If you are into basketball, love the University of Northern Iowa and are following the whole March Madness thing, you may have experienced something in your house over this past week similar to mine.

As someone who doesn’t follow college basketball, I can often tell how the games are going simply based on the sounds coming from our basement. Last Friday night, while I was in my PJ’s doing old lady Friday night things (aka drinking tea and reading), I heard shouts of amazement and joy from the basement, where the boys in my family were watching UNI play against Texas. Apparently UNI won the game against Texas with an amazing half court shot right at the buzzer. You would have thought we won the lottery, the excitement was so huge!

Fast forward a few days later, when UNI went on to play Texas A&M. Let’s just say that game earned news headlines like “How Northern Iowa suffered the greatest collapse in NCAA Tournament history.” Apparently UNI had every chance to win the game, but completely choked in the last 35 seconds. (They were up 12 and still lost because of throwing away the game in the last half a minute.) Can you imagine the yells from my basement then? They were not happy, cheerful yells…the boys were not happy with the end result of that game, understandably. (I’m sorry but even I can’t figure out how a team can lose a game in 35 seconds!)….

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It’s funny how our tastes change as we get older, isn’t it? I used to hate having things in my muffins. In fact, I used to pretty much make muffins that resembled as close to a breakfast cupcake as possible. Plain Jane muffins, delicious, but not really substantial.

As I’ve aged, I’ve realized I want more out of my breakfast. Instead of something that’s filling, I want a hearty breakfast with substance to sustain me until lunch time. Those breakfast cupcake muffins I used to make weren’t going to cut it. I needed a muffin recipe full of good for me ingredients that also doubled as a filling and substantial start to my day….

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 This time of year, I begin to get frequent requests for party appetizer recipes. The truth is, the appetizer category here on Dine & Dish is a little sparse. It’s not that I don’t make appetizers… I guess I just don’t photograph them and post about them. I think it’s about time I beef up my appetizer section for you, so I’m going to start with one of my absolute favorite and oh so easy things to make…baked brie.

Go to any party where baked brie is being served, and you’ll probably notice that it’s one of the very first things to be devoured. People love hot and melty cheese, don’t they? What I love about most baked brie is that it is such a versatile thing to make. You can go savory, like I did with this Baked Brie and Caramelized Onions recipe or you can go sweet, like this Cranberry Walnut Baked Brie recipe I’m sharing today. Baked Brie is really such an easy food to get creative with based on your own flavor preferences….

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I love cooking and baking with nuts. As an ingredient, nuts offer me a level of creativity in recipe development that other ingredients don’t. Nuts are great with chicken, fish, salads, soups, baked goods, ice cream and more! My love for cooking and baking with nuts is why I am so excited to share with you that over the next year I’ll be partnering with Fisher® Nuts to create unique and delicious family friendly recipes to share with you. …

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