It’s all about the green on March 17 across much of the globe when folks celebrate the life of Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. If you are looking for a green colored treat to make and eat with the kids (or the young at heart), then whip up some cupcakes and use food coloring to get the holiday green theme going.

You can, of course, make cupcakes from scratch, but most kids today seem to like the lighter texture of boxed mix when it comes to portable cake treats. That makes this treat super easy to make. Just grab a boxed cake mix and whip up cupcakes.

If you love homemade pie but have never mastered making a crust, then a Blender Coconut Pie is the perfect solution. You mix the pie up in the blender, pour it in a pie pan, and the pie mixture forms its own crust while baking.

While I can make a decent pie crust, I struggle and especially on crimping the edges on a traditional rolled crust. Everyone can tell which pies I made, since my edges look kind of like ocean waves rolling around the sides of the pie.

When I want to relax and not worry about a crust, then I make this yummy coconut pie. While the pie is baking, it divides and forms a crust. I call it our magic pie.

I’ve always thought this recipe was a lot of fun. It’s one I share with students, since it’s easy to make, and the results are good.

Valentines Day is the time to put your diet on the back burner and indulge in a few sweets with your sweeties. One of my favorite things to do on Valentines Day is to make a cake with my kids. You’ll want to use a heart shaped cake pan and MyGofer has several to choose from.

Red Velvet cake has always been my favorite, but I don’t always have the time to make it from scratch. Here’s a quick and easy way to make a Valentines cake that tastes delicious.

The women up in the mountains where most of my extended relatives live love to get creative in the kitchen. They will take a basic boxed cake mix and turn it into a showpiece cake. Even though I know this, I am always surprised when I try out a cake when visiting, ask for the recipe, and find out the base is a boxed cake mix.

There are loads of variations on turning boxed mix cakes into super deluxe desserts. I’ve seen all kinds of ingredients added from pineapple to peanut butter. And, many women get fancy with the frosting – making homemade and then adding fruits or chocolate and so on.

One of the most recent cake mix cakes that I had was super moist. The secret ingredient here, according to the cook, was the sour cream. I make a sour cream pound cake too, so I could see that. Good addition to the mix and a really yummy result. I tried it out, and it sure does make for a cake that is both moist and full of flavor.

If you’ve read any Greek literature, then you may recognize ambrosia as meaning “food of the gods.” And, if you like to cook, then you may be familiar with Ambrosia Salad which features mandarin orange slices and coconut. If you’re ready for a new spin, then true this super easy Ambrosia Cake for a heavenly yummy dessert inspired by the original salad recipe.

My great-grandmother was a cook on a riverboat out of New Orleans. Although, the river boat foodies were called cooks, they were basically the chefs of that era. Certainly, my great-grandmother was one of the finest cooks in the mountains of Virginia after she married my great-grandfather and started a family. She made all kinds of exotic dishes for her time period including ambrosia salad.

My Mom loves super easy recipes, and she finds some really yummy ones like this Dump Cake recipe. The name isn’t so great, but it does describe how to make this cake – just dump a little of this and that, and you have delicious and easy cake.

Actually this cake is a little like a cobbler or an old fashioned pineapple upside down cake but with the fruit mixed in and bubbled up on top rather than being on the bottom. The syrup in the pineapple gives it that upside down cake crunch in spots.

This cake is so simple to make that I can dump it together after work, and we have a homemade dessert during the week. The boys sure enjoy that, and I do too.

Need a new cookie recipe? Try this wonderful fall and winter drop cookie recipe that features pumpkin. Pumpkin cookies turn out moist and delicious, smell great, and are a pretty color too. What more could you ask for in a cookie?

My pumpkin cookie recipe is an old one, and I can’t remember where I got this recipe. My best bet would be that Grandma gave me this recipe, because she loved to bake. Also, my Poppaw always grew a huge pumpkin patch out around the hill next to the creek. So, I know we had all kinds of delicious pumpkin dishes when we went up to visit the mountain grandparents.

Most of us do not eat enough fruits. We have good intentions. It just seems that fruits often take the back stage. I’ve found that we’re more likely to eat fruit here when we have a yummy fruit dip. Yes. It does add calories to dip, but just a little dab will do you if you have some fresh fruit and want to make it a more special occasion with a fruit dip.

I first tried buying some fruit dips at the store – already made up and ready to use. Those did not go over real well here. OK. I did not want to spin a ton of time making homemade fruit dip, so I knew I wanted a quick and easy dip for fruits.

One of my buddies turned me on to this easy-to-make fruit dip. She brought it to an office gathering, and everyone was going wild for it. I tracked her down for the recipe which turned out to be easy as pie.

One thing I love about this fruit dip recipe, besides the fact that it’s so easy to make, is that I can change the yogurt for a totally different taste. That means this recipe does not get boring around here. New yogurt flavor – new fruit dip experience

My aunt taught me how to make Apple Brown Betty. I think she just learned to make this recipe, because her name happens to be Betty. Apple Brown Betty is delicious, so we keep making it – even those of us who are not named Betty.

My Aunt Betty and I are only six years apart in age. Mom was one of the oldest siblings, and my aunt was one of the youngest in a big mountain family. We did all kinds of things together, and I learned a lot (including how to cook a few recipes) while hanging out with my Aunt Betty.

She was in high school, and I was still in elementary school when she helped me make Apple Brown Betty. I thought I was pretty cool getting to use the stove and help make part of the meal. This really is a good starter recipe. The most difficult part is cutting up the apples, and that’s not exactly rocket science.

Has your cookie rotation list gotten stale? If so, then try making a batch of Cranberry Cookies. They make a great holiday treat and are a little different from the usual cookies served for special occasions.

It seems like cranberries have finally come of age. I remember when cranberries were considered rather exotic and were only available right before Thanksgiving and Christmas and only a few bags at that.

In fact, we never had the fresh cranberries when I was growing up. The closest we got to cranberries was the canned cranberry sauce that comes out in one big hunk with the lines of the can imprinted in circles around the jelly-like lump. OK. I confess. I liked the cranberry jelly sauce, but my boys sure won’t eat it.