Brownie Banana Cupcakes

Leave it to a teenager to be last minute with everything.

My daughter came home from school and said she needed to make something for church that evening and bring the recipe to share with all the girls.

I was planning on making banana bread but decided why not a brownie banana cupcake with brown sugar frosting. Sounds more fun than just banana bread, right? And maybe just a tad sweeter.

Thankfully, I had all the ingredients and the time to assist her in making this delicious cupcake.

Calzones with Roasted Tomato Marinara Sauce

This calzone recipe all started from this yummy Roasted Tomato Marinara Sauce I pinned on Pinterest.  My niece tried it out, told me how yummy it was & so I had to check it out.  She was right, it is soooo yummy!!

Samoas Cookie Bars

 What is your favorite girl scout cookie?

I'll give you a hint to which one mine is.

I bet you'll never guess . . . Nope, but you're getting close.

Give up?

Okay, okay, they are Samoas.

So instead of making actual cookies I decided to go with a bar. I do have to say, making shortbread cookie bars is not easy. Well, at least not for me.

Build a Foundation for a Shed

My husband and I have been wanting a shed forever & this year we finally got one.

We went back and forth on whether to build our own or just buy one, but in the end we decided to just purchase one because it was cheaper and faster, only because we're "pretend builders" as my son would say.  We would have built one if we had our contractor brother living nearby. ;)

Since we spent a lot of money on an A/C this year, we decided to get a less expensive shed and opted for this Arrow steel shed rather then a wood shed.  We purchased this one at Lowe's and you can find it here.

Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

I've been obsessed with cupcakes lately and have been on pinterest and the internet looking for different recipes to test out.

I'm so lucky because I get to use the people at my work as "guinea pigs" for my creations. Or should I say, they are so lucky (wink, wink). Fortunately, someone had a birthday and chocolate just happened to be her favorite flavor (hmmm, imagine that).

Thus, feast your eyes on this...

I know, heavenly right? Oh, let me tell you, they were.

I should have gotten a picture of the inside but completely forgot once I sunk my teeth in this very rich, moist, chocolately, (I know it's not a word) divine treat.

Oh and warmed up just a bit, it's a chocolate molten lava cupcake. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it's complete bliss.

You can find the recipe here. I did change it up a tad bit. For the cupcakes I didn't use the freshly brewed coffee and for the frosting I added an additional cup of powdered sugar. Also, instead of baking the ganache with the cupcake, I baked the cupcake and let them cool. I then scooped out the center and added the ganache. That's it. Enjoy!

Bookshelf

I wanted a bookshelf for my living room, but I couldn't find one I liked so I decided to build one myself.

I added lettering to the top of the bookshelf to add some character and because it is, after all, our own little library.