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Lemon Tart with Blackberry Syrup
I just about had a breakdown yesterday. After a stressful day, I began my nightly ritual of opening the girls backpacks, sorting their papers, reading notes from their teachers and repacking for the next morning. It’s during this attempt at organization that I take note of important dates and update my calendar. Between field trips, field day, music programs, extra dance classes before recital, birthday parties and softball practice (because you know, we coach both girls’ teams in our “free” time) my calendar was suddenly very,…
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Brown Sugar Crumb Cake
I’m not sure that there’s anything better than waking up to the smell of this cake. On a lazy Saturday morning, the smell of cinnamon and brown sugar heavy in the air and a pot of coffee percolating on my counter top are sure to get my family moving. It works, every single time. We have to talk about those crumbs though – those ENORMOUS, brown-sugar and butter crumbs. I could eat them, I have eaten them, right off the top of the cake.…
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American Kitchen Stories
When I think back on my childhood, then to my college years, and now to my adult life (I use the term adult loosely), many of my happiest and most vivid memories took place in a kitchen. When I think of family gatherings, I’m always transported to a kitchen. When I was a teenager, we had a phone with a long white cord in our kitchen – and I spent many nights laying on my kitchen floor talking to my now husband. On Sundays, all…
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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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Blueberry Breakfast Cake
This blueberry breakfast cake is reminiscent of a shortcake, slightly sweet and bursting with fresh blueberries and undertones of crisp lemon. The crunch from the turbinado sugar lends a satisfying crackle, and reminds you that breakfast is meant to be delicious. Hi everyone! I’m back! Not that I was really gone, but I took a bit of a self-prescribed break from the blog last week. My kids were sick, I was sick, my kids were sick again – it was just a really crummy week.…
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A Playroom Makeover: Part 3 – The Reveal!
I can’t believe we are FINALLY done with the playroom! It’s been months of work – squeezing in an hour or two here and there after work, a few hours on the weekends. Yes, we could have paid someone to come in and just do it all for us, but we honestly do enjoy doing it ourselves – the end result always makes it worth it. There’s really nothing better than that sense of accomplishment after finishing a big project. If you want…
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Strawberries & Cream Cake
This cake makes me think spring thoughts. Warm, breezy, budding-tree, blooming flower, happy spring thoughts. And even though we are still a couple of weeks away from St. Patrick’s Day (and post-season college basketball – the official start of springtime for me), I’m ready. I’m over winter, I’m over cold weather, and I’m over cooped-up kids. So, Strawberries & Cream Cake? Do. Your. Thang. I don’t mean to complain – I do appreciate the changing seasons – but dude. I’m done with it. I’m craving…
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Taking a Moment for Myself
Today’s post is a little bit off topic – I’m not going to share a recipe but instead am taking an opportunity to slow things down. You all know by now that I am a bit of a worker-bee…I am at my best when I’m busy, when I have a project, when I have a to-do list. I don’t like to be idle. I do my best work under a deadline, and I crave the intensity and activity that a busy, planned-out day brings. …
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Cinnamon Swirl Bread
There are few things more rewarding in the kitchen than a successfully made bread recipe. Whether it’s your favorite pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, a buttery dinner roll or just a loaf of sandwich bread, there’s something about fresh bread that makes you feel like a rock star in the kitchen. I don’t know how many times I’ve made bread (it’s a lot) but even so, every time the yeast starts to do its thing, I do a little happy dance. The thing about bread, though,…
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Roasted Smashed Potatoes
Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love potatoes. Mashed, scalloped, baked, fried – I love them all. My guiltiest pleasure of all is a recipe my husband makes occasionally – simple, buttered potatoes – they’re just boiled potatoes smothered in butter and just barely mashed. They are SO indulgent and soooo good. I’d share that recipe with you, but I have a feeling I’d be kicked off the internet by the snark police. (They’d ♥ them too, if they’d just try them.…
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A Playroom Makeover: Part 2
First things first, if you haven’t read Part 1, go back and read it now. Good? Ok. After we got all of the construction, painting and cleaning behind us, it was time to do the fun stuff – it was time to make the room look like what we’d been envisioning for almost a year now. Because we adore everything about our new pantry, we teamed up with Organized Living to give our two little girls a bright, clean & efficient play room. Their bedrooms…
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A Playroom Makeover: Part 1
I am so excited to be back with another Lemon Sugar remodel project, and especially excited to be working with my friends at Organized Living again! If you remember, we teamed up several months ago to tackle my pantry remodel, and it turned out SO good that we’ve decided to take on a bigger and more challenging space – a playroom for my girls! This project is a little bit bigger and more involved because we didn’t have an existing space to work with. Instead,…
