This is my go-to recipe whenever I need to take something a little special to breakfast somewhere, but know I won’t have time to cook that morning. Which is pretty much anytime I have to take a breakfast dish, so I make this a lot.

I love that it’s a yummy, moist coffee cake that you can whip together the night before, cover and chill, and then just bake in the morning. Everyone in our family really likes this one.

(And here’s an artistic shot The Phoenix took while we were doing a little food photography. I thought it was kinda cool. Coffee cake on the run, anyone?)

Let me introduce you to my favorite meal in the world.  Blog friends, meet fried chicken, rice and gravy.  Fried chicken, rice and gravy, meet my blog friends.

I’m almost speechless.  I mean, this has been my favorite meal, probably since I could chew, and for the first time, just last week…I made it myself…successfully!  Usually I only get it on special occasions when my mom’s cooking for me, but not anymore.  Thanks to one absolutely amazing fried chicken recipe from Cooks’ Illustrated, if I’m craving it I can have it.  Amen.

This recipe is so awesome, and so easy.  And my favorite part is just how much crunchy goodness you get in each and every bite of this chicken.  Their secret:  mixing just a little buttermilk in with the seasoned flour coating to make big crumbles that stick to the chicken.  Oh man, you have to give this one a try.  The Phoenix and I couldn’t get enough of it, and he even thought the leftovers were even better the next day.  Yum, yum, yum!

Now I wish I could give you a recipe for the chicken gravy, but it’s more of an eyeball it kind of thing so I really can’t say how much of anything I put in.  I just don’t know and probably never will.  Here’s what I do though:  First, dump all the excess oil out of your skillet that you fried the chicken in, but DO NOT dump out any of the crispy bits from the bottom of the pan.  You will be sorry.  Then put the skillet back on the stove over medium heat or so and add some flour and milk, whisking constantly to get the bits from the bottom of the pan.  It’ll thicken up fairly quickly, then add a lot more milk so you’ll have a good amount of gravy.  You’ll want to keep stirring quite a bit so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the skillet.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and let it cook, still stirring constantly, until you get a good consistency.  Serve over chicken and rice.

Yep.  That’s right.  My baby is three.  Please hold while I cry for a few hours.

Okay, okay.  Really, as much as it’s hard to believe she’s so old, I count every day a blessing that she’s a part of our family and that I get the pleasure of spending my days with her.  Every single day.  And no, all you negative nancy’s out there, I’m not exaggerating.  Even the hard days, days she seems to spend half of it in time-out, I still couldn’t imagine one second without her.  When I think of her, the most captivating little girl I’ve ever known, I can’t help but smile.

And this little girl who makes me smile ’til my cheeks hurt, well, she adores polka dots.  And so a polka dot party we had.  Pink and orange dots showered our house this past weekend for her celebration, and I thought I’d give you a peek into the details.

Here’s her birthday cake.  I’d never made a cake before, not one for a party at least, so I thought I’d use this occasion to try decorating one with fondant.  It was surprisingly easy and I was pleased with the results.  For the cake, I made my absolute favorite chocolate cake recipe in 9″ and 6″ rounds and then I used a thin layer of basic vanilla buttercream to give the fondant something to sit on.  The fondant came from the local bakery and the “dots” are tropical starburst rolled out and cut with my smallest circle cookie cutter.  Yum.

And then there were cake pops.  A whole forest of pink and white cherry chip lollipops.  I made them using these recipe guidelines, but with cherry chip cake mix and a can of cherry frosting.  They sat on a block of styrofoam wrapped in pink wrapping paper and garnished with polka dot ribbon.

Polka dot sugar cookies were in order too, in our theme colors of course.  These still are my favorite sugar cookies and am sooo glad we have extras.

Visually, I think the rock candy was my favorite addition to the dessert table.  I love the pop of color and whimsy.  Doesn’t it just make you smile too?

And here’s a shot of the whole dessert table.  Mmm, so many yummy goodies to choose from.  Just the way it’s supposed to be.

We decorated with circle garland.  The butterfly paper actually inspired the color scheme for the party.  The Phoenix sewed every last one of those circles.  What a guy, I tell ya.

And finally, we had buckets of sidewalk chalk for all the kiddos to take home.

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into my girl’s big day.  I sure had a blast putting it all together for her.  With that smile, how could I not?

You may remember me mentioning peaches recently.  I’m not over them yet.  Not even close.  And if you ask me, neither should you.  We probably only have a few weeks left, so please, please make this before it’s over.  Before we move on to apples and pumpkins and candy canes.

Oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t get too ahead of myself.  But I still think I’ll take a moment and dream of these.  Which translate perfectly into these.

And now back to the matter at hand.

A crostada is basically a free-form pie.  They’re rustic…simple…delicious.  All you need is a pie crust (preferably homemade, but I won’t judge if you buy one), fruit and something to sweeten it up a bit.  That’s it.  Such an easy, yet looks like it took all afternoon, dessert to spoil your family with for dinner.

