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{Katie’s Baby Blog} Easter Fun!

Easter may have looked a little different this year….watching church services streaming on social media, finally getting dressed up in something a little nicer than comfy clothes and not being able to have a big family dinner with siblings, cousins and the entire crew, but we made it work and Lily had such a fun day!

We started out with her finding her little Easter basket in the living room filled with unicorn slippers (shes obsessed with my slippers), her very own set of {play} car keys (she always wants to play with our keys), a cute new bathing suit, bunny ears, new forks and spoons and candy!

Then, we started cooking (a new recipe from Easter dinner coming to Katie’s Kitchen this Friday!) and played with her new toys.

After a short mid-morning nap, we had lunch and then she saw that there were Easter eggs hidden all over our back yard! ..She figured out that there was candy inside the eggs that were in her basket that morning so, she immediately wanted to go open all of the eggs hidden! So, we got dressed in her Easter dress, that we’ve been waiting weeks to wear, and headed outside!

She was so funny making excited faces and pointing at the next new egg she spotted! We had a blast!…and she got to eat A LOT of mini M&M’s 🙂

It was a different Easter than we’re used to, but we will take it!

<3 Katie Ryan

 

FUN VIDEO: Pastry Chef tries to make homemade Cadbury Eggs!

I am a huge fan of food YouTube channels. They are my guilty pleasure. Bon Appetit’s homemade candy series is a ton of fun and I am so excited they are finally tackling the classic Cadbury Creme Egg. It is silly and full of problem solving.

Gotta get me some creme eggs!!!

BONUS: The Butterfingers Episode is my favorite!

{Katie’s Kitchen} Classic Homemade Hummus

Looking for something to snack on during this quarantine? Have a random can of chickpeas, olive oil, a lemon, garlic and seasonings around??? LETS MAKE HUMMUS!

It was really really easy to do, and pretty fun, too! You can play with the recipe and add your own spin on things. Many hummus recipes call for Tahini, but this one does not.

Start out by opening the can of chickpeas and saving some liquid 3-4 tbsp. from the can. Then drain and rinse the chickpeas well.

In a food processor or blender, add the chickpeas, lemon juice, 1 large garlic clove (throw the whole thing in without chopping), salt, cumin, reserve liquid, 2 tbsp. of olive oil. Then blend until creamy and smooth!

Add more of whatever you need- we added more lemon juice, cumin and more garlic! A sprinkle of paprika for garnish on top! Then it was perfect for us!

Eat with vegetables, pita chips, pretzels or anything you’d like!

Ingredients: I followed a recipe from highlightsalongtheway.com

-1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

-3-4 tbsp. reserve juice

-1 large garlic clove

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1/2 tsp. cumin

-Paprika for garnish!

{Katie’s Kitchen} My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

The aroma of baking, and the smell that takes over your house while you do it, is sure to bring back happy feelings and relieve stress! That is why I made my ULTIMATE favorite recipe today…Chocolate Chip Cookies. This recipe is actually one that I am using from Joanna Gains’ cook book, vol. 1! I LOVE HER. This cook book is honestly getting me through all of this craziness, so I wanted to share her cookies with you. Hopefully you can try them, too, and enjoy the relaxation of baking and the amazing smell of chocolate chip cookies.

Let’s get started! According to Joanna Gain’s Cookbook and my personal take on this recipe….

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, or a stand mixer (I used the paddle attachment), add a stick of softened unsalted butter and 2 1/2 cups of brown sugar. Beat the sugar and butter on medium-high heat until smooth. Add 2 eggs and beat, then add vanilla and mix until blended well.

Stop the mixer and add in your flour mixture. Mix on medium for 1-2 mins. then turn up to high for a few seconds. Dough will be chunky.

Add in 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips and mix on high. Or more! if you want 🙂

Drop spoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, without rolling or making them flat. Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 mins. (until you start to see a light brown color on top). Place onto wire rack and cool.

This recipe makes 30-40 cookies.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp. baking soda

1 stick unsalted butter

2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/5 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or more!)

 

{Katie’s Baby Blog} How We’re Social Distancing and Still Having Fun!

It’s easy to get bored or aggravated when you can’t go see family, friends or do anything fun that you have had planned for months.

BUT….having to stay home and canceling plans and getting to spend more time with my family has been a major blessing!

Trying to keep a 16 month old busy when you can’t go anywhere and when it’s been raining most days, keeping us indoors….does have it’s challenges, though! So we’ve tried a lot of new fun things to get us through.

Here’s what Lily has been up to as we’re all stuck at home 🙂 Scroll down to see our little home adventures…

Lily tried her first S’more….or s’mores…we made a lot at our campfire in our backyard!

 

 

Speaking of eating a lot…Lily has been VERY interested in my cooking and wanting to help..or rather taste test everything that comes out of the oven!

 

 

 

 

 

This girl…..yes, still eating…she broke into our snack drawer and found all of the goldfish. She’s obsessed with them, if you can’t tell!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We tried finger painting (and drawing with crayons) for the first time!! It was a LOT of fun for the first 10 minutes and then she wanted to throw the paper on the ground and touch Zoey (our dog) with her purple painted hands…yes Zoey ended up with a pretty purple streak on her head. It’s also partially Zoey’s fault…she had to sit on my lap while Lily painted..they love each other so much!

 

 

 

 

We also LOVE going on nature walks! Lily loves picking up sticks and this is a picture of the first “flower” that she picked!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUT her favorite thing above everything else is reading books! We sit down and read books throughout the day, whenever she just feels like chillen’ and sitting in her big cozy rocking chair in her bedroom. Her favorite book is Goodnight Moon 🙂

 

<3 Katie Ryan

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