• Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

    Today is my sister Megan’s 32nd birthday.  Since I’m using birthdays and special occasions as an outlet for my recently stifled baking habit, I asked her what kind of cupcakes she wanted…and after a week’s worth of deliberation (seriously) we narrowed it down to two things.  The first one is Key Lime Pie Cupcakes.  The second will be posted as soon as I can get to it! I couldn’t find a recipe that matched exactly what I wanted, so I did a lot of research…

  • Oatmeal Cream Pies

    I am embarrassed to say that I have eaten an entire box of Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies in one sitting.  It was a long time ago, but it was not one of my finer moments.  These days, I won’t even buy them because they’re full of preservatives, high fructose corn syrup and sugar…I won’t keep them in the house in hopes of keeping that junk away from my girls as long as I can. Instead, I like to make treats at home so I can…

  • Homemade Pizza Sauce

    I know, it’s almost too good to be true.  Karen, from The Art of Doing Stuff, graciously agreed to guest post for us here today!  If you’ve never been to her site, you must drop everything and go for a visit.  She does it ALL.  I’ve been following Karen for a long time now, and I have to say that her blog is among my first stops every morning.  But the best part?  She has CHICKENS!  And, she got her chickens at the same time…

  • A Playroom Makeover: Part 2

    First things first, if you haven’t read Part 1, go back and read it now. Good?  Ok. After we got all of the construction, painting and cleaning behind us, it was time to do the fun stuff – it was time to make the room look like what we’d been envisioning for almost a year now.  Because we adore everything about our new pantry, we teamed up with Organized Living to give our two little girls a bright, clean & efficient play room.  Their bedrooms…

  • Out and About: P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home

    I’m just going to apologize in advance.  This is going to be one of those picture heavy posts, and it pains me to say that I cut it waaaaayyy down from my original selection of photos.  But there’s just so dang much to see, so hang in there and trust me on this one! A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about our last-minute anniversary trip to Eureka Springs.  We spent half of a day wandering around and eating our way through the city, then…

  • 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.…

  • Strawberries & Cream Cupcakes

    If you’re like me, visiting the produce section of the grocery store in the middle of winter is a huge let-down.  While I do love the changing of the seasons, living in the middle of the country really limits what we can easily purchase when it comes to fruits and vegetables- yes, you can buy strawberries in January, but they are usually smaller, less flavorful and always on the verge of spoiling by the time you get them home. Because we are always left scurrying…

  • Champagne Cupcakes

    There’s something wrong with this picture.  Right now, I’m hanging out in my living room while my kids are napping.  For some reason, the movie Twister is playing on my television.  I’m wearing my oldest, most comfortable yoga pants and my hair is in a ponytail.  There’s a basket of freshly laundered kitchen towels staring at me, begging to be folded before they become a wrinkly mess. And I’m writing about champagne cupcakes.  Such is my life, I suppose. Here’s the thing, though.  These look fancy,…

  • Chocolate Sundae Cupcakes

    I made these cupcakes for my daughter’s 5th birthday party.  It was one of those family gatherings in the middle of the afternoon, not knowing how many were coming and how hungry my guests would be…and of course I over-did it.  I did try a number of new recipes for the event and had some good success, so I will post them as I can! These are chocolate cupcakes with vanilla swiss buttercream frosting.  I’d never had swiss buttercream before, but I’m so glad I tried…

  • Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

    So, this isn’t really a food recipe, but it’s super hot outside, and I had four pounds of lemons in a pretty bowl on my kitchen counter. (Am I the only one who decorates with lemons? They’re my favorite centerpiece and kitchen decor item.) And, since I recently discovered my Grandma’s old juicer I figured a big pitcher of fresh-squeezed lemonade was in order. It REALLY hit the spot after a few hours of working in our gardens. I’m a lemon-person anyway (obviously, hence the…

  • Dipped Vanilla Sprinkle Cupcakes

    When my husband and I finished college, we moved to the suburbs and built our first house together.  We both grew up in a small town, out in the country, and I think we were ready to give “city living” a try.  We built a great first house not far from the police station where my husband works and relatively close to my job.  Then, my first daughter was born.  She wasn’t even six months old when we realized that we wanted her to have…

  • One Hour Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

    This is officially the third time I’ve used my One Hour Cinnamon Roll Dough on the blog.  There was the original, the Cherry Sweet Rolls, and now these. I think these win. These are Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls, and they’re fabulous. Oh yeah- and they can be made start to finish in an hour.  No big whoop. YES.  ONE HOUR.  CINNAMON ROLLS IN ONE HOUR, FOLKS! So today, we changed it up a bit – I added some sticky-sweet pecans to the filling, and doused…