bbq + ranch deviled eggs

I made these deviled eggs for Thanksgiving appetizers this year. Considering I was preparing three other dishes, I wanted to make something yummy and easy for my appetizers. And yummy they were. And gone in a flash! They are just as easy to make as the traditional variety.

This fun spin on a classic works for any party or season!

classic apple pie

Thanksgiving is only a few weeks, and one of my favorite things to do is plan our Turkey Day dinner menu.

A few years I made this classic apple pie to finish off our terrific turkey dinner. I borrowed some leaf-shaped cookie cutters from my professional cake baking friend and used them to cut out leaves for the top layer of the pie. I simply scored them with a sharp paring knife to add some additional natural vein details.

Serve al a mode with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon, and you're sure to impress all your guests.

{the last} step

We put our wood floor down last summer (posted here), and then basically took the summer off from indoor projects. So some time passed before we got around to getting the step in that separates the kitchen and family room. It was one of these projects that doesn't take long once you do it, we just had to stop doing other projects to get around to it.

banana bread muffins

This was my grandmother's award-winning banana bread recipe. I've modified it to fit into a busy afternoon of homework and soccer practice. Or you can bake them on the weekend, keep them in the freezer, and just pull them out as you want throughout the week.

put those over ripen bananas to good use-

the riper the better in these perfect after school snack muffins