Meal Prep

 As a busy working mom, it is often hard to make sure that I get food for my breakfast and lunch (since I start my workday at 6 am) set up to bring. Between prepping dinner, homework, activities or other things that need to get done, I don't have time to try to make my food for the next day at night. So on I use my Sunday as a meal prep day. 

Trying to get in more protein and veggies into my diet, so one of my go to meal prep items is my version of a breakfast biscuit. 

I start with crumbling up one package of sausage and cook it in a pan. While that starts cooking, I cut up one red bell pepper (which happens to be my favorite) and one seeded jalapeno. Once the sausage is close to being done, I add the diced bell pepper and jalapeno as well as some minced garlic. Once this is cooked I turn off the heat and let this cool. 

In a large bowl, I crack 4 eggs, which I whisk and add salt and pepper to taste. Then I chop about a cup of spinach and some green onions (depending on your own personal taste) add them to the eggs and whisk them together. Then I add a cup of shredded cheese and some crumbled bacon (I buy the pre packaged bacon crumbles and add about 2 oz). I also add a tablespoon of dried rosemary. Mix all of this together. 

Now I add the sausage, bell pepper and jalapeno combo into the bowl combining everything. Then I add in 1-1/2 cups of almond flour. Mixing everything together until it looks like the almond flour is thoroughly combined. 

I then spoon them onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake them at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until golden brown. This usually makes about 14-16 biscuits. I usually eat 2 as a serving. The extras I leave for Hubby to eat throughout the week if he has a minute to grab them. 

Another go to is a spinach salad, I can mix and match this with different ingredients depending on what I am in the mood for. This one is spinach, with halved grapes, sliced chicken sausage, cubed cheddar cheese, pumpkin seeds and lemon vinaigrette. 

I've also made spinach salads with strawberry, avocado, chicken and balsamic vinaigrette. Or a spinach salad with apples, walnuts, mozzarella and bacon with a lemon vinaigrette. It's a fun way to create a yummy salad with whatever sounds good that week. It helps with the veggie and protein goal for me throughout the day. Now I just need to work on that water intake...

What are some of your go to breakfast and lunch meals for during the week? Do you meal prep? What is a go to meal prep idea? 

Any other secrets to make your weekdays easier, please share. All of us busy mom's could use anything to make those days easier on this crazy journey...

Home Baked by Laurie

 

When I was pregnant with Bugaboo, my mother decided to take a cake decorating class in order to make the best cakes for her grandbabies. My mother has always been an amazing baker, but after she took this class she has been able to make some incredible goodies. Bugaboo and Chickadee have always been lucky enough to have the best birthday cakes and goodies. My mother has been approached several times about whether she would sell some goodies. She worked full time for years but now she has finally retired and is starting to sell her baked goods. 

This was the Sofia the first cake that was made for Chickadee's third birthday. 

This was the Belle cake for Chickadee's Beauty and the Beast themed party. 

This was the Unicorn cake for her magical kingdom themed party. 

The kids recently had the chance to help Grandma make some yummy snickerdoodles. 

Chocolate caramel cookies that are Hubby's favorite cookie. 

Chocolate Brownies with frosting that contain coffee, these are my favorite. They are more like a cake than brownies but I adore them. 

Banana bread freshly pulled from the oven. 

Chocolate chip cookies which are always a delicious treat. 

Walnut cookies which are delicious and always a crowd pleaser. 

Bear cake pops with bullseye cookies that were made for a Brave themed party. 

Barnyard cake pops with rice crispy treat haystacks that were made for Bugaboo's first birthday. You can see more about Bugaboo's first birthday party here Bugaboo's first birthday

Cupcakes, cake pops and macaroons for a tea party baby shower for Chickadee. 

Melt in the mouth meringue cookies. These are light, airy and delicious. 

Cookie tin which makes an amazing gift. We usually give these to the kids' teachers and front office. They are always a crowd pleaser and we get so many compliments. This particular tin has jam thumb print oatmaeal cookies, toffee cookies, pumpkin cranberry cookies, walnut cookies, chocolate chip ranger cookies, hugs thumb prints(with sugar cookies), and chocolate caramel cookies. 

Mermaid cake with fish, seaweed and mermaid tails. 

