Forget the ketchup and mustard because this pineapple salsa was the only thing these hotdogs needed.  It paired so well with the new King’s Hawaiian hot dog buns.  Have you seen the new hot dog and hamburger buns from King’s Hawaiian?  I love that the slit for the hot dog is in the top.  It was so much easier to put a fun topping on the dogs.

Last week my sister and her family visited us.  This was a great time for lots of cousin bonding time.  They live in Bolivia, SA, so we were excited to spend a week with them.  Of course we decided to have a fun backyard picnic with everyone on one of their last nights with us.  This was the perfect time to break out the King’s Hawaiian buns.

My sister and I had fun walking through the house and finding things that I already had on hand to decorate our food table with.  It always amazes me to see the decorations that I have accumulated over the years.  I was planning on buying some more decorations for the 4th of July. After seeing how much red, white, and blue I already own, my husband is happy that I can just shop my house.  Just don’t tell him about the straws and cupcake liners I already bought

King’s Hawaiian® wants to know how you bring people together.  Reply below for a chance to win a $200 gift card!  Sweepstakes Rules.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kings Hawaiian. The opinions and text are all mine.

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 Today I am have a special dessert to share with you.  It doesn’t have any extra toppings or chocolate or peanut butter hiding inside it.  On Father’s Day I wanted to make my husband a dessert that he actually loves.  He tolerates all the crazy desserts that I come up with, but a simple strawberry pie is really his favorite.

I am so thankful for a husband that loves our children more than himself.  He would do anything for them.  I appreciate the patience that he has with their crazy shenanigans.  The other day they ambushed him with water guns as he came home from work.  His response?  Grab the hose and fire back.  I love that he plays with them just like a big kid…I know they love it even more.  He is such a Godly example of what a husband and a father should be.  We love him so very much, and we are glad he is ours.

I wanted to share my new favorite mini tool with you.  A few weeks ago OXO sent me a box of fun fruit gadgets to try out.  This little strawberry huller was in that box.  As I was getting the ingredients ready for the pies, I remembered this tool.  It was so easy to use, and I loved the perfect little hole that it created.  You don’t waste much of the delicious fruit because it only removes the stem.

 These pies are so simple to put together.  You create a pie filling with water, sugar, cornstarch, and strawberry Jello.  Place the strawberries in the Keebler graham cracker crusts and top with the Jello mixture.  Place in the refrigerator for a few hours and then top with Cool Whip.

These are the perfect little pies to celebrate the special man in your life.  I know my hubby can’t wait to eat a few for dessert tonight.

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Strawberry Fudge Poke Cake

Strawberry Chocolate Cheesecake

Strawberry Cheesecake Brownies

*Inside BruCrew Life was sent some kitchen tools from OXO to review. No other compensation was received.  All opinions are 100% my own.

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I spent last weekend in Austin, Texas for the BlogHer Food conference.  It was so exciting to see so many food bloggers from everywhere in one hotel.  I decided on an early flight to Austin.  Of course I was up too late the night before packing, so after 2 hours of sleep we were off to the airport.  I couldn’t wait to check out the sites before the conference started.

Kristen from Capturing Joy picked Aimee and I up from the Austin airport.  I have read her blog for a long time, and it was so fun to finally sit down and chat with her.  She is such a sweet heart.  We dropped off our luggage and headed to Congress street for a cupcake.  But not just any cupcake…Austin is known for their food trailers.  We stopped at Hey, Cupcake…it was such a cute set up.

I decided on the Michael Jackson, which is a chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting.  Kristen had to head back to the airport to pick up some more of our food blog friends, so Aimee and I decided to wander the streets.  It was a scorcher of a day.  Wearing a light sweater was definitely not a smart move on my part.  Thank goodness for shops with air conditioning.

After an hour or so, we hopped back in Kristen’s van and headed out to lunch with everyone before starting our night of party hopping.  We were very cozy as you can tell…Kristen also had her 4 kids in the van too.  I admit many seatbelt laws were broken that day

*Nikki, me, Karly, Aimee*

After lunch we headed back to our room to see if our other roomies had checked in.

I was so excited to have the best roommates.  I have been reading their blogs for ages…ok, maybe more like stalking.  Aimee and I know each other and have met up quite a few times, and I met Nikki last February at the BYOB conference in Utah.  So I couldn’t wait to meet Karly.  She is just as sweet and funny in person, and I loved getting to know her better this weekend.

