My 4-year-old daughter has all sorts of sudden food likes and dislikes that are usually influenced by her BFF of the week (I’m way more concerned about that than I am about her picky eating). I can, however, convince her to eat just about anything if I serve it with ketchup or Ranch (which she refers to as “white ketchup.”)

I had really mean parents that made me get a job when I was 16 (don’t tell them that after all that whining, I’m really thankful for those experiences now). From the time I was 16 until I was 22 or so, pretty much every job I had was in the restaurant industry. And, with the exception of Summer from Hell in a grocery store bakery, all of those jobs involved Ranch dressing in some form or another. At one particular Utah-based sandwich establishment that roasts their own turkeys and bakes their own artisan breads, customers felt strongly passionate about the Ranch dressing served there. I made it every morning for 2 years and it’s so unbelievably beyond easy.

You’ll need a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, buttermilk, mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip), and Greek yogurt.

You can use sour cream in place of Greek yogurt, but I’ve found fat-free Greek yogurt tastes much better than fat-free sour cream, and since I’m trying my darndest to not gain 82 pounds this pregnancy, I use the fat-free Greek yogurt. If you’re going to use sour cream, I definitely recommend either using full-fat or reduced-fat, but not fat-free.

Disregard the instructions on the packet. Place 1 cup of mayonnaise (or reduced-fat, but not fat-free mayo) in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt.

Add the contents of the dressing packet.

Whisk it together. That’s it. Use it as a salad dressing or a dip for veggies.

True story: during one of our many Ikea trips last year when we were remodeling our kitchen, I came across their little espresso cups and saucers. They were ADORABLE and irresistible and, in true Ikea fashion, so cheap that I couldn’t not buy a set, even if it was only one cup and saucer and even if I don’t drink coffee. And then I came home and back to my senses and wondered what the heck I was going to do with a teeny tiny cup and saucer. My answer?

That’s right. Perfect little portions of veggies and dip. This is seriously the only way I can get my daughter to eat broccoli–she pretends it’s a tea party. Wouldn’t these cups and saucers be perfect way to serve veggies at a baby or bridal shower? Tiny things make everything more delicious…

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Hidden Valley Ranch, but, as always, our opinions, feelings, and stories are completely our own.

Our first night there, we walked down the street to The Fire House Restaurant and I ordered a steak sandwich with garlic aioli and brie. It was like the marriage of so many of my favorite things–I’m pretty sure I would have steak for my last meal if I got any say in it, you guys know how much I love garlic, and brie and I have a scandalous, unspeakable history. It is an addictive, naughty cheese that I can’t be in the same room with and still expected to act like a lady.

I was expecting a sliced steak sandwich (like a Philly Cheesesteak), but the steak was a whole steak. And it was one of the most tender, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth steaks I’d ever eaten. However, because I know how tricky that can be (especially for something like a sandwich where even a tiny bit of toughness can make the whole sandwich-eating process a whole lot less pleasant), when I re-made this sandwich at home, I decided to slice the steak. I didn’t do it in the food processor like I do for Cheesesteak Sandwiches, but I sliced a really nice, high-quality top sirloin into 1/4″ slices.

I’d recommend using a lean cut like sirloin or a tenderloin; I tried it with a ribeye the first time because the grocery store was out of sirloin AND tenderloin and it cooked up too fatty for my taste, kind of like beefy bacon. Which, believe me, was not the worst thing in the world, but when combined with the brie and aioli, it was too much.

Anyway.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add some butter and, when it’s melted and bubbly, add the sliced steak and season it with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, flipping once or twice, until the steak is cooked how you like it (I cooked mine until it was just cooked through–it was still tender that way, but I wasn’t worrying about that infinitely long list of things that pregnant women aren’t supposed to eat). Remove the pan from heat.

Slice some high-quality sandwich rolls in half. Spread the bottom half with Garlic & Caper Aioli.

Place 1/4″-thick slices of brie on the top half.

Turn the broiler on your oven to the highest setting and place the open-faced sandwiches under the broiler for 3-5 minutes (watch them carefully!) or until the aioli side is toasting and the brie is melting. Remove from the oven. Use a knife to spread the brie on the top half of the sandwich.

