Bread with the Brisels

  Oops! I accidentally took two days off this week from blogging. This was a full week of summer fun! I'm linking up with  Andrea  and  Erika  to share all about it.  This week, Dustin was on his "off days" Tuesday through Friday, and the weather was perfect!  We swam... Sammy and Dustin went fishing... And we hit the zoo.  My aunt and I also took Sammy to see "Inside Out 2" this week. We LOVED it! Has anyone else seen it? I was worried it would be too "old" for Sammy, but I think the whole puberty  undertones were lost on him. We had lots of laughs!  This is one of my favorite photos of the week. 😊 On this morning I had gotten up, worked out, and enjoyed breakfast before the boys woke up. This rarely happens, so it's an exciting moment when it does, haha. Jack woke up and I enjoyed my iced coffee while he enjoyed some morning playtime. I love the slow mornings of summer.  One evening, Dustin and I got the boys to bed early and enj...

This isn't so much a recipe, just an idea for an easy weeknight dinner. 😉 Here's what we did! Beef Fajitas on the Grill Serves: 4+ Ingredients: 1 lb flat iron steak, cut into thin strips  1 red, yellow and green pepper, cut into strips  1 yellow onion, cut into strips  Drizzle of avocado oil  1/2 packet Fajita seasoning mix  Tortillas (we like to use Carb Balance ones), shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa, plus any other "fixings" you might like  Directions: Place your steak, peppers and onions into a gallon ziploc bag. Drizzle in some avocado oil and about 1/2 of the packet of Fajita seasonng mix. Massage the seasoning and oil into the steak and peppers/onions. Place back into the fridge for a few hours, or overnight.  We cooked this on our grill using  this grill basket  until the steak was cooked through and the vegetables were soft.  Serve it up! Place your steak and vegetables in a tortilla and top with whatever you like. 

This dessert screams summer to me. 😊 We had fresh peaches and a LOT of strawberries, so I was inspired to make an extra special dessert for our Sunday evening. It's not overly sweet, so you could absolutely add a little more sugar in if you wanted to. We served ours with some vanilla bean ice cream. Yum!  Strawberry Peach Crumble Ingredients: 6 fresh peaches, cut into small pieces 1 cup of strawberries, cut into fourths  1 cup of all purpose flour (divided 1/2 cup and 1/2 cup) 1 cup of brown sugar (divided 1/2 cup and 1/2 cup) 1 cup of old fashioned oats  1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces Cinnamon 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 1/2 tsp salt Directions:   Grease a 9x13 pan with a nonstick cooking spray and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl, mix together your peaches and strawberries, along with 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, a big sprinkle of cinnamon, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Spread that mixture evenly in your g...

  It's crazy that another week of summer has come to a close! Fridays come around awfully quick these days. I'm linking up with  Andrea  and  Erika  to share some favorites from the week. Here we go! These boys will always be my favorites, especially when they're in matching pajamas and fresh from the tub. 😉 Early morning snuggles are my favorite, too. I love how you can see Jack's little grin behind his pacifier. Haha.  I know I'm not the only teacher that is in the midst of cleaning and organizing and purging all the things. This week I tackled our kitchen cabinets and laundry closet. Have you tried this cleaner? It's a super concentrated powder that you dump into the washer by itself, and then run a "self clean" cycle. We have a top loader, but I was still amazed at how much fresher the washing machine seemed after using this!  Here's my latest lunch fixation of the week. It's cucumber, cauliflower, tomato, yellow pepper, turkey, parmesan c...

Today I'm sharing another easy lunch idea to mix things up! I've seen this idea floating around on Pinterest, and decided to try it out for myself. Sammy loved mixing everything together and it was a hit!  Corn Dog Muffins Here's what we did:  We made a box of Jiffy cornbread according to directions, and divided the batter between about 6 muffin liners.  We quartered hot dogs and placed a hot dog piece in each "muffin."  We cooked the muffins in a preheated (350 degree) oven until cooked through and golden brown.  Give this one a try, it was a fun one! 

Happy Tuesday!  Today I'll be over on Instagram sharing a "Day in the Life" on Instagram on @desmoinesmom - come find me and follow along!

Happy Monday! It's the start of a new week, and I'm starting to feel like we're getting into our "summer" groove over here. It takes a bit to find a new routine!  It's starting to really feel like summer, too. In honor of the season, I'm sharing some of my favorite "guilty" pleasures of summer. I try hard to not feel too guilty about these habits of mine, but instead, look at them as a ways I can enjoy the season we're living in.  In no particular order... Ugh. Every night at 7:30PM it's like an alarm goes off in my head that tells me, "it's time for a little ice cream cone!" I don't need large quantities of it, but a few small scoops in a little cone bring me a lot of joy. 😉 During the school year, I feel as if I absolutely can't start the week if my house isn't in tip-top shape on Sunday evening. "Summer Emilee" is much more relaxed. Haha. I like to have everything picked up at the end of the night, ...