TWD--Blondies!!

Man, oh man...how I love this recipe!

I think this may have been one of the first recipes I made from the book, Baking From My Home to Yours. I remember searching for a reason to make them, hoping that some one would invite us over so I could bake these suckers up and give them a try. I knew they would be great, and I also knew that I couldn't trust myself around them if I made them just for us.


I really love this recipe. It's overflowing with chocolate and nuts and toffee bits and coconut, and I like this version just fine. But you can add what ever you want to this buttery batter and have a decadent treat in no time. I like them slightly mushy and under baked, but still firm enough to cut into clean slices.


This batch of Blondies went to a 4th of July picnic, along with the Brrrr-ownies we did a few weeks ago. A few were also saved for a friend staying with us for the weekend, and he raved about them.

Thanks to Nicole for picking this TWD recipe! You can find the recipe on her blog, Cookies on Friday. A cookie girl after my own heart!

Chicken with Warm Tomato & Corn Salad for CEiMB

Here we have a simple and bursting with summer flavor recipe. Honestly, I was on the fence about this one, but decided to give it a try since I have really slacked on the Ellie recipes in the recent past.



I'm so glad I made it. We have Danica to thank for this tasteful CEiMB recipe. Be sure to pay a visit to Danica's blog, Danica's Daily. You can get the recipe and take a peek at her gorgeous photographs!!

Back to the recipe. This one was made a just a tad bit easier for me since I happened to have some left-over grilled chicken breasts in the fridge, waiting to be used up. I simply made the tomato corn salad and voila! Dinner was served.


Now, I have to be honest and say that my boys wanted nothing to do with this dish. They are unsure about tomatoes and although they love corn, they looked at me in disgust when I suggested they just try a bite of the salad.

When I gave Marc his plate, he gave me the impression that he was eating this only to be nice. After dinner, he told me how full he was and came clean when he revealed to me that he didn't think the meal would fill him in the slightest. He then told me that he was wrong and that he enjoyed the meal.



And me? Well...I'm just glad that there's left-overs!! Thanks again, Danica!

TWD--Lots of Ways Banana Cake

Winner!

This weeks recipe for TWD was chosen by Kimberly, whose blog is called Only Creative Opportunities. Thank you, Kimberly! I do believe I may have found a true go to banana cake recipe here.

Called "Lots of Ways" for the many varying ingredients you can use to make this cake work, I went with the simple buttermilk and toasted coconut options. YUM!

Since I didn't want to have a big two layer cake hovering around my kitchen, I decided to bake the entire recipe in smaller portions. I got one 8 inch square cake, a 6 inch round and 2 mini bundts.


I shared with a couple of friends and frosted the 6 inch cake for us. Since the boys love simple white frosting, I decided to use a can that was opened in the fridge. (Shhh! Please don't tell!)



In the interest of full disclosure, it should be known that I was going to go in the chocolate ganache direction. I actually made the ganache, but since I used low grade, cheap chocolate that I found in the freezer, I got low grade results. So...that was trashed.


Honestly though, I enjoyed this cake on it's own, but the frosting is nice, too. Thank you, Kimberly! I can't wait to visit all of the other TWD bakers to drool over their cakes. Until next time...

Blueberry Snack Bars

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by Krista from Lucky Leaf. She was kind enough to offer me some pie filling to sample.


Since I've never really been a big user of pie fillings, I decided to take her up on her offer and check out the Lucky Leaf products. They were very generous and sent me a can each of Apple, Blueberry and Cherry pie fillings, along with some recipe cards. Also included with the pie fillings, they sent along a set of patriotic star napkins, a blue vinyl tablecloth and a package of red paper dessert plates. So sweet!!

I was feeling a little uninspired when the package first arrived, but I saw this recipe on the back of the Blueberry filling can and since I had everything in the house, I decided this would be the first recipe I tried. I was surprised, however, with just how many options there are for the pie filling. They even have a Facebook Fan page, which you can check out and become a fan. For some reason, I can't seem to get the link to work. Sorry!

So...about the snack bars. My chance to bake arrived on a morning when the boys had a friend over for a play date. It never ceases to amaze me how they can be so happily occupied by a friend playing with their toys. It's like they are seeing the toys for the first time all over again. Anyway...it bought me plenty of time to get this recipe done.


