Food Love - Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes

Yes, donut holes.  I'm not a huge fan of donuts, but these were ridiculous.  For one they are not fried, they are baked, so better for you right?  Plus, anything with pumpkin is right up my alley.  I decided to make this spontaneously last week because I had some left over pumpkin from the treats I made the pups.  I actually didn't have allspice on hand, so I substituted with pumpkin spice.  When they are warm, they melt in your mouth, and you have to stop yourself from eating the whole entire pan.  Luckily I took a picture prior to tasting them.  The best part is that they are SUPER easy to make.     

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Have a sweet weekend!
Love B

Food Love - Tres Leches Cake

Light, moist, airy and oh-so sweet.  You can't get much better than that for a dessert.  I had never had Tres Leches cake prior to making it, but The Pioneer Woman's description of the cake made it sound to die for!

I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this little cake.  The more I try it, the more I seem to crave it.  You don't need a huge slice, and even in the fridge it's quite tasty.  I find myself having little bite sized pieces more often than I should!  Yum.

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Happy Friday! Love B

Food Love - Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

You know my love for Smitten Kitchen, so the recipe for this week is going to be from her.  I haven't made it yet, but plan to tomorrow.  Not that we need sweets in the house, but really who does?  At least this one has fruit, right?  I'm really kidding myself.  :o)

I went to the store the other day and blackberries were SO cheap.  I bought 3 containers and froze them all.  I'm thinking this might be the perfect recipe to use those for.  I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Image from Smitten Kitchen

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

What's baking in your kitchen this weekend?

I made it on Sunday and it was quite delicious.  My version was with blackberries, as I mentioned above.

Yum - covered in blackberries

Love B

Food Love - Ginger&Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

One of my New Years goals is to blog a little more consistently.  So, I thought why not end 2011 right and start now.  Every Friday, I'm going to post a recipe of the week.  This will be something I've made recently or something I'm hoping to make over the weekend.  My goal is to share some of my favorites and try out something new.  I'd love to share recipes, so if you come across any that are just too good not to share - leave them in the comments!

This week is Ginger and Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee - Um, delicious!  Yes, it's quite amazing.  Every little spoon full was like heaven in my mouth.  Perfect for entertaining!  The end result is beautiful, and the best part is you can whip up the messy part before the party! You've got to try!

Originally from Bon Appetit - 1999 - Click on image to enlarge

Love B

Almond Chocolate Marble Cookies

Every night after dinner, the familiar question of 'What's for dessert?' escapes my husband's mouth.  We of course have consumed all yummy treats from the holidays and really don't NEED dessert, but of course WANT it.  Resist my sweet tooth?  I think not.  I'd rather consume smaller amounts and keep me on the right track instead of withholding that darn tooth and then gorging one day.  I hadn't really planned on making anything, but after exploring my pantry, I knew I had the right items for some cookies. 

This is kind of a first.  I love to bake, but I always feel more comfortable with a recipe!  I usually modify slightly, but this one was pretty much all on my own.  I saw a recipe that has bread flour, so that was the only hint I got from a recipe.  Might I add that I didn't see that I was out of regular flour until I started the process.  Oops.

I decided to melt the chocolate and add some almond extract to the mix.  Well, needless to say, they turned out pretty good! 

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
Love B

Super Helpful Recipe Site

I have pinterest to thank for this one.  I came across this cool site while pinning, instead of working, called My Fridge Food.  It allows you to check off things you have in your fridge and then comes up with recipes using the things you have.  If you are missing 1 or 2 items, it will tell you.  How fun is that!!?!

I'll definitely be using this on the days I don't feel like heading to the store!
Love B

For the Hubby

My hubby loves wings.  Seriously, he could probably eat them every day and in high quantities.  So, while wasting time on foodgawker, I came upon this recipe for buffalo chicken grilled cheese.  I showed D the pictures and he was practically drooling on my phone.

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I always get groceries on Monday {got to take advantage of 'moo mondays' at Central Market} and when I asked him what he wanted for lunch this week he immediately requested this sandwich.

The best part was it really is a simple recipe and with a few sides, your meal is complete!  I'd say this one is a keeper.

Here is to pleasing the hubby! Love B

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Pumpkin, I love you.  If I didn't, I wouldn't have had to make this recipe twice in the same day just to get it right.  Apparently, the first try was a fail and the yeast didn't like me.  Really it was my fault.  You really shouldn't scald your dry active yeast.   Not a good idea.  So needless to say, they didn't rise at all and the dough didn't absorb any of the yummy goodness inside - lesson learned. 

This recipe was tweaked to how I was taught by my momma to make cinnamon rolls.  Let me just say that over the years, I think my mom has perfected her recipe.  There are few that compare to her fluffy, sweet, delicious cinnamon rolls.  I really think that the little small steps bring the 'love' to the rolls and make them that much better.  The bread is a little denser than normal cinnamon rolls, but I think I could eat these all year.  This one is added to my must make pumpkin recipes in October.  Enjoy!

