This is just a super quick email to share a very simple tutorial with you. If you want to impress your kids or your sweetheart with a fancy - and so easy - breakfast on Valentine's Day, check out these heart-shaped pancakes: Truly, these take no longer than traditional pancakes, and you can make them over the weekend, stick them in the fridge or freezer, and just heat them up on Friday morning. I like to sprinkle some chocolate chips on the uncooked batter for an extra special touch. Everyone...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hey there Reader, I'm a huge fan of Valentine's Day. This year, I'll be celebrating with just my kids, but that doesn't mean I'll be skipping it. I definitely won't be! One of my favorite ways to celebrate Valentine's Day is to make special food. Here's what I'll be feeding my girls: get the instructions: how to make heart-shaped pizzas get the instructions: how to make heart-shaped cherry hand pies get the recipe: no churn red velvet ice cream get the recipe: air fryer cherry donuts Stay...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Merry Christmas Reader! I know you are just as busy as I am this week, but I wanted to take a second to help with your Christmas planning, just in case you waited til the last minute to gather up some recipes. Here are my favorites for Christmas dinner: Chocolate cherry cheesecake - This gets rave reviews every time I make it, and it's my favorite cheesecake ever. Layers of rich, creamy almond-flavored cheesecake and sweet cherry pie filling, topped with thick chocolate ganache. This needs to...
4 months ago • 1 min read
After hosting Thanksgiving for years and years, I am going to be a guest at someone else's table this year. I'm not sure how I feel about it. But I'm going anyway because I love my family, and it will be nice to be all together. Anyway, one of the things I'm least happy about is that I'm going to miss out on Thanksgiving leftovers. I have some really good recipes for leftover roast turkey, all linked for you below. Now that I'm really thinking about it, I might make my own mini Thanksgiving...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Happy Thanksgiving Reader! I wanted to send a quick note to help with your Thanksgiving planning, just in case you waited til the last minute to gather up some recipes. Here are my favorites: Southern sweet tea - This is the very best old fashioned recipe! Candied sweet potatoes - The syrup on these potatoes includes orange juice which sends it out of this world! Crockpot sweet potato casserole - This is a healthier sweet potato side dish that cooks all day in the slow cooker. Praline pumpkin...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Hey friend, I have been cooking up a storm this summer, way more than normal. My kids and I are still living in our tiny rental house while our real house is being rebuilt (after a devastating fire). My "office" was in my bedroom at home, but here, the only place big enough to put my computer was the kitchen table. So I'm in the middle of the kitchen action all day, every day. Anyway, all that to say, if you want to cook more, set up your workstation in the kitchen. It will happen naturally....
9 months ago • 1 min read
Hey friend, My house burned down in April, and my family lived in a hotel until a couple of weeks ago. We're finally in a (very small) rental home now, and things are starting to fall into a normal-ish rhythm. I work; they do school; we cook and clean; we go to appointments and activities. As the school year is winding up, I’m loving these 13 video workshops from the #LifeSkillsNow summer camp. They’re available right NOW. You don’t have to wait for anything in your calendar. They’re super...
10 months ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, I stumbled upon a blog post this week that I wanted to share with you, knowing that many of you are parents and grandparents. The article is called "The Top 10 Skills to Teach Your Kids Before They Turn 18," and it is not just a regurgitated list of things everybody already knows kids need to know. It includes skills that I've never even thought to teach my kids, like calendar skills, and others that we have been working on for years, like self-advocacy. The author starts the...
11 months ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader! If you haven't noticed, we have always done big holidays at my house. Valentine's Day with heart-shaped pizzas and cherry pies. St. Patrick's Day with green milk and Minute to Win It games. Easter with Easter basket scavenger hunts. It's all fun to me, and we do it big. So with that in mind, I wanted to email you today and give you a heads up that St. Patrick's Day is this weekend, and there are a lot of super cool things that you can do to celebrate by yourself or with your...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read