Hi Cooking Moms, Dads & Friends,

Happy Friday! I hope you had a great week. I’m super excited for this weekend. Tomorrow we’re leaving for Italy! I’m hosting one of my group culinary vacations. There will be 45 of us eating our way around Tuscany! Bring on the pasta and the Italian wine. We will also be visiting the Amalfi coast. It’s my first time there! I promise to post lots of pictures from my trip on Instagram and Facebook. I know many of you have expressed interest in my trips. Please email me at info@thecookingmom.com and let me know if you are interested in my trip to Italy in September 2023. I’m planning next year's trip right now! Stay tuned for more details soon. Click Culinary Vacations with The Cooking Mom to read what makes my trips special and different from the rest.

Yesterday I hit the road to cook up some of my favorite fall recipes in Minneapolis. It’s so fun to be back LIVE in the studio on a couple of my favorite shows. It’s apple season! I just love this time of year. It’s so fun to go out to a local orchard to pick apples. I try to go every fall. I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit it in this fall. Hopefully Hoyt and I can go when we get back from Italy. I did pick up a bunch of locally grown apples from the farmers market this week. They are so crunchy and fresh!

If you have apples, I’ve got a bushel of ways to use them. LOL! Wondering what to make for dinner this weekend? Take ordinary chicken breasts and make them extra special with my recipe for Chicken Breasts with Apple Cider Cream Sauce. Make this and you definitely will look like a rock star! It seems so fancy but it’s actually really easy. The sauce is lick-the-plate yummy! We love this served with wild rice or mashed potatoes. Click Dinner for more of my favorite end of summer and early fall recipes.

It’s slow cooker season. I made my Slow Cooker Apple Bourbon Pulled Pork on The Jason Show this week. Jason and the crew loved it! This recipe is one of my favorite ways to do pulled pork. It’s something just a little different, full of flavor and so DELICIOUS. Perfect for the big game too! Click Slow Cooker and Sandwiches for more tasty recipes.

On the side, you can’t go wrong with my Cheesy Hash Brown Hot Dish. It’s AMAZING!

Why not WOW the kids this weekend with my Mac ’n Cheese Mini’s on the side? This is such a fun easy way to make homemade mac ‘ cheese. You make these in a muffin tin. They are so cute! Delicious too!

I've always gotta serve a big pretty salad with dinner. My Apple Cranberry Salad celebrates both fall apples and cranberries. How gorgeous is this? The creamy sweet and sour homemade dressing and the toasted pecans make this salad extra special. You just gotta try it!

Here’s another winner. Move over boring slaw. My Apple Pecan Slaw is anything but boring! Crazy easy too! Goes great with whatever you are grilling. Click Sides and Salads to see more of my favorite fall recipes.

This weekend is a perfect time to make a big batch of homemade apple sauce. It’s super easy! Once you make my Slow Cooker Apple Sauce you’ll never go back to the store bought stuff. Makes the house smell pretty wonderful too.

Cooler weather we be here before you know it. How wonderful would it be to wake up to the smell of apples and cinnamon. My Slow Cooker Overnight Apple Oatmeal is so good. The kids will love it! Why not double the recipe so you’ll have apple oatmeal for the whole week? LOVE THAT! Leftovers heat up great with a little milk in the microwave.

For dessert use those beautiful apples to make my Easiest Ever Apple Cake. It’s my FAVE! Super easy too. Click Desserts and Drinks for more tasty fall and apple recipes.

Order Amy's Cookbooks!

If you like my recipes, I think you will love my cookbooks. Both of my cookbooks are full color, and each is filled with nearly 200 unique recipes. Lots of secrets, tips and fun stories, too! Click Amy's Books on Amazon to order.

The Cooking Mom Vacations! Time is Running Out to Join Me in Mexico This Winter!

