As a little girl, I would push a chair over to watch him make his famous sauce over the stove. He told me all his secrets to making the best marinara. And he made it smooth…just the way I liked it.  With his last stirs he would shout, “let’s kick it up a notch” and throw in some spices.

I will share two of my dad’s secrets on making  an amazing sauce with you:

1. To make the best marinara, no matter chunky or smooth, DON’T measure.  Keep your measuring cups and spoons in the drawer and rely on your taste buds.

2. Break off two big pieces of french bread and cook with someone you love.

Let’s start with a basic sauce:

olive oil

garlic

Canned Whole Tomatoes (crushed, sauce, or diced will work too)

sugar

salt and pepper

Fresh Basil (optional)

Directions: Saute over medium heat 1 clove of garlic/ 28 oz can of tomatoes in a little olive oil for 30 seconds. Crush by hand the whole tomatoes in liquid and add to a large saucepan. Note: Kids love crushing tomatoes!   Bring to a boil and simmer for at least an hour.

Now the secret begins…it’s time to add some seasoning and sugar.  Tomatoes are acidic, but the amount of acid varies from one tomato to the next.  Sugar helps to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, but there is no set amount to add.  Simply start sprinkling in some sugar (roughly about  1 tablespoon/ 28 oz can), give it a stir and then taste.  The acid of the tomatoes will taste a little tangy on your tongue.  Keep adding sugar little by little till that “tangy” taste goes away.  If you add too much sugar just add another jar of tomatoes  :)

Now it’s time to season with salt. Use the same method of adding a little and then taste till it is so good you are licking the spoon.

Add some pepper and finish with some fresh basil.

It all takes a little practice, but once mastered you will never go back to jarred sauce. Guaranteed.

Add ins:

Onions: Saute some onions in olive oil till soft and transparent.  Add your garlic. Saute and continue with Basic Sauce steps (above).

Make it Ragu: add veal or turkey and saute mushrooms, celery, carrots, a little chopped rosemary, and onion in a pan. Continue with Basic Sauce Recipe.

Make it rich: Give it a splash of heavy cream and or red wine.

Be adventurous: add in a few chopped black olives and a quill of cinnamon with your Ragu.

But right now, I hear sirens…city constructions workers and I am trying to make my brain understand SEO, marketing, and ya know all that business stuff.  I am being stretched continually, challenged…and right now I think my brain just needs a 20 minute nap.  Because its not time to give up…only time to say a prayer, take a short break, and “get back on my horse.”  This new city girl…will be back in a few.

You laid there perfectly content taking in the new world.

You played with your fingers, stretched out your toes…until you fell asleep.

Sweet dreams baby girl.  An adventure awaits you that has been designed just for you…

…and you have a big sister that is going to show you the way.

And Niles, meet your pretty awesome Uncle!  I just know that you two are going to find lots of adventure…he is really good at that.

Your still small and have not yet discovered your wicked-fast frog catching skills and monkey-tree-climbing arms…but you do know how to do three things really well.

1. eat

2. poop

3. look incredibly handsome

oh, and make the cutest hiccup sounds

If you need a “cuteness” pick-me-up…here are some newborn baby  hiccups:

Want to know what’s in this Spring?

This season you have seen bold stripes, pretty florals and a lot of color. So how do you make it work, how do you mix and match for an unforgettable look.

These outfits can be found at J. Crew + crewcuts, Anthropologie, Toms

This is what you will need:

Note: I used American instead of Cheddar cheese.  I simply prefer the creaminess of American cheese as it melts.

(Trick: Roll your dough between the palm of your hands until you have a short rope. Then grabbing one end of the coil, slowly circle it through the air like you are going to twist a towel for a towel fight…ask your son, brother, or husband if you have no idea what I am talking about.)

1. For the pretzels: combine water, sugar, yeast, and butter. Let sit for 5 minutes.

2. Add salt, flour, and rosemary to the mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

3. Coat a large bowl with oil, add the dough. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size. 1 hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bring water to a boil in a large pot.

5. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope. .

To shape into pretzels, take the right side and cross over to the left. Cross right to left again and press the ends into the lower circle of the pretzel (or make other shapes).  Slowly add the baking soda to the boiling water. Boil the pretzels in the water solution, 2 at a time for 30 seconds, splashing the tops with the warmed water using a spoon. Remove with a large flat slotted spatula. Place 4 pretzels on each baking sheet, brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with sea salt. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until pretzels are golden brown.

6. Remove pretzels from oven and let cool on a wire baking rack.

7. To make the Rosemary Cheese Sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and whisk in flour. Pour in the milk and whisk until the mixture thickens. Stir in shredded cheese, stir until cheese is melted and smooth. Stir in fresh rosemary and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with pretzels.

