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Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Butter Cream
It was a year ago today that I first made this cake. Well, not this cake exactly – I can’t remember the exact flavor combination, but it was a big, heavy three-layer cake with fluffy frosting and glitter sprinkles everywhere.
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Irish Beer & Whiskey Cupcakes
If you’re like me, you might find yourself avoiding the plethora of “boozy” cupcake recipes that circulate the web. Since I’m more of a wine girl, recipes cooked with beer, whiskey and other liqueurs didn’t ever really call to me. Yes, some recipes call to me. And they don’t shut-up until I make them. It’s a problem. I’m not sure why I finally broke down and made these. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I’ve come to really love St. Patrick’s Day. …
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Cookies for Kids’ Cancer & A Giveaway!
For me, there is little worse than being sick over the holidays – especially baking holidays like Thanksgiving. I started feeling like I was coming down with something the day before Thanksgiving, and by the weekend I was completely down and out with Bronchitis. Needless to say, I didn’t do nearly the amount of baking I wanted to over the holiday – and I certainly didn’t eat as much as I wanted to – although I suppose maybe that’s a good thing. Now that I’m feeling…
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A Pantry Makeover Part 3: Glidden Paint
When we built our house just over five years ago, I was so overwhelmed with decisions that I just took the easy road when it came to our paint colors. With the exception of my daughter’s room, I went all-out subdivision beige. I just couldn’t make another decision. Floors, appliances, windows, furniture, lighting, faucets…I couldn’t do it. So, subdivision beige it was. Over the years, we’ve slowly been updating rooms to fit our taste and decor style. It’s been a slow, arduous process and I…
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Out and About: Road Trip to Omaha
This past week was a fun one for my little family. We opted for a stay-cation this year, and spent the week pretty close to home. We took our girls to Worlds of Fun, our local amusement park one day, spent a day lounging around and doing not much of anything, and then spent a couple of days road-tripping it. Destination: Omaha. Omaha is just about a 3-hour drive from our home near Kansas City, so it really made an ideal, quick road trip. Since…
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A Beach Birthday Party
Well, I survived. I survived my first party since I’ve gone back to work in an office environment, and it was a success. Now, I didn’t cook – it was catered, I just did the baking, and I had a little help from the candy aisle at the grocery store, but somehow I pulled off a cute little beach party in the middle of November and lived to talk about it. My Madeline turned eight years old this week, and as much work as it…
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Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Cookie Frosting
So, close your eyes for a minute, and imagine with me. Wait, don’t close your eyes yet. You have to read this first. Ok, in a minute, you’re going to close your eyes and imagine a soft, perfectly-chocolate cupcake. It peels away from the wrapper in one piece, and is just strong enough to hold the weight of the frosting without being too dense or heavy. You bite through a soft, sweet layer of peanut butter “cookie” nestled atop a generous layer of dark, slightly-sweet…
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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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Mini Doughnuts with Honey Vanilla Glaze
When it comes to doughnuts, I might be the pickiest person out there. I don’t like Krispy Kreme, grocery store, convenience store, pre-packaged or even most bakery doughnuts. To be a good doughnut, they have to be fried, glazed doughnuts. You know, the old fashioned kind with the light batter and the flaky glaze that gets all over everything when you eat them. The kind I like are super hard to find…there are only a handful of doughnut shops that I’ve ever found that still make them…
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Tiny Chocolate Tortes
Ok, so I have a confession to make. While cleaning up after hosting brunch this morning for Mother’s Day, I may have picked up one of these babies with my bare hands, plopped a big helping of fresh whipped cream on top and shoved almost the whole thing in my mouth. It took less than ten seconds, but it was undoubtedly ten of the best seconds of my life. These are fantastic. You should probably drop everything you’re doing and go make these, right now.…
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Robin’s Egg Cupcakes
Now that Easter is just a few days away and our menu for Easter dinner is complete, I’m already making plans and to-do lists for next Easter. There are just so many cute ideas out there that I can’t possibly squeeze them all into one year. And, although this blog allows me the excuse to experiment and bake lots of goodies all of the time, I’m always faced with the difficult decision of crossing off recipes, crafts and plans and saving them for next time.…
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Homemade Ricotta Cheese
My youngest brother is getting married in the spring. In preparation for the Groom’s family duties, my Mom, sisters and I are beginning the process of scoping out locations for their rehearsal dinner. Last night, while pouring over menus, venues and prices, I came across my favorite Italian restaurant, Lidia’s. I love that place. Everything is made from scratch with fresh ingredients – from their bread to their pasta to their marinara and ricotta cheese…and that’s exactly the reason their food tastes so much better.…
