Christmas came a little early, thanks to Kohl’s Black Friday online sale. Woke up Sunday morning to an email shouting at me that Kohl’s had the Ninja Foodie Digital Air Fry Oven not only marked down almost 50%, but also an additional 15% off, AND Kohl’s cash back $15 for every $50 spent. Ninja Foodie say what?!?! I’ve had my eye on several Ninja Foodie products for a couple years now. The air fryers intrigued me and I thought it…
Every year right around this time, the hottest toy/gadget/trend seems to make its debut. Remember Hatchimals – the stuffed animal that broke out of an egg when you rubbed the egg? Or how about those Fingerling monkeys that held onto your finger and turned their head when you talked to them? Old fashioned red farm trucks and gnomes have been the decorating trends for the past couple years and continue to be popular, however, this is definitely the year of…
Fall always has been and always will be my favorite time of year. Cool weather, jeans and sweatshirts, hot apple cider, pumpkin flavored everything, gorgeous leaves…..makes me smile just writing all that. It also means time for another family cook off! We started 7 years ago with a chili cook-off and bonfire at my parents house, has now turned into an annual event but with different cook-off themes. This year, everyone had to use pumpkin as an ingredient, which sounds…
I decided that every week needs to have something fun in it that also relates to school because I don’t want Eli and Ava to think school is all about doing worksheets and computer programs. Being with friends is an equally crucial part of school, but since that isn’t happening right now, I decided to bring a little socialization to our homeschool room! Introducing Baking with Math…Colleen’s Cooking Classroom….Kitchen Math….something like that. Haven’t settled on the name just yet, but…
After the week we had, I thought Saturday would be a great day for a new cookie recipe….and I was right! Ha! What do salted pretzels, chocolate chips, and coconut all have in common? They are excellent cookie ingredients! The crunchy texture of the pretzels is a delicious contrast to the smoothness of melted chocolate chips. But how do you ensure a soft cookie that won’t fall apart when you hold it? My secret ingredient ~ coconut cream pudding mix….
It has been a loooooong time since my last blog post, but it’s really hard to write when I’m not inspired. Every day pretty much runs into the next – wake up, school work, lunch, isolated bike ride or walk, dinner, another isolated bike ride or walk, bedtime. The end. Wake up the next day and do it all over again. Even weekends are basically like “what can we do today that doesn’t involve going anywhere or being around anyone.”…
It’s hard enough having to socially distance ourselves right now from everyone, but to not be able to go outside and play makes this extra challenging. It’s 40 degrees and overcast, so not terribly cold, but still not warm either. We’ve managed to take a short walk around the neighborhood most days just to get some fresh air, but it would sure be nice if it was sunny and 60 and the kids could just run and ride bikes and…
At least 2-3 times a week I make slow cooker dinners. I love my Crock Pot because it’s easy to throw ingredients in when I wake up in the morning, and dinner is ready whenever we are in the evening. Ninja class, dance class, soccer games, and church meetings all seem to happen right around the dinner hour, which means I have zero time to fix a meal if we want to eat at a somewhat normal time. That’s when…
Happy 3 Kings Day! The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the 3 Kings (or Magi) presenting their gifts to baby Jesus. This is usually when we take down Christmas decorations and wrap up the end of the season, but it’s also the day for making homemade donuts! Growing up, my mom and grandma always put coins in the donuts to symbolize the gifts of the 3 Kings, but with the way my kids go after donuts, I’m not taking any…
Move over pecan pie, you have competition! I love pecan pie, but it is soooooo sweet. However, I found the most delicious pecan pie COOKIE recipe that brings just the right amount of sweetness in the filling, but is balanced with a nice shortbread cookie base. It’s an odd dough and I went back to re-read the recipe a couple times to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, but it was correct ~ just very crumbly! It actually doesn’t come…