Hi All. I’m sorry I didn’t get a new post up last week. Sadly, we had a death in the family as we lost my uncle. I was obviously a bit distracted, but am trying to get back to work.
I can’t believe it’s already August! And now that August has arrived, it’s already time for the kiddos to start heading back to school over the next few weeks. Craziness! Weekday mornings can be a bit chaotic with trying to get everyone up, dressed, and out the door. Even for me with a baby and toddler, my husband and I need quick breakfast ideas and these freezer breakfast sandwiches are totally the answer! All you have to do is heat them up in the microwave and in a couple of minutes, you are on your way!
I’ve been making batches of these sandwiches for the last few months and my husband just adores them. I’ve tried them with sausage patties (the version I’m posting today), bacon, or veggies, and they are all delish! My husband loves the sausage version so we will stick with that one today! For this recipe, I use ground Italian sausage (or pork sausage). For the eggs, I bake them in a whoopie pie pan or a muffin tin and they are the perfect size and shape for stuffing inside an english muffin.
If sausage isn’t your thing, you can use bacon or your favorite veggies. You can also do a little bit of both to keep things more interesting throughout the week!
Three Months! This little love of ours is getting chunkier and more delicious by the day! At three months with Madeline, I felt like things finally started to click. I had a lot of people tell me the same that three months is when things start to fall into place. Now with Natalie being three months, things are certainly starting to feel more normal, but at the same time, every day just seems so crazy trying to balance two little ones. Madeline is definitely in her Terrible Twos and has been so whiny, tired, and so dramatic!
Natalie still sleeps pretty well at night. We’ve got a decent routine at night where after we give Maddie her bath, I sit on our bed and feed Natalie her bottle while her big sister watches Peppa. Usually by the time the show is over, Natalie is also out for the night so I can then tuck Maddie in right after. She’s usually asleep by 8:30 and wakes around 6-6:30, though she has woken up as early as 4am a couple of nights this past week. I’ll take it though! Naps are getting a bit trickier though as unlike the newborn phase, she can’t sleep through everything so we’ve been putting her upstairs away from everyone. In the mornings, she typically takes a short nap and then a long afternoon nap from about 1-5. The afternoon naps works pretty well with Maddie’s nap too because Maddie naps from 2-4 so its nice to have some quiet time in the afternoons where both girls are asleep!
The only challenge is I often feel like she needs a quick third nap to hold her over until bedtime, but because that time comes around 6pm, she doesn’t really get one because I am just getting home from work and making dinner. This often means that by 7:30, she starts getting pretty mad. I roll her into the bathroom when giving Maddie her bath and she will chill with us for a few minutes before losing it until I can finally get her ready for bed.
Madeline is still Natalie’s favorite person (and um, this picture above just kills me of these two sweeties!). When she is awake, she has zero desire to lay down on me anymore or even face in our direction. In fact, when we try to face her towards us, she often gets mad! She just wants us to sit her up and face her outwards so she can look around at everything going around her. This is especially true at the park or pool. She just loves sitting up and looking around.
Natalie has also discovered her hands and chews on her fingers constantly. This also means she has become a serious drool factory and goes through 3 bibs a day! We are now working on getting her to roll over. She’s gone from her tummy to back a couple of times, but we need to work with her more. She’s also been trying really hard to pick up her head and sit up when I lay her back. Again, she just wants to sit up and look around!
One of my most favorite foods to eat during summer is potato and pasta salads. I’ve told you guys before though that I am incredibly picky when it comes to potato salad though. If it’s drowning in mayo? Nope. If the potatoes are diced really small and mushy? Also nope! I feel like a lot of of the store-bought potato salads break my rules so I usually prefer to just make it myself. And today’s version might just be my new favorite potato salad yet: Bacon Ranch Potato salad!
What’s not to love? Bacon? Goooood. Ranch? SO Gooood. I mean, who DOESN’T like bacon and ranch? They are meant to be! First, cook up some bacon. I like to cook mine on the stove so it gets nice and crispy, but the microwave works fine too if that is easier. Then you will boil your potatoes until they are just fork tender (no mushy potatoes here). For the dressing, I mixed up a little bit of mayo, sour cream, and ranch dressing seasoning. So super simple! I also mixed in a good amount of sliced green onion and fresh corn that I shaved right off the cobb. If you want to boil or grill your corn first, go ahead, but I love the texture of fresh corn! This potato salad is made for summer and for parties!
