5.27.2016

Homemade Organic Baby Food

After resisting baby food for the last month I finally gave in.
I am not ready for my princess to grow up but she is ready for some grub!
She is reaching and trying to grab all the food on our plates and forks 
(she takes after her mama + daddy, we LOVE food!!) 
I went to look for our Baby Breeza (baby food processor I used to make all of Eli's food)  today and can't find it. I almost ordered a new one off Amazon but wasn't in the mood to spend $59 so I just decided to use what we already own!!! 

Here is how I make pureed organic carrots:
I buy the pre-cut and peeled organic carrots from Trader Joe's.
First, I wash the with natural Fruit & Veggie Wash. 
This particular one I get at the Farmer's Market and is locally made in Frisco, Texas! 
Then, I boil filtered water in a medium saucepan, once boiling I reduce heat and 
add the steamer part to the sauce pan and dump in the carrots! 
Cover and let steam until tender (10-15 minutes). 



Next, I drain and wash the carrots in cold water to stop the cooking process. 
Lastly, I dump the carrots and cold water (about a 1/4 a cup) into the blender and puree.
Pop it  into a mason jar and voila, you're done! 
I put 1 in the fridge to cool and 1 on the icebox to freeze.
Baby food in the fridge is good for 3 days and in the icebox is good for 3 months.

I'm excited to feed my princess for the first time over this Memorial Day Weekend! 
Such a bittersweet time! 
Hugs,
Lauren 

5.25.2016

Sweet Tea, y'all!

I may or may not have a slight addiction to sweet tea (drools just writing the word).
Recently I made strawberry jam and in the process thought,
"I bet if I made peach syrup it would be bomb in some sweet tea"
I was right.
YUM! 

Ingredients: 
Syrup:
1 cup organic cane sugar
1 cup water 
3 organic rip peaches, sliced

Tea:
3 cups water for boiling 
2 lipton tea bags 
2 cups (I think...?) cold water

Instructions:
Wash peaches with natural fruit wash  
Slice them thinly 
Bring sugar, peaches and water to a boil in sauce pan 
Lower heat and mush peaches with a wooden spoon
Once the sugar is dissolved remove from heat and let sit about 20 minutes
Boil 3 cups of water in separate pan for tea 
Once boiling, remove from heat, add 2 family sized lipton tea bags, cover and let it sit for about 6 minutes 
Pour sugar into pitcher (this is totally preference but I do about a cup!)
Pour hot tea over sugar and stir until dissolved 
Fill pitcher to top with cold water 
Pour peach syrup into a mason jar over a fine mesh strainer
Pour tea over ice into glass
Add as much peach syrup as you like 
(and if your Mitch, add more sugar!! Ha!) 






Homemade vanilla ice cream

It's Memorial Day Weekend 
 which means an extra day with my hubby 
and HOMEMADE ICE CREAM! 
This is one of my favorite family traditions and we honestly make ice cream an embarrassing amount of times though the year but it's so stinking delicious (and I know exactly what is going in it!!!) 

Ingredients:
1 cup organic whole milk 
3/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups organic heavy cream (I swear Trader Joe's brand taste the best)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 

Instructions:
Freeze Cuisinart ice cream freezer bowl for 24 hours 
In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk, sugar and salt until it's dissolved
Stir in heavy cream + vanilla
Turn on Cuisinart ice cream maker
Pour mixture in frozen freezer bowl
Let mix 20 minutes
Place ice cream in gallon sized glass tupperware bowl
Freeze another 20 minutes in icebox 
ENJOY!! 




This is from fourth of July last year, but is still one of my favorite pictures ever! 

Eli + Mitch (and well really most everyone!) love homemade ice cream! 
It's so nostalgic of childhood, my mom used a huge blue ice cream maker and had to use the whole salt process! So thankful my ice cream maker is much easier!!! 

Also, don't forget to bust out your decor! 
I just placed out bow American Flag on our wreath- I got the bow last year at dollar tree! 
Also, target dollar aside has really cute paper plates, cups, mason jars, and even $1 banners (I got the "Stars & Stripes" one) right now! 


This is also from 4th of July last year, but cute idea for Memorial Day too!  
Easy way to make food into decor!! 



5.24.2016

Caroline Carlisle's Baby Shower

This is late, like really late. 
But I recently dusted off the ole blog and saw that I started this
 and decided to quickly finish it up and post it! 
My friends are just so incredible and threw me and Caroline Carlisle the most gorgeous baby shower! 
It was in late September at Neiman Marcus Willow Bend in the Marcus Room.
The Marcus Room is seriously the most gorgeous venue I've ever seen ( I may or may not have already booked it for Car Car's 1st birthday party...obnoxious, I know, I can't help it.).


The flowers were perfect. I love roses + babies breath! 
The gold chargers, the chiavari lucite chairs, the favors on each place setting, the games, it was seriously all perfect! 





The menu was delicious and included 2 of my favorite foods: popovers with strawberry butter 
and tortilla soup! 
They also had pink champagne cocktails, Prosecco, and virgin pink drink for the preggy lady! 





Dessert is always my favorite part of every party. 
In my opinion, the cake and cookies (other than entertainment) are the most important part! 
The cake, cookies, cake pops and macaroons were simply perfect. 
Gorgeous + delicious. 





Like I mentioned above I love good entertainment at a party so games are important to me. 
We played all the most fun games with the cutest prizes! 



I'm so thankful for the ladies! 
They put on quite the party!! 




 And am thankful for all the gorgeous ladies that came to celebrate sweet Caroline Carlisle! 










5.19.2016

Dinner Diaries

Recently, my sister-in-law was told me how easy + inexpensive it is to make bread at home.
I got inspired and started pinning my little heart out.
I found a pin for  French Peasant Bread (which my SIL highly recommended) and went with it.
I have to admit that I am a "do-er" and not always a thinker... The first time I made bread I had the dough rising and was on the phone with  my best friend when she asked if I had a loaf pan.
Which of course I didn't but luckily both babies were napping and daddy was home so I ran to target to buy a loaf pan!

 
 
 
 
 
Here is the recipe I follow:
 
Ingredients: 
  • 1 package dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)
  • 2 cups warm water
  • 1 T sugar
  • 2 t salt
  • 4 1/2 c flour
  • corn meal
  • melted butter (about 2-3 T)
Directions: 
  1. Place yeast, water, sugar, and salt in warm bowl and stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until blended. Do not knead.
  2. Cover and let rise one hour or until doubled in size.
  3. Remove dough from the bowl with floured hands (or awkwardly scoop out half the dough with a rubber spatula like I do, because the dough is really sticky and I don’t want to touch it!) and place in 2 rounds on a parchment-lined cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let rise an additional hour, or until doubled.
  4. Brush the top with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook an additional 15 minutes.
  5. Remove from oven and brush again with butter.
  6. Serve warm.
Notes:
  • To make the dough ahead, follow directions up until the second rise.  Instead of leaving it out to rise, cover and place in the fridge.  It will rise some in the fridge, but it may still need up to an hour to rise before you bake it.
  • You can easily halve or half again this recipe, depending on the size of your crowd.
http://biteofdelight.net/2008/02/french-peasant-bread.html


This is already a family favorite (Mitch and Eli can eat a loaf in 1 sitting!)
and I have been making it about once a week for a couple months now!
I also started jarring my own jam which I will blog at a later time!
Pairs great with this bread!
Hope this inspires you to bake some bread this week!
xoxo
Lauren