A Weekend filled with Birthdays!

We had a lot of birthdays to celebrate this weekend!  It started with this cake I made for one of our friend's daughter's family birthday party. Her favorite colors are purple and orange.  I ordered the cake bunting from Especially Paper and I loved the quality and how quick she was able to get it to me.  I will definitely be ordering again!

On Saturday we headed to Long Island for lunch to celebrate my Grandfather's 94th birthday.  Unfortunately, he ended up in the hospital (nothing major) and we didn't get to see him. We were still able to have a nice lunch with my parents and my dad's sister.  We then headed into the city and visited our friends Joe and Carol who recently had a little boy and they were celebrating Carol's birthday.  They have an amazing rooftop and it was the perfect evening for it :)

Lastly we headed over to my good friend Caitlin's 30th birthday.  Her husband organized a fabulous afternoon of sailing and friends for her.  We didn't make the sailing, but we were able to meet up with them for some cocktails before Savanna expired :)

Our last celebration was on Sunday. We had Chris's family over to celebrate his brother's 27th birthday! We watched the Giants lose again but enjoyed a yummy lunch and some cake pops! 

Unfortunately this picture didn't come out great and don't ask why Savanna is naked :)

Hope you are having a great Monday!

Dairy Free Pumpkin Apple and Sweet Potato Soup

Where do the days go?? I cannot believe it is Friday already! Savanna started to really walk this week (about 5-10 steps at a time) so she has kept me on my toes! I have been wanting to share this pumpkin soup with you all week :)

Whenever fall arrives, all I crave is pumpkin! I have shared my love for pumpkin and the recipes for pumpkin mousse and pumpkin cookies, in the past.  This year the first thing I wanted to make was a big batch of pumpkin soup so I could stock up and have some easy lunches.  I also had a lot of apples and sweet potatoes so I thought it would be fun to add those as well.  I like a lot of spice in my soup so feel free to adjust the spices to your taste! This makes 12 cups of soup so there was plenty to eat this week and plenty to freeze :)

Happy Friday!

Dairy Free Pumpkin Apple and Sweet Potato Soup (Loosely adapted from The Family Kitchen)

3 TBS Olive Oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 apples (about 3 cups) chopped

1 large sweet potato (about 3 cups) chopped 

6 cups of water or stock

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp nutmeg

30 oz pumpkin (2 cans)

Directions:

1. Boil the sweet potato for 15 minutes to soften (takes longer to cook than everything else).

2. Heat a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and heat until it simmers. Add the diced onion, apples and salt. Sauté until onions are translucent, about 7 minutes.

3. Add the water/stock, sweet potato and spices and bring to a boil and cook until apples are very tender, about 5 more minutes.

4. Add the pumpkin and brown sugar and cook for 10 – 15 minutes over medium heat. In batches puree in your blender or food processor.  (You can add more water(or cream if you can have dairy), if desired, to thin out more.))

5. Top with pumpkin seeds and serve.

I Love NY Cake Pops

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week.  We have been busy over making these cake pops :)

One of my good friends from when I was working at JP Morgan is getting married today! I started at JP Morgan after I graduated from college and made a group of really close friends through the training program.  Out of the five of us there is only one still there, but we have stayed close which is really nice.  I am very excited for the wedding and honored that I could do the favors.  

We have a busy weekend ahead!  My husband is headed to a bachelor party in Miami this morning until Sunday and I have the wedding tonight. Saturday should be a lot of fun. The library in town is having their 100 year celebration which will include, a petting zoo, Music for Aadvarks and lots of other fun things for Savanna.  On Sunday we have a BBQ with the Rye Newcomers group which should hopefully be a great place to meet other new families. Savanna should have fun too since it is at the Nature Center and they have animals there :)

What's on tap for your weekend?  Congratulations to Stephanie and Fran!!

