Best Cinnamon Toast and Spring Grilling

Hello Dear Friends and happy weekend to you! 

I know I haven't done much extra posting other than HHM and I thought I would share a favorite recipe and some fun ideas for some grilling. Even though today it's cold and rainy - and 15 minutes away from me they got snow today (yikes!)...I know beautiful weather is due again. And Memorial Day weekend is right around the corner. So time to think those almost summer thoughts for cooking outside again. Yay!! 

First up I'm sharing yet another PW recipe. What can I say? I love the lady's stuff. Lol The other day I had some cranberry wild rice bread and some whole wheat bread to use up. So I made up a batch of this oven cinnamon toast. 

When you think of french toast you probably think of what I always did - spread some butter on some toast and sprinkle cinnamon/sugar mixture on the top and shake off. For quick and easy that still wins sometimes at our house. But this Pioneer Woman recipe for a more elevated cinnamon toast is SO good and worth the extra time and effort. 

Take the bread (not toasted) and slather the pieces with a butter mixture that has the cinnamon, sugar and vanilla in it. Smear it all the way to the edges. 

Then toast in the oven (& broil at the end) until it becomes the most heavenly caramelized crispy, yet soft and chewy tasty toast around. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 16 slices Bread (whole Wheat Is Great!)
• 2 sticks Salted Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Sugar (more To Taste)
• 3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract (more To Taste)
• 1/8 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Smush softened butter with a fork. Dump in sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg, if using. Stir to completely combine.

Spread on slices of bread, completely covering the surface all the way to the edges.

Place toast on a cookie sheet. Place cookies sheet into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil until golden brown and bubbling. Watch so it won't burn!

Remove from oven and cut slices into halves diagonally.

Now on to some grilling recipes. I have a pinterest board devoted to grilling you can find here here.

I know cilantro is a kind of polarizing herb. But I love it and this just screams flavors of summer to me! You can find the recipe here.

Now that we have our protein it's now time for some potatoes, right? And rosemary and potatoes go together like pb&j in my book. You can find this recipe here.

Okay, protein ✅ potatoes ✅ so how's about some veggies? These zucchini foil boats look like just the thing. With some parmesan on them I think they sound wonderful! You can find that recipe here.

And you didn't think I'd leave ya hanging without some dessert, did you? I think I may have shared these before but grilled fruit is just so delish I thought I'd share again.  And especially if you throw in some ice cream. Yum! 😋  You can find this recipe here.

I'm planning to start posting at least once more a week besides HHM. Either recipes or projects or about my northwoods. I love when you stop by friends and hope to give you more reason to do so. 

Blessings to you xo 💜 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday Friends 

First of all I just want to begin by thanking you so much for all the loving and supportive comments and prayers after what I shared last week. It meant more than I can ever say! This isn't the way I would have chosen my path, especially in this season of my life, but I am getting better everyday with accepting this is now the path I'm on. I'm grateful for all the blessings it's teaching me on the way. I probably won't talk about it much on here unless I have something I feel I need to share in the future. My main focus on this blog is to do what I've always enjoyed - sharing motherhood, crafty things, recipes, my northwoods etc. Thank you for sharing in it all with me...and letting me peek into your lives as well. I love this blogland family and appreciate you al!! xo

Now, I hope your Monday is beginning with some sunshine ;)  And I hope those that celebrated Mother's Day had a beautiful day yesterday.  

It was a lovely weekend here filled with Annie's 13th birthday (yes my baby is officially a teenager!) and mother's day festivities. I think we both felt very loved and spoiled. I share more about all in the photos below. Right now the sky is blue out my window and the sun is shining and it looks like a gorgeous day ahead! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING

a bagel thin with small big of veggie cream cheese and sprinkle of everything but the bagel seasoning, coffee with natural vanilla creamer

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Looking out at the bay with the sun sparkling on it as I work on my planner for the week. The wind chime is swaying in the breeze and playing pretty music for me ;) 

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

I see that our lawn is in need of mowing and Ad is going to get it out of storage this week and get it back in our shed for the season. There are finally some little buds of leaves on the trees now too. Yay! Really starting to think about it finally staying warm enough now to avoid frost and start picking up some of my flowers to plant

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

It was all nice and cleaned for Annie's bday sleep over here. Still some of the last sleepover bedding to put away from downstairs, but overall all cleaned up from the party too 

