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TUACA Mule and TUACA Root Beer Float
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of TUACA Vanilla Citrus Liqueur for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine. Today’s post is sponsored by TUACA®. Have you had it yet? TUACA® is “a vanilla citrus liqueur, a brandy, blended with natural sugar, fine spirits and vanilla essences.” Doesn’t that just SOUND amazing? You guys. It’s fantastic. And even better, it puts a delicious twist on one of my favorite drinks, the Moscow Mule. Paired with ginger beer and lemon juice, it’s a totally…
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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…
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Dipped Vanilla Sprinkle Cupcakes
When my husband and I finished college, we moved to the suburbs and built our first house together. We both grew up in a small town, out in the country, and I think we were ready to give “city living” a try. We built a great first house not far from the police station where my husband works and relatively close to my job. Then, my first daughter was born. She wasn’t even six months old when we realized that we wanted her to have…
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Homemade Hamburger Buns
Yes, I realize you can buy hamburger buns at the grocery store for, like, 79 cents. Yes, I realize that this takes far more effort and time than picking up a bag of easy, quick, cheap and adequately-tasty hamburger buns off the store shelves. But. These are worth it. Yes, store-bought hamburger buns are just fine. But why spend all of that time making the perfect burger just to eat it on a tiny, flimsy mass-produced bun? I promise that your effort will make your hamburgers taste even…
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Share-It Saturday: Week 2
We had a great turnout last week for our first weekly link-up here at Lemon Sugar. With over 40 fabulous recipes to choose from, I really had my work cut out for me in choosing our featured bloggers for this week! Thank you to everyone who contributed, and I look forward to what you have to share with us today. So, without further delay, here are three of my favorites from last week. Alaska From Scratch brings us Nutella Yogurt Fruit Dip. How AMAZING does…
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Spiced Apple Coffee Cake
SERIOUSLY, what is with the ridiculous winter this year? If I hear the term “Polar Vortex” one more time, I just might lose it. Listen, I get that I live in the Midwest, and normally I am all about the changing seasons, but this winter has been particularly brutal and un-lovely. If it’s going to be minus umpteen million degrees, could we at least have a bit of snow? And maybe ease up on the wind? Please, Mother Nature? {Speaking of winter, I took…
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Gnocchi with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
As I’ve mentioned in {previous posts}, I’m not a big seafood fan. But being desperate to not pass that on to my girls, my husband makes some kind of seafood for dinner at least once a week. I would really hate to deprive them of the health benefits of fish, so I don’t mind that they eat without me every once in a while. It’s usually on those nights that I get to whip up my own dishes that the rest of the family would…
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Penne with Broccoli
Ok, so by now you know how much I love pasta. I could go the rest of my life without eating meat again, as long as I have pasta. And this recipe is one my favorites. I saw it on the Food Network ages ago and my husband was the first one to make it, and I fell in love. It’s good hot or cold, but I think I prefer it warm. I’ve adjusted the recipe depending on what we have and I’ve never been…
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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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S’mores Rice Krispies Treats
So, tomorrow is my birthday. I’m going to spend the day making a birthday cake for myself. How exciting is that? Actually, I’m pretty excited. I love making big obnoxious layer cakes, and I’m sure tomorrow’s cake will be as big and obnoxious as they come. And then I’m going to put a candle on it and make my family sing me happy birthday. I wonder if they’re as excited about this as I am? Ha! I usually do all of my baking for the…
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Hot Chocolate Cake with Homemade Marshmallows
So, my daughter’s 7th birthday is next week. First of all, it’s really just not possible that she’s turning seven years old. Not possible. Second of all, this means that I have a big family party looming on the horizon. That means my house has to be cleaned. It also means I need to plan a menu, figure out decorations and – oh yeah – do all that cooking and baking without undoing all of the cleaning and planning.
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Hi-Hat Cupcakes
I don’t know if I even have words for this one. I think this is hands-down my favorite cupcake I’ve ever made. It’s beyond amazing. For me, it’s the perfect combination of moist chocolate cake and fluffy, gooey marshmallow frosting. They are definitely best served cold, and I’m finding that they are practically irresistible when they come right out of the freezer. My willpower around desserts is usually very, very high – especially considering the number of deserts that come out of my kitchen. But these? …
