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Oatmeal Cake Cupcakes
Today is my Dad’s Birthday! The whole family is headed out to celebrate with an early dinner at one of his favorite restaurants. And though I know we’ll have dessert at the restaurant, I couldn’t let his birthday go by without baking for him, could I? =) Dad’s favorite cake is a recipe of his mom’s, her amazing Oatmeal Cake. That cake is awesome, it’s a spicy, coarse-crumbed cake with an ooey-gooey boiled coconut frosting. For some reason, it didn’t work as a cupcake. I tried, but it…
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Healthy Chicken Salad
As I’m sure is the case with many of you, January always brings a renewed focus on health and fitness in our household. The gluttony of November and December is long-gone, and the reality of dusty treadmills and suddenly snug pants starts to sink in. So, we happily dig out our favorite healthy recipes, and wonder why we ever stopped eating them in the first place. I don’t know what it is about November and December – I know there’s a lot of food around…
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Toasted Coconut Cupcakes
I am definitely a chocolate person. Except for the occasional carrot cake, I will almost always choose chocolate over any other cake flavor. Vanilla cakes are just so…vanilla. I am trying, though. I am trying to like vanilla-based cakes. I’ve made several of them for this blog, in fact. Yet, I’m still on a mission to find the perfect “white” cake…one that will make me change my mind – the one that will end my love affair with chocolate. My wedding cake is, so far,…
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I Love You Brownies
Brownies have to be one of my all-time favorite deserts. I mean, for one thing, they’re chocolate. They’re sweet, soft, and are just begging for a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a tall glass of cold milk. There’s just not much better than that. Unless you’re one of those people who don’t like chocolate. If that’s the case, I can’t imagine how you landed on my little blog – but anyway, have you had your head checked lately? You don’t like chocolate? Are…
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Creamy Baked Pasta
I love pasta. I really, really love pasta. I seriously think I could eat it every day and never tire of it. Since my husband doesn’t really share my obsession, we don’t eat it as often as I would like, so I tend to save it for the nights he’s working and I’m just cooking for myself and the girls. However, I made this earlier in the week and JR really liked it too, so I guess that says something! The best thing about it…
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Spinach Queso Dip
So, let’s talk football. My family is obsessed. College football on Saturday, NFL on Sunday, Monday and even Thursday sometimes. High school football on Friday nights, fantasy football leagues everywhere I turn, and pick-up games of catch before and after Sunday dinner. Now, I like football as much as the next person (ok, well maybe a *tiny* bit less), but I have to say that I get more excited about the football parties and the tailgating than I do the actual games. And right at…
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Peanut Butter Cups
Since I’ve discovered that it’s insanely easy to make your own peanut butter, I’ve gone a bit crazy with it. I had four jars in my pantry, and while we do go through a lot of peanut butter, it would be awhile before we could make a dent in that. Cue the peanut butter desserts. Wait, scratch that. Cue the easy, no-bake peanut butter desserts with only four ingredients! Seriously, can’t beat that! The most difficult thing about this recipe is melting the chocolate. If…
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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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Strawberry Supreme Cake
I am a cookbook junkie. I have them all. Yes – I’m pretty sure that I own every cookbook published after 2009. … Ok, this is obviously not true. It’s not possible. But judging by my overflowing bookcases, the baskets on my hearth and the stacks on my coffee table – I’m pretty sure I have most of them. Especially if they have anything to do with baking or desserts or my blogging friends. I might need an intervention. But see what I’m REALLY trying…
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Almond Joy Cupcakes
I’m pretty sure I told you in a recent post that we’ve cleaned up our eating habits in our household since the beginning of the year. Nothing crazy, but just a renewed focus on eating healthy, real food and avoiding processed, chemical-ly food. We don’t do diets, because we’ve learned over the years that they just don’t work. I really don’t have much trouble passing up all of the goodies that I bake anyway, a taste or two will usually suit me just fine. But…
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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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Pico de Gallo
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Since the hubs and I are in serious diet mode right now in preparation for our upcoming trip to MEXICO, we won’t be getting celebrating with food this year. We’ll save our margaritas and guacamole for our trip, but I still wanted to share one of my favorite Cinco de Mayo recipes with you today. This recipe makes me happy. For one, it’s healthy. (Ok, it’s healthy if you eat it with a spoon. Dipping a whole bag of chips in it…
