This Carrot Hummus with Toasted Paprika Pita Chips is a perfect addition to any family summer picnic. The Carrot Hummus is made with 7-simple ingredients and a jar of Beech-Nuts just carrot puree, which makes for a flavorful, smooth and nutrient packed dip. Serve with crispy homemade spiced pita chips and a side of cut veggies and you have yourself a picnic winner! It's official - I'm a soccer mom. Granted, I might not be a very good one, but nonetheless I have acquired the official soccer badge. Since, I wasn't a soccer player growing up (softball and tennis were more my thing) I didn't really know what to expect. So for Ellie's first soccer practice, which we were of course running late for, not to mention that I didn't even think about packing fancy folding chairs, a huge sports umbrella or even hoodies for us for when the weather decided to cloud over and rain on us. Nope. Not a chance! I have a lot to learn about being a soccer mom. But I did remember to bring the old ...
dips
Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce
This Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce is thick, creamy and full of summer flavors. With a 5-minute prep time, it will easily become your family's favorite tomato sauce! I came up with this, now-family favorite, recipe out of pure l-a-z-i-n-e-s-s. A couple of months ago, my mom had "given" me a half a crate of fresh tomatoes, and I think we all know by now that when I say "given" I actually mean that I "took" the said tomatoes right off my moms kitchen counter. With a little wave and kiss, I loaded the girls and my tomatoes into my car and drove home. Looks like I am still playing the 20-and-in-collage card! I'm going with it as long as I can! Fast forward 5 days later and that crate of now almost too ripe tomatoes was still hanging around on my counter. I needed a plan. So I poured myself a very tall glass of wine, leaned against the kitchen counter and thought long and hard about what I wanted to make. I thought so long about it, that I may have actually fallen asleep standing in the ...
Strawberry Salsa
This simple 5-ingredient Strawberry Salsa will be a huge hit for all of your summer get-to-togethers for both the parents and kids!! Let's be honest, I am going to bring this 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻Strawberry Salsa and a big bowl of chips to every get-to-together that I go to this summer! That is, if I can restrain myself and hide the bowl of salsa from the girls so we don't all end up eating the entire bowl before we even leave the house. We cannot-get-enough of this salsa! I'm pretty sure if I served this strawberry salsa for dinner with a big spoon and nothing else, the girls would be perfectly happy. So Rachel, if you are reading this, I call dibs on this dish for all of our Playhour to Happyhour kid parties 😜 But feel free to bring this Strawberry Rhubarb Margarita or this Strawberry Pomegranate Sangria!! Wait, too much strawberry food at a party?? Ummm.. never! This simple Strawberry Salsa has only 5-ingredients (most of which you probably have in your fridge right ...
Cherry + Almond Chia Seed Jam
This 4-ingredient Cherry + Almond Chia Seed Jam is full of flavor without using refined-sugar or any fancy canning equipment! Get ready, it's so good you will be spooning it onto everything you eat this week! Someone asked me recently how and when do I write my posts while I watch Parker (and Ellie if she isn't in school) all day? The answer is that I write most of the posts on this blog in an extremely frantic manner in the 2 precious hours that Parker takes an afternoon nap. First I eat lunch at mach-speed, then I pour myself my afternoon cup of coffee and enjoy a whole 3 minutes of Pinterest or Instagram scrolling before I hustle to my desk to write up a post <------- and yes, I am going to blame this fast pace writing for all of my spelling and grammatical errors;) That is on a good day, when Parker actually naps! Other days, I sit and listen to her talk the big talk for an hour before giving up and getting her from her room. Nothing gets done on those days. And boy, does ...
Healthy Honey Mustard
This 5-ingredient Healthy Honey Mustard is made with greek yogurt, honey, mustard and spices and will easily become your new favorite go-to dipping sauce for the entire family!! It's easy for me to say that my husband was not my first love. Neither were my girls. My first love, was in fact, honey mustard 😍 Love, oh sweet love. For the last 18 years I have had it bad for this sauce. At first, it was the version made with mayonnaise, a ton of honey and just a little mustard. I ate it with everything. Salads 👍🏻 Fries 👍🏻 Pita Sandwiches 👍🏻 Chicken Burgers 👍🏻 Carrot Sticks 👍🏻 Chicken Strips 👍🏻 Mostly just Chicken Strips 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 I was 17 at the time (don't you dare do the age math on that one:) so the diet wasn't all that amazing, but I would probably eat anything if I could dip it into honey mustard According to this future foodie, honey mustard was were it was at 👊🏻 Over the years, I tried dating other sauces. Ranch made a good attempt to win my heart. BBQ sauce ...
