Sugar & Spice by Celeste

***Boy, am I glad it's Friday! The weather has been so rainy here lately in Alabama. It seems like it has rained for 2 weeks straight. I won't complain about it, though...last year's drought is certainly non-existent now! I'm so glad for that! This Orange Cardamom Cake definitely brightened up our rainy days last weekend! One of my favorite flavor combos recently has been orange and cardamom. Mmm, Mmm...My love affair with cardamom and orange started with one of our Daring Bakers' challenges. You might remember it...the Danish Pastry Braid . I've loved the combo ever since! Brad's sweet Grandmother recently requested an Orange Cake...I was thrilled for the challenge! I didn't have an Orange Cake recipe, but I had something in mind. I envisioned a beautiful Bundt cake, with orange glaze dripping down the sides. When I found this recipe from Cooking Light , I knew I had found the one ! I did make a few minor changes to the original recipe. First, I added a...

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks . They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers. Wow....I was so excited to open up my internet browser and read about the May Daring Baker's Challenge. Strudel is one of those things that I've been wanting to try but have just never gotten around to it. I really should have tried the real thing while we were in Germany a few months ago. This recipe was actually a lot easier than I had originally anticipated...I was worried that the dough would be hard to stretch. According to a fellow DBer, the dough is supposed to be thin enough to read love letters through! I really liked that example. After watching a few instructional videos on YouTube, I was ready to go! The dough stretched easily and beautifully...I did have a few holes, but hey...it was my first time making strudel. ;)...

Brad: "This is my favorite!" Celeste: "Your favorite what?" Brad: "My favorite dessert you've EVER made!!!" Celeste: "Are you sure...you like it even more than your favorite Carrot Cake ?" Brad: "Yes!" Here's a fantastic Cherry Pie just in time for summer!!! Yep... Bon Appetit magazine hit a home run with this recipe...they hit the ball WAY out of the park! I was initially worried about how this pie was going to turn out. In the past, I've had awful luck with pies...they've never really came out of the oven particularly pretty. When I pulled this beauty out of the oven, I took it straight into the living room and showed it off to the hubby. He was pretty impressed! ;) I was thrilled with the results. I had a huge bag of gorgeous, fresh cherries hanging out in the fridge. I thought this would be the perfect way to use them. The sweetness of the fresh cherries was perfectly balanced by the tartness of the lemon juic...

***On a recent Sunday afternoon, Brad and I were taking it easy around the house...my favorite thing to do on Sundays! We wanted a delicious but light lunch, and I had just the recipe up my sleeve! I had marked this dish in the April 2009 issue of Bon Appetit magazine....it just looked too good not to try! Wow...this dish was so fresh and satisfying...it made the perfect meal on that lazy Sunday. The medium pasta shells really do catch all the yumminess in the salad - the parmesan cheese, prosciutto bits, etc. And this recipe doesn't only taste good - it makes an elegant presentation also! This meal is the perfect way to welcome Spring/Summer. The fresh veggies are sure to make your tummy happy! :) Ingredients: 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling 1/2 pound spring onions or green onions (dark green parts discarded); white parts cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices, pale green parts cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices 2 tablespoo...

***Caramel...Butter...Fluffy Cake Layers...Decadent Filling...Pecans...Paula Deen...Need I say more??? Haha. I recently made this cake for a co-worker's birthday. He printed this recipe out for me a long time ago, so I decided to surprise him with it on his big day. The results were nothing short of scrumptiously decadent! The cake came out fluffy and perfect. The caramel filling added a beautifully warm taste, and the frosting was the perfect sweet addition. Next time I make this cake, I think I'll wait to make the frosting right before adding it to the cake. I noticed that it started to harden pretty quickly. After reading the reviews, I realized a lot of people were having this problem. One solution might be to decrease the amount of confectioner's sugar in the frosting. I ended up adding a little extra cream. Overall, the taste was amazing. I can't think of a better way to top this cake off than with pecans...they were divine. This cake was completely gone by the en...

***Alrighty folks, guess what...the recipes are making a strong come-back!!! I know I've devoted a lot of time to my posts about our Europe trip lately (and I certainly hope that you've enjoyed them!), but now that those posts are completed I can get back to posting all recipes! Yippee! I've got to start with the most amazing blueberry muffins on the planet...seriously...I'm not kidding. These.Are.Fantastic! On a recent Sunday morning, Brad mentioned that he wanted blueberry muffins for breakfast. He was kidding...he didn't actually expect me to have everything I needed to make these kick-butt muffins. But surprisingly, I had all I needed. About 45 minutes later, these delectably scrumptious, bakery-quality muffins were sitting on a cooling rack...just beckoning me over to them..."Eat me!" they were saying....LOL. We took one bite and we were both in love. I don't know if it was simply because we were just craving blueberry muffins or not, but you gott...

Well...Day 14 was our last full day in Rome...we were so sad to be at the end of our journey. We started off the day with a yummy breakfast at the hotel - fresh kiwi, oranges, croissants, prosciutto, turkey, salami, assorted cheeses, etc. It was delicious! After breakfast, we had our first Metro experience in Rome...Wow...A LOT of people can cram onto the Metro at one time. We were packed in like sardines. It was a pretty interesting experience...haha. We headed over to the Barbirini area to do a little sight-seeing. After walking around the city for a while, we headed back towards the Trevi Fountain...our favorite spot in Rome! We wanted to find a good place for lunch. We found the perfect place - Sacro & Profano Ristorante Pizzeria . We both had pizza. Brad ordered a classic "Margherita" pizza while I ordered their "Capricciosa" pizza with tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, olives, artichokes and prosciutto. It was so much fun, because we were able to watch them m...