Our Homemade Ice Cream of this week was Peach Pie 🥧. It was good, but it has been unanimously agreed upon that our Mint Chocolate Chip is still hands down our best flavor yet! My husband has been begging me to make that one again, but trying new flavors is so fun for me.
This one does not require any heating time, so the process moves along much quicker. I suggest keeping your Sugar Cone crumbles on the bigger side to get that perfect crunch. The texture was definitely my favorite part about this flavor, even thought my pieces weren’t big enough.
These peaches were brought to us by Grammy Kat in a giant box that she picked up on sale for us to share between us, but I’d love to re-make this flavor using the peaches from our own garden one day. I will definitely add some crushed Graham Crackers in with the sugar cone crumbles too when I re-make this with our homegrown peaches. Ours are still growing & no where near ready to pick yet. However, I am still in complete awe over how much our baby peach tree grew in just one year!! Its huge now!
Ingredients
1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
1 can Ukrainian Condensed Milk
6 ripe peaches, diced
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 sleeve Sugar Cones, crushed
Sugar Cones (for serving)
Directions
PREP – Wash & cut peaches. Blend peaches to preferred consistency. Set aside. Crush box of sugar cones to your liking, set aside.
WHIP – Whip your heavy whipping cream using your Kitchenaid Mixer or hand mixers until you get the consistency of Whipped cream topping. Add in Ukrainian Condensed Milk, whip again. Add in Vanilla Extract, whip again. Add blended peaches, whip again.
Ella has officially joined the School of Rock Family!! She begins her Rock 101 Band this weekend & is super excited!
She recently completed two School of Rock Camps in June: Beatles Camp & Pop Legends Camp. Before Beatles Camp, she only played piano. While there, she fell in love with guitar.
While at Pop Legends Camp this last week, she gave drums & vocals a try too! She did great on drums. Her rhythm was perfect. She did good with singing, but she’s so shy & quiet it was very difficult to hear her during her Friday night performance. I am SO proud of her for giving it a try. Singing in front of a group is very scary.
She is really excited to begin her Rock 101 Band this weekend. She’ll meet with her band once a week to practice together & will have a performance at the end of the season. She’ll also have a private guitar lesson once a week as well for personal growth.
She has already gained so much confidence in her short time at camp. I can’t wait to watch her really bloom over the next four months.
Kaden also had his Michael Jackson & Bruno Mars concert this past Sunday. It was really nice!
We went out to dinner at Agave & Rye with my parents & his dad’s side of the family, and his best friend, Anna. I couldn’t help but feel so blessed. The way my pregnancy & start of life began with him, I never would imagine we would all be here one day sharing a meal, laughing, catching up on life, & having a great time.
Kaden of course did it all – vocals, drums, guitar, and keys. He’s so talented at all of the instruments he plays, but his vocals are really taking off. His best song was Grenade. I was blown away by how good he sang it.
I also made this little tribute photo to his dad, who passed away in 2017. I haven’t been able to stop staring at it.
I know I sound crazy when I say this, but he communicates with me through music.
A few weeks ago, a mutual friend of ours passed away. I was speaking with another mutual friend of ours outside my home at night about it all and life & how few of our friend group from highschool we have left here Earth side. I told her I felt like some of my dreams for Kaden died with his dad. Especially of them jammin’ out together, father & son, because music was everything to him. It gave him life. It has always given Kaden life too.
The very next morning THIS SONG was released by Sublime. Sublime was one of mine & Teddy’s favorite music groups. We went to a Sublime with Rome concert (among many other concerts) together while we were still dating. The original singer of Sublime, Bradley Nowell, died in 1996. His son Jakob joined Sublime as their singer this year. This song features never before heard music from Bradley with a verse from his son, Jakob. They made music together. Not even death could kill that dream. Life has come full circle ❤️.
