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Thanksgiving Leftovers Recipe Inspiration
Are you stumped by what to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers? Do you open your fridge and groan at the mountain of Tupperware taking up valuable shelf real estate? Maybe its because I never actually host Thanksgiving at my house, but I love looking for creative recipes that use Thanksgiving leftovers. Heck, I even separately roast a turkey breast just so I can have Thanksgiving leftovers in my refrigerator. Last night, in honor of my love for Thanksgiving leftovers, I made Joy The Baker’s Thanksgiving Turkey Pot Pie. It was delicious, but I highly recommend using all my recipe shortcuts. I used Trader Joe’s frozen pie crust, mirepoix (instead of…
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The Baby Buffalo Cocktail
Fun Friday fact: Did you all know our Dad’s name is Buff? Yes, you read that correctly. Not Buzz or Bud, its actually Buff. Can you imagine telling boys in high school that your Dad’s name is Buff? And the ensuing comments: “Does he sit out on the porch in a rocking chair with a shot gun too?” To which I would reply with an exaggerated eye roll, “No, but he does occasionally drive a very large tractor down Avondale Road.” To be clear, Avondale Road is a main thoroughfare in our hometown of Redmond, WA with a posted speed limit of 40mph. One lane in either direction at the…
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Corduroy: “You must be a friend…I’ve always wanted a friend.”
Favorite line, from one of our favorite children’s books that just happens to be named after my favorite fall fabric: Corduroy. And its everywhere this season! How much corduroy is too much corduroy? Asking for a friend. Here are our favorite fall corduroy items that have caught our eye this season: Everywhere I look, I see corduroy in the stores this fall (okay, lets be real, every retailer that sends me email advertisements features corduroy items…I haven’t set foot in a brick-and-mortar storefront in ages!). Corduroy jackets are in abundance. Match with your mini-me in these two cute sherpa and corduroy combinations. Corduroy baseball caps are also everywhere. Try this…
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Fall Fiesta
Its Friday and I am ready for a fiesta (or a siesta, but then again what mom isn’t?!?!). But really, we are in fact going to an outdoor Fall Fiesta party tonight (Mallory is my date) that I bought as an auction item from my children’s school fundraiser almost two years ago (thanks COVID). Mallory and I love a fiesta! Exhibits A, B and C below. Which really makes me wonder why we haven’t jumped on the Fall Fiesta-themed band wagon before?!?! Mums are the perfect fiesta-themed décor, pumpkins fit right into the color scheme, Trader Joe’s Fall Leaf Corn Tortilla Chips are the perfect seasonal appetizer, and there is…
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Is it a Tequila Spritz or Aperol Margarita?
Cheers to Friday! In celebration of the long Labor Day weekend ahead of us, I wanted to share a new cocktail I have been making at home. Is it a Tequila Spritz, an Aperol Margarita, or something else entirely? Unclear but its really good. The pandemic has taught me that I really like tequila-based cocktails and Aperol Spritzes. But, while I love a spritz, often times I don’t want to open a bottle of champagne or prosecco to make myself one cocktail in the evening. And, after a long day, sometimes even making a margarita sounds like a lot of work. As does using a cocktail shaker (or admittedly, washing…
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A Visit to Seabrook, Washington’s Beach Town
We went to SEABROOK (no, not ABROOK or EABROOK, geez I wish someone had told me to move my head to the left in that picture) last week to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 70th birthday! It was our first time visiting Washington’s Beach Town and we had a wonderful time. See our full review and trip highlights below. Just a two and a half hour drive outside of Seattle, Seabrook is a great vacation destination for families with young children (tons of park amenities, a pool, and walkable nearby beach) or an adult weekend away. Our Airbnb was fantastic – the Flagstaff House – well appointed kitchen, hot tub, cute bunkroom,…
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Pasta Salad for the Win!
Last year I made a habit of posting pasta recipes on Fridays. Today, I am bringing the tradition back with two pasta salads that you really should make this weekend. Apparently nothing says TGIF like a noodle! Mallory and I spent last weekend with our families in Lake Chelan. Our grandparents built the cabin our parents now own on the lake and its not without its quirks. One of which we teasing refer to as its “one butt kitchen”. Its teeny, only room for one rear-end to be cooking, which is challenging when you are trying to prepare dinner for our large tribe. As a result, we try and get…
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Black & Blue Muffins
I baked! And yes, that’s me wearing a sweater with blackberries on it, in front of a blackberry bush, with a blackberry muffin in my hand. Totally normal because its officially blackberry season in Seattle folks. And with the onset of blackberry season, I start dreaming about PCC’s Black & Blue Muffins. Except, PCC stopped making them and while I’m not necessarily upset that my several muffin a week habit came to a halt, the Black & Blue Muffins were so GOOD. So this year, with the onset of blackberry season, I was on a mission to recreate PCC’s Black & Blue Muffin recipe. I think I came pretty close…My…
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Mint Chocolate Cold Brew
But first, coffee. My morning mantra and ritual made only better with the addition of Mint Chocolate Cold Brew! I came up with this new recipe for Ryan’s birthday a few weeks ago (his favorite flavor combination is mint & chocolate), but now I am the one obsessed with it. Its a riff on the original Magical Cold Brew recipe that we previously posted here. Highly recommend you try both recipes before summer disappears. Its Friday….treat yourself! Or so said my husband Ryan when he saw me adding whipped cream to the top of my Mint Chocolate Cold Brew this morning. That was until my spray can of whipped cream…
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Ricotta Toast Off
Have you heard that ricotta toast is the new avocado toast? In the past week, I have read at least five Instagram posts telling me that avocado toast is out and ricotta toast is in. Not one to be left out of a food fad, I challenged Mallory to a “Ricotta Toast Off” over the weekend. What, isn’t this what everyone does on a Saturday evening for dinner?!?! Our “Ricotta Toast Off” consisted of five different ricotta toast recipes. The results are below. For each of the recipes, we used Grand Central Bakery’s Como Bread. A favorite in our household and available at QFC, the Como is an Italian-style hearth…
