Happy 3rd Birthday Buddy!

Henry (who currently asks that we call him Buddy) turned three last week.  And I'll be completely honest...I hated it!  If I could slow down time right now I would!!!  Its an amazing age and I'm enjoying every minute of it.  I think having a 5 1/2 year old (who sometimes thinks shes 12) might help in appreciating the innocence of a toddler.


We had  a wonderful time with friends and family at his birthday party.  Henry had a great time too!

Such a poser!  Buddy was so excited about his robot cookies.  Thanks to Ryan who made the cookie cutter (cause apparently robots aren't "in" this year and the cutters are impossible to find). -- Family pictures are always exciting at our house.  I believe the kids were yelling "I LOVE ROBOTS!"  Makes for great faces. -- I think my cousin and her boyfriend officially decided to wait on a family after this gathering of kids.  They were such good sports in this picture.  This is not all the cousins by the way.  Two were still in Cedar Falls and two are on the way! -- I think Henry was as shocked as we were that he got the candles out on the first try without any help from any of the other kids.  (please excuse the dishes in the background)

So now I will sit back and enjoy my 3 year old...cause I'm sure when he turns 4 I'll be wishing to stop time again.  

God Bless!

Bec

Raspberry Gelato

As you well know, my posting has been a little lax.  I'm being treated for TMD right now and because of that am on a soft foods diet.  Not really my idea of a great thing.  So the cooking at my house as been less than great and thus...no recipes worth sharing.

Except this one...
I came across this recipe and got really excited to make it because...well it was soft...and looked so good in the picture!  Oh my was it worth it!!  I've never had gelato before, and now that I have, I can't imagine having to eat sherbet or sorbet.  This is unbelievable...the most pure flavor I've ever tasted in a dish...you just have to try it for yourself.

Here are the basics...
12 oz bag frozen raspberries
2 T. + 2 t. splenda sugar blend (or 1/3 c. sugar)
1/3 c. whipping cream

Combine the raspberries with the sugar blend and allow to sit for about 15-20 minutes.  You want your raspberries to still be a little frozen.
Combine raspberry/sugar mixture in the blender with the whipping cream and blend until smooth.  It'll take a little time and some scraping and moving of the raspberries (I promise it'll be worth the work and the noise of the blender).
Place in a sealed container in the freezer for a few hours until firm.
Now go at it!

A few notes...
You can certainly skip the last step and just eat it straight from the blender...
You can substitute just about any fruit you want in this too...I haven't done any other ones yet, but I'm thinking mango would be unbelievable!

I definitely don't recommend the soft food diet...but this is certainly one of the positive things that has come out of it.

Update:  Raspberry-peach is a great variation on this.  I'm going to attempt not to finish the bowl tonight.  :)