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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream
So, relevant but irrelevant: last week I cleaned out my refrigerator. Like, REALLY cleaned it out. I took everything out, scrubbed it, sanitized it, threw away, organized, and made everything pretty and bright. In my cleaning frenzy, I uncovered four pounds of strawberries that we purchased the weekend before at the Farmer’s Market. The strawberries were clinging to life, on the edge of questionable, so I chopped them up and was racking my brain for strawberry recipes. I made a strawberry cake (that recipe is…
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Dark Chocolate Shortbread Tart
Is it me, or does this just scream Valentine’s Day? It’s decadent and indulgent, a dark chocolate custard atop a buttery, shortbread crust. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough – how about the heaping mound of sweet whipped cream right on top? I’m pretty sure this is why we have Valentine’s Day. So we can eat things like this. Let’s just have another look, shall we? I’m a big fan of a standard graham cracker crust, and even a good chocolate wafer crust – but…
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Spiced Cranberry Apple Butter
Who still has cranberries left from the holidays? Anyone besides me? I always stock up and freeze what I’m not going to use, because I firmly believe that cranberries aren’t just a winter fruit. It drives me crazy that you can’t find them year round, so when I see ’em, I buy ’em. Our CSA has been overly generous with our apple deliveries lately too – so much so that we haven’t been able to eat them all quickly enough. We eat them like crazy…
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Do Nothing Cake
Sometimes I don’t know what gets into me. During my usual Sunday morning, post-waffle and coffee stupor, I typically find myself browsing recipes on my “to-make” list. I flip through cookbooks, peruse Pinterest, and catch up on my favorite food blogs – all while watching the Food Network, of course. I have my editorial calendar for the blog planned out for months, but it never fails that I run across something on Sunday morning that I just have to make, right now. For some reason…
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Banana Dream Cake
When it’s named the Banana Dream Cake, it better be good. I’m just going to cut the suspense here and tell you that it is, in fact, a dream cake. It’s dreamy, it’s banana-y, and it’s all covered in tangy-sweet-creamy-omgoshsogood cream cheese frosting. Dream Cake, for sure. The brilliant Jessica over at The Novice Chef has done it again. I made this cake for our normal Sunday dinner a couple of weeks ago, and my brother is already requesting an encore for his birthday dinner…
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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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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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Pumpkin Tiramisu
SO MANY Thanksgiving desserts, so little time. How can I make all of the desserts? I’m having anxiety – I need to make them ALL! My Pinterest boards are FULL of pumpkin and there are four days until Thanksgiving. #igiveup You guys, we are mere days away from putting the pumpkin away for the year! First, how the heck is that possible, and second – NOOOOOOO! I’m not ready for mint and white chocolate and toffee and cranberries and santa cookies yet! I need another week –…
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Butternut Squash & Potato Gratin
I am a Thanksgiving traditionalist. I want the same dishes on my Thanksgiving table, year after year. And for me, it’s not even about the turkey – it’s about the sides. Mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade noodles, dressing (not stuffing), homemade rolls, sweet potatoes, real cranberries, my Grandma’s salad, green bean casserole and, if we have time, scalloped corn. I know there are tons of fabulous recipes out there and amazing Thanksgiving dishes that would make a great addition to my table, but dang it, our…
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Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer Cake
I’m in that place again. I’m in that place where I have a birthday party looming in the not-so-distant future and I’ve done ZERO to get ready for it. I haven’t ordered my decorations, started crafting my banners or even planned the meal. The party is in eight days. Oh, and I have that whole job thing, plus kids and dance classes and dinners and bathtimes and storytimes and homework and about eleventy-bazillion deadlines to meet before then. I am fuh-reaaaak-ing out. Why do I…
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Salted Caramel Apple Slab Pie
You guys, I’m coming up on my four-year blogging anniversary. It was four years ago that I was planning my daughter’s fifth birthday party and had only just discovered food blogs myself. Pinterest wasn’t really even a thing then. Neither was Instagram. In fact, it wasn’t until I was a year in to this whole blogging thing that I even had a Facebook page for Lemon Sugar, and now we’re going strong with over 28,000 friends. Love. It. To commemorate the big day, I’ve…
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Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake
I totally bought an electric throw blanket last weekend. I am SO dreading the cold weather that I actually took my 30-something year old tushie to Target and bought an electric blanket. It’s like I woke up and was like, “How can I be MORE like my mother today?” Sorry, Mom. I dread the winter. I love the holidays, but I dread the cold, the wind, the leaf-less trees and dormant grass. I hate always being cold. I don’t like high heating bills and the…
