• Amazing Brownies

    I’m sure that I’ve mentioned my Mom’s cooking habits on this blog before.  (Sorry, Mom, but I have to go here.  It’s the only way they’ll understand me.)  So, let me paint a picture of my Mom for you.  First of all, she’s tiny.  She’s stubborn.  She is not afraid of anyone, she and my Dad raised five (awesome) kids while working full time, and this woman does what she wants.  Period. She also ends a lot of her sentences with “period.” She also happens…

  • Easy Lemon Bars

    I wish I would have snapped a picture of the sky today so I could show you, but take my word for it – it was gray.  Not like pretty-hazy-snowy-gray, it was cold-damp-dreary-icky-gray.  I’m so over winter, guys.  I just want it to be February already, so I can say that “at least it’s February so that means it’s almost March which means it’s almost April and then things will finally warm up.”  Sigh.

  • Easy Entertaining for Last-Minute Guests

    We do a lot of last-minute entertaining at our house. While I am always one to go overboard when it comes to birthday parties and other celebrations, over the years I’ve figured out how to entertain guests on a much smaller scale. My kitchen is right in the middle of my house, and it’s open to EVERYTHING. This is good, because my intention was to make the kitchen the heart of our home, and it really is. On the flip side, however – it’s open…

  • Salted Caramel Apple Slab Pie

      You guys, I’m coming up on my four-year blogging anniversary.  It was four years ago that I was planning my daughter’s fifth birthday party and had only just discovered food blogs myself.  Pinterest wasn’t really even a thing then.  Neither was Instagram.  In fact, it wasn’t until I was a year in to this whole blogging thing that I even had a Facebook page for Lemon Sugar, and now we’re going strong with over 28,000 friends. Love. It. To commemorate the big day, I’ve…

  • 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…

  • Chocolate Chip Scones

    Many years ago, my husband (then boyfriend) went to London with his family.  I stayed home in Kansas and sulked for ten days…not just because I missed him, but also because he was going to London, without me.

  • Sweet Dinner Rolls & A Giveaway!

    *note:  this giveaway is now closed. Over the last several months, we’ve drastically reduced the amount of bread that we buy at the grocery store.  Now that I’ve become comfortable making yeast breads, there just isn’t a reason to buy it anymore.  Working with yeast used to intimidate me.  I have very vivid memories of my Grandma making rolls for Sunday dinner – not only was her dough the smoothest, most supple* bread dough I’ve ever seen, but the rolls themselves were fantastically amazing.  And…

  • Butterfinger Cheesecake

    This post has been sponsored by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ReinventSweet #CollectiveBias I might be a wee-bit obsessed.  With cheesecake, of all things. Which, actually is a GOOOOOD thing, but really, why can’t I be obsessed with Kale?  Or Flax Seed?  Or Chickpeas?  (I don’t know – those are the first three healthy-like things that popped into my cheesecake-obsessed head.) This cheesecake, you guys – it’s awesome.  It’s easy.  It goes together in no time, and you can change it…

  • Cinnamon Rolls

    Ahhh…cinnamon rolls.  I’m not sure that there’s anything better than a really good cinnamon roll, but in my opinion a good one is really hard to find, and a good recipe is even harder to find.  My biggest problem with most cinnamon roll recipes is that the bread part of the roll is usually bland, and the only cinnamon flavor you get comes from the filling itself.  This recipe, however, has cinnamon in the dough itself, so the bread is flavorful too.  But, if I’m…

  • Robin’s Egg Cupcakes

    Now that Easter is just a few days away and our menu for Easter dinner is complete, I’m already making plans and to-do lists for next Easter.  There are just so many cute ideas out there that I can’t possibly squeeze them all into one year.  And, although this blog allows me the excuse to experiment and bake lots of goodies all of the time, I’m always faced with the difficult decision of crossing off recipes, crafts and plans and saving them for next time.…

  • A Fairy Party

    Ready for a photo-heavy post?  ‘Cause that’s what you’re gonna get.  It’s Fairy Party time! Last weekend, my daughter Mia turned six years old.  For those of you who have been Lemon Sugar readers for a while, you know that my daughter and my niece were born just 17 hours apart, so my sister and I always combine their family party.  I look forward to planning this party every year, and we’ve had some fun themes in years past.  This year we went with a fairy-inspired…

  • 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…