Lavender Lemon Thumbprint Cookies and a Return to Normalcy...ish

 I'm back...ish!

You know...in those years when I was blogging constantly, I used to come across other people's zombie blogs out there on the internet and wonder how they could just abandon something they had poured themselves into.

Then, you know...life happened.  And suddenly I understood.

First school, then the pandemic, then school again.  It's been an interesting few years to say the least.

That being said, this blog...it represents so many moments in my life.  It has continued to serve as my own personal recipe book over the years, regardless of what time or desire I have had to add to it.

It means a lot to me.  It has also been quite a while since I've felt the drive to contribute to it again.

Chocolate-Dipped Cookies and Fabulous Reviews

Ladies and gentlemen, there is an absolutely ludicrous amount of sugar in my home at the moment.

So many cookies.  So much snack mix.  So many tubs of frosting in the fridge.

A few weeks ago, before my house had been inundated by sugary holiday madness, I created a recipe for Allrecipes.  I ate some, I froze some, I sent some to my parents, I called it a day.

I just happened to notice that Allrecipes published my recipe and clicked on over to see it.

Ummm...guys, it has 9 reviews from the last two days alone and every single one of them is glowing.

Talk about an ego boost!

Well world, I'm glad you're enjoying them!

Dulce de Leche Bars and the Holiday Season

Is it just my family that's really excited about the holiday season this year?

Normally I roll my eyes when I see the Thanksgiving and Christmas things hitting the shelves the day after Halloween but I can honestly say that this year I didn't have that reaction.

I don't know what it is, but there's something about this year that has everyone under our roof ready.

While we've held off getting out the tree and lights, it's something we're all looking forward to with a great deal of anticipation.  My daughter and I have been listening to Christmas music every morning on the way to school for at least a week now and we've already made it through several Christmas movies.

Not White Christmas, though- that one must be saved for right after we finish decorating the tree and enjoyed with gingersnaps.

It's kind of our thing.  

Rocky Road Ice Cream and Weird Kids

A month or so ago, as I was deep in the throes of my ice cream obsession, my 12 year old asked (more like begged...) me to make Rocky Road Ice Cream instead of something more fun, like Honey Lavender or Cherry Pie à la Mode.  So of course I made it, right?

But then I served her a bowl of that ice cream she had begged for.

She wrinkled her nose.

"Are these...NUTS?!?" she gasped.

Ummm...yes.  That's kind of what makes that Rocky Road ice cream you've been enjoying for years rocky.

She followed with, "...is this MARSHMALLOW?!?"

Yes, my child.  Also, you love marshmallows.  Also marshmallows are always in Rocky Road ice cream.

Kids...they're a weird, finicky breed.

I was confused by the reaction, to be honest.

She asked me to pick out the nuts and the marshmallows, for her.

I- of course- refused.

*sigh*

Ice Cream Contests and Cherry Pie

So, if you're keeping track, I've made something like five different kinds of ice cream this summer- and June isn't even over yet.

I'm actually at the point where I can't make any more until my family finishes off what I've already made because there just isn't room in the freezer anymore.

This month the Allrecipes Allstars were challenged to create a fun, interesting new flavor of ice cream- and my goodness did they rise to the challenge!  Brian came up with Raspotle Sorbet, Nikki created a number of fun varieties like Sriracha Lime Ice Cream, and Pat went another interesting direction with Earl Grey Tea and Lime Ice Pops.

I certainly have some creative fellow Allstars!

I threw my hat in the ring with a new ice cream creation too- though mine wasn't quite as out there as flavor profiles go.

Me?  Well I created this recipe: Cherry Pie à la Mode Ice Cream.
Doesn't sound too weird, does it?

It's not.  Lets be honest.
Flavor-wise at least.

Lemon Ice Cream and Summer Obsessions

I have been going a little ice cream crazy lately.
Ok...maybe not just a little.  At this moment I have Lavender Honey, Banana Pudding, Rocky Road, Cherry Pie à la Mode, and this Lemon ice cream in my freezer...and I have more cream in the fridge just begging to be used.

