Heckscher Park

I just had to share about an amazingly beautiful park we went to for the first time.  Heckscher Park in Huntington.  I absolutely love every time I take a trip to Huntington because the town is absolutely adorable and has some of the most amazing restaurants and the cutest little shops.  However, all the times that I've been there I don't think I've ever gone to the park which is literally right up the road from the village.  Let me tell you if you're looking for a fun, (and free) afternoon to spend with your kiddos (or even your significant other), hop in the car and take a ride over there.  I guarantee you it will be time well spent.  We went on the most perfect day and my son had the chance to witness some pretty amazing things including ducks sitting on their nest full of eggs.  The park has a gorgeous little pond where the water is clear enough to see all the different types of fish swimming around.  My little Luke was in awe of all the little and really big "fishies" in the water.  We even saw tons, and I mean TONS of turtles just hanging out on rocks as well as a massive one swimming in the water.  We saw beautiful white swans and tons and tons of geese.  The park has a few gorgeous waterfalls and cute little bridges that give it a really tranquil feel.  Everywhere you look there are some of the most beautiful flowers and greenery making for some pretty amazing photo opportunities (which is why I was so bummed I left my "good camera" at home).  The park also has a pretty amazing playground that separates the little kids from the big ones (really important especially when you have a little one that can easily get trampled on).   There are even two areas with sand pits.  So if you're thinking of going to this park make sure to bring along your sand pale and shovel.  Even though the playground was really nice my son actually enjoyed the walk around the lake where he collected rocks and sticks and the whole nature aspect of the park even more than the amazing playground.  And I must say, I am totally ok with that!  I just love seeing his love for animals and how curious he is becoming about literally everything.  He is constantly asking "how" and "why" questions and I just love seeing how his little mind is working.  Even though it was just a morning at the park that little two year old of mine left with a pretty intense lesson on nature and took home knowing things like both ducks and turtles lay eggs, the difference between an eel and a koi fish and various other things.  It is such a joy watching him learn and explore and I am so happy when I get to give him a real hands-on experience like this one.  This is just another reminder to me of how amazing Long Island truly is and all that it has to offer.  If you have a free afternoon and you're not sure what to do with it.  Take a trip there, and bring your camera!
Also, I must add that there are some pretty great spots to throw a blanket down and have a picnic.  Although, knowing that Little Vincents Pizzeria is right up the road might make that a tough choice!  (I guess you know where we ate lunch)
I will definitely be making this trip again.
Here are some pictures from our morning at the park.

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins

One of my all time favorite muffins are the Bluberry Muffins from Dunkin Donuts.  If you've never had one, go get yourself one.  Even though I'm pretty sure they have more calories than a donut.  I actually always take the top off and throw out the rest (that's the best part after all).  I love how the top is crispy and has an extra sweetness with its coating of sugar on top.  I've tried many times to replicate this recipe and I think I have finally got it down.  This was the first time I actually made up my own baking recipe.  We all know baking is a science so unlike when I cook, I always stick to the exact written measurements when baking.  However, any time I made muffins I just couldn't find a recipe that I loved so I decided to take matters into my own hands and figure it out for myself.  After a couple batches, tweaking the measurements each time, I think I finally have perfected my blueberry muffin recipe.  It's soft, moist and has just the amount of sweetness that I like.  Also, its chock full of blueberries so it makes me feel way less guilty about popping one in my mouth.  They are actually really easy to make and most of the ingredients are probably already stocked in your kitchen.  If you're not a blueberry lover you can absolutely substitute them for some chocolate chips.  Go ahead, give them a try.  In my house they are husband and toddler approved.  Ok so here is the recipe....

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter softened

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs 

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

2 1/3 cup of flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 cup buttermilk (see note if you do not have buttermilk on hand)

1/4 cup sour cream

12 ounce package of frozen blueberries (or fresh if you prefer)

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar (I use organic and it works great for this because it's so coarse)

Note:
If you do not have any buttermilk on hand you can simply make your own by combining one cup of milk with one tsp of white vinegar.  (I do it all the time and it works, I promise!)

