Mayhem in the Kitchen!

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

I’ve briefly mentioned before that we’ve been working on a ton of home renovations, but what’s new as of last week is that we’re moving! (Surprise!!) So, items to add to our already overflowing list of house projects: packing, moving, getting ready to list, and selling! More about that in a second. I’m not one…

Avocado-Strawberry-Quinoa Salad

My goal for Mother’s Day dinner was to create a menu that was healthy, nutrient-dense, and suuuuuuper flavorful. We’d already decided on grilled marinated chicken (faux chicken for me) as the protein, and a chia pudding for the dessert, but needed something to round out the meal. My original plan was to serve a small…

Creamy Coconut Chia Pudding with Bananas

When putting together the menu for Mother’s Day, I wanted something yummy, but also super healthy and nutrient rich. I was about to dig out my cookbooks when I remembered this little gem of a recipe that my favorite neighbors shared with me awhile back. When my neighbors served this at a potluck last year…

Lemon-Strawberry Coffee Cake

I hope all of the mamas out there had a fabulous Mother’s Day! My husband and I were lucky enough to visit with my family in the morning, and his in the evening for a full day of mom-ness. For my mum, we did a light breakfast of coffee and coffee cake, and for his…

Mother’s Day Dinner Menu

My mother-in-law has been working hard to get into better shape for a big trip to Europe next summer, so when my husband said he’d cook dinner for Mother’s Day, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to showcase a few super-foods for my in-laws! We lucked out with a beautiful spring day, so my…

Carrot Muffin Top Cookies

My quest to use those carrots continues. I’ve made plenty of savory dishes so far, but I really wanted to make something sweet that wasn’t your typical carrot cake, and these cookies adapted from Love and Lemons fit the bill! I’ve been eating these for breakfast this week, and they’re great – a little bit…

Salty Olive Cheese Ball

The weekends have been a bit of a blur lately, so when we were tasked with bringing an appetizer to a potluck, we needed something that didn’t take a lot of prep work. I paged through my cookbooks for options, but nothing was popping out at me. Eventually, I turned to scouring the web and…

Vanilla Granola with Quinoa and Chia Seeds

Every morning, my husband and I wake up a little early to chat over coffee and breakfast before heading off to work (… though since this weekend it has mostly been leftover Easter candy for breakfast. Chocolate and coffee are just meant to be consumed together.) A few mornings ago we were working on finishing…

Speckled Egg Easter Cupcakes

Happy Easter, everyone! I hope you are having a fabulous holiday – here in Minneapolis we’ve been greeted with sunlight(!!) and 65 degrees, which is a wonderful treat! This lovely weather combined with great food, time with family, and the fun egg hunt MIL did for our nephew is making for a really memorable and…

Double Chocolate Muffins

At work this week we had another double birthday. To prevent total treat overload we split the celebration out into two days of muffins – Lemon Poppy-Seed one day, and Double Chocolate Chunk the next! I’m not going to beat around the bush – these are amazing. Dense like a muffin. Chocolatey like a cupcake….

Bird’s Nest Easter Cupcakes

OK, I’ll share what I’m cooking up for Easter this year shortly, but I know some of you are still planning for Sunday, so I thought I’d share one of my creations from Easter 2011 to help get those creative juices flowing! I love these because they’re super easy…. and because they give me a…

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Every year one of my colleagues asks for a lemon poppy-seed dessert for his birthday. I’ve made everything from a classic pound cake to lemon poppy-seed cookies, and nothing has been quite right. Sometimes it’s the texture, other times they’re too dry, other times they’re simply not lemon-tastic enough. This year I think I’ve finally…

Mickey Mouse Birthday Party

This weekend we celebrated our nephew’s 3rd birthday! I love this sort of thing, and was lucky enough to assist my sister-in-law and mother-in-law with the setup! A few weeks before the big day the birthday boy made a couple of basic requests – Mickey Mouse theme, lemon cake with sky blue frosting. Making his…

Mini Toffee-Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other night I wanted something nice to set out for some last-minute visitors, but I was short on time, so I went with my tried and true method for making anything more awesome: make it tiny! I actually put my husband in charge of selecting a recipe from Foodgawkeer while I picked up around…

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

My mum invited the whole family over for brunch last weekend, and even though she said I shouldn’t bring anything, and even though we’ve been super busy with home renovations, I still couldn’t take no for an answer. Everyone really likes the coffee cakes I perfected during the Quest for Brunch Excellence, but when I…