Baking with Blondie

Summer is calling.  And our favorite s'mores flavors are leading the charge. 

Happy Memorial Day dear friends! We plan on celebrating today with what our dear country's brave soldiers fought (and are still fighting) for:  family and freedom.  We are so grateful for all the sacrifices they, and their families back home, make on a daily (no, hourly) basis. The only soldier I know close-to-home (other than my late Grandpa Fred) in our family is my big sister's husband, Mike. I've seen my sister become a single Mom overnight with him away serving our country. I can't even imagine how she holds it all together. But she stands strong. Oh so strong! What a huge sacrifice it is for their family, as well as all military families in our country! Thank you, dearly. And God bless the USA! 

In the mornings, we are super low-key. Ryan, luckily, doesn't have to be at work until about 9, so we usually drop him off at the TRAX line that takes him downtown between 8:15 and 8:30 every morning. This gives us plenty of time in the morning to get our runs in, watch some cartoons with our favorite little clone child, and get ready for the day.  Breakfast usually consists of peanut butter toast for the little guy, a granola bar and breakfast shake for the tall guy, and a green smoothie or my favorite Multi-Grain Cheerios cereal with Almond Milk for me. My Mom was a pro at making pancakes and waffles almost every morning for us before school. So sometimes I feel a little bad for not busting out the griddle for my little family. I figured making muffins is a good compromise? I mean, I turned on the freaking oven before 9am, that has to count for something, right? :) 

Guys. It's getting hot out there.  Our apartment complex opened the pool last week. Guess what we did on Saturday? Pool.  Guess what we did on Monday? Pool again.  Guess what we did yesterday?  Yep. POOL.  And there's no sign of stopping. 

As Spring bleeds into summertime, I can't help but get more and more excited to bust out our grill. And when I say grill, I promise I'm not one of those bloggers with a huge gorgeous expensive grill on their back porch (even though that'd be lovely). In fact, we don't have a backyard, we're not allowed to grill on our balconies in the apartment complex, and to top it off - we have one of those little 9x13'' baby grills. Goes to show that you can have fun grilling no matter what you're using. I still look forward to using that little guy to grill up all the fresh veggies and marinated meats I can fit on it! Plus, I've gotten a little too good at setting off our fire alarm inside with our stove-top grill pan.

Welcome Studio 5 Viewers!!! If you're looking for the Strawberry Greek Yogurt Cupcakes  I made today on the show, they're right here: For those asking for the recipe I shared on KSL's Studio 5 's cupcake Segment today, here it is! Enjoy!  Lemon Mousse Frosting makes enough for barely 2 dozen cupcakes ingredients: 2 C heavy whipping cream, cold 1 small package Jello Lemon Pudding (powder)  1 t vanilla 1/4 C powdered sugar method: 1. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk together all the ingredients until thick and frothy.  Adapted from yourcupofcake   Thanks for visiting and watching!! and be sure to follow along with me here to not miss out on any recipes!  xoxo,  blondie Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Pinterest  -  Instagram

We were in college. It was my freshman year. It was the third date.  The guy took me to Subway before heading downtown for the night. My favorite sub on the menu has always been the meatball marinara. That gooey, sloppy, pile of a zillion calories had my heart. I always order it with a heaping pile of lettuce, provolone cheese, a pile of olives, and an offensive amount of parmesan cheese. It was my style back then, and I ordered it almost every time I went to Subway. When I stepped up to the line to order my sandwich with my date, I had 2 choices:  #1: Order my beloved meatball sub (spilling all over my shirt, dropping down my face and all over my hands, and my dignity flying out the window), and enjoy the heck out of it.  #2: Skip the meatball sub, try my luck at some other mediocre sandwich, keep my shirt clean, and look like a lady the rest of the night.  Little did I know this sandwich choice would be so significant to my future with this guy... 

In celebration of darling Mandy over at Mandy's Recipe Box  and her birthday TODAY, we're all joining forces for this really awesome giveaway!! How awesome of her to share her birthday with all of us, and what a fun way to celebrate by giving away all these prizes below! :)  I know, right?? How much fun would it be to have a little Amazon.com shopping spree (I would totally update my cooking/baking pans in a second! ...the possibilities are endless!!). A new tablet  from Samsung would be super convenient (I'd have my grocery list on it at the store), and a little extra play money to go along with it is just icing on the cake! Good luck everyone, and have an amazing week!  Enter below to win, and good luck!!! a Rafflecopter giveaway Be sure to visit these awesome bloggers who are joining in the giveaway :)  Mandy's Recipe Box | Life in the Lofthouse | The Country Cook | Something Swanky |  The Recipe Critic | The Domestic Rebel | High Heels

I just realized that I hadn't shared these AMAZING cupcakes with you fine people yet! The shame! The horror!! Well, Mother's Day is the perfect time to share something special with all of you - mostly because these cupcakes came from a darling celebration of motherhood. They were for a baby shower my Mom and I threw my sister a while ago (she was the most beautiful Mom-to-be I've ever seen). The day was extra special because my incredible sister had been through so much with multiple miscarriages, her sweet husband serving our country in the army for sometimes a year at a time far away, and constant struggles to conceive. She is a rock, and stayed strong. Finally, she surprised us over a Christmas celebration that she was not only pregnant, but 3 months along! It was the greatest Christmas miracle and blessing I can remember. Celebrating her sweet little girl's future arrival needed to be special. And looking back on everything, I knew the afternoon of her baby s

Guys. I have a serious weakness when it comes to these "little bite" treats.  Just one little bite.  I can eat offensively healthy all day, and then have just this one  little bite, right? #saidthebiggestliar  These are so irresistible. I dare your face to make them, and then try to resist them for even a minute. Heck even a second... 

We've made this a couple times in the past month, and were completely blown away by it the first time. I knew I had to make another batch right away to take a freaking picture of it before we ate it all in one sitting AGAIN. Yes. All in one sitting.  Notice the servings size is 6-8.  In our house, there are 2 adults, and one kid.  You do the math.  I get the question all the time why my husband and I haven't gained a zillion pounds since I started food blogging. The answer to that question is one simple thing...

Happy Sunday dear friends! I hope you're spending this beautiful day with your wonderful families and friends; soaking in every last second of the weekend before jumping back into the weekly crazy we all know is coming on Monday.  I have a little secret about Sunday. We LOOOOVE to splurge dessert-wise on Sundays. When I was growing up, my big brother would often make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, or sugary-sweet orange julius' for the family to enjoy together. A big bowl of air-popped popcorn would find it's way into our living room with yet another Disney movie, or even The Sound of Music (my Dad's usual favorite - can you believe that?)...  So it's no surprise that on Sunday evening, I'm usually whipping up a dessert out of habit. I think it might be because my taste buds have been so steadily programmed for something sweet at the week's end. (Maybe a pick-me-up to cure the inevitable Monday-blues?) I've found that a bowl of ice cream

My Mom used to make enchiladas all the time.  I say that as if she doesn't make them anymore. She probably still does, but I'm just not around at dinnertime enough to know. When I was a little girl, I loved to watch her make enchiladas. She always had a bag of tortilla chips around when she was assembling, and I would always sneak a chip or two and dunk it right into the enchilada sauce. The contrast of the mild crispy tortilla chips and the deep red spicy sauce was something I couldn't get enough of - I may have double-dunked a few times. Or triple dunked...  Eh, we all had our shots, and got sick maybe once a year, but let's not get off-subject here...