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| Photo by Katie Sechrist |
I was in a cooking rut, and my style had gone stale when I came across this gem in a cooking magazine. Orange Cranberry Cupcakes...the perfect mixture of fall and winter fruits! I'm a huge fan of citrus cupcakes (lemon and orange are my faves!) and I had a 5lb bag of frozen cranberries leftover from a failed Cranberry Lemon Loaf attempt.
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| Photo by Matt Sechrist |
Happy Birthday to my sweet Kaylen! For years I made intricate cakes with fondant, butterflies, zebra stripes, glitter, and with enough layers to feed 50 people for an 8-person birthday party. I'm a little relieved those days are over, although it was an expectation from nobody but myself to spend 8 hours on a birthday cake. As it turns out, Kaylen is happy with ice cream sundaes and cake balls!
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| Photo by Katie Kay |
At 3 minutes of prep time, this Mississippi Roast is hands-down the fastest prep recipe in my entire collection. Kaylen timed me with an actual stopwatch from start to finish. I started with a clear counter, although to be fair I knew exactly where everything was in the pantry. No time was wasted rummaging! I felt like I was on a shopping spree though. I don't think I've ever unwrapped a 3lb slab of meat so quickly.
The first time I made this, Matt raved and raved about it. I've made numerous roasts before using a wide variety of recipes and this one was absolutely amazing in flavor. So tender, delicious, and juicy!
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| Photo by Katie Kay |
I love Diane Lane, and I find myself so envious of her pretend lives when I watch any of her movies (except Unfaithful. Or Perfect Storm.)
Nights in Rodanthe made me positively yearn to open a Bed & Breakfast on the East Coast and the yearning hasn't faded since the movie came out. Under the Tuscan Sun made me fantasize about dropping everything and buying a villa in Tuscany. I'd wear billowy white shirts and sandals as I drank deep red wine and cooked rich Italian food from scratch.
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| Photo by Katie Kay |
Okay, okay, you asked for it! Literally. Tammy, this is mostly for you. I found this recipe when I was trying to come up with a non-cake dessert for a friend's birthday. And since we all know my three favorite things to toss down the hatch are wine, peanut butter, and chocolate, this was a no-brainer. The gooey brownies, imperfect broken chunks of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, creamy peanut butter, the sweet caress of chocolate pudding and whipped cream...