The lyrics of the song itself wasn’t the message Teddy was sending me. He was letting me know to not give up my dreams for Kaden because of him. He was letting me know that his soul is being healed by Kaden making music. There are even Ukrainian butterflies flying to make sure I got the sign. He also wanted me to know he’s kickin’ it with Bradley making dope music & wanted to make sure I was jealous of that 😂. He always loved bragging about the musicians he got to meet & smoke with while he was still here.
Enjoy watching Grenade from Kaden’s performance. The video quality isn’t the best, but his voice definitely is! 🥰
Can you believe today is already the 1st of July?! We are now more than halfway through 2024!
I wanted to reflect on some of the home changes we have made over the first half of the year! Usually I do this in December when our Christmas lights are up and the house feels super cozy as sort of a year end “tradition” of looking around and seeing how far my home & life has come in a year, and manifest the changes I want to make over the next year. However, I’m trying to live slowly & make gratitude a much bigger part of my daily life; so I thought it would be good to pause & reflect on how much we have already done over the first half of the year & how much we have to be thankful for, before moving on to the second half of the year.
I replaced the broken stone fountain in the front garden with this one. I love the peace it brings my soul while I am watering the flowers in the front gardens. The water sounds are so soothing & I see the birds sipping from it during these extra hot days.
This was probably my very favorite find from the Large Item Pickup Days this year. It is a day where people all around town declutter their homes, yards, sheds, garages, etc and place all of their unwanted items on their front lawn for us scavengers to pick through before the trash men collect what’s left the next day. This brings me so much joy as I drive around and treasure hunt for new items to bring home for FREE!
Technically, this isn’t exactly a change – more of growth, but my pollinator garden is full of pollinators this year and I am LOVING it! The kids have found a new love/hobby of trapping & releasing bees from it 🤦🏼♀️. I’m going to have Niko build me some bee hives for them & ask one of our homeschool family friends to teach us the art of backyard beekeeping!
I replaced the old porch swing cushion that squirrels had chewed apart with this orange one that was also picked up during Large Item Pickup Days. It has a washable cover which I love and it adds a good pop of {my favorite} color to our porch. The long rug also came from the Large Item Pickup Days as well!
We finally took down the old panel wall that was hiding water damage. I loved the panel wall & how it gave it a very farmhouse/fake shiplap vibe after I painted it white. I even loved it when it looked straight out of the 70s. Everyone told me to take it down since the day I moved in, but I wouldn’t budge. Over the years, the panels became noticeably bowed and began popping off of the wall & it was no longer something we could ignore.
I reached out to my friend Sergiy who is a contractor to help, since this was a bigger project than Niko or I could take on ourselves. He had to remove the panels and demo the wall where it was crumbling, hang new drywall, add trim to the windows, and paint. Niko stained the window trim, painted the fireplace & mantel. I gave the black interior of the fireplace a fresh coat.
Sergiy also re-tiled our fireplace with super fun tiles I picked out. I love the way the color of the stars matches our floors and wooden furniture. I really love the fireplace so much now!!
I added these battery-operated candles that my friend gave to me for now, for a cozy feel, but eventually I’m going to get a working electric fireplace insert so that we can actually “use” our non-functioning fireplace in the winter. That is such a dream of mine!
He also added a border of trim around the tiles. I love the way it contains the fireplace area from the rest of the floor. We pushed the coffee table up against it since the kids enjoy jumping from it to the couch & back again. It keeps the table from sliding & causing kids to get hurt in the process.
I really wanted to make the fireplace stand out. I think this tile, trim, and color scheme really does that without it looking out of place. I think it fits perfectly in our home with style!
We re-arranged the furniture in this room as well and it flows so perfectly for our family now.
I asked my dad to replace our old lights with this beautiful chandelier that I got for a $25 donation to medical supplies for Ukraine! 💙💛
I went to do a local second-hand buy from someone who was selling online which ended up being the neighbor across the street from our UNWLA Branch 144 president which I mentioned at the sale. The lovely couple insisted that I take the money I was going to purchase the chandelier with and give it to her for the medical supply fundraiser instead. I love the way it makes our dining room look & I love that the money ended up going to a cause that matters deeply to me! It fits our style so much more than the previous lights.
