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Sugar Cookie Bars
****I’m on Facebook! Click {here} to follow along, and Welcome!**** Last weekend I had big plans to make sugar cookies for a friend of mine, but I ran out of time. I made the dough but knew if I baked them that I wouldn’t have time to decorate them. Instead, I wrapped up the dough and froze it for future use. Well, turns out I couldn’t stand having cookie dough in my freezer. I wanted to use it. So I did. So there. There’s a…
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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…
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Erin’s favorite recipes from 2012
As we say goodbye to 2012, it’s fun to reflect on everything that happened during the year. My family had a wonderful year full of blessings. We celebrated my parent’s 35th wedding anniversary in May. We traveled to the beach with our extended family, filling up three beach houses. My oldest daughter completed Kindergarten and started 1st grade. We coached T-ball, we celebrated 1st birthdays for my niece and nephew, and found out my brother and sister are expecting again. We attended dance recitals, hosted…
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Pumpkin Crumb Cake
So yeah, this is another pumpkin cake. And yeah, I thought I had sworn off pumpkin recipes for at least a week or two, but as it turns out I was pretty much completely wrong. Pumpkin does that to you. It has magical powers. Did you know I met someone last week who said they didn’t like pumpkin? And I was like, “REALLY?!?!?” And they were like, well, I’ve never really tried it. And then I was like, “Oh.” And then there was an awkward…
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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…
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A Pantry Makeover Part 4: Glidden Paint
Several weeks ago, we took on the daunting task of updating and renovating our walk-in pantry. When we built our house five years ago, pantry functionality and design was, unfortunately, not high on our priority list. Given how frequently we use that little room, it’s really a shame we put it off so long. My friends over at Glidden® paint made the process so much easier. After submitting a few of my inspiration photos to their online My Image Inspiration tool , I was actually able…
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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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Neapolitan Layer Cake with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
How fun is this cake? If you’ve been reading my blog, back in February I talked about my sister and her trouble making a decision for her birthday treat. She ended up choosing the Key Lime Cupcakes which turned out to be a fabulous decision because they were wonderful. This was the contender, the cake that made her decision so difficult that week. I knew I had to make this one, but needed the perfect excuse because it’s so time consuming. We celebrated Easter at…
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25 Amazing Cupcake Recipes
I get many emails from readers every day, and 90 percent of them ask me one of two questions: 1) Can I make a gluten/allergy/fat/sugar/oil/butter/dairy free version of xyz recipe? If so, how? And two: I have an event coming up and I need to make a dessert – what would you suggest? So, the answers are: 1) yes, but I’ve never done it so I can’t vouch for results and 2) um, all of them?
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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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Meatball Subs & Potato Chips
It wasn’t long ago that I told you about my love for sandwiches. Sometimes, I just get a craving and nothing will satisfy it until I just go out and get the real thing – and yesterday I almost caved. I wanted nothing more than to jump in the car and go find the closest meatball sub sandwich I could. But, since I found myself with a little bit of free time I decided instead to whip up some dinner – although I hadn’t made my weekly trip…
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French Vanilla Cupcakes
How adorable are these? I made these for a baby shower and just loved the way they came out. My new jumbo cupcake pan has just opened up a whole new world of cupcakes for me and I have to say I am loving it. I love the look of the ribbon tied around the base of the cake – and it’s much easier to do on a jumbo cake than a standard cake. I found a coordinating pink sugar for garnish and think that these…
