-
Almond Joy Bars
I’m pretty much tired of summer. I’m not sure I’ve ever said those words before. I usually love summer. I usually love the sunshine, swimming, gardening, long days…but this year, summer has been more about heat. Drought. More heat. My poor garden has long ago shriveled up, and even the weeds are unhappy. We haven’t mowed our lawn in six weeks, because the grass hasn’t grown at all. For the first time ever, I’m counting the days until fall arrives. Normally, I ease up on the baking in the summertime because I don’t want the oven to heat up the house – but I’m BORED! I can only clean my…
-
Honey Beer Bread
I’m kind of a beer snob. I have a very short list of beers that I’ll even drink. So, when I saw this recipe I wasn’t totally excited about it. I know that beer does wonderful things for chocolate cake and batters for deep frying, but bread? For some reason though, I kept coming back to this. After further consideration, I decided that beer would probably lend a great, malty flavor to this bread and that it was worth a try. Turns out I was right, and boy am I glad I didn’t skip it – it’s now one of my new favorite quick breads. Quick? Yes. It goes together…
-
Honey Dijon Grilled Chicken
I make my weekly grocery store runs on Saturday or Sunday mornings, and every week, without fail I call my husband at work (he works funky hours) and ask if he has any special requests. The answer I get is usually something like, “Um…maybe some Salmon, Cod if they have it, um…chicken breasts…club soda, bananas…salad stuff…you know…whatever…the usual.” I’m not really sure what’s more frustrating, the fact that I get the same (unprepared) answer every single week, or the fact that I continue to call him and expect a different answer. I mean, honestly, I’ve known the guy for a LONG time, I know what he’s going to say, so…
-
Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas
I don’t know about you, but we tend to get into a food rut during the summertime. We grill a lot, eat a lot of sandwiches, fruits and vegetables, and other generally “quick and easy” meals. It’s rare that we want to turn on the oven or heat up the kitchen, and the thought of eating anything hot is pretty unappealing. Because this dish not only requires me to turn on my oven, but also to actually eat something hot and mildly spicy in the midst of a heat wave, I’m pretty darn surprised that I made it at all. But wow, am I glad I did! It’s cheesy, spicy…
-
Quick and Easy Doughnuts
I’ve never posted this recipe, but only because it isn’t really a recipe. You don’t have to mix anything. You don’t have to knead, proof or tip-toe around rising dough. These are totally no-sweat, easy-peasy doughnuts. You buy a can of biscuits. You pour some oil into a pan. You drop the biscuits into the oil, and watch them sizzle for a couple of minutes. Then you burn your tongue because you can’t wait 2 blessed minutes for them to cool. And then, you feel guilty for eating six of them. But then, the next morning, you make more because you bought a four pack of biscuits. It’s a sad, vicious, fried-goodness…
-
No Bake Cheesecake in a Jar
Did you know I’m on Facebook? Click {here} to follow along! There are many wonderful things to be said about living in the middle of the country. I realize that to many of you, the Midwestern Plains are regarded as little more than “fly-over” states, but I’m perfectly happy to call it home. It’s lovely – peaceful and laid back, slow-paced and friendly. I love it. Except, perhaps, when it’s over 100 degrees outside for the umpteenth day in a row, and it’s hardly rained at all and my beloved garden is wilting away before my very eyes. It’s melt-your-mascara hot. It’s eat-ice-cream-for-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner hot. It’s ridiculous. After spending a week on…
-
Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes
I’m grumpy today. I don’t really have a good reason to be, we’re leaving for a family vacation in exactly 22 hours. It’s a much-needed vacation, especially after the past several whirlwind weeks – it will be nice to just relax for a few days. Oh, did I mention that we’re road-tripping it? With two little girls? Maybe relax isn’t the right word. Today, I started making lists of all of the things I needed to do, remember and pack before we leave. The lists were long. My house is a disaster, my laundry isn’t quite done and we both have a full work day ahead of us. Oh, and a…
-
Stout Cake with Irish Cream Frosting
As a food blogger, I feel like – when it comes to all things culinary – I’m pretty much up to date with all of the trends. I spend a lot of time browsing food blogs, foodie websites, and have more food magazines in my mailbox every month than anything else. So, when I saw {this post} from I Am Baker a several months ago, I was completely stunned. It was one of those “Why didn’t I think of that???” moments. I’ve been putting roses on my cupcakes for a long time now, but it never occurred to me to try it on a cake. I feel inferior. Of course, Amanda’s…
-
Funfetti Cake Batter Fudge
Shhh… Do you hear that? Silence. It’s 9pm on a Friday night, my girls are in bed, my husband is at work and I am watching the season finale of Revenge for the bazillionth time. I made myself a big glass of sweet tea, grabbed my favorite fuzzy afghan and set up camp on my couch. I’m not baking like a crazy person, I’m not making lists of last-minute things I need to do for an upcoming event, and I’m not even stressing about my messier-than-normal house. And, it’s awesome. May was a wonderfully busy month. Our family had tons to celebrate and it was a lot of fun, but…
-
Anniversary Party
This past weekend, my siblings and I were honored to host a party celebrating our parent’s 40 years of marriage. We invited friends, family, co-workers, old neighbors – you name it. Even though it was a holiday weekend, we were happy to host over 80 people. Today’s blog post isn’t about food – although the food was pretty tasty – and it’s not about dessert – even though I made 12 dozen cupcakes. Today’s post is about family and friends and a lifetime built on the things that matter. My parents did it right. They got married for the right reasons, they chose careers that they were passionate about, they…
-
Coffee Cake
I don’t have a lot of experience with coffee cake. It’s not a dessert that my family made when I was growing up, and with the exception of the school cafeteria version, I don’t believe I’d ever had it until my mother-in-law sent it home with my husband when we were in college. I’m not really sure why we never made it, it seems like something my Mom would be all over – white cake, sugar, butter…seems right up her alley! My husband absolutely loves a good coffee cake, so I figured it was time I found an amazing recipe. Of course, the first place I stop for a simple and…
-
Stuffed Crust Pizza
This has been an extremely busy month for my little family. Between my husband’s work schedule, birthdays, graduations, anniversary parties and my oldest daughter’s last days of Kindergarten (and all that comes with it), T-Ball, dance class and gymnastics, we’ve been running in a million different directions. Dinner has become almost an afterthought lately…let’s just say there have been a lot of turkey sandwiches and cereal for dinner this month. I know, I know. Bad food blogger. Today, I noticed we were on the same path – it was a busy day and I had absolutely no plan for dinner and I just couldn’t face another turkey sandwich. A block…
