• Cherry Sweet Rolls

    Ok, let me break this down for you. One-hour sweet roll dough. Sweet cherry filling.  Easy-peasy powdered sugar glaze.  Start to finish, cherry sweet rolls, in about an hour.  Boom. This is what Sunday afternoons are made for. Know why?  Because tomorrow I get to have a cherry sweet roll with my morning coffee.  It’s funny because every single time I make this recipe, I think, “Why in the world did I not halve the recipe?  Why do I need 30 sweet rolls?” Let me…

  • Fauxstess Cupcakes

    Since I’m in the midst of the lovely Weight Watchers lifestyle, I haven’t been baking as much as I would like lately.  Even though I have a pretty strong willpower when it comes to avoiding and ignoring the sweets and treats in my house, I find it better to not even tempt myself.  I’m going to save my baking for special occasions, and especially those that I can bring treats and leave them at someone else’s house. Today I am baking for my brother’s 27th…

  • A Pantry Makeover with Organized Living™ (Part 2: After)

    (This is part two of a two-part series.  To see part one, click {here}.) This post has been so long in the making that I really can’t believe I’m actually finally typing it.  I’ve been working with the folks at Organized Living for a few months now, working out the details of this project, getting it installed and working out a giveaway for you guys, and now it’s all done – and I am in LOVE with my new pantry. In.  Love. Over the past…

  • Pink Velvet Cupcakes

    This is my second attempt at pink velvet cupcakes.  The first was bad, so very bad.  I don’t understand, because that particular recipe gets rave reviews everywhere, but to me it tasted like a blueberry muffin, sans blueberries.  It was just kind of blah.  They were like little, pink, blueberry-less muffins.  Kind of sad little things. So after going back to the drawing board and searching for an ingredient list with more flavors, I settled on this one from a Taste of Home cookbook.  I…

  • Peanut Butter Cup Cookies & A Party!

    I made these cute little cookies for a friend of mine who was hosting a Stella & Dot Jewelry Party last week.  She wanted some cute treats in the Stella & Dot colors, which are green and turquoise.  Now, if you follow my {Facebook Page}, you’ve been listening to me complain about my broken stand mixer – it broke while making treats for this party.  It was a bad day.  I nearly cried.  And I’m not kidding.  I had to stop and re-think everything I…

  • Share-It Saturday: Week 7

    How is it already Saturday again?  Last week flew by…we had an extra event every single day of the week, so today we’re just going to relax.  Well, by relax I mean catch up on laundry, try to get my house back in order and mow the lawn.  Incidentally, I’ve forgotten how often you have to mow when it’s not 105 degrees and actually raining a couple of times a week. If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to enter to win a KitchenAid Artisan Mixer in the…

  • Fried Pickles with Spicy Ranch

    You know when you get a craving and it just won’t go away? Yep, you guessed it.  I’ve been craving fried pickles for about six months now.  I’m not really sure why.  I don’t really crave fried foods, ever…but something about warm, battered pickles dipped in cool ranch dressing just does it for me, I guess. I’m just exuding classiness, aren’t I?

  • Skillet Apple Pie

    There is just something about good apple pie that makes me happy.  Obviously, it’s delicious, but there’s a lot of nostalgia that comes with it, too.  The smells of baking apples, cinnamon and buttery pie crust take me back to my childhood and for a moment, I’m back in my Mom’s kitchen, or in one of my Grandma’s.  My Grandma used to sprinkle the leftover pie crust with butter, sugar and cinnamon and bake it – I can remember fighting over those little bites of…

  • Spaghetti a’la Jimmy

    Ahhhh…spaghetti.  I love it.  I could live on it.  I think I came to appreciate spaghetti my sophomore year in college, when I was on my own in an apartment for the first time.  I actually went to the grocery store and bought a box of Kraft Spaghetti.  Noodles, sauce, everything all in a box.  It didn’t take long to realize that it was nothing like the spaghetti I grew up with and that I was going to have to figure out how to make…

  • 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…

  • Butterfly Cupcakes

    This past weekend we celebrated my baby girl’s second birthday with two family parties.  For me, it was a busy weekend of cleaning, cooking and keeping the girls entertained but it was all worth it.  I loved just watching how happy my girls were to be surrounded by everyone who loves them.  It wasn’t about the presents, the food or the decorations.  Especially in the wake of the tornado destruction in Joplin, MO and Reading, KS, I found myself counting my blessings.  It was a…

  • Samoa Sheet Cake

    So, first – let me tell you about my weekend.  Then we’ll get to this DELICIOUS Samoa Cake recipe. I took a couple of extra days off before the long Memorial Day weekend, mostly to prepare for my daughter’s birthday party and get the girls to and from dance recital and rehearsal, which this year fell on Thursday and Friday evening.  NBD.  Right? Yeah. So Thursday brought some (SCARY) severe weather to my part of the world, and of course that only happens when my…