Just a Canary Bird...

I follow Kristan on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen . If you don't read her blog, I would recommend it. She is quirky, clever, and she knows how to bake! A few weeks ago she posted a recipe on her Pineapple Brown Sugar Snack Cakes.  I am not this huge fan of pineapple. I remember being little and eating around the pineapple in a pineapple upside down cake, because the cake itself tasted so good!  I thought that this recipe sounded really yummy and I was right! So I set out to make them for our Memorial Day cookout this weekend. These bars have a ton of flavor and the crushed pineapple gives the cake great flavor but you do not get huge chunks of pineapple. It almost dissolves into the cake. Also, the brown sugar topping gives that nice crunch on top! Pineapple Brown Sugar Bars 1 box white cake mix 1 small box of instant vanilla pudding mix 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained 1 cup brown sugar ...

We haven't been too busy this week, but I know we will have a busy holiday weekend. Here is what our family has been up to! We hope that everyone has a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend! source Until next time, Kara

I definitely have a sweet tooth. I came home from work and decided I had a craving for no bake cookies. These are easy to make and perfect for the summer, because they don't heat up your kitchen. Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies 2 cups granulated sugar 5 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder 1 stick of butter 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 3 cups of quick cook oaks Directions: Over medium heat on the stove, place the sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk in a saucepan. Make sure to keep stirring to help the mixture melt. Bring mixture to a boil (make sure the entire surface is boiling) then set your timer for one minute.  Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the vanilla, peanut butter, and quick oats. Portion out the mixture in tablespoon size mounds on wax paper. Allow time for the cookies to set up before trying to store them. These are a yummy treat for the summer! Until next time, Kar...

In honor of hitting the half-way mark to our long weekend, here is a funny cat picture to get you through the rest of the week. Source Until next time, Kara

I love a good book. I am on the waiting list for a ton of books, but they all seem to be really popular, so hopefully I will have some more recommendations coming up this summer! Here are a few of my more recent reads. Chicagoland Vampire Series by Chloe Neill "Some Girls Bite" is the first novel in the Chicagoland Vampire Series. This is a fun, spunky series. It's an easy read and quickly gets you attached to the main characters. Here is a brief description: They killed me. They healed me. They changed me. Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but I was doing fine until Chicago's vampires announced their existence to the world. When a rogue vampire attacked me, I was lucky he only got a sip. Another bloodsucker scared him off and decided the best way to save my life was to make me the walking undead. Now I've traded sweating over my thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to...

I am currently catching up on Season 4 of Game of Thrones. I have read all the books and can't wait for the sixth book, Winds of Winter , to come out in 2016. If you have not read the books or watched the HBO series, I would highly recommend it. It has action, romance, mystery, fantasy, and drama! It is crazy the amount of characters and story lines that take place in these books! Here are the different family lines and their family motto. I am excited to see what differences happen in the TV show versus what happened in the books! Until next time, Kara Picture accreditation  http://www.hdwallpapers.in/walls/game_of_thrones-HD.jpg  

I am happy to say that I am blessed to have a wonderful, selfless, loving mother. I am also blessed to have a great mother-in-law. I am happy that we are lucky enough to have these wonderful ladies in our lives.  In honor of Mother's Day this weekend, I made some chocolate chip cookies for dessert at the end of our dinner with my in-laws. I love a good chocolate chip cookie, but I'll go out on a limb to say the Hubby really LOVES chocolate chip cookies! Because I decided to make this cookie on Mother's Day, I decided to name it my Celebration Chocolate Chip Cookie! These cookies are soft and chewy, due to the fact that they have vanilla pudding in them. They can be fancied up by adding in candy or nuts! Celebration Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients: 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour (1) 3.5-ounce packet instant vanilla p...

Happy Hump Day! We are still recovering at our house from being sick last week! Here is one of my favorite quotes from the Harry Potter series. Just remember the week is half over! Whew! Until next time, Kara Picture accreditation  http://imgkid.com/harry-potter-quotes-always.shtml

The Hubby and I celebrated being together 8 years this weekend! It's crazy how fast the time goes when you are having fun! We made an unexpected weekend getaway to celebrate. We drove down to Tunica, Mississippi. It's about 7 1/2 hours. We stopped in Memphis to eat at Marlowe's. It was a restaurant featured on Drive In's, Diners, and Dives on the Food Network. It was about a mile from Graceland. The food was good, but service was slow, so it kind of took away from the fun.  We drove the last 30 minutes to our hotel. We stayed at The Roadhouse. It was a small hotel & casino. It was a nice place to stay. For some reason it wasn't very busy, but we didn't mind that. The Roadhouse is also walking distance from the Gold Strike and The Horseshoe. Saturday we got up and drove to the Hollywood Casino to play poker. It's right near Sam's Town and Resorts.  We got in a 3-6 limit game. This allows you to play for hours without...