Our first stop of the night was at La Condesa for the Tasty Kitchen party.  We walked up the steps and immediately Amanda spotted me, and we chatted for quite a bit.  She is so extremely sweet and made me feel like I had known her for ages.  Well, I guess I have been reading her blog for years now.  It totally made my night to actually meet her.  Then in walked Ree and her family.  I did introduce myself and shake her hand, but I was too tongue tied to ask her for a picture.  You will just have to take my word that I did really meet her.

Then we headed back to the hotel for a fun CandiQuik party.  CandiQuik generously sponsored part of my trip, so I couldn’t wait to meet Sarah who is the girl behind their cute blog.  She is super sweet too and had lots of chocolate covered goodies waiting for us.  She had some fruits and veggies too, but I know the chocolate stuff was all I wanted to eat.  The chocolate covered Pringles were definitely a favorite of mine.  I am totally craving some right now, but I am missing the chip part.  Thank you Sarah for stocking us up on CandiQuik.  I can’t wait to use mine.

On to the last party of the night…a dessert party with Ziplist at Max’s Wine Dive.  You don’t have to ask me twice to come to a dessert bar.  The chocolate brownies were so delicious, as long as you got a center piece.  It was so fun to eat and catch up with good blog friends.

Friday morning we had breakfast and got started with some classes right away.  I can’t wait to implement some of the tips  I heard.  My biggest take aways were to engage more with my readers and learn to use twitter.  I am guilty of just letting my FB auto tweet for me…it’s time to start using it for more connections.

In between classes, we wandered the hall and checked out all the sponsors.  Plus, they had lots of free goodies, so we couldn’t wait to scope it out.  I have to say my favorite stop was the Keurig booth.  Megan and the staff manning the booth were so fun and friendly.  The free coffee and brew over ice drinks all day brought us back so many times.  We night have also photo bombed their photo booth quite a few times.

*me, Ashton, Aimee, Dorothy, Kristy, Krista and Tony*

That night we headed to Parkside Restaurant where Aimee and I helped host a casual party for Crunch Pak Apples.  They had appetizers and a light dinner prepared for us to enjoy while mingling with bloggers.  It was a gorgeous night, and we enjoyed overlooking the sights and sounds of 6th street.

They also had a cute photo booth with cute props have fun with.  Crunch Pak also had a fun goodie bag for everyone that attended.  It was such a fun night and I am so thankful to Crunch Pak for sponsoring part of my BlogHer trip.

After the party, we headed back to the hotel to get comfy and relax with the girls at the PicMonkey PJ party.  They had tons of donuts, cupcakes, and candy for us to munch on.  Talk about a sugar rush!

Saturday afternoon we had some free time, so a few of us headed out to do some shopping.  We stopped at a few places, but I didn’t see anything I absolutely needed.  Although now I am wishing I had purchased this fun dessert sign.  That is totally my life motto.

After walking in the sun for quite a while, we knew that ice cream was needed.  We found Amy’s Ice Cream and decided it was worth waiting in line for.  Let me just tell you that the Biscoff Marshmallow Shake that I had was delicious and I can’t wait to recreate it in my kitchen.  A few of the girls needed to get back, but Aimee and I found a few more shops to browse in.  We ended up walking the 12+ blocks to get back to our hotel.  It was a good thing because then it was like the milkshake never happened.

*me, Karly, Aimee*

That night we headed to a wine and cheese tasting party hosted by the OH Dairy.  My favorite of the night was the Buckeye Cheesecake.  PB and chocolate will always be my go to.

*Back row – Aimee, Trish, Sarah, Hayley, Dorothy*
*Front row – me, Ashton, Ashley, Chandra*

The last stop of the night was the final closing party at Stubb’s BBQ.  The plate of barbecue was amazing…I’m glad I finally got some Texas barbecue before leaving.  And of course we couldn’t resist another photo booth.  I can’t believe the weekend was almost over.  It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone.  We stayed up super late just chit chatting in our room that night.

