You know what’s really hard to take pictures of, you guys? ICE CREAM. I’ve made ice cream before for the blog, and I think I managed to pull off some pretty good photos. This time, however, I got cocky, and I tried to do my Mint Chocolate Chip Hot Fudge Sundaes photo shoot after I got home from work. Since I’m basically awake around 4:30am each day, doing anything after work that involves patience and a modicum of creativity is not the...
Brush up your Play-Doh skills, everyone! Because we’re baking Rainbow Pinwheel Cookies on the blog today. Colors are a big theme in The Things She's Seen. Beth sees beautiful, beckoning colors that she knows she should go toward ("the afterlife"), and Catching and Crow have "the colors" viciously torn out of them by the Feed. The concept of colors represents SO much in this incredible novel -- hope, strength, happiness, peace -- that I knew...
Chocolate Chip Cornbread Muffins are the breakfast appetizer you never knew you needed. Yes, breakfast appetizer. Stay with me.
My love affair with chocolate and cornbread... I first discovered how amazing chocolate and cornbread are together back in high school. My friends and I would visit a pancake house on our days off, and even though the restaurant served INSANELY large pancakes, you were given a basket of freshly baked, chocolate...
These Macadamia Nut Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies are my go-to chocolate chip cookie. Picking your favorite chocolate chip cookie is like picking a mate: everyone has their unique personal preferences. Some people like their cookies thin and crispy; others like them thick and overloaded with chips. Certain people (ahem, me) even prefer chipless chocolate chip cookies. The variations can go on and on. But...when you find THE ONE.... When you find...
One of the reasons I love Southern fiction is that it relies heavily on food to tell its story. A good meal acts as a bonding ritual between friends and family, and a delectable dessert is enough to make you forget the worries of the day, at least temporarily. This book-inspired recipe blogger was thrilled to find that Glory Road contained more than enough mouth-watering inspiration. The peach cobbler that main character Gus bakes up is known as...
I lied. I said I wasn’t going to post anything new until January. But it’s December 31, so I almost made it. I just had to post this cake recipe because it's the PERFECT dessert for New Year’s Day. Christmas week is drawing to an end, and, even if you’re not one who celebrates that particular holiday, I’m sure it’s been hard to escape the tons of cookies, cakes, and other sugary treats popping up at parties, friends' homes, and...
A little side note before I jump into this post: The photos you are about to see are the result of a freakin' miracle. I was dutifully trying to get ahead in my blog work, so I decided to block off a Sunday to cook and photograph all my December post recipes in one day. I've done this before and, while it's exhausting, it's extremely helpful in terms of freeing up time later on. I had three recipes scheduled for that Sunday, but I was only able...
One of my favorite things about this time of year is how much baking I get to do. With Thanksgiving, my husband’s December birthday, and the Christmas season all within six weeks of each other, my oven is seriously put to the test. Cookies, cakes, bars, brownies, cheescakes -- you name it, I’m probably baking it. By the time I reach December 26, I’m admittedly a little baked out. Which brings me to the overabundance of baked goods every...
I'm super excited to introduce you to the matchmaker -- Whoops! I mean, the cake of the year: The Man Catcher Cake.
Why is Man Catcher Cake the book-inspired recipe for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo? This book-inspired recipe for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was kind of a no-brainer. Evelyn Hugo goes through seven spouses. Clearly, she's a knock-out who needs no help catching a man. Or, a woman for that matter. But everyone needs...
If you were going to eat your very last meal, what would it be? A lot of people probably aren’t as morbid as I am and therefore have not given this concept much thought. I, however, have thought about it extensively, and despite all the possible scenarios under which this “last meal” might occur (alien invasion, being on death row, brink of world annihilation, etc.), my selection remains constant: penne vodka. Penne vodka is my favorite...
