Blueberry Upside-Down Loaf Cake

During the warmer months, we have a door-to-door peanut salesman (I kid you not) who pays regular visits to the office. On any normal day I would just direct him to the back to bug the guys, seeing as how I have little need for a 2 pound bag of peanuts. One morning though, he happened to wander by when my boss was in the office, a rare moment really, but his timing was spot on. I thought for sure boss-man would have a fit and order the man never to return, but it went quite the opposite really. Having little reservations about spending $5 for a pint of berries, (I would never) my boss went ahead and grabbed six bins from the man!

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Spaghetti With Garlic and Lemon

I have to admit, I'm really not enjoying this whole winter thing. I hate waking up shivering and seeing my breath in the air, ugh. And I'm not hiding the fact that I'm desparately trying to hold onto every ray of sunshine that I can get. Ok, I may be juuuust a little dramatic on the subject - it's not like we're seeing snow... I guess since moving to South Carolina I've become thin-skinned. Who am I kidding, I've always been a baby when it comes to being cold. I would much rather be starving than cold, but lucky for me I don't have to settle for either...not just yet at least.

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Oooo So Cute Mini Banana Cupcakes

Several months ago I found Miss Bakerella while browsing around the blogosphere and I haven't been able to get her off my mind. She has the most adorable, most pinch-your-cheeks little creations...I could just eat them up. So, being totally inspired by her work, I just had to whip up a batch of cupcakes. I had bananas aging quite rapidly on the counter so I took the lead with her banana cupcake idea and ran with it. Of course the only thing that makes a pretty dessert better for me is a mini version of it (ooo so cute!) and since I had just bought a new bag of mini muffin liners I used it as my launching pad. Banana, cupcake, mini - got it.

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Left Over Lovin': Short-Cut Cheese Ravioli

I've been keeping up fairly well with this whole pantry challenge thing, which means we've been eating left overs. It's not that we have anything against left overs here, they're just...yuh know, boring after you've just had them. Because no likes a boring dinner I've had to get a little creative in the kitchen. I've previously professed my love for these wonderful little wonton wrappers and I had half a package of these babies threatening to go bad on me if I didn't use them up stat. So tonight we get to enjoy some left over lovin' ravioli.

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I Heart You Pioneer Woman

I, like so many others out there in the foodie world, adore Ree a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman. Even if I couldn't physically cook for the rest of my life I would read her recipe posts, because I heart her - I heart you Ree! Visiting Ree's site gives me that welcome-home feeling that I really need every now and again. Anyway, I was on my morning stalk uhhhh...stroll over at the Pioneer Woman and I didn't even stop in on the kitchen because this caught my eye. Can you believe that as awesome as PW is she just keeps getting better?!

So I beg of you, head over to her post - read it (you'll like it, it'll make you feel all warm and cozy inside) then COMMENT!! For every comment posted, Ree herself is going to donate $0.10 to charities helping those effected by the earthquake in Haiti. On top of that, two random commenters will be selected and $500 will be donated to each of their charities of choice...did I tell you she is amazing or what?!

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Apple Carrot Orange Muffins, Just For You!

Today is My Perfect Little Helper's birthday!! It's sort of a bittersweet moment when your baby turns 4, so you'll have to excuse me huddling in the corner weeping...being distracted. Since she really wants to go to Apple Bean's (aka Applebees to the rest of the nation) for dinner, we won't be doing cake tonight. So to start off the day on a special note I stuck a candle in a pretty little apple orange carrot mini muffin (which just so happened to fall into the bag of sprinkles...oops!). She loved it and she got to make her wish at the beginning of her day...here's to hoping she wished for a hamster.

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Easy Asian Style Chicken Dumplings

I loooove me some dumplings and I get some pretty serious cravings for Chinese food, cravings like no other. Back when Hubby and I were poor though, we had to sacrifice and improvise. Improvising was really just a nice way of saying we couldn't afford to pay someone else to cook our food...and that was ok, once I figured out how to make it myself. I originally made these dumplings with a dough from scratch (really, it's not as impressive as it sounds) but today these are easy dumplings. You see, now that we're slightly less poor we can indulge in silly little things like wonton wrappers. I looove wonton wrappers - really there's no reason for it, they're cute and convenient and well they make things easy...like dumplings.

This is one of the very first recipes that made it into our keeper cookbook and we really do love it. We love it so much that we're giving it to you so you too can love it! Ok, the meat filling is supposed to be pork but last night I had some ground chicken, so I used that instead (thanks for the suggestion Hubby) and it worked just as well as the pork really. Ok, so here's how make these wonderful little bundles of...meat.

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Ten In 10 & Pantry Challenge...You're On!

This weekend was a great start to the new year. The Christmas things are packed up, house is slightly less cluttered and I took on 2 challenges - yup I did! I'm not one to make New Year's Resolutions, they put too much pressure on our already hectic lives and I think we all really tend to set the bar too high for ourselves. But when I read about this Ten In 10 challenge and the Eat From the Pantry Challenge I thought oh I can so do that. So I am, I went and signed up, put my name on paper and now there's no excuse.

My Ten In 10: There are about a kajillion others who have hopped on the wagon and pledged their way to bettering themselves in ten weeks (and beyond of course). Check out Recipe Girl to get in on the action too. Like our host, I'll be posting anything related to the Ten In 10 challenge on the weekends and continue with regularly scheduled programming during the week. If you care to pop in and see how I'm doing with the challenge then come one in, if not - ignore me on the weekends (it's ok, I won't hold it against you). I set three easily acheivable goals (I know, I'm so lazy) and hopefully I can stick to them.

1) I want to cook healthier meals for my whole family. Since they have no choice but to eat what I make I think it will be easy enough to get them to eat healthier if I cook healthier.

2) I am planning to resist the urge to order lunch out at work...even when free lunch makes it sound that much tastier.

3) I'm hoping to get my butt back into a regular exercise routine, mostly walking - ugh, no promises on this one.

On the side, I'd also like to start making dessert a once a week thing rather than once a day...I know - I'm nuts.

My Eat From the Pantry Challenge: With all the junk falling out of my pantry every time I open it, there's really no reason not to take on this challenge. Plus I bet it will be a lot of fun...the whole not having to shop every week thing that is. Yay, I'm excited about this one! I plan to go to the grocery store maybe 2-3 times, this will be for dairy (milk, eggs, ect), fruit and bread. Other than I'll be all set to go, although I sense a lot of pasta in our future. Head over Money Saving Mom to get the skinny on the challenge.

So there you have it. Join in with the rest of us if you're up for a challenge! If you're not into joining then enjoy watching me suffer through it...week after week...

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