Growing up, I never had an Easy-Bake Oven. I always helped bake with my mom and grandma  but I did want one. All my friends had them and they looked so fun. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to use one with my guy’s daughters. And let me tell you, I suggest using the word “easy” loosely. Overall it’s an easy process to make the food, but the oven itself is another story. And it’s really time-consuming for the minimal amount of food you get at the end of the process. We let each girl pick out one treat to make and although one of the girls picked out…

2014 was an excellent year and though I’m sad to see it go, because that means I’m getting older, I’m really excited for what 2015 brings! I really made my blog a priority and I can’t thank my friends and readers enough for their support in the last year. I managed to knock out nearly 100 posts this past year – pretty crazy!!! I didn’t have a goal in mind but I am really excited to see what I accomplished by putting my fingers to the keys and enjoying every moment of it. Change is coming to the blog in 2015, but only in the good ways. I hope for…

The same night that my parent’s hosted their family Christmas Party, I had my annual friend Christmas with a White Elephant gift exchange.My friend’s hosted it in the gorgeous house in Vernon and they supplied a few eats while the rest of us all brought things to share. I don’t remember everything that was out on the buffet, but the kitchen was filled with food. Here’s a dabbling and please forgive me if I forgot an item or two. I was in a food coma shortly after arrival and may have forgotten everything I ate: Meatballs Bacon-wrapped water chestnutsOven-baked ham and swiss/cheddar sandwiches (Recipe Below)Southwest Egg RollsFruit SkewersCheesey-jalepeno dipCake ballsBagel…

I am actually heading out of town for New Year’s this year because I have family in from the East Coast that I haven’t seen in a year. But if I wasn’t going out of town, I would definitely be hitting up a few of these great New Year’s Eve specials in Waukesha. These are what I found, but I know there are more parties and events going on. Whatever you do, have fun and be safe. Call a cab if you have had too much too drink or follow the rule that I have – no driving (regardless if I drank or not) after 11 pm because after that,…

Today the Packers played a nerve-wracking game against the “dirty-playing” Lions. Though Aaron Rodgers went out early with an injury, he came back for the second half and (despite getting stepped on) threw some great passes for a Packers NFC North Championship WIN! I invited my friends over and together we made a great buffet of eats.  I made a large crockpot of sloppy joes. I used 3 lbs of locally sourced meat. My parents bought half a cow from Salentine Farms in Big Bend. It was processed at Sorg’s in Fort Atkinson. I browned it off, drained off the grease and added sloppy joe mix, carrots, celery, onion, worchestershire…

The holidays bring families together for parties that celebrate the magic of the season. Each year my dad’s brothers and sisters get together at one of their homes to have a nice evening without the kids and grandkids. My dad has 10 brothers and sisters so when everyone gets together, the parties can get quite large. I think the latest count I came up with is: 26 first cousins, 14 significant others of those cousins, and 23 kids of cousins:) So doing just the brothers and sisters allows for them to talk and share about what their families are up to without the distractions the kids can bring. This year…

As if my creative juices aren’t flowing enough this time of year, I was contacted by a representative at Rhodes Bake-N-Serv and asked if I was interested in creating a blog post based on a recipe I make with their products. I’m always up for a challenge, and it doesn’t hurt me to partner with a nice company like Rhodes for this post, so of course I said yes and started thinking up ideas. I wanted to come up with something sweet & savory for my holiday work party and although in my head, my original idea was going to work out perfectly, I wasn’t as prepared with the planning…

This is my third year participating in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and I’m so excited to share my recipe. I received some excellent treats as well. Here is 2013 and 2012 posts for your reading enjoyment. Ok first things first, what did I send out?  I have made these cookies in the past and they are my favorite. I made my Mint Chocolate Chip “Grinch” Cookies, but I changed the recipe up slightly this year. I didn’t have any creme de menthe liquor to add, but I did have some Vanilla Cinnamon Bailey’s Irish Cream. I figured it was a fair substitute. The other change I made was…

Sunday morning, my guy and I got up early to take on the day (ok using that word “early” loosely – he was up early and I wanted to sleep in). But we were out the door by 9 am and off to breakfast before our trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. We picked Broadway Cafe in Waukesha. I hadn’t checked out this place since it changed names and reopened and now I see they have even added a patio portion to the front of the building. My coworkers went right after it opened and said the food was great but seemed they were still working on timing and such…

Wow – what a whirlwind weekend this was for me but 100% fun and enjoyable too! It went by way too fast as most weekends do, but here is a quick recap. It started Thursday with Good Friend Inc.’s Holiday Open House to show off the new digs. Quality Fireplace purchased a building on North Grand Ave. in Waukesha and Good Friend Inc. is renting the bottom of the building for their offices. Finally brick and mortar for the non-profit!!! Using the term fixer-upper doesn’t justify the time and effort put into making “Lady Grand” what she is today. The house was in complete disrepair with water damage and more,…