This week on Catching up with the Kelnhofers, I’m sharing a couple great snack options (new recipes), the best reader comment ever and crafting fun with Crayola markers!
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Caramel is sweet
And a bit salty too
Forget that box of chocolates this year, instead gift something sweet and salty. My hint of salt caramel makes a great gift for anyone in your life. Whether it’s your Galentine or your Valentine!
Use this caramel to make the best salted caramel chocolate chip cookies or chocolate turtle cake or salted caramel blondies or…straight off the spoon (no judgement here, it’s SO GOOD!)
I’m so excited we brought this caramel back for Valentine’s day! It might sell out, so be sure to get yours in time! Use code SWEETPHI for $1 off the Hint of Salt flavor (helps us track on the back end.)
What I’ll be making this week:
- 5 ingredient seed crackers – the best healthy snack I’ve been making on repeat!
- Blue cheese mac ‘n cheese – even the non-blue cheese lover will love this recipe repost
- No bake cookies – collagen protein snack bites – I have been trying to find a way to fit collagen powder into my diet (in a way that masks the collagen taste) and these cookies are it!
- Love List – weekly list of fun from around the Internet.
- Turmeric chicken and potatoes – I re-posted this recipe after a few tweaks. It’s made in a slow cooker and a healthy dinner option. (We just got a really cute reader comment about it too – I’ll send you)
- The kids have been loving seed crackers – I’ve probably made the recipe 3 times since posting it (a week ago!) Frankie loves them too.
This comment on my freezer meals post is exactly why I wrote the post! I want people to be able to quickly meal prep to make dinnertime fast and easy for anyone in your life.
- “Just made all five of these for my mom today. She lives alone and doesn’t really have the motivation to cook for herself anymore. It took me 1.5 hours to prep and package everything. I split each recipe up into three quart-sized freezer bags, so she’s got three night’s worth of each of the meals, for a total of 15 meals in her freezer. I’m so happy to have been able to do this for her and having all these recipes in one spot definitely helped me to crank them out.
I love when people put their own twist on my recipes. This reader used my balsamic meatloaf recipe, but made it with bbq sauce and broccoli instead of green beans. She also added frozen onion rings – YUM!
I just ordered this no touch key tool – beyond all the germ stuff and not wanting to touch anything, it snows here in WI and my gloved hands do not work for things like entering zip code at gas stations…I have a feeling this tool will be awesome!!
- I’m maybe 50 pages in and already love Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holiday. It’s calming and well written and surprisingly interesting.
- Just found out the author of my favorite book from last year (Beach Read by Emily Henry – I read it twice!!) is coming out with a book in May, so I preordered that and am so excited!
- Audible was/is having this 2 for 1 sale, so I just got The Switch by Beth O’Leary and The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins.
Cookbook of the week –
- 100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars, and More by Sarah Kieffer (of The Vanilla Bean Blog)
- This awesome cookbook is on sale for $11!
- Why you’ll love it: the author is famous for her ‘pan banging’ method of cookies, where you bang the pan in the oven to create ripples on the cookies.
- It’s fun to do with the kids (Ben was surprised at first, but now yells “bang the pan, bang the pan”)
- We made snickerdoodle cookies, and I had run out of regular granulated sugar so we used cane sugar. They were the best snickerdoodle cookies I’ve ever had…but they didn’t ripple the way they were supposed to.
- So we tried again, and made the chocolate chip cookies with the correct ingredients, and ripples appeared, so neat!!
- This is an excellent baking cookbook. And I must admit, I don’t own that many baking only – sweets-cookbooks, so it was definitely fun to bake from.
- Craft time with the kids can get messy – I only use Crayola washable markers, they’re amazing!
- Also, I’ve probably mentioned my love for this game before, but really, it’s amazing. Ben can play by himself or with me while the twins are coloring.
- It was snack time and I was about to put the twins in their high chairs, and Ben said “mama, the babies know how to sit in chairs, look” and he pulled up two chairs in a row for all of them to sit at. It was so sweet!!! And he was right, they sat there. Makes me think maybe we should get a bench for the kids side of the table? Anyone else have a bench at their table and like it?
- I found mini popsicles when I was grocery shopping (I use InstaCart for grocery delivery) and the kids had a blast trying them.
- Ben came in to the bathroom as I was getting ready one morning. It was too early so I told him to just play until I finished. He went into all the drawers and got out all the combs/brushes/etc. And lined them up, then he instructed me to sit on the floor and that he was going to give me a hair “style” lol. It was too funny. Then he did the same with Nick, but he made Nick read him his Scooby Doo book and forgot about the hair style. He informed me that it was then “time to go make Scooby snacks”
- We’ve been getting a lot of snow, and the kids watch the snow plow, it’s pretty neat actually!! Also, we had such a fun weekend, it was very “winter weekend vibes” with lots of reading and cozy blankets.
We’re trying out a fun email-only shortlist on Wednesdays called the SweetPhi 7. If you’d like to see a previous one:
- If you want to be added to the list, simply click here – it will automatically add you, nothing else you need to do besides grab a cup of coffee and enjoy receiving it on Wednesdays. (You’ll still get this weekly newsletter on Fridays!)
EAT
- A good sandwich is very underrated. Try this maple mustard mayo ham and Swiss or this DIY sandwich bar!
WATCH
- Lupin! Have you guys seen this? It’s originally a French show about a Gentlemen Burglar. English is clearly dubbed over already French speaking actors, but the plot line is so great!
PURCHASE
- This tablet looked like it would be so great for the kids – especially any kids that love to color and any parents that don’t like to clean up the mess!
Are you guys planning anything for Valentine’s Day? Staying in? Going out? I’d love to know, so just leave a comment below and let me know.
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