• Homemade Marshmallow Peeps

    You’ve had Peeps candies, right?  Is there anyone out there who hasn’t?  I used to absolutely despise them when I was a kid.  My mom loved them,so it was without fail that we always had a package or two (or five) in our Easter baskets – to me, they had a funky food-coloring taste and were always a little too squishy.  Blech. But then, at some point, we (my siblings and I) discovered two things.  One, that stale Peeps are way better than fresh Peeps.  They get…

  • A Pantry Makeover with Organized Living™ (Part 1: Before)

    Ok.  I feel like I need to make excuses and be defensive about my pantry for a minute. First of all, yes, the picture above is my pantry.  This is what my pantry looked like the day after my daughter’s Rainbow Party just a few weeks ago. I’m not proud. I have an awesome pantry, which was a requirement when we built our house five years ago.  In fact, we even made it bigger than the plans originally called for because it wasn’t quite big…

  • Fried Pickles with Spicy Ranch

    You know when you get a craving and it just won’t go away? Yep, you guessed it.  I’ve been craving fried pickles for about six months now.  I’m not really sure why.  I don’t really crave fried foods, ever…but something about warm, battered pickles dipped in cool ranch dressing just does it for me, I guess. I’m just exuding classiness, aren’t I?

  • Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

    There are a few things that I’m powerless against.  I cannot say no to chips & salsa, guacamole, fried pickles, sweet potato fries and pumpkin spice lattes.  Ooh – and nachos. It is nearly impossible for me to walk by a coffee house in the fall without ordering a pumpkin spice latte.  It draws me in.  They are definitely one of my favorite fall treats.  I’ve seen the recipe for homemade pumpkin spice lattes all over the blogosphere and on Pinterest for years now, but…

  • 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…

  • Homemade Ding Dongs

    Me and my big ideas, right?  Sometimes, there’s a reason that desserts are mass-produced in huge factories with their fancy ding-dong shaping machines and magical ding-dong dipping pools full of chocolate.  They probably even have their own version of Oompa-Loompas, perfectly injecting each one with just the right amount of marshmallow cream. I just have little old me.  And a three-year-old helper – who happens to love marshmallow cream – and ALWAYS, ALWAYS manages to drop a spoon, beater or spatula dipped in the stuff…

  • 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.

  • Snowball Cupcakes

    We have had some FANTASTIC weather around here for the first part of December – 70 degree temperature-sunshiny-beautiful weather, and I love it.  The girls are still playing outside, we were able to decorate the outside of our house for Christmas without getting frostbite, and I’ve yet to really break out my winter coat.  In December.  Unreal.

  • Share-It Saturday: Week 7

    How is it already Saturday again?  Last week flew by…we had an extra event every single day of the week, so today we’re just going to relax.  Well, by relax I mean catch up on laundry, try to get my house back in order and mow the lawn.  Incidentally, I’ve forgotten how often you have to mow when it’s not 105 degrees and actually raining a couple of times a week. If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to enter to win a KitchenAid Artisan Mixer in the…

  • Glazed Doughnut Muffins

    I first saw this recipe on Pinterest several months ago.  They claimed to taste exactly like a Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut.  I pinned them and forgot about them (isn’t that what usually happens on Pinterest?) but came across them again recently and haven’t been able to stop thinking about them.  First of all, let me assure you that they taste absolutely NOTHING like a Krispy Kreme doughnut.  They do, however, taste like a cinnamon and nutmeg infused cake doughnut.  They are a wonderful morning treat,…

  • Hot Chocolate Cake with Homemade Marshmallows

    So, my daughter’s 7th birthday is next week.  First of all, it’s really just not possible that she’s turning seven years old.  Not possible.  Second of all, this means that I have a big family party looming on the horizon. That means my house has to be cleaned.  It also means I need to plan a menu, figure out decorations and – oh yeah – do all that cooking and baking without undoing all of the cleaning and planning.

  • Superbowl Recipe Roundup

    Can you believe we’re already gearing up for Super Bowl Sunday?   My team is nowhere near Super Bowl status (ever), but it’s really about the parties and the commercials anyway, isn’t it?