I found this coat rack during the Large Item Pickup Days and my husband cut it to size to make it fit on the kids bench perfectly. They are used to hang the kids cooking aprons! They are huge helpers in the kitchen, and even prepare some of their meals themselves so having all of their supplies easily accessible to them is important.
After cutting & attaching it, he painted it white to match the bench and then painted the tips as Smiley faces & mushrooms. We have a cute mushrooms garland I found at Jungle Jim’s hanging on our dining room hutch so it makes it extra cute.
I’d love to paint this room next and have a beautiful color picked out to do it. I hope that I can make that happen before Thanksgiving since we usually host at our home! I love having the opportunity for guests to see how much I’ve worked on my home because it truly is my art.
I gave the kitchen a fresh coat of paint. To save money, I used the same green from the living room wall project. I think doing that really helped with the home flow as well. I love the fresh green so much!
I also hung this shelf for our oversized spices that were difficult to store before. It helped clear up the spice cabinet clutter & makes cooking a lot easier actually being able to see and access what I have both in the cabinets & on the shelf.
I made this section more functional, and brought the first aid box here as well for easier access than before. It fit perfectly on this shelf! I got the adorable 70s flower chair during the Large Item Pickup Days last year. It has been used in here every day since, and I love how it adds to the vintage vibes I’m going for.
I moved my cookbooks to the space above the cabinets & it looks a million times better than the clutter I had up there before. I absolutely LOVE the color it adds to this space. Eventually, the entire space will be filled full of cookbooks! I absolutely love cooking & baking. It is one of my biggest passions & I spend a great deal of time doing it every day of my life.
Sergiy built us a door for our bathroom so that we could get the privacy we need without losing the space we need. It has been life changing! My dad made sure that the lock was placed at the top so that no Littles could lock themselves in. Niko plans to stain this door to match the windows in the living room that he stained.
Niko restored this mirror that was original to the house. The owners before us painted it the ugliest brown, and I painted it black in my last bathroom makeover – a mistake I immediately regretted & learned from. He stripped all of the paint until it was only wood left. After sanding it, I painted the carved designs to give a folk/cottage vibe to it. I love the colors together and way it turned out.
We also replaced the sink & vanity with a teak wood one to match the mirror and door. The kids had cracked the old sink, and broken the door off of one side of the vanity so it was a much needed replacement. I love that the stool fits under it now!
Sergiy also added a fan to this bathroom. There previously was not one, only a small window inside of the shower. The amount of people in our modest home taking hot showers without proper air circulation caused a mold problem that was not going away. He cleaned & removed the mold & repainted this room using an oil based primer first. There has not been any mold since.
We also had to take down the cabinet on the wall that was damaged by rust and mold. The rust on the hinges made the doors unable to close properly and the paint was ruined by the mold and water damage from condensation. We still haven’t found a replacement, but I’m on the hunt! Shelves will probably end up being our best solution, but I have a vision in mind that I’m searching to fulfill first.
I also FINALLY went online and bought a new rod insert for my toilet paper holder in the wall. The kids lost that years ago and I couldn’t find one in any home repair stores in person due to the 50s vintage design of it that is no longer used today, so I gave up looking and settled on a stand-alone one instead. I can’t stand things being on the ground because it is an extra thing in my way to move when I clean the floor, so I was not happy using the cluttery stand-alone one. I finally went on Amazon, found one in less than 10 seconds for only a few bucks and ordered to my door next day. Years of stressing solved in a literal matter of seconds.
Take this as your sign to stop procrastinating and just take care of the small tasks weighing down your plate. Chances are they will take little to no time, and will make you feel so accomplished after! You’ll wonder why you waited so long in the first place.
