Baked Granola Apples

Delicious apples with baked granola and ice cream!

It's apple season!  Fall is the perfect time to make a variety of apple desserts, and these Baked Granola Apples definitely caught my eye.  They are made with Viki's Granola Apple Cinnamon – which is a blend of gluten-free oats, organic honey, unsweetened coconut, and mixed with dried sweetened apples, raisins and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  You can serve these for breakfast or dessert!

Pineapple Delight Pound Cake

A rich buttery pound cake layered with a mixture of sweetened cream cheese, pineapple, and whipped cream.

My family loves pineapple and pound cakes so I decided to combine the two and make one delicious Pineapple Delight Pound Cake.   I make this on the holidays because after cooking all day, I like to have a dessert that doesn't require a lot of time or a lot of ingredients.   Being that I start out with a Sara Lee® All Butter Pound Cake  this dessert comes together quite quickly, and can even be made ahead of time and put in the fridge until after dinner.  

Strawberry Butter Crust Delight Recipe

I love seeing all the fresh strawberries at the store, and I love coming up with new recipes to use them in.  This Strawberry Butter Crust Delight is unique and it's something I've never seen before.  It starts with a butter crust that reminds me of a pie crust and shortbread combined in one.  The delight is a rich, creamy sweetened sour cream and cream cheese mixture that has fresh sweet strawberries folded in, and to top it all off I took semi-sweet chocolate and drizzled it on top.  This dessert doesn't require fancy ingredients, it comes together quickly, and it tastes amazing!

One Bowl Chocolate-Chip Blondies

Rich delicious blondies wrapped around creamy chocolate chips!

I love brownies, but sometimes I like to make them without cocoa this way the rich butter flavor shines through.  However, I do toss in a few chocolate chips so they have a little bit of chocolate.  These are so simple because you mix them in one bowl so there's little mess and they bake in about half an hour.  If you'd like, you can always swap out the chocolate chips for m&m's, toffee bits or even peanut butter cups.  Any way you make them, they're thick, rich and delicious!

Gooey Chocolate Toffee Butter Cake

Chocolate, toffee, cream cheese and butter all in one delicious cake!

When our life gets crazy I usually don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen so I'm always trying to come up with quick, simple & delicious recipes.  This Gooey Chocolate Toffee Butter Cake is one of them.  It starts with a cake mix then you swirl in some cream cheese, toffee bits, chocolate chips and butter.  While it bakes it mixes together and forms a gooey toffee ripple throughout the cake.  It's the perfect combination and you can whip it up in no time at all!

The Best of 2014!

It's time to count down the most popular recipes of 2014!

It has been another amazing year and I want to thank all of you for it!  All of your support, comments, questions, likes and following along is what makes me love what I do.  I greatly appreciate you stopping over, seeing what I've created, joining in on the giveaways, and supporting this site.  It means the world to me!  I've compiled a list of the most popular recipes this past year so I hope you enjoy. 

 To "pin" any of the recipes; hover over the picture and the button will appear in the top left corner.

Popcorn Cake

  

This time of year we have a lot of birthdays going on and I'm always trying new recipes on the birthday boy/girl.  We all love popcorn so I decided to make a popcorn cake as a way to "ring in" all of their birthdays.  The kids loved that they could just tear off a piece and eat it, I loved that it didn't keep me in the kitchen and it was simple to make.  You can even customize it to your liking by adding chocolate chips, candy bars, gummy bears...anything you'd like!

Caramel Corn & Yahoo! Food

 

At my house, we are big popcorn fans!  We actually love it so much that I went out and bought a movie style popcorn popper.  This is by far one of the best investments I have ever made.  I get to make a big batch of fresh, delicious popcorn whenever I want...and believe me, I make it a lot!

Easy Cream Biscuits made in half an hour!

 

 

I've been a stay-at-home mom for 18 years now and I wouldn't have it any other way. When my husband and I decided to have kids, we both agreed that I would quit working and stay home.  Now four kids later it seems like we are running in a different direction every night!  Even though we're busy I always fit in a sit down dinner.  There are no phones, no TV's, no iPods...nothing but good conversation!  This is a time that all six of us are together and we're able to catch up on what is happening in everyone's day.  Even a simple dinner like soup, salad and bread makes for great conversation.  Sometimes I don't have time to make a traditional yeast bread, so I'll whip up a batch of biscuits.  These drop biscuits are simple to make, the addition of cream makes them so delicious and they can be made within half an hour!

