Watermelon Feta Salad Recipe

Watermelon Feta SaladOne thing I love about barbecues is the food. Having the opportunity to bring out our favorite summer flavors into the recipes we create is something I love. And this watermelon feta salad does just that.

Not only is it easy (um… 3 ingredients that you simply chop and mix together) but it’s a great recipe to help cool us down. With all of the heavy, fat ladened pasta salad choices, this salad leaves a refreshing choice that your guests are bound to love.

I made this recipe back when I hosted our lego party and created more of an appetizer with the presentation so having it in salad form made it much easier for me to create and serve.

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How to Make a Panini Without a Panini Press

This recipe and post is sponsored by Unilever.

Make a Panini without A Panini Pres

A few weeks ago I posted about my shopping trip to Walmart and the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® light spread I picked up. I was able to use an awesome website called It’s Good To Know and found some great recipes that used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® in them.

Since then I’ve made a few dishes and have incorporated our secret ingredient -I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® – without any fuss from my husband. His favorite recipe so far has been a simple panini I made for him and the kids for lunch one day. And we don’t have a panini press.

Being able to use the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® spread instead of butter has made these paninis even easier to make! No crumbs everywhere or hard, cold butter stuck to one corner and not budging. Just smooth, easy spreading! If you’re interested in finding out how you can make a panini without a panini press check out my YouTube video tutorial below.

The kids like to call them “fancy sandwiches” and love that I can switch up the ingredients inside to make different combinations. Served with a tasty side of veggies or a nice garden salad and it’s the perfect healthy meal! Plus it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare!

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Sweet Potato Zucchini Latkes

 

Sweet Potato Zucchini Latkes landscape

So this morning I was pulling out all of the veggies in our raised bed to make room for new plants. Our swiss chard and parsley were taking over one side of the bed and a weird plant I couldn’t identify was taking over the other.

I had pulled out the swiss chard and parsley and was just getting ready to pull out the weird plant when I found something… a sweet potato!

Now that was pretty weird because we hadn’t planted sweet potatoes in like 2 years. Somehow this little guy was buried under there and the unidentifiable plant was indeed a sweet potato plant!

So I did what any good gardener would do and thought of the perfect way to consume this awesome find. Sweet potato zucchini latkes! These ones are pretty healthy and I made them fit into my Nutrisystem plan. How awesome is that?

Sweet Potato in the garden

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Peach Upside Down Cake

I recently held a playdate over at my house for my playgroup and one of the mamas came over with a large carton of peaches in tow to share with everyone. When she left she graciously left the remaining peaches.

Now there are a lot of foods I’ll eat without a problem but I’ve never taken well to peaches, nectarines and apricots. Something about them has never been very appealing. So I was very surprised when my son started asking to eat the peaches and could consume a whole, large one on his own for breakfast. But even though he showed an interest in them he couldn’t eat the peaches fast enough to go through the whole bunch.

I had to start thinking of a way to use up the excess peaches. And so I went off to Google in search of a good recipe to use for our upcoming 4th of July dinner at my brother-in-law’s house. As soon as I landed on this recipe by one of my favorite cooks, Alton Brown, I knew he wouldn’t disappoint me. But since I was feeding a larger group and also didn’t have the time to prep and bake this dessert at my brother-in-law’s house I tweaked the recipe a bit to allow for making larger cakes.

I tested the recipe out this weekend and whoa! It came out perfectly! The addition of vanilla bean ice cream took this dessert over the edge. Remember how I’m the one who isn’t so crazy about peaches? Well I even ate a piece for breakfast the next day! I’ll definitely be trying this with apples in the Fall.

Peach Upside Down Cake1

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Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe

I love summertime. For one we get to play outside later in the evening and secondly my mother-in-law is always sure to bring over some yummy (but very large) zucchini.

Figuring out ways to use up the zucchini is always fun and shredding it to put in baked goods and savory meals is usually the way to go. Especially since my son has a fascination with our food processor.

When searching for a recipe to use up some of our zucchini I stumbled upon a delicious looking muffin recipe. Chocolate and zucchini? Why it’s a match made in heaven!

