We are officially ONE WEEK from the last day of school here.  I don’t know if I’m excited, or filled with dread.  Can it be a smidge of both?

I know that Jon David and I will have a lot of fun together, but I also know that 8 year old boys get bored…and having a baby around this Summer will definitely change things.  We can’t just pick up and go whenever we want!!  It will be a learning experience for me, for sure.

Also, Lucy turns SIX MONTHS old on Sunday!!  How is this possible??

Half a year!! A twentieth of a decade!!  I can’t even stand it.

She’s also got 2 bottom teeth now.  So, she’s basically an adult.

Before I go over this week’s posts, I thought I’d share a few things I’m loving.

Mightee Kids

I’ve struggled for years with ways to teach Jon David about people in need and social issues in a way that he can relate to.  It’s hard.  So I was so excited to come across Mightee Kids!!

Mightee Kids works like this:  Purchase a month’s kit (or subscribe to automatically receive monthly — it’s $18), and get a package in the mail.  The package will have a T-Shirt for your child, and a brochure with details on the charity for that month.  Read the brochure with your child, and talk about how $5 of your monthly fee was used to help that cause.  The T-shirt will also be about that month’s cause.  Talk about what a great way it is to spread the word!!  Jon David and I discussed what he would say when anyone asked him about his shirt.

I love that this is a FUN opportunity to help kids in need and get Jon David excited about spreading the word.

**I was not paid for advertising, nor am I affiliated with Mightee Kids in any way, I just think it’s really cool!!

The Honest Company

I looked into the Honest Company awhile back and dismissed it as too expensive.  But a friend recently signed up for a free trial and was really excited, so I decided to take another look.

With the Honest Company, you sign up to receive automatic monthly shipments of diapers and wipes with their Diapers Bundle, household cleaning and hygiene products with their Family Essentials Bundle, or you can combine and do both.  ALL products are 100% non toxic, and the diapers are sustainable, chlorine free, and plant based.

The diaper and wipes bundle is $79.95 a month, which at first sounded a bit high.  But after pricing the same amount of product with the brand I normally use, (Huggies) I found that the difference was only $10 -15 a month.  The diapers also come in different patterns and you can change the patterns you want or make changes to when your bundle ships every month.    I’m definitely excited to give these and try!!

** In the interest of full disclosure, I have included a referral link.  This has no bearing on my opinion of the product whatsoever.  But if you’re going to sign up, I might as well save a few bucks!!

This week, Shelly and I invited a few other bloggers to participate in a Ben & Jerry’s theme week.  All of our desserts were based on the popular ice cream flavors.

I had so much fun coming up with my desserts.  Ben & Jerry are flavor geniuses, so it was hard to choose just a few.

Monday:

Shelly made What a Cluster Bars, Peabody made Phish Food Pie, and I made Cherry Garcia Cake.

Tuesday:

I made Everything but the… (Kitchen Sink) Brownies, and Shelly made Karamel Sutra Cupcakes.  That caramel center is killing me!!

Julie made Americone Dream Blondie Sandwiches, and Peabody made Everything but the…Cake.  I’ll take two of each :)

Thursday:

For our last day of Ben & Jerry week, I shared Chunky Monkey Sandwich Cookies.  The filling is a creamy banana ice cream-like frosting.  SO GOOD!!

Peabody made Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Swirl Cookies.  I love that yummy swirl in the middle.

Shelly shared Oatmeal Chunk Cookies (oatmeal cookies are my FAVORITE, so these are on my must try list) and Heather made a fabulous Chocolate Therapy Cake with CHOCOLATE PUDDING FROSTING.

I repeat — Chocolate Pudding Frosting.

I had so much fun this week, and I hope you get the opportunity to try a few of these recipes.  They’re all amazing!!

Have a fabulous weekend!!

The post Friday Fun!! Friday Fun!! appeared first on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

Today is my last recipe for Ben & Jerry’s Week!!

But if we’re being honest, I’ve thought of like a zillion other flavors I want to recreate, soooo…this may continue on into infinity.

Sorry.

Speaking of infinity.

My son has reached the age where he asks me things like “What is the world’s largest number?” alllll the timeeeeeee.

One time, I triumphantly yelled “A Googol!!!”

And he was like, “Google what?” and I said, “that is the world’s largest number!!” and he said, “no mom, that is a search engine”.

