chocolate

½ cup corn syrup

2 teaspoons shortening

Directions

Sprinkle half the powdered sugar over parchment paper...

February 5^th is World Nutella Day, and if that isn’t reason to celebrate then I don’t know what is. I am Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas, and I’d like to welcome you into my kitchen for some delicious, nutritious, homemade Nutella! This is one of those foods we don’t normally think of making ourselves at home, but I think the extra work is worth the effort. Try it for yourself and let me know in the comments how you thought this recipe stands up to the real deal!

Ingredients

1 ½ cups raw hazelnuts

½ cup almonds

1 ½ tbsp vanilla extract

¼ cup cocoa powder

3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate

4 ounces milk chocolate

3 tbsp honey

¼ tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp oil

½ cup whole milk

¾ cup powdered whole milk

Directions

The first step in this recipe is toasting the nuts in your oven,...