I’m partnering with KRAFT on this wonderful brunch recipe, and chatting about my current obsession… farmhouse living. 

Friends, if you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you know I’ve been doing a lot of dreaming lately… some may call it obsessing, but I’ll stick with dreaming.

You see, a house we have loved for the past 12 years recently went on the market. It’s a gorgeous little 1936 farmhouse with land and character and all kinds of wonderful features. The best part is, it’s still in town…just a few short blocks from where we live now. It’s one of those rare, best of both world scenarios. An old, charming house with land, still within just a short drive to Target and Starbucks and still with neighbors nearby. That’s my kind of living!

The thing is, the house is old… it has small bedrooms, a smaller kitchen, tiny closets… like you’d expect a 1936 farmhouse to have. But, we live in a very spacious 6 year old house right now. Moving to something like this would be a HUGE adjustment in lifestyle for our family. It would mean downsizing on stuff… simplifying our lives and getting rid of all the excess. The benefit though is what we’d lose for space on the inside, we’d gain 10xs on the outside, and something about that truly appeals to me. Gardens and outdoor movies on the lawn and pickup football games… tree houses and hide and seek and outdoor entertaining with white lights and long covered tables… it’s such a dream of ours. Would we be able to live smaller? Could we do it?  (more…)

I’ve had a love affair with cheesecake practically my whole life, but, would you believe this is my first time ever making cheesecake? It is my absolute favorite dessert, hands down, but for some reason I’ve always left the cheesecake making up to everyone else.

I should have known that once I actually made cheesecake for the first time, it’d be a dangerous thing. And of course, in making cheesecake, I knew if I turned to the Philadelphia Cream Cheese, who has been making America’s favorite cream cheese since 1872, I would be thrilled with my results. Now that I know how easy these Philadelphia Cheesecake Minis are, I won’t likely be stopped!

(more…)

(1) Raspberry Parfaits (2) Baked Onion Ring Dip (3) Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake (4) Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake (5) Zucchini Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting (6) Monterrey Spinach Artichoke Dip

I’m kind of a big fan of things with Philadelphia Cream Cheese in them. I was looking through past recipes in my blog archives the other day and found more recipes than I remembered having featuring cream cheese in them. Above are just a few of my favorites. Make sure to check them out (especially that Philadelphia Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake up there… sooo good for this time of year!).

Speaking of Philadelphia Cream Cheese – remember the Real Women of Philadelphia? Well, they have a wonderful new giveaway going! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now through November 9th, they are giving away a new KitchenAid Mixer in an ingredient inspired color! That’s 9 mixers in all and entering to win is easy. All you have to do is head over to the Real Women of Philadelphia website and leave a comment on their site with a link to your favorite Real Women of Philadelphia recipe, and you could land you your very own KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Head Real Women of Philadelphia to learn more!

All those colors up there sure beat my boring old grey KitchenAid. Which color KitchenAid Mixer is your favorite? I wouldn’t turn any of them away, how about you?

Make sure to head over to the Real Women of Philadelphia page to find out more info and to enter to win!

Disclosure: I am honored to be working with Kraft Foods on promoting their Real Women of Philadelphia site. I have been compensated for my participation but all opinions are my own.

There’s a little something I want to share with you, and it has to do with making your travel dreams come true. We all want to make our dreams come true, right?

Philadelphia Cream Cheese has a thriving online community of home cooks (like us!) called The Real Women of Philadelphia (RWOP). This community, with more than 66,000 registered users, has become a place for people to share recipe ideas, talk about life in general and help make dreams come true. It’s a platform for creativity that offers women a place to share their real recipes, real conversations and real dreams throughout the entire year.

This year, Philadelphia Cream Cheese has several contests for the dreamer in all of us. In fact, throughout the season, PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese will be giving away more than $100,000 in prizes, including a kitchen makeover and various other dream prizes. To start, Kraft Foods has announced its Real Women of Philadelphia contest called “Delicious Dream Trips” – a contest designed for the Real Women of Philadelphia community to submit their recipe and video of their own region-inspired dish for a chance to win one of THREE  separate dream trips to Italy, France or Greece. Three places I know I dream about going. How about you?

To enter, just register to join the Real Women of Philadelphia community and submit an original recipe (including PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, of course)  and video inspired by one of the countries (France, Italy or Greece), for a chance to win a dream getaway to France, Italy or Greece.  The winner will embark on a delicious dream trip where they’ll experience local cuisine and culture and enjoy scenic tours, wine tastings, and wonderful dining at gourmet restaurants. If you win will you please pack me in your suitcase? It sounds amazing!