Almost 9 year old boys think they know EVERYTHING.  Serious smarty butts, I am telling you.

Anyways.

These cookies.  They are total Chunky Monkey in cookie form!!

If you’ve never had Chunky Monkey (one of my favorite flavors!!) it’s banana ice cream with chunks of dark chocolate and walnuts.

These cookies are rich dark chocolate cookies with walnuts, and a cool, creamy, ice cream-like banana frosting with chocolate chunks.

I know some of you will email me and say, “These look great, but my hubby Bill hates walnuts, so can I sub pecans?”  or “my son refuses to eat nuts, so can I leave them out??”

The answer is yes to both.  And I’m sure they will still be perfectly delicious cookies.

HOWEVER — they will NOT be Chunky Monkey Cookies.

They will be Hubby Bill Who Likes Pecan Cookies.  Which doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, if you ask me.

Regardless — make the durn cookies and share them with your favorite know it all.  They are seriously fabulous!!

Of course, since it’s Ben & Jerry’s Week, we’ve got a few other bloggers sharing fabulous recipes, too!!

Shelly has made cookies inspired by the Oatmeal Cookie Chunk Flavor, Heather has created a decadent Chocolate Therapy Cake.

So many great flavors, I can’t wait to see what they came up with!!

I hope you get tons of dessert inspiration.  Enjoy and happy Thursday!!

The post Chunky Monkey Sandwich Cookies appeared first on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

Hungry?

When Shelly and I decided to do a Ben & Jerry’s Week, I knew that Everything but the… Brownies needed to happen.

If you’re not familiar with the ice cream flavor (the shame!!  the shame!!), it’s chocolate and vanilla swirled ice cream filled with white chocolate chunks, Heath bar chunks, peanut butter cups, and chocolate covered almonds.

Um, hello most perfect brownie idea EVER.

This ice cream flavor is perfect for me, because I can sit and pick out all the good stuff with my spoon, and pretend that I’m not just sitting there eating a ginormous pile of candy.

But then my husband sees the melty pint sitting on the table and asks if I want it in the freezer and I say, “no, l’m done”, and he’s like, “yeah…it’s still full of ice cream, so…why did you get ice cream?”

Men just ask waaaaay too many questions.

But.

This ice cream also IS pretty perfect on top of a brownie.

A brownie that is ALSO loaded with chunks of white chocolate, Heath bar, peanut butter cups, and chocolate covered almonds.

Winning alllll around.

It’s probably a good thing for all of us that I don’t believe in desserts that are too sweet.

Also, can we just agree that telling someone that the dessert they made is “pretty rich” is just rude?

I never know how to react when someone takes a bite of something, looks at me and says, “Wow…that’s rich.”

Do I say “thanks”?

“Put down the brownie and walk away, you ungrateful dessert eating person?”

I don’t know.  Too confusing.  This is why I fail at people.

For the love of Pete, just make the dang brownies.

And don’t share them with any wusses.

Now, as you remember, we have some other bloggers cooking up some Ben & Jerry’s fun this week!!

Shelly has made Karamel Sutra Cupcakes (are you even serious), Peabody has made Everything but the… Layer Cake, and Julie has whipped up some Americone Dream Blondie Sandwiches.

It all sounds amazing.  I vote for changing Ben & Jerry’s Week to Ben & Jerry’s MONTH!!

Or year?

Have a great Wednesday!!

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The post Everything but the… (Kitchen Sink) Brownies (Ben & Jerry’s Week) appeared first on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

Surprise!!

It’s Ben & Jerry’s Week!!

Shelly and I love teaming up to do theme weeks from time to time, and a few weeks ago, we decided to organize a Ben & Jerry’s Week.  We are so in love with their ice cream and creative flavor pairings, and we’ve used their ice cream as inspiration on many desserts in the past.

We invited a few blogger friends to participate, so they will be joining on different days this week.  I can’t wait to see all the fun recipes that everyone comes up with!!

For my first recipe, I used Cherry Garcia as my inspiration.

It’s one of my favorites!!  And it was hard to resist the idea of making a pretty pink cake.

Trust me when I say you need this cake in your life.

Your hips might not need it (mine don’t), but since when do they get a say?

Shut up, stupid hips.

You’re not the boss of me.

