As soon as the Easter candy hits the grocery store shelves, I get the urge to make this pretty pastel spring bark. There’s just something about those soft colors and sweet treats that put me in a festive mood. Remember that reindeer bark I made back in 2009? I decided to give it a springtime twist a few years ago. This version features Golden Double Stuf Oreos, vanilla chocolate bark, and pastel candy corns—all swirled into a cheerful, colorful slab of goodness. I meant to add pretzels too, but forgot—note to self: don’t rely on memory alone when you’re improvising in the kitchen! It’s even better with the salty crunch of pretzels to balance the sweetness, but it still turned out delicious. Sweet, creamy, crunchy… what’s not to love?

I have to admit, one of my favorite parts of the holiday season is all the treats and goodies. As a cookie lover, I find this time of year full of temptations. As a young mom, I hosted a neighborhood cookie exchange every year—it was a fun tradition.

Over the years, my baking has evolved, especially since I went gluten-free in 2021. Even so, I’m excited to whip up some of my favorite recipes with a few tweaks to fit my diet. I’m also constantly searching for new recipes to try, so I’m using this post as the perfect excuse to share some festive foods that look absolutely delicious!

I love making holiday treats—it’s always a joy to revisit those special recipes that only come out this time of year. This project originally was part of our 2009 holiday season, but I never transferred it to this blog. So, I’m excited to share it with you here now! I’ve also included some notes at the end on how to make a gluten-free version since I was diagnosed with celiac disease almost four years ago.

My entire family came to visit a few weeks ago and we celebrated an early Thanksgiving together. This is a new tradition we established a few years ago and I love having our gathering in October instead of the usual Thanksgiving weekend. I’ve always thought the Canadians had the right idea by celebrating in October and now we do that too. It’s less expensive for those who want to fly because it’s not peak travel time. It’s less crowded on the roads, and the weather is usually much better than late November. I also like that it puts more space between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I posted a reel of our Thanksgiving table and shared a few details here. (turn the sound on for the music)

Have you ever heard of Muffin Tin Monday? It’s just simply putting different foods into muffin tins for a unique presentation. This works especially well for kids and helps introduce them to new foods in a fun way. I made muffin tin meals for my kids when they were really young. I didn't know that they were called that and I certainly never imagined that someday the internet would be filled with photos of such things. I just started a Pinterest board for Muffin Tin snack and meal ideas so be sure to follow it for some inspiration!

I’ve had Valentine's designs on the mind (hint, hint, check back here tomorrow!) so I thought it would be fun to share some creative ideas here. Valentine’s Day is only about 2 weeks away now so this is a great time to work on projects! Also, be sure you are subscribed to my newsletter because when I send it out this Friday, there will be a fun and free Valentine’s surprise in it. ❤️

Fall seems like a special time for food and I swear there are many dishes that taste better when it’s just a little cool outside. These are a few of my favorite comforting foods to serve at this time of year. I hope you get a chance to try a few of them!

I have a tasty and very easy treat project to help you make Election Day a little more fun! I don’t know about you, but I’m coping with election stress by carb-loading. Seems like a good idea, right?! I kept this really simple by using a boxed cake mix and a can of prepared frosting. I put the frosting in an icing bag with a star decorator tip and just swirled it on top of the cupcakes. A few festive sprinkles combined with my free voting stickers added the perfect finishing touch!

I printed out the stickers on Avery 5293 round labels but you could also just print them on a thicker paper and cut them out with a circle punch or a cutting machine. I put one on each side of a toothpick and ended up with some really cute toppers!

I’ve wanted to post about some topics like meal prep, cooking, and my favorite recipes and foods for quite some time, but I’ve decided that now is the exact right moment to get going on this. I have spent a lot of time lately planning, procuring, and obsessing about food because of the COVID-19 pandemic. My mom and I were discussing this yesterday and we came to the conclusion that everyone is feeling a lot more insecure about food in general. Of course, we are among the lucky ones that didn’t already have food insecurity. Now with record unemployment numbers, many more people are living through those fears. My heart goes out to anyone who is struggling with food right now. For now, I’m hoping my readers will enjoy seeing how I’m tackling our food and meal needs.