Weekend Links

Here are a few of my favorite things from the blogosphere this past week.  Hope you find something you like as well!

Smitten Kitchen's "Best Birthday Cake"  A certain someone has a second birthday coming up. As he is a big fan of cake, I think it would be my motherly duty to give this recipe a test run.

Homesick Texan's "Banana Pudding Ice Cream"  Two things I don't get nearly enough of in my life all together in one big happy dish: banana pudding and Blue Bell ice cream.

Small Notebook's "Homemade Chocolate Syrup"  The same certain someone who is about to be two is also a big fan of chocolate syrup in his milk.  I think obsessed would be a better word.  The Hershey's bottle is almost empty, so I'm excited to try something that actually has chocolate as a main ingredient as opposed to high fructose corn syrup.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Simple Mom's "Back to the Basics: Menu Planning"  Simple Mom is running a great series right now called "Back to the Basics."  I already plan weekly menus, but there are some great ideas here whether you're an old pro at menu planning or looking desperately at how to begin.

The Simple Dollar's "A Frugal Man and His Nintendo DS/DSi"  One of the best articles I never knew I was looking for.  Elena saved up for a DSi for her birthday and this was chock-full of helpful information. 

ProBlogger's "9 First Step Goals for New Bloggers"  I wouldn't consider myself a new blogger, but I still found these goals realistic and applicable. If you're a blogger and you're not already reading ProBlogger?  Go directly there from here.  He rocks, whether you're a newbie or an old pro.