We went to our unschoolers park day on Monday and then on Tuesday we met some other friends at another park. Met a different group of friends at another park on Wednesday, and today met Scott for a G-Rated Afternoon Delight. Mommy, Daddy, Skylar, goofing off at the park. It was great! That’s 4 parks, 4 days in a row for anyone who’s keeping track. Here’s a few pictures from one of our park visits These were my 3 attempts at self-portraits....
comment icon 26 more comments What exactly is golden soup, you ask? Friends, it’s a lifestyle. It’s a like-to-eat-healthy-food, but-like-to-eat-cozy-food-more, and-have-eaten-out-a-lot-lately-so-need-intervention-quickly kind of lifestyle. You know the kind. You know if Golden Soup is right for you. If it fits, you just know. This soup has: turmeric (hence the big, beautiful golden-ness) cauliflower cashews garlic / onions olive oil salt squeeze of lemon juice – just trust Basically, it’s a freezer meal unicorn....
The Best Frosted Brownies Have you ever had fudge ripple ice cream? Creamy vanilla ice cream with ripples of fudge running through it. These easy and decadent brownies take fudge ripple to a whole new level. An ultra fudgy decadent brownie layer is topped with a cream cheese, white chocolate pudding, and a whipped topping mixture. It’s the ultimate white frosting for brownies, trust me! To finish things off, there’s chocolate sauce swirled on top....
And here come the sweatpants. Except, um, it’s 90 degrees in my house. Why would I bake and then wear sweatpants in a house where I break a sweat just sitting at the computer? I’ll tell you why. Because peeling your legs off of a leather chair more than five times in an hour deserves at least five of these. You need them, too, right? I think you do. It has something to do with that thick, crumbly Oreo topping....
What are they? And why are you making Puerto Rican food? So garlic tostones are basically fried plantains that have been pre-soaked in a garlic water to give them extra flavor. Imagine TJs potato oles but 100 times better. And yes, I’m referring to the TJs that is Taco John’s. I grew up in small town Minnesota, okay? Bjork and I recently had dinner with our incredibly sweet friends Bjorn (Bjork and Bjorn, BFF, not a joke) and Maureen, and since Maureen is Puerto Rican, she made us the most amazing Puerto Rican dinner: tostones, chicken, rice, and beans....
Glazed Banana Bread Bars Recipe I love banana bread anything and could eat it every day and not get sick of it. I have 40+ banana bread and banana recipes but no banana bread bars. What? Time to change that. This banana bread bars recipe combines two of my favorite recipes into one: Cream-Cheese Filled Banana Bread and Fudgy Banana Bars with Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze. It’s a fast and easy recipe that uses melted coconut oil so there’s no butter to cream and no electric mixer to dirty....
I’m horrible at packing. For both personal safety and general efficiency, I cannot be trusted with a packing tape roller. An add-on to that would be that the cutter on the packing tape roller is surprisingly sharp. Also, wine glasses are hard to wrap. I’m nervous about shots. Getting a shot makes me say unpredictable/untrue things to nurses. Getting a shot makes my arms hurt. For 3 days. I can’t pack when my arms hurt, but I can eat cookies....
Spicy Sriracha Chicken Recipe I love spicy food and this Sriracha grilled chicken is perfect when I’m craving a walk on the spicy side. But it’s also light and healthy tasting because the marinade is very simple and ‘clean’, all things considered. But just to be clear, this lime Sriracha chicken is fairly spicy and turned out spicier than I was expecting. I guess that’s what happens when you marinate the chicken overnight in a heaping half cup of sriracha!...
Unite Shampoo and Conditioner I wrote extensively on my love for Enjoy here. It’s sulfate free, gluten free, vegan and more. But it’s a very “thin” shampoo and conditioner. It’s not rich and luxurious or overly moisturizing and recently I felt my hair was a little dry and could use more moisture. Winter is to blame… ….as is hair color and highlights…. …and a Brazilian Blowout That’s when I cheated on Unite and tried this drugstore Loreal....
