“Everything must go in my mouth! NOM!“
“That tasted great! This orange thing is pretty cool!”
“Must. Turn. On. TV.”
This recipe is actually from awhile ago when I was still on my cookie craze. The pictures were taken on a different memory card about a month ago and then forgotten about until this past weekend! So I can finally offer up to you a non chocolate cookie! Essentially just a sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon and sugar, snikerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies (behind shortbread in the non-chocolate realm of cookies).
This recipe was really easy to throw together. The time consuming part is just rolling each cookie ball in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. But it’s all worth it in the end.
This particular batch of cookies didn’t stick around our house long – I packaged them up and shipped them off to a church meeting. Can’t have cookies sitting around our house just begging to be eaten anymore. I bake them up, eat a couple and get rid of the rest!
These are definitely great holiday cookies, the cinnamon and sugar just remind me of baking with my mom growing up. We always made tons and tons of cookies and breads around the holidays to give out to friends, neighbors and family. Enjoy!
Just thought I would let everyone know! The kitchen is almost wrapped up: the double oven is the last big component and then it’s just trimming everything out and getting organized. Then I get to start cooking again and hopefully start sewing again too. This kitchen renovation has been exhausting and time consuming! I’m going to be glad when it’s complete. Pictures and details coming soon! Until then blog postings may be spotty at best…
In other news, I’m also working on getting my etsy shop started. What are some items that you’d like to see in there?
So we headed back to D-town this weekend to celebrate my dad’s birthday! Of course, this was Jude’s first Halloween so we had to dress him up, even if we didn’t go trick or treating. A while back, I saw this post on making baby costumes out of onesies and fell in love with the strong man costume. So I spent $0.87 on some animal print fabric, dyed a white onesie with some coffee, drew on some chest hair and quickly hand-stitched together a little cloth barbell and we had our little strong man. Oh and the mustache. You can’t forget the mustache!
And on Sunday we spent some time watching football. You can tell Jude doesn’t get to watch a lot of TV because this is his facial expression whenever he’s near one that’s on:
OoooOOOoooo. What is that?
Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend, whatever you ended up doing!
This is something I’ve been meaning to share with y’all for awhile! It’s the mobile that I made for above Jude’s crib. Now that he’s actually sleeping in his bed, he loves to stare at the spinning fishies! A long time ago, I saw a mobile made from paper cranes and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I thought it was incredibly beautiful but simple and could be a cheap option for a kids mobile. For my Dallas baby shower, the guests wrote notes to Jude on origami squares that were then folded into goldfish (click here for instructions on making your own origami goldfish). I then strung them together using thread and attached them to a straightened clothes hanger. Pretty easy! When Jude gets older, we’re going to take the mobile down and read all the notes that people wrote for him before he was born. I think it’s an easy idea that could be done to fit any nursery scheme!
Can you tell I was on a cake kick?
This is the third cake I was tempted to make for Jason’s birthday. I mean he used to be a reese’s peanut butter cup addict! Instead I made these two and saved this one to make for a future date, which happened to be last night for our community group. We are still without an oven (update on the kitchen soon to come), so Jenn offered to let me use hers to bake up this beauty.
I didn’t even know you could make chocolate peanut butter ganache/glaze… Yum. And these are my favorite cakes to decorate because glazes look beautiful without any effort or cake decorating skills at all. I did take Smitten’s recommendations for doing a crumb coat and sticking it in the fridge, doing the final outer coat, sticking it in the fridge, then doing the glaze. I would recommend using the glaze when it’s still warm as my glaze drips were a bit gloppy since the glaze was at room temperature and it firmed up pretty quickly when it touched the cold frosting. Still delicious though. Delicious and decadent. Serve in thin slices and with milk!
