Sunday morning Snowman

Daddy and Wesley made a snowman this morning with a carrot nose and breadstick arms.

It was a cute snowman that lasted for a good 2 hours before the squirrels discovered him and ran away with his arms!

Orange Berry muffins

My next true baking endeavor isn't until the end of march for my cousins birthdays. In the meanwhile, I have to occupy myself with getting through some other parts of Baking: From my House to Yours -- namely breakfast items.

This morning we were supposed to have some friends over for breakfast (but we had to reschedule ) so I made Dorie's orange berry muffins.

The batter was not lumpy and bubbly as described, but thick. Other than that, they baked fine, not sweet and with just a subtle orange flavor. They were a good accompaniment to our daily cappuccino.

Recipe here.

Ricotta gnudi

You know those days that run like clockwork -- the perfect storm of perfect where you're the super hero in your mom cape? you know as opposed to the days where you just want to curl up in the fetal position surrounded by screaming kids and a house that looks like it was hit by a small meteor. The days where you're reaching into the very back of the fridge to feed the family. Well for once in a long while, I am donning my super mom cape!

Matt & Wesley were at swimming, Claire went down for a long nap, and I ... Did the taxes, cleaned the kitchen and set out to make a delicious lunch even though the fridge is pretty empty. The result?

Ricotta gnudi and marinara (from the book Stir) and homemade turkey meatballs (recipe on the fly).

Pretty incredible!

Amaretti torte

My grandfather turned 79 today and in his honor I made him an Amaretti torte using small amarettini cookies imported from Italy. My grandfather immigrated to the US from Italy in 1954; his mother was born in Chicago at the turn of the century and thus, she was able to bring her entire family to the states even though she had moved back to Italy as a young girl where she married and had 8 children.

My grandfather came to accompany his younger siblings and only intended to stay in Chicago long enough to make money to take the boat right back. But ... Well, he met a cute italian-american-chicagoan and here we all are 59 years later celebrating his 79th birthday -- children, grandchildren, and now his 2 great grandchildren.

Happy Birthday grandpa!

Cake is the 15 minute Amaretti torte from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From my house to yours."

Recipe here

8 months

 Claire is 8 months!

• She loves to babble "dada" and "baba".
• Goes from sitting to all 4s (but hasn't tried to crawl yet)
• Tries to pull up (but hasn't mastered it yet)
• Nurses 3-4x a day and 1-2x a night.
• Still not sleeping through the night -- 5-6 hours is considered good!
• Eating solids like a pro - hasn't met a veggie she didn't like 
• Getting over an ear infection - was 20lb5oz at the doctor.

Scones

The baking continues!

In honor of the season finale of Downton Abbey, that Matt and I watch religiously every Sunday night (the only bit of tv we have time for), I made Raspberry scones with a lemon glaze.

Birthday cheesecake

My mom loves cheesecake; at least I think she does. I do know for a fact that she loves to make cheesecake. So for her birthday, I decided to make her one as her birthday cake (even though she went and bought 2 more cakes -- my family is nothing if not over prepared when it comes to dessert.)

I've never made a cheesecake before and I wanted to make the best one in the world. So of course I turn to my Dorie Greenspan cook books -- specifically Baking: From My House to Yours. This is my baking bible and I want to try and plow through it and bake everything I see, which Matt told me I can't (because we'll gain weight) so I've decided to bake for special occasions. Lets just have lots of them.

This is not a hard recipe, it just has a lot of steps which includes cooking the cheesecake in a water bath. Result: luscious, creamy, sinful, this is the real thing. I added some orange extract and orange zest for a hint of flavor. Serve it with blueberries and raspberries for a perfect dinner ending.

Happy birthday mom!

Recipe here