The story I'm about to tell is a little odd.  I figure it's best if I warn you ahead of time so you don't read this and then reach out saying "Christine, that's a weird story."  I embrace my particular brand of weird, but you should know what you're getting into.   A lot of people have certain bench marks for being a grown up.  Their first car, the first apartment they live in by themselves, the super dream job.  My definition of adulthood when I was 19 was owning a fancy cappuccino maker and a Belgian Waffle maker from Williams Sonoma.  What can I say, I dig breakfast...like A LOT!     When I moved out to live with the man who would become my hubby (way before Ivy was born) my mom bought me both as a gift to show me how proud she was of me.  I loved those two kitchen appliances so much!  Fast forward more than a few years and I was the mother of two selective eaters.  What was one of the only things that the two o...

   Maybe it's the time I spent living in Chicago or maybe it's the influence from my darling hubby, but for the last million years, Friday Night means Pizza Night.  More often than not, that means hitting a favorite pizza spot (Giordano's, I'm talking about you!).  But you know that if this girl can make it herself, this girl is gonna make it herself.    It's safe to say that my hubby fully supports my home made pizza desires.  Ivy and Zander don't like pizza (which all falls into that ARFID spectrum that I've covered in other blog posts) but that just means more for me.     While I'm up for being adventurous with pizza, my hubby is as much of a selective eater as his kids, so it's pepperoni, sausage or cheese all the way.   For us, the real key to an amazing pie is the crust, no matter what you decide to put on it.   The key to an amazing crust isn't some special artisanal flour or super complicated ingredient list....

  Everywhere you look in cyberspace, you can find recipe after recipe for fudgy brownies. The internet loves a fudgy brownie. If brownies were in high school, fudgy brownies would be the effortlessly cool kid who somehow looks perfect in every yearbook photo. And I get it! Fudgy brownies are rich, decadent, and they make you feel like you’re getting away with eating straight-up chocolate frosting but in a socially acceptable way. I’ve got a couple of fudgy brownie recipes on this site, because I, too, have fallen for their gooey charm. But here’s the thing: Ivy's little brother, Zander, loves cakey brownies. Plain cakey brownies. No nuts, no frosting, just pure chocolate cakey goodness. And what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t make them for him? So, to all the fudgy brownie loyalists out there, hear me out—cakey brownies deserve a seat at the table too. They’re the underdog, the unsung hero, the brownie that’s here for a good time and a longer shelf life. (Seriously, fudgy br...