Fresh ingredients. Simple entertaining. Meals from the heart.
Life is busy, especially when you have young kids, and making the time to invite friends over can seem overwhelming and stressful.
The Speckled Palate is here to help you, you busy person you, reconnect with the people you love. How do we do this? Through easy recipes (and drinks!) that call for simple, fresh ingredients.
I like to call this low-key (or suuuuuuuper easy) entertaining.
Because nothing is better than a homemade meal to bring together the people you adore. Add in some fresh ingredients and some easy entertaining tips, and you’re good to go.
At The Speckled Palate, I want to help you entertain in your home while always, ALWAYS keeping what matters first.
At The Speckled Palate, we value….
Fresh, seasonal ingredients. In-season produce simply tastes better is also more affordable. Win-win, friends! (If you’re hosting, I’ve found that purchasing more seasonal ingredients means for a smaller grocery bill. And every little bit helps!)
Simple Entertaining. Hosting dinner doesn’t have to be overwhelming or a Big Deal. (In fact, I’d argue that it’s better when it’s not all hoity toity because we can all let our hair down a bit.) Each recipe of mine includes the steps you need to feel confident so you can focus on being with your people. That’s way better than spending your evening stressed in the kitchen.
Fresh Recipes. We’ve all been in a dinner rut. At The Speckled Palate, I develop recipes that are flavorful and familiar, while also taking creative twists to make them a little more interesting.
Some of my most popular posts are…
- Breakfast/Brunch recipes: Vegan Blueberry Muffins and Cream Biscuits and White Sausage Gravy
- Dinner recipes: Instant Pot + Slow Cooker Apple Cider Pulled Pork with Apple Cabbage Slaw
- Drink recipes: Bourbon Peach Slush and Cranberry Mule
- Dessert recipes: Praline Pumpkin Upside Down Cake and Easy Sugar Cookie Icing
- How to Host and Entertain: How to Host Brunch at Home and The Absolute BEST Entertaining Recipes
Looking for something specific? You can dive pretty deep, based on season, dish and ingredient on my Recipe Index page.
People are saying…
“I made this for dinner tonight and we loved it!! The mustard gravy is soooo good! Will definitely make it again soon and keep it in the rotation! Thanks, Erin!” — Kate Taylor about Mustard Chicken
“Hi there! I just made the hand pies, and they are totally delicious! I’m making my pie crust your way from now on! It made so easily! I had to add about another quarter cup of milk, but I live in Arizona and it’s really hot here! Thank you so much for all of your brilliant recipes and ideals! These are so good!” — Roni about Strawberry and Blueberry Hand Pies
“I made this for our Friday night game night and it was perfect! Love snacks that are easy to make, delicious and not messy. Definitely going into our rotation.” — Samantha about Sweet and Savory Party Mix
“This was the first king cake I ever made and it was great! We had a Father’s Day crawfish boil party (in Dallas, run by a bunch of Arizona needy engineers) and I decided we needed a king cake to finish the party off with style. This one was great! Tasty, not bland, moist, and gobbled up!” — Katie about Cream Cheese and Raspberry King Cake
“I have been baking a Thanksgiving turkey every year for over 40 years. I have brined, bagged, flipped and wrapped. I will tell you this was the best turkey ever and so easy. This will be my turkey go to now. Thanks so much! Merry Christmas!” — CC about Browned Butter Sage Turkey
About Erin
Hey y’all! I’m Erin! A Southern gal living in Texas with my two daughters, husband and our dog, Lucy, who has an actual speckled palate. We also like to think we have speckled palates (the figurative kind), as we enjoy all kinds of different foods and flavors.
I started TSP in 2011 as a way to share what I was cooking as a newlywed with family and friends.
Cooking and baking has always been my love language, but it wasn’t until college that I got really into it.
My final year, a few friends and I had a rotating dinner party. We would cook together, share recipes and discover new dishes, as we enjoyed Sunday evening together before the craziness of the week began. Our dinners fueled me and fired me up, as well as created a tribe of amazing friends I loved being with.
It was then that I discovered that I adore entertaining.
However, it took having two kids for me to realize that I need to host and entertain to feel like myself.
After both of our daughters were born, I squirreled myself away. As a result, we saw our people less and less. I was too worn out to host any kind of dinner party, let alone go out in public.
Inviting friends over for any food-related gathering started to feel like a chore, so I stopped doing it. But then I noticed that I was frazzled and grumpy because no one–not even an introvert like me–can go for long without interactions with other (human, adult) people. And it became apparent that I missed my people.
After our second daughter was born, I realized that low-key entertaining was not only a “thing,” but it was incredibly fulfilling on multiple levels. I was interacting with friends again and getting a breath of fresh air in the form of socialization. My kids were getting to see their friends (and interact with adults who weren’t their parents). And I was opening up my home again to the people who mattered to me.
It doesn’t matter the day or the event because I’m all for sharing meals with the folks I love. I have no qualms about inviting friends over for dinner on a random Tuesday two hours before the food hits the table. I also enjoy plotting out a more involved weekend gathering, too, though I don’t always have the wherewithal for that.
Hosting makes me exceedingly happy and helps to reconnect with those that matter to me most. I want to help you do this, too!
Keep in touch!
I love hearing from my readers! Feel free to shoot me an e-mail at erin [at] thespeckledpalate.com.
If you have a specific question, check out my FAQs. I do my best to respond to every e-mail and comment in a timely manner, but sometimes, comments and e-mails get lost. The best chance of me responding to you, especially if you have a question about a recipe, is commenting on the post.
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