Delicious Recipes to Keep my Family of Four Happy and Full
In December, Krusteaz hosted a Virtual Baking Event. I had big plans to get all of my favorite people together and make some holiday goodies. Then, life took over! We all had packed schedules and no one could carve out the time to come over and bake. So, I decided to do some baking for them instead!
…
I love to cook! In fact, if I had my way, I would totally spend all of my free time cooking in the kitchen. I hesitate to call myself a chef though because what I do in the kitchen is definitely more playing than anything of actual skill.
Of course, with playing around in the kitchen, comes a bunch of big messes. I’ve been known to knock over full boxes of quinoa onto the floor or have little pieces of pasta fall onto the floor when I break the spaghetti in smaller pieces for my kids to eat. There is a little corner in my kitchen that gets all the little extras that fall and don’t get noticed because I am focused on the food and not the clean up. Then, when I run the little mini vacuum around the kitchen to do our nightly cheerio pick up, that food just gets bypassed because it is too far in the corner for the little vacuum to reach.
…
Let me set the scene for you: It is the day after Christmas. We’re all operating on just a few hours of sleep and our brains are still filled with all the Christmas excitement along with a new list of things to do like returning gifts that are too big or didn’t go over very well.
Then, in the middle of all that, we have to keep our youngest up/wake him up early so that he gets only 4-6 hours of sleep before a doctor’s appointment scheduled for December 26th. Can you imagine keeping this face up until midnight and then getting him up again at 6am?
We rushed off to the doctor’s appointment right on schedule on the 26th. As we get there, he starts to give us “the face.” Moms all around know that face…every kid is different but it is the recognizable signal of “I’m about to blow up my diaper.” Both Mathlete and I look at each and wonder…Did you bring diapers?
…
This is the craziest time of year right? Days fly by and you have tons to do. Please tell me that it isn’t just me! I like to set goals for myself during the holidays so that I don’t get overly stressed. Say something like “I will wrap and mail all of the Christmas presents for my family in CA before the parcel post deadline of 12/14.” Of course, then I totally miss those deadlines and have to try and catch up. One of my other goals was to have all of my shopping done by the 15th of December. That would leave me ten days to get it all wrapped and where they needed to be. During all of the list checking, I realized I hadn’t gotten my husband anything! {Mathlete…if you are reading this, please stop reading now!}
…
“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and WE’VE Built but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #GiftaStory http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO”
We all have them…special people in our lives who are nearly impossible to shop for. The father who buys himself everything…the grandmother who already has everything…the wonderful au pair who you know will eventually have to get anything you give back to their home country and is limited on suitcase space. You can probably guess that last one is me! Maya has been with us since July and she is beyond wonderful. Seriously, I could go on and on. As I was searching for gift ideas for her, I knew that what I chose needed to be special like her but also on the smaller side to make it easy to get back to Germany when the time came.
…
This post is sponsored by Flux Flap iPad Case. However, as always, all opinions and thoughts shared here are my own.
Now, I know you don’t typically get a non link party post from me on Friday but I am working on my holiday wish list and came across something that I thought you might be interested in as well. I know I always have a difficult time coming up with great gift ideas for myself so I thought you may be in the same boat too.
…
Every potluck I go to during the holiday season is missing one thing: savory breads or muffins. We have a lot of chili, tons of soups or pastas and more than our share of desserts. But, I like a little bread with my soup or chili so I am always left missing the one thing that just isn’t there. For our office holiday potluck and my own Christmas party, I set out to remedy that problem by baking cayenne bacon chile cornbread mini muffins.
…
It is December which means sweets are everywhere! Every party you go to has an amazing dessert table. Heck, I even find candy canes randomly around my house and am left to wonder where they came from. I can only handle so much peppermint, gingerbread or cinnamon though. Sometimes, I just want chocolate and non-holiday flavors. So, for the recent potluck I was attending, I decided to buck the trend of peppermint treats and not make anything really holiday related. Instead, I made salted caramel M&M bars.
…
After living with my vacuum for a few months, I can truly say that I am in love with it. Yeah, sounds crazy to be in love with a vacuum right? I’m not alone though…Maya says “Your new vacuum is definitely the best I’ve ever used! Wow!” Pretty incredible excitement over a machine used to clean your home. I promise you that I am totally not a cleaning nut…I actually hate cleaning with a capital H!
I would say with confidence that everyone deserves a Miele though. BUT, let’s talk about YOU and why you deserve a Miele.
…
“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Cottonelle, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #CottonelleHoliday http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.”
Each year, we host a Christmas party where we invite all of our friends and family over for lots of food, drinks and fun. It is one of my absolute favorite events of the entire year. Of course, a ton of planning goes into putting on the party each year. There is the menu, the invitations, purchasing the food, making the food, mixing drinks…the list goes on and on. Once the party starts, the work isn’t done though. One of the biggest things that tends to happen is we run out of toilet paper in at least one of our bathrooms. This year, though, you will find me enjoying my holiday party instead of rushing around refilling toilet paper rolls!
…
