July 9th, 2012 | 
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Chocolate Layer Cake with Bavarian Cream & Berries
M and I just bought a house and moved in one week ago. With the way everything is still packed up, though, it looks like we are about to move out! On moving day, the hardwood floors were only ½ done so practically everything we owned went into the garage and has ventured no further. We are both working full time so we barely have time to clean the fine layer of dust covering every room. Couple that with M getting the casts off his hands (yes, he had casts on BOTH hands) only a couple weeks ago and limping around with a broken toe and it looks like we’ll be living out of boxes for a while! But, who cares. We have plenty of time as we intend to live here for the foreseeable future.
The best part about this house? We have a brand new kitchen. New appliances, new countertops, new floor, new cabinets, new everything! What better way to christen it than to bake a cake! Lucky for me, two important people in my life were having birthdays in the same week so I made not only one cake but two! It was so nice to celebrate each of them. Happy Birthday Michele and Susan!
Posted in Desserts | 
Tags: baking, bavarian cream, berries, cake, chocolate, cream, desserts, layer, sweet | 
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18 Comments »Breakfast at Tiffany’s… A Bachelorette Affair
Weddings are such a fun time full of smiles, laughter and pretty things. I posted before about my engagement but this post is not about me and my wedding. It is about my dear friend, Christina, her wedding, and specifically her bachelorette party. I feel so fortunate to know this beautiful girl and be a part of her and her fiancé’s wedding. They are a loving couple and true friends of both mine and M’s. So when her sisters, friends and I started planning her bachelorette party, we knew we wanted to make it really special!
Vichyssoise (aka “Chameleon Soup”)
I should seriously be banned from Bed Bath & Beyond. Every time I go in there I come out with a new toy. Mostly what I come home with are strange tools that could either be brilliant inventions or a huge waste of time and money. The latest thing I purchased was a microwave potato chip maker. I had very little hope for this flimsy plastic tray and I prepared myself for a major disaster. Result? It was fabulous! Now I really like potato chips but I rarely eat them because I don’t like all the salt and oil. Even baked potato chips don’t impart that true potato flavor. These potato chips were made in five minutes and tasted like pure potato crunchiness.
Posted in Soups | Tags: creamy, hot, leek, potato, potato chip, potato soup, prosciutto, smooth, soup, vichyssoise, warm | Print Recipe | 9 Comments »Melon, Avocado & Prosciutto Open-Faced Sandwich
When I first got to know M, I started to realize that he did some things backwards. He would call his foot his leg, switch out words in a sentence and regularly exchange dinner for lunch. Now, I must explain that he is Austrian so mixing up the words doesn’t sound too strange considering English is not his first language. But eating lunchmeat, cheese and bread for dinner every night? This American-bred girl found it to be quite odd. To me dinner was always the big family meal, where everyone sat around the table with platefuls of hot delicious food in front of them.
Posted in Main Dishes, Meat Dishes | Tags: avocado, bread, cantaloupe, cheese, cold plate, dinner, fruit, goat cheese, lunch, meat, melon, multigrain, prosciutto, sandwich, seedy, sliced meat | Print Recipe | 14 Comments »Mango Strawberry Smoothie
I have always liked mango. It has not been until recently, though, that I’ve learned to really appreciate mango. In fact, until I watched a presentation by The National Mango Board at Camp Blogaway I didn’t even know how to properly cut a mango! (They have a great instructional video here.) Mangos are not only delicious but chock full of good stuff for you. With 100% of your daily vitamin C, 35% of your daily vitamin A, 12% of your daily fiber and only 100 calories, mangos make the perfect healthy treat.
Posted in Drinks | Tags: beverage, cold, drink, frozen, fruit, mango, milkshake, smoothie, strawberries, strawberry, summer, tropical | Print Recipe | 7 Comments »Mom’s Dilled Ham Salad
My mother is a fabulous cook. Always has been. I love cooking with her. It’s so much fun to have another creative mind in the kitchen. My mother rarely follows a recipe and is the expert when it comes to making many family favorites I grew up with. Most of these recipes are so familiar to me now I often forget how incredibly tasty they are! Thankfully, she always obliges me when we’re together.
Posted in Meat Dishes, Salads, Snack Foods | Tags: cold, dill, dip, egg, gherkin, ham, ham salad, hard-boiled egg, lunch, mayonnaise, pickle, picnic, salad, sandwich | Print Recipe | 11 Comments »
