Bonjour, mamma.

For Jane's first birthday cake, I really wanted something that was large-crowd-friendly & of course, extremely delicious! I chose to stick with a classic vanilla cake recipe with a vanilla bean frosting. I researched a lot of recipes & decided upon Robyn Stone's recipe from Add a Pinch! I feel like the recipe is so spot-on with respect to richness, moistness, and density. I feel like the combination of butter & vegetable shortening render that amazing depth in flavor. Also, the buttermilk is what sets this recipe apart from many regular vanilla cake recipes. My advice would be to bake your cakes the week before the party, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze until the day before (or whenever you're ready to frost).  For the frosting, I ordered this amazing vanilla bean paste from Amazon.  Of course, you can substituent the vanilla bean paste with just pure vanilla extract, but it doesn't even compare in taste! You also wouldn't see ...

Jane, you are one-year-old today! Happy birthday sweet Jane Alexander. Your papa & I really love you. It's a crazy kind of love. It's like a love-sick thing.  It consumes us, body & soul, in the very best way possible. You do so many lovable thing these days.  We love the way you love others. You really do have a tender heart of gold.  We love walking into your room in the morning & hearing your sweet voice greet us with "mama & dada."  We love the way you nod your head in approval of raspberries, blueberries & bananas.  We love it when you give us "huggies" and wrap your sweet arms around us tightly.  The world literally stops in that moment. You are a courageous little cub, and you really continue to amaze us. You can do absolutely anything you want in this world. Papa & I promise to be here for you when the world fails you.  You will need love & support even when you think you do...

The struggle is SO real to get your baby/toddler to eat veggies.  Jane will entertain the idea of a little green bean here, a little bake cauliflower there etc. But I hardly feel like she is getting enough veggies in her daily diet. My favorite thing is to hide her veggies in something more exciting like a muffin or a pancake.  In this recipe, I swapped out nearly everything unhealthy with a more nutritious option. Here is my version of a zucchini muffin. 2 small zucchini trimmed, grated, then drained with paper towel 2 cups almond flour or whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground allspice dash of salt 1 1/2 cups apple sauce * no sugar added 3 tbs melted, cooled butter 2 eggs 1/2 cup greek yogurt (plain or flavored) 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/3 cup chopped walnuts *optional Step 1: Preheat oven to 350. Spray or line muffin tins for easy removal Step 2: Wh...