Parmesan + Herb Sweet Potatoes

• If I had to ask my family what they'd like for a side with dinner, the response would most likely be sweet potatoes. I make them quite often and am always trying different recipes to change things up a bit. My favorite way to eat them is cut into cubes and roaster. Hubs would probably say as a cooked potato with cinnamon and butter. The kids are indifferent as long as it tastes good to them. Since I'm the one usually cooking, roasted in the way they're usually served. One of my favorite combinations for sweet potatoes is parmesan with herbs. The entire side is pretty simple to make, with ingredients you most likely have at home. On this night, I used the same seasonings on the baked chicken we had with the sweet potatoes. With fall right around the corner, this savory side will be on the menu quite often. Enjoy! 
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• Ingredients: 
• 3 sweet potatoes (washed and cut into 1 inch cubes)

• 3 Tbsp olive oil

• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic

• 1 tbs rosemary (fresh or dried)
• 1 tbs parsley (fresh or dried)

• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 400. 
2. Place cubed potatoes into a large bowl. 
3. Mix together olive oil and garlic in a small bowl.  
4. Pour olive oil mixture over potatoes. Stir to coat. 
5. Sprinkle remaining seasoning on top of potatoes (salt, pepper, parsley, rosemary, parmesan cheese) and stir again to coat. 
6. Spread evenly onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. 
7. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until potatoes are slightly browned. Stir once about the 15 minute mark. 
8. Serve & enjoy! 

Pecan Crusted Tilapia

One dish that is on weekly rotation over the summer months is pecan crusted tilapia. Tilapia is a go to fish for me, it’s easy to cook and can be done so many different ways. Kind of like chicken, with less cook time. When I make it, I love coating it with a crispy shell. The combination of the crunch on the outside with flaky fish on the inside is my preference.

This entire meal can be made in under 30 minutes, which makes it a win in my mom book. I served it with Trader Joe’s riced cauliflower and a pineapple cucumber salad. 

The entire meal is so fresh and healthy too. It just screams summertime!

Do you have a go to dinner for the summer months?

Ingredients

• 4 tilapia fillets 4-6 ounces
• 1/4 cup pecan halves
• 1/4 cup panko crumbs
• 1-2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp chopped parsley
• 1 lemon wedged

Instructions

1. Place pecan pieces into a plastic bag. Place bag on top of a cutting board. Using a rolling pin (and a little muscle) coarsely chop the pecans.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together pecans, panko crumbs, salt, pepper, paprika, parsley and garlic salt.
3. Use 1-2 tsp of olive oil to coat fish. Then coat/ dredge fish with pecan panko mixture.
4. After fish is coated with pecan mixture on both sides, place fish on a greased baking sheet.
5. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until fish is white and flakes easily with a fork.
6. Garnish with lemons.

Corn Chowder

A few weeks ago, I tried the corn chowder from Panera Bread while out to lunch. I don't think I've ever had corn chowder before and it was delicious. A perfect soup for summertime. I instantly wanted to create my own recipe to enjoy at home. 

Since it's already extremely hot here in FL, I waited for a rainy day to try it out. Last week Tropical Storm Colin brought some full days of rain. I knew this chowder would be the perfect comfort food for those rainy days. I made sure to have all of the ingredients on hand and chose the rainiest day to make it. The entire meal took about 45 minutes to make. While I don't LOVE spending more than 30 minutes on dinner, there was only about 20-25 minutes of hands on time with this one. The chowder was full of flavor, perfect for a cold or rainy day. Hubs likes an extra kick in his, so he added a bit of hot sauce to his. This recipe serves 6-8 people, so I brought a big container to our neighbors to enjoy as well. 

Ingredients: 

2 cans cream style corn

1 1/2 cups frozen (or fresh) corn

1/2 cup chopped bacon 

2 large potatoes (3 medium)

1 medium onion (chopped)

1 green pepper (diced)

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups half & half

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper 

fresh parsley to garnish

Directions: 

1. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium high heat. Once crisp, chop. Reserve 2 tbs of the bacon drippings and 1 tbs of the chopped bacon. Set aside. 

2. Peel & chop potatoes. In a large pot, add the reserved bacon drippings, potatoes, onion and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes over medium high heat. 

