Looking for amazing zucchini recipes to use up all the zucchini from your garden? These Zucchini Bars with homemade cream cheese icing are a fun and sweet twist on a classic zucchini bread. I hope you are searching for zucchini recipes because your backyard garden has an abundance of zucchini and you're looking for ways to use it up! Unfortunately, that has not been the case for our garden this year. The drought at the beginning of the summer, accompanied with super hot days, then followed by so much rain... everything in our garden seemed to protest the weather this year. So, while you're looking for recipes to use you zucchini from your garden, I'm supplementing with some great squash that others were able to grow successfully because I can't go into late summer and fall without making all my family's favorite zucchini … [Read more...]

Rabbits aren't the only ones that love carrots, especially when you make these super delicious Carrot Cake Cupcakes! With limited ingredients, these cupcakes are so easy that anyone can make them! One of my favorite types of cake is carrot cake. Whenever it's an option, it's almost always my pick of dessert. But I've tried my hand at making carrot cakes from scratch and sometimes it doesn't end so well. These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are different - they are so easy to make and taste delicious! I love using this big 12 cup muffin pan to make cupcakes so I'm not constantly switching out pans while baking. They are the perfect dessert to make while we're stuck at home because they use just a few ingredients that you likely have on hand. You can always make your own icing, as well, but I prefer to go the easy route with store … [Read more...]

With fewer grocery trips planned in the coming weeks, I've been trying to come up with simple ways to make the food we do have last longer. Here are 7 super easy food hacks to stretch the groceries in your refrigerator and pantry further. These are definitely crazy times we're living in. Although, I have to admit, not that much has changed in my family's day to day life, other than we're all at home. I work from home so I'm used to it. I'm also used to my parents being at home [they're retired and have lived with us for 5 years now], but having the kids at home all day and my husband working from home now too, there's an adjustment period. Another thing that has taken some time getting used to is cooking and groceries. While I cook dinner for the 6 of us nightly, now I'm cooking breakfast and lunch for all of us as well. On top … [Read more...]

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Smithfield®. The opinions and text are all mine. When I think life couldn't get busier, it does. I now have to meal plan and write out all our activities at the beginning of each week just to stay afloat. The girls are in Girl Scouts, take piano lessons, are in the school choir, and play soccer. And on top of that, Rob and I have taken on running the local soccer league so in addition to the girls' busy schedules and our work schedules, there's even more! I'm not complaining though, as we love being busy and living a fulfilled life, but sometimes something has to give a bit. Making a weekly menu definitely helps me stay on track with dinner, but it also helps me see that I don't have an hour in the kitchen during the week to prepare a meal. … [Read more...]

Looking to eliminate dairy or already living a dairy-free lifestyle? You can still have homemade french toast! Check out how easy it is to make french toast with almond milk with just a few ingredients! When Sophia was diagnosed with a dairy allergy in January of this year, we were all in shock. Here we were with a 3 1/2 year old that consumes dairy every single day and we were all of a sudden supposed to stop that?! I was overwhelmed with just how much dairy was in almost every single food she consumed. I can't tell you how much research I did for dairy free recipes. I was nervous that as a pretty picky toddler she would struggle to replace her dairy favorites with dairy alternatives. We started the transition slowly. That's not to say we continued to give her dairy, but she was very slow to drink the alternatives. We found the … [Read more...]

This post is sponsored by Greek Gods but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. Breakfast is hard, y'all. Does anyone else struggle with making one of the most important meals of the day with time to spare on weekday mornings? I love make ahead breakfast ideas, and sometimes I totally succeed at them, but other mornings are rushed and I just come up empty handed. But one thing we always have in the refrigerator is fresh fruit. My girls are fruit-obsessed and easily go through a container of strawberries and blueberries a day! So I always have some on hand, which had me thinking how I could serve fruit more in the mornings. On my most recent shopping trip to Walmart, I found a new-to-me brand of yogurt that I couldn't wait to try. I found Greek Gods® Greek-Style Yogurt in the lower, refrigerated bottom well of the yogurt … [Read more...]

If you're looking to add in more vitamins and minerals into your daily diet, consider adding hemp hearts. Let's take a look at the nutritional benefits of hemp hearts and how to incorporate them into your favorite foods and even new foods like this Blueberry Mug Cake recipe. Compensation for this post was provided by Manitoba Harvest. The opinions expressed here are my own and not indicative of the opinions of Manitoba Harvest. It's the New Year and if you're like me, and most people who I've seen posting on social media, you've made a goal to be better this year. Better at a hobby, better at parenting, better at exercising, better at... you name it, and being a better version of ourselves should probably always be something we strive for, right?! This year, I'm determined to eat better and put better foods on not just my plate, … [Read more...]

  This post was sponsored by Ling Ling, all opinions expressed in my post are my own. If Chinese food is one of your favorite cuisines, you don't have to grab take out to enjoy easy meals at home. Check out this easy and comforting at-home Chinese inspired meal that comes together in under 30 minutes! Chinese food has always been a comfort food for me. Although that might sound a little funny coming out of the mouth of an East Tennessee girl that also considers chicken and dumplings as a comfort food! But it has - when I feel like I'm getting sick, I crave Chinese food. When it's cold outside, all I want is a plate full of rice and veggies. Thankfully my family loves it as much as I do, so at-home Chinese food is on our menu very regularly. While I love to eat take out [and love the break from cooking every now and … [Read more...]