Place a leaf of lettuce on the aioli side of the sandwich. Place the cooked steak on top of the lettuce leaf.

Top with tomato and onion slices and then cap it off with the brie side of the bread.

Eat. Die. Go to Heaven. The end.

Piping Bags
First off- you’ll need a piping bag.  You can create your own by folding a parchment triangle (here’s a great how-to), or buy reusable plastic decorating bags, or disposable decorating bags (which, in reality can be washed and reused), and depending on the frosting you use, even a large zip-top bag works.  If you do use a zip-top bag, I suggest a heavy duty one.  And if you are using a particularly thick frosting, a stronger piping bag generally works better.

Piping Tips
The most important piece is the piping tip.  You need to use a large or jumbo tip, which are much larger than a standard piping tip.  Here’s a visual:

A lot of the cupcakes on our site are frosted with a Wilton 1M or 2D tip, which you can usually find at craft and cooking store wherever Wilton products are sold.  They look like the tip in the middle in the photo above.  Sometimes people try to frost cupcakes with those regular tiny tips and it just doesn’t work! But a step up from the large tips are jumbo tips, on the left in that photo.  See how jumbo we’re talking about?  That’s the tip I use 95% of the time I frost cupcakes. I got this set of moderately priced jumbo tips from Amazon a while back and they’ve been great.

If you’re just going to be using one color/flavor of frosting and one tip, then you can just pop the tip right into the bag, like this:

That’s what I usually do with my  jumbo tips.  If you want to change tips, you’ll want to use a coupler.  Now, if you’re using a large tip- you’ll need a large coupler as well!

The giant coupler works for most large tips, but not all.  I have some jumbo tips that are way too big for it.  If you’ve never used a coupler, it works like this: Place the bottom part of the coupler on the inside of your bag, with the bag covering the threads.  Then place a tip over the top of the coupler and secure the ring part of the coupler on top of it.  this allows you to unscrew the tip at any time and attach another one.

Filling the Bag
(I’m going to explain the basic method, but if you really want to have your world rocked, check out this post about no-mess piping bags.)  Once your bag is fitted with a tip, you’ll need to fill it up.  This seems like a simple process, but can easily turn into one that involves cursing and the throwing of kitchen utensils.  Admit it, you’ve been there.  Don’t just hold the bag open and try to dump frosting in there.  It will end poorly, I promise.  For easy filling, roll the bag down as far as you possibly can.  Either hold it in your hand (as shown in photo), or place the tip of the bag in a tall drinking glass with the bag hanging over the sides.  Spoon your frosting into the bag directly into the tip and pressing down gently as you go, packing the frosting in to get rid of air bubbles.  Slowly bring the edges of the bag up as needed to hold the frosting in.  When it’s filled with enough frosting (Don’t over-fill, it becomes very hard to control) Twist the top of the bag closed.

Choosing a Tip
People are constantly asking about which piping tip to use to get the same looks as our photos.  It’s hard to tell what the frosting is going to look like just by looking a the tip, so here’s some helpful photos.  I pretty much use 4 tips the majority of the time, an open star tip, a closed star tip, a french tip, and a round tip.  Of the four, my go-to are the star tips.  I use the closed star if I wand a shorter “tower” of frosting, and if I’m using a really soft and silky frosting and I use the open star if I want a taller cupcake, or my frosting is thicker.

Can you see the difference?  The star tips are the most common.  The more “closed” your star, the more definition in the lines of your swirls.  You’ll want to use nice smooth icing for closed star tips because any resistance will clog and make it hard to pipe out.  Closed stars will give you the “ruffly” look if they’re quite closed.

And open star will give you a little bit of a thicker rope.  The french tip has little tiny jagged edges and the round tip is pretty self-explanatory.
If you’re wondering why my frosting looks a little lumpy, it’s because I was photographing this project on my porch in near-freezing weather! The butter started to harden and made it hard to pipe.  Not the prettiest, but still tastes heavenly!

How to Swirl:
Ah, now my frosting is soft and smooth.  When you’re ready to pipe, hold your bag perpendicular to your cupcake. You’ll want to apply constant and even pressure and move in one fluid motion.  Start on the outside edge, and make a circle around the border of the cupcake.  As you get to the point where you started, continue in a circle, but move in a little overlapping your first circle to create a spiral. 


