Coffee Break

It’s been awhile! Let’s catch up.

I made these Valentine’s Day cookies last year. They’re my cut-out cream cheese sugar cookies topped with vanilla buttercream. So simple and festive and you don’t need to fiddle with royal icing and piping tips. But if royal icing is your thing, look at these beautiful snowflake cookies I decorated the other week! I’m having a major moment with decorating sugar cookies and I feel like I’m improving with each batch. That’s how we learn new skills, right? Here are the snowflake cookie cutters I have. Awesome little set.

Updated Recipe Photos

While I love working on NEW recipes, I also enjoy going back and updating old blog posts with fresh new photos, video tutorials, and additional recipe tips. These are recipes I make on the regular, so why not refresh the photos! Can I admit that I completely cringe when I look at old photography? It’s normal to critique your work and reminds us that any skill, photography included, is a journey. If you’re interested, I updated my food photography page. I hope you can learn from it if you’re just starting out!

Wanted to share 4 recipe posts I recently updated. The recipes are still exactly the same, but the post content has been spruced up.

I’ll let you know when I update more!

Noelle – Happy 16 Months!

I prefer to keep photos of her a little private from the blog, but I just can’t believe our sweet Noelle is 16 months old today! Long gone are the days I capture her monthly photos because this silly little lady can’t sit still! Walking has turned into running and sitting has turned to dancing. Yes, dancing. Anytime there’s music playing, she LOVES to shake her little hips and sway her arms. She also just learned how to twirl in circles and points to her belly when you say “hey noelle, where’s your belly?” She’s an awesome eater– will try everything. She loves cheese, berries, green beans, and bread. Chick peas are her favorite right now and, as a parent– how easy to just open a can of chick peas?!

She’s also picked up the most hilarious laugh. She has her regular laugh, but also walks around the house giggling like a little leprechaun. I can’t even explain how it sounds, but I think she learned it from a sound on her Vtech sit-to-stand walker. We just started swim lessons at a local indoor pool center and this girl is a natural. She’s always loved bath time, so I knew she’d enjoy swim class too.

This age is so much fun, but man it can be exhausting! She’s transitioning out of the baby world into toddlerhood, engaged and exploring, but at this age, you don’t really have an attention span or those fine motor skills yet. She loves reading books (and runs over to my lap to sit in it… melts my heart!) and her little wooden puzzles, but I’m always looking for more activity ideas. My friend introduced me to a couple Insta accounts/blogs called Busy Toddler and Happy Toddler Playtime where I’m gathering so many EASY ideas. Do you have any fun activities or playtime ideas for this age?

By the way, this time last year, I wrote a post called Dear First Time Mom (or Dad). Noelle was almost 5 months old and I was slowly gaining confidence in my role as a mother. Even though Noelle was such an easy happy baby, adjusting to parenthood was difficult for me and I don’t think parents should feel ashamed for admitting that. Of course we love our babies, but it’s really hard especially when all you see on social media are perfect, happy mothers seamlessly easing into motherhood. It affected me in a very deep way; I felt alone and was flooded with guilt. Time is on all of our sides and if you’re feeling overwhelmed and hopeless, I encourage you to reach out to a loved one and admit you are struggling. How brave of you and what a wonderful example for your child.

You will feel like yourself again. ♥

Bahamas Vacation

It had been a long time since Kevin and I took a vacation just the two of us, so we booked a trip to The Bahamas and spent 5 days on Nassau earlier this month. We stayed at Baha Mar resort and we LOVED it. It was 80 degrees and sunny the entire week with a beautiful view of the crystal clear water. The ocean was pretty chilly this time of year, but there were so many pools! What we both wanted from this vacation was relaxation, so we literally did nothing but hang by the pool, eat, and explore the resort. So, unfortunately, I don’t have any recommendations on activities in the area but I know there are plenty. The spa was a treat, though! There are 3 hotels on this resort and we stayed at the Grand Hyatt. There’s a huge casino, shopping, and tons of restaurants. Some of the best food I’ve ever eaten including fresh sushi, plantain chips, conch fritters, Thai green curry with scallops, tiger prawns, and more. And nothing beats fresh banana daiquiris by the pool!

In one of their pools, they have a grotto with a couple sharks. Another one with turtles and exotic fish. And there are flamingos, the national bird of The Bahamas, on the resort too!

We saw lots of kids playing and having a blast, so while this is definitely a family friendly resort, I still consider it perfect/romantic for adults. 🙂

Pupdate!

Franklin and Jude are great! The only update is that Jude, our 10 and 1/2 year old rottie mix, is currently in a cone. Poor guy. He had a severely cracked nail that needed some medical attention and the vet had to remove a significant amount of it. To prevent him from licking the wound, he’s rocking his little lampshade. Still in good spirits, as usual! He’s moving much slower these days, as expected, but the vet always says he’s in great shape for his age. I think Noelle and Franklin keep him young!

Baking Made Easy Email Series

I published a blog post about this over the holidays, but in case you missed it– let’s quickly revisit! My 2019 goals for Sally’s Baking Addiction are to condense, concise, and update– make all my blog posts easier to follow. With this in mind, I thought now would be the perfect opportunity to combine some of my best baking recipes, tips, and tutorials into one place: an email course. This series includes some of my most popular posts (that I’ve re-written and condensed!). You receive 1 email per day for 5 days. After that, I’ll send you 1 email per week with additional popular recipes as I update them with recipe notes and easier instructions. Again, it’s completely free just like the content on my blog and it’s in addition to the regular NEW RECIPE emails you receive (if you’re signed up for those!).

You don’t need to do anything– no homework– just read, learn, and get excited to apply some of the lessons in your own kitchen. I’m hoping to create more series like this– with new material such as bread baking, cake baking, sugar cookie decorating, etc. All series designed for beginners who want to improve their baking prowess!

Sign Up for Baking Made Easy Email Series

Q: Would you be interested in more email courses?

January Baking Challenge

The January 2019 Baking Challenge is homemade bagels and I’ve seen the most participation in a baking challenge yet! Can you believe Sally’s Baking Challenge is 2 years old? Which challenge recipe has been your favorite? I vote croissants. 🙂

Keep those bagel pictures coming. The February Baking Challenge is coming next week!

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