Recipe for Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
Just checking in to say hello! I haven’t had much time to blog as my little bit of free time has been filled with spakling, joint compounding, sanding, texturing, priming, painting and cleaning the kitchen, all the while entertaining the babe outside of the kitchen (with much help from good friends)! Thankfully all that is done for now and the cabinet frames go in today! I will post a series of pictures when it’s all said and done. Needless to say, I will be grateful to have our kitchen back – I’ve missed cooking!
Ta ta for now!
This month’s book club book was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this book since it billed itself as a murder mystery type thriller set in Sweden. And honestly, I didn’t like the first couple chapters – I couldn’t figure out what was going on! So obviously, it didn’t hook me right off the bat. I had heard from others that the book was fantastic so I pushed on. After several more chapters I was hooked! A very suspenseful, complex, well written storyline unfolds the further you go through the book.
Since it was translated into English from Swedish, there were sometimes moments that I felt like things were lost in translation between our cultures. Also worth noting is that there was a significant amount of promiscuity and violence. Sadly, the author passed away after all three books in this trilogy were completed. The second book, The Girl Who Played with Fire was released recently this past July and I think I’m going to have to seek that one out to tie up some loose ends that were created in the first book. The third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest will be out this next summer. All in all, a good read. 8/10
I know I probably start out every baby update post with this, but it really is true. I can’t believe he’s four months already. It is unreal how quickly time is going. Jude is changing so much everyday – he’s 17 pounds now and he just keeps getting bigger every day. He is so much fun to be around and loves to flirt with the ladies. . . although in general he just loves people. He is a social butterfly like his dad. 
He has started rolling over but only when he feels like it, which seems to be when his dragonfly toy is around! He is sleeping through the night most nights and let me tell you, I am grateful. In the beginning, when I was waking up every couple hours or so, it felt like it would never end (kinda like pregnancy never felt like it would end). Really, I know I have nothing to complain about, because he actually slept at night and just woke up to eat. . . but I am glad to be sleeping for longer stretches of time now.
Nursing is still going well and I’m planning on continuing it until he reaches a year. I did end up having a little bit of a let down earlier this month. Remember me telling you about the milk bank donations? It turns out that they did the blood test on me and I have one out of five proteins that make up Hepatitis C. I don’t have Hepatitis C but they won’t accept my milk donations until my next baby even if it is just a lab error (which it most likely is). That was really disappointing for me, but I still encourage you all to do it if you can!
I’ve been reading Super Baby Food (thanks for the recommendations on this book) and we’re going to start solids once he’s six months. I’m so excited about getting to make his baby food in a couple months!
It’s interesting how much a baby changes your relationship with your spouse in ways that you didn’t anticipate. I love watching Jason with Jude and see them interact as father and son. Something I didn’t quite expect was to feel jealousy of Jason’s ability to go where he wants when he wants. It’s something I’ve been working through and talking with Jason about this month. I’m realizing how necessary it is to schedule time when Jason (or someone) can watch Jude so that I can have some time to do things I enjoy. I find that I have moments of meltdown if I don’t get breaks here and there. Thankfully Jason is amazing and recognizes this, so he helps me make sure that I do have some time to myself each week. It just was something I felt a bit embarrassed about and didn’t expect to encounter!
I am loving staying home with him although I thought I would have more free time by not working. . . turns out that is not true at all. I am so busy with so many different things! Two big things that are coming up are the opening of my etsy shop and our kitchen renovation. I’ll keep everyone posted on both. My blog postings may be a bit spotty since the kitchen renovation is promising to take up ample amounts of my time for awhile.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
So cake number two HAD to be chocolate! I made the variation with the rasberry filling and it was delicious. And the leftovers got better each day.
The road to delicious was a little rocky though. First of all I learned never to use all of the batter in pans that are too small. The recipe calls for 10″ pans; I had 9″. This resulted in an overflow to the bottom of my oven. Bummer. The cake still turned out fine. Following some of Smitten Kitchen’s cake tips, I froze the two layers before I sliced them in half. This made slicing the layers nearly impossible. Next time I’ll cool, slice and THEN freeze.
