On The Ninth Day of Christmas

My true love gave to me.............

I've got some fan-taaas-tic cookies to share with you  guys. I've been been searching high and lo for the best gingerbread cookie around, when I spotted THIS:

Source: sweetopia.net via Rosemary on Pinterest

Are these not the sweetest gingerbreads you've ever seen? And the glitter? It's just perfect. The recipe is from Sweetopia, converted to US measurements

I'll be showing how mine turned out tomorrow!

Happy Haunting Day 3: Pumpkin Whoopies & Caramel Corn

For today's installment of Happy Haunting, I'm sharing the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie & Caramel Corn recipes I made to give out for Neighborhood Boos!

Designed using Rhonna Designs Simple Photo Edges 2 Kit & Traveling Typewriter font

I found this pumpkin whoopie recipe via Pinterest, but when I made my first batch, I wasn't thrilled with the result. The frosting was too sugary, and I felt the cookie/cake was too gingery and not enough like my favorite pumpkin pie. So I switched up a few things, and was completely happy with the result

The caramel corn recipe is one I've been hoarding for a couple of years now. I absolutely LOVE it- and I can't stop eating it, it's soooooo addicting. 

Recipe cards designed using Rhonna Designs Spooky Junque Frames Kit. Fonts used are Traveling Typewriter, IFC Railroad, & Civilian

This is just the start of my Autumn treats I have swimming around in my head, I'll be sharing more fall recipes next week!

Photography Challenge: Day 8 | My Outfit (and some recipes!)

Yesterday I had a revelation. In an attempt to be more prepared throughout the week, and to feed my kids something other than frozen foods every. single. day. I decided that Sundays will be my Food Prep & Baking Day. And so it came to pass that I made a whole slew of things that we can eat throughout the week. Therefore, this was my outfit:



Apron-clad with a smile, I stayed all day in my little kitchen making all sort of tasty treats:

Pioneer Woman's Pico De Gallo






Eat with these new Pepper Jack Tostitos. Best tortilla chips evah.




Wheat Bread recipe from Little Birdie Studio. Word has it that it's the best bread for grilled cheese.



Dinner Rolls from The Mother Huddle. I used wheat flour instead of regular all purpose.




And Zucchini Muffins made using Jaimee Rose's Zucchini Bread Recipe



I feel like that's a pretty good start to the week, don't you think?


Here's the linky tool for those of you playing along! If you haven't linked before- you can still start late! There are no hard & fast rules to this!

A New Tradtion: Back To School Feast

Today was Olivia's Big Day- First Day of Kindergarten! To celebrate we've started a tradition inspired by the beloved Stephanie Nielsen of having a delicious Back To School Feast the night before school. We invited Grandma & Grandpa and our lovely bestest friends Isabel & Diego. I made the two school girls a collection of Maroon & Gold Hairbows to sass up their Maroon, Gold, & Khaki (blegh) school uniforms they have to wear at ASU prep. We decorated the house for her guests to arrive using the Hello! Holidays Back To School Project Kit I designed for hello there! house.











For dinner we made Rosemary & Thyme Garlic Salmon, Italian Shrimp, Grilled French Bread, & Roasted Veggie Orzo.

And for dessert, we had Mud Cake Magnifique with Strawberries on top. To Die For.



This was such a fun tradition that I know we will carry on for years to come. Try it with your kids this year- you'll be glad you did!

Dip Night

My little brother Lancer Bug is coming home for 10 days from the Coast Guard and we are going to have a Dip Night Wednesday Night to celebrate! I've been collecting all kinds of dip recipes preparing for this, so I figured you all would love to partake in a Dip Night too

Dip #1: Pizza Dip

Source: closetcooking.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Dip #2: Jalapeno Popper Dip

Source: closetcooking.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Dip #3: 7 layer Mediterranean Dip

Source: cookingwithmykid.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Dip #4: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Source: franksredhot.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Dip #5: Queso Blanco Dip

Source: annies-eats.net via Rosemary on Pinterest

Ps- I know you have all been waiting patiently for a update on the bathroom- I promise it's coming soon! I just got my wall art from Persnickety today and will be going to Ikea later to grab my frame and we're cutting in the grey paint this afternoon so hopefully it will be all finished up to share tomorrow! Unless of course Braden gets busy with work or other "important things" (like Halo).

