• Breakfast,  Guilt Free,  Slow Cooker

    Slow Cooker Apple-Cinnamon Steel-Cut Oatmeal

    If there’s one meal of the day that I’m really bad at, it’s breakfast.  For one, I’m not a morning person at all.  I like to sip on my coffee for at least an hour before I eat breakfast, but on weekday mornings, that’s just not an option.  The first-grader has to eat breakfast just 20 minutes after she rolls out of bed, and she never, ever wants anything easy – she always wants pancakes, waffles, french toast…cereal is always frowned upon, as are toast,…

  • Candy,  Dessert,  Gluten-Free,  Kids,  Other Desserts,  Party Food,  Quick

    Cookies & Cream Popcorn

    So, I made this popcorn today, mostly to use up a half-empty package of Oreo cookies from some cupcakes I made last week.  I brought a little bag of them for my daughter to snack on during the drive to gymnastics practice after school. Do you know what she said to me? And.  I .  Quote:  “Momma, ohmygosh, this popcorn is the BOMB DOT COM.” I just stared at her.  Ok you guys, she’s seven years old.  SEVEN.  She just used a phrase on me…

  • Coffee,  Cookies,  Dessert

    Tiramisu Macarons

    While I was making these the other day, my Mom called me, and asked what I was doing.  I told her I was making Macarons, and she said “Macaroons?”  No…MacaRONS.  Different.  Then, I tried to explain to her what they were – kind of like a meringue sandwich cookie, though with an almond-flour base…but I’m still not sure if she knew what I was talking about. So, here you go Mom.  MacaRONS.  (Mack-uh-RONs).  I’m very confident that I didn’t do a good job explaining them…

  • Beverages,  Quick,  Weeknight

    Perfect Sweet Tea

    Today was a good day.  I was kind of expecting a quiet, boring day because it’s cold and dreary outside and I had tons of work to do.  But as the day went along, it  just kept getting better and better.   A message out of the blue from an old friend.  A super-cuddly three-year-old.  Maddie brought home a kindness award from school. A late dinner with my family, at the table, talking about our day.   Easy bedtimes.  A clean house.   A cute…

  • Ingredients,  Main Courses,  Pantry,  Pasta,  Vegetarian,  Weeknight

    Easy Marinara Sauce

    So, if a magic genie in a lantern gave me three wishes, I think mine might be for 1) money (duh), 2) more wishes (also duh) and 3) that pasta would become a health food.  As in, I could eat it all day every day and have the same results as if I lived on raw green veggies. I’m really not kidding.  And don’t try to tell me that you wouldn’t wish for money or more wishes, because that’s what makes the game fun.

  • Breakfast,  Dessert,  Pastry

    Easy (Like, Really Easy) Cheese Danish

    I’ve made exactly eleventy-bazillion things in the past couple of weeks that my darling children absolutely refuse to eat.  Now, some of the dishes – Coconut Curry Lentils over Jasmin Rice, and Bruschetta with Avocado and Garlic Tomato Salsa, and even a couple of new varieties of Hummus – ok, I can understand those might be a little much for their young taste palates.  But seriously, if I have to make one more peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a dinner time alternative, I might…

  • Cookies,  Other Desserts,  Quick,  Weeknight

    Dark Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

    During the winter months, I turn into a pantry-hoarder.  I tend to over-stock my pantry on trips to the grocery store, buying one or two of every possible pantry staple, so I always have everything I need for all of my baking whims.  Then, when I use something, I just replace it and I can make it through the entire winter without having to run out for ingredients when I decide to bake. It’s great, for a while.  But then, I end up with way…

  • Dessert,  Other Desserts

    Mini Peach Cobblers

    While we were out and about yesterday, my husband and I both noticed that things are finally starting to turn green – the pastures are now more green than brown, the trees all have little buds on them, and daffodils and hyacinths are starting to poke out of the ground. SPRING! Spring is finally, finally, finally here. {I should note that I checked the weather earlier, and we actually have a slight chance of snow tomorrow morning, but I’m just going to pretend like that’s…

  • Candy,  Cookies,  Dessert,  Holiday,  Kids,  Weeknight

    Easter Candy Cookies

    My girls have been begging me to make chocolate chip cookies for a few weeks now, but my dessert menu has taken me in other directions.  With Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and now Easter, it always seems like there’s been something else to make. Then, when browsing my Pinterest boards, I found these cookies that I’ve wanted to make for a LONG time, so I decided I’d made them wait long enough.  Easter candy cookies!  Basically, they’re really big, chewy, fat chocolate chip cookies…

  • Coffee,  Cupcakes,  Dessert

    Vanilla Latte Cupcakes

    There are three things that make these super-star cupcakes. One:  they’re cupcakes.  Duh.  Two:  they are infused with a sweet-coffee reduction, and three:  they’re topped with a sweet, stabilized whipped cream and homemade caramel sauce. Wait, is that four things?  Doesn’t matter.  If you love coffee, and heck, even if you don’t – YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. MAKE. THESE.

  • Bread,  Breakfast,  Dessert,  Pastry

    Orange Sweet Rolls

    My to-do list today looked something like this:  clean the pantry for an upcoming photo-shoot.  Organize the mess on top of my desk.  Finish the laundry.  Go to the grocery store.  Decorate for Easter.  Put away the 2T clothes still in Mia’s closet *sniff*. See how productive I am in my head? Know what I actually did?  Yup.  I made Orange Sweet Rolls.