All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
This Cilantro Lime Rice is the perfect Chipotle Copycat recipe so skip the long line and just make this at home. It captures it’s great flavors and texture.
Autumn is turning 3 on Friday. I can’t deal!!!
In typical Mom style, I can’t handle that she is going to be 3 years old. It’s all gone by so quickly.
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So… it’s been a rough week.
I haven’t felt like doing much of anything. I have ignored my blog. I have ignored it’s FB page. I have just done the bare minimum to get by… pbj sandwiches and eating my feelings. On Saturday, I went to my mom’s, as planned, for Autumn’s bday, and Autumn spent the whole night throwing up. I couldn’t even catch a break during my break from reality.
And in one last woes me eating my feelings day, I enjoyed quite a few of these Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Crunk Cookies. Worth it.
Making these couldn’t have come at better timing.
Sometimes things happen for a reason.
Case in point, I had retired from Secret Recipe Club last month as it as my 5th anniversary and I felt it was time to move on. But then I found out that this very month would be the last month for Secret Recipe Club as the whole group so I just had to pull a Jordan and step out of retirement
Getting CJ’s blog, Morsels of Life, for my very last SRC post was so great because she has so many wonderful recipes to pick from. I enjoyed browsing through her wide selection of recipes, including her breakfasts, pizzas, and desserts. I ultimately picked her Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Crunch Cookies.
Autumn and I made these cookies together, which was such a fun thing to do with her. She is so eager to help out by adding the ingredients to the mixer and turning it on. So fun.
The end result are great chocolate chip cookies that have great texture from oats and rice krispies. They are not exactly oatmeal cookies, nor are they super crunchy. It’s this loely in between that
Thanks to CJ for such a great recipe this morning. Also, to everyone who has partipated in Secret Recipe Club. It’s been real.
Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Crunch Cookies
Yield:
30
Ingredients
Instructions
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 184Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 81mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 1gSugar: 14gProtein: 2g
errr, ignore the mess in the background. ooph!
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Autumn went to her first birthday party this weekend.
Gah! She is going up!! It’s so cute!
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Hi. I like bees.
Is that a given with the name of my blog? Hopefully!
 
So it should come to no surprise that I was head over heels in love with the that recently arrived at my door step. What a wonderful package to open up at the end of a long day!
I was so eager to open up my box of handmade Gather Chocolates from Harbor Sweets, a New England based confectionery company.
What’s so special about this box of chocolate?
Besides, just being chocolate and therefore awesome. The Gather Chocolate box contains a delightfully delicious assortment of chocolates that have a wonderful purpose, besides being a great sweet treat.
Harbor Sweets teamed up with the Pollinator Partnership to help support the bees!
The Pollinator Partnership is the largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to the health of the pollinators. Supporting pollinators, like bees, is so very important as they are vital in our food production. We all know that bees are in real trouble so helping them is extremely important in their well being, and ours.
Harbor Sweets created the assortment of chocolates in the Gather Chocolates box to highlight rich natural flavors like honey, molasses, sour cherry, and coconut.
I enjoyed sampling the 12 piece box of chocolates ($18.50), but there is a smaller 6 pieces sampler for $12.50 that would also make for a wonderful gift. There also is a larger gift set that has other New England treats like cookies, honey from Ipswich, MA, and tea. Perfect for the holidays!
 
The Caremlized Honey Truffle had a nice deep floral note to the filling.
The Cashew Caramel was addicting with the salty and sweet combination of flavors.
The Sour Cherry was my favorite as it was rich in flavor that wasn’t too sweet
Pomegranate Molasses was such a unique flavor.
I could have eaten a dozen of the Coconut Clusters.
The crunch from the Sesame Crunch was wonderful in contrast to the other fillings.
Bee a thoughtful guest with a box of these Gather Chocolates.
A bottle of wine and a box of chocolates. It makes the perfect gift for a hostess, boss, friend, or even yourself!!
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Leave a comment saying which flavor you would like to try for your chance to win a 12-piece box of Gather Chocolate.
Ends 11/7 at midnight. Open to US residents.
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While I enjoyed Harbor Sweets chocolates, all opinions expressed are my own.
How is it November already?!?!
I can’t believe it. Â I just can’t. I can’t even.
I can’t believe that Autumn will be 3 in a few weeks.
I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just a bit after that.
And then Christmas is just a few weeks away!!!! At least I have already done most of the Christmas shopping we need to do.
Being in Florida this year doesn’t make it feel like it’s November. Shoot, it’s still in the 80’s during the days. That is still beach weather. But it’s funny how it does feel cooler and crisp. I guess that is what happens when you go from the hot and humid 90’s to the drier 80’s.
Anyway, here we go with another Taco Tuesday post!
 
