Home Baked by Laurie

 

When I was pregnant with Bugaboo, my mother decided to take a cake decorating class in order to make the best cakes for her grandbabies. My mother has always been an amazing baker, but after she took this class she has been able to make some incredible goodies. Bugaboo and Chickadee have always been lucky enough to have the best birthday cakes and goodies. My mother has been approached several times about whether she would sell some goodies. She worked full time for years but now she has finally retired and is starting to sell her baked goods. 

This was the Sofia the first cake that was made for Chickadee's third birthday. 

This was the Belle cake for Chickadee's Beauty and the Beast themed party. 

This was the Unicorn cake for her magical kingdom themed party. 

The kids recently had the chance to help Grandma make some yummy snickerdoodles. 

Chocolate caramel cookies that are Hubby's favorite cookie. 

Chocolate Brownies with frosting that contain coffee, these are my favorite. They are more like a cake than brownies but I adore them. 

Banana bread freshly pulled from the oven. 

Chocolate chip cookies which are always a delicious treat. 

Walnut cookies which are delicious and always a crowd pleaser. 

Bear cake pops with bullseye cookies that were made for a Brave themed party. 

Barnyard cake pops with rice crispy treat haystacks that were made for Bugaboo's first birthday. You can see more about Bugaboo's first birthday party here Bugaboo's first birthday

Cupcakes, cake pops and macaroons for a tea party baby shower for Chickadee. 

Melt in the mouth meringue cookies. These are light, airy and delicious. 

Cookie tin which makes an amazing gift. We usually give these to the kids' teachers and front office. They are always a crowd pleaser and we get so many compliments. This particular tin has jam thumb print oatmaeal cookies, toffee cookies, pumpkin cranberry cookies, walnut cookies, chocolate chip ranger cookies, hugs thumb prints(with sugar cookies), and chocolate caramel cookies. 

Mermaid cake with fish, seaweed and mermaid tails. 

Ninja turtle cupcakes. 

She has made so many amazing things and all of them are delicious. She is going to be selling cupcakes, cake pops, cookies and breads. As you can see they are all amazing looking and delicious. 

Reach out to her at homebakedbylaurie@gmail.com. She has a facebook page which you can check out here Home Baked by Laurie.

What are your favorite deserts? Have you tried any goods from Home Baked by Laurie? What did you think? 

Bugaboo's birthday is coming up and I will happily share all the goodies and ideas for that. 

Until next time, I am just going to enjoy the delicious treats of this journey. 

4th of July

 

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. It was awesome being able to get together with family and enjoy some time together. This year we went to my parents house and got to enjoy some good food, family and swimming. It was relaxing, fun and exactly what we needed. 

Both of my kiddos have grown so much over the last year that they have gone through 2 full sizes of clothes. I didn't have an opportunity to go shopping and buy a 4th of July outfit for them. Chickadee was unhappy with the fact that she didn't have anything red, white and blue. So in order to fix that I searched until I found some ribbon. Unfortunately I didn't have any red, but blue and white to make a fun hair accessory worked for her. I just cut several pieces of blue ribbon and curled it. Then tied it around the messy bun in her hair. Then I took the white ribbon and tied a bow in front of the blue curled ribbon which resulted in the below. 

Our menu for 4th of July was pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, potato salad, pigs in a blanket, salsa with cream cheese and 7 layer dip. My mother made the pulled pork in a slow cooker and she toasted the buns in the oven. My grandmother made the coleslaw and some cousins brought the potato salad. My mother made some pigs in a blanket. I brought salsa and cream cheese and 7 layer dip with chips. If you have never tried salsa and cream cheese, it is truly simple and delicious snack or appetizer. It is literally just an 8 oz block of cream cheese that has been set out to room temperature covered with salsa that you eat with tortilla chips or any chips you may like. 

Below is a picture of 7 layer dip. I have seen several different ways to make this but I will give you the recipe for the way that I make it. 

1st layer is premade bean dip. I spread 3-4 cans of the store bough premade bean dip. I combine regular and spicy bean dip for more flavor. I spread this on the bottom of the pan or dish I plan to use for serving. A lot of times I buy the disposable pans so that it is easily cleaned up and thrown away at the end of the get together or party. 

2nd layer is mashed avocado. I use 4-6 large avocados depending on the size of the pan. I mash the avocados with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice to help it from turning brown. I season with salt and pepper to taste. I spread this on top of the bean dip. 

