Catching up with the Kelnhofers-102

This week on Catching up with the Kelnhofers, I’m gushing over how much I love berries (and baking with them!).  Plus, I’m sharing a peak into our quick getaway to Chicago and some of the delicious places we ate.

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I love berries, especially in the summer months!  And if you’ve been around the SweetPhi family for a while, you know the kids love berries too – especially blueberries!  Well, thinking about berries has gotten me excited to start baking with berries again.  Here are a few things I can’t wait to make:

• Blueberry crisp – a 5 ingredient dessert that I love making when friends come over for dinner.
• Cherry berry chocolate smoothie – berries are perfect in smoothies; try this one for something different than what you’re used to in a smoothie!
• Blueberry skillet dump cake – also only 5 ingredients, super easy to make and always a hit!
• Chocolate raspberry cake – with a raspberry whipped cream filling and chocolate frosting – yum!
• Peach plum blueberry crumble pie – this one is great because you can mix and match whatever fruit you have – it’s great for using fruits that might be about to turn!
• Lemon cake with almond flour – this is THE CAKE I make in the summers – it’s lemony and delicious and just so so good!
• Strawberries and cream icebox pie – perfect for those hot summer days.

Sharing the latest posts up on Sweetphi.com!   

• Chicken breast recipe roundup – sharing my favorite ways to get creative with chicken breasts.
• Weekly meal plan – my favorite way to meal prep – complete with a grocery list!
• Potluck pasta salad – this is an old recipe that I updated and re-posted. Perfect for a a group!
• Mini meatloaves sheet pan meal – an easy sheet pan recipe that the whole family will love.
• Love List – the team’s favorite finds from around the web!
• Asian ground turkey and rice bowls – an all-time favorite recipe that I’m sharing again!

• Ben made The Easiest Banana Muffins – the even measured the flour and everything!!

One, two, three lovely things my readers are saying about my recipe for blueberry skillet dump cake:

• “Delicious will make again, I added walnuts and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Got tons of compliments.”
• “Absolutely amazing! Literally everything is like 1 cup. Super simple. I used almond milk in place of milk (dairy). My husband loved it to. I will be making this again.”
• “Easy and tastes great !!! five star plus. served at a birthday party and everyone loved it. I should’ve made two. thank you very much for the recipe”

A beautiful re-creation of my recipe for perfectly baked salmon:

• Busy Board!  I just bought this busy board as a gift for a friend who has a 1 year old and 2.5 year old and the kids are loving it!  Plus, it’s a great thing they can play with in the car seat for any road trips yo may have coming up.

• I just finished Good Company which people were raving about, but I have to tell you, I found it very blah and boring. The story didn’t go anywhere and was way dragged out, I feel like it could have been a short story? I kept waiting for something to happen, and then it ended. Very confused by the good reviews of this one. 

• Next on my list it’s between 2 books: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah – her writing is so moving. I still remember The Nightingale so vividly. “From the number-one best-selling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them. 

• The second one is Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand “In this satisfying pause-resister from “the queen of beach reads” (New York Magazine), a Nantucket novelist has one final summer to protect her secrets while her loved ones on earth learn to live without their golden girl.”

• Donuts and smelling flowers – we had to take in Nicks car for an oil change, and while we were waiting took the kids to a donut shop (Donut Squad) and then on a walk along the river in Waukesha, followed by a trip to Minooka Park – there’s a $6 entrance fee, but the park is HUGE and so beautiful. It has a lake/beach area, lots of picnic tables, and trails. 

• Quick trip to Fulton Market district. Everything lined up super last minute, and Nick and I got to take a quick trip (we were gone less than 24 hrs lol) and went to the Fulton Market area in Chicago (the West Loop). We got a free room upgrade, it was so luxurious, and we went to several restaurants with a friend and did what I call a ‘tapas tour’ where we had small plates from several restaurants. 

• Time Out Market
• Fulton Market Kitchen
• Swift and Son
• And then Cira for breakfast
• I mention my love of this area in my where to eat in Chicago guide – and it’s so crazy to see how much the area has grown since I originally shared that post, there’s an amazing sounding restaurant every two feet!!

• It was so nice to come home even though we hadn’t been gone that long.

EAT

• Nick is asking me when I’m going to make some bread and butter pickles and then make grilled hot chicken sausages (they’re so good and summery!)

WATCH

• I came across Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu and had completely forgotten that they turned the book (which I absolutely LOVED) into a series. The casting and acting is amazing, and I cannot wait to watch it!!!!

PURCHASE

• We’ve loved the 3 Sprouts brand of storage items for kids for years (I still have the original hamper I got for Ben which all three kids use now – this one). I just got Frankie one and she has been carrying it all over the house, so cute!

What’s your favorite way to use summer berries? Just leave a comment below and let me know!

P.S., i thought this very specific function tool was stupid when I first got it, but I use it ALL summer long.