Enjoy!

You can find the original recipe here.

Each detail on my site is all about who I am as a person and as a photographer. Why?  Because when clients book a session, they get me- goofy, smiley, sometimes quirky…Cassandra. My work is a reflection of my personality. So my logo, the layout, the color scheme is all designed to give clients a sneak peak into my life, my likes, and my style. ProPhoto helps me do that.

ProPhoto is an easy-to-use tool that allows me create a one of a kind site…all by myself. And I don’t need to know coding! So every color, image, menu, gallery, header, widget… was designed by yours truly.  And it was easy (and I am not tech savvy)!

Here are 5 ways that ProPhoto helped me brand my website and blog.

1. You can upload an image just about anywhere!

Many of you have been asking about the designer of the  “elephant” logo and the hand drawn images throughout the site. These hand drawn images play a HUGE part in my branding.  To answer the question… I drew them, but ProPhoto made it super easy to incorporate them throughout my site. The sketches speak to a playful “Silverstienish” part of me that loves to draw and paint when I am not holding a camera.  If you look around the site you will find hand drawn uploaded images just about everywhere- in my menu, in my contact section, beneath each post in the call to action links (Pin it, Share it on Facebook, etc.), as title backgrounds, and many… many other places.

2. Use a template or make it your own!

ProPhoto does provide templates, but you can also choose to build and create your own template.  This is what I chose to do.

I love white.  White dishes, white walls, white furniture. white clothes.  Because it is simple, clean, and everything goes with white. Hence, the website is white! But yours doesn’t have to be. Go ahead and style yours after you.  Choose color, a damask wallpaper background, or make it look like a magazine.  For me it was a clean, simple, white website and blog that highlighted the rolly polly babies, silly children, and beautiful families I photograph.

3. Showcase LARGE photos!

ProPhoto was designed to help photographers showcase their work. Take a scroll through the blog and you will see large images, not thumbnails, that allow me to show off the beauty of each family I photograph.  Each session that I post speaks to the branding of Cassandra Plummer Photography- my style, what the sessions are like, and how much fun we have together.  ProPhoto helps me communicate all of that with large impressive images.

4. Connect to Social Media.

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest are all ways that clients can connect with me on a daily basis.  ProPhoto enables me to use my blog to connect to social media platforms in a variety of ways.

5. Impressive Galleries.

I can create impressive and easy-to-use galleries and slideshows to showcase my work with ProPhoto.  My favorite is the Lightbox Gallery…which you can see here in my portfolio or here “In the Kitchen.”  I love to bake, cook and share it with my readers. The lightbox gallery allows me to create a thumbnail recipe index…which is perfect for figuring out what recipe your belly is growling to eat.

If you haven’t yet, go check out the ProPhoto site.  I am seriously head over heels in love with it.  And theie staff, is simply amazing! Really, like Apple amazing.

If you have more questions about how I used ProPhoto to customize my site, please leave a note below…and I will do my best to answer

Here is what you will need:

Note: I like to use Alaskan Salmon if possible.  Alaskan Salmon is caught in the deep, icy, clean waters of Alaska which are mostly pollutant free.

Directions:

Season both sides of your Salmon fillets with salt and pepper and let it set for a few minutes. Heat a pan (I like to use nonstick for fish) over medium to high heat. Add a little olive oil and cook each side for 5 minutes or until the salmon flakes with a fork. Serve with rice.

In a small saucepan  heat 1/3 cup butter, 2 Tablespoons of Marmelade/ Apricot Jelly, and 1 Tablespoon of Balsamic until everything is melted.  Remove from heat. Pour over cooked salmon. (I first found this Magical Butter Sauce over at the Steamy Kitchen…where Jaden claims to pour it on just about everything…soon you will too).

Now for the Mediterranean Vegetables and Hummus Dressing…

You can find a vegetable mix, Hummus dressing, and Feta with Mediterranean herbs at Trader Joes.  All you have to do is mix some feta into the vegetable medley and add some dressings.

Note: If you can’t find a prepared vegetable medley, you can make your own by dicing an assortment of veggies.  Here are some ideas: carrots, green peppers, red cabbage, green cabbage, broccoli, radish, celery, and jicama.

You can prepare this date night meal in less than 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Nile’s mommy loves these swaddling blankets by Aden + Anais which are not only great for swaddling but also as a stroller cover + burp cloth + nursing shield + summertime and tummy time blanket + change table cover + portable crib sheet.  They are breathable, stylish, soft, and quite large in size (but they also roll up small to fit in your diaper bag).

You can view Nile’s newborn session here.