The Baby Turns 10

September 2, 2024January 18, 2025 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

What in the actual…

Days are long and the years are fast, is that how the saying goes? Averi is ten! Can we take a moment and let that settle in?

For her summer birthday she wanted a trip to Great Wolf Lodge (GWL), a pink birthday party and cake pops. She got her wish and now I don’t feel the need to do two of those things again. We have officially grown out of GWL and the cake pops were the absolute worst thing that I have ever done.

I ordered cupcakes for her actual July 10th birthday and then we headed for the lodge later in the week.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our years celebrating birthday’s at GWL but we have outgrown the place. Not enough to keep the older ones interested and I don’t care to stand in anymore lines… for anything.

For her little celebration I gave the kid what she wanted… chocolate cake pops. Who knew the phenomenon of said dessert was such a nightmare to make? I mean I have made croissants and tarts, dutch babies and pavlova’s but leave it to cake pops to lead to profanity, alcohol and tears; and let’s not forget about the mess. I’ll have you know that I did my research and I was ready, armed with all the tools but it was a disaster. The cake and frosting rolled into balls, cake stick inserted and chocolate coating melted just for it all to melt and fall apart, one cake pop after the other sliding down the stick, chocolate getting everywhere, hands, counter, fridge, sink. I ended up saying fuck the cake sticks we will have cake balls, feeling so proud of myself in that moment. But, it wasn’t a real cake pop more like a cake truffle. Averi the empathetic child that she is felt guilty and said that she will never ask me to make those again, god I love her. Happy 10th birthday my sweet Aves.

Molten Lava Cakes {Culinary Bucket List #2 February}

February 18, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

The infamous molten chocolate lava cake, foodie trend and a recipe that is now on every restaurants menu. Supposedly these miniature cakes were invented when Michelin star and James Beard award winner chef Jean Georges accidentally undercooked a batch of mini chocolate cakes back in the 80’s. We thank you chef Georges.

Making these was a no brainer. Shane loves them + Valentine’s day = dessert. Although we stuffed ourselves with king crab legs, there is always room for chocolate right? Actually that is not true. As good as these were I couldn’t eat much of mine, between the baby and crustacean legs I didn’t have room left. Don’t worry, we got a gym sesh in that morning.

Luckily the recipe makes four of these babies. I kept the batter in the fridge for the next day. Winning!

I never realized how easy the recipe for these were and I had all the ingredients at home, you probably do too. The only mistake I made, was using flour to dust the ramekins with instead of cocoa powder. Sorry Martha Stewart.

I used this recipe from Food and Wine and didn’t change a thing.

No-Bake Bars

January 29, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

So I saw this recipe on Pinterest and since I had all the ingredients on hand I thought it would be a fun cooking lesson to do with K. I thought wrong, I did all the work while she ate chocolate chips and walnuts. slacker.

This really is a super simple treat to make and would be perfect to make with kids…or without. Did I mention they are delicious, cause they are. The recipe made more than I expected and these are rich so I froze half of the batch to devour at a later date. What can I say, I’m a planner.

You should gather these ingredients and get to it.

Weekend Things

January 13, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

I have my first appointment with the perinatologist scheduled, I got a load of blood drawn Friday, a flu shot on the calendar for Kaili and I picked up my Harmony prenatal test, once our insurance updates I can go get it taken care of.

We spent the weekend watching football of course but looking through my photos it also revolved around food.

I actually bought strawberries at Costco to make fruit roll ups but this ended up happening. Sorry, not sorry.

Does she look 2 here? I’d say more like 2 1/2 right?

We woke up Saturday morning and made banana bread. She quit on me early.

Fresh squeezed orange juice, it tasted as good as I hoped.

Hummus is one of K’s favorite things to eat so instead of buying stock in it I decided to make some. I used this recipe, recipe approved.

Sunday morning we hit Miramar resevoir for a glimpse of the ducks and a short walk.

I managed to stay off all social media last night so that I can enjoy the Golden Globes all alone this morning. A few of our shows started back up and I can say I really missed Shameless and I think True Detective is going to be some good T.V. You should watch it.

Dark Chocolate, Coconut and Macadamia Nut Tart

October 9, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

When I first saw this recipe I knew there was NO WAY this would be bad. Really easy to make, really easy to eat. Paleo and vegan friendly, gluten and dairy free..low fat? No, but all you need is a little slice, oh and it goes good with wine.

*See here for recipe*