• Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

    When I was growing up, our small town had an AMAZING little restaurant called the Old Ice Cream Shoppe.  It was in an old house that had been remodeled into a small-ish restaurant, with little wire tables and chairs, cute local decor on the walls and counter where you’d place your order for food or ice cream.  It was located just about two blocks from the elementary school, and stayed open late during the summers which made it the perfect spot for a treat after…

  • Samoa Sheet Cake

    So, first – let me tell you about my weekend.  Then we’ll get to this DELICIOUS Samoa Cake recipe. I took a couple of extra days off before the long Memorial Day weekend, mostly to prepare for my daughter’s birthday party and get the girls to and from dance recital and rehearsal, which this year fell on Thursday and Friday evening.  NBD.  Right? Yeah. So Thursday brought some (SCARY) severe weather to my part of the world, and of course that only happens when my…

  • Orange Sweet Rolls

    My to-do list today looked something like this:  clean the pantry for an upcoming photo-shoot.  Organize the mess on top of my desk.  Finish the laundry.  Go to the grocery store.  Decorate for Easter.  Put away the 2T clothes still in Mia’s closet *sniff*. See how productive I am in my head? Know what I actually did?  Yup.  I made Orange Sweet Rolls.

  • The Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever

    I’m kind of not kidding.  Although I didn’t name these waffles, they are honestly the best I’ve ever had.  Not that I’m a big waffle aficionado or anything, but I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect waffle recipe after we got married.  We received a really nice waffle iron as a gift, and I was determined to find a really nice recipe to go with it.

  • Spiced Apple Coffee Cake

    SERIOUSLY, what is with the ridiculous winter this year?  If I hear the term “Polar Vortex”  one more time, I just might lose it. Listen, I get that I live in the Midwest, and normally I am all about the changing seasons, but this winter has been particularly brutal and un-lovely. If it’s going to be minus umpteen million degrees, could we at least have a bit of snow?  And maybe ease up on the wind?   Please, Mother Nature? {Speaking of winter, I took…

  • Vanilla Latte Cupcakes

    There are three things that make these super-star cupcakes. One:  they’re cupcakes.  Duh.  Two:  they are infused with a sweet-coffee reduction, and three:  they’re topped with a sweet, stabilized whipped cream and homemade caramel sauce. Wait, is that four things?  Doesn’t matter.  If you love coffee, and heck, even if you don’t – YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. MAKE. THESE.

  • Five Layer Celebration Cake

    It’s my birthday!  Yay me!  I survived another year of this crazy life and I do believe we should celebrate. It really was a crazy year.  I found myself working from home, which has really been a blessing and a period in my life that I will always cherish.  I’ve spent more time with my kids, my husband and my family.  It was a happy year for my family; my youngest brother got married, my closest cousin got married, and I welcomed a new niece…

  • Spinach & Gruyere Quiche

    Every time I think of quiche, I am reminded of weekend shopping trips with my mom and sisters.  We’d leave early on a Saturday morning and head to the mall or shopping centers so we could be there when they’d open, and we’d shop until after lunchtime.  I can’t even imagine how much money we spent, but we hit every store in the shopping center, sometimes twice, until we were done.  After our marathon trip, we’d head out to eat a late lunch at the…

  • 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.…

  • Sweet Dinner Rolls & A Giveaway!

    *note:  this giveaway is now closed. Over the last several months, we’ve drastically reduced the amount of bread that we buy at the grocery store.  Now that I’ve become comfortable making yeast breads, there just isn’t a reason to buy it anymore.  Working with yeast used to intimidate me.  I have very vivid memories of my Grandma making rolls for Sunday dinner – not only was her dough the smoothest, most supple* bread dough I’ve ever seen, but the rolls themselves were fantastically amazing.  And…

  • Lemon Sunshine Cupcakes

    If you follow along on my Facebook page, you now know that I am not a big fan of storms.  In fact, that might be the understatement of the century.  If I have a phobia, storms are it.  Not just thunderstorms, I’m talking about full-on, hail and wind – tornadic storms. Growing up smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley, I’ve spent most of my life keenly aware of impending bad weather during the spring months.  When I was a kid and before the Weather…

  • Homemade Hamburger Buns

    Yes, I realize you can buy hamburger buns at the grocery store for, like, 79 cents. Yes, I realize that this takes far more effort and time than picking up a bag of easy, quick, cheap and adequately-tasty hamburger buns off the store shelves.  But. These are worth it.  Yes, store-bought hamburger buns are just fine.  But why spend all of that time making the perfect burger just to eat it on a tiny, flimsy mass-produced bun?  I promise that your effort will make your hamburgers taste even…