Using a cake mix and lots of butter, this recipe was simple and quite delicious. I decided to share with the mother of our guest to get some of these dangerous bars out of the house. She was surprised to received some freshly baked goodies upon her arrival and promptly called me when she got home to tell me how much she enjoyed them!

If you try them, I'm sure you will, too!

Blueberry Snack Bars
Lucky Leaf

CEiMB--Panzanella with Chicken Sausage

What a simple and delicious meal this Ellie recipe was! This one was chosen by the lovely Peggy of Pantry Revisited. Peggy will have the recipe posted over on her blog, so be sure to pop in to check it out.


A simple salad with bread crumbs, Panzanella is a lovely summer dinner. I forgot to add the red onions to mine, but it was still bursting with summer flavor. The ripe tomatoes and the basil...YUM!


Chicken sausage happened to be on sale when I went shopping, and that made me very happy. I chose a version that was filled with spinach and feta, along with a hint of rosemary. Even though Marc doesn't usually enjoy those flavors, he really enjoyed this sausage. Even Vincent ate the sausage.

Two thumbs up for this one, but that doesn't really surprise me. I have been very happy with most of Ellie's recipes, and this one is no different. Thanks, Peggy!

Brrrr-ownies for TWD

This weeks TWD recipe was chosen by the very sweet Karen of Welcome to Our Crazy Blessed Life. This particular brownie recipe is full of frosty mint goodness, hence the Brrrr-ownies.


Dorie's recipe calls for peppermint patty's, which I know were in the freezer when I was planning on making the brownies. However, I found that they were gone when I was mixing the batter. Apparently, Marc had moved the bag to the freezer in the garage, for his own personal consumption.

I could have walked out to the garage and gotten them, but I was feeling lazy. And besides, there was a box of Junior Mints in the freezer looking just as good to me. So, I tossed them into my shiny and lovely brrrr-ownie batter.

When I cut these up to bring to a pool party for the 4th of July, I found that some of the mints had become little puddles of gooey goodness. I was hoping to see a chunk of mint here or there, but that wasn't happening. Still, you got the burst of mint when you took a bite, and those who ate them enjoyed them.

See all of that tempting Junior Mint goo??

These weren't my favorite brownie, but I did enjoy them. I know I would really enjoy them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some hot fudge. Now that sounds so good to me!

Please stop by and pay Karen a visit. She will have the recipe posted on her blog. Have a good one!

CEiMB...I'm back!

I have been so out of the blogging mood lately. I've been doing my TWD posts and baking things and photographing them for later blogging, but I haven't really done much of anything. I guess I was feeling sorta "blah" about blogging and very uninspired when it came to the kitchen. But I feel like I'm moving up the ladder and out of the slump. Still, I'm taking it slow.

I haven't participated in a CEiMB recipe since this one back in February. FEBRUARY?!? I didn't think it had been that long, but it seems to be the truth. I did try to jump back on to the CEiMB bandwagon, but while the recipes looked good, they weren't quite tempting enough to get me into the kitchen.

And then, when I finally was feeling ready to get back in the kitchen again, I noticed that it was awfully quiet over on the CEiMB blog. Things happen and I thought maybe the group might be fading away, but Marthe decided to take over the helm. Yeah, Marthe!

So, this weeks recipe was chosen by Bri of the blog Yoshimi vs. Motherhood. I only just got to visit Bri's blog, and she seems to be cooking up a storm over there! She picked a very tasty recipe for CEiMB, too; Ellie's Penne with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic and White Beans. Yum!



I wasn't really sure if I was going to be able to pull this one off when I made it this afternoon. First, I didn't have the tomatoes or the beans in the house, but I did pick them up during my big shopping trip this morning. Then, we had a very long play date and I didn't get home until after 4 in the afternoon! It can get pretty crazy around here in the afternoons when everyone is hungry or tried or the dreaded combo of both! It's tough to get anything done when there is a whining child or two begging for yet another snack as they circle me in the kitchen with super hero masks on!


But I did it! I got everything in the oven to roast, made a salad, tossed together some turkey burgers and readied some corn on the cob for the boys, too. And I have to say that the weather here was STELLAR for the last day of June. No humidity, sunshine all day long and temps in the 70's with a cool breeze. I'm actually wearing a sweatshirt as I write this post.

So, yeah...Penne with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic and White Beans.


We liked it! Marc really enjoyed it and is actually looking forward to eating the leftovers cold, tossed with a little Italian dressing. Thanks, Bri! This one's a keeper!