• Blue velvet cupcakes

    I totally meant to post these BEFORE the Army-Navy game. But then I spent a zillion hours baking “Go Navy, Beat Army” cookies, and my oven stopped working and I had to finish baking the cookies in my neighbor’s oven… and then Michael Phelps was swimming about a mile from my house, so obviously we […]

  • Cranberry upside-down cake

    Whether you pronounce it pee-can or puh-kahn, I love pecan pie. So much so that when I was in Afghanistan (as a reporter) and the rocket attack siren went off in the middle of dinner, I took my slice of pecan pie with me to the bunker. I may have looked ridiculous eating pie in […]

  • Chipotle sweet potatoes

    Dude. Thanksgiving totally crept up on me this year. Maybe it’s the wacky weather, but I was completely oblivious to the fact that it’s less than a week away. Yikes! Anyway, if you’re looking for something to go with the giant turkey, you can try cranberry-apple fluff, can-free cranberry sauce, coconut sweet potatoes, sweet potato-pecan […]

  • Lava flow bundt cake

    Those of you who know me in real life would probably guess that my favorite drink is a margarita. And, yes, I am definitely pro-margarita (on the rocks, no salt). But my actual favorite drink is (and has been since elementary school, sans alcohol of course) a piña colada. I mean, come on. Pineapple and […]

  • Happy birthday, Marines!

    Today is the U.S. Marine Corps’ 236th birthday — a day of ceremonies, parades, balls and lots of bad sheet cake all over the world. We are going to our Marine Corps ball tonight (where I’m sure the dry cake will still be better than whatever they serve us for dinner), but I wanted to […]

  • Apple-cranberry pie

    As much as I love pie, I’ve never been big on apple. Give me raspberry, pecan, key lime or blueberry cream over apple any day. But as I was clicking through a fall pie slideshow on Epicurious.com, this pie caught my eye. It isn’t the typical chunks-of-apple-with-too-much-cinnamon-inside-two-dry-crusts pie. The apples are thinly sliced and piled […]

  • Coconut sweet potatoes

    I am home now, but I started this post in a Starbucks in Columbus, Ga. Random, I know, but Toby was playing in the All-Armed Forces Rugby tournament at Ft. Benning. And in case you’re wondering, Ft. Benning is really nice. And really ginormous. Anyway, this post is not about rugby. It’s about delicious sweet […]

  • Toasted coconut-cardamom shortbread

    When Toby and I went to visit my BFF Melissa in Toronto over Christmas break, we walked by a super cute bakery that, unfortunately, was closed. We pressed our faces up against the window, though, and I could see “coconut curry shortbread” taunting us from inside. I adore coconut and shortbread. Then, about a month […]

  • Cumin-scented quinoa and rice

    As much as I hate to admit it, we can’t live on sugar alone. (I actually should probably try to quit sugar altogether, but that is a different story.) And I figured you consumed enough candy yesterday to last a few days. So today I wanted to share something savory and healthy. I saw this […]

  • Butterbeer and pumpkin Linzer cookies

    A few months ago, I happened to find some Halloween linzer cookie cutters (those cookies that look like sandwiches, but with a shape cut out of the top part) while I was shopping for something else. They were so cute that I had to get them, but I had to wait forever to use them. […]