I'm on a roll, guys.
I have mastered the art of tempering eggs for custard bases and have moved on to experimenting with my own recipes.

I have way more ice cream than my family can possibly eat in that freezer already!
It's just so much fun to play around with these recipes.

I've always wanted to try a lemon ice cream so when I saw this recipe I knew that I was going to have to give it a whirl- especially since I already had all of the ingredients on hand.
Once I realized that there was just no saying "no" to this recipe!

Banana Pudding Ice Cream and Underrated Desserts

I think pudding is a highly underrated food.

Has there ever been a time when downing a spoonful of that cool, creamy, concoction didn't make you happy?

I think not.

Chocolate pudding, pistachio pudding, tapioca pudding- all excellent.

Even custard.  Oh my do I miss that Jell-O brand custard I grew with!

I may have overindulged in that particular treat just a wee bit when I was pregnant with my son.  :-)

Banana pudding, though- that's something special.

While all of the other puddings are generally served with little fanfare, remaining largely under-appreciated in the world of desserts, banana pudding has managed to escape a similar fate.

No, banana pudding brings to mind recollections of family meals and happy times.  Nilla wafers and whipped cream.  Sometimes soft and sweet slices of banana- though you can keep those for yourself.

I'll stick with the pudding and Nilla wafers.

Lavender Honey Ice Cream and Perfect Summer Desserts

The first time I drove over the mountains from Tennessee to Asheville, North Carolina it felt like I'd come home.  It was more like what I'd left behind in California than anything I'd experienced in Mississippi or Tennessee.  Quirky, funky, foodie-filled, artsy.

Fabulous.

Very Nora.

I could take a deep, mountain air-filled breath and feel my whole body relax in that same way it does when you slip into your pj pants and collapse on the couch at the end of the day.

It felt comfortable.

My husband and I quickly made it our weekend getaway destination when we had a day or two away from the kids.  We wandered the meandering aisles and cozy spaces of Battery Park Book Exchange, we followed very Nora-ish type lunches with grown-up beverages and giddily strolled the art at Woolworth Walk and scooped up fun hats and silly jewelry from cute stores.

Ok...all of that was definitely me enjoying Asheville, but my husband was generally a good sport about tagging along on my adventures as long as there was the promise of good food and adult beverages.

Strawberry Shortcakes and 70's Weddings

I remember not liking a lot of things as a kid that seem utterly absurd to me now.

Cream cheese.

Sour cream.

Mustard.

Dark chocolate.

Brussels sprouts.

I suppose that list is fairly normal when it comes to kids' tastes- isn't it strange that most of those foods are on my list of grown-up favorites?  I could definitely go for a toasted bagel slathered with a healthy dose of cream cheese right about now!

The list of things I used to love and I now have no interest in whatsoever has been turned on it's head a little as well.  I remember going crazy for gooey, sickly-sweet caramel treats, drink mixes whose flavor can best be described as "red", and scrambling for the slice of cake with the giant frosting flower at birthday parties.

Wanderlust and Wedding Cookies

Sometimes it drives my family a little crazy that I rarely make the same recipe twice, that I'm always on the lookout for something new to make as I inhale cookbooks as if they were novels and compile lists of recipes that I imagine myself making one day.

My kitchen cabinet is full of books whose pages tell the story of Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East.

I want to take it all in.  Every recipe, every ingredient, every cuisine.

I want to travel, see, and experience.

I want to see it all.  Do it all.  Try it all.

I want to learn everything possible about every subject I encounter.

Take in everything I can and weave it into myself.

I guess loving me requires, if not an equal desire to absorb the bigness of the world, at the very least an appreciation of my awe of it and some tolerance of my love of whimsy.

It seems such an unfathomable waste of this fantastical world not to experience as much as one is able.

Lemon Bars and Fellowship Halls

Do you know what I miss about the churches in which I grew up?

The fellowship hall after our service.

I grew up in two churches- first Methodist, then Baptist, then back to Methodist.