Turns out ganache covered all of my cake sins but I ended up needing the whole batch of ganache instead of the half called for if you make rasberry filling.
I learned a lot from this cake experience and I’ll be trying again soon! Hopefully the next one will go a little smoother…
Recipe for Double Chocolate Layer Cake
I know, I make a lot of these. It’s hard not too. It’s one of the baby items I use most often, it’s easy to make (perfect for the first time sewer), there’s a free tutorial and it’s a great gift. Well, check this out. Target has a nursing cover in the Amy Butler Geisha Fans fabric that my friend happened to register for. Can you believe they sell those for $40? And it looks a bit too small in my opinion. Not so with the free tutorial! I happened to have a yard of the fabric already so I whipped one of those up as a baby shower gift.
Love that fabric and love enabling moms to feel comfortable to nurse in public!
First off all, happy birthday Jason. I love you and hope that today is a lovely day for you!
That being said, we celebrated with several friends this weekend and I made two cakes. I had to convince myself out of making three cakes… I know, I’m crazy. Two cakes was way more than enough, but necessary, for birthday boy reasons, you know? When I saw this tiramisu cake on Smitten Kitchen’s website I knew I had to make it! Tiramisu has been our dessert for years. We searched out different restaurants to try it at, I’ve made it at home many times… So of course the cake version had to be made!
The batter was delicious; it was reminiscent of cookie dough and baked up level, light and fluffy – similar to the traditionally used ladies fingers. I froze the two layers so I wouldn’t be stressed trying to get two cakes baked and frosted and it froze beautifully and defrosted great. That’s the best thing about cake. You can make it ahead of time and freeze – then it’s easier to frost when you’re ready too. Less crumbs to deal with in the icing…
The espresso syrup was perfect, the frosting even better. And it was so much easier than traditional tiramisu. Not to mention prettier and easier to serve! I’m pretty sure this cake with be a go to dessert for me when I need to make an Italian dessert for many people.
And this dessert is one that even gets better after a couple of days – perfect for breakfast after a party!
So I’ve been thinking about the whole process leading up to having a baby and I thought it might be helpful to share what I look back on that I would have done differently with the 3.5 months of baby experience I have now. I thought it may be helpful to share since I know so many that are pregnant right now.
The first week: I thought I was going to be able to start cloth diapers right away. Turns out it takes a little while to heal and to feel like doing laundry. Had I known, I would have registered for a few things of newborn sized disposibles and wipes and probably a few newborn sized cloth diapers. It took a month for the Bum Genius 3.0s to fit him. If you’re set on cloth diapering, don’t let yourself feel guilty about temporarily using disposibles. You need time to rest and heal. That being said, do not expect to get anything done at first either. Cuddle your baby, rest, nap when baby naps and remember to eat.
Cloth diapers: I love the Bum Genius 3.0 but if I went back I would have registered for a variety of cloth diapers instead of just one. I find that different brands are appropriate for different situations. For example, SmartiPants are great for being out and about because you don’t have to pull the insert out when you get home. Prefolds are the cheapest. Bum Genius is the easiest transition to make from disposibles, and it turns out FuzziBuns has a fairly innovative method for sizing their AIO dipes…(more on that later). And I would have registered for cloth wipes (or made them if I had a serger).
Nursing: this was something I went into VERY blindly. I had no idea what I needed! Looking back now I would have taken the boppy to the hospital to help with the initial days of nursing. I would have brought lanolin for soothing the initial soreness and I would have registered for disposible nursing pads. I thought the lilypadz would be enough but they caused more of a problem for me! They are great if you don’t leak a lot, but it turns out I needed a more absorbant method than a barrier method. I also would have registered for nursing clothing – bras, tanks, shirts, etc. Also, make sure you have a heating pad for the day your milk comes in. Trust me, you will want it!
