One of the many ways that I express my creativity is in the kitchen. I love cooking, baking, throwing things together, and more than that-I love eating what I make after it’s all done! One person I really enjoy having fun with in the kitchen is my daughter.
Gia has been in the kitchen with me since she was just a little peanut. I would put her in the swing when she was fussy, sing to her and bake away till I was content. When she was big enough to eat solid food I was excited to make all her food from scratch and I was even more excited when we made the transition to table food.
Fast forward 14 years later and I find that she is even more adventurous than I am when it comes to experimenting with new recipes. She inspires me to do more and reminds me that it’s ok to try new things. Through our experimenting we have both come to the point where we can forgive ourselves if those new recipes don’t turn out perfect. (We are our own WORST critics.)
Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies are best served warm with Vanilla Ice Cream on top. When Gia and I are on a roll we make cookie dough and store in the ref or even freeze it so that when we want fresh cookies all we have to do is scoop and bake.
Last year Gia wanted to make her friend Ianna her rainbow birthday cake. She mixed and baked all the layers of the cake and I rolled out the fondant. Gia’s hand is so much more stead so she did the lettering as well. Together we make a great team.
For Halloween last year, Gia wanted to make sugar cookies to give everyone instead of buying candy. We had a good time rolling out the dough, but Gia really enjoyed icing. She mastered the icing technique this time.
We can make our cupcakes even more pretty with inexpensive add ons from the bake shop. We made these S’mores cupcakes together last Dec. 21 for the Children’s Choir of St. James.
We try and make as many home made gifts as possible. Last Christmas we made Gingerbread kits for everyone which included candy decorations and icing. These were really fun to roll out together while we were playing our Christmas music and dancing around the kitchen.
Gia even likes to bake with her friends, just like I do. She made these cupcakes (not iced yet but pretty none the less) with her volleyball team for the visiting team from Guam this past summer.
These were treats we made last year for Mother’s Day. Gia made cupcakes for all her Titas and while she was baking her cupcakes, I was baking Lemon Teacakes and Hershey’s Peanut Butter Blossoms.
Lemon Meringue Tart Gia made for when she knew I was going to have company for dessert in the afternoon.
A good friend of mine asked me to help her out with the dessert buffet of her sister’s intimate bridal shower. How could I resist the challenge? Gia and I had so much fun putting this together for her!
Yoga Sugar Cookie. We gave these as gifts last year for Christmas too.
There is no one I love being in the kitchen with more than my baby girl. I can’t wait till her baby sister is big enough to want to get in on the fun with us.
And when Gellibean DOES decide she’s ready to bake with us, Gia and I will be ready with music and measuring cups…ready to make memories and yummy treats we can eat together.