Both churches were super down with cookies and coffee after service and fairly regular post-church Sunday potlucks.

I really, really miss that.

Fellowship.

It's something I struggle with as an introvert who constantly forces herself to fight against social anxieties.

Having a close-knit church family was something I took for granted.  I was surrounded by the most wonderful group of people, a surrogate family who loved me and stood beside me as I grew up.

My goodness- that Methodist church?

An earthquake deemed it unusable in 2003.  It was torn down, the property sold- all of that history replaced by new development.

But the people?

My church family?

When I got divorced they emailed me.

When I was a single parent struggling I was supported.

I still get birthday and Christmas cards after all of these years away- and so do my children, despite never have even lived near those wonderful people.

Quick Breads and Easy Gifts

I've baked a lot of bread in my life.

Loads of it.

It started in middle school and the trend has continued well into adulthood.

While I have made many types of bread over the years, I honestly don't make many quick breads.

The entire concept of working with yeast- that living, consuming, gas-producing, stuff- is just fun for me.

The one time of year I tend to get really into quick breads is over the holiday season.

Quick breads differ from yeast breads in that they typically use baking soda or baking powder as a leavening agent (the ingredient that causes them to rise) rather than yeast.  They can be sweet or savory (think cornbread or biscuits) but over the holidays I like to go a little nuts with the sweet varieties.  Not only are they delicious, but they're kind of perfect for giving as gifts.  Last year I found a great deal on a set of 50 mini loaf pans and baked mini loaves of that amazing, moist Eggnog Quick Bread I wrote about a few years ago.

It's seriously delicious, you should definitely try it.  Trust me.

Best (And Easiest!) Ever Piña Colada Cake

Friendships were much easier to come by when I was younger.  It seems like the older I get the more I have acquaintances rather than friends- and that kind of makes me sad.

Well...lets be honest...the part of me that likes hanging out in my PJ pants with my family and not making plans is ok with it for the most part.

But having friends to laugh and talk to is important too.

My husband may be my best friend, but sometimes I need some girl talk and a cheese plate!

Anyway, I've been working on fostering friendships- I'm well aware of the fact that like any relationship friendships require intentional attention.

Let me just say guys...while I may not have the wide group of friends I had in my youth the friends I do have are pretty freaking spectacular.

I am blessed.

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream (My Ice Cream Obsession Continues)

We already know that I'm a wee bit obsessed with my ice cream maker these days. 

I mean...I store it in my freezer and I keep heavy cream in my fridge at all times just in case.

Never in my life did I think that there would come a day when I would keep heavy cream on hand just in case.

Oh well.  The day has come.  At least for the summer months.

So I've been amassing quite a collection of ice cream recipes I'm excited to try (cannoli ice cream, I'm coming for you one day soon!) and Key Lime Pie ice cream has been hovering around the top of my list for awhile.

I love key lime, don't you?

I mean, what's not to love?

It's so different from regular lime flavor, it has that sweet and tangy flavor that sets it apart from regular lime that just can't be beat.

Frozen Caramel Coffee

I try to avoid coffee places...but not because I don't like coffee.

Far from it, actually.

No, I love coffee.

Especially those drinks that *true* coffee lovers turn their noses up at.

Give me a sugar-laden flavor-of-the-season any day of the week!

While I certainly enjoy a warm drink during the colder months, for most of the year my biggest temptation is anything iced or frozen.  Flavored, loaded with syrup...yeah...I don't avoid coffee places because I don't like coffee.

I avoid coffee places because my waistline really can't handle my lack of self control.

Sure I tell myself that I'm just going to order a regular coffee.  Something strong and dark.

Then the next thing I know I'm staring down a very large drink with a very large swirl of whipped cream on top.  Possibly some kind of chocolate shaving on top, as if the whipped cream wasn't enough.

You might wonder why I'm telling you all of this while you're staring at pictures of a coffee drink that is 1)topped with a very large dollop of whipped cream and 2)dripping with caramel.

I can understand your confusion.  Just stick with me for a moment.

Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies and A Little Nostalgia

My husband loves Milk Duds.

