Category Archives: really good recipes

dining under october skies

dining under october skies
I have always enjoyed hosting little get togethers but all too often time gets away, parties don’t get planned and general busyness fills up those calendar boxes. A girl’s weekend trip to the Belong Tour this summer reminded me that I get to choose how I want to use my time and spending time in community needed to fill a few more of my boxes. So when I scrolled down my instagram feed and saw this .

fluffy frosting & festive flags

fluffy frosting & festive flags
Since we were hosting a birthday sale this past weekend, I couldn’t resist whipping up some cute mini cupcakes to offer our firefly fans.  I’ve always been a box cake girl, but when it comes to frosting I usually turn to my grandma’s recipe. If you’re not a fan of super sweet or thick frosting this recipe is for you!  In my opinion the texture of this tasty topping is quite divine and it’s .

from scratch

from scratch
Since Steve and I usually travel to the west side of the state for Thanksgiving I get the easy food assignments like rolls.  Instead of picking up a bag of them this year I decided to try my hand at making them from scratch after seeing this post. I never made bread from scratch before and was surprised on how easy it was.  The only thing is having the span of time to let .

darling diy baby shower

darling diy baby shower
A good friend of mine will be welcoming her first little one into the world next month and we wanted to celebrate this happy time with a few of our  friends. I haven’t had the opportunity to host a baby shower since Pinterest came into existence so I was a bit excited to explore and get inspired. For the decorations, I came across loads of pom pom tissue cluster photos but I decided to .

m is for monster cookies

m is for monster cookies
I needed to make an easy-to-eat treat for a little Halloween party and was originally inspired by these but I decided to put my own spin on  it. Here’s what you need to make the cookies: white or party rainbow cake mix 1/2 cup oil 2 eggs food coloring Simply mix all these ingredients together and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Now for the decorations: mini oreos m&m’s red food dye other .

a toast to great neighbors

a toast to great neighbors
Once September arrives we like to host a little backyard party for the neighborhood.  It’s a great time to reconnect and catch up on summer adventures.  Everyone brings a little something to snack on and here’s what we served up. This festive recipe for ladybug crackers called for black paste food coloring that I couldn’t find so super small diced olives had to work for the spots.  Luckily Iitu is the master of splicing .

creamy crock pot chicken tacos

creamy crock pot chicken tacos
Everyone needs an easy-peasy dinner recipe that is quick to make & tastes great… and this one fits the bill.  You don’t even need to thaw your frozen chicken breasts (which I always forget to do ahead of time) to whip this together.  Here’s all you need: 4 frozen chicken breasts, a 16 oz jar of salsa, 1 cup sour cream, flour tortilla shells and desired taco fixings. Place frozen chicken in a greased .

crazy for lemon cream cake

crazy for lemon cream cake
Steve & I had the pleasure of having both our parents visit us for Mother’s day again this year.  This gave me a reason to play around with creating cute jar desserts for all of us to enjoy.  Last years mini no-bake cheesecakes were quite the hit, so I scoured high & low to find a pick that could compete.  The choice ~ lemon cream cake. The original recipe called for creating this cake .

grilled cheese with a french twist

grilled cheese with a french twist
I think the title of this book sums up my feelings about this classic comfort food.  It was hard to pick which recipe to try first, but this one won the family vote. Here’s what you’ll need: 2 tablespoons of butter at room temperature sourdough bread brie fresh chopped fresh thyme black forest ham granny smith apple The combination of the tart crunchy apple, salty ham & creamy brie with a kick of thyme .

spell out your breakfast

spell out your breakfast
When our German daughter, Jule was looking for a creative way to ask her boyfriend to the Sadies Dance, I suggested trying out our pancake pen.  Apparently pancakes aren’t normal breakfast fare in Germany and the second Jule tried them she fell in love.  So both her and her boyfriend have eaten this popular breakfast meal for lunch and dinner numerous times the past couple months. I tried out some general shapes first to .