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This cheesy Rotel and Sausage dip is my go-to dip for holidays, potlucks, or game nights. It's cheesy, meaty, and always a crowd-pleaser. Cheesy Rotel and Sausage Dip Ingredients: 1 lb pork sausage 16 oz pack of Velvetta cheese, cut into cubes 2 - 10 oz cans of rotel, undrained Directions: In a large pot, brown your sausage and drain any excess fat. Add in your cubed cheese and both cans of Rotel, undrained. Turn the heat down to low and let the cheese melt down, stirring occasionally until all combined. Serve warm with your favorite tortilla chips (I prefer Tostito's Scoops) or sliced up vegetables for dipping like peppers or carrot chips. Crockpot version To make this in a crockpot, brown the sausage on the stove, and then add the sausage, cubed cheese, and Rotel in a crockpot on low for 2 hours stirring occasionally until melty. This is literally the easiest and best dip for parties! I'm serving mine for the Super Bowl!

Braised Beef Short Rib Ragu Ingredients 2 lbs beef short ribs 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp butter 2 carrots, finely diced 2 celery sticks, finely diced 1 medium onion, finely diced 16 oz mushrooms, sliced 1 tsp Italian seasoning salt and pepper to taste 6 cloves garlic, minced 3 tbsp tomato paste 2 cups dry red wine 28 oz can crushed tomatoes 1 cup beef stock (plus any more to cover meat) 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 4 sprigs fresh thyme 1 dried bay leaf Parmesan rind pappardelle pasta Fresh parmesan for the top Directions: Preheat your oven to 300. Salt and pepper your short ribs and set aside. Chop your garlic, onion, carrots, celery, and mushrooms and set aside. Heat up your olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat Sear your short ribs until browned on all sides, 1-2 mins per side. Remove from Dutch oven and set aside. In your Dutch oven , add in the butter and turn the heat to low. Add in your onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms that you previously chopped. Season with salt and pepper and Italian seasoning. Cook until veggies are softened, about 10 minutes. Add in your minced garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant. Make a space in the middle of your cooked veggies and add in the tomato paste, stir together with vegetables and let cook for about 2 minutes. Pour in your red wine, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the wine simmer and reduce down for a few minutes. Pour in your beef broth and can of crushed tomatoes. Stir together and season with salt and pepper to desired taste. Add in thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and paremesan rind. Return your beef short ribs to the Dutch oven , making sure they are covered by the liquid. If not, add a little more beef broth. Cover and bake in the oven for 4 hours, gently stirring about every hour. Once the beef is tender and cooked, remove the short ribs from the pot, it may fall off the bone. Remove any bones, and roughly shred the meat. Remove and discard the thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, and parmesan rind. Add the shredded beef back into the Dutch Oven . Serve over cooked fresh pappardelle pasta and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese. This is the type of comfort meal that I enjoy making for my family on a Sunday at home. You have to make sure you have enough time to create this dish but it's so worth it. It's rich and coats the pappardelle pasta with that decadent sauce. The fresh pappardelle noodles are just the chef's kiss for this recipe.

My kids were sick recently. Like, so very sick. My husband and I made Pastina Soup aka Italian Penicillin for them. It's warm and simple and full of vegetable goodness. It's perfect for when you need a bowl of something to bring you back to life and not too heavy on your stomach. This Pastina Soup is also known as Italian pencillin. It's packed full of nutrients and chicken broth and is perfect for when you're sick. Have you ever made it? This is my version of Pastina Soup. Pastina Soup 4 carrots, peeled, chopped in chunks 3 celery, chopped in chunks 1 onion, quartered 2 cloves of garlic, whole 2 bay leaves 2 boxes of chicken broth (8 cups) 1 chicken bouillon cube 14 oz dried pastina pasta In a large dutch oven or pot, heat up your chicken broth and bouillon cube. Roughly chop your veggies and add them to the broth, simmer for about 15--20 mintues until vegetables are softened. Strain out vegetables, remove the bay leaf and add the veggies to the blender with a bit of the broth and blend until smooth. Leave the rest of the broth in your pot. Add the blended veggies back into the pot with the broth, stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, add your pastina pasta, and cook as directed on the package. Serve up in a bowl and top with parmesan cheese and salt and pepper as desired. This makes a big batch that you can store in the fridge and heat up as needed or freeze half for another time. We always add a little more water when reheating because the pasta soaks up more of the water as it sits. If you're stuck at home, you may also like our Cozy Winter Books .