When you get to the top of the cupcake, stop!  A very important step is to release pressure on the bag before you lift up.  If you keep pressing, you will get little flags on the top of your cupcakes that look like santa hats.  Release the pressure and then gently lift up and you’ll get a nice star top, like this:

Here’s a little video that will make it easier to see:

video taken with the Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone

Now, you can use that exact same process, but in reverse, to create a flat rosette look.  Instead of starting on the outside edge, start in the center and work your way out and you will get a little rose.  See below the reverse rosette on the left, and the standard swirl on the right:

With that method you can make a gorgeous (and easy!) rosette cake like I am baker has made famous in the blogosphere.  (Isn’t that gorgeous?) Here’s a video demonstrating the rosette method:

video taken with the Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone

 The traditional swirl uses a lot more frosting than the rosette, so that’s something to keep in mind.

French Tip Technique
If you use a french tip, here’s another easy thing you can do.  Instead of swirling around, just hold the tip steady and still in the center of the cupcake.  Apply pressure and watch the frosting fill the top of the cupcake.

This works brilliantly on mini-cupcakes.  I don’t often use it on regular sized ones because it’s really hard to get it to look even once it goes out that far!

Interesting Techniques
Now that you’re covered on the basics, here’s some extra fun stuff you can do!

Make Blended Dual-Colored (or flavored!) Frosting

Make Striped Frosting

Make Layered Multi-Colored Cupcakes

Make Cupcakes in  Jar

Make Filled Cupcakes 

Check this section of our index for many great cupcake recipes, including a couple doctored vanilla mixes.  My favorite from scratch chocolate cupcake recipe is the base for these Glazed Creme Filled Cupcakes.  We also have recipes for Lemon and Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes.  For frosting, our most beloved recipe is our Perfect Cupcake Frosting (and Filling) and this is my go-to for chocolate, unless it’s going on a cake and then I’m all about this one.  We also have cream cheese and peanut butter frostings as well.

That should be a great start!  If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments.  We’ll try to keep this post updated so you can find all the best tips and info all in once place.  So make sure to bookmark!  And if you love this post, feel free to share it via Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter!
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Brought to you by the new AT&T Nokia Lumia 900.
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The videos in this post were taken with the Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone.  We are happy to partner with wonderful sponsors, but note sponsors do not provide our content.

Have you ever thought you were super smart only to find out moments later you’re just late to the party?  I walked into B&BW to see they had the same little berry baskets filled with fruity-smelling products all over the store!  Oh well, great minds think alike?   This may seem like a sponsored post by Bath and Body Works, but it’s not!  Apparently Kate and I both just made trips there this week.  And we’re fans.  They have tons of “Fresh Picked” scents, like Strawberry, Tangerine, apple, etc.   But obviously you can use any fruit-scented products.  I’m sure you could even find things at the dollar store.

I’m loving these new floral-fruit ones.  Raspberry-Peony and Cilantro-Peach?  Yummers.

Since we’re on the topic, I just have to tell you guys that this is my latest obsession.  I love this Lemon Lip Cream.  Like LOVE, love.  It’s not super-glossy and sticky, it’s smooth and creamy.  And it’s like licking lemon drops off your lips.  Amazing.  I have a tube in every one of my bags.

Anyway, back to our project.  After l got all of my goodies I came home to design a printable.  But first I got side-tracked on Pinterest and that’s when I spotted this one from the cute girls at eighteen 25.  And they used them with the exact same stuff- perfecto!

They have the printable for Moms, teachers, Grandmas and friends.  Cuteness.

Head on over to eighteen 25 to download the free labels and start gifting fresh-picked goodies to everyone on your list.

You’ll need mayonnaise (homemade would be delicious, just leave out the garlic and rosemary; clearly, I’m not using homemade mayonnaise here…), kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic, lemon juice, and capers. Unless you really hate capers–just leave ‘em out if that’s the case.

Chop the capers and then peel the garlic and mince or press it. Now…some of you may remember last fall when I was using a big knife to smash and peel my garlic and the blade wobbled on the garlic and I sliced the heel of my hand open. We can’t forget it around our house because, in addition to my lovely scar, my four-year-old keeps talking, especially to strangers and visitors, about the time I used a big knife to cut my wrist open while I was making dinner. Since then, I’ve been scared of smashing garlic with big knives, so I’ve put my once-rarely-used meat mallet to good use.