When I think about traveling to France or Italy, I think of sitting outside at little cafe’s, drinking coffee or wine and eating the most delicious breads and pastries. When I think about pastries and bread and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, I think about one of my favorite, fruit muffin recipes with cream cheese as one of the ingredients. It’s not a cream cheese filled muffin, but instead a rich, indulgent muffin with cream cheese included in the batter. The cream cheese makes the difference between an ordinary muffin and these muffins.

Make up a batch of these muffins, sit down, and start dreaming up recipes that inspire you. You never know, entering your recipe in the RWOP “Delicious Dream Trips” contest might be all it takes to make your travel dreams come true. Good luck!

I have been selected by Kraft Foods to be an ambassador for the Real Women of Philadelphia. While I have been compensated for my time, my opinions are my own, and I have not been paid to post positive comments.

9 1/2 years ago, we welcomed our first baby into our family. It seems like such a long time ago, looking back. I remember specific moments with Jacob that I don’t remember with my three girls. There’s the first time he fell asleep in his high chair with a mouth and face full of food. My awe and surprise at the first time his chubby little hands reached out for a toy hanging on his infant carrier. My heart melted in an instant the first time his little voice repeated back the “I love you sweet baby” that I’d say to him every night as I put him down to sleep. He is my first, and as much as I do love my girls, Jacob will always have an extra special place in my heart because of that.

My dear blogging friend, Maria, and her husband Josh, are getting ready to welcome their first baby into their “pod”. A sweet little boy. I am so excited for Maria to experience all the firsts that a mom gets to experience. I won’t go on about the eye opening firsts that I remember as a new mom, but I will tell Maria that she is in for a joyous and exciting and sometimes challenging ride. Being a parent is something I feel so blessed to do (although if you would ask me on most days, I’m ready to pull my hair out because of the kids typically).

Maria – take lots of pictures, treasure the moments, and enjoy being a mama to your sweet new bundle. Congrats to you and Walter Dan Josh. From our family to yours, much love and happiness. I can’t wait to meet him!

Several bloggers have joined together for a surprise virtual baby shower for Maria and Josh. Check out the list of participants below the recipe! I hope you’ll take a minute to click around and visit some of the great blogs participating!

Recipe: Oven-baked Apples

• 4 tart apples, such as Fuji or Jonagold
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Scoop out the core from top of the apple, leaving a well. Do not cut all the way through.
3. Stuff each apple with 2 Tablespoons brown sugar and 1 Tablespoon butter.
4. Place in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, until apples are tender.

Drinks

Simple Bites – Lemon Balm infused Lemonade

Ingredients, Inc. – Healthy Fruit Punch

Food for My Family – Lemongrass Soda

Heather’s Dish – Mixed Fruit Punch

She Wears Many Hats – Mini Pistachio Smoothies

Appetizers/Savory Bites

With Style and Grace – Truffle Popcorn

Family Fresh Cooking – Baby Peas & Cheese Frittata

Barbara Bakes – Creamy Orange Fruit Dip and Fruit

Aggie’s Kitchen – Pasta Salad with Balsamic Basil Vinaigrette

Reluctant Entertainer – Nutella Berry Bruschetta

Dessert

TidyMom – Blue and Chocolate Cake Balls

i am baker – Baby Pea Baby Shower Cake

Brown Eyed Baker – Pavlova

Picky Palate – Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Sandwich

What’s Gaby Cooking – Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Cookin’ Canuck – Nutella & Cream Cheese Swirled Blondies

Kevin and Amanda – Baby Blue Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Cups

Sweetopia – Decorated Sugar Cookies

Mountain Mama Cooks – Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Sweetapolita – Decorated Sugar Cookies

Bake at 350 – Petit Fours with fondant pea pods

RecipeGirl – Baby Button Cookies

RecipeBoy – Mud Cups with Gummy Worms

Add a Pinch – Blackberry Tartlets

Dine and Dish – Oven Baked Cinnamon Apples

Crafts

Wenderly – Handmade Sweet Pea Cards

Our Best Bites – How To: Make a Diaper Cake Centerpiece

Have you ever tasted an avocado? I mean….really tasted an avocado? I thought I had – I make avocado fries, salads with avocado and avocado ranch dressing, guacamole and more. I eat avocado’s straight up with a bit of Kosher salt and I love them on a sandwich.

I recently received a shipment of California Avocados from California Avocados Direct. Securely packaged with care and a hand written note directly from the farmer himself, I was pretty excited about this package. California Avocados Direct is bringing fresh from the orchard avocados directly to your home and mine through their innovative e-commerce store. With a selection of monthly avocado deliveries, gourmet avocado gift baskets, and more, California Avocados Direct is giving the chance for people like me, in Kansas, to really be able to taste an avocado.

