I’ve been rounding up a smattering of articles to share with you guys this week. No theme, other than things I really think you should know/read.

Like, did you know that the word “vegetable” is a culinary term that has no rooting in science? One you stop to think about it, it’s kind of obvious, but when I read this article I was dumbfounded at first!

Here’s an article about cast iron and why it’s so good for cooking. I suggest everyone have a cast iron skillet – it will change your life, I promise.

You guys. I love oatmeal. And I want you to read this article about delicious ways to make your breakfast a bit more interesting.

I also happen to love lemon and blueberry, together, in unity. I need to try these from the PW as soon as I can find a crowd to EAT them!

For those of you who are still shopping for holiday gifts, look at this list from Serious Eats. It’s sure in inspire you or at least give you an idea of what to ask for!

Speaking of gifts, this weekend is our annual Yankee Swap party, and I had fun remembering the event from a few years back!

What have you been reading lately? Are you prepping for any holiday parties?

Melissa’s birthday (Happy Belated Birthday!) was this past weekend, and to celebrate, I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. Funfetti, she answered! Last year, we made yellow cake with rainbow chip frosting, and we made it from a box. I’d like to think my gluten free skills have improved, so we made gluten free sprinkle cake from scratch (recipe here)!

Do you know what makes rainbow chip + funfetti colorful? Sprinkles, off course!

This recipe makes enough to share with friends, or enough for you to have a couple every day of your birthday week, but either way, we’re talking about 30 cupcakes you guys. Delicious!

We used premade frosting, but you can whip up some frosting easily by using powdered sugar, butter, and sprinkles!

These, of course, did not taste gluten free at all – King Arthur’s Gluten Free Flour is KILLER and wonderful – if you are gluten free, you should REALLY try it!!

What is YOUR fave type of cake?

Last weekend, we hosted a triple birthday party for some of our favorite people — Melissa, Ana, and Mitchell. Jeff was the real hero of the evening, churning out no less than 15 pizzas for our 30 party guests, but Jennie and I did our part and provided a cake.

Melissa needed something gluten-free, of course, so she and Jennie whipped up some gluten-free funfetti cupcakes. Check.

Meanwhile, Ana requested vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, and Mitchell requested vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Tricky. Always up for a challenge, we decided to make one cake and frost half with vanilla and half with chocolate.

It all seemed so simple until I found myself staring at an un-frosted cake at 5:00 PM the night of the party. How does one frost half a cake?

Just do it. Jennie told me. So I did.

And you know what? It turned out great! As a last minute addition, we covered Ana’s half in lemon-vanilla frosting rosettes, and Mitchell’s half with chocolate frosting and plastic pirates.

The cake was delicious, the pizza was both plentiful and excellent, and the party was a success. Such a success, that we completely forgot to take any decent photographs of our creation. Please forgive us for these dim shots!

photo credit: anitato

Have you ever turned two cakes into one? How did you do it?

I love butternut squash – love it on a pizza, in my salad, on its own…but I love it even MORE in pasta!

Look how beautiful it is!

Here’s what you do. Put your oven up to 400, and put your cubed butternut squash in with some olive oil. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a fork comes out of a cube cleanly. Meanwhile, take some pasta and cook as you would. Serve with pasta, cubed butternut squash, an avocado, feta cheese, and kale. Delicious, fast, healthy, and vegetarian!

Oh boy, this was a busy weekend! We hosted a triple birthday party, for three friends with birthdays this week, including our gluten-free blogger, Melissa! We made a yellow and gray layer cake with half lemon-vanilla frosting and half chocolate frosting as well as some gluten-free funfetti cupcakes for Melissa. Then we spent the evening making pizzas for 30 of our friends! In the end, we made a total of 12 pizzas.

Sunday morning, Melissa enjoyed a giant chocolate chip pancake for her birthday, and Jennie and I called in Rebecca as reinforcement for a full day of cooking. We made a delicious cassoulet, some onion cheese bread, and then set to work photographing our work!

It was one of those weekends that left us more tired than rested, but it was all worth it.

Was your weekend as busy as ours?