secret recipe club: vanilla peach bars

for this, my last and final secret recipe club choice, i first chose this upside down peach cake from amanda at dancing veggies. amanda's blog is full of vegetarian recipes and i had never made a cake without eggs before. but i had a different, major problem. the last few cakes i've made, i've thought they were done, taken them out of the oven, just to cut into them later to find them gooey inside. this time, my cake wasn't even close to being done. and just like the other times, i didn't know until after i had turned it out, let it cool, and took out the first slice. what a bummer. the two inches around the outside edge were cooked & delicious. my advice to those of you want to make it: make sure it's really done. and if you aren't sure, bake it another five minutes. oh, and let it cool in the pan about 15 minutes before turning it out.

secret recipe club: peanut butter ice cream pie with homemade hot fudge

for this month's secret recipe club pick from cindy at hun...what's for dinner?, i started my search looking for two things: a great weeknight dinner and a new cookie. as a result, these bbq cola beef sandwiches almost made in into our rotation last week (i love using my slow cooker in the summer, and these sandwiches look perfect), along with these peanut butter, chocolate chip & pretzel bars until i just so happened to stumble upon these frozen peanut butter cups and the sandwiches and bars flew out the window! my initial thought was that the only thing these were missing was chocolate ice cream. i remedied that and made one of my favorite combos. 

secret recipe club: salted totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies

for this month's secret recipe club pick at my hobbie lobbie, i had a couple recipes picked out: baked fish in mushroom sauce [i'm always on the lookout for simple, delicious ways to prepare fish, and mushrooms are always a hit in this house], savory french toast [think baked french toast casserole with peppers, onions, and cheese], monster cookies [chocolate chips + peanut butter + oats + M&Ms] and these totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies [melted chocolate & cocoa in the batter with dark chocolate chips mixed in]. i woke up one saturday morning all ready to make the savory french toast, when i realized i was missing one - arguably the - key ingredient: bread. so i settled - if i can even call it settling, when so much chocolate is involved - on the totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies. the only change i made was to convert the ingredients from metric to US measurements using my kitchen scale & i added a sprinkle of sea salt to the top of half the cookies. i loved the salt, jason didn't care for it, but we all agreed the cookies are delicious.

secret recipe club: mexican mac & cheese and bakewell tart

i had already made my grocery list and planned my meals for this week when i realized two things: i totally forgot that it's time for the secret recipe club again and this week is cinco de mayo! i had browsed rachel cotterill's blog and bookmarked a few recipes right when i got my assignment, not even thinking about mexican food. once i realized my blunder, i read through the list i had bookmarked and easily chose this mexican mac and cheese! while not spicy, it went over really well in our house with a toddler and preschooler. for dessert, i made one of my favorite combinations: almond and raspberry in this bakewell tart. i knew the tart would taste great, but both jason and i were surprised at how light it is. i assumed the almonds would make a heavy, dense cake, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. and while rachel and i don't have much in common besides food - she's a computational linguistics PhD student, declares she's "someone who collects skills the way other people collect stamps", and she has written two fantasy novels - there's no doubt that we both share a love of food.

petite white layer cake

the top layer sliding ever so slightly, this is a total mom cake. i'm pretty sure the first time i celebrated my birthday with a store bought cake was when i turned 19. it was the first year i spent my birthday away from my mother and her homemade cakes. my mom recently reminded me how much my sister and i begged for a store bought cake as kids - which while i don't remember this specifically, i'm not all that surprised that it happened - and then thanked her as adults for always making our cakes. to this day, my mom's layer cakes never look the best - always a little lopsided, one layer sliding off another - but no bakery cake can compare to the flavor of a homemade cake.

strawberry dutch baby

i've spent the last five days and nights alone with the baby while jason and winn were out of town, visiting grandma. like most parents, i had visions of all the things i would get done with only one child under my feet - and one that cannot yet talk! or run! or break things! visions of clothes shopping. visions of painting the now guest room in our house as a surprise to my husband when he comes home today (surprise! i didn't do it). visions of putting a sizable dent in my stack of magazines, some of which date back to 2013. visions of cooking - oh the cooking! you don't even want to see my wish list for the last two days. and i was going to do all of this plus get back on track with my half marathon training by running for an hour or so each day.

simple carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

i mentioned early this week that we hosted some friends with little ones for an easter egg hunt and brunch last saturday morning. this carrot cake was the first dish i knew would be on the menu as my mom has made it a handful of times for various birthdays, holidays, and saturdays. it's the perfect cake for a party - it's easy, coming together in basically one bowl and no fussy layers, delicious, fitting for easter and springtime, and i felt a little less guilty letting my toddler have a piece knowing there are carrots tucked inside. oh and i've yet to meet a person that doesn't like carrot cake.

secret recipe club: old fashioned sour cream donuts

a couple months ago - november 22, to be exact - i was craving a good donut so badly that the next morning, we packed up the kids and headed to downtown rochester for a half dozen. we foolishly thought we would have leftovers. needless to say, my favorite was the old fashioned sour cream donut. like most great foods, i wanted to make them myself at home and immediately tucked the idea in the back of my mind.

apple butter crumb muffins

last month we took the boys apple picking. an hour and a couple meltdowns later, we left with about 30 pounds of apples. while a few were destined for other things, the overwhelming majority were processed into one of a few perfect foods - unsweetened apple sauce. i canned somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 pints, hopefully enough to last until next year. it's hard to keep this house in applesauce, with a toddler gobbling it up and his almost seven month old brother finally onto solid foods. 

