Gwendolyn has experienced a lot of “firsts” this last week. For starters, she now wants to diaper her baby dolls and wipe their runny noses.

Thanks to Grammy and Granddaddy she had her first gummy candy, which just happened to Bob the Tomato. She didn’t quite know what to do it as it kept slipping out of her mouth. Now she keeps asking for Bob! Thanks, Grammy.

And the best experience of all was our trip to the beach. Wearing her fancy crocs from her cuz’s Isaac and Jude, she loved the sand and the water.
Enjoy!

In case you wondered if there would ever be a new post at The Daily Kick….then let me assure you we are still here and kickin’. For serious bloggers, the excuse of ‘being busy’ won’t cut it, but first and foremost I am a wife and mom. After a short break from my blog, I will be posting with more regularity…so keep checking back!

Here a little sneak peak of our trips to the Strawberry Festival in Plant City. Each year there is a big competition between the Catholics and the Assembly of God to see who has the best strawberry shortcake. The Catholics do a biscuit and the Assembly of God does a shortcake. Sorry, Catholics but our vote goes to the shortcake! So good.

In the last several weeks, her vocabulary has grown and she is now putting words together. Hope you enjoy the short video of some of Gwendolyn’s first phrases. Enjoy!

My baking skills are really not as good as I would like for them to be.

I dream of baking adorable cake pops that made Bakerella famous. I want to be Martha Stewart in the kitchen, minus the criminal record, whipping up the most delicious treats.

My sister Melissa, www.thedemingtwins.blogspot.com sent me a recipe for Pumpkin Cookies.

I can testify that this recipe is FOOL PROOF!!

I added the vanilla to the cookie batter at the wrong time. I added the dry ingredients at the wrong time and in the wrong way. And to add insult to injury, I left out the vanilla in the icing.

After all this, I was a little reluctant to taste the cookies. However, they were delicious…which means had I actually followed the recipe correctly they would have been mind-blowing good!

If you want to test your baking skills, here’s the recipe!

Sift together and set aside:
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt

Cream:
1 c butter
1 c sugar

Add to butter mixture:
1 c pumpkin
1 egg, beaten

Add dry ingredients to creamed and stir gently.  Add 1 tsp vanilla.
Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Cool, then ice.

Icing:
Cream 3 TBSP butter, 4 TBSP milk, and ½ c brown sugar in saucepan.  Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Cool.  When cool,
add 1 c powdered sugar and ¼ tsp vanilla.  Ice cooled cookies.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Let me know how they turn out,
Heather

I found this recipe in Cottage Living magazine. I make it every fall. It is so easy and so good!

Pumpkin Spice Bread

1 2/3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 plus 1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup plus 1 1/2 TBSP. canned pumpkin
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Sift together first 5 ingredients.
Combine sugar, oil, and pumpkin in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer until smooth. Add egg, beating until well blended. Gradually stir in dry ingredients, beating at low speed until blended. Transfer batter to loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Serve warm.

What do you CRAVE this time of year?

Click on Encouragement for Your Daily Kick to find out how CRAVINGS can actually be good for you!