Salsa might just be one of my most favorite things ever. Seriously, I could make a meal out of salsa and chips and I love it even more as a topping for ALL of the things! It’s the perfect topping or filling for tacos, quesadillas, burritos, or on top of grilled chicken or fish (which is obviously much healthier!). And during the summer, I can never get enough salsa of all kinds.
This tropical version is my new favorite. Truth be told, when it comes to pineapple, I wouldn’t normally put it at the top of my list of favorite fruits. I don’t dislike pineapple, but on its own, I usually think it’s a bit too sweet. I’d rather eat a handful of berries over a bowl of pineapple. However, when you mix it in with other things or in a cocktail (I’m looking at you, pina coladas!), I’m totally on board!
This salsa is loaded with fresh mango, pineapple, and avocado. I totally dig the sweet pineapple and mango paired against the creamy avocado, onion, jalapeno, and lime juice. You get that sweet flavor, but it’s much more balanced. I ate some of this with a handful of chips, but then ate the rest with these Chili Lime Chicken Kebabs and some rice!
It’s Monday. We need ice cream to get through the week and this is the easiest ice cream ever!
You’ve probably seen no-churn ice cream recipes all over the web recently. The base recipe is pretty standard: heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk. From there, the possibilities are endless! I see a lot of people say this really isn’t ice cream and all that, and technically, they are right I suppose. However, this is an excellent alternative for those who don’t have an ice cream maker or if you are short on time! Truthfully though, no-churn ice cream can be just as creamy and delicious as traditional ice cream and it will certainly satisfy your ice cream cravings!
Today’s version is all about blackberry! This ice cream is so creamy and perfect and the blackberry flavor really comes through. And best of all, it seriously only takes about 10 minutes to mix up! I left some seeds in mine, but honestly, I’m just not a fan of the larger seeds that blackberries have so next time I am going to try to keep them all out. If you don’t mind them though, feel free to skip that step! Although the flavor is obviously the most important part here, I can’t get over this gorgeous purple color! I sprinkled chopped dark chocolate on top. I would have rather just mixed the chocolate in in the first place, but my husband has a texture thing and wanted it plain, but I highly recommend adding dark chocolate too!
The Pavlova. It’s been on my baking to-do list for years and decided it was finally time to give it a go. If you aren’t familiar with pavlovas, they are a meringue-based dessert. The pavlova gets its name from Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. They bake up with a nice crispy meringue shell, but on the inside, the pavlova is soft and marshmallow-like. It’s just dreamy!
This was actually my first pavlova ever, my first for eating and making it. Although I don’t have a gold standard pavlova to compare it to, I was SO pleased with the way this pavlova turned out. From my very first bite, I was in love and now I want ALL of the pavlovas! I adore the texture of the crispy outside and the marshmallow-y inside.
This pavlova is studded with vanilla beans and then topped with homemade vanilla whipped cream and then a fresh berry compote on top! I am loving this pavlova as a summer dessert over a heavy cake because it’s nice and light. I also found it quite easy to make, but it looks really impressive and like it would have taken a lot of effort to make so make it for your next dinner party! The other thing I really love about a pavlova is that you don’t have to have any artistic baking skills. In fact, the thing will crack and break and it doesn’t matter because you are going to top it with whipped cream and berry compote!
One important thing to note with this recipe is that I recommend making it the day before you plan to serve it. It takes some time to cook and then you really need to let it cool overnight. I made the meringue/pavlova itself and the whipped cream (stored separately) the day before and then just whipped up the berry compote about 30 minutes before serving and then spread the whipped cream and compote on top. When you first read through the recipe, it may seem like a lot of steps and work, but I promise you it is not difficult!
Welcome to Eat. Drink. Love.! My name is Stephanie. Here you will find healthy and easy recipes with a few indulgences thrown in for good measure! Why the name Eat. Drink. Love.? Well, I think this is what life is all about!