Halloween may be over, but it’s still Fall and we’re still obsessed with all things pumpkin around here. I may even be drinking a homemade pumpkin cream cold brew as I type this. Pumpkin Cheese Fondue Recipe Backstory One time when we were shopping at Trader Joe's, we were buying a few pumpkins to make a big batch of my Roasted Pumpkin Soup . At the checkout, the cashier was chatting with us and being extra friendly. When she scanned our pumpkins, she asked us if we were having pumpkin fondue. Pumpkin fondue?! I told her I had never heard of that before, so she told us that all it was basically a pumpkin full of different cheeses and baked in the oven. Of course that sounds awesome to me so I decided to make one myself! These little pumpkins create a great vessel to bake and serve your cheese fondue in and it even cooks the pumpkin inside, so that when you scrap your cheese out, it sometimes gives you bits of yummy pumpkin. The spices and wine and honey give it a sweet but savory taste that’s so melt in your mouth good! We served up this Pumpkin Cheese Fondue with sliced French bread, apple slices, sweet Gherkin pickles and different types of meat like salami and made a full meal out of it. Pumpkin Cheese Fondue Ingredients 1 pie pumpkin 4 oz Emmental cheese, grated 4 oz Gruyere cheese, grated 4 oz creme fraiche 1 tsp garlic minced 1 pinch ground nutmeg drizzle honey 2 tbsp white wine 1 loaf French bread Sides Optional: Apples slices, sweet gherkin pickles, salami Instructions Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cut and deseed your pumpkin like you are going to carve a jack-o-lantern. Grate your cheeses and mix them together with your wine, creme fraiche, nutmeg, garlic and honey. Set it aside. Cut up some of the French bread into cubes and fill your pumpkin about 1/2 way full with the bread. Top the bread with the cheese mixture. Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly and melted. You can dig into the sides of the pumkin to mix in the pumpkin with the cheesy bread. So yummy! Serve with extra sliced French bread, apple slices, sweet gerkin pickles and slices of salami.

Edited: There was an explanation; there will be no Reputation. (Taylor's version, that is. ) Ms Taylor Allison Swift bought back all of her music, and we are here for it! To celebrate, let's eat donuts! Reputation is coming. You know it! I know it! The question is, are we ready for it? I think her re-record of her Reputation album is going to be amazing and I'm hoping it drops later this month. In honor of our Reputation Era being on the horizon (fingers crossed) I made some Taylor Swift Reputation Donuts that look like they have friendship bracelets on them. Taylor Swift Reputation Donuts Ingredients: Donuts - chocolate because it's dark for Reputation. I got mine from Dunkin but feel free to get whatever kind you want. Candy eyeballs edible pen markers Mini star sprinkles - I used the red and white ones rainbow chip crunch sprinkles - I used red and black white pearl sprinkles silver pearl sprinkles Writing icing - black or white Directions: Once you have all your supplies, you can start assembling your Reputation Donuts. I decided what word I wanted to write on my friendship bracelet before I started creating each donut. Using your edible food maker, flip the candy eyeballs over and write out your phrase letter by letter on each eyeball. Here is a list of Reputation inspired lyrics/phrases you can use. I put stars by the ones I used: *Big Rep *LWYMMD (Look what you made me do) *End Game *A Team *Ready 4 It *King of my "heart" *123, LGB (chant from the Eras tour) *Rep Era Ocean blue eyes Daisy Poison Ivy Be my jailer Light me up Dress Getaway Car Go, go, go I fancy you Best of times Golden tattoo Don't blame me Let the games begin "games begin" Love made me crazy In my dreams Island Breeze American Queen New Years Day CIWYW (Call it what you want) So it goes IDSB (I did something bad) Gorgeous TIWWCHNT (This is why we can't have nice things) Rep Cuz she's dead Delicate There are so many good phrases you could use. The shorter ones work better for bracelets and donuts so keep that in mind. On your donut, draw a circle on the top to be the outline of your "friendship bracelet" design. Carefully stick each letter on the spell out your word. Once you've created your word continue filling in the bracelet with different sprinkles. I kept to the red, black, white, and silver color scheme. This would be fun at a Taylor Swift-themed party or even for the Superbowl because we know Swifties are representing this year! The phrases - End game, Big rep, A team.... all work great for this Superbowl! These are fun to make and to eat! Be sure to check out our other Taylor Swift page for more Taylor-inspired posts and if you're making these for the Superbowl, why not make some friendship bracelet glasses to go with them? We are going to be wearing our red King of My Heart glasses during the game as we cheer on the Chiefs and Travis. I don't even feel bad about it.