Directions:

Beat butter and sugars together.  Add in eggs and vanilla bean paste.  Mix until well blended.  In a separate bowl mix together all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon).  Slowly, (and I mean slow unless you want to be covered in flour) pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix until combined.  Next, add in the buttermilk then the sour cream.  Once the mixture is all combined its time for those blueberries.  If you are using frozen make sure they are thawed out.  Then, carefully (and I mean carefully) fold in the blueberries.  If you do it to rough then you will end up with a blue batter.  These little gems are very delicate so be easy with them.  Also, make sure to drain out any excess juice from the blueberry bag (you do not want any extra liquid in the batter).   Line a cupcake (or muffin pan) with liners and pour the batter into the cups all the way to the top (I like my muffins plump!) Before you put them in the oven sprinkle the top of each muffin with a generous amount of sugar.  (The more sugar the more crispy the top becomes).  Pop these beauties into the oven and bake on 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven).  Enjoy : )

Easter Fun

I just love Easter time because everything is just so fresh and cheery!  Equally, I love to make and decorate cookies because.... well because it's cookies and it's decorating.  I never got a chance to decorate cookies with Luke this past Christmas because let's face it who has time for anything during the hectic-ness of the holidays?  I thought it would be a great idea to do for Easter since this time of year is a lot more calm.  Also, Easter is all about egg-shapes and if you have a child anything like mine who sadly watches countless youtube videos of "surprise eggs", than you would agree that anything in an egg-shaped form is going to be a hit!
Not only is the decorating party a fun idea to do with your child but making the cookies are also entertaining for them as well.  My Lukey loves to help roll the dough and cut out the shapes with the cookie cutters.  (He has his own roller that he takes from his little play kitchen that he always insists on using).  You can use your normal go-to sugar cookie recipe if you have one or you could even buy pre-made cookie dough if you don't have the time to make your own.  Just make sure it's the kind that you can roll out.  The recipe I use for sugar cookies is a very standard and basic dough.  I love it because I usually have everything on hand which means no running to the store for any of the ingredients.  I used mostly all organic ingredients for these cookies and I swear it make a difference in how they taste.
Here is the recipe for the sugar cookies...

Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks of room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or Vanilla Extract)
2 3/4 cup of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Royal Icing
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp water
2 drops of food coloring

Directions
Beat together the butter and sugar.  Add in the eggs and vanilla bean paste.  If you don't have vanilla bean paste you can substitute with vanilla extract.  (If you can get your hands on the paste though, get the paste!  It's like the flavor of vanilla extract times ten!)  Next, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  With your mixer on a low setting, slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.  Increase the speed of your mixer and make sure everything is mixed well.  It should at first resemble course crumbs and then form into one large ball.  When mixture is complete roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/8 inches thick.  Now you are ready to use your festive cookie cutters to cut out some fun shapes!  (I found the bunny and egg shaped ones at target!)  Place all the shapes on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.  Once you see the edges of your cookies turning slightly brown, they are done!  Now it's time to decorate and enjoy!

You can decorate with anything that you would like.  I just raided the baking shelf in my pantry and came up with this ensemble.  If you don't have any sprinkles or anything you can totally just decorate with different colors of royal icing which I also made two tiny batches of.  Royal icing is so super easy and literally takes seconds to make!  All you do is just place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix!  I put them in the plastic squirt bottles because it makes it so much easier for a kid to use and makes for a lot less of mess than a piping bag would.  You can also adjust the flooding consistency of your icing but adding or decreasing the amount of water.

