While trying to come up with ideas for what type of cookie to bring to a Taylor Swift themed birthday party, I tried to choose between Cowgirl Cookies or Smore's Cookies.  In the end, I decided to go with both!   These cookies are more of a bar-type cookie.  They are very soft, and very sweet, so I would advise cutting them into smaller than normal portions!  They are very good, though, and that is the important part!   The only alteration I will make to them next time, and I will...

  A friend of mine's daughter was turning 10, and wanted a Taylor Swift theme for her birthday party.  Her request of me was to bring cookies.   I wanted to come up with a cookie that would somehow fit the theme, without taking too much effort, since I would be short on time to make them.  I decided on these cookies, which pretty much have that "everything thrown in" feel, and Smore's Cookies.   Both make me think of cowboys and cowgirls,  of sitting on hay bales around a bonfire...

   I had decided on the menu plan to make chicken drumsticks for tonight's dinner.  As I went into the kitchen to get it started, I realized I had absolutely no idea as to how I wanted to prepare them.  I knew I wanted something tasty, not fried, and not horribly difficult to make.  I took a look around the kitchen to see what we had, and decided to try my hand at just throwing some stuff together that sounded good.  What I came up with was perfect!  I am pretty dang proud of...

  I bought some zucchini at the store a week or so ago, and never figured out what I wanted to do with it.  Since I was having company over today, I wanted to have something a little sweet, but not overly so.  Zucchini bread entered my head, but then this recipe popped up on Pinterest and I figured it sounded good enough to try.  I am glad I did!   They turned out delicious!  My children and I are not big pineapple fans, but the pineapple lent just enough sweetness without...

I found this recipe at The View from Great Island.  Super easy to make.  Super delicious.  Go there.  Read her blog post.  Look at her yummy pictures.  Then go make them. =) Notes:  I left the wax-paper wrapped log in the refrigerator overnight.  I cut them the next morning.  They are very crumbly, but I just mooshed them together in my hands and flattened them out a bit and baked them for 13 minutes.  Yum.  You will definitely want a cup of coffee or glass of...

I was in the mood to bake, and had a eensy bit of a sweet tooth.  While perusing Pinterest I came across this recipe at Just a Pinch.   It sounded delicious, and after reading the comments other people had made about its deliciousness, and realizing I had some oranges in there that needed using... I made it.  *I should note, in case you didn't read through the comments on the recipe there, that people say you should definitely let this cool completely before cutting into it.  Otherwise, it...

   Yep, another bread recipe.  But this one actually rises enough to be an actual sandwich type bread.  Many of them are too short to make a really decent sandwich.  This one fixes that.  It's good, and we ate it all up right away.  I'm actually considering making another batch today.  This recipe was found via Pinterest  at Annie's Eats. I didn't get a picture of it cut, and for that I apologize.  Maybe if I do wind up making more today, I'll get an updated picture of...

My younger brother has an obsession with Tootsie Rolls.  Well, I'm not sure if it's still as huge now as it was when we were younger, but every time I see one I think of him.  So, when I found This Recipe at Taste of Home a couple years ago, I had to try it.  It was Christmastime when I found it, while scouring for yummy treats I could take and give as little gifts.  It was delicious!  When my brother's birthday came around this year, I decided to make it again, sans the M&M candies, and was...

While I am a fan of lasagna, I rarely ever make it.  I know that my kids aren't too keen on the red sauced varieties, so I came up with this one.  None of the recipes I could find online matched the ingredients I had in my cupboards, so this one I just winged.  It's really the first recipe I've done all on my own.  I think it turned out pretty dang good.  I loved the crispy cheese on top.  My kids aren't too hip on spinach, though they liked the rest of it.  It made for wonderful leftovers...

(left half are peanut butter cookies, right half has chocolate chip minis thrown in!) I've had this recipe for years and years.  I must say, it is probably one of my favorite cookies to make.  Soft, chewy peanut butter cookies that I almost always have the ingredients for.  I mean, who doesn't usually have peanut butter, sugar, an egg and some vanilla laying around?   This time, I decided to mix it up and make another batch with some mini chocolate chips thrown in. So I guess those would be 5-ingredient...

  Since the Rosemary Olive Oil Bread turned out so well, I was inspired to take a shot at another type of bread.  My boyfriend requested a Honey Oat bread, so I found a recipe at Epicurious that looked promising and decided to make a go of it.   Once again, it came out superb.  I'm so glad I finally got over my fear of bread!  It's my new found toy.  This one came out light, and delicious.  It's another one that the kids really enjoyed, as did my boyfriend and myself.  It...

I finally broke my bread-making cherry.   Not just fiddled around with it a little, but actually broke it.   We're talking yeast, kneading, punching, and everything!    If you've read my blog before, you probably know that I am a big fan of the Artisan Bread that I've worked with in the past.  It's a yeast bread, but requires no kneading or punching- the two aspects of bread making that have daunted me the most.   It is a very tasty bread, and makes a superb pizza crust. ...

  I had some canned salmon on hand that I had absolutely NO idea of what to do with.   I'd never really eaten it before, so wasn't really sure how you were suppose to prepare it, or what you were really even supposed to do to it.    So, I went online to search of course!   I found this recipe at Cooks.com.  I adjusted it to use the ingredients I had on hand, and to suit my taste buds.  The base mix tasted like it might actually be pretty good as it was, on a warmed...

