Catching Up With The Kelnhofers-50

This week on Catching up with the Kelnhofers, I’m talking about how a little change of scenery can make a big difference and I’m sharing how my attempt of at-home hair dye went!

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Twice this past week I had a change of scenery for lunch (once on a picnic with the kids and once I sat outside during a day at work). So pleasant, I’d highly recommend.

I packed up some kid snack boxes and we took the kids by the lake for a picnic! It was surprisingly fun (Ben fell asleep on the way there so we didn’t know if he’d be crabby). Freddie sat with his foot in the food the whole time which was hilarious, and Frankie kept trying to take Ben’s food lol. It was so so fun.

These are the lunch boxes we have, they’re leakproof and really great.

New On The Blog:

LOOK at this – 5 new posts!! I am loving all of these fun summer recipes and inspiring roundups.

• Easy summer sangria – seriously the only drink recipe you need for the rest of summer.
• Catching up with the Kelnhofers – our weekly family update from last week!
• Zucchini cheddar bread – the yummiest savory zucchini bread I’ve ever had!
• 7 of the best muffin recipes – muffins are a great grab and go breakfast or snack and these are some of my favorites
• Love List – things I am loving and feeling inspired by.

What to Make:

I’m all about easy lunches these days and pasta salads are some of my favorite ways to get an easy lunch, often with fresh summertime produce. here are some of the ones I make on repeat:

• Tortellini pasta salad – 5 ingredients and one of my faves.
• Pepperoni pasta salad in a jar – this is a super easy lunch recipe that’s great to grab and go.
• Potluck pasta salad – I love bringing this one to picnics and family gatherings.
• Healthy pasta meal prep lunches – it’s always great to prep ahead of time!
• Creamy Italian herb pasta salad – an oldie, but a goodie!

What I Made:

• On Sunday at the end of the day I felt exhausted and wasn’t sure why. Then, I realized I had been cooking all weekend. It was great to prep a lot of food ahead for the week!
• We made oatmeal raisin energy bites, Ben immediately wanted (and ate) three.

• I went to work and looked at my lunch (decided to eat outside) and realized all three recipes were from sweetphi.com, it was a cute realization:
  • Balsamic grilled vegetables
  • Creamy polenta (super old recipe but still delish).
  • Grilled chicken with the best BBQ chicken seasoning

• Ben ran into my office, got a cookbook and picked a recipe to make. He wanted to make peanut butter cupcakes from The All New Good Housekeeping cookbook.

• Ben also made blueberry cherry muffins and then we had it outside for a snack and then for lunch (and cherry tomatoes grown in our garden).

Reader Comments:

Because I pretty much make these balsamic grilled vegetables every week in the summer, I love to see these happy comments about the recipe:

• “Really really I mean really good! Thank you!”
• “OMG – Honeeee, bomb. That’s all I can say is BOMB. I wish I could post a pic right now because I have a mouthful and could not wait to post my response. You go girl!”

Reader ReCreations:

I’ve been seeing a lot of fun recreations on my Pinterest page and this follower shared a recreation of my baked bbq salmon with mango salsa recipe.

Links from Around the Web:

• How to make ramen better – loved reading these tips.
• Nick got Ben slides in bright green, at least we can find them

• We needed some new measuring cups, so I got these and Ben opened the package excitedly.

Item from Amazon you didn’t know you needed:

• A peanut butter scrapper – gets the bottom of the jar!

What I’m Reading:

• I stared and finished The Vanishing Half. It was great. So so good, beautiful and sad and so well written. I listened to the book, and the narrator was just perfect! 4.5/5 stars

What I’m Watching:

• An oldie but goodie – we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. So so funny. This is one of my favorite clips from the movie “do less, well, no, you’re doing nothing, you have to do more than that!”

Personal Stories:

• It’s been so beautiful outside, so we’ve been going on lots of walks.

• On one of our walks we saw a yard that said ‘you’ve been flocked’ it was from a girl scout troup, so cute!

• My hair got to the point where something needed to happen. I got some supplies and dyed it myself at home! It took forever (I did a test side first), but it’s not the worst my hair has ever looked lol (from left to right: final result, top middle – before- omg it was so bad! top right – my testing patch to make sure it wouldn’t be too bad, bottom middle – Nick walked in and was confused, bottom right – another final result pic)

• For his birthday Ben got a craft supplies kit from one of his aunts, and he has been making the most beautiful art. Look at these birds he made for Nick and I…and he made them himself!

• I got a Little Helpers: Toddler Cookbook for Ben and we plan on making some recipes this week!

• Garden update: Ben said our kale ‘needs a bandaid’ – the cabbage worms have had their way.

Did you know?

Have you seen my Pinterest page? We are constantly adding recipes and ideas, so be sure to follow along!

Popular This Week:

• Most visited blog post: BBQ chicken seasoning mix – I used it myself this weekend – so so good.
• Most liked Instagram post: kids snack ideas are a popular topic!
• Most pinned image: these amaazing honey biscuits.
• Most viewed YouTube video: eggless waffles are back on the top of the charts!
• Most purchased item: These beautiful clear carafe pitchers

How is your week going? How have you been doing? I’d love to hear, so just leave a comment below and let me know!