General

This photo sent me to the store to buy apples just so I can try this version of my cinnamon rolls. Dalila, who clearly loves baking and has some mad skills, added apples and pecans to my recipe and it looks amazing. “I added some diced apples to the filling and also some pecans,” she wrote.  “Topped the apple cinnamon rolls with some more chopped pecans before baking. Talk about a delicious morning treat with my coffee!”  Thank you, Dalila, for all of your inspirational and lovely photos.”

What are the odds that two people baked their own birthday cakes in July? I chose both their photos to feature this month and get this: One baker is only 10 years old and the other is 74! Lucci from the Philipines, who turned 10 on July 16th,  made her own chocolate cake. She said, “It was soo easy. I did one layer, my sister did another layer, my mom frosted the cake, and I piped the borders!!” What a beautiful job she did piping the border, just like a pro.”

The vanilla cake on the right was made by Janice from Michigan, celebrating her 74th birthday on July 8th. “The cake was delicious and I have enjoyed it everyday since making it,” she said. “Every morsel I ate was DELICIOUS.” Janice, I just celebrated my own 74th birthday in June and yes, I baked my own cake too! ? Birthday blessing to you both. ❤️

I was so happy to see this photo of my hot dog buns the day after I posted the recipe. Terri from Nevada made them because she said her husband was grilling up some brats. I could almost smell them over here! ? Terri said she needed to work on the shaping but I say, “who cares?” They look perfect to me! I chose this photo to remind everyone that cooking and baking from the heart is what matters. If you put these beautiful buns next to a package of store bought buns, which ones do you think everyone would take? I know, right? ?

I chose this photo of Charmaine from Australia, who made my easy baked ziti with black beans. She is the first person to send their own photo where they are ready to eat the food and it appears to be a selfie, which I know from experience is not easy. She got herself, the pan of ziti, the fork with the food still on it ? and managed to smile on top of that. This was my favorite photo of the week, plus I love love my baked ziti. Thank you, Charmaine! ❤️

I never expected anything like this! When I made my cooking videos, it was just a hobby. I love to cook and just wanted to share my recipes in case some of my fans might be interested. I knew a lot of people didn’t even cook but it was still fun. I watched as the number of views continued to grow and my videos were soon discovered by the entire world. It was international! Comments and questions came in from 200 countries (where they use the metric system – I never planned for that).

Then the corona virus came and the whole world was quarantined at home and had to cook, and bake bread. My recipes are simple so people who have never cooked before and needed to learn started watching and they had questions. A lot of questions. I want to help and I try to answer as many as I can but it’s impossible to keep up. I’m doing the best I can so please understand if I don’t answer your question.

As timing would have it, the millionth subscriber signed up on my birthday today. Now that is a birthday gift I could never have predicted but it makes me so happy because it means that my simple home videos are helping people eat healthy home cooked meals and knowing I’m making a difference is the best gift I could have received. ❤️