Prove your strength by singing and running your way to victory. The person with the fastest 2 mile run by 5/10/2012 wins. Think you’ve got what it takes? Strap on your Frees and sing while you run your way through Nike’s Free Run Karaoke Challenge. Join the Challenge at http://gonike.me/karaoke and log your miles from now through May 10th using Nike+. Nike even created a mix to get you up and running. Download it here: http://gonike.me/karaokemix.

Don’t forget, the runner with the fastest 2 mile run using Nike + wins. Run Stronger. #MakeItCount

I like to keep a few well-loved recipes in my repertoire to make time and time again, and birthday cake is something that I find myself happily making several times a year. I typically turn to a very rich chocolate cake from Ina Garten or a simple vanilla cake from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook. I've noticed, however, that yellow cake is a favorite of many, but until now I'd never thought to make it from scratch.

Most recipes for yellow cake use buttermilk, which differentiates it from a standard vanilla cake. I noticed a particularly mouthwatering photo floating around on Pinterest months ago that I couldn't get out of my head. Rather than buttermilk, this specific recipe calls for butter flavoring, which you can find at cake supply stores or online.

This cake comes together easily. I used two seven-inch cake pans and had a little bit of leftover batter for a few cupcakes. The simple vanilla buttercream frosting is delicious and rich, but I'd like to experiment with some more exciting flavors in the future. It tasted rich, buttery, and slightly sinful. The cake itself was moist and dense, which I appreciated, and one piece was more than enough to keep me satisfied.

For the recipe, keep reading!

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With our favorite Mexican-themed holiday on the horizon, it's impossible to spend our time thinking about anything other than what we'll be serving come Saturday. Will there be tacos, tortas, or both? Which south-of-the-border beer should we buy?

For more Cinco de Mayo advice, we enlisted the help of Marcela Valladolid, host of Food Network's Mexican Made Easy. Chef Marcela, who also stays busy as a cookbook author and a spokesperson for Kahlúa, took the time to offer her tips for party planning, her thoughts on up-and-coming Mexican dishes, and the one stereotype about her cuisine that she'd love to dispel.

To see it all, keep reading.