King Arthur Flour Project: Butter-Nut Blondies

Butter-Nut Blondies

For my second recipe for the King Arthur Project, I decided to take on the bar cookie. I was really anxious to see how whole wheat would taste in one of my favorite traditional recipes, the blondie. The blondie is the one bar cookie that I know will please everyone in my family so to be able to add whole grains to the bars was a bonus. This recipe is from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking and I used KAF Whole Wheat Flour in the batter.

Gooseberry Patch's "101 Cozy Casseroles": Review and Giveaway

Goosberry Patch has added a new cookbook to their 101 photo series cookbooks, 101 Cozy Casseroles and I know that you want to know all the details. My complete review of the cookbook is here in my article, Casseroles to the Rescue, which includes the recipe for Curry Chicken Casserole. So, please read the article for more cookbook details. Plus, keep reading here if you want to enter the giveaway to enter this beautiful cookbook.

Review: "The Naptime Chef"

The Naptime Chef

by Kelsey Banfield

Running Press

You may know Kelsey Banfield from her blog, The Naptime Chef, where she shares recipes that she creates for her family. The idea for Naptime Chef came when Banfield became a stay-at-home mom to her daughter. Banfield cherished her daughter's naptime by prepping and preparing the evening's meal. She decided to share her recipes and adventures with the world through blogging and those recipes have now expanded into a cookbook with the same title, The Naptime Chef.

Inspired by Sally's Baking Addiction: Golden Oreo Cake Batter Blondies

There are just so many wonderful recipes out there in the blogging world. And, fortunately, now that we have Pinterest, we can pin any recipe that we want to save for future reference. I saw this recipe posted this week on Sally's Baking Addiction and I couldn't stop thinking about them.

King Arthur Flour: The Easiest 100% Whole Wheat Bread Ever

So, I'm really excited to be starting a project with King Arthur Flour. I'm looking forward to mastering the art of baking bread as well as to incorporating more whole grains into my family's diet. For this project, I will be using King Arthur Flour products and will be baking from Whole Grain Baking.  The featured recipe called for King Arthur whole wheat flour.

Mini Cinnamon Buns from "Push-up Pops": Recipe and Review

Push-up Pops

by Courtney Dial Whitmore

Gibbs Smith Book Publishers

I first saw the push-up pop trend last summer when I was participating in some blog hops. I thought it was one of the cutest ideas I have ever seen. I've always been a big fan of the ice cream push pops. My kids and I fight over them all the time. I knew that they would enjoy trying other desserts in the push pop mold. And, fortunately, there is a cookbook out there that is dedicated to this new trend, Push-up Pops by Courtney Dial Whitmore from Gibbs Smith Book Publishers.

Blackberry Focaccia from "Step-by-Step Bread": Recipe and Review

Blackberry Focaccia

For years now, I've been wanting to learn to bake bread, yeast bread to be specific. I had a bread machine for a while and I enjoyed the bread it produced. But, baking it was basically following directions on how to add the ingredients, pressing a few buttons, and then waiting...Whenever I would read a recipe for yeast bread, I would cringe. The list of directions just seemed so long: proofing, mixing, kneading, covering, rising, punching, rising, and, finally, baking. Did I really want to get involved with this operation?

Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Cookies from "The Cookiepedia": Recipe and Review

I love to bake cookies, just good old plain drop cookies. I rarely cut out cookies and when I do, the decorating is quite rustic. Rustic is the word I like to use to describe my decorating skills. The word translates to mean that while the cookies might not look good, they do taste good. So, I prefer to stick to drop cookies or cookies that I can roll into balls and bake. That's one of the things that I loved about The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando, published by Quirk Books. There were plenty of cookie recipes that fell into my comfort zone.

Vanilla Bean Baby Doughnuts from "SprinkleBakes": Recipe and Review

Vanilla Bean Baby Doughnuts

Spring 2012 has been quite a season for baking cookbooks. I've found so many talented bakers and artists releasing their cookbooks in the last few months. One of the most artistic cookbooks I've seen this spring is SprinkleBakes by Heather Baird, published by Sterling Publishing. And, you can tell from the subtitle, "Dessert Recipes to Inspire Your Inner Artist", that you're in for a baking cookbook that's different and unique.

Winners, Winners Everywhere

I'm happy to announce two winners of my most recent giveaways. Vicki Ferguson is the winner of Tart Love and Kristin Threlkeld is the winner of Gooseberry Patch's The Christmas Table. I still have one active giveaway. Click here to enter the giveaway for Gooseberry Patch's The Harvest Table. Deadline is May 26. And, check back next week, too, when I'll be reviewing and hosting yet another Gooseberry Patch review and giveaway. It's the most wonderful time of the year for cookbook giveaways. Congratulations again to Vicki and Kristin!

Sprinkle Marshmallow Pops from "Sugarlicious": Recipe and Review

Sprinkle Marshmallow Pops

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I'm not great at making cute desserts. I'm just not. And, even though I have children and they seem like the perfect excuse to make something cute, my sons only like plain desserts - sugar cookies and brownies. But, I do enjoy experimenting with treats and making them for my sons' classes. Other kids appreciate them. At my son's Easter party, one of the moms brought these marshmallow pops and the children loved them. I wanted to taste one myself but thought it might be a little inappropriate. So, I was really happy when I found the "recipe" in Meaghan Mountford's Sugarlicious.

Curried Shrimp Cups from "Muffin Tin Chef": A Recipe and Review

One of the biggest food trends going today in the world of cookbooks is small, bite-size desserts. But, bite-size food isn't just for dessert. You can also make bite-size savory appetizers that can also serve as a meal. There's a new cookbook out there that covers all realms of the trend, Muffin Tin Chef by Matt Kadey, published by Ulysses Press.

Malt Chocolate Brownies for Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day weekend to all the mothers out there. I'll be celebrating with my family later today at my Mema's house. I've been busy this morning and made two casseroles to take to the event. I made these brownies last night. They're from Gooseberry Patch's Circle of Friends Cookbook - Brownie and Bar Recipes. This is probably my favorite Gooseberry Patch Circle of Friends that I've downloaded for my Kindle Fire. It is filled with delicious bar recipes. These Malt Chocolate Brownies are divine!

Gooseberry Patch's "Harvest Table": Recipes, Review and Giveaway

Yes, they did it again! Gooseberry Patch has published another wonderful fall cookbook. If you're a fan of Gooseberry Patch's fall cookbooks, then you'll love The Harvest Table. I've always been partial to the fall cookbook line. The first cookbooks I bought to start my Gooseberry Patch collections were Flavors of Fall and Taste of Autumn. And, at this time every year, I look forward to the newest addition to the fall cookbook collection.