The fabulous Deborah, from Taste and Tell, is featuring me on her weekly blogger spotlight today. I’d love it if you all hopped over and read the interview! There is even a link to my favorite recipe on this blog. Hint – The recipe looks like this:

Want to check it out? Click here!

I love digging up old recipes that I’ve made and sharing them with you again. So many of the good ones just seem to get buried and that makes me cry. Dainty, girly tears with no snot or anything, of course. And none of that red splotchiness that happens to some girls. No, I have a very pretty lady-like cry.

Okay, no I don’t.

But, maybe that’s what Santa will bring me this year? The ability to cry without scaring small children with the aftermath of my face?

It’s a nice thought.

In the meantime, I have recipes that you should look at, drool over, and then make to share with your friends and family this year.

Let’s start with breakfast, shall we?

From top to bottom, and left to right, we have Biscuit Donuts, Apple Cider Donuts, Chocolate Chip Surprise Muffins, Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy, Crescents stuffed with chocolate, Cinnamon Biscuit Balls, and Cinnamon Sugar Brioche Buns. Easiest recipe has to be the chocolate stuffed crescents, and my favorite of those recipes is probably the canned biscuit donuts. The best presentation and ahhhh factor would be the Brioche buns. You’re pretty much guaranteed a win with all of them, though.

Moving on to appetizers, breads, and side dishes, we have my favorite baked mac and cheese, Bloomin’ Onion Bread, Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole, Hot Bacon Cheese Dip, Pretzel Rolls, BLT Macaroni Salad, Jalapeno Popper Dip, Three Cheese Spread, Scalloped Corn, and candied nuts. These are all pretty simple recipes, but the easiest is probably the Scalloped Corn, which is also my most favorite recipe. It’s amazingly delish. The recipe sure to get the most ooh’s and ahhh’s is the candied nuts. People go crazy over the nuts.

And, of course, I have a bazillion favorite dessert recipes. I have a hard time narrowing these guys down.

We’ve got Butter Pecan Squares, Caramel Pecan Brownie Cake, Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps, Holiday Bark, Eclair Cake, Maple Cinnamon Quick Bread, Peanut Butter Brownies, Peanut Butter & Banana Pound Cake, Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites, Pumpkin Crunch Cake, Sweet & Salty Brownies, Chocolate Whoopie Pies, and Butter Cookies.  The easiest recipes out of these are probably the éclair cake and the holiday bark. Both are amazing. I seriously can not choose favorites from this list, though. I will say that every single year I absolutely MUST make Butter Cookies. They are like sugar cookies, but one million times better. They’re my all-time favorite cookie. The Sweet & Salty Brownies are my all-time favorite brownie. Everything else is just plain delicious and must be made, whether it’s for the holidays or just because.

I hope you all have a super fabulous time this holiday season. Love you, miss you, talk to you soon-ish.

Some of you have probably noticed my shiny new digs, but I wanted to take you on the official Buns In My Oven tour.

Grab some wine and prepare to be amazed.

Okay, so that may be a bit of an over-sell.

Grab your wine and prepare to see pretty stuff.

There. That’s better.

Let’s start at the top, shall we?

You’ll notice the new header, of course, but off to the right is a featured recipe. That will get changed weekly. Or, you know, how ever often I feel like. Don’t boss me around.

I hope the featured recipe will make you squeal just as much as it makes me squeal. Now the old recipes will have a chance to shine again! Yay!

Moving down, there is a gray menu bar. Off the right is a search function. Use it. It’s your friend.

Below that, on the right, is a blurb about me. You can click it to read more. You know, in case you find me interesting and just can’t get enough.

Keep scrolling down past the ads and you come to THE BOX. THE BOX is all capitalized because it’s just that fabulous.

In THE BOX, you will find all of the different ways to stalk me. Click them all! It’s okay. You don’t scare me. You can also explore the other two tabs in THE BOX to view my archives or different categories.

Below THE BOX, on the left, is a button. Feel free to grab it and share it on your blog. I’m not sure if people actually do that or not, but I thought I’d put it there just in case.

Under the button is a section titled “other yum-yums.” This is one of my favorite features. You’ll find links to some of my favorite food bloggers here, but the fun part is that these links will change just about everytime you check my site. It’s a surprise every time you visit! I love surprises.

Over in the far right sidebar, you’ll see more ads. Feel free to click on those and help a girl out. Or don’t. Whatev.

I think that just about concludes the tour. Please do not exit the ride until we have come to a complete stop.

Big thanks to Jessica of Southtown Creative for creating the new site, putting up with all of my whining, panicking, and change requests, and for just generally being a cool girl.

And things are crazytown up in here. Hope to be back to normal soon.

Please cross all of the appendages you can. I’m gonna need it.

Y’all might have noticed a few changes around here lately. Specifically, my recipes are formatted differently. I hope you like the way they look, because I LOVE it! They seem so much more clean and streamlined.

The best part isn’t how easy they are to read, though. The best part? PRINTABILITY. Yes, that’s a word. Shuddup.

