Cake Smash//Picture Overload!

Are you ready for a lot of pictures? Good. Here we go!

Here's the cake before the action:

Sam started out pretty timidly

But after I pinched off a piece of the cake for him to try he started to get a little more enthusiastic.

Pretty soon, he was going at it!

...and then he dumped the cake onto his lap, and later the floor!

Look, Mom, CAKE!

 Thanks for reading. Bye, bye!

If you want to see the healthy (ish) recipe I used for the cake, click here.

Soon, I'll be posting about Sam's first birthday party!

Just in case you were wondering, the backdrop is made from dollar store crepe paper streamers and ribbon from my craft box. I reused it at the birthday party.

Healthy Smash Cake Recipe

This week was Sam's first birthday! Ever since I heard about smash cakes I've been wanting to do one for him, but I didn't like the idea of feeding him tons of sugar and other things that I haven't really let him eat yet. I know, I'm a hypocrite. I love anything unhealthy (except for twinkies) but I don't want my baby to be the same, so I'm trying to help him eat well. I found this recipe over at Fit Mama Real Food and was so excited that it seemed so healthy. I also loved that I could substitute the baby food in my pantry (that Sam is starting to refuse to eat) for several of the ingredients!
Here's how you make it:

You will need:

1 jar of applesauce, 3-4 jars of bananas, 3 tablespoons of melted coconut oil, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 3/4 cup of baby oatmeal cereal, 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
*all of the jars of baby food that I used are 4 oz



Mix Bananas and applesauce,

coconut oil,

and vanilla extract in one bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, and baking soda.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Grease your baking dishes. (I learned this greasing technique from my mother in law: put some coconut oil into the pan and wipe it around with a paper towel. You can also just use cooking spray.)

Then pour in your batter.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes and allow to cool before frosting. When I took mine out of the pans they started to lose their shape so I popped them back into their dishes and waited until they were room temperature to take them out again and they held up well after that.

For frosting I used plain greek yogurt (and then went a little crazy with the sprinkles!)

Sam loved it, and he really likes the non-frosted, non-sprinkled muffins a lot as well! For pictures of the smashing, go here, and here.

Here is a printer-friendly version of the recipe!



Ingredients
        1 Jar Applesauce
        3-4 Jars Banana
        3 Tablespoons Coconut Oil (melted)
        1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
        3/4 Cup Baby Oatmeal Cereal
        3/4 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour
        1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
        1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
                *all of the jars of baby food that I used are 4 oz

Directions

1. Mix Bananas, applesauce, coconut oil and vanilla extract in one bowl. (I used five jars of bananas and found it to be too much. I would suggest three or four.)
2. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, and baking soda.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Pour batter into greased baking dishes. I used two bowls that were four inches across and filled them two inches deep. I had enough batter left over to make 9 mini muffins for Sam to snack on. 
5. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Mine took about 35 minutes to cook. If you're using shallower pans, do less baking time. 
6. Allow to cool before frosting. I would suggest in the pan. When I took mine out they started to lose their shape so I popped them back into their dishes and waited until they were room temperature to take them out again and they held up well after that.

Happy Baking!

French Baguettes

I have to admit that with all the talk about the protests and riots and barricades in Kiev, it's made me think a little bit about Les Miserables. So, yesterday I decided to watch it. In the first half of the movie there are several references to bread so, naturally, I started making a couple of baguettes while I watched! I found a fantastic recipe on allrecipes.com, but the instructions only tell you how to make it in bread machine. I don't have one of those, so I adapted the recipe for making it by hand!

Ingredients:
1 cup Warm Water
2½ - 3 cups Bread Flour
1 Tablespoon White Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
1½ teaspoons Yeast

Directions:
1) Put warm water, yeast, and sugar in bowl and let it sit about 10 minutes.
2) Add 2½ flour and salt. Mix until thoroughly blended, adding more flour as (and if) needed. Kneed for about 10-15 minutes.
3) Place in greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise a half hour, or until doubled in size.
4) Punch down dough. Roll out into large rectangle (about 16" x 12") and cut in half.
5) Roll each half into a loaf. Make sure to get the air bubbles out as you do this. Place loaves on greased baking sheet at least 3 inches apart. If you want to, now is the time to add those fun, decorative gashes. Cover with plastic wrap* and let it rise about a half hour, or until doubled in size.
*Now is a good time to start pre-heating the oven to 375 degrees.
6) Remove plastic wrap. Spray loaves generously with water and place in oven on center rack. The water will help make the crust more thick and crusty, the way a baguette should be. I have no idea why this works, but it does. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

We ate one last night with garlic spread (easiest and tastiest recipe ever. I'll share it soon) and tonight we'll probably make some bruschetta since we need to use the bread before it gets stale :)

A Little "Whovian" Baking

Thursday was my little sister's birthday, and her first birthday away from home. I wanted to do something to make her feel special, so we invited her over for dinner, but I wanted to get her a gift as well. She is a huge Doctor Who fan, so I started looking down that path for ideas. I made her a bookmark that looks like the most recent Doctor, a super cheesy card, and instead of cupcakes, I made her "fish sticks" and custard!

Yes, it sounds disgusting. It's a DW thing. There was one episode where the Doctor eats fish sticks with custard. I'm not sure how they came up with that combination, but they did and now I've re-created it in much yummier fashion!

I made normal vanilla pudding from a box. Cheating, I know. Then I was trying to think of things that might look kind of breaded like fish sticks that would actually taste good with pudding, so I went with snickerdoodle cookies! I rolled the dough into short little logs instead of balls and then rolled those in the cinnamon-sugar. I forgot, as I have almost every time since moving to Utah, that you have to add extra flour here, so they ended up spreading out more than I anticipated, but I just cut them in half and they turned out to be the right dimensions, besides being a bit flat.

They were very tasty, and my sister reacted very well! I'm glad she like my little home-made treat. I have to say, I was a little too proud of myself for coming up with this idea since I haven't watched much Doctor Who, but I had fun making it, and seeing my sister happy on her birthday was all I really wanted.

Thanks to my husband for helping me get this picture onto my computer! Apparently android and macs don't like to work together. :P