• 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,…

  • S’mores Cheesecake

    Oh, heeyyy! It’s been a few days, no?  Don’t worry, pretties.  I’ve been a-ok.  Me and my s’mores cheesecake – we’ve been juuuuust fine.  Oh, and also – let’s address this right up front – did you know that my husband isn’t a “big cheesecake fan?” Like, WHAT? He just CASUALLY mentioned that to me in passing tonight.  How is that even possible?  Cheesecake is pretty much what life is about, right?  Buttery graham cracker crust, thick and creamy filling?  How can he not L-O-V-E…

  • Apple Pie

    I’ve mentioned before that I was practically raised on pie.  Every holiday (and sometimes just Sunday Dinner) during my childhood involved at least two pies, but more like five or six, of every variety you could possibly dream of.  My favorite summertime pie is apple…mmm…warm apple pie with cold vanilla ice cream.  Heaven on a plate! My mom makes the best apple pie I’ve ever had, but when I ask her how she makes it she says, “Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that.” …

  • Peach Streusel Slab Pie

    Last week was just one of those weeks.  We were coming off the first week of school, which is always a bit earth-shattering as we settle back into our normal routines, but we also started our weekend with a funeral.  My husband’s grandfather passed away, which was sad and complicated and full of all the feels you would expect, and my niece was already five days old and I’d barely even held her yet because I’d been so busy.  And then, I threw my back…

  • Castello Moments: A Roundup of Recipes

    Last week I shared a recipe with you, for Cheesy Potato Gratin, made with Castello’s Hirten Cheese.  Many of my fellow bloggers also participated in this recipe development program, which was sponsored by Honest Cooking Magazine and Castello Cheese.  After browsing their submissions, I wanted to be sure to share them all with you as well, because these seriously talented cooks came up with some fabulous recipes. Take a few minutes and check them out.  Hope you find yourself as inspired as I did –…

  • Sugar Cookie Bars

    ****I’m on Facebook!  Click {here} to follow along, and Welcome!**** Last weekend I had big plans to make sugar cookies for a friend of mine, but I ran out of time. I made the dough but knew if I baked them that I wouldn’t have time to decorate them.  Instead, I wrapped up the dough and froze it for future use.  Well, turns out I couldn’t stand having cookie dough in my freezer.  I wanted to use it.  So I did.  So there. There’s a…

  • Iced Oatmeal Cookies

    In my mind, there are only three excuses for a crispy cookie:  gingersnaps, Oreos, and a few that you can buy from the Girl Scouts. That’s it. Otherwise, cookies should be chewy.  It should be a law. Oh, I guess biscotti is ok too – but I don’t really consider that  a cookie, (even though it totally is a cookie) so I’m not going to count it.  But even so, out of all of the millions of cookies out there, only four should be crispy.…

  • Fauxstess Cupcakes

    I can’t even count how many times I’ve made these cupcakes.  These were one of the very first blog posts on Lemon Sugar, back when I was taking pictures with my iPhone and just doing a little baking for my family and friends.  I had no idea how much I would grow to love blogging about and taking pictures of food.  In fact, 5 years ago, I probably would not have believed you if you told me I’d have a food blog, a fancy camera with…

  • Lemon Sunshine Cupcakes

    If you follow along on my Facebook page, you now know that I am not a big fan of storms.  In fact, that might be the understatement of the century.  If I have a phobia, storms are it.  Not just thunderstorms, I’m talking about full-on, hail and wind – tornadic storms. Growing up smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley, I’ve spent most of my life keenly aware of impending bad weather during the spring months.  When I was a kid and before the Weather…

  • Instant Party with Bacardi Mixers pt 1

    This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BACARDI® Mixers for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.   You know by now that I love to entertain and host parties so I’m always looking for a reason to celebrate.  Like the old adage “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” there is always something to celebrate – and it’s not terribly difficult to find it if you just look.   For instance, last week my husband and I were celebrating the last week of softball.…

  • Dark Chocolate Dipped Energy Bites

    It happens occasionally, that I’m going about my day, maybe enjoying a little energy bite out of my refrigerator when I’m like,  WAIT!  Why haven’t I shared these with you guys yet? I guess I get tunnel vision sometimes, always dreaming up the latest and greatest dessert idea that I guess I just overlook my everyday favorites. This is totally an everyday favorite. I’ve been making these energy bites for a couple of years now.  I’ve adapted the original recipe just a teensy-bit, but recently decided…

  • Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes

    Have I ever told you about my brother-in-law?  His name is Jacob.  He’s a few years younger than me, but I’ve known him since he was about nine years old.  He used to field relentless phone calls from me back when I discovered I was hopelessly in love with his big brother, back in my middle-school years. Jacob left our small town in Kansas for college, and has never moved back.  He lived in Minneapolis for awhile, then Seattle, and now lives in New York…