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Loaded Baked Potato Dip
I am so happy that life has settled down a little bit, and that I finally have more time to spend in the kitchen. April, May and June this year were just insane. My niece was born, my brother got married, May was a blur of holidays, birthdays, graduations and my blog redesign, and June found me camped out at the ballfields and gymnastics studio almost every night of the week. I had some serious blogging and baking withdrawal happening! Since we were on the…
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Cherry Almond Sour Cream Cake
Today has been a bit traumatic for me. I cleaned out the sippy-cup drawer. I threw them all away. My nearly-four-year-old has stopped using them, so into the trash they went.
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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…
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte
There’s a thing in this world…it’s called too much peanut butter. This is not that. This is the perfect amount of peanut butter. Which, I suppose is hard to measure because some people don’t like peanut butter. Who are these people? I’ve heard of them, but I’m not sure that I’ve ever met one of them. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m not even sure that there’s a thing called too much peanut butter. That’s probably not possible. This is what happens when…
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Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes
Have I ever told you about my brother-in-law? His name is Jacob. He’s a few years younger than me, but I’ve known him since he was about nine years old. He used to field relentless phone calls from me back when I discovered I was hopelessly in love with his big brother, back in my middle-school years. Jacob left our small town in Kansas for college, and has never moved back. He lived in Minneapolis for awhile, then Seattle, and now lives in New York…
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Anniversary Party
This past weekend, my siblings and I were honored to host a party celebrating our parent’s 40 years of marriage. We invited friends, family, co-workers, old neighbors – you name it. Even though it was a holiday weekend, we were happy to host over 80 people. Today’s blog post isn’t about food – although the food was pretty tasty – and it’s not about dessert – even though I made 12 dozen cupcakes. Today’s post is about family and friends and a lifetime built on…
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Lemon-Vanilla Sugar Cookies
I’m kind of in love with these cookies. They are the first sugar cookies I’ve ever made that taste like I imagine sugar cookies should. They’re soft, moist and have a slight vanilla and citrus undertone. A. Maze. Ing. In my opinion, sugar cookies should be thick and soft – and every recipe I’ve ever tried before has come out of the oven thin and crispy. Now, I realize that some of this is my fault. I probably rolled them too thin, and I probably…
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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
It’s official. Pumpkin season is here. I’m ready. I always try to hold off on the fall flavors until after my birthday, which is just a few days away, but I couldn’t help it. The time has come and now I’m all about autumn. I’ve actually made these muffins a few times before but never blogged them, but I couldn’t hold out on you anymore. These. Are. Fabulous. The muffins are the perfect blend of cinnamon and nutmeg, the pumpkin puree keeps them super-moist, and…
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Coffee Cake
I don’t have a lot of experience with coffee cake. It’s not a dessert that my family made when I was growing up, and with the exception of the school cafeteria version, I don’t believe I’d ever had it until my mother-in-law sent it home with my husband when we were in college. I’m not really sure why we never made it, it seems like something my Mom would be all over – white cake, sugar, butter…seems right up her alley! My husband absolutely loves a…
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Black Forest Pound Cake
You know what a grown-up dessert is, don’t you? My desserts get that label simply when my kids won’t eat them – usually because they aren’t sweet enough, or they have nuts or unfamiliar ingredients. (Or booze, but that’s captain obvious, right?) This one is a grown-up dessert. The chocolate is dark, it’s rich but light, and the sweetness comes from the whipped cream and cherry sauce. My kids did the “we’re gonna act like we like this so we don’t hurt your feelings” face…
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Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes
I’m grumpy today. I don’t really have a good reason to be, we’re leaving for a family vacation in exactly 22 hours. It’s a much-needed vacation, especially after the past several whirlwind weeks – it will be nice to just relax for a few days. Oh, did I mention that we’re road-tripping it? With two little girls? Maybe relax isn’t the right word. Today, I started making lists of all of the things I needed to do, remember and pack before we leave. The lists…
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Grandma’s Dinner Rolls
The other day I was cleaning one of the storage rooms in our basement and I came upon a basket of items I kept when we cleaned out my Grandma G’s house for the final time. I found a rosary, a couple of candy dishes, an old soapstone jewelry box she always kept on her dresser, and a blue apron that read “RUTHIE,” her first name. It immediately brought a smile to my face, and best of all, it still (9 years later) smells like her…
