Every June and November I make the same chocolate cake for my friend’s and her son’s birthdays. Why would someone want the same cake every year for their birthday? Because it’s darn good. Sooo good, guys. If you make this cake, everyone will be begging you for the recipe and swooning over the incredible taste in their mouth. If you like chocolate at all, you need this chocolate cake recipe! And the best part? The bulk of the cake is made from a cake mix. You really can’t get better than this!

And because there’s really no messing with cake flavor perfection, the only way to really change up this cake is by changing what it looks like. Over the years it’s been disguised as a soccer ball, as R2-D2 cupcakes, and most recently as a dino cake. I bet this cake would look excellent disguised as dragon fire as well.

It’s no secret I love Halloween. In terms of holidays, it’s right there at the top with Christmas. What else brings a family together better than brainstorming and making costumes, going to pumpkin patches, carving pumpkins, and making silly Halloween foods? The only frustrating thing is that these things can take a lot of time if you aren’t careful. I’ve compiled three stupid-simple tips for making Halloween foods below so you can spend more time enjoying them than preparing them, and still have an amazing Halloween experience!

I’ve got a delicious recipe with chicken, cornbread, sweet potatoes, and corn waiting for you at the bottom of this page. But first, I want to take a second to talk about slow cookers. If there’s one appliance that should be in every busy household, it’s a slow cooker. We used to religiously do Slow Cooker Sundays, but since I’ve been working full-time days these past couple of months, I’ve been doing slow cooker meals more often during the week. It is my lifesaver. I drop the boys off at preschool/daycare first thing in the morning, come back home, then prep the slow cooker for dinner that night and let it cook all day long. When my husband comes home with the boys in the evening, dinner is ready, and we can enjoy ourselves as a family without the mad pre-dinner rush that happens otherwise.

Mmmm… breakfast. The first meal of the day, the first food you are putting into your mouth to start off a brand new day-chapter of your life. What you eat first thing in the morning can definitely affect how the rest of your day goes. If you are putting a ton of refined sugar into your belly, you are going to spend the rest of the day staving off sugar cravings and feeling sluggish and lethargic (not to mention the especially negative effects of sugar for our children . However, if you put real, whole foods into your body, you experience quite the opposite: in control of your diet, limited sugar cravings, a clear mind, and peace knowing that you started your day off right.