Adapted from here

You'll be licking your fingers by the end of the roll!! 
Love B

Pumpkin Cookies

I am hesitant to share this recipe with the world, but it's too amazing not to.  I feel like it's my secret recipe, and I always get the best comments when I take this to an event.   If you love pumpkin and cream cheese, you are going to die {well hopefully not} once you try these.  I made mini ones last year and they were bite sized pieces of heaven. 

If you don't just fall in love with these, I'm not sure we can be friends... Or more for me. Hmmm.
Love B

Life right now...

Life is busy - I am BUSY.   I want to blog more, but there is just not enough time in the day.  I've been running, but not as much as I'd like.  Things are going a hundred miles a minute.  I've been trying to clean and organize the house any free moment I have.  In doing so, I found some loose recipe pages that I wanted to add on here instead of having them thrown around in my kitchen.  So here is my recipe dump.  There is no rhyme or reason to the recipes, they are just ones I've tried and are delicious! 

Love B

Congo Bars

These bars are ridiculous.  They are sweet, chewy, chocolaty and crunchy!  Want a yummy treat for this weekend - you should probably make these:

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SO happy tomorrow is Friday. Love B

Guinness Stout Brownies

Sounds delicious right?  They came out as the most rich, chocolaty, dense brownie I've ever made!  They melt in your mouth and definitely take care of that chocolate fix.  Plus, how can you resist chocolate topped with more chocolate?  Yum. Can you tell all I've been doing lately is baking?

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Don't forget to get an extra beer to enjoy right along with them! B

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

There is nothing better than something warm out of the oven for breakfast.  This one is for you cinnamon lovers. {Sorry no picture... because we ate it all :o) }

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It's a little tough to see, because the directions are so detailed, but click on the image to enlarge.  Also you can find more step by step instructions by clicking on the via to see where I found this delicious recipe.  I made this over the weekend and it was quite tasty!!!

Happy Baking!  B

Sunday Breakfast

With everything going on in the morning, D and I tend to just eat cereal for breakfast.  I decided I needed to start spicing it up in the a.m.  While he was still snoozing this morning, I browsed through foodgawker {which I love oh, so much} for breakfast ideas.  I came across this Bacon, Egg and Toast Cups recipe and went for it.  It's so simple and most people have these ingredients in their kitchen, plus it looks way fancier and difficult than it is.  This would be perfect for a brunch with friends and family!

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Hope you all are enjoying your holiday weekend as much as we are! 
Love B

Peanut Butter Fudge Pretzel Brownies

Do I really need to say any more?

Photo and Recipe - How Sweet It Is

I apologize if you have to run out to the store immediately in order to make this recipe.  It's worth it.
Love B

When life gives you lemons...

...make lemon drop cookies!

I love trying new recipes and love it even more when they turn out quite well.  I didn't realize that my hubs loved lemon bars/cookies/cake until recently, when I made this recipe.  I know, it only took, what, 10 years for me to figure out.  Learn something new every day!

Lately my sweet tooth has come back and every night I'm craving something sweet after dinner.  My recent trend has been to make a dessert on Sunday that will hold us over for the week.  This week I let D pick out what I would make, and he went for the lemon cookies.

The recipe calls for lemon drops, or if you can't find them, lemon heads will work.  I decided to use both - crazy I know.  I also read the directions wrong and made my cookies a heaping tablespoon, instead of teaspoon.  They still are pretty delicious, but took longer to cook and didn't come out of the oven quite as pretty.

I must say between D and my family, they have gone pretty quickly!  So, if you are craving a little bitter sweetness, you should definitely try this recipe.

Original Recipe

Enjoy!  B

Muffins

I was craving muffins the other day, so what did I do?  I decided to make 2 different recipes and ended up having WAY more than I needed.  Sounds about right.  They both sounded so good that I couldn't help myself.  They both turned out really good, but note to self, watch them as they cook so they don't get too dry.  D liked them both, but I think he would have preferred the lemon poppy seed ones with out the almond extract.  He said it 'confused' his taste buds.  :o) Silly boy.  Enjoy

via Mommie Cooks Blog

via Seasons & Suppers Blog

 
Happy cooking!  Love B

Stone Fruit Tart

This is a pretty simple recipe AND if you love almond flavoring, you are going to love this one.  Of all the things I have baked, this is actually my first tart.  I'd say it turned out pretty delicious. 

Going in the oven! 

Fresh out of the oven and covered in powdered sugar - yum. 

Tart, you make my house smell heavenly. 

So much sweet goodness. 

Love B

Pan-Seared Tipalia

I'm constantly asking the hubby what he wants me to make for dinner.  His typical answer is, 'I don't know'.  So helpful, isn't he? :o)  So I like to share my recipes on here, but now I'm going to use this as a tool to remind him of the things he liked.  So, here you go baby - this one you liked!

What's cooking today? Stone Fruit tart 
Love B