3. Pour in chicken broth and all of the corn. Stir. 

4. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. 

5. Bring mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and cover. Let the chowder simmer for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are cooked & tender. 

6. Once potatoes are tender, warm half & half in a small saucepan just until it bubbles. As soon as it's bubbling, remove from heat and add to chowder. Stir well. 

7. Serve with fresh parsley and the remaining bacon.  

Box of Sunshine Gift

Something I love to do is give gifts. I love making others happy and letting those closest to me know I'm thinking about them. Recently, I had a close friend who had been on my mind day in and out. She had been going through a tough time and I wished over and over I lived closer to be able to bring her a cup of coffee and some sweet treats. And a big hug too! 

I decided that even though I wasn't close enough to hand deliver something, I could do the next best thing and send a thinking of you gift. I've seen these sweet boxes of sunshine on Pinterest and decided that would make the perfect gift. A bright and colorful gift to bring a smile to her face and let her know I was thinking of her. 

While I was out and about at Target and the grocery store, I picked up all things yellow. Everything that I could find that I thought would ship well and bring a little joy. After I did my shopping, I put everything in a box and made a printable to go with the gift. 

I packaged everything up and sent the love on it's way. Below you'll find the free printable along with the items I included in the box along with some more ideas of things you could include. Enjoy! 

Box of sunshine contents: 

Yellow (pineapple) candle

sunflower 

lemon wine cork

yellow EOS lip balm

Lemon & Ginger tea

Juicy Fruit

Notecards

Swedish Fish

Other items that you could include in a box of sunshine: 

Peanut M&M's 

Yellow Nailpolish

Starbursts

Post it notes

Earrings

TicTacs

Hand Soap

Hand Lotion

Headband

Lemonheads

Lemonade mix 

Pens

Pencils

Stationary

Keychain

Magnet

Milk Duds

Oh Henry Bar

Butterfinger

Mr. Goodbar 

Download your free printable here. 

Wedding Day Survival Kit

In just two days, my brother will walk down the aisle to his bride. It's a day we've all been looking forward to for just over a year now. We couldn't be happier to welcome Lauren into our family, she is everything we imagined for him and more! It's going to be a beautiful wedding, I cannot wait to see everything come together. Both of my littles are in the wedding, fingers crossed they'll bring their A game...

When I got married just over 6 years ago, Pinterest wasn't a thing. For all of my DIY wedding ideas, I headed to Google. Remember those days?  Seems like so long ago. Part of me wishes Pinterest was around when I was planning my wedding and then the other part thinks it would have made it slightly more overwhelming. 

I'm a huge fan of survival kits. I've done one for teachers, dads and big sisters. I thought it would be fun to add to my survival kit list and create one for the wedding day.  I tried to think of every possible thing she (the bride) could need on the day of the wedding, mostly the "what if" items. Things that someone wouldn't have in their purse or at the hotel. Things like chalk for a smudge on her dress, a small mirror and brush to take with her for touch ups, super glue for a broken heel, tissues for the unexpected tears, bobby pins for the stray hairs and lots of little things just incase. I made a list of everything and the wedding day survival kit was created. 

 I put everything I could find in a plastic container, the size of a shoebox. I wanted the box to be small enough to fit into her bag yet big enough to hold as much as possible. 

You can get your free printable  here. 

I know I personally could have used a lot of these on my wedding day. Are there any items I forgot?  Any of these you wish you had on your big day? 

Hand Picked- Teacher Appreciation Gift

Teacher appreciation week is here for lots of teachers. 

 Have you picked out the gifts your child's teacher is receiving?

 I'm a little ahead of the game this year since AG's teacher appreciation week isn't for a few more weeks. I wanted to create a few little gifts I could give throughout the week and then a nice gift card for the end of the week. 

One of the gifts I'll be sending to school with AG is hand soap with these little tags. 

Teachers can never have enough hand soap. It was always something I had on my classroom wish list when I was a teacher. I love the fresh scents of Bath & Body Works soaps, which is what I'll be using for the gifts. 

I created 4 different colored printables for you to download for free. All you have to do is print them out on cardstock, punch a hole through the corner and tie the tag onto the soap. 

Print your free copy of these gift tags here.