The other best part? The universal recipe box! You’ll notice a blue button inside each recipe box that says “Save Recipe.” Click that and a box will pop up and ask you to log in. I know…I hate logging in to crap too, but you can log in via Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Google, and more so you won’t need to remember another password. Click the button to add the recipe to your box and from there you can view all of the recipes you have saved or you can go to your shopping list.

That’s right. Shopping list. Right from my blog! Fun, right?

Keep in mind that your recipe box is universal. What that means is that you can add recipes from other sites using ZipList (the plugin that is allowing all of this magic to happen). Sites like Woman’s Day, Skinny Taste, A Southern Fairytale, and Recipe Girl. There are tons more sites using ZipList, so have fun adding recipes to your box from all over the web!

There are still some bugs. Every now and then you might try printing a recipe and it takes you to the printable version of the wrong recipe. I also haven’t had a chance to switch all of my old recipes over to the new format, so this is only working on the last month or two worth of recipes. I’m working on getting them all switched over, though. All of the bugs should be worked out soon as well.

If you have any questions about any of the new features, please let me know! Are there any other features you’d like to see? I’m planning a big site redesign for 2012, so I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have any requests or ideas!

I have a secret. It probably wasn’t supposed to be a secret, but life got in the way and I never had a chance to spill the beans (spill the beans…just a little food blog humor for your Monday morning). This secret is one that I’d like you to share with, well, every single person you know. Feel free to share with people that you don’t know as well! Just spread the word, y’all!

Oh, the secret? You mean you actually want to know what I’m talking about?

Whatev. I guess I’ll tell you.

I, uh, am in a book. A BOOK, y’all. One with a hard cover and everything. But the best part about this book is that all the proceeds, every last little bit, goes to the Red Cross. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed or anything, but things have been cuh-razy up in here over the last year. Earthquakes and tsunamis and, well, just natural disaster after natural disaster. I’m beyond excited to be a part of something that will be helping those affected by these natural disasters!

The book I am talking about is a cookbook with favorite recipes from 50+ bloggers! You know what this means, right? It means this is going to be one ridiculously yummy cookbook.

After seeing the devastation in Japan, several amazing blogs teamed together wanting to somehow make a difference. More than 50 blogs donated one of their favorite recipes to be compiled into an incredible cookbook designed by chickabug (design talent was 100% donated as well). Basically a lot of people worked really hard to make something extraordinary. Now, it’s in your hands to make a difference.

This one-of-a-kind cookbook was originally only going to be offered as an E-book for a $10 donation. Now it’s also available as a hardback book thanks to our favorite publisher, Paper Coterie, who was willing to donate 100% of the supplies, and 100% of the cost of printing for this amazing cause.

The E-book is for sale here for a $10 donation. If you have a computer in your kitchen or an electronic reader, (ipad, kindle,etc.) this is the copy for you. You can just click on the recipe you want from the table of contents and it will take you right there. It’s sweet.

The hard cover cookbook is also available, (wait for it…) for only $10.

You will be amazed at the quality of this book. The only extra expense you will have will be for shipping ($4 or more depending on where you live and how many copies you order).

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You can smile knowing you made a difference to someone, somewhere. And you can smile because you will have a beautiful full color recipe book with gorgeous pictures and delicious recipes to try. We truly hope you love the cookbook. We think you will. You might just want to buy one for your mom, sister, and mother-in-law for Christmas.

Please share this post with your friends and family on your blog, facebook, and twitter. Let’s make this go VIRAL! How cool would that be?

Here is a button to put on your blog:

and the link:

http://recipestohelp.bigcartel.com/

Remember 100% of the proceeds will be benefiting the American Red Cross.

*The American Red Cross name is used with its permission, which in no way constitutes an endorsement, express or implied, of any product, service, company, individual or political position. For more information about the American Red Cross, please call 1-800-HELP NOW or email info@usa.redcross.org

While you’re clicking around, check out my review of OnStar’s new FMV mirror!

I’m not sure if y’all have noticed, but I try to stick to a schedule around here. I generally post in the mornings on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It works for me.

Today, though? No. It didn’t happen.

I was just so busy! Crazy busy! Doing important things! Like watching Night of the Living Dead on Showtime, because HELLO? HOW HAVE I NEVER SEEN THAT MOVIE?

It was horrible in a very entertaining way.

I also got my hair done. And, you know, ate some Arby’s for lunch. I probably did other stuff too, but those were the big things.

See? Busy with important stuff.

So, instead of sharing a recipe here, I thought I’d send you to read my recipes and blabbering elsewhere. I’ve got two guest posts up currently! I like to get around, you know.

First up, are some terribly delicious Strawberry Scones with this crazy simple orange glaze on top. They taste like summer. You should have a bite. Or ten. You can find that recipe over at the amazing Kitchen Simplicity.

Next up, I’ve got the absolute simplest dessert going on over at the adorable blog Eighteen25 . Grilled bananas get stuffed with all manner of evil things. You’re going to like this recipe. I promise.

And, if you already follow me on facebook, then I apologize because you probably already saw the links to those posts. If you do not follow me on facebook already, then I would like to ask WHY NOT?