Gooey Butter Brownies topped with Toffee

  

I love quick and easy desserts; I especially love when the kids can help or basically make them by themselves!  These Gooey Butter Brownies topped with Toffee definitely fall into that category.  You start with my simple brownie recipe, add a layer of butter and cream cheese, then top it off with scrumptious toffee pieces!  The brownies are soft, the cream cheese is gooey and the toffee melts in your mouth...the perfect combination!

Quick & Easy Pill Bottle Cookies

 

Today my brother is getting married and I couldn't be happier for him!  I was asked to make some cookies for the reception and I wanted to make sure I made one of his favorites.  He loves those little pill bottle cookies that are tender, flaky and have that delicious creamy filling inside.  It was towards the end of the day and when I looked at the recipe I saw that it said to let the dough rest for at least an hour.  Being the impatient person that I am, I decided to see if I could make them a lot quicker.  I did!  This is the basic recipe, however I didn't let the dough rest.  I just spooned little dollops onto the cookie sheet, sprinkled on some sugar and baked.  They came out perfect!  I know the cream inside is just a butter cream, however my love of cream cheese won over and I added a little bit to it which made them even better!

Featuring You!

 

Spotlight of the Week!  

Welcome to Featuring You!  This week our Spotlight of the Week goes to Say it with Cake for sharing this amazing Heaven & Hell Cake.  Do you see all those scrumptious layers?  They are chocolate and peanut butter!  Thank you all for sharing this week at Mix it up Monday.  I hope you enjoy the features!

Featuring You!

 It's time to feature some wonderful links that were shared this week at Mix it up Monday.  First up is our Spotlight of the Week and that goes to Photo Life Site for sharing this delicious Homemade Cocoa Banana Cream Roll.  This is such a neat idea and I can't wait to try it!  Thank you all for sharing this week and I hope you enjoy the features!

Banana Cheesecake with Almond Butter Crust

 

The other day my son asked for a cheesecake and at first I was going to make a regular one.  Then I noticed that I had some bananas that were getting old and wondered how the cheesecake would taste if I tossed those in too.  I decided to give it a try and it turned out very well.  I paired it with a rich almond and butter crust, topped it off with some fresh whipped cream and a drizzle of dulce de leche.  Usually I don't care for cheesecake, however this one has that delicious banana flavor which I enjoyed a lot!

Coconut & Chocolate Delight Bites!

 

  

  

Having four kids, school, sports and other activities our lives are pretty busy all the time.  However, at the end of the year it seems to get even more hectic.  I don't know what it is, but I'm happy when it's over.  Even though it's crazy I still like to whip up a dessert for us to have once a week.  I had some coconut and chocolate chips that have been sitting around and thought I'd come up with something quick and easy to use them up.  These little bites turned out delicious and you can make a batch in no time at all! 

Upside Down Apple Pie

 

My husband loves apple pie...I'd rather pass!  Every time I make it he insists I try a bite and taste how good it is.  For some reason I just don't like it.  Then the other day I was browsing recipes and came across Upside Down Apple Pie.  I was excited that I had all the ingredients on hand so I whipped one up.  I must say, it's quite delicious!  I did change it a little, but the concept is the same.  It's very simple to put together and it looks beautiful too....enjoy!

Featuring You!

Spotlight of the Week! 

Mrs. Wakefield's Cookies 

from Life's Simple Measures

It's time again to feature some amazing projects and delicious recipes that you all shared at Mix it up Monday!  Our Spotlight of the Week goes to Life's Simple Measures for sharing Mrs. Wakefield's Cookies...I'll take a dozen ;)  Thanks for stopping over and I hope you enjoy the features! 

No-Yeast Strawberry Cream Cheese Braid

One of the most requested desserts I make is my Pineapple Cream Cheese Braid.  No matter who tries it, they love it! However it requires yeast and I know a lot of people are intimated by yeast.  So I decided to come up with a braid that doesn't require yeast and it's easy to make.  You just mix up the dough and filling, assemble it, bake and you're done.  In no time at all, you have a pretty and delicious bread.  Plus you can change the filling to whatever you prefer.  This bread is perfect for all your holiday gatherings!