This cake is more or less just an adaptation of my Mint Chocolate Chip Cake.  That’s what I love about making cakes — it’s just a matter of changing a few ingredients in the frosting, maybe adding a topping or two, and you have a whole new cake!!

This cake is rich dark chocolatey, with cherry buttercream that is loaded with chunks of chocolate and sweet cherries.

How can you say no to that face?

Now be sure to go and check out the other goods!!

Shelly (cookies and cups) made What a Cluster Bars and Peabody (Culinary Concoctions by Peabody) made Phish Food Pie.    I’m 100% certain that I need both, immediately.

Enjoy, and I can’t wait to share my other recipes with you this week!!!

The post Cherry Garcia Cake (Ben & Jerry’s Week!!) appeared first on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

After Christmas, Mother’s Day is my favorite day of the year.  Mostly because I love that I get to feel proud of what I accomplished, snuggle my babies, and feel really loved.  Best ever!!

Since the BIG DAY is fast approaching, I thought I’d address one of the questions that is posted in comments or emailed to me all the time.

“How do you get all this baking done with an infant?”

The answer?

It’s super, duper hard.

I know it’s easy to look at snapshots of happy kids and adorable food and wonder what you are doing wrong.  Because I do it, too.

But for every snapshot, every perfect little second captured with my iPhone or camera, there are a zillion moments you don’t see.

The times where I’m on the computer typing up posts at 10 pm, when I’d rather be on the couch snuggling with my husband.

My messy kitchen.

Me arguing with my husband because he isn’t a mind reader, and didn’t immediately start folding laundry when he got home from work.

Me trying to check homework while I nurse a fussy baby and deal with a splitting headache.

None of us have a special trick.  None of us have a magical baby that doesn’t cry, or super strength that makes it possible to do ALLLLL the things with an infant in tow.  It just looks that way sometimes.

And if we are REALLY being honest here, I pay someone to clean my house once a week.  And ya’ll…it’s such a relief to have that weight off my shoulders.  I’m not rich, I don’t live in a big  house, but that extravagance…it’s a big deal  to me and it makes my life SO MUCH EASIER.

There have been days I sat on my couch at night and cried and told my husband I was quitting my blog.  It was too hard, babies are too hard, I just can’t do it all.

But then I’d remember how LONG it took me to build my site to what it is.  And I’d remember what inspired me to start it to begin with — I loved  baking blogs, but felt like there weren’t a lot of moms who spoke to ME.  Imperfect, a little crazy, and inexperienced in the kitchen.  When I first started staying at home when my son was born 8 years ago, finding a passion and a hobby in baking saved me.  In a world where everything I do revolved around my family and their needs, it gave me something for ME.  Something to be proud of, and to get excited about.  And after reading blogs for years, I realized that I wanted to speak to the “ME’s” out there who needed something to get excited about.

I wanted to encourage.  To say, you don’t have to be PERFECT to be FABULOUS.  If I can make this — me with my flaws and my busy life — so can you.

So I keep at it, because I know Lucy will grow up and things will get easier.

I try hard to find a balance — I only have one chance at leaving a legacy for my kids, and while it’s great for them to see me chasing my dream, I don’t want them to feel that I’m more absorbed in the opinions of strangers than my relationship with them.

So sometimes, that means working late when I really don’t want to.

Sometimes that means baking, long after the dinner dishes are cleaned and put away.

So just know, if you barely have time for a shower, you feel half crazed, and you’re wondering what you are doing wrong…the answer is simple.

NOTHING.

This site is meant to be an escape of sorts.  You come, you laugh, you look at pretty pictures of food, and maybe feel inspired to try a few recipes.   It’s fun on purpose.  But real life isn’t like that.

So please, PLEASE, don’t ever compare my snapshots to your real life.  Because in the big picture, this isn’t my real life all the time either.

Now, on to what I did this week!!

Peanut Butter Overload Bars.  They are a must.

I love to read!!  I’m sharing my Reading List for May HERE.

Peanut Butter, chocolate, and pretzels in a pie.  Yes.

And I’m recapping the week in Pop Culture HERE.  I don’t know why I care about such things, but sadly…I do.  I really do.

That’s it for this week!!

Have a fabulous weekend and enjoy your Mother’s Day!!

The post Friday Fun!! Friday Fun!! (and some Mother’s Day honesty) appeared first on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.