I’m a little obsessed with breakfast foods, and highly recommend you try our Protein Waffles, Healthy Granola, Crepes, and Breakfast Skillet. How to make Hawaiian French Toast: Make Batter: Mix eggs, whole milk, sugar, vanilla, coconut extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pineapple, and coconut in a bowl. Add cut up Hawaiian rolls and stir well to coat. And I should probably drop our Traditional French Toast Casserole recipe link for you, in case you’re serving a crowd and want two flavor options!...
I don’t want healthy. Unless it’s accidentally healthy, and I’d never know it from the taste. And that’s exactly what these are. They don’t taste healthy, and they don’t taste like avocado. You truly cannot tell there’s avocado in them and you cannot taste it. And in person, they don’t come off as blue as they’re translating on the screen. They’re just incredibly dark. I think avocado is quite flavor-neutral and takes on the flavors of what it’s seasoned or mixed with....
Tis the season for holiday parties and with those parties comes plenty of food and hopefully some holiday cheer in the liquid form. This guide brought to you by Harry & David® will help you pick out the perfect wine for any type of seasonal celebration you’re hosting. Holiday Brunch Brunches are always fun, relaxed, and I like to keep things casual when I host a brunch for family and friends....
On November 1st, 2015, we got the keys to a stunning studio space in Minneapolis with 12 large windows and 3,000 square feet of original hardwood floor, brick, and exposed beam ceilings. It was incredible. Also: incredibly overwhelming. This studio is literally three times bigger than the livable square feet in our small 1940’s house, and we moved in with exactly zero pieces of furniture to get us started. Bjork and I had never had a physical office before besides our kitchen table at home....
comment icon 39 more comments After living in the Philippines for a year, where it’s easy to forget about things like fresh spinach and arugula, where salads are usually the culprit for any and all stomach sickness, and where the Chopped Thai Chicken Salad happened out of pure necessity (okayyy that was a definite exception), I am welcoming Salad back into my life with open arms. Now that we’re home, I’ve been treated to a few REALLY good salads: a restaurant BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad, a Chipotle burrito bol “salad”, and my Mom’s cabbage-almond slaw salad....
Tofu! Familiar to some and bizarre to many. It can be baked, fried, sautéed, marinated, scrambled – in short: it can really do it all. And newsflash: you don’t need to be vegetarian to partake! Tofu is high in protein and low in fat, and is a great alternative in many dishes that have meat. It can be cooked in a flash and served in SO many ways (see below!...
Ice cream cake is my newest dessert creation and it’s bound to become a family birthday tradition alongside German Chocolate Cake, Carrot Cake and classic Chocolate Cupcakes. What Sets this Ice Cream Cake Apart: Real cake! So many ice cream cake recipes are really just blocks of ice cream with whipped cream and frosting. Not this recipe! This ice cream cake is made with yummy chocolate cake and ice cream and a layer of fudge sauce in the center....
Making black beans from scratch is a little treat that is so easy to do! Before the popularity of pressure cookers like the Instant Pot, simmering a pot of beans on the stove was a day-long project. Not anymore! These Instant Pot black beans are ready in 1 hour and are perfectly seasoned with just a bit of onion, garlic, bay leaves, and optional jalapeno if you want your black beans a bit spicier....
comment icon 542 more comments These tacos are springy, delicious, and just plain happy. Er, maybe it’s me that’s happy? And probably because throwing some pantry ingredients together, pressing start on the Instant Pot, taking my crew for a walk, and coming home to dinner almost done is almost the same as winning a million dollars. Almost. Instant Pot lovers, where you at? Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read? Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken!...
Announcement of the day: I LOOOOVE WORKSHOPS! This obsession started brewing last year, and I have since gone off the food photography workshop deep end. In 2014-2015, I attended a few food photography workshops, taught a few food photography workshops for other organizations, and then started to get the idea that I might want to actually have my own space and hold my own Minnesota food photography workshops and invite people to come and take pictures of food together....
comment icon 44 more comments This ranch dressing is unbelievably addicting – tangy and just thick enough, with bites of garlic and onion, a little nod to the classic dill flavor, and a subtle kick from the fresh jalapeño that snuck its way in there. I am a Midwestern girl who proudly loves her ranch dressing ON EVERYTHING and I don’t care who knows it. I’m sorry in advance because once you have homemade jalapeño ranch, you will be ruined for all other store-bought ranch forever and ever....