What I realized when I first took a bite of an avocado from California Avocados Direct is that I have never really tasted a fresh avocado. We have avocados in the supermarket here that you have to hurry to get home or they will be over ripe. What we don’t have are orchard fresh, delicious, farm fresh avocados. After one taste, I can tell you… you haven’t truly tasted an avocado unless you have tasted a farm fresh California avocado.

I hesitated to even turn these avocado’s into a recipe… they were so good by themselves – fresh and full of flavor. However, I decided to create a delicious veggie dip (or pita chip dip) using an avocado, some cream cheese and Rotel. A veggie dip for your veggies… gotta love that!

If you are interested in supporting a farmer with a commitment to providing the freshest avocados to people in all regions of the United States, check out the California Avocados Direct website. Their story is one worth supporting and their avocados are truly like nothing I’ve ever tasted. Freshest of the fresh and the highest quality avocados available.

Recipe: Avocado Dip

• 1 8oz package light cream cheese
• 1 ripe avocado, diced
• 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 10oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine light cream cheese and diced avocado. Blend until smooth.
2. Add Kosher salt and tomatoes with green chilies. Stir with a spoon until well incorporated. Serve cold with fresh vegetables or pita chips.

California Avocados Direct sent me a lovely package of avocados. All opinions expressed within this post are my own.

Many of you know the very generous and talented Amanda from I Am Baker and I Am Mommy. Amanda has become a dear friend over the past year. Even though we have never met in person, we “chat” almost everyday with a group of other wonderful blogging friends. Amanda has provided support, friendship, laughter and love to our gaggle of friends. Now, it is our turn to shower her with some love!

Amanda is expecting a sweet baby boy in the next couple of days – her 4th kiddo! We have come together as a virtual group, since we can’t all meet in person, to throw a baby shower for her. It won’t be the same as getting to pat her little belly or “oooohhhh and ahhhhhh” over tiny little baby diapers and clothes, but hopefully Amanda will feel our hugs and love through the internet waves. We can’t wait to “meet” I Am Baby Boy Baker and hope that you’ll visit the other shower participants to see what everyone is cooking up to welcome him into the world! (Make sure to scroll to the bottom for my contribution to the shower… Special Stuffed Mushrooms!)

Drinks

Add a Pinch – i am baby Shower Punch
TidyMom – Ducky Bath Blue Punch

Savory Bites

Dine and Dish – Stuffed Mushrooms
GoodLife Eats – Cucumber Sandwich Recipe
My Baking Addiction – Crab Rangoons
Simple Bites – Spring Crudité, Buttermilk-Black Pepper Dip

Desserts

A Farmgirl’s Dabbles – {i am baby} cakes
Bake at 350 – Baby on Board Cookies
Bakers Royale – Baby Shower Cupcakes
Bluebonnets and Brownies – Mini Fruit Pizzas
Confessions of a Cookbook Queen – Homemade Butter Mints
Food for My Family – Baby Shower Macarons
Gourmande in the Kitchen – Chocolate Blueberry Truffles
My Kitchen Addiction – Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
She Wears Many Hats – “B” is for Boy – Itty Bitty Baby Cupcakes
Smith Bites – Strawberries with Brown Sugar Dip
What’s Cooking with Kids – Hamentashen cookies

Last But Not Least

Wenderly – Baby Cards

Recipe: Special Stuffed Mushrooms

• 16 ounce container whole fresh mushrooms (12-16 large mushrooms)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms thoroughly under warm water.
2. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until soft, 2-3 minutes.
4. In a separate bowl, add cream cheese, Mozarella cheese, black pepper, onion powder and chili powder. Add chopped garlic and chopped mushroom stems, stirring together until well blended.
5. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve warm.

Anyone out there tired of cookies and other baked goods yet? I mean, it has been a non-stop flow of cookies, cakes, brownies, breads coming out of my oven since November 1^st. I think I would be fine never seeing another baked good for the rest of my life…

OK – that is totally untrue. I love baked goods and the holiday season is pretty much my favorite time of the year because there seems to be total acceptance of all day cookie eating. In the summer if you walk outside with a cookie in your hand at breakfast time, other mom’s on the block might give you a strange look and judge the kind of parent you are. However, during the holidays? You walk outside with a cookie at any time of day and people flock to you asking for one. It’s the holidays! Cookies, cakes, candy are celebrated all day long!

