Baking with Blondie

Spring striped yellow and white cake, frosted in a soft and sweet Almond Cream Cheese Frosting, and speckled just like a beautiful Easter Egg - such a perfect dessert for Easter or any Spring celebration!  Easter is only a couple days away! My family celebrates it in countless ways, most of them purely spiritual, but I do love myself a fun Easter egg hunt. Each year, my family has a tradition of having a little backyard Easter Egg hunt for the grandkids on my side of the family. We have 6 grandkids (one more on the way from my big sister), so each year I feel like it grows into more of a celebration together - and lots more eggs to hide! 

Broccoli, bacon, sunflower seeds, craisins - all the amazing ingredients you need to make everyone's new favorite side dish or salad!  I'm not even kidding when I say it will be everyone's new favorite. I knew right away that when I made this salad, it would immediately be tucked away into our make-this-as-much-as-possible stash. The prep is super simple, and the only cooking needed is crisping up that bacon. I've learned that laying all the bacon slices on a cookie sheet, and baking them for about 10-20 minutes on 400 degrees (turning once), you get the most perfectly crisp bacon without any effort at all. But before we get too distracted by the yummy bacon, let's dive into the rest of this amazing salad.

Perfectly cooked chicken, tender veggies, and soft tortellini in a flavorful creamy soup - easy enough for a weeknight meal, and delicious enough to keep on repeat in your meal rotation for months to come!  As many of you noticed (and emailed/messaged me about, lots! Sorry!), I have been MIA for a while (since last May/June). For anyone wondering if taking a little break after having a baby is a good idea, the answer is a resounding Y.E.S. Especially from blogging and all that comes along with it...

Oh hey there, friends! It's been a while, eh? I thought I'd break the silence with something that is not necessarily a go-to easy dinner recipe, but something I have made pretty often for our little guys. I don't often do posts like this, but figured it would be super helpful to those who are in the same boat!  Homemade baby food is super easy to make, and saves A TON of money for our little family. I'll share with you all the tricks I've learned along the way (after doing this method through both my two little boy's puree-feeding stages!), and even a step-by-step tutorial on how to get from those lovely whole veggies, to small lovely cubes of veggie puree; as easy to serve up as opening a jar of baby food (except for a fraction of the cost).