Hi Friends – before we get into this weeks’ Catching Up With The Kelnhofers (this week we talk about a visit to the pumpkin patch, an apple orchard, and a very decorated Halloween house)– I have a quick question for you – do you want to get every new blog post emailed to you? I now have the ability to send you a short automated message every time a new blog post goes live – simply click here. I send out a once weekly email, but this will let you get a notification of every new post to your inbox.
Exciting news I’m sharing this week – in addition to my baby food maker cookbook I partnered with one of the manufacturers of a baby food maker to author a cookbook! There’s a giveaway for a Baby Brezza baby food maker and a copy of the cookbook happening on instagram currently! (5 winners will get chosen next week!).
General/stories/things I’m loving
- You guys know how much I love meal kit delivery services (here’s a comparison I did). Well, I worked with Home Chef, one of my favorite meal kit delivery services to get new customers a discount code! Get $40 Off With Code SWEETPHI40 ($30 Off Your First Box, $10 Off Your Second!)
- Why do I like Home Chef so much specifically?
- They now have Oven Ready meals – Oven Ready meals are no-prep, no-mess (no dishes!). They send the customers everything they need to make a meal including the cooking tray. I feel like I’m still ‘cooking’ but I’m really just assembling stuff. I’ve tried several and they’re so good!
- Customize It: Home Chef customers can swap or upgrade proteins in many of their meals now (i.e. want steak tacos instead of chicken, that’s easy!). More information can be found on this page.
- Their food tastes really good and Ben loves helping me cook – he says “help” and then he’ll scoot his little kitchen stool up to the counter and I’ll let him stir a sauce or add a topping or something. It’s super cute.
- Got to day care and realized Ben had grabbed 2 left shoes, so we had to get new shoes at Walmart before school again (second time in like a month lol, definitely need to keep a spare pair in the car now). He also hammed it up for his school pictures and I cannot wait to get these and frame them!
- We had a very busy weekend! We took the kids to see these really neat Halloween decorations a house a few streets over had done, this was just a free thing and it looked like an attraction- isn’t that cool?
- We took the family to the apple orchard. We were there all of 5 minutes…Ben decided he was afraid of mud and “dirty” puddles lol, so he wouldn’t go anywhere hear the apple trees and kept saying “home home home” lol, so that went well. We have been going to the apple orchard every year since Ben was a baby (so 3 years now)!
- See the backpack Nick is wearing? It’s my favorite diaper bag, it holds so much and either Nick or I can wear it and it’s only $48 on Amazon. The whole thing came apart at once, the inside and zipper and snaps are all falling apart. I’ve been using it every day for three kids, so very heavy use! I’m going to get another one but I kind of wish this one would have lasted a little longer (I have had it for over a year in all fairness).
- I had the most perfect ‘fall themed’ pay date with one of my friends and her daughter. We went to a pumpkin farm that had a corn maze and our kids were just so cute together – they even held hands walking which was totally unprompted and cute.
- Finished reading Fleishman Is In Trouble – ugh, I did not like this book. It ended up being a narration of a characters going through a divorce and the main narrator having a mid life crisis and then kind of settling, it just wasn’t that good and there was no good character to get behind.
- I’m really really enjoying “Evvie Drake Starts Over” – (a reader recommended it-thank you again!) I can’t wait to know what happens next, it’s one of those books I don’t want to put down!! “From the host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast comes a heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a Major League pitcher who’s lost his game.”
New on the blog this past week:
- Baby Brezza partnership – a super fun partnership with one of my favorite baby food makers where I authored a branded cookbook
- East Austin Eats and meeting Noah Kagan – a recap of my trip to Austin, a blog business trip I won!
- Catching Up With The Kelnhofers – another fun installment
- 5 Ingredient Baked Chicken Parmesan Pasta – a wonderful family friendly meal, made in one baking dish!
What to Make:
Nothing is worse than a nice night of dinner and a lovely dinner then facing aaalllll the dishes! That’s why I love one pot/one pan meals. A few of my faves are below:
- One pot sausage and rice casserole
- Hot honey baked chicken sheet pan dinner
- Pressure cooker chicken spaghetti casserole
- Sheet pan pork chops sweet potato and fennel dinner
Reader Comments
When I know I have a busy week ahead, I try to put together a few freezer meals on Sunday to help the week run more smoothly. My recipe for freezer meal chicken enchilada casserole is a family fave!
- “Made this and absolutely loved it! Did the chicken first in the slow cooker with a jar of salsa and a smoky Mexican stock pot – that would have made delicious wraps in itself. I halved the amount of tinned tomatoes because of the salsa to keep it from being too watery when baked. Also I defrosted it before cooking. Definitely will make it again and have two more already in the freezer made up from the same batch of ingredients.”
Do you go to apple orchards or pumpkin patches? What are your fall traditions? Just hit reply and let me know!
Until next week,
Phi
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