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Roasted Cherry Tomato Carbonara
On Monday night this week, and purely by chance, Ryan and I made the best pasta dish for dinner – Half Baked Harvest’s Roasted Cherry Tomato Carbonara. Last week, Ryan came home from the grocery store with three pints of cherry tomatoes. (He had misread a recipe that required a 1/3 of a pint of tomatoes when putting together a grocery list.) Needless to say, we had a lot of leftover cherry tomatoes, so when this pasta recipe fortuitously showed up in Half Baked Harvest’s Instagram feed (@halfbakedharvest) late last week I got really excited! The only ingredient I needed for the recipe was burrata (who loves burrata cheese as much…
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Making Your Graduate Feel Special
I really feel for everyone missing major life milestones, celebrations, weddings, graduations and everything else in between due to Covid. While we are so thankful to have our health and family’s health, I can only imagine the disappointment after working so hard for something or spending hours planning a wedding to have it be postponed or canceled. That said, I wanted Chris to feel special as he just finished his MBA program at University of Michigan; not an easy feat working full time, traveling a ton and with two babies at home. It was a long two years for both of us and with his graduation and our trip to…
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Easy Weeknight Dinner Round Up
It’s always about this time of year that I am over cooking. The weather is getting nicer and all I want to do is BBQ, make a salad and call it dinner. But unfortunately, living in Seattle, the weather often doesn’t cooperate and cooking outdoors just isn’t always possible. So, if you are anything like me, I just want easy, quick and healthy dinners right now. I rounded up all of our tried-and-true easy weeknight dinners on the blog that are too good not to share again. You’ll want to add all of these recipes to your rotation! Smoked Almond Kale Bowls One Pan Broccoli Cashew Chicken Hummus Chicken Pesto…
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The TWO Best Banana Bread Recipes
Megan and I have differing opinions when it comes to the best banana bread. I like my Grandma’s classic recipe that we grew up eating, and Megan prefers this jazzed up chocolate coconut macadamia nut recipe. I go to bed thinking about having it with my coffee in the morning. The perfect recipes for Mother’s Day weekend! Yum! Banana Coconut Macadamia Nut Bread Ingredients 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup flaked coconut 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts 1/2 cup chocolate chips 2 eggs 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3…
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DIY Bleach Tie Dye Tutorial
Would you ever guess I made this outfit and it cost less than $20? My future sister in law showed up to happy hour in a cute black tie dye set; I would never have guessed she did it herself. I assumed this would be a super annoying, messy and difficult project but Laura assured me it was not. So, I was rather easily influenced and quickly jumped on the DIY bandwagon. I ordered the same Hanes Amazon sweatshirt and sweatpants in dark gray that same day. I attempted the task during the boys’ nap time/quiet time last weekend and I was literally wearing the matching set before Jack woke…
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Writing Thank you Cards With Kids
Whoever came up with the saying “Mom Life is the Best Life” forgot about the part where moms have to help their children write thank you notes. One of my least favorite parts of parenting, thank you note writing with Sam and Emma is a chore that requires a significant amount of patience that I do not often possess. It goes something like this: Mom, how you do you spell? Mom, is this right? Mom, can you read this? Mom, I cannot read your writing (because at this point I have resorted to using scratch paper). Mom, my hand hurts. Mom, I need an eraser. Mom, I made a mistake.…
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Cinco De Mayo Cocktails
Happy Cinco de Mayo! We already have two great margarita recipes on the blog – Beer Margaritas and Skinny White Claw Margaritas – so normally with Cinco de Mayo falling on a Tuesday (i.e., work night/school night for our family) I would simply put these tacos in the Instant Pot and make one of these margaritas to celebrate the occasion. But this May 5th is far from typical and I need all the fun things to keep me sane and optimistic right now. So, I decided to kick it up a notch and try out some fun Mexican-themed cocktails and order in a Cinco de Mayo meal from @thepantryseattle. Here…
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Mexican Happy Hour // Beer Margaritas
Happy Hour is my favorite time or meal, if you will, of the day. I would much rather have a bunch of different yummy nibbles and wine earlier in the evening aka Happy Hour than one giant meal. Then, this thought came to me the other day… What does Covid mean for the future of cheese boards? Will we ever be able to eat off of the same cheese and appetizer spread again? Sadly, I don’t know, but don’t you fret – I have the answer and it is just in time for Cinco De Mayo festivities. I hosted a social distanced Mexican Happy Hour for my family with individual…
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Grandma LoLo’s Chicken Noodle Soup
Unfortunately, here in Seattle the forecast calls for rain all weekend; however, the upside is that I have the perfect soup recipe to accompany the weather – Grandma Lolo’s Shaker Chicken Noodle Soup. For me, this soup is the ultimate comfort food. And its kid-friendly and delicious. This Shaker Chicken Noodle Soup is nostalgia in a bowl. It brings back memories of my mom’s kitchen and sitting around the table with my four siblings, warm bowls of soup and thick slices of bread. Of course, there was always bread and a fresh salad at my mom’s table. Somehow my mom would would manage to make a large pot of this…
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THE BEST SLOW COOKER RAMEN
This ramen recipe is SO GOOD and my favorite slow cooker meal. I use my slow cooker a lot, so this is truly high praise. Indeed, I like this recipe so much that I packed up my slow cooker and brought it with me to Suncadia for a three-day weekend. Who brings their slow cooker on a road trip you ask? A woman who really wants ramen! Admittedly, the recipe has a lot of ingredients (that I also packed up and brought to Suncadia), but do not be dissuaded. It is worth it! I often prep the pork and broth the night before; refrigerate in my slow cooker insert overnight,…
