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Amazon: Homeschool Must-Haves
Contains affiliate links We’ve been a homeschool family for over 18 months now. While I am by no means an expert, I have found some amazing products that I seriously couldn’t live without while on this homeschooling journey. I love these finds so much I decided I absolutely must share with y’all. Our school desk is a table I found in the clearance section at our local furniture store. It is perfect because it fits up to 8 people, has 3 pull-out drawers on each of the long sides of the table, and it has been super durable. Still, I didn’t want the boys to scratch the tabletop with pens…
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Maple Roasted Beets and Carrots
Contains affiliate links My dad loves beets. I mean he LOVES beets. We always dreaded the dinners where beets were a side dish. It didn’t matter if they were canned, boiled, baked…I always thought they tasted like dirt. After a while, my parents gave up forcing their children to like beets. I hadn’t consumed beets since then, but I always wanted to try my hand a roasting them. Visiting my parents this last week, I knew I would find several pounds of fresh beets sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be consumed. Remember when I said my dad LOVES beets? He eats them as a snack if they are available.…
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Homeschool 101: Exploration of Germs
Contains affiliate links Somehow I have been accepted into a homeschool science group with three other moms…who I might add, are all amazing ladies. We have children that are all similar in ages and we’ve been wanting to add more to our curriculum as well as give our children more interaction with their friends. One of the moms and I had already been doing various science experiments with our kiddos together. It helps because she has her degree in secondary education emphasis in science. I’ve come up with quite a few primitive science experiments for our children, but this mom has created a whole science homeschool curriculum for our kiddos…
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Baked Apple Pie Donuts
Contains affiliate links My autumn candles are lit, my sweaters are ready for wear, and I am cooking/baking up a storm of recipes filled with fresh ingredients of the season. Last autumn, I was obsessed with creating the perfect apple cider donut. I became frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to accentuate the apple flavor. While the recipe I settled on was very tasty, I still was bothered by it. This season, I decided to up my game. I realized I wasn’t just searching for that apple flavor, but instead all of the taste of the apple pie, except in a donut. Well…this recipe has 3 types of apples…
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Instapot Artichokes
Contains affiliate links Artichokes are one vegetable that had intimidated me for years. I can easily add canned artichoke hearts to a recipe, but taking a full head of artichoke and cooking it properly, that’s where the intimidation lies. It wasn’t until I saw them prepared on the Food Network Channel when I realized I was over analyzing it. I knew I could easily cook them in my Instapot. From start to finish, it typically takes me 30 minutes or less. AND…if I was only cooking for myself, I would totally have this as my dinner. If cooking artichokes have scared you, or if you have failed time and time…
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Instapot: Creamy Italian Chicken Soup
Contains affiliate links I am desperate for cooler weather. I love autumn, it is my favorite season. I like to call it soup season. I LOVE soup, but I cannot consume it when the temperature outside is scorching. Soup just makes my body all cozy from the inside out, so when it is 100°F+ outside I just can’t eat soup…or anything else liquidy warm that will cause me to overheat. While the rest of the northern hemisphere is experiencing leaves changing and cooler temperatures, Las Vegas is entering the fall season…in its own way. We are finally down to the 90s, the sun is rising later and setting earlier, …and…
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Oven-Baked Nachos
Contains affiliate links I’ve always loved nachos, but could never figure out how to make them and keep the toppings warm while at the same time not also destroying the kitchen and running around like a crazy person. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize that oven-baked nachos was the way to go. Oven-baked nachos are seriously the easiest thing ever. And you can cater them to your tastes as well as if you have any dietary restrictions, it is super easy to add or take away ingredients. Another aspect is how easy oven-baked nachos feeds a large crowd. I typically make a large half-sheet cake…
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Creamy Pesto Alfredo Pasta
Contains affiliate links Pasta is definitely one of my easy go-to’s for dinner. Typically I whip out the premade meatballs and marinara or frozen cheesy tortellini, but occasionally I make a quick homemade sauce, especially when I can do the sauce in less than 10 minutes, requires no cooking, and can be thrown into the blender. And…pesto is one of those sauces. Pesto, do you know what pesto is? It is the Italian green sauce. It is fresh herbs and spices and is typically served over pasta, but is also extremely tasty on toasted Italian bread. While you can use typical pasta, I have been loving Banza pasta lately. It…
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Stripping Laundry
Contains affiliate links Stripping laundry, not to be confused with ‘stripping’ laundry, is stripping the chemical buildup of detergent and fabric softener overtime, as well as stubborn bacteria that lingers in clothing and linens. I’ve heard about this from friends in the past. I had seen their before and after photos, and I still did not believe. It was kind of like a similar denial where a storm is coming and you know you need to get to the store to stock up on water and other essentials, but you keep telling yourself it won’t be that bad. All of the excuses ran through my head…we aren’t dirty people, I…
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Lemon Bar Blondies
Contains affiliate links I am all for a good brownie, but lately, blondies have had my heart. Honestly, anything with fresh lemon flavoring is where my taste buds have been leaning toward all summer. There is just something so refreshing about lemons in the midst of a massive heatwave. We’ve been above 100°F for most of July and all of August thus far. The worst part right now is we have the heat, and we’ve been increasing in humidity as well with monsoon season starting up. Between the humidity and the smoke traveling from California, I am DYING for a good downpour. Growing up in the Midwest, whenever the weather…
