BUSTLE and VIM

I have my friend Andrea to thank for dragging me out of my quarantine doldrums, and giving me a task with meaning and purpose.  Introducing: Baking For Good!

She had the genius idea to take all that stress-baking and sourdough-humble-bragging that's filling our social feeds, and put it to good use: to host an online auction/virtual bake sale to raise money for the Central Texas Food Bank.  But she needed a tech-savv...

Y'all Gentle Readers, I have found this summer's ultimate dessert!

LEMON BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE BARS!!!!!!!

This dessert has everything*: 

Summer berry brightness - Check!

Sunshiny citrus - Check!

Cream Cheese coolness - Check!

Buttery Shortbread perfectness - Check!

Streusel Topping - Check, thank you, Lord, Check!

If you have never visited the wonder that is Delish.com, oh, but you must!  Here's the Lemon Blueberry Cheesec...

Greetings, Gentle Readers,

I know many of you have been baking up a storm this spring/plague season.  I, myself, made some Speculoos Brownies earlier this week, and, yes, they are fabulous!  But at some point we need to take a break and enjoy a treat that is lower in calories.

Voila!  Soft Serve Banana Ice Cream + Variations!

Ingredients:

2 bananas

optional ingredients: peanut butter, almond butter, chocolate chips...

I'm so looking forward to my sons' next check-up and answering that question, "How often do you eat together as a family?" with "ALL THE TIME!"

As we were suppering earlier this week, my husband started making a list of what we were going to eat  in the coming days.  Husband is very conscientious of what leftovers are still in the fridge, what's been cooked and frozen for later, what's not cooked in the freezer, etc...

It only takes one day of Sweater Weather for me to yearn in earnest for soup.  And this year,  just as I was midst yearn, my friend, and intrepid B&V reader, Erin, tells me about a new soup she's making for her Noonday party.

So, per our new rules, I'll write out recipe details, including a printable version, and then I'll get to photos, plus a long discussion of my feelings whilst I made this soup.

Buttern...

I have this problem, or actually, maybe it’s a process.  When I want to make a certain thing – a type of cookie, cake, or anything really, I research all recipes for that particular thing, comparing and contrasting, and then I keep making that thing with different iterations on the recipe until it is, as I deem it, perfect.  For instance, you may congratulate on me on recently perfecting the coconut macaroon.  Of c...

My new manicure has been compromised.

My fingertips are burned and sore.

And I'm tired.

What have I been doing?  I'll give you three guesses.  Have I been...

a) teaching my preschoolers Fun With Bonfires and then rescuing the tiny tots from fiery skirmishes?

b) polishing my silver tea set for Meghan and Harry's wedding with an essential oil that the hippie mama from Arkansas assured me was all natural, but turned o...

Not everything in life is hard right now.  A lot of things are, but this cake isn’t one of them.  

So … this is a post about my Easy Italian Cream Cake.  And I feel a little weird posting it right now. The recent hubbub over Tina Fey’s sheet-cake sketch in the wake of Charlottesville has my social media feeds full of folks smarting at the suggestion that we should just ignore these racists and neo-nazis and, we...

I think the words "Easy, Breezy" feature somewhere in every article in every magazine in Spring - easy, breezy hair, easy, breezy wardrobe, easy, breezy entertaining.  So, I'm just following suit.

What to call these?  Easy Breezy Italian Kabobs?  Maybe.  

Anyway, I ordered these cute cocktail sticks from Amazon, very affordable.  And then it's just some cut basil, cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella pear...

I feel bad giving these cookies a somewhat downtrodden title.  The truth is, these are EXCELLENT cookies, cookies of your dreams, cookies of obsession, cookies that could dominate the self-control of an ascetic monk, and here I am calling  them “Better Late than Never”.  Sigh….  Let’s talk about exceptionality and my troubled relationship with time and then I’ll give you an awesome recipe.
 

So, the r...