Summer is officially here and that means I'm in operation stay cool mode. I created these easy 3-ingredient Mango Ice Cream Floats in an effort to stay cool. I've been letting Ryder play with his water table outside under our shaded porch each afternoon and then afterwards or sometimes during the water table play we have a cool treat like raspberry lemonade pops, strawberry frozen yogurt or these Mango Ice Cream Floats.

One of my favorite childhood breakfasts was a toasted bagel with cream cheese and strawberry jam. I took that same concept and made bars. And these bars definitely beat my bagel memories. Sorry bagels. I called upon my trusty blondie base for these very soft, slightly chewy, buttery bars that are topped with tangy cream cheese and sweet strawberry jam.

I am always looking for the perfect treat to go with my morning coffee as well as my afternoon tea. If I'm going to bake something, it might as well do double duty. This bar is the perfect rustic balance of something not too tart or not to sweet.

I will only eat a skinny cake if it tastes like it is a fat cake. Because if I am eating cake, I want a good cake. I think it's safe to say that bad cake makes unicorns and newborn babies cry. Unicorns and newborn babies are sensitive to these things, of this I know.

Posted by Kelly Senyei on My first taste of authentic arancini, or Italian rice balls, was at Stuzzi Ristorante, a tiny restaurant in Manhattan's Flatiron neighborhood and just steps from where I attended culinary school. Back then, we knew the local hotspot as Bar Stuzzi, and it was a favorite for Italian small plates paired with towering glasses of crisp Prosecco.

Lemonade is always a nice refreshing summer drink but lemonade infused with just a hint of basil and mint this lemonade should definitely be your beverage of choice!

Mmmmmm... cake. Moist, orange flavored, chocolate covered cake. Guess what? This cake is not only rich and delicious, it's also completely non-intimidating to make. No layers to cut, minimal decorating, and a really forgiving frosting. We've hit the cake jackpot my friends, and I think I can safely say that we're all winners here.

Remember the dip party that I told you all about a couple of days ago? Well, this is yet another winner from that party. I think it was definitely my favorite of the night and all of us (even those of us that don't like sauerkraut!) devoured it.

Alright, I feel pretty good about this blog and who I am as a person, but occasionally I get a little uncomfortable bringing up hard or personal subjects. I shouldn't because first, this is kind of my site, right, and second I happen to have pretty amazing readers who are totally wonderful to me, but I do worry.

I put far too much effort into thinking of a title for this post. In the end I just called these what they are, tarts made with truckloads of butter and filled with juicy ripe slices of pear or, flaky butter pear tarts. I love how the idea to make something like this came into my head.