{ pink ruffles & paige }

We celebrated my baby's 2nd birthday this week. She's now running around the house, climbing on every piece of furniture, and saying things like, "Wook at me, Mommy!" How can this possibly be?

We didn't have a big bash, but I couldn't let the occasion pass without providing my [fearless] girly girl with a little bit of pink, a touch of ruffles, and lots of love.

Happy birthday, sweet Paige.

{ my favorite maple }

Our backyard tree, throughout the year.

I think I love it so much because each time I look out the kitchen window, it's where I see the kids playing, the leaves changing, or the snow falling.


It's the perfect tree.

( saturday in bean town )

Ty had to run into work this weekend, so we decided to make it a family event and spend the day in Boston.

We visited his office (the Coast Guard station), wandered around the North End, had lunch at a pretty decent Tex-Mex restaurant (complete with Lone Star Beer and queso!), and battled Paige (who either wanted in her stroller, or out of it, depending on which way the wind was blowing).

All in all, a fun summer day in the city.

{ special strawberry cake }

Summertime and strawberries go together like baseball and hotdogs (and cold beer).

We enjoyed a low-key 4th of July yesterday, as Ty has been busy on duty in Boston Harbor during most of the holiday festivities. His time at home has been limited, but this same time last year, we had just received the news that he would be leaving within the week for an extended deployment out of the country ... so this year, we very much appreciate any time we have just being together.

Back to strawberries ... Ty's favorite. And now it seems Paige's as well (Aidan likes strawberry 'gogurt' squeezers, if that counts for anything). Strawberry layer cake was the plan, and it was an easy one to put together. Make one for the strawberry lover in your life, and appreciate our freedoms, as well as those who have sacrificed to bring them to us.

God bless America, home of baseball, hot dogs, strawberries, and gogurt squeezers.

Strawberry Layer Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
(adapted from DaveRamsey.com)

Ingredients
Cake
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 box white cake mix
1 - 3oz. box of strawberry Jell-o
 24oz. frozen, sliced strawberries (thawed)

Frosting
3 sticks of butter at room temperature
8 oz. block of cream cheese at room temperature
6 cups of powdered sugar
about 6 tablespoons of juice and pulp from strawberries

Process
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three eight-inch round cake pans by lining bottom of pans with wax paper sprayed with non-stick baking spray and lightly floured.

Using a potato masher or a fork, mash strawberries into small pieces. Measure one cup for the cake and set aside. Separately reserve about 6 tablespoons for use in the frosting.

Combine cake mix, oil, eggs and dry strawberry Jell-o in a mixing bowl and beat until blended. Stir in cup of mashed strawberries until blended.

Pour mixture evenly into the prepared cake pans. Bake 30 minutes at 350. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cakes in the pans for 10 minutes, then gently turn cakes out onto plates to cool completely.

To make icing, mix softened butter and cream cheese in mixer bowl until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix well. Add reserved strawberry juice with pulp by tablespoon to give the butter cream icing color and a touch of strawberry pieces. Do not add too much juice or your icing will be too thin.


Chill frosting for about 10 minutes before use. Assemble cakes, frosting between layers, and generously covering the top and sides.

Store the finished cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve -- the cream cheese frosting softens quickly, especially in the summer. Garnish with fresh strawberries just before serving.

{ berry crumble with almond-crusted shortbread }

The days are getting longer and warmer, and all those pretty summer berries have been making their way back into the produce section at the grocery store. It's been increasingly difficult to resist them, and today, I wasn't able to do so.

I'm a raspberry girl. They're my favorites. Raspberry cocktails, raspberry pies, raspberry anything -- I'm putty in the hands of anything of the framboise persuasion.

Ty, on the other hand, is a strawberry and blackberry guy. So, because I'm that kind of good-hearted and selfless person, I decided to mix things up and make a berry medley, rather than my originally-intended raspberry something or other.

I was actually inspired by the fresh stuff, but opted for the frozen version -- blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and, of course, raspberries.

So, welcome back, summer berries. I've missed you.

Berry Crumble with Almond-Crusted Shortbread
(adapted from uneGaminedanslaCuisine)

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup + 1/2 cups of sugar, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, cold and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 teaspoon of pure almond extract
1/2 cup of finely chopped almonds (I used a mini food processor until almonds were almost powder consistency)
2 tablespoon cornstarch
8 cups fresh or frozen berries

Process
Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Set pan aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Add butter pieces. Using a pastry cutter, cut them into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in eggs, almond extract, and almonds.

Press two-thirds of the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
In a large bowl, combine cornstarch and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar; add berries and gently toss. If using frozen berries, don't thaw them. Break them up, and toss them with the cornstarch. Spoon over crust.

Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Place dish on a wire rack, allowing as much time for cooling as possible.

{ boston minis }

Sometimes a big, full-size cake is just too much of a good thing.

Ty loves Boston Cream Pie of any kind (including the Dunkin Donuts variety), so when I discovered this recipe for the mini version of the classic dessert, I was pleased as pudding (HA!). It was a perfect Valentine's Day sweet treat that wouldn't ruin our healthy eating efforts for the entire week by taunting us with leftovers from the fridge.

So yummy -- it was a major hit with the Boston Cream Pie lover in my house. I foresee this being a recipe I'll repeat ... any times.

Mini Boston Cream Pies
(adapted from kraftrecipes)

Ingredients

• 1 package of yellow cake mix
• 1 envelope (3.4 oz.) vanilla flavored instant pudding
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1-1/2 cups thawed whipped topping, divided
• 4 squares semi-sweet chocolate

Process

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 24 cupcakes. Cool completely.

With electric mixer, beat pudding mix and milk about 2 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, use serrated knife to cut cupcakes horizontally in half. With the same knife, trim the top, rounded layer off of cupcakes so that both the tops and bottoms of the cakes are flat.

Fold 1/2 cup whipped topping into pudding; spoon onto bottom halves of cupcakes, using about 1 Tbsp. for each.* Cover with cupcake tops.

 

Microwave remaining whipped topping and chocolate  squares in small glass bowl on high 1-1/2 minutes, or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until well blended.  Spoon and spread chocolate onto cupcakes. 

Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes (the longer, the better) and serve.   

*I actually doubled the pudding recipe, as it's my favorite part of the recipe. I ended up with way more than I needed, so as the cupcakes began to cool, I pulled them apart and added another dollop of the cream mixture. Initially, the pudding was too runny to do so and just ran over the side, so I let it set for a while before adding more