Babies:
My *little* sister just had her 3rd baby last month. Her 3rd boy. A beautiful, healthy, chunky little boy named Leo. ♥
{So, she now has a 4 year-old, a one-year-old, a newborn and a good case of sleep-deprivation. ;)}
Bread:
It's always been my philosophy that new mothers need a little sugar high to make it through the day.....or at least until naptime.
Enter Poppy Seed Bread that makes TWO loaves and is perfect to freeze and drop off to a new mommy.
The bread is oh-so-moist....I'm no expert, but it might have something to do with the 1+ cups of oil in the recipe.
It is SO good just sliced and served plain for breakfast, or a snack, or for dessert. It's a multi-tasker.
Beautiful Bloggers:
You may know that we lost my mom to cancer over 10 years ago. Kiddo was 1 and I feel so lucky that he had her in his life, even if it was only for a year.
Mom made the quilt for kiddo's bed....and she started a small quilt for him to have to carry around. But she got too sick to finish it.
I'm not good with a needle and thread. So, this little quilt was in a bag that I've carried from house to house to house. And a couple months before baby Leo was born, I found it!
Here's what it looked like (the top was put together, batting and back attached with pins and bits of thread.):
On a whim, I tweeted something like, "Anyone interested in finishing a baby quilt in exchange for cookies.....or cash?"
I'm not kidding, 5 seconds later, sweet Robyn from Earthbound Chronicles offered to finish it.....FOR THE COOKIES!!! I think I offered her a few chances to back out....or to take the cash instead. She wouldn't even let me pay her for shipping.
Here's how the quilt looks now:
Absolutely gorgeous!!! And take a gander at this adorable, darling, perfect trim that Robyn added...
So, now baby Leo has a little piece of something his Gigi made.....with a BIG dash of love from a sweet blogger we've never even met.
{Y'all....I never expected blogging to bring me to tears, but it does. What I love the most about blogging & tweeting is what I never expected.....meeting the most amazing, creative, generous souls on earth.}
Thank you SO MUCH, Robyn. {I still think you should have taken the cash.} ;)
Poppy Seed Bread
{adapted from Mary Engelbreit's Fan Fare
}1 & 1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
1 & 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 & 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1 cup + 2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 & 1/2 cup sugar
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 & 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 & 1/2 TBSP poppy seeds
Preheat oven to 350. Grease sides and bottoms of two 9x5" loaf pans.
In a large bowl on low speed, beat together the milk, eggs, vanilla, extracts and oil.
Add in the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in the poppy seeds.
Divide the batter between the two loaf pans and bake 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in wire racks in the pans 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely.
To freeze, wrap cooled loaf in heavy-duty foil. Thaw at room temperature several hours or overnight.