I have made pizza quesadillas for years. I even had made them using just 1 tortilla so they are like thin crust pizzas. So crisp. Regardless, pizza and quesadillas are both awesome so combining them.
Autumn didn’t want pizza quesadillas but instead she wanted plain cheese quesadillas. She then proceeded to open it up and put pepperoni in it and call it a sandwich. Then she refused to dip it in the pizza sauce until she didn’t and she was inhaling it all. #toddlers
Of course you can pick and chose whichever toppings you like best, but I think the salty pepperoni works so well with the crisp peppers and mellower mushrooms. I don’t like olives, but feel free to add them. Hawaiian pizza is my favorite, so if you like that, then give that a try.
The biggest take away from this recipe is the technique on assembling the pizza quesadillas from toasting the tortillas in the oven to filling them, and then returning them to the oven to melt the cheese. It’s super simple so you can easily change up the ingredients for the toppings you prefer. Also, you can easily double or triple this recipe to make a big batch for a large family or a party. Just make sure you have plenty of cheese!
You family will love to personalize them with their favorite pizza toppings. Getting some make something your own is so special and fun. Plus, extra delicious.
Just eat pizza quesadillas. That should just be a rule.
Makes 4 quesadillas
Ingredients
Process
Hives! Hives! Hives! Stupid Stupid Hives!
One of our dogs spent yesterday at the vet since he was having an allergic reaction to something. Poor pup.
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We went to Fall Fest at Autumn’s daycare this weekend. So fun!
It was our first time attending such an event so we didn’t know what to expect, but we were so excited to check it out. We figured it would be a good way to kill an hour, but in reality it was really great going. We all had a blast.
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I can’t wait for Halloween!!!!!
I picked up a mermaid costume at Target this past weekend for our trick-or-treating. I even grabbed a red wing so when I put it on Autumn called me “Mommy Ariel” over and over again. My life is complete now.
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This past spring we packed up our lives in Boston and moved to Tampa, FL.
We were so eager about the move. It was time for change. It was time for new things. It was something we were excited to do. We took it head on.
So while we have been really excited about this move, we have wanted to bring things that symbolize or remind us of Boston with us since Boston has meant so much to us. We both lived there for 12 1/2 years. Met there, graduated college together there, bought a house there, got our dogs (Boston Terriers!) there, and had our daughter there.
I have been on the search for fun things to add to our house that will bring I was checking out the goodies at Uncommon Goods and I found the perfect thing in their anniversary gifts section. (looking to get more specific?  Then look for gifts for HER or HIM)
As soon as I saw the Skyline of Love piece or artwork I knew that it was the perfect fit for us and what I was looking for. It was beautiful, cool, and you could customize it.
There is an (almost) endless list of skylines, from US and International cities, to I bet you’ll find one for you too. This is great for giving out wedding and anniversary gifts. Or to just gift one to yourself!
 
Don’t want a skyline? Then check out their Silhouette of Love that takes a photo that you send them and they make you a custom silhouette. So cool!!! And the very same artist, Sandrine Froehle, does another custom piece of vintage looking colorful artwork that she creates from your photos. I love her work.
I was so excited with it’s arrival. Opening up the box revealed a beautifully framed piece of art that features the skyline of Boston. I was so excited to see the Custom House on the right side of the skyline as it’s my favorite building in Boston.
The coolest things is there are different things you can customize about the artwork, besides your name and anniversary date. You can pick from 3 different backgrounds and 10 different colors for the hearts. I liked the contrast of the black and white and I thought the red heart was just so classic.
Right now it’s handing out in the loft at my dad’s house as we are stationed there while our house is being built. It’s right when we walk up the stairs so we pass by it like 500 times a day, you know, when you have to go up and down for toddler toys, socks, pillows, new hair clips, to grab the dogs that ran away with a beloved plus toy… ya know!
Even Autumn, err I mean Supergirl, likes it. (She also likes the owl that I catch her snatching up and putting in her room! ha!)
I can’t wait wait for our house to be complete so that we hang this beautiful piece of art up so that we can bring a bit of Boston to Florida.
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This post is sponsored by Uncommon Gifts, all opinions are my own.
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