S’more Nut Bars and Black Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

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Truth be told, I don’t like my birthday very much.

I mean, the date is fine – February 25th. Precariously close to being a leap year baby, but other than that – totally reasonable.

It’s more that I find the ordeal of actually having a birthday to be quite stressful.  Everyone wants/expects you to be so happy(!) and joyous(!) and high on life(!) and so you feel this intense pressure not to disappoint. You do the things that people think you should be doing to celebrate even if they’re not what you want to be doing…which really is just for it to be a totally normal day.

But with cake at the end.

Is that really so much to ask for?

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Swiss Chard and Artichoke Grilled Cheese on Millet Bread {eat.live.be} {GIVEAWAY}

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Sometimes, I think my body tricks me into carb loading.

This weekend I made a loaf of beer bread (recipe to come!) along with two loaves of this millet bread (okay one loaf of millet bread and one batch of rolls that proceeded to become millet rocks within about 4 hours, so do what I say and not what I do – make two loaves) and sure, I was kind of emotionally baking as well as trying to find something (anything!) that The.Boy would eat.  But still.

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Red Lentil Dal with Charred Onions

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When you are the sole person responsible for cleaning the bloody exudate(s) coming from your boyfriend’s post-deviated-septum-surgery nose… {Especially when someone is exceptionally demanding about just how frequently he’d like his gauze changed, no matter how dirty it actually is. cough*everytwohours*cough}

And ensuring that he takes just enough (not too many) Percosets to keep him the fine line between drowsy-happy and drowsy-comatose…

And reassuring him every five minutes, that no he is not dying and no he will most certainly not be in pain forever pinkyswearpromisewithacherryontop…

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Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Bourbon Cinnamon Buttercream

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Need a use for those brown bananas? These banana chocolate chip cupcakes with bourbon cinnamon buttercream frosting are IT.
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I’m pretty sure after a day whose sole purpose it is to spend money on overpriced prix fixe menus and consume chocolate and red velvet by the {large} heart-shaped boxful…we need some fruit in our food pyramids.

So I made cupcakes. With bananas.

Totally counts.

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Golden Semolina Quinoa Collards Cakes {eat.live.be}

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I’ve decided that with this recent burst of 40(+!!!) degree weather, we are waltzing,sprinting.(and in some parts of the northeast)sledding towards spring.

All of my west-coasters are like, “Uh, wait, what’s that now?” and reaching for their portable space heaters.

To which I reply, train for a half marathon in sub-20 temps for a month straight and then try to tell me that 41 (and three quarters) doesn’t feel a little bit like a sauna. In a good way.

I dare you.

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Sweet Potato Cream Pasta with Kale…and a Valentine’s Day Dessert Round-Up!

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If you want to make something that tastes decadent, but is actually pretty good for you, then check out my recipe for this sweet potato cream pasta with kale on Marcus Samuelsson’s blog!

Before I kick off the V-Day recipe roundup, I have an exciting announcement to make! I’ve been recruited by IBM to partner with them on their #MySmarterCommerce campaign! For the next 30 days, I’ll be thinking/talking/sharing what Smarter Commerce means to me. Smarter Commerce means something different to everyone, whether it be the role social media plays in our lives, how we do business, how we interact or keep in touch with our friends and family, how we make better/more informed decisions about the things we spend money on.  Technology and social media plays such a huge role in all of our lives, that I think it will be interesting to see what we like about it, what we don’t, and how it influences us!  I definitely hope you all join in on the discussions as we go along!

And now for dessert.  Here are some of my favorite sweets that would be perfect for Valentine’s Day!

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