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Creamy Skillet Mac & Cheese
My oldest daughter is learning a hard lesson this week. She’s found her independence a bit, and has used her new-found “power” to voice her opinions rather loudly and forcefully to her Dad and me. In other words, she’s a back-talking fool. We’ve noticed it more lately, the back-talking with a twinge of sassy-attitude, and it’s just gotten worse. She’s particularly offended by chores it seems, and when her Dad told her to go “pick up the office a little bit before lunch,” she did…
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Strawberry Cupcakes with Ice Cream Buttercream
Hold. The. Phone. Did I really just make ICE CREAM BUTTERCREAM? Um, yes. Yes I did. And know what it tastes like on top of a strawberry cupcake? Yep, just like you think it would taste, only better. Kind of like strawberry ice cream, but without the brain-freeze. And, it’s only four ingredients, and it’s E.A.S.Y. So, strawberry cupcakes, buttercream that tastes EXACTLY like ice-cream, and no brain freeze. Best cupcake ever, right? I’ve been on a bit of a strawberry cupcake kick lately –…
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Irish Whiskey Cake in a Jar
{Feel like you’ve seen this already? You may have! This was originally posted on culinarychat.net last week. I’ll be contributing to their fabulous site once a month in the dessert category. I’ll be re-posting the articles here on the blog as well, just in case you miss them. For links and other fun Lemon Sugar information, be sure to like my Facebook page!} About this time every year, I start planning our annual St. Patrick’s Day dinner. It’s become a tradition in our little…
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Snickerdoodle Muffins
So, I woke up this morning and completely forgot that it was my anniversary. I called my husband after I dropped the princess diva-queen off at school, and I didn’t even say Happy Anniversary or anything. But, neither did he…so clearly he forgot too, right? Then, I’m at work and my phone notification pings and I see that he posted some really nice words about me on Facebook. Whoops. So, of course I did what any loving wife would do – I immediately reciprocated and…
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Nutella Crescent Cookies
Hold the freaking phone. Nutella? Crescent rolls? Easy-peasy cookies in no-time? I’m so in. I’m not sure if you remember my post from last week, the Easy Cherry Turnovers? I told you that I stockpiled crescent rolls at the grocery store over the holiday to fulfill all of my Pinterest Crescent Roll obsessions. Seven recipes later, I finally used my last can of crescent rolls tonight. I have this whole processed-food guilt thing happening, but after tasting these I’m kind of OK with that.
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Rigatoni with Creamy Marsala Sauce
I know, it’s surprising. Another pasta dish! This is a new one for us, but it sounded good tonight and we had all of the ingredients so we decided to try it out. This pasta is actually called “Rigatoni di Gregorio” but since I changed it a little, I’m not sure that it really qualifies as such anymore. We grilled the chicken instead of pan-frying it, and I added green olives in lieu of parsley, mostly because my girls won’t eat “green stuff” on their…
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The Ultimate Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
So, yeah. This might be a bit over the top. It’s also messy, frumpy, and haphazard. But really, who cares? When it comes to chocolate and peanut butter, you just can’t go wrong. You just can’t. And honestly, I love a cake that looks homemade. I love soft, fluffy frosting, irregular and imperfect frosting techniques and drizzles, garnishes and sprinkles… Do NOT offer me a cake covered in fondant and shaped like some cartoon character. It reminds me of the “bleedin’ armadillo groom’s cake” from…
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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…
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Little Coconut Cream Pies
It’s funny, growing up I didn’t realize that it wasn’t normal to have six or seven pies at a holiday dinner for nine or ten people. Pies were just part of the deal. And of course, everyone has their favorite pie…and you HAVE to have pumpkin. And a fruit pie (or two). And chocolate. And pecan…you get the picture. It wasn’t until I married my husband and he started attending our big holiday meals that I realized that it was uncommon to have a 1:1 people-to-pie ratio. …
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Spinach Ravioli Lasagna
Figuring out the new normal around here has been a challenge. Over the last few years, I’ve become really good at cooking elaborate, time-consuming dinners for my family. Fresh bread at dinner was not uncommon, nor were comforting, simmer-all-day kind of meals. But then, I started working away from home again, and now I get home after 6pm, and even then I’m at the mercy of my girls’ schedules. Dinner has become somewhat of an afterthought, and as a food blogger, that’s a really, really…
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Champagne Cupcakes
There’s something wrong with this picture. Right now, I’m hanging out in my living room while my kids are napping. For some reason, the movie Twister is playing on my television. I’m wearing my oldest, most comfortable yoga pants and my hair is in a ponytail. There’s a basket of freshly laundered kitchen towels staring at me, begging to be folded before they become a wrinkly mess. And I’m writing about champagne cupcakes. Such is my life, I suppose. Here’s the thing, though. These look fancy,…
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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…
