Katie-Did

I've been the WORST at updating this lately - I have had very little time to be crafty since I started selling  faux taxidermy animal heads , but I've been going through the blog and making old favorites :) I've been discussing desserts with Ted a lot since I'm having gremlin #2 somewhat soon - YAY SWEET TOOTH!! - and decided to make something a little different! This was honestly quite easy to make, and looks gorgeous and tastes amazing!! Ingredients 3 peaches 3 Tbsp butter 2-3 Tbsp brown sugar 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup yellow cornmeal 2/3 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 egg 1 cup milk 1/3 cup vegetable oil How To Preheat oven to 400. Heat a 9" round baking pan over medium-low heat  on the stove  and melt the butter in the pan. Cut the peaches into thin slices (no need to peel, but definitely remove the pit!). Sprinkle brown sugar over the melted butter across the entire bottom of the pan. Lay out the p

Our little sweet Ruby had her 2nd annual costume  birthday party , and it was so much fun!! She has been reading a lot of books about dinosaurs, like Curious George, and has learned to ROOOOAAAAARRRR like a dinosaur, has a toy dinosaur, and a picture of one in her room, so what else was she to dress as but a dinosaur this year?? And keeping with our "classic movies of the 80's and 90's" theme from last year, what better "iconosauric" movie (sorry not sorry!) than "Jurassic Park"!! Wow, you guys look GREAT!!! Decorations!! I decided to take it a little easier this year than last, so my baking was VERY pared down and my decorations were a little less... but that's not to say we didn't do a great job!! 1) "Rurassic Park" invitation art - done by talented hubby one month in advance!! 2) Dinosaur "fossil" (thanks, Plaster of Paris!) molds - made a few weeks in advance with the help of a wonderful 7 year old!

We are going to Seattle soon, and I thought I should practice making paella before going so I can make some there - SO MUCH FRESH SEAFOOD!!! So I looked up a bunch of different recipes, kind of mixed them all together, and voila - easy paella! It took me about 45 minutes, and now we seriously have food for DAYS!! Ingredients 1-2 Tbsp olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 2-4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed 2 links Spanish chorizo (not the same as Mexican chorizo!) or andouille sausage cut in slices Shrimp (I used probably 1-2 cups of frozen shrimp) Mussels (I used a bag of frozen mussels and it turned out pretty great!) Saffron threads (this was sold like a nudie magazine - inside a blank bottle, with the contents wrapped in black plastic! I can't tell you how many I used, but I just used "some" and hope it was the right amount!!) 1 Tbsp paprika 2 tsp oregano (or Italian seasoning, since that's all I have!) Red pepper flakes 1 bay leaf 1 15-oz can of crush

I got a new job where we have random things like bottles of rum lying around, so I took it upon myself to make birthday ice cream for me and another girl born on the same lucky date!! We used Selva Ray cacao rum, so it's kind of chocolatey and super sweet - it turned out SO TASTY!! I still can't quite figure out how you'd mix this as a beverage, but as a dessert, it was amazing. I used a modified version of  this recipe  since I love alcoholic ice cream so much!! Ingredients 1 cup whole milk 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar 6 large egg yolks 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt 3 1/2 Tbsp rum 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 little brownie bites, torn into tiny pieces How To Mix milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a rolling boil. Meanwhile, whisk yolks, 2 Tbsp sugar, and salt in a medium bowl until mixture is pale yellow and sugar dissolves. Whisking yolk mixture constantly, gradually add a fe

My little lady goes to the best in-home daycare ever, and one of her best friends is getting a new little sister!! Patti (our amazing nanny and dear friend) and I decided to throw a sprinkle (little shower!) for this fellow mama-to-be, and Patti came up with the super cute idea to make it Alice in Wonderland themed! To the Pinterest-machine we went!!! We did our best to make it cute, personalized, low-key, and tasty, and I think we succeeded on all fronts!! Keep in mind, with day jobs, kiddos, and general life getting in the way, we were extra careful to PLAN ahead! Most of the DIY projects were done the week prior to the shower, so that way, all we had to really do is show up! One week out.... I went to Joann Fabrics and found some super cute craft paper on sale for 40% off, woohoo! I used that pack for exterior signs (cute little sayings like "Wonderland", "Tea Party", "Right Way", "Wrong Way", "This Way", "That Way",

I am trying SO HARD to be healthy and it is really difficult if you're not that into salads, so I treated  forced myself to go to Ikea on a shopping trip for some salad dressing containers! (Any excuse, really!!) I came across this easy and yummy  cilantro lime vinaigrette  recipe and it's really making me enjoy my summer salads!! Ingredients Dressing: 1 cup loosely packed cilantro 1/4 cup oil 1/4 cup lime juice (~2 limes) 1/2 jalapeno, coarsely chopped (optional) 1 small clove garlic salt and pepper to taste Salad: Baby kale (or other greens of choice) Mango Avocado Jicama Chicken breast Cayenne pepper Cumin Cinnamon salt and pepper to taste How To For the dressing, just put all of your items in a food processor and blend until smooth! Done!!! For the salad, I really prefer "restaurant-style" salads that are all chopped and dressed, so I chopped up the greens nice and bite-sized, peeled and sliced the jicama, mango, and avocado, and