I also would have been more mindful of picking out maternity cloths that would be great transition clothes. Especially shirts that transition to nursing. I was very unprepared for my postpartum body.
What about the rest of you fairly new moms out there? What did you end up needing that came as a surprise for you?
When I was in Italy, one of my favorite dishes to get was Pasta Carbonara. If you’ve never had it before, you are missing out. It’s a delicious Italian version of bacon and eggs – the sauce is a rich mixture of cream, eggs, cheese, pancetta and parsley. It’s indulgent, to say the least.
I have tried several versions of pasta carbonara but never come up with a recipe that I loved. Then this recipe came along. It’s so simple but incredibly delicious. It’s not a true carbonara since the egg sits on top of the pasta in poached form and there’s so cream but that just doesn’t matter because once you cut into the egg, the yolk coats the pasta like this:
Yum. I did double the recipe without a problem (and I used whole wheat spaghetti) but I think this is a great dish for one. So, I am sharing with you another recipe that I will be repeating this week. It is indulgent but oh so delicious.
I don’t want you guys to think I’m not sewing! I am! And I have some great projects that I’m going to be starting soon…. I mean, Christmas sewing is starting now!
I whipped up this little beauty as a gift for my mother-in-law’s birthday. The clarity of writing in this pattern is fantastic although I think it helps to have sewn a few purses already to understand where the steps are taking you. Best of all, this pattern is free from artsycraftybabe! Click here for the free PDF pattern for the Phoebe Bag.
I really like that this bag fits perfectly under your arm when you wear it on your shoulder and I think it’s a good medium sized purse, just perfect to carry what you need, but not big enough that things get lost. The thing I would do differently if I made this again… I think it might be nice to add a zipper to the opening in addition to the flap and magnetic snap. Overall a fun little sewing project! I hope she likes it!
This recipe honestly surprised me! I’ve tried similar recipes with parsley pesto and they always end up tasting too ‘green’ to me… Very hard to palate for an extended period of time. This recipe tasted fresh but didn’t have the grassy flavor I was expecting. I think the lemon zest gave it such a great kick! Since hazelnuts are so expensive, I substituted pecans and it tasted great. I think the only drawback was that this did not reheat well at all! No leftovers with this dish! Other than that, this is a great easy, weeknight, healthy dish!
Recipe for Multigrain Penne with Hazelnut Pesto, Green Beans and Parmesan Cheese
Alright, even if you have never made a recipe that I’ve reviewed here, this one is worth it. Even if you just make the sauce and put it on something else, it is so delicious! The combination of flavors are so addicting that I’m actually making this recipe again this week… That says a lot because I don’t repeat many recipes! This one reheated well in the oven on a cooling rack which helped it recrisp on both sides. Go make this recipe!
Recipe for Panko-Crusted Chicken with Mustard Maple Pan Sauce
This may be the easiest way to make homemade bread that I’ve ever tried. I had never heard of this method before; the dough was so much thinner than what I’ve worked with in the past – like a doughy cake batter, and no kneading needed (pun intended)!
It was a different sort of texture – more like a quick bread with more of a fine crumb than a sandwich bread and probably most tasty right out of the oven or toasted and eaten for breakfast. Definitly worth trying, especially if you’ve alway been afraid to make bread.
So my friend Jesse designed up a cute little vintage scarf dress for a BurdaStyle competition! Today is the last day to vote and I thought I would share her design with you:
Super cute, right? If you agree, click this link and hit ‘vote’. That’s it. There’s no registration or anything needed! The only catch is that it must be done by the end of today! Go get voting!
Just because I think they’re cute and I want to share.
My favorite guys all in one place.
Milestone: the foot grab. Will the foot make it’s way to his mouth next?
The bumbo is in use now. He loves sitting up and seeing everything. Ooo look at those chin rolls! This child is not underfed!
And the bumbo is used frequently so baby J can smile and watch me cook. Hopefully he’s taking mental notes. Someday I expect him to cook me dinner.