Just give each clove of garlic a good smash (which is also a great way to take out some unresolved aggression) and the papery skin slips right off, no stitches required.

Anyway.

Whisk the capers, garlic, and lemon juice into the mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper…

and whisk together until combined. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Spread onto sandwiches or use as a dip for fries, veggies, chicken, or fish. Or whatever sounds good (because garlicky mayonnaise sounds good with an abnormally large number of food items, at least for me).

When I was young, many of my favorite childhood comfort foods involved things from the sea.  My Mom’s classic Creamed Tuna on Toast, for example, crispy fried halibut on the pier in my hometown of Seattle, and cheesy casseroles with flaky fish.  Everything was wonderful until one frightful day in 6th grade.  Biology was my favorite class; I’ve always loved science (went on to get my degree in a science field) and felt quite comfortable at a lab table.  So I wasn’t too grossed out when I walked into class one rainy day and found slimy, slippery, squid on our tables.  We carefully followed our worksheets, using little scalpels to dissect the squid and identify all of their parts, making note of significant organs, etc.  Then we were instructed to pick up our mangled sea creatures and put them on paper plates.  We grabbed our plates, squid and all, and walked out of the classroom.  Having no idea where we were going, I was surprised when we turned down a particular hallway and entered the Home Ec. room. “Hmm…this is strange.” I thought.  “Why would we be carrying our nasty science projects into a room with stoves and frying pans?”  Surely we wouldn’t be…

Yes, we would be.  It was called “Incredible Edible Day” and not only did we have to fry up the little slimy guys we had just dissected, we then had to eat them (along with some other interesting things, like octopus tentacles, earth worms and fried crickets- pretty sure that wouldn’t fly now days, I’m not even allowed to bring cupcakes to my son’s school!)  Needless to say, I didn’t touch squid-or anything else from the ocean again for about ten years.  It wasn’t until my mid 20′s that I realized I possibly didn’t have an aversion to seafood- I had an aversion to 6th grade dissected sea creatures in science labs.  When I started to tackle my fears and return to my Pacific Northwest roots, I realized when seafood is actually prepared with great ingredients (as opposed to, say, salt, a frying pan, and prepped by 12 year olds)  it can be quite delicious.  I’m happy to say things like Crispy Baked Fish Sticks and Tartar Sauce, Orange Teriyaki Salmon, Fish Tacos and Creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole make regular appearances at our house now and I love playing around with new recipes and discovering seafood dishes my family enjoys.  I already know I’m a fan of crab cakes; especially with a tangy remoulade.  I spotted this recipe in last month’s Cooking Light and loved that it was in the speedy dinner category.  Can’t beat a 30 minute meal!

The remoulade is easy to whip up and most of it is probably already in your fridge.  You might not have capers, but they’re a good thing to have around so go get some!  You could serve these crab cakes with this dipping sauce as well (one of my favorites) and it involves capers too.

Just whisk the sauce together and pop it in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.  You can definitely make it ahead of time as well.

For the crab cakes, combine crabmeat with just a couple tablespoons of mayonnaise, some chopped green bell pepper and green onion and black pepper.  I tweaked this recipe to include some lemon as well, because it goes so naturally with these flavors and brightens the whole dish.  You’ll add the zest in the crab cakes and use some juice in the remoulade.

Add a beaten egg and some panko bread crumbs.  These two things act as binders to hold the cakes together.

Form the mixture into 8 patties.  This is a really tender mixture, so work very gently so they stay together.

Dredge each patty in panko, covering both sides.  I like to set the patty down in a shallow bowl of panko and press a little extra onto the tops.

Heat a large skillet to medium high heat.  Here’s a few tips when you’re browning things like this; whether it be a breaded cake, veggie fritter, or piece of meat.  These are especially helpful if you’re using stainless steel and have a problem with things sticking.  Heat up your pan before adding oil.  Once it’s nice and hot, drizzle in enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.  Since your pan is already hot, the oil will heat up immediately.  Place your crab cakes (or whatever you are cooking) in the pan and don’t touch it!

