It's SUMMER!!!

From the time I was 16 until I was 29 Summer didn't mean much…then I became a stay at home mom.  No more days spent inside at work, missing out on all of the summer goodness.  The kiddos and I have been busy finding ways to spend our days the past couple of weeks…swimming, the library, picnics, VBS…it's been pretty great and we still have two more months of Summer to go!I'm ridiculously excited.  

Also exciting?  Summer food. 

Cool, creamy salads and delicious meats smoked on the grill.  I think my favorite, though is a combination of the two that I invented (and had published on Allrecipes!)- Asian Chicken Salad. 

It's definitely not necessary to use smoked chicken (I sure don't when pressed for time) but that smoky flavor truly pushes the flavor over the top in this recipe.  The seasoning amounts are really easy to play with- it's fairly mild in flavor as published, I usually kick up the sriracha, lemon juice, garlic, and sesame oil when I make it for my family.  Anyway, it's delicious.  Cool, crunchy cabbage and savory chicken all mixed together with Asian flavors.  It's my absolute favorite meal in the whole world!  My husband loves it served in little bread bowls, but you can serve it on lettuce, a sandwich, or even by itself.  Definitely give it a try!

Engaging Ideas with Sargento Cheese

One of the things that I most love about cooking is the way it is universal. No matter what the occasion or company, food is the tie that binds. Whether it be a hearty family meal for the holidays or a special meal cooked to impressive a new love, food brings us together. Personally, I adore feeding people I care about and having a hand in bringing them together at the table. This year Allrecipes.com has partnered with Sargento, a company that says that, “for every moment, there’s a meal. And for every meal, there’s a perfect Sargento Shredded Cheese to go with it!”

Click on the picture for the recipe!

I have to say, the news that we get to work with Sargento has made me even happier than usual to be an Allrecipes Allstar (if that's even possible)! I mean really...who doesn't love cheese??

Allrecipes and Sargento asked the Allstars to create a recipe for one of life's little moments using Sargento Shredded Cheese and I was assigned a sweet moment that I couldn't wait to get started on- getting engaged.

Mainly Margaritas :-)

Life's been a little hectic the past few months!  My son turns two next week and he doesn't really talk yet.  I take that back- he doesn't speak any kind of language we understand.  He jabbers incessently, but very little beyond "uh oh" or "dada" comes out of his mouth in any recognizable way.  So, we finally went to have a speech evaluation done and he's now seeing a speech therapist twice a week, an occupational

My Handsome Man

This Blog Will Change Your Life

No really.  It will.

It will change the way you clean your bathroom.  Your kitchen.  Your laundry.  Pretty much anything that was a pain to clean before?  This is your solution.  Not just a simple replacement for your current tactics...but a revolutionary change.  Best part?  It's super-cheap too.

Sound like I'm exaggerating?  I'm not.  In fact, so far I've been UNDER-stating the amazingness of this.

Ok, so I did it yet again…

I've neglected my blog and have a huge backlog of photos to post with absolutely nothing tying them together.  *sigh* Sorry.  I've pared it down to my favorite photos from the last couple of months and I promise to do better in the future!  For now, I hope you enjoy the random pictures I have to share today :-)  

As always, clicking on any picture will take you to the recipe!

Sonora Chicken- this was so easy and delicious!  Turned out so well, will definitely be trying this one again.

I Take Way Too Many Pictures

I haven't just been baking lately, I've been doing plenty of cooking for my family too.  I've tried out some really delicious recipes and (of course) taken pictures.

I'll be honest…I love to cook, but I might love taking pictures of food even more.

Sometimes I'll make a recipe just to take a picture of it.

lol I'm not normal

Anyway, I just posted about all of the Christmas fun I've been having so I don't have much new to say, but I did want to share these pictures and recipes with you!  

My husband loves chili dogs.  Though he is quite a sport about putting up with a never-ending barage of new recipes, there are two things he consistently asks for- chili dogs and tacos.  I'd yet to find the perfect chili recipe for hot dogs, so I decided to try a new one.  This one came pretty close to perfect and is going to be my go-to recipe when he requests chili dogs in the future!

Scattered Thoughts and Christmas Craziness

I've been busy.  Really busy.  My house is a disaster, and now that I think I'm done with holiday crafts and baking it's time to get caught up on housework…but before I do that, I have to share with you what I've been up to!

First, the treats- this month, our Allrecipes Allstars partners were Nestle and Ladies Home Journal.  We were asked to participate by baking for the World's Biggest Cookie Swap.  The World's Biggest Cookie Swap is pretty neat- two cool reasons to enter the World's Biggest Cookie Swap on Pinterest. 1) For every board created, $1 goes to Cookies for Kids Cancer.  2) You and a friend might win an all expense paid trip to NYC to have lunch with Ina Garten! Get started here: http://bit.ly/AllrecipesWBCS