I love having a garden full of birds, always have. Hummingbirds feel especially magical to me. Today, I'm going to share how easy it is to make your own DIY Hummingbird Food. Hummingbird food is four parts water to one part sugar. I usually make a smaller batch for my feeder. The sugary nectar can mold which makes the birds sick and can also attract ants, so I always change out my hummingbird food every few days and make a fresh batch. I usually do 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup sugar. Hummingbird Food Ingredients: Tap water (boiled) - 2 cups White granulated sugar - 1/2 cup Small pot and whisk hummingbird feeder I've seen conflicting information about boiling it first, but our local Desert Museum staff once told me it's best to boil it first, so I do. Directions: In the small pot bring your water just to a boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the sugar. Let cool on the stove to room temperature. Once cooled, pour into hummingbird feeder and enjoy bird watching! Tip -- You do not need red food dye to attract hummingbirds. I love these purple hummingbirds that visit our yard! I took this photo of this pretty one in our backyard. If you're an avid hummingbird lover, this Birdfy Hummingbird Feeder with Camera is a great addition to your backyard. You can take pictures and videos of the hummingbirds that visit your yard. If you're looking for gifts for gardeners, check out this Gifts for Mom - Gardener post.

These pretty little flower jars are a perfect way to keep those little flowers that kids like to collect. This is a fun craft to do after a nature walk, for Mom on Mother's Day or just because if you have flowers blooming nearby. It's super easy to make, but older kids will be able to lay their flowers down better without petals getting smooshed or fingers sticking to the tape as much. Here's how you can make your own Flower Jar Craft! Supplies: Jar printable Scissors Packing tape Flowers and leaves Get the free printable here Directions: Cut out your jar printable (I used cardstock) so that you have the outline of the jar with blank space in the middle. Flip your jar over and gently (so it doesn't stick to the table too much) add tape on the back, overlapping slightly within the jar and around the edges. You're going to cut those edges later so don't worry about them. 3. Flip your jar back over and fill with flowers and/or leaves arranged however you like them. 4. Tear off a piece of tape and lay across the biggest section of flowers. Press down to seal. Just like you taped the back, continue to layer the packing tape across the front of the jar "sealing" your flowers in. Remember to overlap it at the sides and between pieces of tape. 5. Trim up the outer edges of your jar with scissors. These are pretty displayed in a window. They are like nature suncatchers! * Please note, this craft does not preserve your flowers, most flowers keep their color for a few days. Pressed flowers could also work for this craft and would last longer. You may also like our: DIY wildflower seed bombs DIY Fairy Gardens