Escape Winter and Join me in Puerto Vallarta in January 2022! Fall is here and you know what happens after that. Let’s beat the winter blues and spend a week in one of my favorite cities, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! This is gonna be a relaxing trip filled with AMAZING Mexico food and margaritas! We’ve got a SUPER FUN group going. Join me! We’ll stay in a small (just 70 rooms), 4-diamond luxury beach front resort. All of your gourmet food and wine and top shelf cocktails at the resort are included!

We’ll also join local foodies in search of Puerto Vallarta’s freshly made warm tortillas, the ultimate street tacos, tamales, amazing fresh seafood, and fabulous cocktails too. It will be whale watching season during this trip. So many whales! Baby whales too! TIME IS RUNNING OUT! Click The Cooking Mom’s Culinary Trip to Puerto Vallarta to see pictures and get lots more details. Call Bon Voyage Boutique Travel at 920-725-2880 TODAY for pricing and more!

Join Amy Summer 2023 on Mackinac Island for Lilac Fest! JUST A FEW ROOMS LEFT!

I’m so excited to be hosting group culinary vacations! We’re going back to Mackinac Island, Michigan in the summer of 2023. It’s one of my favorite places! There are no cars on the island, just bikes and horses and carriages. It’s so charming. It’s like you’ve stepped back in time. We’re staying at my favorite resort, Mission Point Resort, voted one of the BEST on the island and in the Midwest. It’s AMAZING! We’ll be there for 4 magical nights June 12-16, 2023 during Lilac Festival. The whole Island is covered in lilacs. It’s so gorgeous! It smells beautiful too! Click Join The Cooking Mom on Mackinac Island to get pricing and see lots of pictures. Read all about the fun we’re going to have and the delicious food we are going to eat.

Hotel rates on the island have sky rocketed but my trips are group trips and because of that we can negotiate the best deals. We worked hard to get the absolute BEST rates possible for lots of included things, like your ferry ride to the island, gourmet cooked-to-order breakfasts every morning at the resort, a wine tasting and lunch on our drive to get to the island, a big wine and cheese party, a delicious welcome dinner and more! It’s going to be a blast! You can get pricing and book directly by clicking on this link Book Your Spot!.

Or call Sara from Rose Travel at 720-884-7913 or email her at sara@rosetravelgroup.com if you’re interested! We ONLY have a handful of rooms and they are filling up so call TODAY. I hope you’ll join me!

Join Amy on a River Cruise in France in April 2023! SALE EXTENDED!

Bring on lots of wine tasting, gourmet meals, fresh croissants and pastries and so much more! Join me on a river cruise through Southern France from Burgundy to Provence. In April of 2023, we’ll cruise the Rhone river on a gorgeous new boutique ship with only 150 passengers! It’s first class all the way and it’s a true ALL-INCLUSIVE river cruise, meaning all your food, drinks, and excursions are included. Gratuity too!

Plus, you’ll have the option to stay a couple days after the cruise to experience Paris. It will be spring and the blossoms will be in full bloom. It’s going to be stunning!

Great news! You can still save BIG on this once-in-a-lifetime trip. The pay-in-full sale has just been extended through September! Click Join The Cooking Mom on a French River Cruise to get all the dates and details. This trip is going to be so wonderful. Join me!

My trips are so special and different from the rest! To find out more about my trips and what makes them so unique click Culinary Vacations with The Cooking Mom. I’m planning AMAZING trips for 2023 and 2024 right now! Email me at info@thecookingmom and let me know if you want to get on my list for exclusive early trip announcements! I want to know where you want to go, too! Let me know!

Gotta run! I'm on Fox 6 Wakeup LIVE TV in Milwaukee at around 7:45 am this morning cooking up another one of my favorite fall recipes! Then it’s time to pack my suitcase for Italy. We fly out Saturday! Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and Instagram. I’ll be posting lots of delicious pictures from my trip! Hey, check out my food videos on YouTube, too.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Cook up some memories!

Take care,
Amy, The Cooking Mom