ON THIS WEEK'S TO DO LIST:

More house projects and I may go to a nursery to pick some things up so I can start planting flowers, work on Aaron's grads, Annie's golf practices, hockey practice, taking my SIL out for belated bday lunch and shopping, bring FIL meal, volunteer time, help my Mom with some things at her house, groceries later in the week/errands

 

CURRENTLY READING

finally just about finished with book I had been reading - deciding what I want to dive into next

ON THE TV TODAY:

Game of Thrones, Call the Midwife, Grantchester, Spring Baking Championship, the Resident, New Amsterdam, American Housewife, the Rookie, Survivor, Little People Big World, Greys 
Anatomy, Trading Spaces, cooking shows, The Spanish Princess, The Bachlorette maybe tonight?

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY:  polish on the grill, baked beans, fresh veggies, chips

TUESDAY: one pot veggie spaghetti I didn't get to last week, garlic toast

WEDNESDAY: vegetable lo mein with spicy sesame ginger sauce (BA meal)

THURSDAY: cheesy bacon, broccoli, crouton egg bake, fruit cups

FRIDAY: sweet and spicy chicken stir fry with rice and snow peas (BA meal)

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

scrapbook gift for a relative, craft room

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

may make a new dessert this week - stay tuned ;) 

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Or if you want to be crafty you could take a candle holder and glue a cute tea cup or other little bowl to the top and have that be a nice raised chip and dip set to place in a larger bowl

FROM THE CAMERA

As I think I mentioned last week, Annie has been into chocolate and orange flavors. So I baked a homemade chocolate cake from scratch (an old fashioned recipe using real mayonnaise instead of eggs), with an orange curd filling and homemade chocolate buttercream on top. Then Annie helped me make a chocolate mixture to dip cutie sections in and let them set up and put as decoration on top. If you'd like the recipe for anything I've mentioned let me know and I'll share it or if you want me to post it. It was a hit and really yummy! 

The birthday girl picked to do an escape room and it involved getting out of a shipwreck. She LOVES puzzles, solving things, figuring things and talks about being an engineer one day. She had a blast and they made it out just in time ;) My Mom and I got to watch the behind the scenes from cameras peeking in as we sat with the one monitoring their game do her work. It was a lot of fun

then gifts and sleepover at our house - she has the most wonderful friends

The next morning I had breakfast for the gals. I had pre-made a variety of mini pancake muffins in various flavors (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry & chocolate chip) that they could just microwave. And of course some fruit and I made a batch of bacon in the oven so it was nice and crispy. 

The birthday festivities kept me from going to watch my son play with his band (he plays bass guitar) but his GF sent me some pics ;) I'll share a future post about his graduation and plans at some point. So proud of him and he has such exciting plans for the future!

Mother's Day involved a purse bingo event earlier in the weekend. My Mom and I went with my SIL and some of her family. This is my SIL's Mom with my Mom (my mom in yellow). None of us won a handbag or any of the raffles but it was so fun and lots of laughs and yummy food! And all money raised went to local military. And on Mother's Day my kiddos gave me the sweetest cards and some of my favorite dark chocolate candies. And we went with my Mom and my Brother (my SIL had to work) to a lovely brunch with a huge buffet of wonderful food and one whole wall of tables filled with desserts and they gave every mom some beautiful carnation flowers. 

mothers day glow ;) 

And I spent the afternoon in one of my favorite ways - soaking up the sun, admiring the bay and reading a good book. So relaxing

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday Friends 

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I wanted to take a minute to make kind of an announcement I guess. I don't typically share deeply personal things on here. I like to keep this blog as a place of light and joy for myself. And to preserve some memories here too. As well as to connect with such wonderful friends of course ;)  But I feel it's time to share this. My husband and I have been separated for about 6 months now and we will be getting a divorce. There have been issues for several years and we truly fought the good fight to try to save things, but it's going to now be healthier for our whole family for us to move on. I'm a person who chooses to live in forgiveness and light and so we have a positive relationship and still get along well. Our kids are our priority and I think that's why they are still thriving and doing so well too. 