Sunday morning we woke up to rain, but it passed quickly so we headed to Torchy’s Tacos for an early lunch.  We tried the fried avocado taco and the chicken fajitas.  To top it all off, we also had the fried cookie dough.  Yes, you read that correctly, and yes it is as good as it sounds

I don’t know how we managed this, but we had to have donuts.  So we walked over to Gourdough’s donut trailer.  These donuts are insane!  They are seriously the size of your head and covered in crazy amounts of toppings.  In true food blogger fashion, we all ordered one or two.  Then the donut feasting began as we took small bites of each and passed them around the table.  They were all so good.  I’m not even sure I could choose a favorite.

*Karly, Erin, me, Aimee, Amanda, Jenny*

After all that eating, it was time to go.  One last stop at the hotel to get our luggage and then off to the airport.  As we headed out of the lobby, we ran into Amanda, Jenny, and Erin and snapped one last picture before saying goodbye.

*Dorothy, Aimee, me, Nikki, Katie, Hayley, Dorothy, Sarah*

My flight was still a few hours away, so I had plenty of time to sit and think about the weekend.  I have to say my all time favorite part was meeting old and new blog friends.  I got to meet so many blog friends in person.  They are an amazing group of ladies, and I am honored to call them friends.  I am looking forward to the next foodie conference with them, where we stay up super late and stuff ourselves with more delicious food.

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I have been hearing voices lately.

Donut pan voices from my kitchen cabinet saying how much they miss me.  Now I could go dust, or answer emails, or heaven forbid…I could even go exercise instead of answering those little voices.    Naaaaa!  Instead I pulled out my donut pan and then looked through my kitchen to see what kind of donuts we could create.

After a quick search of the kitchen, I came up with oranges, orange juice, and vanilla yogurt.  Immediately I thought that combining the three things with the donut basics would make a great Orange Julius Donut.  You will be happy to know that these donuts have a great orange flavor.  I think baking the donuts with orange juice, fresh orange pieces, and then coating them in an orange glaze helps the orange flavor shine through.

I love to bake with yogurt too.  It gives your baked goods such a soft texture.  Plus, then I can say I had my dairy for the day.  So far these donuts are shaping up to be pretty healthy.  Fruit, dairy, and can we call the flour a grain?  Total health food right?  Anyone else following my train of thought?  Please say yes, please say yes!!!!

Well, even if you don’t agree with me on the health food factor, at least you can agree that these are delicious.  I recommend making a batch to have on hand for the weekend.

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More delicious breakfast foods made with fruit:

Apple Biscoff Muffins

Blueberry Banana Bread

Berry Coffee Cake

Shared with: Weekend Potluck, Free For All, Friday Flair,

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Let’s talk about fashion for just a minute.  How many of you have heard of a Spankz?  Basically it is a very tiny undergarment that squeezes the life out of you so you can look good in your clothes.

I found a couple cute dresses a few months ago that I really liked, but they were just a teeny tiny bit too snug.  I had high hopes that I would stick with the exercise routine, and I would give up eating cookies, so I decided to buy them.  Yeah…neither of those happened in time for me to wear the dresses without help.  Time to go shopping for a Spankz.  I was curious how well they really would work.  My daughter and I headed to the mall with some friends.  After having a great lunch and some fun shopping, we headed to Kohl’s to see if we could find the undergarment that I was looking for.   After I picked myself up off the floor from sticker shock, I grabbed a few sizes to try on.  How can something so small cost so much money?  It’s crazy!

Just so you know, I had a complete workout  in the dressing room.  I worked up a sweat just trying to wiggle in and out of those torture devices.  These things cause emotional and physical distress.  Emotional because you feel like a huge whale trying to get your body into a piece of clothing that looks like it was made for a 10 year old.  The physical distress comes from sweating buckets while you are supposedly on a fun shopping trip.  Exercise and shopping should never go in the same sentence.
Want to know something that should go in the same sentence?  Dark chocolate and Butterfinger !   That is one combo that should go together all the time.   My daughter always gets this combo when we go to Coldstone Creamery.  She never changes what she gets.  This made me thing of putting the two things together in one delicious cookie.

Let me just tell you, this dark chocolate cookie was absolutely perfect.  They were rich and soft and full of Butterfinger candy chunks.  I suggest making sure you buy milk when you buy the rest of your ingredients.  They may be rich, but they were just right to dig into after a traumatic shopping trip

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Other cookie recipes that we like to make in our kitchen:

Reese’s Brownie Whoopie Pies

Almond Joy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Banana Reese’s Cookies

Shared with: What’s Cooking, Weekend Potluck, Free For All, Friday Flair,

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