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Smith Island Cake
Sometimes, I love long, time-consuming recipes that I can work on a little bit at a time over the course of a day or two. I tend to over-book myself sometimes, so I frequently find myself baking against a deadline – which is fine and definitely keeps me on task – but occasionally, it’s nice to bake at a slow, leisurely pace. This is the perfect cake for a long day of baking. While I could have done the whole thing in a couple of…
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New York Style Cheesecake
If it were up to me, I probably wouldn’t post this recipe. I’ve made it twice now, and truth be told, I just didn’t like it that much. But I’m pretty sure it was just me. My family loved it. They all looked at me like I was nuts and rolled their eyes (as they always do when they think I’m just been too critical of my treats) when I told them I didn’t love it. My husband, who doesn’t like cheesecake all that much…
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American Kitchen Stories
There’s just something magical about the kitchen. Since following GE Appliances‘ Our American Kitchen stories, I’ve been really aware of how important the kitchen is in the American family life. Just tonight, my extended family (all 20 of us) were jammed into my parent’s kitchen for Sunday dinner. This morning, my girls woke me up begging for our Sunday morning waffle breakfast. Last night, my girlfriends and I gathered in a friend’s new kitchen over appetizers and cocktails.
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Fresh Squeezed Lemonade
So, this isn’t really a food recipe, but it’s super hot outside, and I had four pounds of lemons in a pretty bowl on my kitchen counter. (Am I the only one who decorates with lemons? They’re my favorite centerpiece and kitchen decor item.) And, since I recently discovered my Grandma’s old juicer I figured a big pitcher of fresh-squeezed lemonade was in order. It REALLY hit the spot after a few hours of working in our gardens. I’m a lemon-person anyway (obviously, hence the…
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Nutella Cupcakes
I’ve had one of those weeks. Well, actually, I’ve had one of those months. You know, when you can’t get ahead, everything is a crazy mess, your to-do list is twice as long as usual, your kids are sick and on fall break, AND your husband has to travel for work? Yes, I’ve had that kind of month. I haven’t had a lot of time for baking this month, I haven’t really even had much time to go to the grocery store. As a result,…
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Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Hey, ya’ll! It’s been a little bit since we talked last, no? So much has happened in the last month. I’ve been sick, twice. Like, fever-bronchitis sick. We got a puppy. The girls had two weeks of double dance classes, followed by recital. Weekends have been full of family gatherings and weekdays have been full of yard-work, work-work, and lots of coughing. Life. I feel like I’m always writing about how busy we are, but I don’t mean to. Everyone is busy, and my busy…
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Honey Mustard Salad Dressing
I feel like we are a couple of weeks behind everyone else, but it’s finally back-to-school week at my house. We’re getting back into the swing of things, painfully shedding our summertime schedules and trying to remember what it’s like to set alarm clocks and adhere to bedtime routines. Since I’m totally a creature of habit, I look forward to this time of year. I love having my daughter home with me all summer long, but I thrive on schedules and routines. Plus, do…
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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…
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Perfect Sweet Tea
Today was a good day. I was kind of expecting a quiet, boring day because it’s cold and dreary outside and I had tons of work to do. But as the day went along, it just kept getting better and better. A message out of the blue from an old friend. A super-cuddly three-year-old. Maddie brought home a kindness award from school. A late dinner with my family, at the table, talking about our day. Easy bedtimes. A clean house. A cute…
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Homemade Marshmallow Peeps
You’ve had Peeps candies, right? Is there anyone out there who hasn’t? I used to absolutely despise them when I was a kid. My mom loved them,so it was without fail that we always had a package or two (or five) in our Easter baskets – to me, they had a funky food-coloring taste and were always a little too squishy. Blech. But then, at some point, we (my siblings and I) discovered two things. One, that stale Peeps are way better than fresh Peeps. They get…
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Neapolitan Cupcakes
ho’s ready for dessert? Let me just tell you that I haven’t had dessert (outside of taste-testing Iced Oatmeal Cookies and Chocolate Syrup Bundt Cake) since Christmas. Like many of you I’m sure, we go on a bit of a detox at the first of the year to get off the holiday stuff-your-face-with-all-of-the-yum train, so our kitchen has been more spinach and less butter. It’s kind of sad, actually. But really, it’s good and it’s nice to get back into the swing of things…
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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…
