Be warned...this post has a lot of food in it. It's not "it's January and I'm on a diet food." Consider yourself warned! )
Not Annalee's 1st spaghetti, but first time eating it herself!
I have never made a turkey and I have roasted 1 chicken in my life (just kind of guessed and it was cooked but not especially tasty)...but after I ate my friend Peter's roasted chicken and veggies on New Year's Eve, I was inspired!
I looked online for "recipes" and one of the first top-rated ones I found was by Ina Garten...not usually my favorite but she IS one of Peter's favorites, so I thought it was worth a try! I made a few adjustments but for the most part, stuck to it.
We did not have any "kitchen string" - so the lemon and garlic I shoved into the cavity were bursting out! Not going to lie, it didn't matter. The flavor was AMAZING! I roasted the chicken with carrots, parsnips, and onion. On the side, I roasted yukon gold potatoes and brussels sprouts. Yum! Connor pretty much ate...chicken. So picky. Annalee ate everything. :)
We've had some nice days in January (in NC!), so we've tried to zip outside when we have the chance! Getting in a little "catch".
I was making Annalee laugh one morning by tossing a blanket over her head, letting her rip it off and saying, "There she is!" Connor wanted in, so I would put it over them both, but then he pretty much took over. She seriously laughs so hard when her brother plays with her. I love when they play together!
My sister turned 24 this month, so we drove up to celebrate with her! She already got her sweet penguin footie pj's for a gift, so I tried to make her a special cake. She likes caramel coffee drinks and also those chocolate oranges (I think you can only get them at Christmas?), so I thought this was a good choice! It came in my Food Network Magazine, but here is the recipe!
Connor was busy coloring while I was cake-making. "Brown." The one color he always seems to recognize for sure!
We went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill, which was delicious, and they brought Laura a birthday dessert....which we did not finish since she had this giant, extremely sweet cake coming! By the way, I read the one review of that recipe and it seems like the person had a hard time. I used a boxed cake mix (b/c I didn't think it would be much different), but the chocolate ganache and caramel topping were not at ALL as difficult as I thought they might be. I actually really enjoyed making this cake...I am not really one for fancy cake decorating, but I loved making the tasty topping and had no idea how easy it was to make caramel...just follow the instructions and DO NOT STIR!
Birthday girl!
Laura: "I'm six!" Lindsay: "Uh, no. You're 2-4, 24. I didn't think you'd want that many to blow out." Laura: "Oh noooo I was thinking I was still 23!" :)
We met Laura's friend Pat and he had dinner and cake with us too! He also held his first baby ever (Annalee) and kept her quite entertained while I was making the caramel and Jonathan was loading the car (Laura drove down our Christmas gifts for us!).
Laura and her nephew/Godson....Con was very happy to go on a trip to see Laura! Happy Birthday, Sister, we love you!
Our friends Paul and Shelley are having their second baby this spring, and Mandy threw a beautiful shower for them! The gender is a surprise and the theme was "Ready to Pop", everything was poppin' in some way!
Shelley with some sweet friends.
I wanted to make a diaper cake but had never done one...so my other friend Shelley (who made a diaper cake for Annalee) made it with me! She did all the hard part...all the diapers and stacking...I did the add-ins. The lollipops were our contribution to the "poppin'!"
Can't wait to see if that baby will be a boy or a girl, my guess is BOY!
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