Like loves them.

Personally, I find them too sweet and too chewy and too...just not my kind of candy.

That man, however, can put way some Milk Duds.

He named his cat Milk Dud long ago.

They're kind of the way to his heart.

Have we been bickering?

Was I kind of short with him on the way out the door?

Did he have a bad day at work?

Buy the man some Milk Duds.  It'll make things better.

Or at least it will be a start.  :-)

Hot Days and Cold Coffee Treats

Five years ago this month I took a trip to Seattle courtesy of Allrecipes.

I've taken a number of Allrecipes trips since, but this was the first- and my anxiety was high.

Now don't get me wrong- I was excited about all of the fun stuff they had planned for us.

They flew their Allstars out to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Allrecipes.com, put us up in a very nice hotel, wined and dined us at their headquarters...it was all quite exciting.  At that point in my life I was one year into being a stay-at-home mom and life really revolved around all things children and homelife.  This blog was in it's infancy, and I was just...you know, a mom.

Have I mentioned I have just *ahem* a touch of social anxiety too?

So I was flying cross-country into a totally new situation to meet up with people whom I had only interacted with online.  I hadn't lost any of the weight I'd gained during my pregnancy so I was even more self-conscious than normal- which is saying a lot.

I seriously almost passed on even taking this incredible, free trip!

But I didn't.

Chocolate Ice Cream Trumps Memories Of Bad Ice Milk

When I think of the homemade ice cream of my childhood I think of only one thing:

peaches.

We had a plethora of fruit trees when I was a kid- a peach tree in the front yard, and then the backyard had two apple trees, an apricot tree, a plum tree, a poorly performing pear tree, an abundance of grape vines, a number of berry bushes, and- until we got a dog- a strawberry patch.

There was also an ill-fated artichoke plant in there for a few years, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count as fruit.

Or does it?

I don't know.  Maybe I'll look it up later.

Either way, I'm pretty sure it has no place in ice cream.

Anyway, we had a ridiculous variety of fruit, and I might even be forgetting a thing or two!

For real.

Our friends and neighbors got so. sick. of fruit.

So did we come to think of it!

What we didn't eat fresh or pawn off on whoever would take it was made into fruit leather, baked into cobblers (that I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole as a staunchly 'anti-cooked fruit' child), frozen and forgotten in the back of the freezer, or made into ice cream.

Summery Blackberry Pie

I remember sitting at the computer in my room when I was in high school, using dial-up internet, and- totally on a whim- typing in cookierecipe.com to my browser (Netscape, of course).

It was a real site!  Holy cow!

I decided to try another one- cakerecipe.com.  And then another- pierecipe.com.

They were there too!  Will the wonders of the internet never cease!

I kept going down the list.  There were sites for all kinds of food.

Allrecipes you might even say *winkwink*.

It wasn't until many, many years later when I was sitting in the Seattle headquarters of Allrecipes.com  for an Allstars trip to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Allrecipes.com, that I even connected those old sites to the current iteration of the site I do so much work with.  All of those individual little domains were bundled up into the neat package that has been known for a very long time now as Allrecipes.com

Reese's Peanut Butter S'mores Ice Cream

Do you know how long I've wanted an ice cream maker?

FOR-EV-ER.

That's how long.

When my mother-in-law asked me what I wanted for my birthday I was at a loss.  That's always such a hard question for me to answer!

I need a new 13"x9" pan- mine's in terrible shape.

I need new bread pans- two of mine were left at a cabin seven years ago when we got married and have yet to be replaced.

Also...I wanted an ice cream maker.

I know there are a lot of them out there, at varying price points, but I love having attachments for my Kitchenaid, so that's the one that made the list.

Guess what I got from my fantastic in-laws?

Yep, you got it.

I got my ice cream maker!

I decided to break it in over Father's Day weekend.  My husband's only request?

"None of your lavender/chamomile/honey/Rosemary/weird flavor craziness."

Got it.

It was Father's Day after all- my honey/lavender ice cream will have to wait for another hot summer day.