dishing up creative goodness
This past weekend as we celebrated the big game with friends and family I included these spinach chicken feta meatballs with Classico tomatoes in my food spread.
to make them even tastier, I also served a few in mini pitas with homemade tzatziki sauce. Oh.my.yum! Green goodness at its best.
Paired with a classic Greek salad and homeade greek dressing, the party was a success. And no one missed the fatty dips and deep fried appetizers.
It’s no secret that I absolutely love appetizers! When I host friends and family over I want to feed them. This homemade tzatziki dip recipe is not only delicious, it’s the perfect alternative to higher calorie dips and tastes great on everything.
In planning my food spread for the big game this past weekend, the one thing I wanted to focus on was healthy alternatives that are delicious too.
I used this tzatziki dip drizzled over my mini chicken, feta, tomato meatball pitas for a delicious and savory appetizer as well as a dip for our veggie tray.
Looking for the perfect way to spend Valentine’s Day but don’t want to deal with the crowds? Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza & Grill will be selling their popular take home Valentine’s Day Pizza Kits beginning February 4th through the 14th.
These kits provide an easy, fun, and enjoyable way to celebrate the Valentine’s season. Plus partial proceeds from all pizza kit sales to benefit the American Heart Association!
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner and my little ones asking for crafts to make together, we’ve started to work on a few Valentine’s Day crafts. Including the valentines my kids will be passing out at preschool and with our playgroup.
But aside from the valentines we also love creating mementos we can cherish and pass along to grandparents and other family members as well to show our love. These great valentine’s day crafts for kids are perfect for just that!
1. Looking for an easy but cute valentine for the kids to pass out this year? Why not use these Printable Disney Cars Valentines from DisneyDIY?
Cold and flu season is in full swing around here and it seems as though everyone I know has a runny nose and a cough. So before the plague hits our house I decided to make a batch of classic chicken noodle soup for dinner.
Not only can we enjoy the deliciousness of it now, but I’ve frozen half for later… just in case. And if we have any issues with congestion I’ll just add a pinch of red pepper flakes when I heat it back up on the stove. Problem solved!
This chicken noodle soup is not only delicious, but very easy to make. I didn’t even thaw the chicken tenders I used or chop them up. Nope. I just let the boiling soup do all the work.
If you’re looking for a comfort-filled meal that tastes great with a sandwich or a big green salad then this is the soup for you.
With the craziness that is my life I rely on technology to get me through the day. Whether that’s scheduling doctors appointments, keeping in contact with my friends and family, or staying motivated to lose weight. In order to continue leading a healthy lifestyle I’ve relied heavily on a few great apps to get me through the day and stay on track with my weight loss plan.
These 5 apps are not only easy to access if you have a smartphone, they’re also free! And you might have already downloaded them to your smartphone and didn’t even know it. So head over to your app store and check these out if you’re looking for great motivation to get in shape and stay healthy.
So you remember the cinnamon brownies I posted about yesterday? Well… I just couldn’t wait to share with you what I made with them! Because who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate and cheesecake together?! Ok… maybe quite a few people. But if you DO love this combo then you have to try these!!
While these do require two steps AND waiting for the cheesecake topping to set in the fridge a few hours they are totally worth it. You could even bake the brownies the night before, then mix up the cheesecake in the morning, put them in the fridge and enjoy them for dessert that night.
Don’t like peanut butter? Just skip it for a classic cheesecake or add some berries for an equally tasty treat. I originally was going to cut out cute strawberry hearts and put them on top (sans peanut butter) but the peanut butter was calling out to me. I’m so bad!
One thing I absolutely love about making brownies from scratch is the amount of variation you can do and still have something turn out amazing! I’ve been on a cinnamon kick lately. With the delicious taste of it in my morning latte I wanted something I could enjoy in the afternoons as well.
My absolute FAVORITE brownie recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours. Her classic brownie recipe is simply amazing. Ooey, gooey, thick and chocolatey. It’s perfect. So I’ve always used her approach to brownies when I make mine.
If you love brownies you’re going to love this cinnamon brownies recipe. I’ve made them in a bigger pan for a more narrow brownie because I’ll be using some of them as the crust to my no-bake peanut butter cheesecake. If you want a thicker, more traditional brownie feel free to use an 8×8 pan.
And the cheesecake I’m making? Just wait! They’re going to be an out of this world dessert for Valentines Day you won’t want to miss. But you’re going to have to wait until next week for that recipe!
A few weeks back I shared my love of PicMonkey with you all with a quick tutorial on how to make Subway Art using PicMonkey. Well I’m back again proclaiming my love but this time with all of the new Valentine’s Day options PicMonkey has available to use!
Now you don’t need to purchase ANYTHING to use PicMonkey. It’s completely free. But if you want to take advantage of the Royale features you can pay $33/year for access to everything. How awesome is that?
Using the new Valentine’s Day features like swatches, ribbons, and fonts, I was able to create some simple and cute valentines for my kids to pass out at their preschool. With PicMonkey I was able to create what I wanted in less than 15 minutes of playing around. Once I was done I assembled the valentines and am now set for the big day!
1. Just like in the Subway Art tutorial I’ve shared previously, we’re going to start by clicking on “Create a Collage” first. Remove all cells but one from the collage. This will be your template. Adjust the size accordingly if you want larger or smaller valentines.
2. Go to the “Swatches” tab and choose a background that you like. Save this collage as your base photo to edit.
3. Click on “Edit a Photo” and open up your collage photo. Go to the Overlays tab and choose an overlay you want to use. Feel free to change the color to whatever you’d like. Add a few embellishments like the ribbon I used or some hearts.
4. Add your saying on the overlay. Feel free to play with different fonts and colors to liven up your valentine! Once your done, save your photo to be used later.
5. To print your photo simply open up a Word document and insert the photo (or two).
Don’t want to make your own and want to simply use mine? Print out this PDF and cut with a small white border around the valentine (you can also click on the photo above for the PDF). Follow these instructions on how to assemble your valentine and you’re set!
Looking for more Valentine’s Day printables? Check out these posts:
Minecraft Valentine’s Printables
Tic Tac Toe Valentine’s Printables
Bugs and Kisses Valentine’s Printables
Dinosaur Valentine’s Printable
I’ve linked up with my good friend Chelsea over at Someday I’ll Learn for Teach Me Tuesday! Head on over to her post here and see all of the other awesome things you can learn to do this week.
What are your kids bringing as valentines?
As part of my 31 day challenge I tackled the one closet I’ve always been afraid of… my hall closet. Not only was it overfilled with junk including cleaning supplies, extra toiletries, towels, and board games, it also contained all of our wrapping paper, ribbon, gift bags and more. So I decided enough was enough! I was not going to go through another day of praying rolls of wrapping paper didn’t come flying at me when I opened the door.
I searched around in hopes of finding something that would work. My only criteria being that the wrapping paper stay in the closet and not migrate out into another area of the house. I already had an issue with space and did not have any room elsewhere to store my stash.
With a few quick searches for organizational ideas I found something that might just work! I Heart Organization shared the gorgeous way a reader used an over the door solution to store all of their gift wrap supplies. They were inspired by Better Homes and Gardens post here. This would be perfect for me! But being on a budget I couldn’t quite shell out the money an Elfa storage system would cost.
She enjoys sharing her family life in San Diego and features everything from delectable recipes to sharing DIY tips around the home and garden, what she's crafting and more.