Also, since I’m sending you halfway across the Internet and back, you may as well go follow me on Pinterest. I pin some pretty fab looking food, if I do say so myself. And while we’re talking Pinterest…is it pronounced p-interest or pin-terest? I’ve been calling it p-interest, but that’d be embarrassing if I was doing it wrong.

Oh, and don’t forget to enter to win a set of Bark Cloth hot pads right here. Not too many people have entered yet, so your chances are very good!

I mentioned a few days ago that I had the chance to visit Wilton and hang out with some fabulous food bloggers. Due to the ads over there in my sidebar, I’m not allowed to talk too much about that trip here. I had to share the story though…after all, it’s full of things like murder (It’s true…I was nearly murdered by a fellow food blogger who wore sparkly shoes.), intrigue, and super secret rooms full of super secret cake decorations. You should probably click over to read it.

While you’re clicking, maybe you want to go like my facebook page, too? It’s fun over there.

What are you waiting for anyway?

As a food blogger, I think that I tend to make quite a variety of foods. Not because I’m all worldly, fancy, or cool (I’m totally not), but because you guys would probably get tired of reading here if I posted the same recipe over and over. Or no?

I didn’t realize when I started this little blog how much variety it would add to my life. I honestly try foods that I would have never tried before…all in the name of blogging. I am also much more likely to experiment with recipes or whip up something that comes from my own brain instead of searching for recipes online. I love this little blog.

Anyway, one thing I do notice is that even though I love every single recipe I share here, a lot of them don’t get made again and again. I just don’t have time to try new recipes and remake the ones we’ve already fallen in love with.

I thought it’d be interested to go through all of my old posts and pull out the ones that get made again and again and share those with you. My favorites, if you will.

What I found was that, actually, I do remake quite a few of the recipes I share here! All of these recipes I’m featuring are ones that get made time and time again in my household. We’ll start with the savory goodies and I’ll be back later with the sweets!

I don’t do a lot of sandwiches, but this Chicken, Bacon, and Avocado sandwich is our favorite. Even my husband and kids will eat this one, which is supah strange considering there are funky veggies (roasted peppers and avocado) on the thing.

Saucy beef sandwiches are one of my favorite things to eat. So flavorful and so simple to make!

(And yes, I can HEAR you back there, whispering about how I just said we don’t eat many sandwiches and then posted two in a row. You hush your mouth, missy.)

These Bacon Pinwheels would be perfect as an appetizer, but the kids and I eat them as snacks quite a bit. They’re perfect.

Hot Bacon Dip. Don’t tell me that this serves a crowd, because it doesn’t. It serves me. Often.

Don’t even ask how often I make these Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas. I’d be too embarrassed to answer.

Alright, this Country Mozzarella Pasta (called THE PASTA in our house) comes out UGLY (something not helped by that horrid photo I managed to take…white balance? What white balance?). It’s a stringy, cheesy mess and I’d hesitate to serve it to company based on that fact alone. However, it is the most requested, most eaten, most favorite meal in our rotation. If I don’t make this weekly, I get complaints. It’s actually even yummy for breakfast if you have leftovers, but maybe I’m showing my weird side here?

I save these little BLT Tomatoes for special occasions when there aren’t a TON of people coming over. They’re kind of a pain to make, but they are so totally worth it.

Holy Guacamole. I don’t want to brag, but I make the best guac in the world. Fo’ real.

There were a few more, but I figured I’d stop here. I’ll be back with my repeat sweets another day! Oh, and please don’t judge the photos…some of those are from back when I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. Wait…do I really want to claim to know what I’m doing now? Probably not.

Y’all won’t believe it, but I have finally entered 2011 and created Buns In My Oven a facebook fan page. I know, right? It’s like I’m young and hip and totally rad!

Actually, I am kinda young. Not even 30 yet. So, let’s be honest, I have no reason at all for being so lame or using words like “rad” in a sentence. Unless “rad” is cool again? Have we brought that word back?

Life is so confusing.

Anyway! Our fun little facebook fan page is pretty sad, lonely, and boring right now, but it will one day be something fabulous and exciting. I’m thinking it will be a place where we can all chat, you can share some recipes with me (I’m tired of doing all the work, yo), and if I can figure out how, I’d like to create a little menu plan section where I share my menu each week. (Just promise not to judge when Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday all include the words “drive-thru.” I like food, but I also like being lazy. It’s who I am and I won’t let you change me.)

What would you like to see happen on the fan page? (Are they still even called fan pages?)

I would like to mention that if you need to get a hold of me quickly (like, you’re stuck in the middle of one of my recipes and can’t find your way out…hey, it’s happened before, it’ll happen again.) it’s best to just email me. I don’t get notifications from facebook when you write on my wall, so it may take me a bit to notice that. I’m pretty obsessive about email though and stalk my inbox regularly. You can get me at karly[at]bunsinmyoven[dot]com or through the contact page on this site.

Now…

What are you waiting for?

Click THIS LINK and hit that like button, buddy!

Thanks. You’re pretty. And you make me smile.