One of the most common problems comes when you try to flip something too early and the bottom sticks to the pan and you’re left with a huge mess.  The great thing about breaded items like this, or even plain chicken or steak, is that it will form it’s own crust and let you know when it’s ready to be flipped.  Once it’s sufficiently browned, it will release from the bottom of the pan.

These crab cakes should cook for about 3 minutes, then flip them and cook the other side for about 3 minutes, or until golden brown.  Keep cooked crab cakes in a warm oven and repeat process until all cakes are cooked.  Serve with the prepared remoulade.

You get a nice crispy exterior, with a soft, flavorful interior.  When eaten with the remoulade, it’s bursting with flavor (and in under 30 minutes!)

My husband and I spent our honeymoon in Cancun 8 years ago and decided we’d head back south for our anniversary this year.  Honestly it was one of the most relaxing trips we’ve done because we didn’t do anything but sit here:  

And down there:

Lots of sunsets and beachcombing

and plenty of virgin daquaris and pina coladas (aka tropical smoothies in grown-up cups)

And of course eating.  Why is it that all-inclusive resorts are always on the beach?  They should be in locations where after you stuff your face for the 400th time, you can slip on a parka and elastic waisted snow-pants.  But I digress.  One of the yummiest things I ate the whole trip was this bowl of deliciousness.  Basically it’s a bowl of hot, bubbly, melted cheese topped with grilled peppers, mushrooms and chorizo.

It’s served with fresh warm flour tortillas and you just pull a gooey forkful out and stuff it on the tortilla.  Oh my gosh, amazing.  I gotta re-create that one.

I have to say though, the best part about this trip was that we were 100% unplugged.  No cell phones, no computers, no internet.  I had no idea how therapeutic that could be!

A few weeks ago we got an email requesting a recipe for a sweet corn cake, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.  In Brazil, I often ate these wrapped in corn husks like a tamale and I’ve loved it ever since.  If you don’t know what this is, it’s not actually cake-like as the name suggests.  It’s more of a…corn mush? lol  A lot of chain restaurants, like Chevy’s, serve it as a side.  Have you guys had these Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes at The Cheesecake Factory?  (If you haven’t, you need to drive there right now, order them, and eat the whole plate yourself.)  These taste really similar.  It’s very soft, sweet and buttery- almost like a dough.  I’ve made recipes for “Spoon Bread,” “Corn Pudding,” and “Tamale Cakes” and they all taste very similar, but have slightly different consistencies (at least the specific recipes that I make).  A common one starts out with a Jiffy mix.  This is probably the softest of the bunch- the corn pudding I make is closer to a soft cornbread, where this is more of a cornmash.  It’s kind of hard to explain until you eat it!

Grab a hand mixer and beat up a stick of butter (yeppers, a whole stick) some masa harina, and a little water.  Masa harina is a corn flour often used in latin cooking.  You can find it in the latin foods aisle of most grocery stores.

Honestly, you could probably just dump all the ingredients in this recipe in the bowl at once- but I went ahead and put the rest of the dry ingredients (corn meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt) on top of the butter mixture and just whisked them a little right in the bowl before beating them in with a little milk or cream.

Cutest whisk ever, right?  Some sweet ladies from church brought that to me for my birthday last week.  I whisk with love.

Lastly, in goes the corn.  Use fresh, frozen corn.  It doesn’t even have to be thawed. I pulsed it in my food processor until it was roughly chopped.  If you don’t have a food processor, you could have at it with a sharp chef’s knife.

If your corn is frozen like mine, it will harden up your butter, which is why it looks crumbly. Totally fine!

Pop it in an 8×8 pan to bake.  This recipe calls for a waterbath- which is no biggie.  Just place you 8×8 inside of a 9×13 and put a little hot water in the 9×13.  Honestly I don’t know if it’s necessary, but I went with it.  It bakes for about an hour and when it comes out it’s really important that you let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes to sort of set up.  Most restaurants scoop it with an ice cream scoop, but I have serious issues scooping things with an ice cream scoop that aren’t ice cream.

It’s super soft, buttery and sweet.  You can serve it as a side dish- or it even bulks up a meatless meal served with grilled veggies and pico de gallo.  I love getting a bit on my fork along with a little avocado, pico, and some savory meat.  It might seem like a strange combo, but it’s so, so yummy.  You get sweet, savory, smooth and crunchy all together.  Love it.

