Mayhem in the Kitchen!

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…

Homemade Salad Toppings – Croutons and Vegan Bacon Bits

Spring has sprung! (Well, here in Minneapolis we woke up to more snow, but the calendar says it’s spring! Work with me here.) Birds are chirping! Farmer’s market season is soon upon us! This time of year I find myself looking forward to the beautiful local produce, wonderful salads, and vegetable-centered meals that come with…

Foolproof Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Ok, I promise this is my last roasted vegetable post for awhile, but I just had to get this recipe out there for you guys! For awhile I was on a huge Roasted Broccoli kick, and was eating that a couple times a week, but lately Brussels sprouts (or “alien heads” as we called them…

Perfect Roasted Broccoli

I can say without hesitation that my favorite food is broccoli – I’ll sit down with a bowl of raw or steamed broccoli for any meal of the week. While I understand that this veggie love certainly isn’t common, I do think that in roasted form, broccoli has the potential to be universally loved. Picky…

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

A few weeks ago we picked up a pressure cooker, and since then, life has changed! OK, that’s probably a little dramatic, but our life, as it relates to beans, has definitely changed. We’ve always used a lot of beans in our cooking, but prior to last week we were buying a lot of canned…

Roasted Buffalo Cauliflower

You guys know me and roasted veggies, it’s an obsession at this point. One dish that has been coming up a lot on social media recently has been Roasted Buffalo Cauliflower, but my husband doesn’t care for buffalo sauce. Last week he was out for the evening and I had some cauliflower handy, so I…