brooke's nooks.

the one on the left is a Banana Cream pie.

the one on the right is a Chocolate Cream pie.

both are straight from Mama J’s kitchen.

from the made-from-scratch crust

to the simply-made pudding fillings,

both are positively delicious.

Bro #2 turned another year older this last weekend, 

& rather than buy sweeter than sweet cupcakes,

we (or rather she) decided to whip up a couple of her specialties.

neither disappointed.

neither ever could.

that’s the thing about celebrating birthdays in Mama’s kitchen,

she would never let you turn another year older with crummy dessert.

holidays are typically for baking-

unless you’re in Mama J’s kitchen,

where every typical day seems like the perfect excuse for a new recipe-licious adventure.

you see, 

for Mama’s birthday this year, 

we gifted her with the Breville Mini-Pie maker (currently on sale!!!).

the salesperson at William Sonoma informed me that you could make pies of all sorts (duh!),

but you could also experiment with mini-quiche, mini-pizza, mini-pot pie, & “mini” other things.

this weekend, 

we finally tested out a pie recipe…

mini-cherry pies w/homemade filling is what we chose.

smart choice.

they were delicious & only took 8-10 minutes to bake.

mmm mmm mmmmmm.

totally recommend this kitchen gadget,

i can only imagine what baking adventures we’ll run into next!

Skinny Pop…ever tried it? because you definitely should!

being the tried & true cornhusker that i am, 

i’m always down to try a new popcorn variety (bonus points if it’s low-cal).

a few weeks ago, during one of my what-seems-to-be weekly visits to Costco, 

i discovered these oversized bags of popped corn heaven in one of the larger than life aisles.

this lightly salted & very, very lightly buttered snack has become my go-to nightly treat.

plus, at only 39 calories (!!!) per cup, 

i can truly enjoy it while skimming through my tivo late at night.

do yourself a favor & give it a shot.

it might seem a little bland at first,

but trust me, 

after a couple hand-fulls, you’re gonna be hooked!

i’m always up for a good challenge- especially when baking is involved.

you see,

last thursday, at work, 

i had to stand up & introduce myself to the whole company.

“state your name, where you’re from, a couple of your interests &/or maybe a few things that you like to do outside of the office,” i was instructed prior to my time-slot.

& when the time arrived, i began,

“Hi, I’m Brooke, I grew up around here, I got my Master’s at K-State, I watch Bold & the Beautiful everyday, & I’m a Wilton certified cake decorator.“ 

i tried to keep it simple, but just like that, a little challenge was born.

before i had a chance to sit down,

one of my most endearing co-workers approached me & kindly demanded, “Brooksby, Monday morning, bring me in a badass cake!”

“seriously?” i questioned.

“yea, let’s see those skills,” he said.

so, on Sunday afternoon, 

i found myself in the kitchen,

with flour all over my face,

going to town,

just like Betty Crocker.

the not-so-professional picture above was the final product.

a double layer vanilla cake separated by raspberry filling,

covered in homemade vanilla buttercream frosting.

i was pretty pleased with the end result,

& turns out, so was he.

don’t threaten me with icing tips, sugar, & a good time!

this afternoon,

i decided to use up one of my mother’s gifted cookie-in-a-jar mixes

(i chose the one filled with oatmeal chocolate chip cookie ingredients).

& after adding in a little vanilla & one stick of butter,

the dough was simply delicious.

i thought about eating the whole bowl,

but instead,

i decided to bake ‘em up & hand-deliver them to my favorite fifth grade teacher, Mama J.

for many reasons i thought my idea was quite genius…

one of them being that i feel the constant need to uphold my title as her favorite daughter,

one of them being that i’m not working today,

one of them being the fact that if i didn’t remove them from my kitchen, i don’t know if i’d have enough self-control not to eat the whole bowl of dough,

but more so than anything else,

i did it because she deserves the sweet treats way more than yours truly.

this evening, i will be working until about midnight or so.

in order to combat this reality, 

i have decided to bake & bring funfetti cookies for my team.

(frankly, at this point, i think sugar is our only option for a guaranteed good time!)

monkey bread was one of those food items that i always looked forward to eating at my grandma’s house.

she’d have it all made up upon our arrival, just sitting on a pretty glass cake platter.

i would then proceed to sneak into the kitchen multiple times throughout our visit & pull off one delicious cinnamony-sugary bread clump after another.

needless to say, i left grandma’s house a little bit heavier & a whole lot sweeter!

now that i’m a little older, wiser, & more calorie conscious, i look for alternative ways to indulge on those beloved sweet treats.

& thanks to Cooking Light, i can now whip up this less-caloric, still scrumptious bad boy & not feel so heavy after consuming the whole portion samples.

and really who’s gonna argue with that justified attempt at healthy dessert-ing?

tomorrow, at mama j’s school, some organization is hosting a bake sale.

today, because i’m the devoted (?) daughter of teacher, i am baking for said sale.

mama j requested three different dessert plates.

i have chosen the following:

• homemade sugar cookies sprinkled with the school’s spirit colors
• sugary sweet lemon bars (because let’s be honest, i’m guessing most soccer moms will be baking with pumpkin?)
• decadent chocolate chip cookie infused brownies (pictured above) 

& because i’m a highly pretty competitive person, don’t even think for a second that i won’t be having mama j check the stats to reveal my place in the bake sale!

i mean, seriously, who wouldn’t want my treats?

tonight i hit a low-point [read: awesome-decision]: microwaved s’mores.

in my defense (if i need one),

the grahams were low-fat, the chocolate was anti-oxidant infused & the milk was skim.

so, consider my move justified.