3rd layer is sour cream mixed with taco seasoning. I use a 16 oz container of sour cream and combine a packet of taco seasoning with it. After thoroughly mixed, I spread this on top of the mashed avocado. Hubby likes the mixed sour cream with taco seasoning so much that we now use this with nachos, quesadillas or tacos when we make them. 

4th layer is shredded cheese. We typically use either 4 cheese mexican blend or monterey jack cheese. You can use whatever shredded cheese you prefer. I typically use 2 cups of cheese to cover a 9 x 13 pan of the dip. 

5th layer is sliced green onions. I buy one bunch and then cut until I feel that there is enough coverage of them over the top. 

6th layer is sliced olives. I buy the presliced black olives, drain the juice from the can and then spread them over the top until there is adequate coverage of them over the top. 

7th layer is diced tomato. I buy 1 large tomato and dice it and sprinkle those pieces on the top. 

This has become a favorite at parties. I can put it together the night before and it is ready to go for the party the next day. I usually prefer it with nacho cheese doritos, but it can be eaten with any type of chip that you prefer. We usually provide a variety for people to enjoy. 

My mother made brownies and rolo cookies for desert. Her brownies are more like a chocolate cake with frosting. They are delicious, one of my favorites that she makes. They have coffee in them to bring out the chocolate flavor. 

These are my mother's chocolate caramel cookies. They have a caramel center and are delicious. These are hubby's favorite. 

After hours of swimming, delicious food and some catching up. We watched some fireworks that were being lit in other areas of Riverside. It was a relaxing and fun day. 

What did you guys do for the 4th of July? What was the menu for you? Any favorites? 

Until next time, wishing you all fun, relaxation and happiness on this journey...

Titanic Exhibit

 I am a huge history nerd and love the Titanic. I loved the movie (totally had a crush on Leonardo Dicaprio at the time) and read a lot of information about the Titanic. So when we decided to head to Las Vegas for a friend's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADLEY!!!) Hubby bought tickets for us to go see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor hotel. It was amazing and everything I hoped for. I loved it and if you are heading to Las Vegas then I totally suggest you check it out: Titanic Exhibit. 

Hubby and I got to take pictures on the boat in the Jack and Rose pose as well as on the grand staircase (which is beautiful). When we arrived we each got a boarding pass with information of an actual person that was on the Titanic. Then at the end of the exhibit you got to see if the person whose ticket you have survived or died. 

It started with information about how the boat was made and designed. It was incredibly interesting to see all of the information. 

One of the best parts was seeing the big piece, a piece of the hull that was pulled up from the bottom of the ocean. It was incredibly moving and it gave me chills. I sat in the room with it for awhile just soaking in this amazing piece of history. If I could have sat there the whole day I would have done so in a heartbeat. 

They also had a large model built to show what the shipwreck looks like on the bottom of the ocean. To know that they were able to see it and picture it and recreate it was amazing. 

I found the au gratin dishes interesting. Not sure if you can read what the placard says, but the dishes were still in the cabinet in the bottom of the ocean until the would rotted away leaving the dishes standing in the sand in rows. 

Another area that was amazing was the recreation of the promenade deck. It was life size, you could stand and look at the stars. It shows how dark and still it was the night of the iceberg. There was no moon and no waves making it impossible to see anything out there. But the stars were lovely and the deck was calming. I could have spend hours sitting there just staring at the stars. 

There is still champagne in that bottle. It survived a shipwreck and being on the bottom of the ocean now sitting in a glass case with liquid inside. 

During the exhibit they show the differences between staying in third class and first class in the boat. Hubby and I joked about them since I was given the boarding pass of a third class passenger and Hubby had a first class boarding pass. This is a recreation of a first class room. While third class had bunks and a total of two baths to share for over seven hundred people. 

There were tons of dishes and silverware to be shown from all the classes on the ship. There were articles of clothing, perfume samples and even postcards that have been recovered. I loved every moment of this exhibit and learned so much interesting aspects that I hadn't known before. Even Hubby who isn't a history nerd like me enjoyed the exhibit. If your curious about the passengers we had, I survived while Hubby's passenger died. 

Anybody else a history nerd like me? What is your favorite exhibit? What was your favorite thing to do in Las Vegas? Got any suggestions on other awesome exhibits to see? 

Until next time, I am just going to bask in the wonder of some history on this journey...