These adorable egg plates, cups, spoons and table runner are from pottery barn kids.  I bought the whole set last year and just love it so much!  I also found this adorable kids bunny apron on clearance last year at William Sonoma.  Anytime I see something adorable that is a great price I buy four, in hopes of having four kids one day.  (You don't have to tell me I'm crazy, I am already well-aware haha!)  So that's what I did with these aprons because I just could not deal with the cuteness of them.  One day I'll get around to monograming them for each kid. (yeah... one day hopefully before they leave for college).

If you get a change to make these with your kids, make them.  I guarantee they will love it and you will love watching them even more.  Have fun and Happy Easter!!

Valentine Strawberry Yogurt Ice Pops

These were SO easy and fun to make.  I made them with my two and a half year old son who enjoyed making them as much as he enjoyed eating them.  They are just the perfect little Valentine's activity to do with your little one.  The best part, there are only two ingredients!  Well, three if you add in the sprinkles and lets face it, what kid doesn't love sprinkles?!  They are also a super healthy little treat and perfect if you have an ice cream lover like I do.  My little one spends a large chunk of his day in our freezer.  I don't buy ice cream because between my husband and son I would never be able to buy it fast enough.  I think he opens the freezer in hopes that ice cream will one day just appear.  (Like it does at his grandparents houses).  Anyway, I'm constantly thinking up new mixtures of fruits and veggies to freeze.  I usually mix whatever left over fruit I have in the fridge in a blender and freeze which he totally enjoys too.  These little guys though, he completely devoured in just a few days and I'm attributing his extra special love for them by the fact that they have sprinkles in them.  Also, they are pretty tasty!
Go ahead, give them a try. I guarantee you and your little one will have a blast making them together.

You will need...
One bag of frozen strawberries (about three cups) or you can use fresh strawberries as well just cut all stems off
3 cups of yogurt.  You can use any kind you like.  I used french vanilla.  (Coconut is really yummy too!)
Sprinkles
Dixie cups (or ice pop molds)
Popsicle Sticks

Here's what you do...
First, set up three bowls.  Place 1 and one half cup of the yogurt in one bowl and add sprinkles.  Mix together.  Place the additional 1 and one half cup of yogurt into the second bowl.  Leave the third bowl empty for now.  Blend the strawberries in a blender with about 1 cup of water.  (It's better if you let them thaw out for a little bit).  Once the strawberries and water are all blended together place half of the mixture into the second bowl with just the yogurt and place the remainder into the third empty bowl.  (Third bowl just just have the pure blended strawberries)
Now you are ready to fill your cup!(This is where you can put your little one to work!)
Use a spoon to fill up 1/3 of the dixie cup with the yogurt and sprinkle mixture.  (I was able to fill 8 dixie cups)  When you have all the cups filled up, pop them in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes to set.  Then, take them out to add in the second layer.  Spoon in the combined yogurt and strawberry mixture which was in your second bowl (should be a pinkish color).  Place the same amount of each mixture in so that when they are complete you will have pretty, colorful, even layers.  Pop them back in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.  Take them out and add in the last layer, your strawberry mixture.  Place a popsicle stick in the middle of each cup, about half way down.  Pop them back in the freezer for at least 4 hours to ensure they are completely set and frozen.  When they are done you simply peel off the dixie cup and enjoy!
Happy Valentine's Day!