Ninja turtle cupcakes. 

She has made so many amazing things and all of them are delicious. She is going to be selling cupcakes, cake pops, cookies and breads. As you can see they are all amazing looking and delicious. 

Reach out to her at homebakedbylaurie@gmail.com. She has a facebook page which you can check out here Home Baked by Laurie.

What are your favorite deserts? Have you tried any goods from Home Baked by Laurie? What did you think? 

Bugaboo's birthday is coming up and I will happily share all the goodies and ideas for that. 

Until next time, I am just going to enjoy the delicious treats of this journey. 

4th of July

 

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. It was awesome being able to get together with family and enjoy some time together. This year we went to my parents house and got to enjoy some good food, family and swimming. It was relaxing, fun and exactly what we needed. 

Both of my kiddos have grown so much over the last year that they have gone through 2 full sizes of clothes. I didn't have an opportunity to go shopping and buy a 4th of July outfit for them. Chickadee was unhappy with the fact that she didn't have anything red, white and blue. So in order to fix that I searched until I found some ribbon. Unfortunately I didn't have any red, but blue and white to make a fun hair accessory worked for her. I just cut several pieces of blue ribbon and curled it. Then tied it around the messy bun in her hair. Then I took the white ribbon and tied a bow in front of the blue curled ribbon which resulted in the below. 

Our menu for 4th of July was pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, potato salad, pigs in a blanket, salsa with cream cheese and 7 layer dip. My mother made the pulled pork in a slow cooker and she toasted the buns in the oven. My grandmother made the coleslaw and some cousins brought the potato salad. My mother made some pigs in a blanket. I brought salsa and cream cheese and 7 layer dip with chips. If you have never tried salsa and cream cheese, it is truly simple and delicious snack or appetizer. It is literally just an 8 oz block of cream cheese that has been set out to room temperature covered with salsa that you eat with tortilla chips or any chips you may like. 

Below is a picture of 7 layer dip. I have seen several different ways to make this but I will give you the recipe for the way that I make it. 

1st layer is premade bean dip. I spread 3-4 cans of the store bough premade bean dip. I combine regular and spicy bean dip for more flavor. I spread this on the bottom of the pan or dish I plan to use for serving. A lot of times I buy the disposable pans so that it is easily cleaned up and thrown away at the end of the get together or party. 

2nd layer is mashed avocado. I use 4-6 large avocados depending on the size of the pan. I mash the avocados with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice to help it from turning brown. I season with salt and pepper to taste. I spread this on top of the bean dip. 

3rd layer is sour cream mixed with taco seasoning. I use a 16 oz container of sour cream and combine a packet of taco seasoning with it. After thoroughly mixed, I spread this on top of the mashed avocado. Hubby likes the mixed sour cream with taco seasoning so much that we now use this with nachos, quesadillas or tacos when we make them. 

4th layer is shredded cheese. We typically use either 4 cheese mexican blend or monterey jack cheese. You can use whatever shredded cheese you prefer. I typically use 2 cups of cheese to cover a 9 x 13 pan of the dip. 

5th layer is sliced green onions. I buy one bunch and then cut until I feel that there is enough coverage of them over the top. 

6th layer is sliced olives. I buy the presliced black olives, drain the juice from the can and then spread them over the top until there is adequate coverage of them over the top. 

7th layer is diced tomato. I buy 1 large tomato and dice it and sprinkle those pieces on the top. 

This has become a favorite at parties. I can put it together the night before and it is ready to go for the party the next day. I usually prefer it with nacho cheese doritos, but it can be eaten with any type of chip that you prefer. We usually provide a variety for people to enjoy. 

My mother made brownies and rolo cookies for desert. Her brownies are more like a chocolate cake with frosting. They are delicious, one of my favorites that she makes. They have coffee in them to bring out the chocolate flavor. 

These are my mother's chocolate caramel cookies. They have a caramel center and are delicious. These are hubby's favorite. 

After hours of swimming, delicious food and some catching up. We watched some fireworks that were being lit in other areas of Riverside. It was a relaxing and fun day. 

What did you guys do for the 4th of July? What was the menu for you? Any favorites? 

Until next time, wishing you all fun, relaxation and happiness on this journey...

