This week on Catching up with the Kelnhofers, I’m sharing a ton of new books I want to read and giving you a few tips and tricks for comforting dishes to help you get through the rest of winter (plus lots of family updates as always).
Ben has been singing Jingle Bells on repeat lately. We have a 30-45 min drive twice a day. Sometimes he says “mommy sing” so after singing it 5 million times, I found it on my phone to play in the car. He kept saying “again” and after hearing the kids version a million times, I played the Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra ones. Now he says “play the big daddy one” when he wants to hear their manly voices LOL.
New on the Blog
- Catching up with the Kelnhofers
- A Day in the Life: working and blogging full time
- Lentil cauliflower burgers with yogurt sauce
- I re-published a few of my favorite recipes with some updates as well!
What to Make
We’re still hanging on to winter, so I’m all about comforting dishes. This week, I made two yummy ones and I’m sharing a few more of my favorites to get you through what is hopefully the last weeks of this cold weather.
- I used my Instant Pot a lot this week. On the weekend I put together a pasta sauce of chicken sausage, zucchini, mushrooms, onion, garlic salt and one jar of marinara sauce. I used this recipe as an idea and just used zucchini instead of kale. I divided it into two freezer bags and put them in a round bowl (so they’d fit into the Instant Pot directly from the freezer, because if you’ll remember last week I told you I made chili con carne directly from freezer to IP and had to have Nick cut the corners so it would fit in the IP).
- Then on a night I had forgotten to take out dinner and only had a little time, I just took the bag from the freezer, cut the bag away and put it directly into the instant pot and cooked it high pressure for 12 minutes, then I served it with noodles I had made on the side. Delish.
- I also made my recipe for lemon chicken risotto and added 2 carrots and 1 celery stalk – loved the additional veggies and SO GOOD!
- A few other great, comforting recipes:
Reader Comments
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- “I have tried Sun Basket now for about four weeks & love their service. The food is delicious & impressed with pretty much all the dishes that I have received. Knowing that I am receiving top quality, healthy ingredients makes a difference. Yes their plan is a bit more expensive but their presentation of food items & the taste is great as well as being organic. Well thought out organization”
If you’re interested in Sun Basket, you can click here to get $35 off your first order!
Reader ReCreations
One of my readers, ‘healthy meals by camille’ shared a beautiful, healthy meal that she made, including perfectly baked salmon and she enjoyed a delicious peanut butter granola bar for dessert.
You can also find the recipes here:
Anytime you make one of my recipes, be sure to tag PhiliaKelnhofer on instagram or send me a note!
Things I’m Loving:
- Can we talk slippers? Do you love them? Do you have a pair? I love these ones because they have a sole and I ummmm…well, I admit, I’ll walk outside with them to get the mail or take Ben on a walk lol (don’t judge me). My friend has an amazing pair form Old Navy that she got years ago (so they are no longer available) but they look just like these!
Links from around the web:
- Drunk Elephant No. 9 Jelly Cleanser face cleanser – I’ve been hearing so much good feedback, and I just ran out of a sample of cleanser I was using, so I tried it. Yup, worth the hype. It actually works and takes off all your makeup!!
- I know I’ve mentioned this before (years ago probably) but this hair exfoliating shampoo is so worth every penny. It smells slightly minty/sweet, almost like a white chocolate mocha. It makes your scalp feel so refreshed and amazing. I use it once a week and cannot recommend it enough.
- These peanut butter filled pretzel bites are crazy good.
- I’ll talk about book club below, but they had popcorn with this seasoning salt called ‘Everything but the Elote’ and oh my goodness was it good. Here’s a popcorn recipe with it from Trader Joe’s.
What I’m reading
- I mentioned last week I had finished The Whisper Network for a bookclub. I went to that bookclub and it was so much fun. Such a good discussion and amazing women. I think the consensus was that it was hard to relate to the characters – except for some parts, and that their friendships weren’t really in depth and they weren’t good friends to each other. Made me really think on friendships and how to be a good friend.
- We all went around and shared some book recommendations, and I am so excited to get reading. Here are 5 (more like 7) I have on my reading list next:
- The Alice Network or Dragonfly – both WWII novels
- The Wife Between Us – this one has been recommended to me a few times so it’s definitely on my list
- The Summer House…
- …or was it Summer House – they both sound light and great!
- This story sounds so crazy, I want to read it because it came highly recommended – My Friend Anna: The True Story of the Fake Heiress Who Conned Me and Half of New York City. This is the fascinating description “Sex and the City meets Catch Me If You Can in the astonishing true story of Anna Delvey, a young con artist posing as a German heiress in New York City – as told by the former Vanity Fair photo editor who got seduced by her friendship and then scammed out of more than $62,000.”
- Two that I’ve heard are gut-wrenching (these are heavier ones; I seriously cried just reading excerpts) You Are Worth It and Know My Name
What I’m watching:
- I have this on my list/que to watch with Ben (he LOVES cars/trucks and a fellow mom recommended it)
Personal Stories:
- Nick bought a giant tub of miso paste for when we made Instant Pot mushroom risotto for Valentines day, well what to do with miso paste? Definitely make this miso butter for meal prep breakfasts, it’s soooo yummy!
- Ben got a super cute cookie that you could literally paint from his grandparents, we let him have a bite and then decided against it (his whole mouth was dyed blue from the paint lol)
- We eat these eggless waffles on repeat – lately we’ve been having them topped with almond butter and banana slices.
- Frankie woke up with TWO TEETH!!! So exciting. The twins are getting so big (we weighed them and now they’re each close to 20 lbs!)
- Ben is doing very well with potty training – we went to the store to buy undies (looking forward to buying less diapers one of these days)
- He was getting a sticker and a new car toy for every time he went to the bathroom, because he didn’t understand that he had to go a few times in a row to get a prize (it didn’t motivate him to go – then when we gave him a car every time, he got motivated.) That was two charts ago (each chart has 30 spots for stickers). So…now we changed it to where he has to go 5 times and he gets a prize on his 5th time. He did not like the change and cried and cried and cried but eventually understood.
- Nick made French pizza bread with Ben – so good. Similar to last week when he made calzones. This time it was French bread, brushed with garlic oil, baked at 400 for 5 minutes, then topped with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and turkey pepperoni and baked again until cheese melted. SO good and a little more Ben’s speed. Last week, he kept trying to make the dough into balls. He told us he was making ‘snowmen’ LOL, but the dough kept ripping. He loved helping and was so cute brushing oil and sauce on!
Popular this week:
I’ve started to share the most popular items from the previous week! I love seeing what is resonating with my readers and I hope you enjoy this little peak inside what others are loving too!
- Most visited blog post
- Most liked Instagram post
- Most pinned pinned image
- Most viewed YouTube video
- Most purchased item
This week, sour cream and chive turkey burgers is the new video on YouTube – check it out and subscribe to me channel while you’re there.
And, did you know? I have a Pinterest page where you can explore and save your favorite recipes. Check it out here.
What songs do you like to jam to in the car?! Anyone else’s kids still singing Jingle Bells?. Leave a comment below and let me know!
Marcia Stoub says
Good morning,
I want to make your honey, oatmeal, flaxseed bread but I can’t do seeds. Can I somehow sub ground flaxseed??
Love your recipes and blog! Your children are adorable !
I’m a grandma to 4 but they are all grown up so seeing little ones is a pleasure!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your comment, sorry I just saw this comment a week later! You could totally leave out flaxseed and replace it with more oats, or you could try bran flakes in its place!