March Crumbs

Hello again! I can’t believe that this will be my first Crumbs post of 2018, time has been absolutely flying. 

Do you have a minute? Let’s catch up.

I have a lot I want to talk about, including California, video, baking challenges, and foster puppies(!!!), but first, let’s talk recipes.

Here’s what’s been popular recently:

• My Vanilla Cake has received rave reviews and I’m so happy that so many of you have enjoyed it!  And YES, you can totally use the batter to make cupcakes, I cut the recipe in half and did exactly that to make my Pinata cupcakes that I shared yesterday.  They’ll need to bake for about 17 minutes.
• My Easter Egg Candy! Don’t let the potatoes deter you, these are so good and my family makes these every year. This was one of the first recipes that I shared on the blog, so I updated the pictures and re-shared the recipe last week.
• My Banana Muffins and Banana Cake! Hmm, do I take this opportunity to make a joke about people being “bananas” for these recipes? I think I’ll refrain 🤔.  But these recipes have been really popular recently, and I totally understand why — there’s a reason I call them the “best”!

I have a lot of fun recipes coming your way in the upcoming weeks, including quite a few savory ones. I’d love your feedback on how you feel about savory recipes here. Desserts will always be my main focus, but I feel like a lot of the savory recipes (like these deviled eggs) have been really popular, so I’m hoping to mix in more of them.

My plan is to actually do this without decreasing the amount of desserts that I share, so hopefully in the next month or so I’ll be able to increase the number of recipes I post each week.

Here’s a sneak peek of a (sweet) recipe that I’ll be sharing soon!

Video

I know I talk about video a lot, but it’s become such a big part of my life recently. I dedicate one day a week entirely to filming video and then so much time to editing.

I’m still not very comfortable behind the camera, but so many of you have been so incredibly supportive and kind, so it makes it possible for me to keep going and filming these week after week.  Hopefully, each video gets just a little bit better, and when I’m feeling particularly discouraged I take a look back at some of my early photographs 🙈 to see how much I’ve improved since then.

Here’s one of my most recent videos, and if you enjoy watching these you can (hopefully) watch me improve by subscribing to my YouTube Channel.

Baking Challenge

A lot of you have been asking for this and it’ something that’s been on my mind a lot recently.

Holding a baking challenge is a good way to get people baking, maybe even baking out of their comfort zone, and I’m working on putting one together now. I may have it ready as soon as April but if  not, definitely in May. If you’re on my email list, you’ll get an email about it, but other great ways to follow along are on my Instagram account and my Facebook group.

I still have a few details I’m trying to hammer out, like whether everyone should be baking the same thing (I’m thinking yes) and how to choose a “winner” each month (should we vote? should it be random?), but it’s coming together!

California

I mentioned previously how I spent almost a week in California, first for a conference at Google and then visiting my aunt, uncle, and cousin.

The conference was incredible, I can’t stress enough how incredibly grateful I am that it’s now my job (“job” will never feel like the right word for what I do) to share my recipes with you, and that as part of that I get to do cool things like fly out to California and hang out at Google and meet other incredible bloggers who all seem so much more talented than I am (like, seriously, have you seen some of the stuff Elizabeth is doing over at Sugar Hero?).

After the conference, I spent the weekend visiting my relatives, and my uncle is the best tour guide. He made sure to pack in as much sightseeing as possible, so I had the chance to see the redwood trees in Muir Woods, got to check out the Golden Gate Bridge from every possible angle, and journeyed up to the very top of Mt. Diablo (which is basically right in my uncle’s backyard).

I plan to go back with Zach, so tell me, what are your must-see spots on the West Coast!?

Doggie Foster Parent

Zach and I are now doggie foster parents!

A few weeks ago I volunteered at an animal rescue to help them foster animals that would otherwise be euthanized in the shelters.  Our first foster is this handsome 9 month old pup, Duke!

Duke has been keeping me very much on my toes because his manners are basically non-existent and he has no concept of the word “No”, but he is a sweet, loving, cuddlebug of a pup (even if he did ruin a whole fruit pizza and a batch of brownies that I glanced away from for one second... literally just one second! Ugh!).

After two days with him I was already worried about how I would be an emotional wreck when he was adopted because I’d grown so attached to him.

Fortunately, my mom and little sister fell head-over-heels in love with Duke and he is now pending adoption with them! I’m looking forward to it going through so Duke can go to his forever family, and I’ll still be able to visit him (and my fruit pizzas will be safe!).

My family is going to do a doggie DNA test on Duke once the adoption goes through, just for fun (Zach and I have done these in the past on Colt and Penny), and we’re constantly trying to guess how the results will come back.

I have a guess, but I’d love to know what mix of breeds you think he might be (he’s about 45 lbs, if knowing his size helps).

Leave your guesses in the comments, I can’t wait to read them! ☺

Thanks for reading, everyone. I’ll never be able to fully express how much I appreciate it. <3