Recent Pins: Baking Edition

I have a lot of events coming up in the next few weeks and I've volunteered to bake treats for several of these events, which has led me straight to Pinterest to find some new recipes to try out!  I have a few tried and true recipes that I know I can always fall back on, like PW's Monster Cookies, but I am kind of in the mood to try something different!

Here are a few of the recipes I've pinned for the next few weeks.  I haven't decided which of the cookies I'm going to make, so if you have votes, let me know!

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

Lemon Cookies

Snickerdoodles

 My family is coming into town to visit this weekend and I'm thinking about whipping up this French Toast bake for breakfast one morning while they are in town.  I think it sounds heavenly, what do you think?

Pumpkin French Toast Bake

And D is a big eggplant fan, so when I turned on the Food Network today during nap time and Giada was making this recipe, I knew it had to go on my list of things to make sometime soon!

Eggplant and Pesto Pasta

 And finally, D's battalion is having a Halloween Trunk or Treat event next week and we're planning to have a "Cake Walk" at the event.  I volunteered to bake a cake, and this is the recipe I found.  I think it looks super cool, and it is basically a red velvet cake, but using black food coloring instead of red, so its super spooky!

Black Velvet Halloween Cake

So there you have it, folks!  I've obviously been drooling over sweets lately, which could be disastrous to my already ever expanding waistline!  Hopefully I can concentrate my efforts on baking and not eating all these goodies!  What have you been pinning lately?

Tuesday Plans

I have been spending my weekdays sitting (or laying) on the couch and watching copious amounts of TV since we got here. I decided this afternoon that tomorrow I am going to do things around the house and get up and move!

First on my list of things to do is take the dog to the off-leash dog park in Steilacoom (a few minutes from our house). I read a blog in which a dog owner talks about the park and it sounds like it is HUGE and much better than the dog park that we went to often at Ft. Benning. The blogger was talking about the tall grass and the hills and dales (it sounds more like a natural setting than the baseball diamond that she used to run around on!).

Taking Abby to the dog park will have more than one benefit. To start, I know she will love riding in the car to get there, and she will really enjoy running free since she hasn't been able to run since we moved here (no yard, much less fence). Secondly, seeing as it is summer, I figured that it can't hurt for me to get out and get some fresh air! I might feel a little bit better if I can get out than I have been feeling lately with all the laying around and being lazy.

The second thing I am planning to do tomorrow is make either cupcakes or a cake. I have been craving cake (specifically Fun-fetti cake) so I decided that I am going to take matters into my own hands and suck it up and bake. For most things, if they are not pre-made, I have been finding restaurants to just buy whatever I am craving, but Fun-fetti is a specialty cake that I am going to make myself!

I can't wait to get started on everything tomorrow!