Sally McKenney's Blog, page 158

Crispy Chicken Salad with Fresh Mixed Berry Vinaigrette.

A hearty summer salad packed with just about everything from juicy berries and crunchy almonds to creamy blue cheese and crispy baked chicken. Finished off with homemade sweet ‘n tangy mixed berry vinaigrette!

From crumb cake to cheesecake to… salad? Just go with it.

First. What did you do this weekend? I celebrated my sister-in-law’s graduation from her masters program, dropped off my camera and lenses to be cleaned and detailed (oh, is that dried up frosting in the teeny tiny crevices of my canon? so embarrassing.), ran a 5K– 4th girl to finish!– followed by a wine tasting, and decided 5Ks followed by wine tastings are the only types of races I want to run going forward in life.

In other news, I made summer-y salad. Don’t get too excited!

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Site Updates!

Say hi to another batch of my Rainbow M&M Cookies. Hi!

I have some exciting news. Well, it’s exciting for me– probably just “news” for you. Anyhoo. Look around! Notice any changes? If you don’t, it’s ok. The changes are small.

I’ve been working with Lindsay from Purr Design (who is also the talented photographer, cookbook author — cookie dough!– and blogger at Love and Olive Oil) the past few weeks to give my site small updates. Spring cleaning, if you will.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Funfetti Cheesecake.

This creamy vanilla cheesecake is bursting with rainbow sprinkles and is baked atop my favorite graham cracker crust. Perfect for any day requiring celebration. 

Question:

How many sprinkles is too many sprinkles?

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Baking Basics: How to Make a Perfect Graham Cracker Crust.

Learn how to make a thick, buttery homemade graham cracker crust with only 3 ingredients.

Here we go, readers! Another lesson in my baking basics series. Today I’m teaching you exactly how to make a sweet, buttery graham cracker crust. One you can use for baked and no-bake pies, bars, and other desserts. I chose this as the topic for today’s lesson because it’s something we all should know how to make. Master a graham cracker crust and the rest is easy as pie. Um, literally.

Graham cracker crusts are simple. There is no reason to buy a pre-made crust from the store that inevitably lacks flavor and to be honest– tastes a little stale. Is it just me? I really don’t like how they taste at all! Homemade graham cracker crust tastes about 1487834x better. I actually did the math. It’s crunchy, buttery, and graham crackery (i don’t know) at the same time. And it’s made from only 3 ingredients. Just THREE!

I always use the same recipe for homemade graham cracker crust. Whether I’m making s’mores pie, blueberry cheesecake, nutella cheesecake bars, or key lime pie (in SBA cookbook). The same 1-2-3 ingredient crust.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Cashew Coconut Snack Bars.

Easy dried fruit & nut bars with only 8 wholesome ingredients. Gluten free, wholesome, and simple!

It’s the return of SNACK BAR SALLY! I promise you, she is nothing to be afraid of. Errr, unless you resemble Monday morning at 8am and there hasn’t been any coffee.

I made snack bars again! As you can tell. They come to you today for a reason. I may have had one too many sugary treats lately. Did you see the crumb cake I made last week? Yeah. My teeth hurt. Even though I am a firm believer in chocolate and treats, I’m always trying to be somewhat serious about healthy eating. (Side note: lately I’ve been making a batch of these healthy quinoa patties to eat through the week, as well as these lean turkey meatballs. Both recipes keep through the week pretty well and are so convenient to just heat up for a quick, healthy dinner.)

This is why I try to make things that actually taste good, but aren’t total sugarbombs.

Hello, tasty fruit tart.

Let me explain what these snack bars are. They’re like KIND bars. Almost identical, in fact. I love KIND bars. I’m sure you do too. My snack bars are made with dried fruit and nuts. No grains or refined sugars. Just real food. Real, easy food. I brought my vanilla almond version along on a camping trip last month. We loved them so much (oh. I mean I loved them so much because I nearly ate them all myself) that we… uh… I immediately wanted to test out another version. Enter: coconut and cashews.

