Me, oh my! Sweet Cherry Pie

Last week, we were very excited to see that the neighborhood cherry trees were ready to be picked. So, we got to go berry picking in our front yard.


And it was such a gorgeous day.


The cherries were perfectly juicy. T couldn't get enough.


Daddy went and got the ladder because a lot of the cherries were pretty high up.


The following day, I decided to make a cherry pie. So, I got busy pitting all the cherries. (Did you know you can use a chopstick to pit cherries if you don't have a pitter? Well, you can and it works great!)


Of course, T helped me in the kitchen. She LOVED playing with the extra dough and practiced rolling it out and feeling it between her fingers. She spent most of her time in the kitchen playing with the dough.


She couldn't wait for it to cool down so we could eat some. She was very proud to have helped make it.


And it was so yummy too! The crust was flaky and moist and the cherries were just the right sweetness.

Perfect.


For the pie, I used this recipe here and this crust here.

Late Night Baking

Of course, while we were camping we made our new favorite dessert; banana surprise. We bought a lot of bananas and ended up not using all of them. They began to turn brown and we all know what that means; banana bread!

I found a new recipe for a banana coconut loaf that I was very anxious to try. (Go Dairy-free and Smitten Kitchen are my go-to recipe sites.)


I didn't get any time to actually make the bread until after L was asleep that day. And instead of putting T to bed too, I let her stay up past her bedtime to help me in the kitchen. Just me and her. It was very special.


She loves to bake and has been quite adament about doing everything her big girl self these days.


I didn't end up taking a photo of our actual result but trust me when I say that this recipe is a keeper. It was quite tasty and I plan to be using this recipe for banana bread again.

Banana Surprise

The name was given by daddy.

Banana Surprise (an alternative to s'mores)

You need:

1 banana
toppings of choice (chocolate, sprinkles, marshmellows, etc.)
aluminum foil

Just slice one side of your banana peel and add toppings of your choice. Wrap banana in aluminum foil and place on grill.


So simple and so yummy! We actually both said how we like it more than a s'more. The melted marshmellows were T's favorite.

Using up the Leftover Frosting

After I made T's cupcakes, I still had some leftover frosting. When I was a young girl, my mom would always use up her extra frosting by spreading some onto graham crackers. I had long forgotten about this until a couple days ago. So, I went and got the frosting out of the fridge and made some frosted graham cracker cookies for T.


As a mother, I love that I get to share parts of my childhood with my own children now. T was very excited to have such a special treat.

Snack Time

I found this idea on another blog, however, I don't remember exactly which one it was. Basically, I loved the idea because T is a snack grazer. She is constantly eating through out the day. I decided to use a muffin tin of assorted, healthy snack foods. At the time, I only had a muffin tin for 12 but now, I use one for 6.


It works great! T doesn't complain about any of the foods, because even if she doesn't want one thing, she usually has something else that she does want. And, I get to choose the snacks this way.

Popcorn and a Movie

This time of year can be gloomy, cold, and wet. Because of that, we don't get outside as much as we'd like. It's the perfect time for snuggling together on the couch watching a movie with a big bowl of popcorn.

I love popcorn! And I don't mean the microwaveable kind. I pop the popcorn on the stove top. It's a lot simpler than some may think. Just put in 3 Tbsp oil and 1/3 cup popcorn into a big pot. T loves to watch the popcorn pop. I like to add butter, and a little salt. But, the most important ingredient to the way we make popcorn is agave nectar. I just drizzle it on and mix it in to make our popcorn a little sweeter and it's so yummy!

If you don't have agave nectar, you can add honey instead, but it can get a little gooey. So, just stick it into the oven for about 5 minutes or so (flat on a baking sheet) to harden it up. Tastes like caramel popcorn!



- Special thanks to my sister-in-law for giving us these popcorn ideas!

Valentine's Day cookies

Valentine's Day wouldn't be what it is without the sweets. But, I wanted to make something with T besides the typical sugar cookie. Once again, I found just what I was looking for from The Artful Parent. You may have noticed that I love her blog as a lot of my ideas come from it.

T helped me mix the batter.


Then, we used our rolling pins and heart cookie cutters.


T's rolling pin is from her Melissa and Dough playdough set.


The cookies turned out great and were just what I was looking for to make with T!(The picture below is of pre-baked cookies.)

Snowshake

This is for those of you who are lucky enough to have snow this season. Thankfully, we had a few days to enjoy the snow right before Christmas. One of our traditions that we began last year is to make snowshakes. My mom told me about these and it's very simple.

You need:

packed snow
milk
sugar
vanilla

You basically just fill a cup full of snow and pack it in. Pour in the milk (but make sure not too much, otherwise the snow will melt). Then mix in the sugar and vanilla. The amounts are up to you.


Last year, we had almost 2 ft. of snow and really enjoyed this simple drink quite often. Now, when T sees snow, she immediately asks to have a snowshake. Yummy!