• Make-Ahead Game Day Recipes

    March Madness is here! It’s my favorite holiday. Yes. Basketball tournament time is a holiday around here. Everyone fills out brackets, skips work (or takes reaaallly long lunch-breaks) on Thursday and Friday during the first two weeks, and you can’t go far without spotting someone sporting their team colors. There’s nothing worse than the disappointment when your team gets bumped, and there isn’t much better than rooting for your team as they make it deeper into the tourney. My team won a few years ago,…

  • King Cake, Filled Two Ways

    I’m feeling very out-of-sorts and distracted today.  We’re in the middle of a very busy week, mostly the fault of my first grader.  Between after-school basketball camp, dance class, gymnastics and a dance-clinic performance, our evenings are shot.  Oh, dinner you say?  What’s that?  Laundry?  How many times can you wear a pair of jeans before they’re truly dirty?

  • Chocolate Chip Scones

    Many years ago, my husband (then boyfriend) went to London with his family.  I stayed home in Kansas and sulked for ten days…not just because I missed him, but also because he was going to London, without me.

  • One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

    So, I’ve told you guys that I’m married to a cop before, yes? Well, I am.  Actually though, as of last week, he’s now a detective – which is kind of cool in an “I-want-to-be-a-detective-when-I-grow-up” kind of way.

  • Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread

    I have to say that I’m a bit relieved that the holiday season is over.  The last six weeks have been a total blur.  Shopping, parties, planning, cleaning, baking, wrapping (oh, the wrapping…).

  • Bacon, Egg & Pepper Jack on Toasted Ciabatta

    Uncharacteristic trait of a food blogger number 982:  I don’t really like eggs.  Clearly, I eat my fair share of them in baked goods,  and I even enjoy quiche.  Plain old eggs, though, I can’t really get behind. Runny yolks?  Don’t get me started.  (But why?  Why would you eat runny yolks? Help me understand!)

  • Pumpkin Bagels & Whipped Pumpkin Cream Cheese

    Story time! Once upon a time, I bought my very first pumpkin bagel with pumpkin schmear at my local bagel shop.  I loved it so much that I went back at lunchtime and bought another one.  I tried to go back after work for another one but the bagel shop closed at 3pm so I had to wait until the next morning.  On the third day (yes, THIRD day) of this behavior, the cashier said to me, “Wow, you must really love these bagels.” I think I…

  • Homemade Crescent Rolls

    I come from a family of nappers.  Well, I should rephrase that a bit.  My Mom and sisters could win a napping competition against the best nappers in the whole wide universe.  I guess I wouldn’t call my Dad a napper, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brothers nap.  But whatever.  I come from half a family of nappers.   I, though, am not a napper.  Napping makes me feel worse than if I didn’t take a nap at all.  I know there…

  • Sweet Dinner Rolls & A Giveaway!

    *note:  this giveaway is now closed. Over the last several months, we’ve drastically reduced the amount of bread that we buy at the grocery store.  Now that I’ve become comfortable making yeast breads, there just isn’t a reason to buy it anymore.  Working with yeast used to intimidate me.  I have very vivid memories of my Grandma making rolls for Sunday dinner – not only was her dough the smoothest, most supple* bread dough I’ve ever seen, but the rolls themselves were fantastically amazing.  And…

  • Honey Beer Bread

    I’m kind of a beer snob.  I have a very short list of beers that I’ll even drink.  So, when I saw this recipe I wasn’t totally excited about it.  I know that beer does wonderful things for chocolate cake and batters for deep frying, but bread? For some reason though, I kept coming back to this.  After further consideration, I decided that beer would probably lend a great, malty flavor to this bread and that it was worth a try.  Turns out I was…

  • Stuffed Crust Pizza

    This has been an extremely busy month for my little family.  Between my husband’s work schedule, birthdays, graduations, anniversary parties and my oldest daughter’s last days of Kindergarten (and all that comes with it), T-Ball, dance class and gymnastics, we’ve been running in a million different directions.  Dinner has become almost an afterthought lately…let’s just say there have been a lot of turkey sandwiches and cereal for dinner this month.  I know, I know.  Bad food blogger. Today, I noticed we were on the same…

  • Pretzel Dogs

    I generally don’t care for hot dogs.  I won’t go into detail, but I pretty much find them to be wrong on many, many levels.  That being said, there are moments in life when a hot dog sounds like a fantastic idea. For instance – sporting events.  Hot dogs always taste good at baseball games, soccer games, basketball games, football games…well – I suppose they are always better when they come from a concession stand. My Dad makes an amazing grilled hot dog.  He cooks…