Titanic Exhibit

 I am a huge history nerd and love the Titanic. I loved the movie (totally had a crush on Leonardo Dicaprio at the time) and read a lot of information about the Titanic. So when we decided to head to Las Vegas for a friend's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADLEY!!!) Hubby bought tickets for us to go see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor hotel. It was amazing and everything I hoped for. I loved it and if you are heading to Las Vegas then I totally suggest you check it out: Titanic Exhibit. 

Hubby and I got to take pictures on the boat in the Jack and Rose pose as well as on the grand staircase (which is beautiful). When we arrived we each got a boarding pass with information of an actual person that was on the Titanic. Then at the end of the exhibit you got to see if the person whose ticket you have survived or died. 

It started with information about how the boat was made and designed. It was incredibly interesting to see all of the information. 

One of the best parts was seeing the big piece, a piece of the hull that was pulled up from the bottom of the ocean. It was incredibly moving and it gave me chills. I sat in the room with it for awhile just soaking in this amazing piece of history. If I could have sat there the whole day I would have done so in a heartbeat. 

They also had a large model built to show what the shipwreck looks like on the bottom of the ocean. To know that they were able to see it and picture it and recreate it was amazing. 

I found the au gratin dishes interesting. Not sure if you can read what the placard says, but the dishes were still in the cabinet in the bottom of the ocean until the would rotted away leaving the dishes standing in the sand in rows. 

Another area that was amazing was the recreation of the promenade deck. It was life size, you could stand and look at the stars. It shows how dark and still it was the night of the iceberg. There was no moon and no waves making it impossible to see anything out there. But the stars were lovely and the deck was calming. I could have spend hours sitting there just staring at the stars. 

There is still champagne in that bottle. It survived a shipwreck and being on the bottom of the ocean now sitting in a glass case with liquid inside. 

During the exhibit they show the differences between staying in third class and first class in the boat. Hubby and I joked about them since I was given the boarding pass of a third class passenger and Hubby had a first class boarding pass. This is a recreation of a first class room. While third class had bunks and a total of two baths to share for over seven hundred people. 

There were tons of dishes and silverware to be shown from all the classes on the ship. There were articles of clothing, perfume samples and even postcards that have been recovered. I loved every moment of this exhibit and learned so much interesting aspects that I hadn't known before. Even Hubby who isn't a history nerd like me enjoyed the exhibit. If your curious about the passengers we had, I survived while Hubby's passenger died. 

Anybody else a history nerd like me? What is your favorite exhibit? What was your favorite thing to do in Las Vegas? Got any suggestions on other awesome exhibits to see? 

Until next time, I am just going to bask in the wonder of some history on this journey...

Jurassic Quest

 

I LOVE Jurassic Park. It is definitely one of those movies that I will watch over and over and over again. I've watched every sequel that has come along afterwards as well. Bugaboo loves dinosaurs as well, he likes to read about them, learn about them and play with figurines of them. So for Christmas this year, my mother bought us tickets to go to Jurassic Quest. Due to COVID requirements, we did this as a drive thru but it was an awesome experience. There is an audio tour that you play through you tube during the drive. You can check out Jurassic Quest here Jurassic Quest

The tour began with a baby triceratops. It was adorable.

A couple of super stoked kids to get to see a whole bunch of dinosaurs while wearing their masks and  being COVID safe. 

The Megalodon is one big shark. 

Uh-oh, that triceratops is in massive danger from the Tyrannosaurus Rex and its baby. T-rex just happens to be Bugaboo's favorite dinosaur and he was so excited. 

Look at this triceratops...I wanted to reach out and touch it so bad. It was so close to our car that I could have but that would have broken some safety rules so I was good and kept to just close up pictures. Triceratops is my favorite dinosaur. 

Look at the adorable babies...aren't they just the cutest. 

Look at that hammer of a tail on the Ankylosaurs. 

YIKES RUN T-REX!!!!

That is one hard head on that parasaurolophus... 

Did you know that dinosaurs had feathers? This was new info to me but hey don't they look cool? 

If you dig Jurassic Park or Dinosaurs this is an awesome experience and I would recommend it.

What are some movies that you love? What are some fun experiences you have had recently? 

Until next time, going to enjoy this prehistoric trip on our journey.