Whew! The last two days are a complete blur. I hardly remember much of Friday, when baking 300 cupcakes and making a wedding cake took over my life and was a bit too exhausted on Saturday to remember much, either. I can, however, say the wedding was lovely, the bride was beautiful, and I think everyone had a pretty amazing time. Oh, and the cupcakes were well-received, too! Because I am a creature of habit, I will be eating this … Read More
Chocolate Revel Bars
No time for extra words today because after I post these Chocolate Revel Bars, I’ll be heading to a church kitchen a few miles away to spend the day baking. Baking 300 cupcakes and a two tiered wedding cake to be exact. Sure I’ve done this before, it seems that every time wedding season comes around I commit to at least a few weddings, but it never gets any less stressful. I play it cool and collected every time. But … Read More
Lemon Loaf Cake
Growing up for most of my life as an only child I highly valued my alone time. Time to think, relax, dance around the house in my pajamas, you get the picture. Sure, I have two younger sisters that I love very much, but seeing as they live in Florida with my dad and step-mom, the day-to-day of life was an only child scenario. Oh boy did I grow to love that alone time, much of which was spent cooking, … Read More
Triple Berry Pound Cake Muffins
Camping mission accomplished! More often than not I judge the success of my day, or in this case weekend, by my level of productivity. As far as productivity goes, this weekend was a major success. Not only did I experience camping for the first time, but we also managed to secure an apartment for J. to live in when he starts his job next month. That may not seem like much of an accomplishment, but if you saw some of … Read More
Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad
I am going camping. I’ll say it again. I, Madison Mayberry, am going camping for the very first time in my 22 years of life. For those who only know me through this site, it may be hard to understand the humor in this, but for friends and family who know living, breathing, non-camping me, it is nothing short of earth shattering. To top things off, I am recovering from a 24 hour bout with food poisoning that left me … Read More
Chocolate Covered Marshmallows
This recipe, if you can even call it a recipe, almost didn’t make it to the pages of Espresso and Cream. I got to dipping marshmallows in chocolate one night to satisfy a sweet tooth craving, never really thinking of sharing the idea with anyone else, but when J. arrived at my apartment last week his enthusiastic reaction made me do a double take. “You’re going to put these on the blog, right?” he asked. And so in the name … Read More
One-Bowl Blackberry Cake
If ever there was such a thing as a ‘breakfast cake’ this, my friends, would be it. And if there was such a thing as a ‘perfect for every occasion’ cake, this would also be it. Time and time again I have made this humble dessert: for brunches, breakfasts, coffee dates, and dinner parties. And every time it comes through for me – the knight-in-shining-armor of cakes. It wins extra points for having a very basic ingredient list, for … Read More
Broccoli-Raisin Salad
After three days of blistering hot and humid weather, I’m convinced Iowans are a very discontent group of individuals. Weather here is hardly ever deemed pleasant or even satisfactory,which I believe is a combination of outlook and cold hard facts. It seems Iowa is a bit of an extremist state in matters of the weather. My two favorite seasons, spring and fall, get only slight acknowledgment because Iowa prefers to vacillate between the dead of winter and the peak of summer. … Read More
Homemade Oreos
Whew. Two days after graduation, three loads of laundry, four bags of groceries, one day of work, and two deliriously wonderful nights of sleep later I think I’ve finally recovered from a crazy-lovely graduation weekend up in Minneapolis. And yes, that guy I talk about quite a bit on Espresso and Cream graduated, with honors and a job! (excuse my bragging, I’m just a bit proud) And because I enjoy looking at other people’s photos on the blogs I follow, … Read More
Almond Sandwich Cookies
At this moment, I would love nothing more than to write words beautiful enough to do these cookies justice, but right now the only words coming to my head are exhaustion and sleep-deprivation. Graduation weekends and the celebration of new beginnings and memories past bring about excitement, sadness, joy, and pure lack of sleep. This weekend J. graduated from college and today I managed to sneak away to a coffee shop so I could stop, and breathe, and take a … Read More
Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler
Working at a magazine devoted to home and family, I think I fit in pretty well. I love my family, dabble in home (er, apartment) decorating and design, and it’s no surprise food gets me going. But truth be told, I’ve never even really had the desire to grow anything, especially when I can run down to the farmer’s market on a Saturday morning and return with a bounty of reasonably priced local produce – no weeding required. That is, until … Read More
Banana Bread Ultimate
I feel a little bad for banana bread sometimes. Sure, it’s delicious beyond measure and versatile, going easily from morning to night. But very rarely does anyone set out to make banana bread. Instead, banana bread has been reduced to an afterthought. Have old bananas on hand that are too old for the lunchbox or morning cereal? Make banana bread. This recipe might change the way you approach banana bread. You might even find yourself going to the store, in … Read More