Coffee Break

Checking in with another life update today.

And a little chocolate buttercream and sprinkles to make us all smile!

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Update on Jude

We’ve known about Jude’s cancer for 8 months and he’s still going strong! Jude is our 12 year old German shepherd/rottie. He had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor last year– and the tumor hasn’t returned! By the advice of our vet team and considering he’s been in excellent health otherwise, Jude’s been in canine chemo since his surgery.

(Obviously we’re taking extra precaution where necessary as advised by my Dr and our vet since I’m pregnant.)

I’m thrilled to report that Jude’s still doing so great and his blood work has been consistently healthy. He turned 12 in March! Obviously moving around much slower these days, but he’s still nothing but smiles. Thank you for all the kind words of encouragement during all this! You know how much our dogs mean to us.

We made homemade peanut butter carrot dog treats for the big guy’s 12th birthday, which doubled as a fun toddler activity!

Franklin also had a birthday since I last checked in! A Quinn family tradition, you get to eat dessert off the birthday plate. I spread a peanut butter number on the plate and they lick it off. And every time I type or explain this to people, I realize how strange it is. Ha!

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Pregnancy

I’m starting my 3rd trimester already! Feeling pretty good. Fatigued from pregnancy, a little insomnia, and chasing around a toddler, but if that’s all I have to complain about in week 28, then I’m pretty lucky. This pregnancy feels so much different from my pregnancy with Noelle. My bump is growing faster and my braxton hicks contractions set in much quicker, too. But my body remembers this and I’m so grateful to experience it all over again.

We’ve told Noelle there’s a baby coming and she points to my belly, but I know she doesn’t fully get it. From your thoughtful advice and talking to my friends with more than 1 child, we plan to include Noelle as much as possible during this exciting time and when her sibling arrives. But I know we’ll run into a bit of emotional trouble because she’s been the only child for so long. Any other advice?

By the way, do you like our family Easter photo? Kevin had to take the photo, Noelle was watching Trolls World Party, Jude was sleeping, and Franklin is only standing there because he’s waiting to be fed. This is good enough for Easter 2020!

And right now, I think “good enough” is considered a victory for us all.

Speaking of, I want to use this opportunity to send love to everyone as we face our world’s pandemic. This boundless invisible threat has deeply affected us all in different ways. Sending my deepest gratitude to essential workers and medical care providers on the front lines risking their health and lives for us and my condolences to anyone who has experienced loss during this frozen moment in time. And thank you to everyone who is staying home.

There’s so much to say about all of this, but somehow I’m at a loss of words. And maybe it’s good to focus on other topics that keep us preoccupied, joyful, and positive. My recipes and social posts are continuing as normal in hopes to spread joy on all platforms.

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Parenting a Toddler Through the Pandemic

On the same subject but switching directions, how are parents with toddlers doing this? Noelle was going to preK age 2 school a couple times a week and she talks about it everyday. She misses it so much, but we’re having a difficult time explaining things to her. We tell her school is closed for now, but she only understands so much.

We play outside a lot and maintain some daily structure, but it’s still been a challenge without her activities or seeing our friends/families. Do you follow Busy Toddler? Susie is one of my favorite accounts to follow on Instagram. She’s a wealth of helpful advice, creative activities, and information on parenting littles. And she’s been a lifesaver providing practical ideas the past several weeks!

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Recently Updated Recipes

Same story, different recipes! You know I’ve been working hard on existing recipes found on Sally’s Baking Addiction. I have over 1,200 recipes under my belt with new readers popping in daily. Why not show off the older recipes too? Working on older recipes also gives me a chance to take updated photos, republish the recipe if I want, film a video tutorial, and optimize the post with more helpful instructions. Along with all the new recipes you see here, you’ll find that I updated the following posts recently:

Plus a new category for egg-free baking.

By the way, don’t miss the first video found in my Baking Tips archive: Top 10 Baking Tips.

We filmed a series of videos this past January and I’m publishing one each month. The 2nd video is coming next week, so stay tuned!

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Discounts for SBA Readers

I have some exclusive discounts on fun items for Sally’s Baking Addiction readers! These are all little extras and clearly not essentials, but I know you’ll appreciate each:

• Use code SALLYSBAKING15 for 15% off your Sweetapolita sprinkles purchase.
• Use code SALLYSBAKEBLOG for 15% off everything on the Cookie DO website, including the cookbook, edible cookie dough shipments, merch, and baking mixes! Kristen, the owner, published a best-selling cookbook and it’s easily one of my favorites. I recommend it to everyone. So much fun!
• Use code SALLYBAKES10 for 10% off your Erickson Surfaces purchase. These are the photography backdrops/surfaces I use for all my food photography. ?

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Sally’s Baking Challenge

April Baking Challenge recipe: Homemade Flatbread Pizza

One reader, Sarah, says:

“This flatbread recipe is amazing. I used bread flour and added a teaspoon of garlic powder. The bbq chicken cheese version was so good!! So glad the baking challenge was something with so few ingredients. Everyone said we should make this pizza often. We appreciated having a recipe we could do as a family during this tough time.”

Can you believe we’ll have our 40th Sally’s Baking Challenge next month?! A monthly tradition I launched in 2017, the monthly baking challenge has become an enormous piece of my blog and business. There’s a couple weeks left to join the April Baking Challenge. The purpose of the baking challenges is to have fun and try new recipes. No competition, just a fun group effort to try new recipes each month.

Joining is really easy and I launched an exclusive email list to answer FAQs and help readers understand the process and stay updated throughout the month.

Some of your flatbread photos from this month:

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Maternity Leave Plans

Just in case you were wondering! While you’ll continue to see Sally’s Baking Addiction in action on social media, in your inbox, and via scheduled recipe posts here on the website after our baby is born, the posts won’t be as frequent and I personally won’t be able to answer many recipe comments and questions.

Sally’s Baking Challenge will continue each month, of course. I’ll be checking in periodically, everything will be scheduled, and my team is here to assist. From everything I already have scheduled, I doubt anyone will notice I’m “gone.”

Thank you for sharing this exciting time with us!

And one last thing: here’s my 27th loaf of no yeast bread. You can now watch me make it in the Instagram Story Highlights on my Instagram account. Have you tried it yet?

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