Healthy Ranch Dip
This thick and creamy Healthy Ranch Dip is the perfect thing for your little one to dip their carrots, broccoli or fingers into for a fun snack or meal accompaniment. It can be made in less then 5 minutes and is made from Greek yogurt, a smorgasbord of spices and a squeeze of lemon! Super easy, Super yummy! Most kiddos go through this phase where they like to dip everything and anything into a dip before they eat it. Which is great, because you can pretty much serve them anything and if you have a dip to go with it, they are completely content on eating it. Chicken, beef, fish, broccoli, peas, tomatoes and even green beans are all fair game if you have a dip on hand. Which I can totally relate to and I guess I am sttttiiillllllllllllll going through this phase:) Right now, I am completely into ranch. For my salads, for marinades, for dipping yumminess! It's my dipping jam. Well not my jam, but you know... arg. Never mind! Usually I get my thick and ...
Spiced Seed Butter
This creamy and smooth Spiced Seed Butter is the perfect alternative to any peanut or almond butter! Cinnamon, cloves and ginger are added to roasted sunflower seeds and quickly blended together for a seed butter you won't believe is nut free! A must have seed butter for any nut-free school or kiddo with a nut allergy. It's Friday! Let's get crazy!! And by crazy, I mean let's drink as much coffee as we possibly can so after the kids go to bed, we can stay up late and watch an entire movie without falling asleep! Since hubby has a big deadline tonight, I'm thinking about making some popcorn and watching this movie while snuggled under 3 blankets. If you live in the Denver area, you are welcomed to join me. But be warned that pj's, messy hair and a bottle of wine are all requirements for hanging at my movie night:) While I had a delicious salmon puree planned for today, I decided that just wasn't cutting my crazy vibe I am feeling today. Salmon puree can wait for a Monday or ...
Basil + Lemon Pesto
An easy and vibrant Basil + Lemon Pesto that is so good you will want to put it into anything and everything you make for the rest of the summer!! If it's one thing I'm good at - it's killing basil plants. I am pretty sure I have bought 5 different basil plants throughout the summer and it's sad to say, but none of them are alive right now. I mayyyyybbbbbe, if I am rounding up, got 10 good basil leaves off of all of them. I want to say 'it's them - not me' but who I am kidding, it's totally me! So in honor of your basil plant that is growing into a small fragrant bush, I made this delicious basil + lemon pesto recipe for you. I don't want you leave you in a tricky situation where you have too much basil on your hands, no would I? This 5 ingredient basil is fresh, citrusy and earthy with just the right amount of parmesan-ie goodness. Bonus - it can all be whipped up in less then 5 minutes. Double bonus - it is made without nuts! So you can pack this away in your ...
Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus
This easy 5 minute sun-dried tomato hummus is a taste sensation! Filled with zingy citrus lemon, smoky sun-dried tomato-ness and a big note of fresh sweet basil, this hummus will soon became a family favorite!! Wait here a second... I need to finish this bite of red pepper with this so delicious sun-dried tomato hummus on it..... chomp....crunch....yummmmm! Okay, I'm back! A couple of months ago, I made this sun-dried tomato pesto and besides adding it to a zillion quick summer pasta dishes, egg dishes and pizzas, I added it to my weekly hummus recipe and it easily became the best thing I did all summer. Total lie! ----------> leaving the kiddos for two entire nights was the best thing I did all summer!! But this was easily the second best thing I did all summer. This hummus has it all - zingy citrus lemon, smoky sun-dried tomato-ness and a big note of fresh sweet basil. You can, as I have, eat this straight out of the food processor bowl with a wayyyyyy too big ...
Apricot + Clove Jam
This Apricot + Clove Jam is an easy way to get the most out of the summer's fleeting apricot bounty. It is low in sugar and is perfect smeared on toast, mixed into yogurt, used in your toddlers daily pb&j, or even dolloped onto a big serving of vanilla bean ice cream. Yummy jam goodness for the entire family:) There is nothing like cracking open a jar of homemade jam! It gets even better when you know someone that loves making it for you and just hands over a couple of jars at a time so you can enjoy it without even bothering with the clean up (hint hint.. mom). But this jam is so easy to make, you will now be the person giving out the jars of jam to all your neighborhood friends. This apricot jam is something I would never thought to make, except that organic apricots where on sale for .44 cents a pound. So naturally, I bought 11 pounds! <---------completely not normal! I had apricots in everything - mixed with yogurt, tossed into smoothies, chopped for the girl's ...