Sergiy also replaced the window in our master bedroom suite at the top of the stairs overlooking the backyard. There was a giant crack in the glass that was close to shattering, and the latches to keep the window closed were broken so the window was never fully shut. My dad bought a replacement Pella window & Sergiy installed it + added trim.
I found new curtains second-hand that I thought were perfect for this window! They are really pretty & definitely my style.
I repainted my master bathroom. The color is definitely better than before. I also added the little shelf for toilet paper, and picked up the rug at Large Item Pickup Days! It was perfect for this room.
I’m going to add some stick & peel wallpaper from The Dollar Tree on the side of the slide out drawer that I couldn’t reach to attractively hide the fact that it isn’t painted.
We’ve done SO much in the backyard this year that it needs it own post, but I wanted to give a little sneak peak of this turtle sandbox turned garden bed. The sandbox was picked up through a freebie site from a family who’s grandchildren have all outgrown it now. I think it’s so cute and kid friendly! I also began placing potted herbs under it so that it looks like he is munching on sage leaves. I had my herbs in the ground, but this year I decided to pot them to both make my life easier & clear the large garden bed space they were in to make room for a berry garden.
Along with changes in my home, I’ve been making changes & doing some clearing out in my personal life as well. This year, I went back to court to expunge my felonies I received when I was still in active addiction back in 2012 & 2013!
I never planned to do this. I was perfectly content being a stay at home mom, not ever needing my record for anything. However something that I didn’t realize was how badly it made me feel about myself or how much it was holding me back in my own thinking. The universe took matters into her own hands and added it to my to-do list for me. I got a random urge to go downtown & file the expungement paperwork one day out of the blue. Now here we are, a non-felon! And it feels great!
Looking back over the last 6 beautiful months has really opened my eyes to how much we have accomplished, just on the house alone! It’s easy to forget how much you accomplish over time when you are living daily life. It was a great reminder of how much I have done already and really take time to praise myself. I am a person who bases my self-worth on my productivity, yet never thinks I am doing enough & often talks down to myself when I feel that I have “wasted” any time. This reflection showed me that I’ve made a ton of progress & I have SO much to be thankful for.
I am so incredibly grateful for this house {which saved my life} & the family that we have built inside of it. It may be small, but it is filled with so much love, happiness, and life; just the way it should be ❤️.
I’m officially obsessed with making my own Ice Cream! It’s so fun & easy. There are SO many flavor combinations to try!
If you don’t know this about me – one of my dreams is to start an ice cream 🍦 shop called Morozovo’s because the Ukrainian word for Ice cream is морозиво, which is pronounced in English like our last name just with an extra “o” on the end! I really (like.. really, really) love ice cream & feel like it’s a calling for our family!
Our first step was to go out into the garden and collect some fresh mint. Athena was my big helper in this step & had a lot of fun with it. She said she felt like she was in a wedding carrying the “bouquet” of mint.
After we collected enough mint, we sat down together on the swing and picked off all of the leaves and placed them in this mini colander to be cleaned once we were back in the kitchen.
We collected and picked a good amount, then took our colander inside to clean & roughly cut the mint. I find using kitchen scissors easiest for this.
We then poured our pint of heavy whipping cream into the Dutch oven pot on the stove, threw in the chopped mint, and heated just until hot to let that flavor really begin to release into the cream. Do not overheat, or it will not whip as well for you. Remove from heat, let cool to room temperature, pour into container with lid, and let cold steep in the refrigerator for at the very least 12 hours.
After cold steeping in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours (the longer it steeps, the stronger the mint flavor will be), strain mint leaves by using cheese cloth over your Kitchen Aid Mixing Bowl.
Whip the cream with the whisk attachment until you have a Whipped cream consistency. Hand mixers would probably work even better, if you have those.
Once Whipped, add in 1 can of Ukrainian Sweetened Condensed Milk & whip again. I imagine American Condensed Milk will work if you don’t have access to a European market, but the Ukrainian one just tastes SO much better {see note}!!! Finally, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract & whip again one final time.
