Flashback Friday…Kind of

Happy Friday!! 🙂

This is what I’m calling ‘Flashback Friday,’ but it’s not really a true Flashback Friday….only because I’m ‘flashing back’ to our Easter. I never shared what we did for Easter, and of course I have to share a TON of pictures. Wouldn’t be a typical Holly post without one loaded with photos, right?! 😉

Easter this year was spent at our house. Craig’s parents were in town, and my parents came down from Jacksonville so that we could all spend the day together. We all had not been together since Gabriella’s birth- which was November 5th. So it was nice to have all of us together again!

Easter morning started out with church. Craig & his parents attended, while Gabriella & I stayed home. I really wanted to go, but it’s really hard with a baby…especially because it was during her nap time. Soon enough we will all be able to go!

While they were there, the Easter bunny stopped by for a little visit. 😉

Easter baskets (well, bags, haha!) were delivered for everyone. The little bunny basket was from my in-laws for little Miss G! I love the basket, and we are going to save it for future Easter bunny deliveries!

Gabriella got in on making Easter presents this year too…

We made one for each of her Grandparents. Thank you for the idea, Pinterest, don’t know what I’d do without you. 😉 The ears were supposed to be G’s handprints, but let me tell you, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get a baby’s handprint. She just had to scrunched up the whole time…and she was NOT at all interested in getting her hands in the paint. It was quite funny.

Gabriella enjoyed her fair share of Easter eggs too.

Too bad she didn’t get to have the candy inside. One day little one.

I HAVE to show you the outfit that Grandma N (Craig’s Mom) got for G$.

‘High Maintenance.’ Seriously PERFECT. Describes her exactly. Can’t wait to put her in it.

Breakfast was Monkey Bread.

Standard holiday breakfast around here.

And of course the obligatory Easter photos! 🙂 Love ‘em! & I ADORE G’s dress!! (Thank you Chandale <3)

Mommy, Daddy & G

Grandma W (my Mom) & G…or as she says ‘her little peach pie.’ 🙂

Grandpa, Grandma & G

Grandpa & G enjoying a laugh together 😀

Papanote, Grandma N & G Marie

Grandma N & Gabriella (one of my favorite pictures of them)

Papanote & G

For our Easter dinner I made lazy lasagna, it’s our family’s tradition…instead of ham. I love it! I mean who doesn’t love a big Italian meal?! Along with it we had Caesar salad, French bread & wine. Mmmmm wine, how I missed it so much pregnant.

For dessert I made banana cream pie & cherry pie.

The cherry pie was the first lattice pie I have ever made! Making a lattice is actually easier than I thought, and it makes the pie look so pretty. I’ll definitely be doing it more often when I make pies.

Craig caught me staging the pie too 😉 He always makes fun of me whenever I do my pictures of food, but now he is used to it. I had to find the best lighting!

One of my favorite parts of Easter, and just the past few weeks in general is HOW MUCH Gabriella has become Daddy’s girl.

Without a doubt, she is ALL ABOUT Craig. I mean he just steps in the room & she immediately looks for him. She may hear his voice, but can’t see him yet, and she will just turn her head over and over until she finds him. It is the CUTEST! A girl & her Daddy share a bond like NO OTHER! I’m so happy that I get to watch their bond grow every single day.

Not going to lie though, I CANNOT wait for our girls’ days! Just me & G! 🙂

Oh that little girl just rocks my world! ❤

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Happy Easter!!!

Hope you get lots of candy from the Easter bunny.

Love, Gabriella

Brown Butter Peanut Butter M&M Blondies

Good Morning!

I have come to realize that my blog has slowly turned into more of a Mommy blog. I apologize, kind of, for that. You see whenever you have children, they do turn into a HUGE part of your life. So it’s hard to NOT talk about Gabriella whenever I write a post. I also realize that not everyone is interested in what my daughter is up to on a daily basis. 😉

But I will do my best to try to mix it up a bit more- with some recipes & workouts. I have a whole list of workouts that I have made up, I just haven’t put them on here yet. They are coming!

Today I have a recipe to share with you. It’s not my own, it’s from one of my favorite baking websites that I have mentioned on here many times…Sally’s Baking Addiction. Trust me, just one look on her site & you will want to make EVERYTHING.

To be honest, I really don’t bake often, only because it’s just Craig & I and the last thing we want is a bunch of sweets laying around. But this week we have guests, my in laws are in town, and I always like to have some kind of goody! 🙂

After spotting some Easter M&M’s in the store this past weekend, I knew I had to find a recipe to use them in.

After searching around on Sally’s site, I found THE recipe- Brown Butter Pretzel M&M Blondies. Now, I was wondering after reading the recipe what kind of impact the brown butter actually made. Let me tell you, it’s HUGE. Seriously. You MUST brown the butter. It gives the blondies SO MUCH FLAVOR. I really had no idea what a difference browning butter makes to the flavor of butter.

The only thing that I changed about the recipes was the I used peanut butter M&M’s instead of the pretzel M&M’s. And to be completely honest, the only reason was because Craig & I did a number on the bag of pretzel M&M’s that I had. Oops 😉

Brown Butter Peanut Butter M&M Blondies

makes 16 blondies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup peanut butter M&M’s

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly. Remove from heat immediately when the butter begins to turn brown (about 6 minutes). Pour browned butter into large mixing bowl. Stir in brown sugar. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8×8 square baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
3. To the cooled down butter/sugar mixture, stir in egg and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in peanut butter M&Ms.
4. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Allow blondies to cool for at least 1 hour and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

Notes

RECIPE SOURCE: sallysbakingaddiction.com

These were FANTASTIC!! Like I said before, the browned butter is KEY!

And of course, because I CANNOT go a post without a Gabriella photo…I had to show you what she did when I put the blondies next to her, she was longingly looking at them.

(PLEASE notice her belly button. It’s mandatory 😉 )

Poor girl wanted to try one SO bad.

Then she got mad at me because I wouldn’t let her have one, and look what she did. Knocked them RIGHT over. Notice that hand mid swing.

That’s the it wasn’t me Mommy! look.

Love that girl to pieces.

If you are looking for an Easter dessert, I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend these. I think they would be a hit with anyone, which is sometimes hard to find with a dessert.

Have a great Thursday…some of you may have off tomorrow- ENJOY!! 🙂