Strawberry Cupcakes

Back in April, we had the opportunity to participate in a Little Pink Houses of Hope retreat in Carolina Beach, NC.  Are you familiar with Little Pink?  No?  You should be!  They are a fantastic organization that supports people and their families who have experienced breast cancer.  We spent a week at the beach with other families and a group of wonderful volunteers.  It was a carefree time after going through a marathon of treatments and appointments.  Little Pink thought of everything--from activities, to meals, to beach towels, to pictures.  Weeks later, my son is still talking about the people he met, about playing in the sand, and about how he went on a stand up paddle board with Daddy.  We were able to focus on connecting--as a family and with other people whose lives now share the common thread of breast cancer--instead of on the act of getting through the day.
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Sour Cream Medivnyk (Ukrainian Honey Cake)

 

Thank you for all of the nice things you said after my last post!  I have been meaning to share this with you since the beginning of the year, but things kind of got in the way.  Back in January, we attended the most highly-anticipated party of the post-party season:  The Third Annual Ukrainian Christmas/Pierogi night.  One of the things that makes this party perfect is that it is all about eating (and drinking and having fun). 
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Soft Ginger Cookies

 

I’ve gone back and forth over the past few months about whether or not I should share with you that I was in treatment for triple negative breast cancer.  I was diagnosed last September, and it was a bit of a shock.  I weaned my son for it, and we have to put having another baby on hold because of it, and that has been hard.  Cancer, of course, sucks no matter who you are, where you have it, or how old you are.  It is a game changer.  Something that happens to nice people and to mean people and to everyone in between.  You can easily go down the rabbit hole of asking why.  Was it that trip to X or Y?  Too much of Z?  Not enough exercise?  Holding on to things instead of letting go? 
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Sour Cherry Crisp

Hello!  It has been ages!  I hope that your kitchen has seen a lot of baking action over the past few months.  I’ve been thinking a lot about baking, but I haven’t been able to translate many of those thoughts into action until this weekend, when Aunt Katie and my new cherry pitter arrived.  They didn’t come together (the cherry pitter arrived first, if you must know), but it was serendipitous that they both arrived on the same day, because they are two very important parts of this recipe.  If you don’t have a Katie in your life, then you really should go out there and find one.  I’ll be frank, we are not willing to share our Katie because she really tops the charts.  Who else would look the other way when I ate my kid’s ice cream cone because he wasn’t licking it fast enough (yes, having a toddler is the perfect excuse for eating not one, but two ice cream cones on a hot afternoon!)?  Who else would arrive with a talking puppy that can learn my kid’s name?  Who else would patiently pit all of these cherries?
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Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Hi there!  Happy New Year!  Has it really been over a year since I’ve shared something with you?  Time has flown by!  Our little guy is walking now, and we love every minute with him!  I haven’t really baked many things since he was born aside from some special celebratory cakes, a few random batches of cookies, and these muffins.  I whipped these up the night before his birthday so he had a special treat to share at daycare and so that we had a tasty baked good to put a candle in when we sang to him.  We’ve been making his food since he started solids, but this was the first time he tried my baking, so his first bite was a special moment for me!  These muffins come together really quickly and have a tiny halo of health since they are made with whole wheat and oatmeal flours and bananas.  That being said, I didn’t let him eat too much since we’re really striving for him to have a healthy diet!  If you want a nice muffin that uses up the cache of ripe bananas that is taking over your freezer, give these a try!
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Gingery Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chunks

I hope you are enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday and had a nice lineup of pies to round out your meal.  I managed to get out of baking this year!  Can you guess what would keep me from baking for this holiday?  I’m sure you’ve noticed that my baking and blogging has slowed down a bit over the past few months.  It isn’t that I haven’t wanted to bake or share recipes with you, it’s just that I’ve been busy with other things.  My current focus has ten fingers and ten toes and he arrived just over three weeks ago.  Yes, Scott and I just had a baby!  He is so cuddly and cute and I’m totally over the moon for him.

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Chocolate Coconut Pecan Cookies

I’ve been meaning to post these for a few weeks now, but other activities have gotten in the way of me sitting down at the computer.  I made these cookies both as a thank you gift and for Scott to share with a group of people that he was training.  I’m glad that everyone liked them because I was a bit late picking up Scott from the metro the night that I made them.  He was staying in town for dinner and that meant that I could read a book while I ate my dinner.  I don’t remember exactly what I was reading since that was a few books ago, but let’s just say it was Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival since I know that I read that book around the time I made these cookies and it is the kind of book that could get between me and baking since it is so captivating.  Regardless, I started baking later than I intended and still had two trays of cookies to put in the oven when Scott called to say he was going into the station to catch the train.  When it came to leave to get him, I had a difficult decision to make: pick him up on time and have two trays of half-baked cookies, or finish baking the cookies and pick him up late.  This time, the cookies won.  The good news is that I ended up being only 10 minutes late, and Scott was very understanding, especially once he tried one of the cookies.  If you like dense chocolaty cookies, then these are for you!

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