Did you know you can browse our Recipe Index by ethnicity?  And Latin is by far our largest category!  If you’re looking for something fun to make for Cinco de Mayo, check it out.  You’ll find everything from yummy drinks, to easy appetizers, to great main dishes.  Even dessert!

The good news? Frozen treats make me feel better about the world. The bad news? My freezer is currently overrun by little Frozen Lemonade Pies. Fortunately, that is not the worst bad news I’ve ever gotten in my life.

This is one of my favorite favorite favorite treats of all time, but I’ve always been a little hesitant to post it because it’s so dang easy. Not that we’re not all about easy, but we’re talking easy enough that a really smart monkey could make it. But maybe when I’m feeling grumpy because I’m legally required to wear pants, I need super-smart-monkey frozen treats.

Growing up, we always made this pie in a store-bought graham cracker crust (and that’s still totally an option; you could also use the small graham cracker tart crusts). I wanted to adorable-ize (TOTALLY a word) things just a little, so I decided to make these in the squatty little Mason jars, kind of like a summery version of Pie in a Jar. You can use 8 8-ounce jars with the straight sides (like we do in Pie in a Jar), but I actually found myself wanting a more dainty portion and wished I had 16 of the 4-ounce jars on hand that weren’t covered in Mod Podge and tissue paper. Don’t ask.

For the crust, you’ll need 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup sugar, and 6 tablespoons of butter.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a small bowl. Melt the butter and then drizzle it over the crumbs…

Toss together the ingredients, wither with a fork or with your fingers. Then evenly distribute the crumb mixture into the jars. If you’re using 8 ounce jars, you’ll need about 3 heaping tablespoons per jar. For 4 ounce jars, use closer to 2 level tablespoons per jar. Lightly press the crumbs onto the bottom and up the sides of the jar.

Keep in mind that these are going in the freezer and will solidify a lot. Also keep in mind that graham cracker crust that is hard to eat will only lead to heartache and sorrow, and since we don’t want to be the cause of any kind of heartache, don’t press the crust in too firmly.

Set your jars aside.

For the filling, you’ll need 12 ounces (so 1 1/2 of the smaller containers) of thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, a 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, and 8 ounces of thawed lemonade concentrate (you’re not gonna use the whole can…mix the rest of it with water for, well, lemonade). I use pink lemonade because that is how I roll. You also might want to have a lemon on hand–if the mixture is a little too sweet for your taste, you can add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice to kick things up a notch.

In a large bowl, gently fold together the COOL WHIP and add the sweetened condensed milk. Add the lemonade concentrate (thawed but still cold) and continue folding until combined.

If you want, you can add a little food coloring–I added 4 drops of red food coloring and a drop of yellow, not that you’ll be able to tell in the pictures.

Divide the filling evenly among the prepared jars…

and freeze for at least 4 hours or until firm. When ready to serve, remove from the freezer and allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.

So easy, right?! Now that we’re moving into wedding season, these would be perfect little make-ahead desserts for a bridal shower (and baby showers, although, as I have discovered, there’s not really such thing as baby season–they seem to happen all year long). They would also be perfect for Mother’s Day; not saying that there aren’t men or children who feel completely at home in the kitchen on Mother’s Day, but my man is not one of them. Bless his heart. NOTE TO MY HUSBAND, SHOULD HE BE READING THIS: I want pie for Mother’s Day. And I don’t want to do the dishes afterwards.

Just to make things super easy, these pies should have little attachable notes, right?

Print these out, buy some cute ribbon, punch a hole in the corner, tie it onto the jar, and you have a happy mom.

For the Mother’s Day Printable, click HERE.

Thank you COOL WHIP for sponsoring this post. Join us on Facebook for inspiration and recipes for everyday treats. What you add makes it. #coolwhipmoms

Sponsored posts are purely our own ideas that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. As always, we write about products that we use and enjoy. Advertisers do not produce our content in any way.

Even though you may not have fresh herbs growing in your garden, this is a great recipe to use up those little packages of oh-my-gosh-how-can-this-tiny-plant-cost-so-much-money herbs you can buy at the store.  I sometimes buy herbs for a recipe and hate to let the rest of the package go bad.

