Celebrations Archives | Lilies and Loafers

All Recipes/ Christmas/ Comfort Food/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

December 21, 2020

This year has been trying. However, there have been moments of levity. Growing up, we used to have family over for a whole day of baking a few weekends before Christmas. My Nana would bring over a pile of index cards with handwritten recipes and we would sift through them to find our favorite desserts. This year, I had a Zoom baking day with family and we all made some…

December 21, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Autumn/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert/ Halloween/ Thanksgiving

Homemade Pumpkin Purée for Pumpkin Pie

November 4, 2020

Last year, I attempted to make my own pumpkin purée for pumpkin pie with a regular carving pumpkin. Big mistake, huge. It was stringy, and not at all what I was expecting. I didn’t realize you’re supposed to use certain types of pumpkins, like sugar pumpkins, to make purée. This year, however, was a success. Trying to find a sugar pumpkin was a little bit harder than I anticipated however,…

November 4, 2020 By Brian

DIY/ Halloween/ Side Dishes

Corduroy: Halloween Costumes 2020

October 28, 2020

While Halloween this year will look a little different, we were not going to let it getaway. This year, we transformed our son into Corduroy and took some photos. Corduroy is a bear who once lived in the toy department of a big store. Day after day he waited with all the other animals and dolls for someone to come along and take him home. Corduroy, 1968 Fatima’s favorite book…

October 28, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Celebrations/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert/ Halloween

Halloween Cookies 2020

October 21, 2020

Last year, I showed off some great Halloween sugar cookies. This year, I wanted to get a little fancy and use some of the letter cookie cutters I purchased over the summer. I had much loftier goals in mind, but I’m really happy with how these Halloween cookies came out this year. The secret to a really good sugar cookie comes down two things. The first, the recipe. I’ve been…

October 21, 2020 By Brian

Celebrations/ DIY/ Halloween/ Side Dishes

Family-Friendly Halloween activities to do this weekend

October 16, 2020

We’re halfway through October and Halloween is right around the corner! We’ve been getting into the spooky szn through some baking, crafting, and spontaneous Monster Mash dance parties. This weekend, we’re heading out for some leaf peeping and pumpkin picking. If you’re looking to get into the holiday spirit, here are some activities you can do right now! Pumpkin Picking for the ‘gram…or to carve Get in some fresh air,…

October 16, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Autumn/ Breakfast and Brunch/ Celebrations/ Dessert/ Halloween

Pumpkin Pop Tarts

October 14, 2020

Another October, another pumpkin recipe in the books. You know we love pop tarts. Last month, we walked you through how we made brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts. This time, I tackled pumpkin pop tarts. If you have a pie dough recipe you love, go for it. Otherwise, already-made pie dough is completely OK. We used that for the brown sugar pop tarts and these pumpkin ones. I don’t want…

October 14, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert/ Halloween

Spooky Chocolate Cake with Meringue Ghosts

October 7, 2020

Spooky? Check. Cute? Check. Delicious? Check, check, check! This boo-tiful cake is a fun Halloween treat to make this month. Just pick your favorite chocolate cake and top with the cutest meringue ghosts. Up until this point in my life, I have avoided meringue. Not sure why, but probably due to the unknown. When it comes to desserts, I prefer sweet, chocolate, and/or frosting. So when it came to making…

October 7, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Birthday/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert

Oreo Cheesecake

September 16, 2020

When I asked Fatima what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she did not hesitate to say ‘cheesecake’. Well, maybe there was some hesitation as she figured out what kind of cheesecake. And that’s how we landed on an Oreo cheesecake for her birthday cake. This cheesecake is one of my favorite recipes. It’s one of the only recipes I found that did not require a water bath…

September 16, 2020 By Brian

#LoveSummer/ Celebrations/ Side Dishes

End of Summer Tie-Dye Staycation

September 2, 2020

While summer officially ends in a few weeks, the unofficial end to summer has always been Labor Day. Well, maybe in today’s world it’s when the PSL returns. This summer, we’ve closed the season with a staycation that included a trip to the Bronx Zoo, ice cream, and tie-dye! Growing up, I loved having that one last weekend at the lake house before school ramped up. One summer, about a…

September 2, 2020 By Brian

#LoveSummer/ All Recipes/ Cocktails/ Snacks

Boozy Popsicles

August 26, 2020

This summer has been H-O-T, HOT. No one asked for this. The one, very small smidge of a silver lining in this pandemic has been not having to commute to work. I loved having a no-commute summer while I was parental leave. I have not missed traveling in the heat. To combat the return of the heat over the weekend, I took some of our favorite cocktails and turned them…

August 26, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Birthday/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting

Liam’s Second Birthday: Two the Moon

May 28, 2020

Life under quarantine doesn’t have to suck. We stay home to save lives. As parents, we’ve found one of the hardest things to do is to make life seem normal for a two-year-old. He doesn’t know why we can’t go to the playground, why we get frustrated at him for not wanting to wear his mask outside, why we use the rain cover on the stroller on sunny days, why…

May 28, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Birthday/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert/ Family Fun/ Parenting

Moon Cake: Two the Moon

May 27, 2020

A themed birthday party has to have a themed cake. Although quarantine shifted our plans, I still wanted to tackle this cake. Our son’s second birthday was themed Two the Moon, so what better cake than to have a moon cake! I never met a boxed cake I didn’t like. In the off chance I have, it was 100% the baker’s fault :). When it comes to planning a party, the…

May 27, 2020 By Brian

Birthday/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

DIY Rocket Backpack: Two the Moon

May 26, 2020

I have decided that for every birthday, my kids will have a themed photoshoot. They’ll make great memories to look back on and this way we get family portraits out of it! This year’s birthday theme was Two the Moon. For our son’s portraits, I crafted this DIY rocket backpack so he could land on the moon! Because my wife and I are crazy planners, we ended with six of these backpacks…

May 26, 2020 By Brian

#LoveSummer/ All Recipes/ Appetizers/ Margaritas

Tequila Lime Shrimp with Margarita Pipettes

May 23, 2020

Make the star appetizer of your gathering, these Tequila Lime Shrimp with Margarita Pipettes! On a crisp and overcast October day, we gathered at a mansion in Connecticut for our last wedding in 2019. For the record, that feels like an eternity ago. It was a quintessential New England fall day. Up until this point, we had attended four other weddings and this was our wedding season finale. Cocktail hour…

May 23, 2020 By Brian

#LoveSummer/ All Recipes/ Dessert/ Family Fun/ Snacks

Dole Whip: Disney’s Not-So-Secret Secret Recipe

May 4, 2020

May the Fourth be with you! To celebrate Star Wars Day, we made Disney’s Dole Whip! It was the perfect weekend to try this recipe out. After weekends of damp and cold weather, this weekend was much needed (which challenged social distancing). We had a feeling it would be difficult to take a walk around the neighborhood with a toddler who refuses to wear a mask. So we took early…

May 4, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Celebrations/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Snacks

Mini Cadbury Egg Kissed Pretzels

April 3, 2020

Hey you, we see you. Thanks for finding us. Right now, we are (by “we” I mean “the world”) going through something really awful. We’re all feeling something: stressed, upset, anxious, isolated, and a million other emotions all at once. You’re not alone. No, really, we want you to know that. While we may not be able to enjoy the physical presence of our friends, family, and neighbors right now,…

April 3, 2020 By Brian

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