This bread tastes exactly like a chocolate cake. My son would have had no clue that there was zucchini in it had he not been the one to help mix the ingredients together.

And the mini chocolate chips just add a bit of deliciousness and push this bread over the edge. Next time I might consider adding a few walnuts to the mix. Mmmm….

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

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10 Minute Dinners with Success® Rice

This awesome 10 Minute Dinners recipe and post is sponsored by Success® Rice

10 Minute Dinners Lemon Garlic Shrimp

While I love to cook and get enjoyment out of feeding my family delicious meals there are some nights when I just don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So I’ve come up with a few 10 minute meals to turn to on those nights I’m just too tired to cook a lot.

Luckily I don’t have to compromise flavor or nutrition when I make these 10 minute meals. I just use simple pantry staples like Success® Rice and whatever else I might have on hand to create different variations of similar dishes.

Last night we were in need of a 10 minute meal and I turned to my freezer and pantry. And that’s where Garlic Lemon Shrimp over Rice was created.

I pulled out the Success® Rice I had purchased on my last trip to the grocery store, some onions, garlic, lemons, cooking sherry, cornstarch and frozen shrimp, and got to making dinner. 10 minutes later dinner was served!

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Enjoying the Perfect Book Club with Gevalia Coffee

gevalia coffee enjoying book club

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I love my coffee. I have two cups a day every morning and love everything about it. From taste, to making meals even tastier, to perking me up and getting me going, coffee truly is a super food to me. And, in my opinion, Gevalia coffee is a top of the line, super premium super food.

When I first started drinking coffee I really didn’t know what I was doing. I’d just grab the cheapest grounds from the store and would go on my way. But I realized that what I was drinking wasn’t enjoyable. Then I remembered the coffee my mom had ordered my stepdad a few times and quickly checked it out myself.

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Strawberry Muffins with Greek Yogurt Recipe

Strawberry Muffins with Greek Yogurt

I absolutely adore strawberry season. Being able to go to the farmer’s market each week and pick up a huge amount of fresh, ripe strawberries just puts a smile on my face.

But there are only so many yummy bowls of strawberries and yogurt one can eat without wanting to do more. So when I brought back my latest batch along with some fresh, homemade greek yogurt I had the genius idea of putting the two together and baking!

Strawberry Muffins with Greek Yogurt square 1

Strawberry muffins with greek yogurt were created. And they were delicious.

Good thing too because I tested the recipe out on my girlfriends for our monthly book club. They’re such troopers. They’ll try anything I make and honestly give feedback. Luckily these muffins passed the test.

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Root Beer Pulled Pork Slow Cooker Recipe

My absolute favorite way to make pulled pork is in the crock pot. With a can of rootbeer.

Yup! You heard that right. I absolutely love that I can realize that I forgot to pull meat out of the freezer the night before, grab a pork loin, put it in the crock pot with a can of root beer and just let it simmer all day for a delicious and tasty meal in the evening.

What makes them even better? Some amazingly fresh and yeasty homemade hamburger buns!

If you haven’t already tried this way of cooking your pulled pork then you need to! It’s the perfect dish for the coming summer months.

Root Beer Pulled Pork

Root Beer Pulled Pork

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Enjoying a Fun Date Night In San Diego with National Comedy Theater

NCT - Fun Date Night in San Diego

The one thing my husband and I have been pretty diligent about even after having kids is making sure we have at least one night a month dedicated to date night. I was even writing a monthly post for Date Night 411 (before the site was closed) and loved sharing my date night ideas with others who are looking for things to do.

So I’m going to start sharing the things we do on our date nights again. And this time it’ll be on my blog so I don’t lose all of the photos and the content when the websites I write for are gone (sorry… a little vent… but I’m done now!).

One place we LOVE to go to at least every few months is National Comedy Theater on India Street. I first heard about this show after being asked to check it out as a blogger. Now I love going even when I’m paying for tickets! Not only is it an awesome improv show that changes nightly, it’s also next to some fabulous restaurants!

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