When the weather is nice, we always want to spend all our free time outdoors. Our patio becomes our second living room/kitchen. It's fun to spruce up the patio with these cute and easy DIY fairy gardens that bring a lot of joy to look at. It's a great activity for kids of all ages to get involved, create something "magical" and get their hands dirty in the garden a little bit. It's a great activity to let kids express their different personalities by letting them choose their own fairy house and flowers for the pot. The first thing you will need is a big flower pot. I personally like these 22 inch pots that look like stone but are made of plastic so they aren't as fragile and can be easily moved around the patio. Once you've got your pot, you need some fun fairy decor. A fairy house is a must! It is exciting to see what kids choose. One of my kids chose a strawberry fairy house (here is a similar strawberry house ) and the other chose an acorn fairy house . Here are some other fairy houses that would look darling in a fairy garden. Teapot Fairy House // Mushroom Fairy House // Flower Fairy House Once you've decided on a fairy house, hit up your local nursery to shop for some pretty flowers! I suggest getting 2 or 3 small flowers to put around your fairy house. Once you've got your flowers planted and houses placed where you want them, time to make it even more personalized. Kids will enjoy making little stone pathways up to their fairy houses and can even make it more fun with fairy garden accessories like a bridge, chairs and tables, little animals, signs, fairies, flower umbrellas, and more! You may also like our: Flower Garden Parfaits DIY Wildflower Seed Bombs Flower Jar Craft This post may contain affiliate links .

Yes, I said candle painting. This is a fun twist on a painting night at home. We threw a candle painting girls night in a few weeks ago. Ours the weekend that The Tortured Poets Department was released and listened to all 31 of Taylor's new songs as a group while we painted. Candle painting and TTPD listening party, what could be better? You could probably do candle painting with paint but that doesn't seem safe to burn and I wanted our candles to be functional. We painted our candles using wax from tea light candles. Here's everything I bought to throw a candle painting party! Candle Painting Party Supplies: pillar candles taper candles colorful tea lights more colorful tea light candles paint brushes candle lighter The concept is simple. Light the mini tea candles in a variety of colors and let everyone "paint" on their pillar or taper candles with the melted wax from the tea lights, whatever design they choose. Little tip, you do have to move fairly quickly because the wax can dry quickly on your brush. You can get really creative with your designs! We did a lot of florals, hearts, and bows! Sometimes you have to "dab" the melted wax onto your candle and sometimes you can make small paint marks. Play around with different techniques, just be careful and don't put your hand too close to the flame. We kept the whole night pretty casual. I decorated the table with fresh wildflowers in mini bud vases to serve as inspiration for our candle paintings. For snacks, I created a black and white snack board to go with our TTPD vibes and we had a build your own mini pizza bar. This set of candle holders makes a great place for everyone to put their candles once they are done painting them. Check out our Taylor Swift Party ideas or all our Taylor-inspired posts . We have a lot! Would you do a candle painting party with your friends?