There does come a time for balance though. We can’t merely survive on cookies alone. Every once in awhile, it is probably a good idea to throw the occasional apple or carrot into the mix just so your body doesn’t go into shock when you initiate your annual “I’m giving up sweets” resolution on January 1st.

I’m headed to a holiday party this weekend and am going to give my friends the opportunity to munch on some apples, grapes and strawberries. Oh – did I mention I’m bringing this fabulous Brown Sugar fruit dip along with the fruit tray? I think if I brought something too healthy, like plain fresh fruit, to the holiday party, my friends would revolt.

If you are ready to step away from the baked goods for a bit, but still want a delicious sweet treat paired with some healthy fruit, this Brown Sugar Fruit Dip will give your sweet tooth just what it craves!

Recipe: Brown Sugar Fruit Dip


2 8oz packages light cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Using an electric mixer, mix the softened cream cheese for about 2 minutes on medium speed
2. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and continue to mix until ingredients are full incorporated
3. Place in 2 small bowls and serve with fresh fruit

There is still plenty of time to enter the three giveaways we have going on right now. Check out the Masterbuilt Butterball Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer giveaway by following this link, the Quaker Chewy Afterschool Rocks kits giveaway by following this link, and the Bush’s Beans Culinary Institute of America Giveaway here. Thanks for participating and good luck!

Food photography can be tricky. Sometimes, you have to try different angles to get the right shot. A photographer is always willing to do whatever it takes to make a photo interesting, even if that means taking a taste of the food… I like to call that “styling”.

In the name of creating something truly interesting, sometimes you may have to take several tastes.

And what if after all that hard work, you don’t get the shot you were looking for? You’ll just have to start over. Darn. Such a sacrifice, but all in the name of a trying to get that perfect shot!

My friend Julianne has been spoiling us with this cheesecake for several years now. It is an absolute favorite… I don’t even attempt to make it anymore because I know I just can’t make it as good as she does!

Recipe: Philadelphia Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake from Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Julianne makes a traditional graham cracker butter crust instead of the ginger snap crust the original recipe calls for.

• 25 nabisco ginger snaps, crushed ( 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped Planters pecans
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 32 ounces Philadelphia Cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. PREHEAT oven to 325°F.
2. Mix ginger snaps crumbs,pecans and butter; press firmly onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan.
3. BEAT cream cheese, 3/4 cup of sugar and the vanilla with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on low speed after each additional just until blended. Remove 1 1/2 cups of batter; place in small bowl.
4. Stir remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, the pumpkin and spices into remaining batter. Spoon half of the pumpkin batter into crust; top with spoonfuls of the reserved plain batter. Repeat layers. Cut through batters with knife several times for a marble effect.
5. BAKE 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Cut into 16 slices. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

School starts in two weeks from today. Jacob is so ready to go back to school and is it bad if I say that I am really ready for him to go back to school? Kelly will be in school all day (last year it was just half day Kindergarten) and I’m really not ready for her to be gone all day. She is a better mom than I am and is a huge help with the girls around the house. She has a patience level with Ella that I just don’t seem to have all the time.

We had a big long list of things we wanted to do this summer, and unfortunately, that big long list still has a lot of things not marked off. I feel like I need to soak up these next two weeks and cram as much summer fun as I can into it.

I am feeling the same way about the fresh berries of summer. Summer is almost over, so I feel like I need to hoard and buy up all the berries I can and make all those recipes I haven’t had the chance to get to yet this summer. The May/June 2010 issue of Cooking with Paula Deen has some great berry recipes in it. (Incidentally,  this is the first issue of this magazine I have ever read and it has some great recipes. Is it always this good, or is this just a particularly good issue?)

If you are trying to cram the last of the summer berries into your escaping summer, this Raspberry Parfait recipe is a great one to try. Refreshing, rich and delicious, not to mention beautiful, you can eat it and savor the final days of summer just a little bit longer.

Raspberry Parfaits (from the May/June 2010 Issue of Cooking with Paula Deen Magazine)

3 pints fresh raspberries, divided

½ cup sugar, divided

1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Fresh raspberries for garnish, optional

In a medium saucepan, combine 2 pints raspberries and ¼ cup sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently for 8 minutes or until raspberries have softened. Press mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl, discarding solids. Cover raspberry sauce, and chill thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining ¼ cup sugar at medium speed with a mixer until creamy. Add cream, and beat until soft peaks form. Fold in sour cream and vanilla.

Layer cream mixture, raspberry sauce, and remaining 1 pint fresh strawberries in four parfait glasses. Garnish with fresh raspberries. Makes four servings.

(The folks of at The Times News used strawberries in this recipe with great success too!)