Trader Joe's Favorites

If you're a Trader Joe's shopper than you will totally just get this post.  If not, well head to your local store just once and I swear you will instantly become obsessed!  If you are on Long Island, I highly recommend the Westbury Trader Joe's store.  It's located in the new "Gallery at Westbury Plaza".  I live way closer to another one but I make the trip to this one because I just feel like it's bigger, brighter and they carry way more inventory than the others.  Although I believe this is the best one of their stores, I wouldn't go anywhere near there on a weekend afternoon.  Weekday mornings and afternoons are a lot more quiet.  If you can't get there during those times then after dinner hours on the weekends aren't too bad either.
Anyway, I love this store because they truly have some of the best products that you can not get anywhere else.  They also have the best selection and cheapest prices when it comes to organic food.  It's one of the few stores I can walk out of with tons of bags full of fresh, wholesome, organic products and not have spent my entire life savings on it.  My bill is actually always lower than what I had anticipated, which almost NEVER happens especially when it comes to food shopping.  They also have an awesome selection of frozen foods.  I'm not one to ever buy frozen food, but when I head down the frozen food aisle of Trader Joe's I can't seem to fill my cart up fast enough.  They have a ton of frozen organic vegetables that I love to stock up on and use in a pinch.  Their meat is also really, really good meat.  They don't have a whole lot of sales on their meat but it's worth spending a little bit more on because you know it's good.  (I hate when I buy bad meat)  They have amazing marinated meats too that you can just throw in your oven or pan fry and its ready to serve.
I could go on and on forever about how much I love this store and all it's deliciousness.  I could also probably list every item on their shelf about being awesome BUT I've narrowed it down to a few of my favorites.  These are the items that I never go to Trader Joe's and leave without.  If you haven't tried these, you should.  I promise you will love them.

Dunkers
Those chocolate chip dunkers are seriously the best cookies EVER (right next to Tate's cookies of course).  I couldn't figure out the mystery of what made them taste so unusually amazing until I read all the ingredients.  Coconut.  It doesn't have a super coconutty taste but just enough to make a chocolate chip cookie perfectly different.
Organic fruit
I love their organic fruit mostly because it's SO cheap.  Most of the time it's only about 20 cents more a pound for organic which is not bad at all.  It's awesome for mommy's like me who make their own baby food.  I buy a ton of organic fruits and veggies, cook it, blend it then freeze in large batches.
Yogurt squishers
I keep these guys in the fridge frozen and my son eats them like ice pops.  (I actually have to hide them deep in my freezer or my son, no joke, would eat the whole box in one day.  He's a total yogurt lover.)
Mandarin Orange Chicken
If you buy any frozen food at Trader Joe's, let this one be it.  This one actually tastes just like real orange chicken that you would get at your local Chinese restaurant.  It's really yummy and really great for a quick dinner or lunch.
Mac and Cheese
It's really creamy.  Enough said.  Also, they now have a reduced guilt version that is good too for only $1.99!
Coconut Flakes
Awesome little snack.  I throw them in when I make my own trail mix.
Alphabet Cookies
I'm attributing the fact that my son knows his entire alphabet to these cookies and Sesame Street.  He loves to tell me each letter he is eating and I am currently trying to teach him how to spell his name with these.  They also have numbers in them which is fun too!  They are not only educationally a good choice but they're really yummy too with a hint of cinnamon in them.

Mini Ice Cream Cones
These are great for little ones who can never seem to finish a whole ice cream cone.  They are also a great little treat if your dieting.  They're super tiny but perfect if you need just a little something sweet to get by.  Perfect for portion control!
Queso
Really good and surprisingly not that fattening at all.
Organic Fruit leather
My son LOVES these.  Maybe it's because I told him they were candy or maybe because they are just awesome.  I keep them EVERYWHERE, my kitchen, the car, my pocketbook.  Anytime he gets cranky I toss him one of these guys.
Giant White Beans
Throw these in with some sautéed spinach or kale and you have a perfect, really healthy, iron and fiber filled side dish.
Burrata
If you have never had this before.  Stop reading this immediately and go get some.  It doesn't even matter where.  Just get some.  It is the most amazing thing in the world.  Well, mostly for all us Italians.  You can eat it as is but I love it over arugula salad with some roasted tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.

Mini Churros
Need I say more?  The package explains it all.
Spicy Thai Style Pasta Salad
Perfect for an on-the-go lunch.  I LOVE this stuff.  If you are into thai food you should def try this one.
Zucchini Fries
I dip these little guys into Sweet Baby Rays "special sauce" (not sold at TJ's but awesome with these fries).
Bambino Pizza
These are the perfect little size for toddlers and there really tasty too!

There you have it.  My favorite products from my favorite store.  Am I missing anything good?  What are your favorites?

