If you've ever been to one of our holiday celebrations, birthday parties or a family get together of any kind -- then you've tried these cookies. My mom makes {hands down} THE BEST iced cookies I've ever had and pretty much everyone who knows her will agree. She uses the same green bowl to mix them up {my sister & I plus all three grand kids got their first bath in that bowl, too} and as soon as she posts a picture of the bowl on Facebook, the requests start rolling in. A few days before Sophie's party, she helped Gran make a big batch of snowflake cookies, perfect for a Frozen celebration. There were lots of snowflake sprinkles rolling around and we even managed to sneak a few cookies in before dinner! I asked Gran if I could share the recipe with you today and she was kind ...
recipe
Bowties & Broccoli, an Un-Recipe
I'm not sure you can call this a "recipe" so much as a bunch of things we always have in our fridge and pantry that look really good together in a bowl?! One night we were debating what to do with grilled chicken and so we made a really good orzo recipe. The next time we wanted it, we only had farfalle in the pantry, so "Bowties and Broccoli" was born. We typically have one grain-heavy meal a week, so this has become our go-to weeknight pasta recipe that makes enough for lunch the next day. We can't convince the girls to eat it since there is "green stuff" involved, but we don't mind since we don't like to share! Somehow I managed NOT to get the broccoli in this picture, but you'll need a box of Mini Farfalle, low sodium chicken broth, 3 large boneless chicken breasts, a few small ...
Grilled Mushroom Appetizers
This post might be a little late for your Independence Day cookout, but it's never too late for a summer dinner on the grill, right? I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms, but Josh loves to make these for pool days and when we're tailgating during football season. They require four ingredients and only a few minutes to prepare! All you need are whole white mushrooms, cream cheese, pickled jalapeno slices and bacon. Start by filling your mushrooms with cream cheese. Add a slice (or two!) of jalapenos on top. Wrap with a half slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Then throw them on the grill! You probably want to make a few kabobs while you're at it... Just leave them on a covered grill until the bacon is crispy. And if you're anything like Josh, you'll eat the entire ...
Whole30 Bacon Chutney
I'm not trying to rush June away already, but this weekend was so sweet and I can't wait for work to settle down a bit so that I can enjoy my people a little more thoroughly and a little more often! We didn't do anything significant this weekend, but I spent long uninterrupted days with Josh and the girls, drank many pots of coffee, watched movies, slept late, got a pedicure and logged a few hours in the sun. After a long day at the pool, these three girls decided that they wanted to see Maleficent and since Josh was glued to college baseball, it worked out well! The big girls wanted Zaxby's for dinner, but Sophie requested "Marinara Bread" (Panera Bread) so we had to make two stops before the movie started. We had just settled in with our popcorn when the previews started and Sophie ...
Monday’s Meals | Week Six
I'm sorry for the delay in today's post and my general absence for the last week. I've been dealing with some blog related drama and I'm trying to iron out some kinks before I share it with you! Let me just admit that we were pretty terrible eaters last week. I generally take a week off after racing, so there was no exercise on my agenda and nothing even remotely clean on my plate. Today is like a giant reset. I'm heading back to hot yoga for the first time in weeks and I had watermelon for breakfast instead of Chick-fil-A. Talk about dramatic turnarounds?!We have managed to try a few recipes that I wanted to share with you. Two were spot on and we will definitely be revisiting them. The other was meh and I think I need a little help to figure out what went wrong! On Valentine's Day, I ...
Monday’s Meals | Week 4
I was given a free subscription to eMeals in exchange for this review, but all opinions are my own. Affiliate links are embedded in this post. It's been several weeks since I told you we were working to clean up our diet and I subsequently mentioned we were thinking about giving eMeals a try. I'm so proud of the changes we've been making in our diet so far {especially Josh!!} and the clean eating plan from eMeals is just the thing to keep us on track. Today's meal post is a little different than the last few weeks, but I hope you find this information some of the most beneficial I've shared to date. I'm not the most organized person in the world, thanks to two crazy children, a stressful job and a two-hour daily commute. I'm doing the best I can to meal plan and get all of our grocery ...
Monday’s Meals | Week Three
Since Josh was traveling last week (he was working in Denver while we were battling the crazy ice storm}, I didn't expect to have any recipes to share this week. I thought for sure we'd be eating chicken nuggets all week! As it turned out, we stayed with my parents most of the week and they fed us, but I did manage to whip up two really yummy, pretty clean recipes for Josh on his birthday.First up was STUFFED PEPPERS. I've heard of peppers stuffed with rice and love corn-filled peppers, but I'd never seen a recipe like this with meatloaf stuffed peppers. You'll need 6 red or orange bell peppers to start. Lob off the tops and scoop out the seeds, then take a thin slice off the bottom so that they'll sit evenly in your roasting pan. Don't slice too much or you'll have your stuffing running ...
Monday’s Meals {week two}
We only managed to try three of the recipes on our "to-try" list last week, but the good news is -- they were all easy and very good! We'll be saving the meatloaf stuffed peppers for next week, but I'll be sure to share the recipe once we've given it a try. Monday was a school holiday, so I was at home with the girls. Josh had to work, but since his office is in our bedroom, we did at least get to hang out with him a little bit. We ignored our vow to eat clean over breakfast and continued to celebrate our working oven by cooking up another batch of pigs-in-a-blanket. Can you tell my children are obsessed? Then Ella added a request for pancakes, so I just kept on cooking. I mentioned on Instagram that I "had a turkey ready to go in the oven" and Josh was heart-broken that I was stealing ...