Jurassic Quest

 

I LOVE Jurassic Park. It is definitely one of those movies that I will watch over and over and over again. I've watched every sequel that has come along afterwards as well. Bugaboo loves dinosaurs as well, he likes to read about them, learn about them and play with figurines of them. So for Christmas this year, my mother bought us tickets to go to Jurassic Quest. Due to COVID requirements, we did this as a drive thru but it was an awesome experience. There is an audio tour that you play through you tube during the drive. You can check out Jurassic Quest here Jurassic Quest

The tour began with a baby triceratops. It was adorable.

A couple of super stoked kids to get to see a whole bunch of dinosaurs while wearing their masks and  being COVID safe. 

The Megalodon is one big shark. 

Uh-oh, that triceratops is in massive danger from the Tyrannosaurus Rex and its baby. T-rex just happens to be Bugaboo's favorite dinosaur and he was so excited. 

Look at this triceratops...I wanted to reach out and touch it so bad. It was so close to our car that I could have but that would have broken some safety rules so I was good and kept to just close up pictures. Triceratops is my favorite dinosaur. 

Look at the adorable babies...aren't they just the cutest. 

Look at that hammer of a tail on the Ankylosaurs. 

YIKES RUN T-REX!!!!

That is one hard head on that parasaurolophus... 

Did you know that dinosaurs had feathers? This was new info to me but hey don't they look cool? 

If you dig Jurassic Park or Dinosaurs this is an awesome experience and I would recommend it.

What are some movies that you love? What are some fun experiences you have had recently? 

Until next time, going to enjoy this prehistoric trip on our journey. 

Chickadee's 8th Birthday Party

Chickadee's 8th birthday was during a time where things were slowly starting to open up again. So in order to celebrate we decided to go with a Princess party hosted by the dance studio Chickadee attends because they have full party packages. BEST DECISION EVER!!!! On Pointe Dance Studio totally rocked this in so many ways and I am going to show you...You can check them out here along with their party packages On Pointe Too.

They provided us with the invitations, not only electronically but printed with envelopes ready to be passed out and aren't they absolutely adorable. We decided to a princess theme (she turned 8 and I don't think I will get away with this theme for very much longer) and they asked what princess and Chickadee chose Cinderella. You can tell the start of how they incorporated this into the whole theme of the party. 

They set up tables, chairs and decor including a color coordinated balloon arch perfectly set for pictures. There is chickadee with her cousin. They checked temperatures upon arrival and limited the number of people who would be in the room to make sure everything was safe for the girls. It was only Chickadee and a couple of girls in attendance. I was able to stay but I was the only adult besides the attendants provided. 

They set up a gift table with adorable graphics that were Cinderella themed. They also created a thank you card list for Chickadee with the names and presents so that she could thank people properly. 

They had the signage all around with different Cinderella themes and are utterly adorable, like this welcome sign. 

They also provided all of the goodie bags and the items that they were filled with. There were candies, tiara pins, jewelry and stickers. They also had an adorable message of thanks for coming that matched the invitations as well. 

There were two attendants that were there to run the entire party provided by the dance studio. They had a princess tiara craft with the girls and they were sweet, fun and kept the girls busy the entire time. ONE OF THE BET THINGS THAT HAPPENED....

We even had a special guest. Cinderella herself showed up for the party. She came and sang a couple of songs with the girls. 

She read them a Cinderella story about her mice friends at the castle. 

She danced with the girls and play freeze dance with them. Cinderella also took the time to dance individually with each of the girls for a special one on one time. It was adorable and wonderful and I have a full video of Chickadee with Cinderella. 

Cinderall and Chickadee rocking the tiara she made during the craft time. 

Mackenzie loved having here there and was so excited. Cinderella took the time to take pictures with each of the girls. 

And we took group pictures showing all the fun.

Cinderella even sang Happy Birthday to Mackenzie while the girls had cupcakes which were provided as well. 

Up close with the balloon arch. Isn't it pretty?

The cupcakes were delicious by the way. 

 Being able to show up, not worry about anything, see the joy of the kids and have Chickadee super happy with her birthday...Like I said BEST DECISION EVER. The attendants took care of everything including coming up with games and obstacle courses on the spot. The decor was awesome and themed. I mean come on Cinderella. I didn't have to stress or worry about anything. It was the easiest birthday party for one of my kids ever. 

What was the easiest party you have done for your kids? 

Until next time I am just going to keep going on this journey...