Late Post

But just wanted to share how cute my little dino looked on his second Halloween 

with all of you.

Enjoy

XOXO

Lidia

What I've Been Pinning

I know everyone is tired of Halloween posts but these three pins are worth sharing I promise.

Definitely a future costume for Maximiliano, E.T. is one of my absolute favorite

childhood movies, that I'm sure he will love as well.

I don't think this even counts as a Halloween pin, or does it? Pumpkins are just a fall staple...

But then again this is like a pumpkin in a costume! Either way I love it and I plan on painting

one of these donut pumpkins later on today.

I plan on making one of these monsters to put up on our wall, I just think they are

so cute and perfect to keep on the wall year round. Mine is definitely wearing those

cool sunglasses.

Now on what I've been cooking and what I want to be cooking and baking.

I made this home-style chicken noodle soup with slight modification, I used

regular elbow pasta and dried basil instead of parsley and it did not disappoint.

Everyone loved it!

I want to be making these chicken pot pies, real soon. It's the perfect fall comfort food

other than soup and since I hate the frozen kind, these are a must.

These poached eggs in tomato sauce on toast sound amazing and warm perfect for

a chilly morning.

This pumpkin crumb cake is a MUST. It sounds so simple and yummy to pass on.

Hope you all are inspired by these pins just as much as I am.

Have a lovely Sunday!

Ours will probably be spent last minute costume shopping for me, 

pumpkin hunting, carving and listening to Misfits.

XOXO

Lidia

Pumpkin Patch

Hello fellow bloggers! I'm a bit late posting these pictures from the pumpkin patch

with our friends. These are from about three weeks ago but I haven't had much time

to blog lately since I will tell you that Maximiliano has started his terrible twos already

 at 1 year 4 months, which in my opinion they should be the terrible ones because judging

on everything that I read and hear from other moms, they start being terrible before two!

Except that Maximiliano is really not terrible... He's actually a very well behaved baby but

honestly it's curiosity more than anything that drives him, curiosity to know what's inside

all the drawers in the house, curiosity to see what the water in the toilet feels like, curiosity

to climb the chairs and tables. Although there are other things that aren't curiosity anymore

like for example, spilling Vicky's (our dog) food and water, that's his favorite things to do. 

I clean up and refill at least 10 times a day, any tips are greatly appreciated.

He was truly having a blast at the pumpkin patch, especially because I won him an

Inflatable guitar. I saw some girls with them before we even entered the patch and

knew that Maximiliano would love one, being that guitars are his favorite thing in the world!

Luckily they were easy to win. Once he had it, he did not want to let go of it, as you can see.

He also loved the goats, although they were really hard to pet. The kids were chasing them and

no luck, goats just kept running away as a herd. That is unless you had food, then they all

jumped on you at once. The only thing that Maximiliano and his friend Griffith didn't enjoy

was the boat ride that the guy working it said they would be fine on, but he was wrong.

That thing was waaaay too fast, almost felt they were going to fly off, so we asked if he

could stop it. We are hoping to visit the pumpkin patch one more time before the end of this

month with dad, since he was working this time.

So far we have pumpkin patch, Halloween cookies, and The Nightmare Before Christmas

checked off our Fall to do list. We have take fall photos in leaves, pumpkin carving and

caramel apples left. Oh and let's throw in some pumpkin bread, that's a must.

What are some of your must do things for fall? 

XOXO

Lidia

Browned Butter Donuts

I made donuts again. This recipe is my favorite baked donut recipe so far.

I'm definitely baking these again, this time I will make the glaze as well.

Speaking of donuts, this beer has been on my list for a while now.

Definitely going to get me some this weekend.

XOXO

Lidia

Donuts Forever

So I am a major donut enthusiast, I have to have my donut fix at least once every month or two.

I was browsing Pinterest and came across these lovely donuts, Immediately I said to myself;

"I have to make some!." And so I did. 

These are mini baked donuts, I prefer the fried version of course but these are good nonetheless.

Slightly adapted the recipe to ingredients I had on hand. I subbed the buttermilk for evaporated

milk and used all spice instead of nutmeg. Using the mini pan, this recipe makes 48 tiny little donuts.

Glaze was simply 1/3 cup powdered sugar, splash of vanilla and splash of milk. Topped some

with shredded coconut, others with sprinkles and rolled some in powdered sugar.

I leave you with a picture of Maximiliano "helping" me put up some spiderwebs.

XOXO

Lidia

Halloween Inspiration

Carving one of these little guys today.

These spiderweb cookies and this cookie decorating tutorial.

Can't decide if I should carve some of these or

these.

Should I be Lydia Deetz or

Wednesday Addams ?

I know it's still early but tomorrow will be the first day of October

and I'm decorating my house today so I wanted to share some things

that are currently inspiring me and hopefully you will be inspired too.