Valentine Pancake Nutella and Fruit Skewers

How cute are these little Valentine pancake skewers?  I had two leftover pancakes from the previous morning and decided to cut it into cute little heart shapes.  Then, I thought what could make this even better?  Answer, put them on a stick and add some Nutella!  Because, well, everything is always better with Nutella.  I figured it needed a little something healthy so I used my cookie cutter to cut out some strawberry and banana hearts as well.  All you have to do is spread the Nutella on the pancake then skewer everything up!  My two year old LOVED these guys.  Well he mostly loves everything on a stick these days. But, add some chocolatey, hazelnut goodness and he was in heaven!  These would be so cute for Valentines day morning breakfast or even a fun snack to bring to a class party (assuming there are no allergies)  So yummy and it really only took about 10 minutes to put together.  (the pancakes were already made). Totally worth the extra effort!

Valentine's Day Breakfast

I seriously have so much fun making my son breakfast every morning.  Half the week it's usually cherries and a banana but I try really hard to make sure that a few days a week he gets a nice, hot, hearty breakfast.  The look on his face when he sees fun cut-out's and hearing him say "wow Mommy, so nice, this is so delicious" is worth the extra effort.  Which actually really isn't a whole lot of effort at all.  I swear. Just maybe two extra minutes to make his plate a little more "fun" looking.   We also practice all our shapes, colors and letters during this so actually it's quite educational and not just completely for our enjoyment.  Here are some fun Valentine's Day breakfast ideas you can make that your kiddies (or even significant others) will love.

First step, get yourself some heart shaped cookie cutters.  This time of year you can fine them ANYWHERE, the dollar store, target, supermarkets, grocery stores, etc.  They are so easy to find, so inexpensive and you can do so much with them, (not just cut out food) I use them as stencils for crafting projects.  As soon as you have that, the possibilities are endless and you can pretty much cut out anything bread or egg breakfast-related with a cookie-cutter.  Here are some things that I've recently made....

Cream Cheese, Peanut Butter and Jelly

This was seriously my favorite sandwich growing up.  I never could decide if I wanted pb&j or cream cheese and jelly so one day my mom decided to put it all on a sandwich and well, it was heaven.  Seriously, try it.  It is SO insanely good!  It must run in the family too because my son is totally a fan and even my peanut butter loving husband now asks for a little added cream cheese on his pb&j.  

The extra little scraps of bread you do not have to throw out.  I save them in a bag and keep it in the fridge.  When I have a good amount I make some homemade croutons out of them.  Just toss in a pan with some olive oil, s&p and garlic powder until toasted.

Heart Shaped French Toast with Bananas

Just cut out the heart shapes first (or you could even do it after if you'd like) and dunk the bread into a mixture of egg, milk, vanilla and cinnamon.  Melt 1 tsp butter into a cast iron skillet on medium heat and cook each side 3-4 minutes.

Heart Shaped potatoes

Slice each potato.  Cut with small heart cutter.  Brush potatoes with olive oil and season generously with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  For the eggs I just scrambled and baked in a greased heart shaped pie pan.  

Baked Sweet Potato Tater Tot Hushpuppies

I had a few bag of sweet potatoes left over and I wanted to try something new instead of making the usual, boring roasted and baked potatoes.  I thought why not try to make a little hushpuppy, tator-tot type snack with a healthy spin.  I've ordered a similar fried version of these at a restaurant once and totally fell in love with them. I wasn't sure how they would come out or how they would hold together but actually they came out fantastic and were a really light and guilt-free snack!  If you wanted to be a little bit more indulgent you can definitely fry these up and they would probably be even more delicious but if your trying to be a little more health-conscious then popping them in the oven will still give you a delicious little side dish or snack.
I will definitely be making these little guys again.

Here is how I made them...

