Friday Things #435
1. Summer went by so fast; love these three so much ❤️
2. Joseph has lost a number of teeth already and they’ve come out in a variety of places – in bed, in the shower, at the dinner table… last week was a new one, he lost it in the car! Then he couldn’t find it, so once we got home I had to climb the whole way in the back with my phone flashlight searching for a tooth so he could put it under his pillow. Luckily I retrieved it from a crevice in the seat next to where he was sitting 😉
3. These two pilfered our reading material while waiting to pick up Joseph from school 🤣
4. This was our first week of school and with a full-fledged full-time first-grader, wow that time between getting home and dinner is basically a split second. I’d love for you to share your favorite quick and easy weeknight meals and crockpot meals in the comments below. I’m going to try to work on meal planning this weekend!
5. Showing Up To Your Daily Life >> I always love being reminded of how to be more intentional!
6. Who else is ready for cozy fall food? Chicken and dumplings are calling my name!
7. I just learned that Levain cookies are now sold in the frozen section of the grocery store and you can heat them up at home. It looks like in the Pittsburgh area, they’re at local Whole Foods; I have to get some to try! Has anyone had them?
8. Love this, it’s not always about going big! >> The Value of Doing a Little
9. I happened to see that Rip from Yellowstone was on a podcast and said that they are already writing season five 🙌🏻 Give me alllllll the Yellowstone!
10. TGIF! Cozy babe…
I tried the Levain frozen cookies and didn’t think they were that great, they don’t bake up very soft. The real deal, or a copy-cat recipe is so so so much better. They’re ok if you are perhaps in desperate need of a quick cookie fix; eating them hot with ice cream definitely improves them.
Was not a fan of Levian frozen cookies. In fact, I just cleaned the freezer and threw two boxes out. Too cakey and way too much dark chocolate for our tastes.
I love sheet pan meals for easy dinners. A good oven only takes about 15-20 min to heat up, which is how much time it usually takes me to pull my sheet pan together! Easy clean up means I line the sheet pan with foil, preheat the oven to 425F, add my meat (usually chicken), diced potatoes, any other veggies to the pan. Drizzle with olive oil and your choice of seasonings (salt, pepper (white and black), parmesan cheese, any herbs (fresh or dried)) and bake for 45 minutes. I have found that fresh broccoli only needs 20- 30 min at 425F otherwise it burns, so I do that on a separate pan and slide it into the oven so it’s done at the same time.
Crockpot meals – meatballs and spaghetti sauce on low for 2-5 hours (I use frozen party size meatballs which means they really just need to thoroughly thaw and warm but 5 hours also means I can set it up before I leave in the morning and it won’t go bad on the counter before dinner. More than 5 hours cooking and the sauce will burn) makes spaghetti night or meatball subs (sub rolls and mozzarella cheese slices).
Cook Nourish Bliss has a recipe for Asian Short Ribs and another for Coconut Rice that has been liked for everyone I’ve made it for.
My mom usually did a beef stew and a French Dip recipe in her crockpot several times throughout the winter. Both she’d start before school and were ready by dinner time.
Pulled pork is a favorite in my house. Usually turns into pulled pork sandwiches with BBQ sauce. I dry cooked the leftovers last time with taco seasoning, made some Spanish rice and refried beans and we had decent pork burritos a few days later.
Chicken with 1/2 to 1 cup of salsa in the crockpot for the day makes pretty good tacos – I’d use the small tortillas and have an assortment of toppings to add.
And as someone mentioned, Breakfast for Dinner is always a weeknight hit!
Love your recipes..soooo delicious but simple to make.I especially like your crockpot recipes and telling us when that recipe can be used in a crockpot and the time for it.I still use mine especially in the summer and a lot in the winter time.I own 4 of them..😊thank you and have a great day and keep those delicious recipes coming..😊
Hello! Two questions:
1. Did you find a new purse/bag?
2. Do you still use your robot vac and are you still happy with it?
Bring on autumn!
I remember losing a tooth when I was eating ice cream bar from the ice cream man outside with my sister. I sneezed and my tooth flew out of my mouth. We searched the ground all over and couldn’t find my tooth. Finally we gave up, and we went back to eating our ice cream bars and just as my sister went to eat hers again she saw my tooth was on the very top of her ice cream hahahha. Now my boys for some reason their baby teeth don’t want to fall out. Ortho is making us pull a bunch
My daughter and I put together a bunch of leftovers last night. We cut up 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes in half and placed them in the pan with extra virgin olive oil to saute.
Added some parmesan shaker cheese and diced small pieces of Rotisserie chicken to the pan. We cut up a bag of broccoli and added that in with some salt and added in just a little bit of FODY chicken soup base and some water.
Boiled some curly noodles *you can use any kind* and when almost done, took the noodles and added them to the pan. Kind of like quick stir fry! It was really good!
Karen
I love one skillet meals on busy nights – where the pasta cooks right in the sauce, or you do a stir fry while the rice cooks in the IP, or other easy things like quesadillas, breakfast food, hamburgers or brats on the grill (while you still can!). Soups or things like beef stroganoff are great in the crock pot, and risotto in the IP is DA BOMB. That doesn’t take much longer than 30 minutes start to finish. I love your Italian Sausage and Pepper Risotto in the IP – I adapted it for the IP and only cook it that way now.
So so neat that you let your furry girl not only lay near your beautiful blanket, but on it. That’s love for sweet doggie❤
I am a longgg time follower since your first Goldie. I don’t always reply to your posts, but I ALWAYS read your posts on Fridays and enjoy what you have to share. I love watching your family grow, and enjoy the stories about them. My heart always smiles as you finish up with a photo of one of your Goldies. I was a mom of 2 Goldies that I miss with all of my heart. I lost them to cancer 2 & 3 years ago. So your Goldies always warms my heart! My 2 boys (9 & 11) always ask to see the photos of your children and the Goldies every Friday, too! They are definitely BEB fans!
Did you make the afghan your Golden is cuddling? Love the colors!
Looks very familiar to our house although our Irish Setter is much more likely to cuddle with a blanket than our Golden. And our Bernese is always much to HOT to cuddle with anything or anyone for very long!!’
Have a great weekend!
Hi Cathy, I did! This is the pattern: https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2012/11/15/bears-rainbow-blanket/
Hey hey! I tried the frozen Levian cookies last week when hosting company and they were a HIT. We did the double chocolate chip ones. I loved that I could pull out four cookies and have them ready for guests in about 5 minutes. Go get you some!
A favorite at our house is “Brinner” = breakfast for dinner. You usually don’t have time in the morning for bacon, eggs, and hash browns, or homemade waffles or pancakes – but dinner time makes it a little easier to have a proper breakfast!
I’ve never tasted an actual Levain cookie but I have made this copycat recipe several times. They are awesome. Here’s a link
https://www.modernhoney.com/levain-bakery-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/
When I was little, I lost a tooth in a lake. My dad called the tooth fairy that night after supper. She told him that all I needed to do was to write her a letter explaining what happened and put under my pillow. The next morning, I had a whole dollar!
I love reading your “Friday Things!” Your kids are so cute and I adore your dogs. It’s nice to get a glimpse of your family; you are a great mom! Thanks for your wonderful recipes and other ideas that you share!