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Flood Water
Hello everyone! Sorry I’ve been so MIA. I could lie and say that I have been up to something super mysterious and have huge plans that I will be unfolding soon, but the God honest truth is that life has been rough. Working as a nurse for almost 10 years, I thought my hardest years were behind me. Well, yet again I was wrong. Life played that funny trick it often does and shows you that it can definitely do worse. This last year and a half in nursing has destroyed me, emotionally, mentally and physically. As a frontline nurse taking care of patients with COVID-19, I have seen things…
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Cardamom Buns
You may be wondering what the heck is cardamom. And I wondered that too when I was introduce to it by my grandma. Being Swedish, she commonly used cardamom in recipes for sweets and breads. But living in the western area of the United States, I rarely crossed paths with this foreign spice. It is a very unique spice that I think often gets overlooked. We like to default to cinnamon because it’s familiar and fairly cheap to buy. Cardamom is a little more expensive because it’s more difficult to harvest, but in my opinion the cost is worth it. The flavor is sweet and spicy with a hint of…
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Chocolate Cherry Cake
It’s time to introduce you formally to my most treasured cake recipe, the Chocolate Cherry Cake. I have made this cake more times than I can count and is a frequent request for birthdays and get-togethers. Beautiful dark chocolate cherry cake covered in a silky chocolate buttercream frosting. The subtle flavor of cherry and almond cuts through the richness of the dark chocolate and leaves your taste buds asking for more. I like to call this my blue ribbon cake. One year I was feeling adventurous and entered into a cake competition at our summer fair. Competing against 100 or so cakes, this baby won first prize. It is a…
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Double Chocolate Protein Muffins
Hey gluten free friends, this one is for you, or just any one who loves chocolate and needs a quick snack! Double Chocolate muffins packed with mini chocolate chips. Take a bite of one, and you will immediately think you’re eating a decadent treat but not so fast…I skipped the flour and went with rolled oats that are processed into a fine powder. They have no added sugar; instead they are sweetened with maple syrup and applesauce. Each muffin contains about 7 grams of protein and is about 140 calories. They are made with egg whites, protein powder and non-fat Greek yogurt. And a surprise ingredient? A whole can of…
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Chocolate Fudgy Brownies & Truth
“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted…” ― Booker T. Washington I had to read this a couple times and give it a minute (or a day) to settle into my mind. How often do we accept a lie because others around us are telling us it’s true? I have found myself recently stuck in a situation where people can be so convincing that you start to actually believe the lie. And not only believe it, but repeat it over and over in your head like a cursed mantra. Your standards are too high You’re too emotional You’re too…
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Dutch Oven Artisan Bread
Is there anything better than the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven? A batch of my Biscoff cookies may come close but there is nothing like the aroma of yeasty warm bread. It’s practically begging to be cut into, slathered with butter and eaten. I dreaded making bread for the longest time because no matter how hard I tried, I could never recreate that crusty, moist, flavorful yeasty bread that I so craved. The crust was never right, the center always too dry and the flavor always fell flat. I practically gave up on making bread after so many failed attempts. Maybe I was doomed from the start…
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Coconut Cream Mini Tarts & Hope
Despair is a feeling I think we can all attest to having recently to some degree. I’ve written about my battle with hopelessness in a recent post and it’s still something that I struggle with. Despair is difficult to overcome once you’re in the depths of its well of darkness. In the darkness it’s easy to fixate on those things that have lead you to that point. It’s as if a blindfold has been placed over your eyes but instead of being blinded, you see only the pain, suffering and emptiness. After months and months of being consumed by despair, I finally had a moment where I saw and felt…
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Chocolate Cherry Cake Truffles
I am so excited to share this recipe with you. These cake truffles are made with one of my most treasured cake recipes, the Chocolate Cherry Cake. Beautiful dark chocolate cherry cake is mixed with a small amount of chocolate buttercream frosting, and then dipped into melted dark chocolate. And just to be fancy, they are finished off with a little extra drizzle of chocolate. These are perfect to serve at a party or with your family and friends on a holiday. Yes, I will admit, there is quite a bit of chocolate going on. But I find it not as overwhelming, as one would think. The subtle flavor of…
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Welcome To The Nut House: Pecan Blondies
It’s just another day in crazy town at my house. This whole pandemic thing gives a whole new meaning to cabin fever. The days are starting to blend together and resemble something like Groundhogs Day. Most of the day is spent cleaning up messes and trying to keep my two boys from breaking something. As a nurse working on a COVID unit, I have done my due diligence and hunkered down in my home on my days off which unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) for my kid’s means no days at the park or playing with friends. We definitely miss those times and look forward…
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Biscoff Cookie Butter Cookies
It’s something that I will always regret. I beat myself up over it all the time. How could I have been so selfish? Why did I choose to shove those little cookies in my carry-on bag (never to be seen again, I might add) for all those years? One day on a plane flight, I was hungry enough that I decided to try them out. I opened up that little package and found two oblong cookies with ‘Lotus’ printed on them. After that first bite, there was no going back. I was an immediate lover and connoisseur of all things Lotus Biscoff. They are crunchy with the perfect snap. They…
