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Maple Pecan Muffins
In my never-ending quest for simplicity in my weekday mornings, I always turn to easy, make-ahead meals. Because, really – who has time to do all of the dressing, teeth-brushing, hair-brushing, backpack-packing and grumpy-kid quelling IN ADDITION TO whipping up a fancy breakfast? Not me. It doesn’t even matter if we wake up earlier. It’s like my five-year-old knows precisely how long she needs to brush her teeth to make it take up exactly 99% of my morning. She’s all, “Oh, we have 45 minutes before…
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Strawberry Supreme Cake
I am a cookbook junkie. I have them all. Yes – I’m pretty sure that I own every cookbook published after 2009. … Ok, this is obviously not true. It’s not possible. But judging by my overflowing bookcases, the baskets on my hearth and the stacks on my coffee table – I’m pretty sure I have most of them. Especially if they have anything to do with baking or desserts or my blogging friends. I might need an intervention. But see what I’m REALLY trying…
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Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes
Last weekend, a friend of mine asked me to make cupcakes for her son’s 2nd birthday party. The party was a nautical theme, and she did a fantastic job with her dessert table! It was the perfect theme for a hot summer day, and what two-year-old wouldn’t want to dive into all of this yumminess? I loved her use of bold colors and patterns paired with the whimsical decorations that pulled it all together. Her kids are going to have such fun memories of their…
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M&M Cupcakes
Sometimes, the hardest part of this blog is deciding what to write about. Lately, my life has become pretty routine – I follow the same schedule and do the same things, week after week. It’s hard to write about interesting things when you aren’t DOING interesting things. {Well, blog-worthy interesting things, that is!} I just mentioned that fact to my husband. He told me that I needed to start doing something interesting, then. I glared at him and told him that I was going to…
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Share-It Saturday: Week 5
Is it just me or did that week fly by? I guess it was a short week with the holiday on Monday, but even still I feel like I was just sorting through last week’s Share-It Saturday submissions – which, by the way were fantastic! As always it was difficult to choose my favorites, and this week, the sweet treats won. With fall right around the corner, I was immediately drawn to the Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts from What’s Cooking In The Burbs. Have you…
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Red Velvet Cupcakes
I’ve been struggling with this post since I started this blog. Why, you may ask? This is just a basic red velvet cupcake, no? No. This cupcake is special. You see, a little over two years ago, my very tight-knit extended family lost one of our own. My dear cousin Molly passed away suddenly. She was a year younger than me, a triplet, an aunt, a sister and a daughter. And smart. Beautiful. Young, kind, and soft-spoken. Molly collapsed immediately after finishing a half-marathon and didn’t…
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Chocolate Macarons with Espresso Ganache Filling
Welcome to my most intimidating moment in the kitchen, the macaron. I’ve been reading about these little puppies forever in foodie-land, and was SO discouraged by the directions that I put it off. But, you know what? They aren’t that hard. In fact, I’d go so far as to say they’re pretty darn easy – you just have to follow the directions. I would recommend a digital scale for these to measure the ingredients, although I just saw someone make them on the Food Network that…
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Sausage & Egg Breakfast Casserole
The list of things I’ve heard approximately nine billion times today includes: “I’m bored. I’m hungry. Can we have hot chocolate now? Can we go outside yet? Where’s Daddy? Can we put our princess stickers on our wall yet? Can I go to Jordan’s house tomorrow? Can I have a treat? Will you paint my fingernails? Where are my tap shoes?” Welcome to my snow day. We got about ten inches of snow today, which means my boss was kind enough to allow us to…
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Deep Dish Pizza
When I was growing up, my Mom owned a newspaper and publishing company. This was an awesome job for her because it gave her the flexibility to be home with the kids when she needed to. However, it also meant that once or twice a week she had to work later in the evening to cover city council meetings or hang out until the paper was ready to go to press. This meant that my Dad was responsible for dinner for 5 kids once or…
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Cherry Chocolate Coconut Granola
Much to my kids’ dismay, we haven’t been down the cereal aisle at our grocery store for a long time. Last week, when I had to buy some cereal to make S’mores Rice Krispies Treats, their little eyes lit up and they got so excited at the thought that maybe I was going to cave and let them buy something. Nope. We do buy the occasional organic cereal at our local co-op, but it’s a rare treat. Mostly, the girls eat granola in lieu of…
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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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S’mores Whoopie Pies
This, I realize, is not the prettiest dessert I’ve ever made. It’s kind of frumpy, even. But – oh my heavens, let me tell you – these are the best whoopie pies I’ve ever made. Ever. The cake was amazing. They were rich, soft, and had a deep dark chocolate flavor. The cream cheese buttercream was great on its own, but the addition of graham cracker crumbs took it up a notch. Pretty? No. But I didn’t even care because they were out of this world…