{NOTE: after comparing Ukrainian to American Condensed Milk with my тато, we found that Ukrainian Condensed Milk has at least double the amount of sugar as American, which is why it noticeably tastes better than American Condensed Milk. With this difference, you will have different results if using American Condensed Milk. You may have to add in sugar, but since I have not done it this way, I am unsure of when or how much sugar to add.}
Gently fold in mini chocolate chips until all mixed together really evenly. I used semi-sweet because that was all that was available in mini, but feel free to use whatever you like here. Milk, dark, mini, chunk – it’s your ice cream, make it exactly your way!
Once all blended together, pour into a Loaf pan & place into freezer. The first day is good, but the second day is even better so if you have enough self-control, let it freeze overnight for best results. However if you need to try it right away, same. Just make sure to save enough to try the next day too!
Once it freezes & you are ready to eat, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to let it soften up a tiny bit to make scooping easier. Scoop into bowl or cone & enjoy!
The flavor of the fresh mint in the ice cream is SO good! Plus I was super happy to use up some more of my mint in my garden! All of the kids agreed that the homemade Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream was way better than store bought – even Sasha who has never liked a store-bought mint chocolate chip before. She was the first to ask for seconds!
I hope you like it as much as us!
Ingredients
1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
Fresh mint (I used probably 75-100 leaves)
1 can Ukrainian Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions
1 – MINT: Gather, wash, & cut mint.
2 – HEAT: Pour Heavy Whipping Cream into pot on stove, using medium low heat. Add mint leaves. Stir constantly until just hot, then pour into container & let cool to room temperature. Once cool, refrigerate 12+ hours.
3 – STRAIN mint leaves from cream using cheese cloth over your mixing bowl. Discard leaves.
4 – WHIP the cream into a Whipped cream consistency. Add in 1 can Ukrainian Condensed Milk, whip again. Add in 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract, whip again. {🍦Begin at this step if NOT using mint🍦}.
5 – FOLD in chocolate chips gently & evenly throughout the cream mixture.
6 – POUR mixture into Loaf pan & freeze overnight.
I went out into the garden this morning to see the first tomatoes ready for picking!!!! I am going to have to ask Ella to sew me one of those adorable harvesting aprons that homesteaders wear to carry in their eggs & such in!!
The red ones are Cherry Tomatoes.
The orange ones are Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes.
It doesn’t look like a lot yet, but I’m still so excited about them! I’m also excited about how many green ones of different varieties there still are growing! The plants are HUGE now!
I really love how much of a sense of gratitude comes from gardening. There is something so magical about it! I find myself just staring at it all, taking everything in: the watermelons we grew from seed, the tomatoes that are towering over the younger kids, our Veggie scraps we propagated & regrew from our kitchen, the fruit trees that will provide not only food but many memories for my children, all of the edible plant starts I accumulated for free from friends & other kind gardeners that have really filled up my beds this year (that is a huge blessing), the pumpkin patch that is growing up the walls of our greenhouse making it feel like a fairy tale, the flower gardens in the front yard filled with busy pollinators & beautiful smells. Nothing compares to that first harvest, and getting to bring something in to eat that YOU grew – it’s so rewarding.
I threw a Summer Solstice (Litha) Feast for my family last night!! Since I was working the last few nights, I am a few days late to throw this, but I think it overall turned out really nice!! Typically, a Summer Solstice Feast would be held outdoors since it is a celebration of the sun & all the blessings and warmth that the Earth provides for us, but it has been so hot this week, we decided to have our feast inside.
Mia did a really good job decorating the table with plants & flowers from our garden to make it look beautiful!
I made Swedish Meat Pies as the main course – both ground beef and vegetarian ground crumbles versions so that I could enjoy the feast as well! I definitely have plenty of Leftovers for meals this week for myself!
I made a Summer Salad to serve as the side which was delicious! The Summer Salad is laid on top of a bed of lettuce, then drizzled with Mangoraja dressing. The dressing was SO good & I’m glad there was enough leftover to bottle up to use this week.