I think I was hesitant to share, also, because so much of my connection with many of you has been through these Mondays - being all about a happy homemaker...which has meant being a wife too.  It's so incredibly hard for me to lose that title. And especially from someone that had been my best friend for over 30 years (we'd been together since we were 16 years old). But God is good and fills my heart with His love and grace. I feel reassured and so positive about the next chapter of my life. I will be keeping this house as it brings me such peace and joy. I'm so grateful for that. I choose to look back on all of our years with such gratitude. It was real and beautiful and I am blessed. So I wanted to share as there will obviously be changes in my life as time goes on and will want to share those with all of you too. ;) Thank you in advance for any prayers for our family and for the kindness and friendship you have shown me always. I'm so grateful for all of you as well!  

Okay - on to this past weekend. We had some lovely weather so I got lots of outdoor time in around my beautiful northwoods. I dug up all the old weeds and leaves covering my lilies trying to sprout up. I went out with a friend for dinner to catch up. And had a fun Cinco de Mayo dinner with my Mom last night. And played cards with her and Aaron. Adam and Annie were gone for her hockey tourney and their team took 3rd place. Yay! ;)  Now on to the week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING

 apricot danish, apple, toasted pecan coffee with vanilla cream

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Relaxing with my feet up while I listen to classical music. Sitting next to my big windows looking out at the sun sparkling on the bay. The same bunny comes into the yard to nibble each day - watching him too. Soaking in gratitude of this peaceful beautiful place I call home 

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

Enjoying the view ;) 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

It's clean and bright. I have been working away this morning with the usual chores. Need to tackle more outside jobs and want to do a bit more vacuuming 

ON THIS WEEK'S TO DO LIST:

Still spring cleaning house projects to accomplish. Help my Mom. Groceries, errands, and bring FIL meal. Errands related to mother's day and this weekend is also Annie's birthday. Annie has hockey and golf practices.  My hospice volunteer time. The kids are both in a pops concert at school so will go watch that too. Ruby has a vet check up. More workout time - I have been working hard at it every week. And I have a new workout to try called piyo (pilates and yoga combined) Looking forward to it. I've been sore each week but hurts in a good way!

 

CURRENTLY READING

Still on a magazine kick these days

ON THE TV TODAY:

Game of Thrones, Call the Midwife, Grantchester, Spring Baking Championship, the Resident, New Amsterdam, American Housewife, the Rookie, Survivor, Little People Big World, Greys 
Anatomy, Trading Spaces, cooking shows

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY:  Chicken tenders, onion rings and veggies & dip

TUESDAY: not sure - easy meal? (kids concert)

WEDNESDAY: cajun spiced steaks and biscuits with maple butter and broccoli with almonds (BA meal)

THURSDAY: pork chorizo tacos with radishes and roasted potatoes & cotija cheese (BA meal)

FRIDAY: one pot veggie spaghetti, garlic toast

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

scrapbook gift for a relative, craft room

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Annie is asking for a chocolate orange cake for her bday. She loves those flavors together. So I think I'm going to make a homemade chocolate cake with an orange curd filling. And frost it with homemade chocolate buttercream and top it with chocolate dip mandarin slices. It will be all new so wish me luck! 

TIP OF THE WEEK:

CLEAN YOUR BATHTUB WITH GRAPEFRUIT.

Ditch the harsh, expensive chemicals and embrace a more organic way to clean your tub. First, turn the water on and get your tub wet from end to end. Then, simply cut a grapefruit in half, sprinkle a generous amount of salt on the exposed fruit, and begin scrubbing.

The combination of the citrus fruit and salt removes soap stains and other assorted messes while leaving a pleasant smell behind. The same technique can be used on sinks, faucets, and fixtures as well. If you’re looking to switch to easier, more natural cleaning solutions, the grapefruit is a safe bet.

FROM THE CAMERA

My sporty Gal ;) Her 3rd place hockey tourney trophy and her golf picture from school this Spring

Got some heavenly walks in with Ruby this weekend. On Saturday it was 70* in the northwoods!! 

It will be time to get the dock and pontoon in soon ;) 

Went to the bottom of the stairs to get a full bay shot. Things not in bloom yet, but soon

Did lots of digging this past weekend - threw on my sun hat, suncreen and went to work. Make up free selfie - yikes! The cleaned up version after is much better ;) 

Made my blue apron meal last night and Aaron was gone with his GF and Annie still not home from tourney so shared it with my Mom. We both agreed it was so good and it was perfect for Cinco de Mayo! It was a chicken quesadilla smothered in tomatillo cream sauce and jalapeno carrot slaw on the side. Yum

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:


I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.