Birthday Recipes
No-Bake Healthy-ish Buckeye Bars
Easy-to-make, four-ingredient Buckeye Bars taste a lot like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and can easily be made gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and vegan. My grandmother’s recipe for chocolate peanut butter eggs, which she frequently made as buckeye bars or balls, has garnered friends from near and far. Sometimes, however, we want something quick,…
Easy Hand & Body Sugar Scrub
This customizable, boutique-worthy scrub is effective, economical, and smells good enough to eat. It also makes a thoughtful gift that can be made in minutes! Dry, cracked, or otherwise flaky skin isn’t the most exciting topic of conversation, although I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who deals with it. But guess what?…
Overnight Oats Breakfast Cookie
This unconventional recipe is essentially overnight oats in cookie form and can be adapted to create different flavors and add protein and various mix-ins. If you’re a fan of overnight oats like I am, chances are good you’re going to fall in love with this clever spin on the traditional method of preparation. I cannot…
Breakfast Banana Split
So many possibilities for a fun, deliciously wholesome breakfast. Feel free to use the recipe as a framework, adding more or less of the various ingredients as preferred. My younger son has been a major yogurt fan since he took his first sloppy spoonful as a toddler. My older son wouldn’t touch it.…
Deep Dark Chocolate Fudgesicles with Greek Yogurt
An easy-to-make treat that’s cool, creamy, and super chocolatey! When my friend Nicole mentioned that 40 percent of what we do on a daily basis is habit, it really resonated. For several months, a small voice in my head had been telling me that I was eating too much sugar and that eliminating my…
Low Country Shrimp Boil
This festive, all-in-one meal is sure to become a summertime favorite! For a small gathering or fun weeknight family meal, simply cut the recipe in half. When I offered to cook for a dozen or so family members this past Mother’s Day, I pondered the perfect recipe long and hard. Ideally, the meal would be…
Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
When it comes to justifying dessert, I’m never at a loss. Ice cream has calcium, right? And cobblers are loaded with wholesome fruit. Holidays provide ample opportunities for rationalizing a cookie here and a piece of pie there…and we only live once! Yet in the big picture, the healthy lifestyle I strive for is a…
Raspberry Vanilla Muffins
A combination of frozen fruit and pantry staples makes these muffins a convenient year round option. I love that the recipe uses the whole bag of fruit too. I’m a firm believer in celebrating the little things in life. With all the worry in the world today, why not seize any excuse to create a…
Vermont Breakfast Bread
As I was packing my bag for a weekend work trip last month, I scanned the shelves for a new book or magazine to pass the time on the plane. My destination was Vermont. The purpose was a farm tour. Stonyfield, a company perhaps best known for making yogurt, had extended the invitation. Some time…
John’s Favorite Ice Cream Cake
A few weeks ago, I was working at my computer when the doorbell rang. Although I got up right away, I opened the door to find no one there. A quick glance up and down the street revealed nobody, but as I turned to close the door I noticed a yellow rose, attractively wrapped with…
William’s Habanero Hot Sauce… and a hot sauce taste test
Though we often cheat and hope for no frost (or April snow, as was the case this year), the safe time for backyard planting where I live is always said to begin on Mother’s Day. Ever since my husband and I bought our first house, we’ve planted a garden. There is something so satisfying about…
Simple Vanilla Syrup
A deliciously easy (and economical) way to sweeten homemade iced coffee, lattes, and a variety of other drinks and desserts. For basic simple syrup, simply omit the vanilla. Have you ever added sugar to a glass of iced tea, stirred vigorously to dissolve it, only to find a puddle of semi-dissolved granules at the…
