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Buttermilk Biscuit Ham Pot Pie

December 15, 2017 By Grace Rief 2 Comments

Have some leftover holiday ham in the fridge? This buttermilk biscuit ham pot pie is a great way to use it up - besides being warm, homey, & tasty, too!

Okay, for a slight change, it's me (Grace) writing this post. I have been thinking of writing up one of the recipes I make for quite awhile. Why, might you ask, would I suddenly write this particular post? Well, I actually am the only person who has made this recipe (In my family, obviously, not in the whole world...).

I have made this buttermilk biscuit ham pot pie...three times, I believe. The first time, I made it for my family and my uncle. He had come over for dinner and I was especially nervous to be making something new, without help, and not just for immediate family. The kitchen was a disaster! In my dad's words, "It looked like a bomb went off." I'm pretty sure that's what he would say, anyway. [Read more...]

Chocolate Swirled Gingerbread Cake

December 13, 2017 By Chelsia Rief 2 Comments

A little bit cake, a little bit brownie, and a whole lotta festive flavor - this recipe for Chocolate Swirled Gingerbread Cake is an easy holiday delight!

Josh and I recently got Apple Watches (our life insurance company provided them - I guess we have a mutual interest in keeping us alive...), and it has really initiated the competitive side of my personality. The watch tracks and gives us goals for our exercise, prods us to stand and move throughout the day, etc, and I cannot even begin to describe how it feels (for me, that is...I may be a little weird) to see all three of those colored rings fill up, informing me that I've crushed all of my goals! It's the little things.

I get insanely happy and may be even a little cocky!

The best part is that Josh and I can track each other's progress and send encouraging (or snarky) comments back and for to each other. Admittedly, somehow he almost always gets in more steps than me and I'm not sure how he does it!

But when I'm in the kitchen baking or cooking - all bets are off! I move so much in that area of my home, back and forth from the fridge to the counter to the pantry to the sink and to the oven and back to the counter again. Plus, I'm standing so I'm working on that goal too (which is honestly the easiest goal to achieve). [Read more...]

Weekly Menu for the Week of Dec 11th

December 11, 2017 By Chelsia Rief Leave a Comment

Aaah! We've officially entered into my birthday month that I just so happen to share with my little buddy, Christian. I've called him my birthday buddy since he was born nearly five years ago! I remember praying that I would have a child to share my birthday month with and I got so lucky with him! He is just the sweetest goofball ever!

So how many of you have decorated for Christmas yet? I'm usually pretty OCD about when we get things up around the home - I mean we're talking as soon as Thanksgiving is over. But this year, I'm all about the easy. I even bought a fake tree this year (*gasp*) - which is still in its box... Josh did hang up the outdoor lights without me having to nag him about it, but I haven't even touched the Christmas decor bins.

I'm trying to allow myself to be present in my current season and just not worry a ton about some of the things I usually would. [Read more...]

Chocolate Malt Cake

December 8, 2017 By Chelsia Rief Leave a Comment

It's chocolate cake with a little subtle something extra! Perfect for any birthday or holiday celebration, this chocolate malt cake is delicious!

In this house, birthdays are a big deal. Not a flashy big deal, but an important day. People you can have fun with, thoughtful gifts, and...my favorite part...cake!

But, more than anything else, I just love to celebrate the special people in my life.I remember praying that I would have a birthday buddy, someone to share the month of December with because when your birthday is so close to Christmas it can be kind of lonely - most people are ready for the Christmas hoopla to be over! They don't really want to try and fit one more thing into the already crazy busy holiday schedule. [Read more...]

Thanksgiving Leftover Panini

November 29, 2017 By Joshua Rief 4 Comments

Have some Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge? Turn them into a delicious lunch or dinner in 15 minutes with this Thanksgiving Leftover Panini recipe!

Well, I got this together as quickly as I could. Admittedly, it would have been great for this post to be up immediately after Thanksgiving (I'm looking at you, Black Friday), but to do that, I would have had to either make an entire Thanksgiving dinner ahead of time, photograph it, etc, or make these sandwiches the night of Thanksgiving. And let's be honest - the night of Thanksgiving, after the multiple courses and the pie...no one wants to think about food, let alone make it and photograph it.

So, yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

With any luck, you've still got a fridge full of Thanksgiving leftovers. If for some reason you don't (you were really hungry yesterday, you didn't host this year, etc...), pin for next year and move on!

[Read more...]

Under $30 Non-Toy Gift Guide for Kids & Teens

November 28, 2017 By Chelsia Rief Leave a Comment

I know, I missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

But you know what, that's okay...

