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Just Cherry Pie
It’s just really been a strange week. We were supposed to be in Mexico, celebrating not only our anniversary but my husband’s birthday as well. Because we were planning to lay on the beach and drink fruity drinks to celebrate, I didn’t plan the usual birthday celebration with dinner, guests, dessert and gifts. I feel bad that my hubs kind of got the short end of the birthday stick this year, but promised him that we’ll celebrate his birthday on our rescheduled trip. So, in…
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Easy Marinara Sauce
So, if a magic genie in a lantern gave me three wishes, I think mine might be for 1) money (duh), 2) more wishes (also duh) and 3) that pasta would become a health food. As in, I could eat it all day every day and have the same results as if I lived on raw green veggies. I’m really not kidding. And don’t try to tell me that you wouldn’t wish for money or more wishes, because that’s what makes the game fun.
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Share-It Saturday: Week 5
Is it just me or did that week fly by? I guess it was a short week with the holiday on Monday, but even still I feel like I was just sorting through last week’s Share-It Saturday submissions – which, by the way were fantastic! As always it was difficult to choose my favorites, and this week, the sweet treats won. With fall right around the corner, I was immediately drawn to the Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts from What’s Cooking In The Burbs. Have you…
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Three Layer Oreo Bars
So my life goes like this: yesterday my husband was out with his buddies, so I had an evening to myself. The girls went to bed at 8pm, and I marched right now the stairs, made a big glass of iced tea, bought the girliest-chick-flick ever, and pulled out my big stack of neglected magazines. It was awesome…for about three minutes. Precisely three minutes into my chick-flick, my youngest daughter was calling from the top of the stairs. It was “fundering” and she was scared.…
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Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
I have to preface this post by noting that I don’t really care for vanilla cupcakes. They’re just ok, in my book, kind of boring. If I had to choose a cupcake, it would almost always be chocolate. That being said, I am pretty in love with this little guy. Vanilla-y, moist, and seriously, the creamiest batter you’ll ever whip up. It’s really the perfect base for any frosting you have in mind. One caveat – I think these are definitely best if eaten the…
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Rigatoni with Creamy Marsala Sauce
I know, it’s surprising. Another pasta dish! This is a new one for us, but it sounded good tonight and we had all of the ingredients so we decided to try it out. This pasta is actually called “Rigatoni di Gregorio” but since I changed it a little, I’m not sure that it really qualifies as such anymore. We grilled the chicken instead of pan-frying it, and I added green olives in lieu of parsley, mostly because my girls won’t eat “green stuff” on their…
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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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Perfect Sweet Tea
Today was a good day. I was kind of expecting a quiet, boring day because it’s cold and dreary outside and I had tons of work to do. But as the day went along, it just kept getting better and better. A message out of the blue from an old friend. A super-cuddly three-year-old. Maddie brought home a kindness award from school. A late dinner with my family, at the table, talking about our day. Easy bedtimes. A clean house. A cute…
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Hot Corn Dip
Who doesn’t love a good dip, right? In fact, I’m getting to the stage in my life when a good dip (or lack thereof) can make or break a good party. Now, exactly what that says about me is not the issue right now, but what I know for 100% sure is that this dip is yum. o. I’ve had Trisha Yearwood’s Home Cooking cookbook for a couple of years, and I have to tell you that I had some serious doubts about her back…
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Peach Pie with Buttermilk Crust
I’ve eaten approximately 167 peaches this week. That’s because when I go shopping for produce, and I see big, fleshy, perfectly ripe, juicy peaches, I feel the need to buy three of four bags of them. I can’t say no. I’ve really tried. But then, as I’m walking away, this little voice inside my head reminds me that peaches are not a year-round thing. If I don’t eat them now, if I don’t stuff myself full of them, then it’s going to be a long,…
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Smith Island Cake
Sometimes, I love long, time-consuming recipes that I can work on a little bit at a time over the course of a day or two. I tend to over-book myself sometimes, so I frequently find myself baking against a deadline – which is fine and definitely keeps me on task – but occasionally, it’s nice to bake at a slow, leisurely pace. This is the perfect cake for a long day of baking. While I could have done the whole thing in a couple of…
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Deep Dish Pizza
When I was growing up, my Mom owned a newspaper and publishing company. This was an awesome job for her because it gave her the flexibility to be home with the kids when she needed to. However, it also meant that once or twice a week she had to work later in the evening to cover city council meetings or hang out until the paper was ready to go to press. This meant that my Dad was responsible for dinner for 5 kids once or…