It’s also a great thing to make if your herbs are getting a bit wilted, they’ll still work great here.  I like to use a mix of basil, rosemary, and oregano.  In the summer I usually have an abundance of all three, but any two work fine.  I try to at least always use rosemary in there, but you can mix and match with any herbs you have on hand.  I had leftover basil and oregano from the store

and I always have rosemary in my garden.  Three huge plants.  Remember how I’ve told you rosemary is the best herb to grow because you can’t kill it?  And mine always lasts through the harsh Idaho winters?  Well I stepped outside to grab some and found this:

oooh, hey there buddy.  I guess we’ll stick with basil and oregano today.

Mix up a bunch of minced garlic, your finely minced herbs a little salt and pepper, and the zest and juice from one large lemon (or a couple of smaller ones).  Then mix in some olive oil just until it’s sort of a loose paste/thick sauce.

If you have a mini food processor (like, mini mini.  I use one that attaches to my immersion blender) I suggest blending it all together so it’s more the consistency of a pesto.  But it’s not necessary.

You can use this on a lot of things.  Marinating chicken, obviously.  But it’s also great on fish, pork, or rubbed on vegetables or grilled corn on the cob before cooking.  In this case, just toss it in a zip top bag with some chicken breasts.  Since they are not going to marinate very long, I always make sure to pound out or butterfly large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so you get maximum flavor and they cook fast.  Rub the chicken all over with the herb mixture and let it sit for 20 minutes or so.  You can get away with as little as 15, but for the best flavor you’ll want 20-30.  That’s about the time it will take to set the table, prepare side dishes, etc.  so it works out well.

When you place the chicken on the grill, scrape out any leftover garlic-herb mixture and pour it on top.  Grill for a few minutes on each side.  It’s very important you only flip the chicken one time.  If you flip it too soon, the flavors won’t have time to form a crust and you’ll end up with dry, flavorless chicken.  Or it will get stuck to the grill grates and just tear off.  Not to stereotype, but men are the worst offenders when it comes to being flip-happy on the grill.  Watch it, boys!

It’s also yummy with grilled veggies on skewers.  Just put a small spoonful of the herb mixture in with a bag of veggies and then drizzle a little more olive oil in there.

It makes a super quick and easy meal that’s really versatile to change up depending on what herbs and meats you have on hand.  Hope this one becomes a go-to at your house as well!

Since I’m totally a mental health professional (I’m not), I spent about 5 minutes psychoanalyzing myself and have decided that after 3 months of morning sickness followed by 3 months of utter chaos, my brain has reset itself to the last time things were kind of normal. Also, due to said morning sickness, I skipped out on all sorts of cinnamony fall and winter treats because literally the only two things in the world that didn’t make me want to gag were big, ice-filled glasses of purple grape juice and Coke (not together; the idea of that makes me want to gag).

So apparently I’m now compensating for my lack of fallish baked goods because I have this overwhelming urge to make things like Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins. I just keep telling myself that brunch is a very springy thing and that you can never go wrong with coffee cake or muffins of any kind at brunch. Not that I’ve hosted or been to a brunch lately. But whatever.

For the cake part, you’ll need a yellow cake mix (if you’ve forgotten or weren’t around for previous posts on this subject, I’m a die-hard Duncan Hines brand loyalist, and no, this post is not being sponsored in any way by Duncan Hines), sour cream, canola oil, eggs, sour cream, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon (depending on your preference), tart apples, lemon juice, and an itty bit of all-purpose flour.

Preheat your oven to 350. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.

Peel and chop the apples and then toss them in about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Then sprinkle the apples with 2 tablespoons of flour and toss them well to combine. Set the apples aside.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, combine the remaining cake ingredients. Beat on low for 30 seconds to incorporate the ingredients and then another 3 minutes on high. Fold in the apple mixture and then divide the batter evenly among the lined muffin tins.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, and 1/2 cup white sugar.

Add 3 tablespoons softened butter and cut it in with two knives or a pastry blender until crumbly.

Sprinkle the streusel topping over the cupcake batter. Place the pans in the preheated oven and bake 20-30 minutes or until golden brown on top and a pick inserted into the center of one of the cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans. Makes 24 muffins.