midway through my applesauce making foray, i decided to sacrifice a few cups and turn it into apple butter. in our house, we enjoy jams and fruit butters a couple ways: slathered onto homemade scones, a top crackers spread with peanut butter, and mixed into muffins.

carmelitas

i've had my eyes on a couple recipes for carmelitas - an oatmeal bar cookie stuffed with creamy, salty caramel and chocolate chips - for years. one saturday afternoon, about six months ago when i was eight months pregnant, they soared to the top of my "must make now" list. i took advantage of nap time and was digging into these a couple hours later. making them is the easy part, it's waiting for them to cool completely before eating that takes restraint!

secret recipe club: mini cinnamon roll cakes

we are spending the holiday weekend camping with both boys - a two year old and four month old - for the first time. the intent was to make this cinnamon bread from sweet as sugar cookies to snack on or appease a grumpy two year old. after a disastrous first try - scroll down for the result - i turned the bread into mini bundt cakes and topped them with a cream cheese frosting. they taste like cinnamon rolls with about a quarter of the work. needless to say, all six were long gone before we left for our camping trip.

secret recipe club: butterscotch M&M oatmeal cookies

by something short of a miracle, both boys slept a full three hours yesterday. the weather outside was absolutely perfect, so i grabbed a stack of these cookies i made with winn late last week, made myself a mocha iced coffee (coffee + whole milk + hershey's syrup), grabbed my latest copy of cooking light, and had a full two hours all to myself outside. it was pure bliss. no one yelling "mama", no babies crying, no housework begging to be done. i honestly can't remember the last time that happened.

secret recipe club: snickerdoodle bars & slow cooker chicken fajitas

for this month's secret recipe club pick at anna's bcmom's kitchen, i followed the same format as last month: a delicious dessert and an easy dinner. and while both were delicious, i have to give it to the snickerdoodle bars. the fajitas were easy - chop, dump, and cook for 8 hours - but i forgot how much i love the still crunchy texture of vegetables in fajitas. anyone that's slow cooked vegetables knows they don't stay crisp. so while the flavor was good and the ease of making them spot on, the texture of the vegetables weren't the best for me.

and then there were the bars. when i was making them, i honestly didn't think they would be anything special and was pleasantly surprised when i had my first bite. they have the perfect balance of sugar cookie and cinnamon sugar goodness, in bar form. so good, i had to hide them from my toddler. otherwise, i heard "mama! bar!" a couple times a day when he saw them sitting on the counter.

secret recipe club: meyer lemon iced raspberry yogurt cake & slow cooker chicken cacciatore

a couple weeks ago, a friend of mine mentioned making a blueberry lemon cake on facebook. after reading that and seeing the post, i couldn't get the thought of a meyer lemon layer cake out of my mind. the very next day i scoured claire k creation's blog for cake recipes. i bypassed - and pinned for later - this best ever carrot cake, this lemon tea cake, and this coffee cake for this greek yogurt & raspberry cake. topped with meyer lemon buttercream, it made two pregnant women - she 38 weeks, me 32 - very happy.

grandpa's favorite double chocolate cookies

when i first started this blog four and a half years ago, i was pleasantly surprised to find my grandpa to be one of my biggest readers and fans. yes, this grandpa that still grows his own strawberries and then turns them into jam, and every year provides me with enough tomato plants he grew from seed to fill out my garden. a couple times a year, usually after i've posted a relatively mediocre recipe review, a letter comes in the mail with my grandpa's favorite version of said recipe. i'm slowly getting through them all. and just like his jam and tomato plants, these cookies did not disappoint. easy, quick - no chilling! - and the perfect chocolate fix.

mini peanut butter caramel & ganache tarts

remember back in january when i teased making chocolate truffles for valentine's day this year? i completely and totally forgot. and made these obnoxiously good tartlets instead.

salted chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies

my favorite cookie needs two things: chocolate + one bowl + no refrigeration time. that way i can go from no cookies to eating cookies in under 20 minutes. because let's be honest; when i want a cookie, i want it now. not tomorrow after waiting for dough to chill. this cookie meets all of those criteria plus a bonus: peanut butter, jason's favorite cookie. toss in some oats and top with sea salt just for kicks and in 20 minutes you'll be eating fresh cookies too.

glazed donut muffins

we've been pretty lucky with winn. while the first couple months were rough - he was and still is most days, as a friend of ours has coined the term for her son, an 'ultimate sleep fighter' - once we got past them, he sleeps a solid 12 hours every night and very rarely wakes up. which is why it almost killed the two of us a couple weeks ago when he decided, for a reason we still don't know, to wake up and be generally miserable every two hours. all. night. long. and then be up for the day around 5:00. a full two and a half hours earlier than usual.

secret recipe club: almond strawberry jam thumbprints

this month's secret recipe club assignment couldn't have come at a better time. for the last few years, a good friend has hosted a bunch of us ladies in december for a cookie party. only this year, with the rush of the holidays - and i swear, the short time between thanksgiving and christmas made christmas come even quicker this year - the party was in january. and while i had plenty of cookie recipes bookmarked for holiday baking that i didn't even come close to making, the majority involved chocolate or peanut butter - two things i was surprisingly sick of.

celebrate national ice cream for breakfast day!

tomorrow is national ice cream for breakfast day! even though it's the dead of winter, i rarely need more than a suggestion to convince me to have a bowl. and while some of my favorites aren't exactly ice cream, i'm calling sorbet and gelato close enough to celebrate! here are a few of my favs -