Leftover Baby Food Puree Ideas and Recipes

Once Savanna got a hold of finger foods, she said bye-bye to purees (if we are on the go she will eat some out of a pouch once in awhile).  I had made some of Savanna's food and bought some jars and pouches for when we were travelling.  Of course she gave up the purees as soon as I stocked up on jars.  I decided to make use them in baking and making other meals. Fruit purees are easy to make use of.  Here are some great ways to incorporate them:

• Stir into oatmeal
• Replace the butter or oil in pancakes or muffins (apple and pear are best for those)
• Make a smoothie

Some ideas for veggies: 

• Carrots and winter squash are great to add to mac and cheese
• Tomato and Carrot Purees are great for making pasta sauces 
• Winter Squash can be used for Giada's Butternut Squash Lasagna :) 
• Most veggies (maybe not broccoli or string beans) can be added to make a savory muffin
• Broccoli can be used for making soup (add some chopped pieces for texture) 

If you have any tomato carrot purees leftover, I made a yummy turkey meat sauce.  I didn't write down the exact recipe, but it was fairly simple. Saute a 1/4 of an onion, a few carrots and turkey chop meat (about 1/3 cup), add in 2 jars of puree and add little salt and pepper.  I tossed it with some small pasta and had dinner for Savanna for 3 nights! I altered my favorite pumpkin bread recipe to make it healthier and use some leftover apples and sweet potatoes (see recipe below). Savanna has almost always hated the purees with meat in them and I have no idea what to do with them so if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!  Do you cook with your leftover purees?  If so please share your ideas as well!

Sweet Potato and Apple Muffins

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg white

1/4 cup oil

1/3 cup apple sauce 

3/4 cup sweet potato puree

1/3 c + 1 Tbs milk (we used coconut)

1/2 tsp vinegar

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1/4 + 2 TBS oat flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl whisk sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and apple sauce

2. Whisk in squash, milk and vinegar 

3. In another bowl sift flours, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves

4. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients until well combined

5. Pour into loaf pan

6. Bake for 55 minutes or until tooth pick clean

7. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan 

Weekend Recap and Sunflower Cake

Happy Monday!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  We had a sports filled weekend in the burbs :) Chris is coaching a lacrosse team and they had try-outs on Saturday and Sunday.  Being here made it much easier on him and us because we could go watch and spend time with him.

On Saturday night we watched the first half of the HS Football game.  There was a huge crowd and it was a fun atmosphere, Savanna really enjoyed the excitement.  On Sunday afternoon we headed up to Chris's parents to celebrate his Grandmother's 85th birthday and Savanna's 10 month birthday!  I made a sunflower cake for the occasion!  Since I wrote Savanna's 9 month update a little late there hasn't been much change and updates to report from the last month so I am not going to do a full report this month.  We got a new toy for Savanna and of course she enjoys playing with a soft lacrosse ball and the box better :)

Hope everyone has a good Monday and welcome back to school for those that started today!

Personal and Business Update

After 7 (8 for Chris) years of living in New York City we moved out to the suburbs.  It was the right time for us, but still very sad.  We were cramped, but doing ok in our one bedroom apartment because Savanna was such a great sleeper and we were able to keep her in our room for 8 1/2 months.  The catalyst was her cruising.  Once she started that was when we realized how cramped we were. There was no where to hide things and we couldn't baby proof.  It was time for some space and grass.  We could of stayed and rented a bigger apartment, but we knew we wanted to move out within the next year or so and figured we might as well just do it now.  It was a tough decision, but we knew it was the right one for her.  I cried the entire week before we left. We had lived in our apartment for 4 years together (Chris had lived there for 6 total) and had created a lot of memories there. In those 4 years, we got in engaged in Central Park, planned our wedding and got married at the New York Athletic Club.  We were then blessed to have our first child there too.  It was really a home to us and sad to leave.  Besides the memories, most of our friends (from college and home since we are both from different parts of the suburbs surrounding NYC) still live in the city.  

Our apt sunset

Our last dinner outside in the neighborhood.

We moved to Rye, NY which is a town 25 miles outside the city.  It is a great town right on the Long Island Sound with a cute downtown and wonderful schools. From our house you can walk to a lot of places which makes the transition much easier!  There are two parks 3 minutes from our house and town and the library are a 10 minute walk.  I am still sad when I see our pictures of the city, but I love the space and know we made the right decision:)

So now what does this mean for KbyK?  For the moment, I am only taking friends and family orders.  I would like to eventually expand again, but I need to research how it will work here and I am enjoying being a full-time Mommy for the time :)  In the meantime, I am going to blog more so please still follow me to see some of the small projects I am doing and for some fun recipes!!