BakeAwayGirl

I have admired trifles from afar for a while now, and then my cousin told me about one she made and I was very jealous.  But as it's not a baking dessert, I generally steered clear.  Also, I didn't have a trifle dish and wasn't about to buy one for something I wasn't sure I even sure I would like. So when we were browsing the shelves of Bed, Bath, and Beyond to register for our wedding, I somewhat sheepishly added a trifle dish.  Secretly, I think, I hoped that being a grown married woman would encourage me to make fancy desserts, like trifles. Well being a grownup married woman didn't have much to do with it, but hosting my first book club in our first house sure inspired me. That, and having a 10 pound box of fresh Michigan blueberries in the fridge. It was easier than anticipated and certainly a crowd-pleaser.  It's rare when you have a group of women that every one goes up for seconds!  But I will admit I was slightly disappointed in my first adv

Strawberry-topped version from this summer A few years ago, a friend of mine was getting married and asked if I would make cupcakes for her wedding.  As an amateur baker, I was both incredibly flattered and terrified.  What if people were just indulging me and my cakes were secretly garbage?  What if I messed up?  What if I forgot an ingredient?  What if.. what if... what if! I immediately set to Pinterest to find recipes.  Originally I had grand ideas of espresso frosting with chocolate cupcakes and lemon cupcakes with a light raspberry frosting.  But I abandoned those ideas pretty quickly as 200 cupcakes was daunting enough without getting fancy beyond my capabilities.  So I decided to do 100 white cake cupcakes and 100 chocolate cake cupcakes.  I had a chocolate cake recipe , but I didn't have a quality white cupcake recipe.  So to Pinterest! They turned out wonderfully, and all my "what if"s were put to rest.  One of the bride's friends had a family owned

This recipe was a find years ago, but I never remembered to take a picture for the blog until this last time.  It combines two delicious things into one.  As the name indicates, it is a combination of taco salad and pasta salad.  I will admit, I was skeptical at first.  First off, I'm not a fan of French or Western dressings (which this recipe uses), however it does work with the other ingredients. I've played with a few different ingredients, but the nice thing about both tacos and pasta salads is that you can add anything you'd like.  Besides the basics (taco meat, lettuce, pasta), I use cheese, black beans, and tomatoes.  You can do corn, any kind of peppers, or other types of beans.  This practically begs  for black olives, but I hate them so... no. Important:   We ate this the very first time without the crushed fritos.  We decided we wouldn't make it again.  Then we ate the leftovers with  the crushed chips and it completely  changed the dish.  Fritos or