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Homemade Pizza Sauce
I know, it’s almost too good to be true. Karen, from The Art of Doing Stuff, graciously agreed to guest post for us here today! If you’ve never been to her site, you must drop everything and go for a visit. She does it ALL. I’ve been following Karen for a long time now, and I have to say that her blog is among my first stops every morning. But the best part? She has CHICKENS! And, she got her chickens at the same time…
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Homemade Vanilla Extract
If you’ve spent much time at all in the kitchen, you understand how essential good-quality vanilla is to the outcome of your desserts. The problem is, REALLY good vanilla is also REALLY expensive. Even the grocery-store options are relatively expensive, and they don’t even compare to the good stuff. To buy a bottle of top-quality vanilla, you’re going to spend nearly $20, and if you do a lot of baking, that’s quite an investment! So, as you can imagine, I was overjoyed to find this…
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Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
I have to say that I had very low expectations for this recipe. It just didn’t really appeal to me at all for some reason. It wasn’t until my brother requested these for this birthday dessert that I finally broke down and made them. They are actually quite delicious. The chocolate chip cookie is firm but soft, and even the Oreo cookie softens up a little bit in the middle of the cookie. I will now humbly admit that I should’ve tried these years ago.…
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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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Red Velvet Poke Cake
Yep. Kinda obsessed with the ol’ poke cake. I actually have yet another one coming soon. But since I’m 100% convinced that you can’t have too many poke-cake recipes, I’m not going to worry about it one little bit. The world cannot have too many poke cakes. And it’s possible that I say this about EVERY poke cake I make, but this one is my favorite. There’s actually no contest. This is the best. Until the next one, I know, but still. So far –…
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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…
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Cookies for Kids’ Cancer & A Giveaway!
For me, there is little worse than being sick over the holidays – especially baking holidays like Thanksgiving. I started feeling like I was coming down with something the day before Thanksgiving, and by the weekend I was completely down and out with Bronchitis. Needless to say, I didn’t do nearly the amount of baking I wanted to over the holiday – and I certainly didn’t eat as much as I wanted to – although I suppose maybe that’s a good thing. Now that I’m feeling…
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Three Layer Oreo Bars
So my life goes like this: yesterday my husband was out with his buddies, so I had an evening to myself. The girls went to bed at 8pm, and I marched right now the stairs, made a big glass of iced tea, bought the girliest-chick-flick ever, and pulled out my big stack of neglected magazines. It was awesome…for about three minutes. Precisely three minutes into my chick-flick, my youngest daughter was calling from the top of the stairs. It was “fundering” and she was scared.…
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Strawberries & Cream Cupcakes
If you’re like me, visiting the produce section of the grocery store in the middle of winter is a huge let-down. While I do love the changing of the seasons, living in the middle of the country really limits what we can easily purchase when it comes to fruits and vegetables- yes, you can buy strawberries in January, but they are usually smaller, less flavorful and always on the verge of spoiling by the time you get them home. Because we are always left scurrying…
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Chocolate Dipped Cannoli Cups
I don’t like to leave my house on New Year’s Eve. I like to hunker down with my family, watch TV, eat some YUM food and make a cocktail or two with my husband. The thought of venturing out and dealing with crowds just doesn’t do it for me anymore – although I’m not sure it ever did. I love to pick a bunch of one-bite appetizers and desserts for our evening, and these cannoli cups will definitely be on the list this year. They…
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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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German Chocolate Cupcakes
My parents are remodeling their kitchen, which to me comes with mixed emotions. It’s nice because after nearly 40 years of living in the same house, they are finally getting their dream kitchen. They added on to make it bigger, got all new cabinets, counter-tops and appliances, knocked down a wall and are updating the flooring. But, it’s kind of sad at the same time. I grew up in that kitchen. I have a lot of fond memories of that blue ceramic tile, the white…
