Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches with Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Macaroons

In the middle of our hectic parties, traveling, and unpacking this month, the kids sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Last week I decided to ignore my mile-long to do list and spend some time baking cookies with my daughters. This oatmeal macaroon recipe has been in the family for ages. My mom made these cookies with her mom. I made them with my mom. Last week my daughters made them with me. My mom’s recipe card is so worn that it looks like... Read More

Making Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade with Kids

This year my kids will be old enough for some of the activities that summertime allows. The thought of having soft green grass as a backdrop – in just a few more weeks! – makes me want even more to start blowing bubbles and collecting sand castle forms. This past week we had a little free time, plus eight lemons that had been sitting in my crisper drawer. The lemons were perfectly “cured” (in other words, we had been planning... Read More

Monster Cookies!

Annie is posting for Calamitous Cook this week. A couple weeks ago, my sister-in-law Megan came down for the day. We had tons of fun just hanging out together, and meanwhile, made the most ridiculous portion of cookies I’ve ever seen! Just the ingredients! To name a few: a whole dozen eggs, 3 pounds of peanut butter, and 15 cups of oatmeal! It all started because Megan and I flew down to Atlanta to visit Drew’s brother and his wife and... Read More

Lemon Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Berry Compote and Lemon Whipped Cream

A few days ago a friend said, “Hey Debbie, where’s that lemon pancake recipe you promised in a post a while back?” You mean, people actually read this stuff? 😉 She made my day… As promised, here’s the recipe: Lemon Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Berry Compote and Lemon Whipped Cream (Brief pause while my fingers catch their breath after typing that long title… While we’re pausing, the recipe is at the bottom,... Read More

The Deep-Dish Pizza Recipe

Someone asked for the deep-dish pizza recipe from this morning’s post (photos on that post). I’m cutting and pasting it from an email to my sister a couple years ago, with a few minor edits: Annie, Here’s my deep-dish pizza recipe. You realize when you ask ME for a recipe, you’ll get lots of details! 🙂 The pizza crust recipe I found online [I’ve made a couple changes to it]. The toppings are mine. It has morphed over the years,... Read More

A Big Slice of Love

For Valentine’s Day, I was planning to make dainty, heart-shaped, pink-frosted sugar cookies and photograph them. It was for the blog… but wouldn’t my own dear valentine be perfectly delighted, too? I had a timely reminder this week, though, that the man I married is the type who will always prefer meat lover’s over milk and cookies, so I ended up making deep-dish pizza instead. It’s not the traditional February 14th (or 4th) fare,... Read More