Love Lollies

I saw these on Sweets Indeed blog and thought they were so fun! Olivia has a class party for Valentines next week, so I wanted to make some for her class

I found these supplies on Sweet Baking Supply


And used this recipe to make our own Raspberry Suckers! I'll post pictures Monday of the final Love Lollies the the stacked sweets on the skewers!

Very Merry Neighbor Gifts

I'm taking a break from my mini hiatus to share the recipes from my neighbor gifts I FINALLY gave out today. We gave a mini cupcake sampler filled with Vanilla Peppermint cupcakes, Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes, & Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. I figured someone might want the recipes after trying those little tasty morsels.

***On a sidenote- just for your information, as I finished typing "morsels" there was a devastating crash, and a ear piercing scream (either from me or Braden, not exactly sure which) and my mom's stand mixer was lying on my tile filled with beignet dough for tomorrow's Christmas Eve Brunch. It was kneading my dough with the dough hook and the centrifical force (which may or may not be correct terminology, I'm no scientist after all) pushed the mixer right off the counter, on it's own. So now I have ruined 2 mixers, since mine almost set my house ablaze in an electrical fire trying to knead bread dough. Sakes alive, it's been a long day.

Oh, and my beignet dough was just fine, thank you very much.

Thanksgiving Eve

Ok, I don't have a lot of time, but here are some quick holiday recipes that will be making their way onto our Thanksgiving table tomorrow:

The Pioneer Woman's Rosemary Butter Dinner Rolls. I'm actually making a batch of her cinnamon rolls, cutting the dough in half and using the other half for the rolls. Both so good to have for Thanksgiving

Rhonna's Pumpkin Butter to smooth all over those delicious rolls

Fantastic Sausage Stuffing-not to be confused with my Grandma's tried and true stuffing that I love but comes a close second

And Smitten Kitchen's Roasted Sweet Potatoes with all my favorite toppings. I've never been a fan of the sweet potato marshmallow dish, so I think this is a lovely new take on it

Now please excuse me, I have to prepare for tonight's Pie Baking Extravaganza!

Pie Party Pie Crust

Here's the final piece to our pie puzzle- the perfect pie crust! It's an all butter crust because shortening make me gag. You really can't beat the flavor of real butter either and Paula Deen prays to it, so I'm all for it! Smitten Kitchen yet again saves the day with her Pie Crust 102 session, read it for visual directions of this recipe:


This recipe makes 2 crusts, so one double crust pie or 2 single crust pies. If you want to make mini pies, roll out small sized circles and place in a well buttered muffin pan, then fill with your favorite pie fillings! I'm going to make some mini pies for the party and cut out little crust shapes with a mini cookie cutter like this:

Preparing For Thanksgiving

I am in charge of cooking the Thanksgiving Meal this year for our family, and I am so excited to bring back some much loved recipes from last year's Harvest Dinner, as well as try some fantastic new recipes to knock everyone's socks off. If you don't remember last year, here was our menu:


I'm bringing back all these recipes (except regular sized pies this year) and I thought I should share them with you in case you are looking for fun new ways to cook your turkey and a replacement for that green bean casserole that makes me dry heave. Blegh.












I'll be scoping out more recipes today to add to this year's Thanksgiving Feast. I'm thinking pumpkin butter, rosemary dinner rolls, stellar stuffing (without gizzards, gag), ham, and a sweet potato recipe to die for.

*And remember, we are making pies Wednesday! If you want to join us, let me know today so I can have enough ingredients for everyone!

More Recipes for the Pie Party

Here are the other 3 pies that we will be making on Wednesday. For more details on the Pie Baking Party, go here


Recipe from She Wears Many Hats


Recipe from Martha


Recipe from Paula Deen, my personal idol