Welcome to the weekend, my friends! As I sit here sipping coffee and writing today’s newsletter, my youngest son is making a pot of blueberries and cream oatmeal for our breakfast – and I’m thinking how awesome it is to have older kids now. Younger years are their own kind of fun, but middle school, high school, and college age kids? I just love it so much.
Today’s plan is a whole lot of home organization and cleaning out closets, a trip to drop off donations at the thrift store (thrills a minute here for sure), maybe a car wash, and hopefully a bike ride too. There’s something especially peaceful in knowing I don’t have to be anywhere special or accomplish anything specific this weekend. I’m wishing you much of the same, or as active and busy a weekend as your heart desires.
ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: What’s not to love about a fully loaded ranch potato salad filled with bits of bacon and chunks of egg? This has been my kids’ favorite potato salad for over 10 years now. This is a super easy-to-make potato salad with bacon, eggs, and ranch dressing and it’s been a huge hit with everyone who tries it.
Fresh corn, bell peppers, jalapenos, cilantro, and onion are tossed with lime and a sprinkling of spices to create this Southwest Corn Salad. You’ve likely heard it said before that something is “more than the sum of its parts.” Well, this salad, it is absolutely more than the sum of its parts.
This Zucchini Stir Fry with Chicken is an easy dinner that delivers a whole lot of great flavor. Served on its own or over rice or noodles, this is a meal that always satisfies.
Move over chocolate, there’s a new player in the flavored milk lineup. Fresh blueberries are a total game changer. Sweet and tangy, they bring such a refreshing taste to each sip of this Blueberry Milk.
Juicy blueberries and hearty oats come together with the perfect blend of sweet and tangy in these chewy Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies.
Perfectly chewy, fudgy brownies, topped with fudge frosting and a sprinkling of candies, these Cosmic Brownies are better than the original! Just a warning here, it turns out that these brownies are my kryptonite. I have to force myself to give away half the pan every time I make them because I can not stay away from them if they’re in the house.
And yes, I DID make those brownies just so I could make this Cosmic Brownie Ice Cream. Freshly churned chocolate ice cream is layered with bite-size chunks of Cosmic Brownies and scattered with miniature M&M candies to create it.
What I’m CRAVING: Alllll the fresh berries! I’ll be making this berry pecan salad tomorrow. And I might also need to make my friend Holly’s Tres Leches Cake topped with all the berries possible. (Doesn’t that sound fantastic?!)
What I’m LISTENING to: Kacey Musgraves’ new album Deeper Well. My oldest son is an eclectic music lover and there aren’t many artists he doesn’t want to see in concert. When he mentioned that Kacey Musgraves was going to be in Columbus this fall, we immediately bought tickets to go hear her. And of course, I started streaming her new album. It’s a good one!
What I’m READING: The Christmas Keys series by Stephanie Taylor. There are nine short books in this series and they’re all fun reads. Most of the characters are enjoyable (though admittedly a couple of them induce eye rolls) and I flew through the entire series in a couple of weeks. They’re all included with Kindle Unlimited and if you’re looking for funny, clean, easy reads these fit the bill.
All of that said, the first few books are the most superficial. (I wasn’t a very big fan of them, but they were still amusing.) Fortunately, the characters and storyline develops nicely over time, and by the 4th or 5th book, I was enjoying the series and curious to see how it would all end.
“A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” Proverbs 22:1 NIV
Wishing you a beautiful week full of little things that make you smile!
Mary
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