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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 Swirl Bread
There are few things more rewarding in the kitchen than a successfully made bread recipe. Whether it’s your favorite pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, a buttery dinner roll or just a loaf of sandwich bread, there’s something about fresh bread that makes you feel like a rock star in the kitchen. I don’t know how many times I’ve made bread (it’s a lot) but even so, every time the yeast starts to do its thing, I do a little happy dance. The thing about bread, though,…
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Easter Candy Cookies
My girls have been begging me to make chocolate chip cookies for a few weeks now, but my dessert menu has taken me in other directions. With Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and now Easter, it always seems like there’s been something else to make. Then, when browsing my Pinterest boards, I found these cookies that I’ve wanted to make for a LONG time, so I decided I’d made them wait long enough. Easter candy cookies! Basically, they’re really big, chewy, fat chocolate chip cookies…
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Share-It Saturday: Week 7
How is it already Saturday again? Last week flew by…we had an extra event every single day of the week, so today we’re just going to relax. Well, by relax I mean catch up on laundry, try to get my house back in order and mow the lawn. Incidentally, I’ve forgotten how often you have to mow when it’s not 105 degrees and actually raining a couple of times a week. If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to enter to win a KitchenAid Artisan Mixer in the…
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Fresh Squeezed Lemonade
So, this isn’t really a food recipe, but it’s super hot outside, and I had four pounds of lemons in a pretty bowl on my kitchen counter. (Am I the only one who decorates with lemons? They’re my favorite centerpiece and kitchen decor item.) And, since I recently discovered my Grandma’s old juicer I figured a big pitcher of fresh-squeezed lemonade was in order. It REALLY hit the spot after a few hours of working in our gardens. I’m a lemon-person anyway (obviously, hence the…
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Red Velvet Cupcakes
I’ve been struggling with this post since I started this blog. Why, you may ask? This is just a basic red velvet cupcake, no? No. This cupcake is special. You see, a little over two years ago, my very tight-knit extended family lost one of our own. My dear cousin Molly passed away suddenly. She was a year younger than me, a triplet, an aunt, a sister and a daughter. And smart. Beautiful. Young, kind, and soft-spoken. Molly collapsed immediately after finishing a half-marathon and didn’t…
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Cranberry Walnut Cream Cheese Muffins
Even though I have about fifteen billion pumpkin recipes that I’m dying to try out, I thought it best to pace myself and take a break from traditional fall flavors for a few days. Ok, honestly, I had some cranberries in my freezer that have been calling to me for weeks. Then, I found this recipe. Shortly after I found the recipe, they appeared in my kitchen. And while I’m being honest, I actually had really good intentions to deliver some of these to…
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Um…about those cupcakes…
Those (Lemon Drop Cupcakes)? Apparently, they work. Less than 12 hours after eating two of them, my sister was in labor! Welcome to the world, Baby Evan! And many, many congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law. I’m a proud sister and a proud aunt today!
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Tiramisu Macarons
While I was making these the other day, my Mom called me, and asked what I was doing. I told her I was making Macarons, and she said “Macaroons?” No…MacaRONS. Different. Then, I tried to explain to her what they were – kind of like a meringue sandwich cookie, though with an almond-flour base…but I’m still not sure if she knew what I was talking about. So, here you go Mom. MacaRONS. (Mack-uh-RONs). I’m very confident that I didn’t do a good job explaining them…
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Ranch Dressing
Those of you who know my husband and I know that we are borderline, wanna-be hippies when it comes to food and sustainability. We would eat all natural, all fresh food all the time if we could, and for the most part we try to avoid preservatives, chemical additives and processed food. That’s not to say that we don’t eat plenty of bad stuff, but we’ve definitely made a conscious decision to do the best we can for ourselves and our girls. Our beehives, chickens and expanding…
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Pink Velvet Cupcakes
This is my second attempt at pink velvet cupcakes. The first was bad, so very bad. I don’t understand, because that particular recipe gets rave reviews everywhere, but to me it tasted like a blueberry muffin, sans blueberries. It was just kind of blah. They were like little, pink, blueberry-less muffins. Kind of sad little things. So after going back to the drawing board and searching for an ingredient list with more flavors, I settled on this one from a Taste of Home cookbook. I…
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Easy Cherry Turnovers
Ok, you caught me. As you know, I’m usually a pretty big advocate for home cooking with organic and non-processed ingredients. But sometimes, I make exceptions. I know, you can buy these in a convenient little box, straight from your grocery store. You can assemble, bake and eat them in under 30 minutes, but my version is just a little bit better.