And for any momma from MOPS checking out my blog, thanks!  I had fun talking to you with pizza dough covered hands yesterday.

My cake pops may not be anywhere close to as cute as Bakerella’s (the cake pop inventor), but this was my first shot at it, so I think I’ll cut myself a little slack.  And, they did get many rave reviews, which makes me think I’m definitely on the right track.  So don’t worry, even if you have trouble getting the coating smooth, like me, it’d be really hard to make them actually taste bad.  And once you sink your teeth into one of these, how smooth the outside is won’t matter one bit.

I’ve been wanting to try them for some time now, and with my little girl’s birthday quickly approaching, I thought maybe I’d need a practice round before the big show.  The practice round was definitely needed, and now I feel more comfortable to make them for her special day.  The red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting was awesome, but I’m going to give cherry chip cake with cherry frosting a go for her party.  One, because they’ll be pink and that will match perfectly with our theme, and, two, that’s my favorite boxed cake mix combo.  I can’t wait.  Yes, that’s the great thing about cake pops…You can pick any boxed cake and can of frosting combination.  So many, many possibilities!

Here’s a look at my cake balls rolled with lollipop sticks inserted.  They’re ready to go in the fridge now to chill for awhile:

And this is the coating I used on the outside of the cake pops.  Any type of chocolate/candy coating will work, this just happened to be what I could find in my local grocery store.  I only melted 3 squares at a time to make sure the coating didn’t harden before I was ready for it:

I would definitely recommend giving cake pops a try.  The cake is so moist, and they keep well for several days (in an airtight container at room temperature).  If you want more creative decorating ideas, head on over to Bakerella for more inspiration than I even know what to do with.

These, my friends, are so good. Granted, I could eat quacamole (a well, prepared one, at least) until it comes out my ears. So that might be why I like this so much, but even if you aren’t a guac-freak like me, I’d say there’s still a good chance you’ll like these. Unless, of course, you’re married to me. Then you wouldn’t even come in the same room while I’m eating them because avocados scare you. Yes, now the world knows, honey.

(Okay, okay, maybe they don’t scare him. But he definitely won’t even try them. Which is just really, really sad.)

I liked everything about these tostadas, and was bummed when it was all gone. The flavors play nicely together and I like how the textures give it a little variety in every bite, especially with the crispness of the toasted tortilla and creaminess of the guacamole. De-lish!

Come fall, I’m going to miss tomatoes fresh-picked from my garden. But I’m pretty sure that’s all I’ll miss about summer. Well, that and my basil.

But until then, I think I’ll have this salad a few times. So simple, so fast, and my tomatoes, cucumber and beloved fresh mozzarella star. It’s light, healthy and a great side dish with just about anything. You can easily add in whatever extra veggies you want if something sounds good; it’s pretty versatile. But I like it this simple, where I can get a little of everything in each bite. Yum!

(One more thing, the mozzarella doesn’t fair well once dressed for more than a few hours, so don’t make more than you can eat in one sitting.  It’d be a shame to waste any.)

It’s that time of the year again. When peach juice dripping down your chin is the sign of a very, very good snack. When summer is starting to wind down and peaches are at their peak. When putting them in just about anything makes perfect sense, including this quesadilla.

These Monterey Jack, Chicken and Totally-Delicious Peach Quesadillas were a hit at our house, and I hope they will be at yours too. And with a slightly sweet and tangy sour cream dipping sauce, it really makes for a fun finger food dinner. You can sub pepper jack cheese for the regular jack if you want a little more kick, too. It’s a great, easy meal when you just don’t feel like turning on the oven, or even being in the kitchen for too long. Enjoy!

We’re in the process of selling a house and buying another and I’ve been a bit preoccupied.  But mostly with picking out new fabric and paint.  So I’m not sure how big of an excuse it is for not blogging…but, nonetheless, it’s mine.

And who really wants to do anything in this heat?!  Ahh, I’m so ready for fall.  So ready. I’m ready to make White Chicken Chili with a Cheddar Hushpuppy Crust.  And Chicken and Noodles.  And anything with pumpkin.  Is anyone else with me here?

I hope to have lots of new recipes for you next week.  But, until then, happy weekend, folks!

If I could have any pie in the world, it’d be my Grandma’s chocolate pie. And you all know that. I mean, it’s my favorite food in the world, and I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned it. I just can’t help it.

In fact, I’m not a big fan of fruit pies. Usually I think they’re too syrupy-gooey-mushy…far from the fruit’s original awesomeness. But not this one. I think this blueberry pie rocks, and I want you to have this amazingly simple, true-to-the-berry pie recipe.

It reminds me of dinners at The Phoenix’s grandma’s house when we lived out in Arizona. She’d make this pie from time to time and I always looked forward to it. It’s her mother’s recipe, and boy is it a good one. The sauce adds just the right amount of sweetness and binder for the berries without diminishing the star of the pie one bit.

It’s definitely worth a try.