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Baked Tex-Mex Cheese Dip
This is my new favorite casual party appetizer. I’ve been on a roasted red pepper kick lately, so when I saw this recipe last month I knew I had to have it. I brought it to my nephew’s first birthday party last weekend and it was a hit – I was actually kind of sad that I had to share it with everyone. I was even more sad when there were no leftovers to take home with me. My sister makes a delicious spinach dip, and…
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Homemade Vanilla Extract
If you’ve spent much time at all in the kitchen, you understand how essential good-quality vanilla is to the outcome of your desserts. The problem is, REALLY good vanilla is also REALLY expensive. Even the grocery-store options are relatively expensive, and they don’t even compare to the good stuff. To buy a bottle of top-quality vanilla, you’re going to spend nearly $20, and if you do a lot of baking, that’s quite an investment! So, as you can imagine, I was overjoyed to find this…
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Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes
For those of you who have followed this blog for any time at all, you know that I have a pretty snobby aversion to boxed cake mix and pretty much any and all convenience food. That’s not to say that I don’t still have my favorites (Rotel dip, Dean’s French Onion Dip, store-bought Hawaiian bread, etc.) but generally speaking I’m of the opinion that anything you can make from scratch is not only better for you, but it almost always tastes better. Way better. Once…
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Share It Saturday: Week #3
I’m so impressed by the amazing recipes shared last week! I had a hard time choosing the features for this week – a REALLY hard time. Please do yourself a favor and check them out. Claudia at The Story shared her broccoli souffle. Doesn’t this look amazing? I’ve admittedly never made a souffle, but I’m going to have to try now. Joan at Chocolate, Chocolate & More Chocolate came through, as always, with a fabulous dessert. Honey Buns are probably my favorite pre-made bakery item,…
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Mickey Mouse Party
My little nephew turned one year old yesterday. He’s just the cutest, cuddliest, happiest kid ever. He’s the result of my {Lemon Drop Cupcakes} from a year ago, the first time we experimented with the secret lemon-juice-theory recipe. Who knows if it worked, or if this little guy was just ready to come into the world, but I can’t imagine my life without my favorite bald-headed monster. My sister hosted a big Mickey Mouse party and we all had a great time. I thought you…
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Pumpkin Kisses Muffins
I’ve had an extra box of spice cake mix in my pantry since last winter. I used it to make pumpkin cake balls, and it’s just been staring at me, taking up space since then. I had a vague recollection of a Pinterest recipe floating around the inter-webs that claimed to be the best ever pumpkin muffins, using just cake mix and pumpkin puree. So, I thought today would be a great time to try it out! Of course, a two-ingredient recipe wouldn’t cut it…
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Red Velvet Truffle Brownies
So, it’s almost time to start thinking about Thanksgiving dinner, right? Almost time to start planning our meals, which stretchy pants we’re going to wear, and how to make it from point A to point B in under an hour and eat a full meal at both places without offending either party. Right? Yes. But first, before I can even go THERE, I have an eight year old’s birthday party to plan and execute. A Teen Beach Movie birthday party, at that. Because you know, it’s…
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Cinnamon Roll Cake
My oldest daughter is getting ready to start first grade. I am in denial. In my eyes, she’s still my sweet little girl who loves her fluffy stuffed sheep and wants me to read “Pat the Bunny” over and over again. She’s still the little girl with curly blonde pigtails, big blue eyes and ruffles on her rompers. So, you can imagine my surprise when I took her clothes shopping today and she told me that the shoes she wants, Sketchers Twinkle Toes, are “so,…
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American Kitchen Stories
When I think back on my childhood, then to my college years, and now to my adult life (I use the term adult loosely), many of my happiest and most vivid memories took place in a kitchen. When I think of family gatherings, I’m always transported to a kitchen. When I was a teenager, we had a phone with a long white cord in our kitchen – and I spent many nights laying on my kitchen floor talking to my now husband. On Sundays, all…
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Creamy Skillet Mac & Cheese
My oldest daughter is learning a hard lesson this week. She’s found her independence a bit, and has used her new-found “power” to voice her opinions rather loudly and forcefully to her Dad and me. In other words, she’s a back-talking fool. We’ve noticed it more lately, the back-talking with a twinge of sassy-attitude, and it’s just gotten worse. She’s particularly offended by chores it seems, and when her Dad told her to go “pick up the office a little bit before lunch,” she did…
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Red Velvet Poke Cake
Yep. Kinda obsessed with the ol’ poke cake. I actually have yet another one coming soon. But since I’m 100% convinced that you can’t have too many poke-cake recipes, I’m not going to worry about it one little bit. The world cannot have too many poke cakes. And it’s possible that I say this about EVERY poke cake I make, but this one is my favorite. There’s actually no contest. This is the best. Until the next one, I know, but still. So far –…
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Mini Apple Crumb Sundaes
I’m not sure that ANYTHING screams summertime dessert more than apple pie. But even more, apple pie with ice cream? Not much better than that. And while I love a good pie, they can really be a major undertaking – from the crust to the filling to crossing your fingers that they set up like they’re supposed to – that’s a lot of dessert-stress that sometimes I just don’t want to deal with. I hosted my extended family gathering for the 4th of July this…