   So, my boyfriend and I decided to give a try at making our own moonshine awhile back.  I was rewarded with about a gallon of the stuff (after diluting it).  We diluted it to about a 75-80 percent alcohol mix.   Now, what to do with that?    Online, on Pinterest actually (sorry, I don't have the pin of where it came from.. I just remembered how they did it), I found Skittles vodka.  I love Skittles, so this I had to try.    Take a small mason jar (or whatever...

Earlier in my blogger postings, I showed you how to make the Artisan Bread  and then just recently was the Alfredo Sauce .    Last night we combined these two with some diced chicken and spinach to make a wonderful pizza.   It was oh-so-yummy.  I couldn't stop eating, and will probably need to spend a couple hours on the treadmill today to make up for it.  For the bread this time, I used 5 cups white flour and 1&1/2 cups wheat flour, and then threw in about a 1/4 cup of honey.  ...

   My boyfriend has been wanting enchiladas for awhile now.  I came across this recipe  while perusing Pinterest the other day, and thought it sounded simple enough.  I made it tonight, and the results were astounding.  Simple, delicious flavor.  We are not big fans of spicy in this household, and this had just enough of the green chilies to give it some oomph, but not too much for our fragile taste buds.   Even the kids enjoyed it!    We put some chicken breasts...

 My family loves cinnamon rolls.  Me?  Eh.  I'm not a big fan of cinnamon.  However, I had a bug to bake the other day, and while looking through my Cooking Light Cookbook I came across the recipe that follows.   Now, I've never made cinnamon rolls before, and the process always seemed complicated to me.  After reading through the directions, though, I realized it really didn't seem very difficult, so decided to give it a try.   The results were great.  The entire 2...

   My kids are pretty big on pancakes.   I mean, what kid isn't, really?   However, pancakes just are not the same without syrup!   We ran out of  syrup a while back, and since I am not a big pancake eater, it's just not something I think about when I'm at the store.    I would say that I should get better at keeping lists, but had I done that, then I would have bought syrup at the store, and probably never even looked at this recipe.   I had my skepticism,...

  Macaroni and cheese is one of those all-time comfort foods that just warms your belly when it's cold outside.  And Baby, it's cold outside!  At least for a cold-wimp like myself.  I've always wanted to try the ol' baked macaroni and cheese.  The kind that uses real cheese- not processed cheese like Velveeta.  Not that I don't like Velveeta, but it's just not in the realm of that good-ol-home-cookin' vibe that I was striving for.  Not to mention I've tried it that way before, and while...

    When my boyfriend and I first got together, I learned that his favorite dinner was chicken fettuccine alfredo.  So, of course, I decided I must learn how to make this.  Now, his ultimate favorite would include sun dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts.  I can do the sun dried tomatoes, but not the artichoke hearts.  Yuck.  However, you could easily add them into this.  Just throw them into the sauce while cooking. I got this sauce recipe from an old Betty Crocker...

   For the longest time, I thought "coffee cake" was a cake made with coffee.  I mean, it's right there in the name, right?   Well, it's been a while now since I learned that "coffee cake" is cake you eat with coffee.   However, this is the first time I have actually made one.    It turned out moist, and delicious.  The topping had just enough of a crispness to it.  The blueberries melt in your mouth.   I ate it with my coffee this morning. ...

I've been craving cookies for a few days now.  Okay- weeks.  Not just any ol cookie, but chocolate chip cookies.  Tonight I broke down and made some.  Okay- had my daughter make some.  But she wanted to.  I didn't force her!  I found this recipe at AllRecipes.com.  It seemed pretty basic, used ingredients I have, and  had a whole bunch of really good reviews, so I decided to try them out. They came out lightly crisp, with soft chocolatey insides. They do not get...

  My daughter is a fan of chocolate.  What tweenager isn't?  Especially girl tweens.   When I broached the subject of what we should have for "dessert" on Christmas, she immediately popped up with FUDGE!  She's a big fan of fudge, too.  So, we did some research and found this recipe on Food.com.   She made it mostly herself, and it turned out spectacular.  If you like the mint and chocolate combination, you will love this.  It is super easy to make, too! I didn't...

  I got this recipe from the Taste of Home website.   They were amazingly easy to make, and so good, I thought I wouldn't have any for Christmas day to share.  I was pretty sure my Boyfriend and Brother were going to devour them up!   Luckily, they are easy to make, so whipping up another batch wouldn't have been an issue.  They are ooey and gooey and so, well, heavenly!   I see these often in my future.  Ingredients: 12 whole graham crackers  (yeah,...

  I love this mix.  It was super easy to make (once you melted the chocolate right), and can be adapted to fit ANY holiday or occasion. Simply add color!   It says you can melt the chocolate in the microwave, but this did not work for me.  It was too clumpy to drizzle.  I melted it on the stove and it was fantastic.  For Christmas, I used Christmas themed M&Ms, and green and red food coloring.  Adapt candies and colors to suit the current holiday or theme.  One of these...

  Over the Christmas holiday, we had bought a bag of pears from Costco with the idea that we would slice them up and serve them with some homemade caramel for snacking on.  Well, that didn't happen, so here we were with a bag full of pears and in desperate need of something to do with them.  They were starting to turn, so I knew I had to bake them into something, and quick.   I found this recipe, which Boyfriend decided sounded perfect.  I made my attempt.  My results were less than...