DIY Mason Jar Cake

categories: Desserts, DIY, Recipes

DIY Jar Cake_3

Mason Jars – the new DIY it item brought to you by Pinterest. I’ll admit it; I love them. They’re the most versatile DIY item out there. You can put almost anything in a mason jar, pretty it up with ribbon, burlap or twine and impress a crowd.

I’ve been known to use mason jars for plenty of projects, including the Salad Bar I pulled together for a bridal shower last month, and baked smores in a jar. This week, I wanted to try something a little more DIY… enter Mason Jar Chocolate Cake.

Let me start by saying, not everything turns out the way you expect it to – even for me. Sometimes, it really is an experiment and if it turns out I feature it on the blog. (more…)

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Chicken Pot Pie Topped with Biscuits

categories: Chicken, Posts, Recipes

Chicken Pot Pie

It’s that time, when the mornings and evenings get cooler, when we can’t figure out whether to wear a bulky sweater or a light jacket, when pumpkins are everywhere and people are happy because it’s early fall. Lucky me, I wake up for my day job before the sun comes up, which means I’m constantly debating whether or not I should be wearing a wool coat to work; only to realize that when I leave around 3:30pm that it’s a lovely 75 degrees and I’m overdressed for the heat. (more…)

Homemade Apple Pie

categories: Desserts, Posts, Recipes

Apple Pie_2

Nothing screams early fall like apple pie, and apple picking of course! Nany and I have started a yearly apple-picking tradition where we pick a random weekend in September and head out to the apple orchard. Once we’ve collected more than enough apples, we drag them back to her house to create a mouth-watering dessert –with the help of her mom of course– for everyone to eat after lunch. This year, we took a special guest with us, we’ll call her Zee, and we had a fabulous time. Of the three of us, she was the one who wasn’t afraid to climb into, yes into, the trees to pick out the very best apples. (more…)

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Baking Themed Bridal Shower

categories: DIY

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One of my closest friends, Fiza, is getting married in a couple weeks. As part of our obligatory best friend duties—and our undying love for her of course, the TTC and I hosted her bridal shower. It was one of my favorites to pull together because the theme was so different from anything I’ve done in the past. Fiza is an undercover baker. I’ve mentioned in previous posts, that she needs to open up her own bakery. Her love of baking led me to pull together a full baking-themed bridal shower.

So how exactly do you pull off a baking-themed bridal shower? Let me show you … (more…)

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Grilled Salmon Salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing

categories: Posts, Recipes, Salads, Seafood

Grilled Salmon Salad

Summer is almost over. I spend all winter waiting for summer and it just flies by in the blink of an eye. This year, I didn’t even get a chance at proper beach time. The one weekend I dedicated to working on my tan and being lazy on a beach chair was ruined by summer rain. So bad, that we left early making it a less than enjoyable weekend, to say the least. I have other things to say about that particular weekend, but I’ll keep that to myself. (more…)

Grilled Stuffed Snapper

categories: Posts, Recipes, Seafood

Grilled Fish

The best grilled fish I’ve had was in Sydney, Australia at an upscale restaurant on the harbor. It was a beautiful September evening in 2012 and I was enjoying a low-key dinner with my cousin and his beautiful wife. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was on a docking strip with a couple other outdoor restaurants. Not only was the weather amazing (September there is really like early spring to us), but the food was amazing. It also happened to be that I had the best oysters of my life there as well. (more…)

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