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 One of the new recipes we tried out this Easter was this delicious Twice Baked Potato Casserole by Six Sisters' Stuff. Instead of going through the hassle of having to scoop out and refill potato skins, it is all mixed up and baked in one giant casserole dish. It received many compliments at our dinner and I bet it will at yours too. Many thanks to Six Sisters' Stuff for sharing this! Ready for the recipe?

• 5 lb russet potatoes
• 10 slices bacon
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. chives, minced
• 2 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

This past Easter we tried out a bunch of new recipes, one being this delicious Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake which I saw originally posted over at Easybaked.  A few things to note, besides that it is yummy, is that the lemonade 'frosting' is more of a filling mixture that is spread all over the cake and between the layers. If you make it and prefer a stiffer more traditional frosting, add a bit of powdered sugar (just a little at a time until you get the consistency you like).

Secondly, I only used half of a packet of lemonade in the filling and it was quite tart with just half. So I would highly suggest you taste test it with half and see if you want to use the rest. Many thanks to Easybaked for this awesome recipe.

Doesn't that look so good? I agree! Ready for the recipe?


Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake
Makes one 9" layer cake

One box of strawberry cake mix (plus oil, water and eggs as directed on box)
8oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened to room temp.)
1/2 packet (0.23oz.) of Kool-Aid Lemonade
Yellow food coloring gel (as desired for color)
2cups Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
8 oz. Cool Whip Topping
Fresh strawberries to garnish.

1. Make cake according to box and bake in 2- 9 inch round cake pans as directed.  Turn finished cakes over on cake racks and allow to cool completely.

2. Cream together cream cheese, lemonade and yellow food coloring until smooth. Mix marshmallow creme in and then mix in Cool Whip until completely smooth.  Refrigerate until cake is cooled and cut.

3. Cut each cake layer in half. Alternating layers of cake with layers of filling, assemble cake.  End with layer of filling. Refrigerate and serve chilled, garnishing with sliced strawberries just before serving.

Recipe by easybaked

Hooray! I have finally managed to snap a picture of the much loved Baked Ziti recipe. Check out the recipe here.

If you haven't lived in California you may have never heard of the delight that is the Teriyaki Avocado Burger. It used to be available from a food joint named Spike's Teriyaki Bowl which have closed down. I have heard rumblings that one of Spike's children has opened a place, B-Man's Teriyaki & Burgers that serves similar food items.

Anyhow, back to the burgers. They are so delicious! When we lived in California we would make quite a long trip to get Teriyaki Burgers and Teriyaki Rice Bowls.  Now that I live very far away, making it at home is a great substitute. This is more of an outline of ingredients than a recipe per se, but I hope you enjoy it. Onto the recipe!


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Delicious, easy to make and the flavors are awesome. Enjoy!

Bacon Horseradish Chip Dip
Makes many servings

8 oz. cream cheese, softened (regular or whipped, I used whipped)
12 to 16 oz. sour cream (Use as much as you need to get the desired consistency)
1/2 cup (or more to taste) real bacon bits, a small handful reserved to sprinkle over the top
1 - 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, to taste
3-4 Tbsp. prepared horseradish, more or less depending on how strong you want it
pinch of salt (I skipped)

1. Mix all ingredients and store in the fridge. Before serving, sprinkle with reserved bacon bits.

Recipe from Just A Pinch

As it turns out, bacon does make most things better. Today we have a lightened up recipe for Bacon-Corn Chowder with Shrimp, recipe courtesy of Cooking Light. It is delicious and light while still being filling. Ready ready?

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Pinterest! It is the wonderful time suck that many of us love to use. I was thinking this morning of how often I use their website. Let's just say, I use it a lot. Lot lot lot. Which led me to think about some ways that you can utilize their website to improve your own. Are you ready? Let's jump in.

1. Create a visual recipe index.

One way to (somewhat) quickly create a visual recipe index without having to mess with creating one hosted at your own site is to create a board on Pinterest.

How to do it: 

After you have added the Pin It code to your posts, simply click and add them all to the boards of your choice. You can do one board and pile them all in there, or create categories if you would like.

Alternatively, you can put the Pin It code into your internet browser of choice and go through your archives and pin each of your old recipes.

It takes a bit of time but it really isn't too bad compared to creating a recipe index from scratch and having to upload all the photos, set up links, and hope and pray that you don't mess up somewhere along the way and lose your work.

2. Allow your readers to easily pin your posts by filling in the info for them!

When a reader clicks your Pin It button the box will pop up with all the information already in it.

The end result! With a clickable link to your website.

How to add the Pin It Button for Web Sites:

The main page we are working with. The top half is the info we need to fill in. The bottom half is the generated code that we need to add to our website.

Taking a closer look at the important stuff. There are three boxes to fill out.

URL of the page the pin is on: Be sure to use the direct link to your post. Not to a category, or a comment section, or anything silly like that.

URL of the image to be pinned: Go to the published post and right click the image and select Copy image URL.

Once you have all the fields filled in, copy the code generated and insert it into the HTML of your post. Update and you are done!

3. Gain exposure like woah. 

Did I ever imagine that 120,000 people would pin a very basic recipe for Cheesy Garlic Sticks? Nope, but they did!

Or 59,000 pins for my trashy Mexican Dorito Casserole? No way!

4. Analyze what is popular on your site.

At a quick glance I can see what has recently been pinned. People really like my trashy casserole, what can I say.

How to do it:

Type the following URL into your browser, replacing your URL with mine. Notice that when I typed in my personal URL at the end, I left out the 'www.' part. Just put in the address without that.

5. Organize your inspiration for future posts.

How to do it:

Oh, and before I forget, be sure to follow me!