Ingredients:
5 small sweet potatoes
2 eggs
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Directions:
Boil the sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes.  You just want to soften them up a bit but not completely cook.  Use the fine side of your cheese grater and grate each sweet potoato.  Mix the sweet potato with the egg.  Add in the flour, corn meal, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Mix all together.  Spray or butter a mini muffin tin.  (I used my donut hole pan but a mini-muffin tin would work just as well).  Scoop the batter and fill each section to the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes (until the tots are completely cooked through).
Serve with dipping sauce.
Enjoy!
Additionally, If you wanted to kick it up a notch you could totally add in some red pepper flakes, chopped onion or even some cilantro for extra flavor.

Sweet Honey Mustard Yogurt Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup vanilla greek yogurt
1 tstp honey
1 tbsp honey mustard
Mix all ingredients together (Tweak any of the measurements according to your liking)

Dipping Sauce
2 tbsp greek yogurt
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp Sweet Baby Rays Secret Sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Mix all ingredients together (Tweak any of the measurements according to your liking)

Valentine's Tassle Garland

I seriously just LOVE a tassle garland.  I follow so many crafters on IG that make the most gorgeous ones for parties.  I just think they are so fun.
This was my first tassle garland I made with the Martha Stewart Fringe Cutter and I must say that it worked like a charm!  It made it SO much easier to get perfect straight lines and also made it way less time consuming.  This little gadget actually didn't get great reviews online and I was about to return it but I figured I would just test it out myself first since I plan on making about 60 tassels for another project.  Once I got the hang of it and figured out how to correctly use it, (I watched a few you-tube videos that helped a lot) I was SO surprised and amazed how great it actually did work.  It does take a little bit of time (a lot more when you have a toddler running around and wanting in on the action).  I think the hardest part of all was the last step when you do the twisting.  It was hard to get it tight because I was so afraid of tearing it since tissue paper is so immensely thin.
I definitely still need some more practice but over all I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I'm sure as I do some more I'll probably look back on this one and laugh thinking how not perfect it actually was.  And if you put it in a competition to tassels that are for sale in Etsy shops mine would probably come in last place.  But for now, I'm pretty happy with it and the best part, my son (who I made it for) loves it and would never realize any imperfections.

This is what you will need to create the tissue paper garland:

12 pieces of tissue paper (I like the hallmark tissue paper the best)

Martha Stewart Fringe Cutter (sold at almost every craft store) OR scissor

Glue Gun or glue dots

Twine or ribbon

So here's how create it... 

There are basically four steps

Step #1 

Fold tissue paper in half, then in half again.

Step # 2 

Use your Martha Stewart Fringe Cutter and simply roll the blade down the tissue paper.  The folded side should be towards the bottom.  You do not want to cut the entire paper.  You need to cut away at least 2 inches from the folded side. (You will see why in the next step).  If you don't have the fringe cutter you can use a scissor to cut strips.  I cut half inch strips for this garland but you can adjust the measurements to your liking.

Step #3

Open up the tissue paper.  The middle part will be the part that was not cut.  Use your fingers and roll up the un-cut part of the tissue paper.  As you roll you will have to keep untangling the cut side. (It tends to get a little tangled as you roll it).

When it is completely rolled up it should look like this..

Step #4 

Twist the middle un-cut portion as tightly as possible (be careful not to rip the tissue paper as it is very thin) and then fold in half and twist together.  Then, viola! You have just created your very first tissue tassle!  

Now, time to put the garland together....

To assemble the tassle garland just simply grab some twine or some ribbon, even some string would work (whatever you have) and slide it through each loop.  To ensure that each tassle stays in place, use your glue gun and glue the tassle directly on the twine or ribbon.  You will just need a dot of glue so if you have  a mini glue gun that would work best.  You could also use a small glue dot to hold it into place.  (I love those things!) If you are really particular and a bit of a perfectionist you can gather each tassle and trim the bottom so that each strip is equal and hangs evenly and nicely.  

I hung the tassle garland in my son's playroom and it looks stinking adorable!

Hope you have as much fun making it as I did!