...because this gift guide does not include toys, unless you count board games and Legos (which I don't!). For a lot of kids, mine included, figuring out what to give them at Christmastime is challenging. As parents, we want to give our kids the things they want, but not everything they want, maybe there's a bit of "how do I top last year", or even "how do I not repeat last year", and, of course, in our admittedly first world bubble, it can be hard to find things that they don't already have, which seems like an insane problem to have.

Speaking of which, Samaritan's Purse has an amazing holiday gift guide if you're looking to let your kids pick out a less materialistic gift this year - everything from soccer balls for needy kids to chickens (for eggs!) for a hungry family. Very cool.

I would absolutely say that it is okay to not buy your kids everything on their wishlist, in fact I encourage that greatly (let them save for the big things they want!) and I want to tell you that it's okay to not top the big gift of last year. Maybe stepping it down is even a good idea. Christmas is not a competition, nor is it even really about the gifts.

However, the gifts are fun. [Read more...]

Weekly Menu for the Week of Nov 27th

November 27, 2017 By Chelsia Rief Leave a Comment

Happy Cyber Monday, friends! How many of you actually braved the crowds on Black Friday? We hosted Thanksgiving for 15 people (our family included) and it was such a sweet time of gathering, but on Friday I was very tired from two days of preparing for the big day, so...

I was pretty happy to just sit in my pj's Friday morning, drink some coffee and do a little Black Friday shopping...remotely. I shopped Gap, Old Navy, and Target, as well as Jane.com. I think that's it. I was really happy to come across some of the things I did, because Gap and Old Navy were 50% off with free shipping. So yeah, I did take advantage of some of those offers.

The rest I think will be Amazon...but seeing as today is Monday and this menu is getting out later than I planned, I really haven't had too much time to look at the Cyber Monday deals. I was too busy rocking little Miss Ruby in her room! Sometimes a fussy baby can equal a sweet time... [Read more...]

Easy Apple Tartlets

November 15, 2017 By Joshua Rief 2 Comments

This recipe for apple tartlets couldn't be much easier. A sheet of puff pastry, some apples, and a few pantry ingredients, and you're ready to go!

Chels gets AllRecipes Magazine (food blogger life - many food-centric magazine subscriptions!), and in a recent issue, she came across this recipe for simple apple tartlets. Since I've been the one experimenting with puff pastry, she suggested I give it a whirl. So far, we've done marionberry danishes, chocolate danishes, and, most recently, these ridiculous little sausage mummies!

I really want to try making our own puff pastry...but it looks like an insane amount of work for something that will undoubtedly be only comparable (or *gasp* worse than) to Pepperidge Farm's quality product anyway! (No sponsorship - our stores just carry it, and I love it.) And, honestly, frozen puff pastry sheets are so danged easy to work with. Also, guess what just made Food Network's list of eight things you should never make from scratch? Yeah, that would be puff pastry.

[Read more...]

Tuesday’s Tidings – New Baby Gear Review Edition: Skip Hop Duo Diaper Bag

November 14, 2017 By Chelsia Rief 7 Comments

This is not a sponsored post. Skip Hop was not involved in the creation of this post in any way. However, the links in this post contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.

I don't know about you, but I'm kind of enjoying these baby review posts, which isn't entirely surprising because I really enjoy hearing other's thoughts and opinions on various products. I'm not an expert reviewer by any stretch of the imagination, but I would like to think that having birthed four children into the world gives me some sort of knowledge and expertise on what we like and what has or hasn't worked for us!

Today, I'm reviewing our Skip Hop Duo Special Edition diaper bag. I'm going to admit this right now, we kind of stumbled into this particular bag. I was using our old Skip Hop which we received as a gift with Christian. We liked it, but it was a little big for us and since it was a different style than the one we're reviewing today, some of the material started to become really worn and was beginning to unravel.

[Read more...]

Weekly Menu for the Week of Nov 13th

November 13, 2017 By Chelsia Rief Leave a Comment

Last week was a doozy! It's no wonder that by last Friday I was run down and fighting off a cold, as is the rest of the family. Thankfully, everything worked out okay - but this was definitely one of those weeks where I was feeling extra grateful that Josh is still on paternity leave so that we could deal with the week together.

Since most of the family got sick last week, we didn't get around to making a lot of the dinners we were going to make. Ya know, because when you're sick your tastebuds kind of change and some things just don't sound good. So, we're talking rollover dinners for this week.

I'm saying all of this because if you find yourself scratching your head as to why you're seeing repeat dinners, it's not you - it's us! We just didn't do a ton of cooking off the menu. Which is why it's important to be flexible and also have a few things on hand that you can just throw into the oven! [Read more...]