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Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cake
Helloooooo! Happy fall! Ok, I know it’s not “technically” fall yet, but it was so beautifully autumn-like today that I think it’s time to take the leap. It’s time to close up the pool, plant mums and start buying cans of pumpkin by the case. I usually try to wait until after my birthday (in mid-September) before I whip out the pumpkin recipes, but the chill in the air this morning just put me in the mood! This felt like a perfect transition recipe…
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Cheesy Garlic Biscuits
So, I have a confession to make. I don’t care for seafood. Admittedly, I have had a bite or two off my husband’s plates over the years that didn’t make me gag, but generally speaking, I can’t do fish – cooked or raw, shell or not – it’s not happening. For this reason, growing up in the Midwest has proven to be to my advantage – I have a lot of other protein options and a good steak is far more prevalent than any seafood…
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A Pantry Makeover with Organized Living™ (Part 1: Before)
Ok. I feel like I need to make excuses and be defensive about my pantry for a minute. First of all, yes, the picture above is my pantry. This is what my pantry looked like the day after my daughter’s Rainbow Party just a few weeks ago. I’m not proud. I have an awesome pantry, which was a requirement when we built our house five years ago. In fact, we even made it bigger than the plans originally called for because it wasn’t quite big…
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Homemade Vanilla Extract
If you’ve spent much time at all in the kitchen, you understand how essential good-quality vanilla is to the outcome of your desserts. The problem is, REALLY good vanilla is also REALLY expensive. Even the grocery-store options are relatively expensive, and they don’t even compare to the good stuff. To buy a bottle of top-quality vanilla, you’re going to spend nearly $20, and if you do a lot of baking, that’s quite an investment! So, as you can imagine, I was overjoyed to find this…
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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.
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Sugar Cookie Bars
****I’m on Facebook! Click {here} to follow along, and Welcome!**** Last weekend I had big plans to make sugar cookies for a friend of mine, but I ran out of time. I made the dough but knew if I baked them that I wouldn’t have time to decorate them. Instead, I wrapped up the dough and froze it for future use. Well, turns out I couldn’t stand having cookie dough in my freezer. I wanted to use it. So I did. So there. There’s a…
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Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Cookie Frosting
So, close your eyes for a minute, and imagine with me. Wait, don’t close your eyes yet. You have to read this first. Ok, in a minute, you’re going to close your eyes and imagine a soft, perfectly-chocolate cupcake. It peels away from the wrapper in one piece, and is just strong enough to hold the weight of the frosting without being too dense or heavy. You bite through a soft, sweet layer of peanut butter “cookie” nestled atop a generous layer of dark, slightly-sweet…
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Creamy Baked Pasta
I love pasta. I really, really love pasta. I seriously think I could eat it every day and never tire of it. Since my husband doesn’t really share my obsession, we don’t eat it as often as I would like, so I tend to save it for the nights he’s working and I’m just cooking for myself and the girls. However, I made this earlier in the week and JR really liked it too, so I guess that says something! The best thing about it…
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Be My Valentine Cupcakes
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, in case you didn’t get the memo. If you’re like me, you’re probably procrastinating and pretending like you don’t have to finish your kid’s Valentine’s cards tonight before bed. You’re probably ignoring the fact that you have to make cupcakes for a class party tomorrow, too.
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Chocolate Cream Pie
Dear Chocolate Cream Pie, I love you. xoxo, Everybody Right? Who doesn’t love a good chocolate cream pie? Crumbly, buttery, chocolaty crust. Creamy, silky chocolate pudding, topped with lightly sweetened, homemade whipped cream. And chocolate shavings. It’s the best thing, ever. And really, its very easy – a bit time consuming, but very easy. You guys, if I can make this stuff, seriously anyone can. Do it!
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Baked Tex-Mex Cheese Dip
This is my new favorite casual party appetizer. I’ve been on a roasted red pepper kick lately, so when I saw this recipe last month I knew I had to have it. I brought it to my nephew’s first birthday party last weekend and it was a hit – I was actually kind of sad that I had to share it with everyone. I was even more sad when there were no leftovers to take home with me. My sister makes a delicious spinach dip, and…
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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…
