Meet Karly

 
She’s an Illinois native who, in her profile, lists shopping as a hobby, sea salt as her favorite food, and this baker isn’t afraid to say that she loves to make brownies from a box mix. She’s funny, spirited, and she’s definitely come a long way from her early years of marriage when she considered frozen pizza a gourmet dinner. Let’s all say hello to Karly Campbell!

Karly is a sweetheart who married her high school sweetheart. Together they have two children, and she’s a homeschooling mom. (Do you see that beautiful photo of her above? Her ten-year-old took that.) She says that it’s taken her some years to get from Hamburger Helper to food that doesn’t come out of a box, and from the looks of the recipes below, it’s no wonder that her husband is quite thankful for that.

Clockwise from top left: Country Pasta with Mozzarella, Creamy Onion Garlic Bread, BLT Macaroni Salad, and Southwest Summer Pork Chops.

 
 
 
Karly also has some lovely snack recipes here, not just for parties but also for sitting on the couch watching a good show. Her children enjoy watching food shows with her, and it sounds like we might have two future Tasty Kitchen members there.

Clockwise from left: Sugar and Spice Roasted Nuts, Deviled Egg Dip, and Homemade Caramel Corn.

 
 
 
I said two future members because, despite what you think when you see her blog’s name—Buns In My Oven—Karly assures us that she means buns of the “yeasty kind.” She promises it’s not the other kind. She went with that name because the first recipe she made and shot for web posting was hamburger buns.

So Karly is, for the most part, a baker. Oh, what a baker she is. Most of the entries in her Tasty Kitchen recipe box are yummy baked goods, and since there were so many of them, I thought to myself, what better way to show them than to do a non-chocolate group:

Left: Cheesecake Cookies. Middle column, from top to bottom: Blackberry Cobbler, Blueberry Bread, and Pumpkin Streusel Muffins. Right column, from top to bottom: Raspberry Coffee Cake and Strawberry Crostada.

 
 
 
Followed by a chocolate group. (You’re welcome.)

Clockwise from top left: Triple Threat Brownies,Chocolate Chip and Bacon Cookies, Magic Peanut Butter Middles, Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Bars, and Chocolate Chip Scones.

 
Don’t they look gorgeous?

Karly is more than just a yumminess-machine. She’s engaging, funny, and simply down-to-earth. Let’s ask her a bunch of questions so you can see what I mean!

 
 
Q: What do you enjoy most about cooking?
A: I won’t lie—I enjoy cooking, but honestly it’s the eating that’s my favorite part. I also like the planning. I have a great time imagining menus for dinner parties (that I’ll never host) and holiday dinners (that are always at my mama’s house). I really enjoy the creativity in cooking. There are so many different foods out there and you can mix and match and put them all together to create something completely different every time. That doesn’t mean my concoctions are always edible, but it’s always fun trying something new. I guess food is my form of art. Better than the cooking, though, is the eating. If I was one of those skinny girls who counted calories, I wouldn’t cook nearly as much. It’s no fun for me to cook something that I’m not passionate about eating, and unfortunately, I’m really passionate about bacon.

 
Q: If you had to eat something RIGHT NOW, and had only 3 minutes to get it ready, what would it be?
A: Oh, this is easy. I would eat a spoonful of peanut butter. Then I would stick my head in the fridge to see if there was something else in there, because surprisingly, the peanut butter didn’t stop the hunger. I’d probably grab a package of pepperoni and have a few slices of that. Maybe some green olives and a slice of cheese, if it had been a while since my last meal. Then I’d wash it all down with a big glass of sweet tea. What? You expected me to actually prepare a real meal in three minutes? I need to time to think things through, so if I’m strapped for time, I just snack. I’d never make it as an Iron Chef.

 
Q: Speaking Iron Chef and wild, unconventional recipes, what is the strangest food or food combo that you really, really enjoy?
A: Oh, I can’t believe I’m sharing this with you all. Let me begin by saying that this little recipe was concocted back in high school when I was clearly insane. Insanely awesome, but insane all the same. The recipe goes like this: a cup of Stove Top stuffing, enough water to wet the stuffing but not so much that it gets terribly soggy (1/4 to 1/2 cup maybe?), a slice of American processed cheese product (please don’t use fancy cheese for this), and a few shakes of Frank’s Red Hot sauce. Microwave it all for a minute or two and stir it all up. It’s amazing. Oh, and did I mention that this is a breakfast recipe? Seriously, it’s better than oatmeal, y’all. Don’t be scared. Every single person that I’ve convinced to try this (which is, admittedly, not many) has loved it and made it again and again!

 
Q: Is there something that you always make at home and never buy at the store anymore?
A: I’m a big fan of homemade biscuits lately. I used to buy the can of biscuit dough, but there are so many good biscuit recipes out there that I’ve had fun making my own. I keep going back and forth between these heavenly cream biscuits and tall, flaky buttermilk biscuits. One can never have too many biscuits. I also never buy cookies or cookie dough at the store anymore, which is something that I used to do pretty regularly. Baking seems so intimidating at first, but once you get into it, it all just clicks and it doesn’t take much time to bake from scratch once you know what you’re doing.

 
Q: Do you have a most memorable kitchen flop ever?
A: I’ve always heard that you should never test a new recipe on guests, but I generally don’t let that stop me. My biggest flop was for my daughter’s fourth birthday. I decided to make a seven layer rainbow cake (each layer was a different color of the rainbow). It was beautiful, bright, and colorful. I had it all stacked up with white fluffy (cloud-like) frosting between each layer and all around the outside and I couldn’t wait to see her face when I sliced that tall, colorful cake for her. I stuck the cake into the fridge to wait for the guests to arrive and a bit later, I opened up the fridge to find that my cake had split in half and slid down the side of my refrigerator. I sat on the kitchen floor and cried while my husband ran to the bakery for a generic store-bought cake. Lesson learned!

 
Q: What is your favorite kitchen tool?
A: My Wusthof Santoku knife is my most treasured possession. It was recommended by Ree and it has literally changed my life. I always used the cheap knives available at the local department store, but I’ll never go back to those again. A good knife is truly your best friend in the kitchen.

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What fun you are, Karly! Thanks for answering our silly questions.

 
Come take a look at Karly’s recipe box and plan your next baking project. Then, if you aren’t afraid of even more delicious sweets and treats that will make you gain weight (she does apologize for it in advance), head to her blog, Buns In My Oven. While you’re there, enjoy all the beautiful photographs she has. Go Karly!