I would also love to know what's inspiring you!

XOXO

Lidia

farewell summer, hello fall

Today was the first day of fall and I'm excited for all the things that come with it.

Halloween, horror films every night, pumpkin carving with the misfits soundtrack

(new yearly tradition), blankets on the couch, cool walks around the neighborhood, 

hot chocolate, sweaters, boots and socks.  

Here I leave you some pictures of a summer picnic we had back in July.

                                      

1./2. Trader Joe's cheese tortellini in vodka sauce + sourdough.

3./4./5. Maximiliano loving that sourdough.

6. Playing with his soccer ball.

7./8. Swings aren't his favorite but he was having a blast.

What are your favorite things about fall?

Do you have any fall traditions?

I would love to hear all about them!

xoxo

Healthy Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Hi guys. Let me tell you about these AMAZING healthy chocolate snacks.

All you need are 5 simple ingredients and you will be in healthy Reese's heaven.

I incorporated these into my diet as a snack when I started clean eating back 

in March, I believe. Chocolate being one of my absolute favorite things (especially

Reese's peanut butter cups), well I just couldn't live without it so I decided to make

my own, I was so impressed on how good they were! 

P.S. those little cute chocolate liners are from my local Japanese market.

Healthy Reese's

Ingredients:

- 1/2 c. coconut oil (slightly melted)

- 1/2 c. cocoa powder

- 1/2 c. smooth peanut butter (or any other nut butter)

- 1/4 c. raw honey

- 1/2 t. vanilla

Blend all ingredients together, food processor or whisk both work just fine.

Pour into your candy cups. Freeze for about 30 minutes until firm then

remove, place in sealed container and store in freezer. Whenever you have

a chocolate craving pop one out of the freezer and in to your mouth! 

These are also great for children.

Enjoy

xoxo

Maximiliano's First Birthday

 June 27th 2013

The pizza of my eye. 

Life's greatest gift to me.

The reason my life is one continuous happy day,

on his very first birthday, eating his very own cake.

                             

1.Happy as can be, mounted on his piñata at his first birthday party!

2. Not wanting to sit still with his uncle (one of my best friends).

3. Hitting the piñata with his cousin. (He wanted to be barefoot the whole time.)

4. Eating some pasta bows, this boy can eat like nobody's business!

5. Posing with his Aunt, looking very serious.

6. Riding a penny with the help of mom.

7. Party invitations.

8/9. Goody Bags.

Maximiliano's first birthday was a few months ago, on the month of June.

His actual birthday was the 27th which was also my little sisters graduation from

middle school. His Dad and I woke him up by singing happy birthday to him

then proceeded to take him out of his crib and cuddle with him while we sang

happy birthday again, he was half asleep and smiling and loving it anyway.

 We celebrated both Maximiliano and my sister by going out for sushi. It was lots

of fun spending time with my mom and all my sisters and Maximiliano got his very

own green tea ice cream when they found out it was his first birthday, you should

have seen the smile on his face when he saw his sundae sitting in front of him.

He didn't know what to do, he couldn't believe it was actually happening haha.

After that we went home sang happy birthday again and he had a blast diving head 

first into his cake. I think I sang him Happy Birthday like a thousand times that day.

His birthday party was on the 29th of June, so we could all celebrate together,

on the weekend. It was lots of fun and also a little stressful although I tried to prep

as much as I could the days before. Yes I was late to my very own party or

Maximiliano's party that is, but I did learn a lot from it to make next years birthday

less stressful and more organized! So that's good, right?

I made it a simple neon bow tie party at the park. Made bow-ties for the kids to wear

and stuck them on the invitation. Boys wore them around the neck and girls in their hair.

Made the cake myself, it was just a simple vanilla tier cake with cream cheese frosting, 

neon sprinkles and a neon green fondant bow-tie that I made myself. I was not even able

 to get a picture of it, Baby turned out to be too tired and took a big nap so I don't even have

 a picture of him with the cake, it was getting late and I ended up cutting the cake

 and handing it out to guest as they left. I think the highlight of the party was the piñata.

The kids had a blast hitting it and picking up candy, I even joined them!

Food consisted of burgers and hot dogs, bow pasta salad and there was also soyviche.

(Which is just ceviche made with soy meat instead of shrimp, if you are wondering.)

The goody bags were just neon green paper lunch bags that I filled with a notepad,

bunch of crayons tied with yarn, neon play dough, a cute toy story clicking camera and

a few pieces of candy such as cry babies, starbursts, jolly ranchers, fun dips and 

blow pops which aren't pictured. 

I feel like I didn't take enough pictures (I took more than the ones you see here),

also I was kinda' bummed out I didn't get to take a picture with the baby and cake but

other than that I was super happy that everyone came to celebrate with us and helped

my baby have a happy first birthday which is what counts!

xoxo