Lyla Reagan Fischer

It has been more than six weeks since I last posted. And while andbread has been silent, my life, over these last forty-odd days, has been anything but; a whirlwind of the new and the noisy. Just four days after my last post, my life was changed forever, as my husband and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world. After nine months of anxiously waiting and 17.5 hours of labor, Lyla Reagan Fischer finally decided to make her grand entrance. Lyla was born on June 26th at 11:11 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and measured 20 inches long.

For the last month-and-a-half, we have been adjusting to life with a newborn and loving every minute of it (well, almost every minute; the 3 A.M. feedings took some getting used to). I do have to admit that with Lyla here, there have been many nights that cooking has been the furthest thing from my mind. I have been able to whip up a few nice, homemade meals during nap time, but on those days when nap time just doesn't happen, I've been forced to find the easiest option which, quite often, has been sandwiches. I am proud to say though that I have yet to serve cereal for dinner (although give it time, I am sure it will happen).

This last weekend though was a very special weekend for our new, little family of three. Lyla was baptized and all of our family traveled great distances to be with us and celebrate as we welcomed Lyla into the Catholic Church.

It was a very special weekend and of course was worthy of a very special homemade meal. Our menu included slow cooked barbecue brisket (prepared by Adam), barbecue pork, roasted potatoes, fruit salad, green salad, broccoli salad, asian salad (yes there were a ton of salads!, but all very delicious), baked beans and vanilla cupcakes (recipe below). It took many hands and many hours to prepare all of this wonderful food, and it was the perfect way to celebrate an oh-so important moment in Lyla's life.

That evening as we all gathered to share the food together and support Lyla on her big day, I looked around the room at our wonderful family and felt my heart swell. This little girl of mine has no idea just how lucky she is; lucky to have a such a loving family that will support her, cheer her on, travel great distances for her and love her unconditionally and indefinitely. At six weeks old, she is already surrounded in love, with team of people standing behind her. 

So, my sweet, little Lyla, on this your baptism weekend, there are three things that I wish for you...

The first is faith. Faith in God that He will lead you and watch over you all of your life and that He will never abandon you. Faith in yourself, that you can accomplish anything and everything you will ever dream of and then some. Faith in your family, that we will always love you, always support you and always be here for you.

My second wish for you is knowledge. That you will have a constant and undying thirst for it. That you will always question and search for truth. And that when you cannot find your answers, that you will turn to God and rely on Him for wisdom.

And my final wish for you is love. That you will learn to love with your whole heart and without hesitation. That you will trust in the never-ending love that your parents have for you and fall on it during hard times. And that you, my baby girl, will one day have a child of your own and learn that there is a whole new level of love that you could have never even imagined existing.

Thank you to all of our family, especially Lyla's Godparents, for making her baptism weekend so wonderful. She truly is the luckiest little girl.

And as promised, the recipe for Lyla's Baptism Cupcakes (recipe from Allysa Torey, owner of Magnolia Bakery).

Vanilla Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups of self-rising flour

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup of butter, softened

2 cups of sugar

4 eggs

1 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Start by creaming the butter until smooth. Then add the sugar and beat together. Add one egg at a time until you have added all 4 and beat the batter between each egg. Add the flours in three parts alternating with the milk and vanilla. Do not over beat the batter.

Bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup of butter, softened

6 cups of confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup of milk

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

In a large bowl mix together the butter, 4 cups of sugar, the milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Gradually add additional sugar as need, but only one cup at a time. Beat until smooth and until the icing has reached the desired consistency.

Note: In this warm weather, the frosting melts very quickly as you can tell by the furthest cupcake on the right. As soon as you have frosted the cupcakes, get them into the refrigerator to avoid melting. I had intended to add pink "L's" to the top of the cupcakes, but with the heat did not want them to turn into big pink blobs. Next time.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

I find bananas to be an extremely underappreciated ingredient and flavor. They are so versatile and are one of the few foods that can take you from day to night. Who doesn't enjoy banana pancakes, banana bread, banana smoothies, banana cream pie, banana cookies, chocolate dipped bananas, banana ice cream, banana cake, banana chips, or banana splits? Bananas can be fried, mashed, frozen, diced, sliced or just eaten whole. On this Sunday while my husband was flipping between the World Cup and the US Open, I found myself reaching for our browning bananas and trying to determine what I could quickly whip up before they became wasted money. I finally settled on Chocolate Chip Banana Cupcakes. These little babies are amazing because not only will they satisfy your taste buds, but they are quick to prepare and so simple that my 4 year old niece could master them. They are perfect for a Wednesday afternoon or you can always use the frosting to nicely dress them up and wow your friends at the next dinner party. Either way, these little bites of heaven will not disappoint.


The recipe I use originates from the Williams-Sonoma cookbook Baking, however, I tend to stray somewhat from recipes based on what I am feeling and what ingredients I have on hand. Here is how I made these today:


1 ½ cups of flour


¾ cup of sugar


1 ½ teaspoons baking soda


¼ teaspoon of salt


3 Large bananas mashed


½ cup butter melted


1 large egg


3 tablespoons of low-fat milk – add lemon juice


¾ cup milk chocolate chips


First add the dry ingredients together in one bowl. Next mash the bananas, add the melted butter and egg (at room temperature). Now, the original recipe calls for buttermilk, but I was fresh out, so instead I used low-fat milk and added a few drops of lemon juice to make my buttermilk substitute. This worked great, but feel free to use buttermilk if you have that available. After adding the milk substance of your choice to the banana mixture, slowly added in the dry ingredients. The last step - add your chocolate chips. I was all out of semi-sweet (the husband had requested chocolate chip cookies earlier in the week) so I used milk chocolate chips and found these to work wonderfully.


Bake at 350 for 20 – 25 minutes. I made these cupcakes a little bit smaller so they did not require the full 25 minutes. If you make full sized cupcakes, be sure to bake for the full cooking time.


Quick Chocolate Frosting:

½ cup of melted butter


4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped and melted


1 ½ cups of confectioner’s sugar


3 tablespoons of milk (add more as needed)


Let the cupcakes cools completely before frosting, otherwise you will have melting frosting on your hands. Enjoy with a glass of ice cold milk!