Tag: food blog

Barefoot Contessa Recipe 65 – German Chocolate Cupcakes

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Well, it’s been a while since I’ve made an Ina recipe. Actually, it’s been a while since I’ve made any recipe and then wrote a blog post about it. But last weekend for the first time in a while, I actually had a reason to bake! So I took advantage of it and decided that perhaps it might be good to write a blog post, too.

Over the weekend I attended an Oktoberfest party and I was asked to bake something. Sticking with the German theme, I quickly decided on making a German chocolate cake. But then I realized that for a party, cupcakes might be easier to both make and eat. The dessert becomes finger food, perfect for an outdoor gathering during the last few warms days of the year. Luckily for me, Ina Garten had a German chocolate cupcake recipe. It was like the stars aligned.

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Fourth Anniversary Thoughts

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About four years ago, as the world was still dealing with the effects of the COVID pandemic, I started a blog. I’ll be honest now. I wanted it to become “big.” I wanted it to be popular, similar to the food blogs I read and visit online often.

It didn’t take me long to realize that running and maintaining a food blog of that caliber is a full time job. And unless I was willing and able to put in the work, that it would be a long shot for me to achieve that goal. I guess I assumed that it would happen overnight. How delusional I was!

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Top 5 Most Popular Posts of 2022

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What a year it has been for this tiny little blog! I reached over 55,00 views and had one post that really, really took off. For a few months I thought I had finally “made it” in the blogging world. Even though it’s been over two years since I started this little hobby of mine.

As I did last year, I decided to write a post covering my most popular posts of the year, regardless of when they were published. So here it goes!

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What You’ve All Been Waiting For…

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Ever since I posted my review of the Magnolia Bakery’s Hummingbird Cake back in the beginning of August, the post has been receiving a lot of traction. One thing has become clear to me: You want the recipe.

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The Easiest Cookie You’ll Ever Make – MB Recipe 29

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Last week, I was looking for a quick cookie recipe. I was in the mood to bake, but I wasn’t in the mood to spend hours in the kitchen. While thumbing through the MB cookbook, I stumbled upon the Coconut Macaroon recipe. I knew instantly that that was the cookie I had to make that day!

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The Time I Tried to Make Peanut Butter Cookies – MB Recipe 26

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With the crazy schedule I’ve been having for the better part of a month, it was a relief that I was finally able to get some time in the kitchen once again. Friday morning, I woke up looking forward to the recipe I was going to be making. It was a recipe that I had my eye on for quite some time. Unfortunately, when it came time to actually make the cookies, I realized a little too late that I had forgotten to add a key ingredient.

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The Baking Bug is Taking a Vacation

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It shouldn’t be a major surprise to long-time blog readers that it’s been a while since I’ve baked.

The month of March was filled with crafting adventures. But I’m also starting to spend less time at home. I have been given the opportunity to get back into community theater this spring. I’ll be stage managing a play that consists of a small cast of 8 actors. It’s a really funny play and I can’t wait to jump on board.

What does this mean for the blog?

It means I’ll be posting more infrequently. Most of my free time will be devoted to theater and then resting and seeing friends. But, I do plan to bake this Friday!

So I’ll be posting about that next week, even if it isn’t a recipe out of the MB cookbook.

Until then, friends….

2021 Year in Review and 2022 Plans

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2021 was a great year for me — and for the blog! This year, the blog reached over 230 posts and it received over 5000 views! I can’t thank my readers enough for supporting me and stopping by. When I started blogging I heard that it does take time for you to gain your footing and find your place online. It wasn’t until recently that I started feeling like my blog was starting to take off.

As the first full year of my blogging journey comes to a close, I thought we could look back on things over the last twelve months.

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Kitchen Questions: How Do Vegetarians Get Their Protein? And Other Common Questions

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If you’re one of those people that is skeptical of a vegetarian diet, then let me alleviate some of these concerns for you. I’m also going to talk about some of the benefits of a vegetarian diet. Some people are hesitant to switch to a meat-free diet and lifestyle simply because it is the “fear of the unknown.” That’s what this blog post is for. It’s an attempt to answer some questions and make people feel better about the possibility going meat-free or reducing the amount of meat in their diets.

Long-time readers of my blog may be wondering why I am posting something like this. Are you a vegetarian? I am not. However, I’m slowly making the switch to a more plant-based diet and working on cutting out certain meats and other animal products. For example, I have not consumed cow’s milk directly from the jug in years. Instead, I use almond or soy milk. In baking, that’s a different story — at least for now. The reason why I compiled this information is to have a resource for those who are curious about making the switch to a more “flexitarian” diet or a plant-based one.

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Kitchen Experiments: Making Vanilla Extract

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A couple of weekends ago, my partner and I finally put an idea of ours into action. We would try our hand at making our own vanilla extract. This is something both of us wanted to do for a while, but life always caused delays to it actually happening.

We were first inspired to do this separately, getting the idea from different chefs. He is a fan of Claire Saffitz’s YouTube channel and I became obsessed with a TV chef on Discovery+ who also uses her own vanilla extract. Additionally, I first stumbled on this idea from one of Ina Garten cookbooks where she details the steps to making one’s own bottle of vanilla.

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