For our beverage, Mia & I made a “Very Berry Lemonade.” We used Raspberries, Blackberries, and Blueberries!! It was so good and wasn’t overly sweet like a lot of lemonade!
Our dessert was homemade Strawberry ice cream! It was my first time making it, and I was so surprised how simple it is to make! Plus it only used 3 ingredients & didn’t require any special equipment! I can’t wait to experiment with so many more flavors!
I think that it turned out really nice and was really happy to make these memories with my family.
Along with a Feast, it is important to spend time in nature during this season, connecting with the Earth and all she has provided for us. We spend a lot of time tending to our gardens & herbs. My dad gifted me a herb dryer so that we can begin drying out our fresh herbs to use instead of buy. That will be used a lot!
Setting intentions while connecting with & thanking your ancestors, other spirit guides + the universe is another important ritual during the Solstice. It is a season for new life & new beginnings so it is a great time to make major changes in your life. I’m very excited for & accepting of new changes and blessings that are to come.
Another fun activity to do with kids during the summer solstice is to leave gifts for the fairies. Today, we will spend time in the children’s garden taking time to decorate & re-arrange their fairy 🧚🏼♀️ garden space and make it magical again, while listening to some beautiful music about loving & honoring the Earth.
It has been SO incredibly hot here this week, and next week isn’t looking any cooler either!
My in-laws brought over a giant tub of leftover watermelon from their Father’s Day weekend that I wasn’t loving the texture of, but I certainly didn’t want to waste it, so I turned it into delicious and hydrating smoothies!!!
Strawberry Watermelon 🍓🍉 Smoothie
Watermelon (I used 3 slices each blend)
Strawberries (I used 6 each blend)
1 cup Almond milk
Handful of ice
Honey
Mint leaves from my garden
Smoothies are super easy to make. Just throw all of the ingredients in a blender and serve. You can add more or less fruit depending on what you have available to you or prefer taste-wise. Each blend made 1 adult + 2 child size cups, or 2 adult size cups. I didn’t want to over-stuff the blender, so I worked in batches for our large size family.
The kids weren’t huge fans of the mint, but love it without it. Sasha had such a cute idea and placed an extra strawberry on the rim of their smoothies to look fancy & also have a little snack to go with it.
I personally couldn’t get enough of them with the mint! It was seriously the perfect beverage to cool down & enjoy on the porch after a sweaty afternoon in the garden! It was a really nice, healthy treat that wasn’t loaded with added sugars. Plus I was really happy to find a way to use my mint!!
This is definitely going to be my new go to Smoothie this summer! I’m also excited to make other varieties of it as well using the same base: maybe add some cucumbers, other berries, coconut milk, lemon, or greek yogurt. There are endless ideas & they all sound like they’d be good!
With the weather being nice, we have had so many people stop by our Little Free Library lately! It makes my heart so happy every time that I get to witness a family stop by and pick up a book or two, or trade some of theirs ❤️.
It has been so much fun for our entire family running this library. From collecting book donations & making sure it stays fully stocked at all times with materials for kids of all reading levels, we try to do our best as stewards!
This last year I decided to keep Sasha behind in language arts because she just wasn’t getting it. I didn’t want to do the dissatisfaction that public schools do by just moving on to “grade level” when she doesn’t fully understand the concept, or worse, getting annoyed with her for not understanding because that certainly doesn’t help anyone, especially her.
I selfishly thought, if I do that, she will be “behind” her peers. If I do that, people will think I’m failing at homeschooling and tell me I need to give up and put her back into public school. Then I realized, two-thirds of American kids in public schools can’t read. I’m not hurting her by going at HER pace, I’m helping her not be part of that statistic. She’s not going to be “behind” anybody. She’s going to be right on her own time, and most importantly, she’s going to fully understand what she’s reading & be a strong, confident reader. Sasha is also currently working with our homeschool teacher of many talents, Ms. Natalie, helping her once a week to improve her reading skills in addition to her daily curriculum work. I know this was the right decision because she has come SO far this year using the Preschool curriculum instead of beginning at Kindergarten. It has made a huge difference and I’ve seen a huge improvement!
