Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting (GF)

I planned to write a post today about how we’re moving this weekend and I’m throwing a bachelorette party next weekend and my new job is taking some adjusting to and how there’s just no time to be in the kitchen… but then I realized I had these beauties to share instead! I made these cupcakes some time ago, during my brief gluten-free phase, but I’m glad they’ll finally get their moment to shine here because they were pretty stellar. (more…)

Homemade Granola Bars

This month for the Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned The Culinary Enthusiast written by Kelley. Her blog tagline is “For the love of cooking…and more importantly, eating” which pretty much sums up my life, so I was excited to see what recipes she had to offer. I went through all of her bread/breakfast/dessert/snack recipes (my favorite types of food to make), and picked out a bunch of things I was interested in trying. On that list was granola bars, and since I’ve had granola bars on my to-make list for ages, I decided to give those a try. (more…)

Double Chocolate Velvet Cake

Every once in a while, after a super savory supper, I get a serious craving for something chocolate; deep, dark, chocolate, in the form of a cookie or cake, brownie or bar, something to satisfy the strongest of cravings. Chocolate is the quintessential treat to me, and when it’s baked into a decadent dessert, I have a great excuse to have a huge hunk of it. A huge hunk of pure chocolate? Seems excessive and like a no-good idea, but baked into layers of flour, butter, sugar and vanilla, a thick slice sounds like just what the doctor ordered. That’s horrific logic if I’ve ever heard it, but it works for me! (more…)

Banana Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Last weekend I made a trip home for the long weekend to spend some quality time with my family. For the most part it was a really great weekend – my extended family was in town for a memorial service, which is not the kind of reason you’d like to have for a family reunion, but nonetheless it was so great to get to see them all. With my tiny family scattered all over the US and Mexico, I rarely get to see anyone besides my immediate family and grandparents, so it’s always a treat to see my cousins, aunts and uncles. I also got to ride my horse THREE TIMES in one weekend… compared to the days when I rode seven days a week, that seems pretty shabby, but these days if I get out to see him one every month/month and a half, it’s pretty exciting. Three times in three days was epic… and my legs certainly felt it for the whole week after! (more…)