Continue reading:Cashew Coconut Snack Bars.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Saturday Seven, 17.

Happy Mother’s Day weekend, y’all!

Y’all. I must be channeling all my southern readers. Hi. =)

I’m so excited for this week’s round-up. It’s a brunch free frawl! I figure we could all use some easy, tasty homemade ideas for Sunday’s favorite meal. And most importantly, Mother’s Day brunch.

Continue reading:Saturday Seven, 17.

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Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Crumb Cake.

Skip the bakery and make indulgently rich and buttery sour cream crumb cake at home this weekend!

First, thank you SO MUCH for helping me schedule Sally’s Candy Addiction Fall 2015 book tour! Reading through those comments has been the highlight of my week. You can help me schedule the tour by voting for your city here. Once the schedule is made, I’ll be sure to share it with you right here on my blog. I can’t believe that I will be meeting so many of you! Hugs and hearts and sprinkles and exclamation points!

Now, let’s talk about breakfast. More specifically, weekend breakfast. Those impossibly lazy mornings in big comfy beds with fluffy comforters, hand delivered breakfast in bed… oh, sorry. That’s a dream.

Re-al-it-y check.

Weekend mornings = frantically running around the house, doing laundry, maybe working out, running errands, “did I forget to take off my make-up last night?”, and paying bills. Basically, the opposite of relaxing and enjoyable. Hey life! Slow down.

Well. I need a relaxing morning and something tells me you do too. Let’s clear off our mornings this weekend and sit down to a glorious homemade breakfast and just chilllllll. Is that orange juice on your table? Add some champagne. Because YOU deserve it.

Especially all you moms out there. Happy Mother’s Day weekend!

Continue reading:Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Crumb Cake.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Sally’s Candy Addiction Book Tour: Where Can I Meet You?

Hiiiiiii. I’m going on a book tour this fall for the release of my new cookbook, Sally’s Candy Addiction! My goal is to meet as many of you as possible so I can sign your cookbooks, talk about candy, all things baking, life, photography, sprinkles, dogs (duh), and give hugs. And eat homemade candy.

Ahhhh!!

I want to visit each and every one of you on this book tour! I used my blog’s analytics to determine the cities that view my blog the most to compile this list. The book tour will take place this October – December, so let me know where you will be so we can make the schedule for this fall.

Continue reading:Sally’s Candy Addiction Book Tour: Where Can I Meet You?

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Glazed Orange Poppy Seed Bars.

A cross between a blondie and cake, these simple glazed orange poppy seed bars are packed with white chocolate, vanilla, and fresh orange flavor.

It’s spring and it finally feels like spring. Or actually summer. Apparently, spring is a thing of the past here in Philly. But hey. I’m not complaining because the neon pink flip-flops are in full swing step.

I made today’s bars after falling in love with my glazed orange pound cake situation. I picked my brain and archives for inspiration on a variation of said pound cake and came up with today’s bars. Or blondies. Or cake bars. Snack bars? Snack bar Sally? What? They’re a cross between cake and a dense blondie. A blake. Or a clondie. Seriously, what am I saying.

Let me put down my Sunday night wine.

Whatever we call them, today’s glazed orange poppy seed bars are good. Really, really good. I brought them to my friend Sarah last week when we met downtown for happy hour and dinner. I carry dessert in my purse, don’t you? She loved ‘em!

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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April in Photos.

Do your months get so jam-packed and over scheduled in, like, the blink of an eye? I can’t remember the last weekend I was home. I’ve been out of town for 5 weeks straight! You see, I have a serious problem saying no to things. I pack as much as I can into every single weekend… which is great, of course, but I savor those Saturday nights at home when I can just sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing. Like the 80 year old woman I am. With a big fuzzy blanket and my slippers. Again, like the 80 year old woman I am.

And it feels OH SO GOOD!

Anyway, I was majorly click happy this month, so you’re getting a little more photos than usual.

Continue reading:April in Photos.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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