With so many children left feeling a huge lack of confidence in reading, it’s no wonder so many kids say things like “I hate reading” and try to avoid it.
I think the biggest importance is to help children turn that hate for reading into a love for it. One of our ways to do that is to hunt for new Little Free Libraries together! We love finding new ones and enjoying how creative everyone is in their ideas! We enjoy trading books that won’t fit into our little library into ones that will. The kids love finding books for each of their siblings that they think they will enjoy. They also love tending to ours! Like they say “A family that reads together, stays together.”
I wanted to share a Cincinnati-based organization – The Queen City Book Bank – with you that helps make it possible for you to get your own Little Free Library in your front yard as well as provides you with gently-used books to fill your library with as well! Their mission is to get as many kids reading as possible to lift this statistic.
Their next free book giveaway day is July 9th, from 9 am – 3 pm. They ask that you please bring your own bags 🛍.
📚 If you are interested in becoming a Little Free Library steward in Cincinnati, reach out to their Program Coordinator, Shymain Walker, by email at Shymain@queencitybookbank.org
Our public libraries are currently hosting their Summer Reading Program as well! That is a great incentive to get your children reading!
Barnes & Noble also offers a free summer reading program too! No purchase is necessary to participate! You can go on a Little Library Scavenger Hunt together to find new books to read, or borrow from the library or friends.
There are so many ways & resources to get kids interested in reading! We as parents have to change this statistic ourselves!!! For the sake of both current & future generations!!!
“A child who reads will be an adult who thinks.” 📚
I made a big batch of Ukrainian Halva Cookies yesterday morning! I divided the batch up three ways: some for my friend & Ukrainian teacher Anna as a housewarming gift for her new home, some for my dad because I love bringing him Ukrainian recipes I make, and of course some for my home too!! They were really, really yummy & I will definitely be making again very soon.
Ingredients
2 sticks salted butter
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons poppyseeds
Prepared Ukrainian Sunflower Seed Halva
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°
Cream together butter & sugar using the paddle attachment on your mixer.
Add egg & vanilla extract, mix again.
In another large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then add to butter mix & mix until all combined to form a dough ball.
Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, roll out to flatten, then place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
While dough is chilling, mix together sesame seeds & poppyseeds on a plate. Cut prepared halva into bite size pieces.
When dough is finished chilling, cut into equal sizes and roll into little dough balls. Squish down into seed mixture to flatten into cookies and place on baking tray.
Lightly push a piece of halva into the center of each cookie.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, let cool for a bit & enjoy!!
When she first went, I had been expecting her to choose either keys or vocals because she has experience with piano and she loves singing for fun, but she ended up surprising me & choosing the guitar!
She ended up really falling in love with it and asked to continue learning how to play! We applied together for a scholarship for her to continue lessons at School of Rock Cincinnati. We really hope that she is selected! I think it would be so great for her. It has really been such an amazing opportunity for her brother & I’d love for her to have that opportunity as well.
Her older brother Kaden was kind to pass down his beginner electric guitar & old amp to Ella for her to learn on. That made her really happy. Her grandma bought her a new guitar case for it.
Tonight she had her first performance at the school! Her band played Come Together and Twist & Shout. She did a really great job on both songs! My parents, oldest son, & Grammy Kat along all came to cheer her on!!
After her performance, my mom asked if Ella wanted to go to another SOR Music Camp which she, of course, did! That was really, really kind of her. My mom signed Ella up for her choice of the upcoming Pop Legends group in a couple weeks! She is really excited & grateful to get to go back! Hopefully soon, she’ll get to go weekly for guitar lessons!
From Heroin to Housewife 