Kitchen scrap gardening is a fun way to get into gardening using the leftover vegetables you've already purchased from the grocery store or farmer's market. It's a creative, eco-friendly hobby, and a fun way to get outdoors. Kitchen scrap gardening is also a great way to get kids excited and involved in gardening. It almost feels like a science experiment! Kitchen Scrap Gardening Here are some of our favorite things to re-grow from kitchen scraps. Carrot Greens Start your carrots from scraps in the early Spring for a yummy salad addition or garnish. How: Start with carrots that have greens attached. "Behead" the top, leaving 1-2 inches of carrot, and cut off the greens. Place in a shallow dish, keeping the cut part submerged in water. After a few days, new greens and roots will start growing, and you can transfer them to soil. I keep mine inside for a little while longer, putting them out in the sun and cooler weather a few hours a day if possible before completely transferring them into the garden. These carrot greens are yummy in a salad or make a pretty garnish! Sweet Potatoes Sweet potatoes are fun to grow for food or keep as an indoor house plant. From one sweet potato, you can get an average of over 100 potatoes! That's crazy right?! How: Place toothpicks in a sweet potato and place in a mason jar with the pointy end up and the flat end (more blunt) suspended in the water. You'll start to get roots growing in the water and little sprouts about 2 weeks later from those roots. When the sprouts are about 5 inches tall, you can gently separate them from the potato and grow them in soil. They will mature in about 90 days, and you will get about 3-5 potatoes from each sprout you plant. Sweet potatoes really like hot weather and grow well in the Summer. Green Onions Green onions add a nice flavor to many dishes. You can plant and grow your own green onions and never have to buy green onions again! How : Cut the green parts off the onion, leaving part of the white and the roots attached. Place the roots in a small cup or mason jar of water by a sunny window. Once the shoots start to grow and are a few inches long, transfer them to the garden and enjoy your green onions. Citrus fruit. During the winter, citrus fruits are plentiful. Save the seeds from your lemons, limes, or oranges. These will grow as a houseplant during the winter months, and you can plant it outdoors once the weather warms up or keep it indoors all winter for a fun houseplant. How : Plant 3 or 4 seeds about 1 inch deep in a small pot. Keep soil moist and keep pot in a sunny area. The seeds should sprout in about 2-4 weeks, and after about 6 weeks, you can transfer them into bigger pots for your patio or plant them in the ground. Please note that the trees will not produce fruit for a few years. This is a slow burn process, but still fun, nonetheless. Avocado Growing an avocado plant has always been a hit with my kids! How: Clean off your avocado pit the next time you make guacamole or avocado toast and save it for later. Poke three toothpicks around the middle of your avocado pit and suspend it in a shallow cup of water or mason jar so that the bottom of the avocado pit is submerged in the water. In about a month, roots and a sprout will grow. Once you feel that they are well established, you can move them to a pot with soil. You will need two avocado trees to cross-pollinate to make avocados, otherwise, you just have a fun tree. Lettuce You can also grow cabbage, bok choy, or celery using the same the same method bethod below! How: Chop the bottom 2 inches off the lettuce head and place the root down in a shallow cup of water. Change the water every few days and keep an eye on them. After the new leaves get about 3-4 inches tall (usually takes about 3-4 days), you can transfer them to a pot or garden to keep growing. If you only take about 1/3 of your lettuce off the plant at a time, it will continue to grow more lettuce. Garlic We use garlic in so many of our dishes that I knew this was something I wanted to grow from kitchen scraps. How: Save one or two cloves from a garlic bulb. In the garden, plant the clove about 5-6 inches in soil, and in about 6-9 months, it will grow into a full bulb of garlic that you can use, and repeat the process! Potatoes This one might be the best kitchen scrap garden hack. How: Each potato has eyes on them, and every eye on a potato will create a new plant that will grow new potatoes. If you have potatoes that have sat in the pantry for too long and have sprouted, it's perfect for kitchen scrap gardening. Each spot where roots have grown will grow a new potato plant, and each plant will grow 5-8 potatoes from just one plant. Follow the similar method as sweet potoates above and enjoy your harvest!

Easter is a fun time to make floral crafts! All the beautiful flowers in the craft stores, and outside, have inspired us to create this sweet Floral Bunny Headband for Easter and the dress-up box. If you already have a set of old bunny ears, you can jazz them up with some flowers for a new look. We decided to create our own bunny ears out of wire and lace, for a soft and sweet look. Gather up your supplies below and let’s get started. Supplies: Headband - plain Floral wire Lace Fake flowers , assorted Hot glue + hot glue gun scissors 1. Attach two pieces of floral wire to your headband, creating bunny ear shapes. 2. Lay out a piece of your lace, and cut it to the length of one ear. Wrap your lace around the ear shape, hot gluing to the back of the wire as you go. Trim off any excess lace. 3. Decorate with pretty flowers! Using scissors, or by just pulling off the flowers, remove the flower heads from the stems. Hot glue your flowers along the base of your ears and headband. Adding a variety of different flowers and colors will make your floral bunny headband really pop! Have fun playing around with different colors and flower combinations. I could make about 38 of these; I got a little excited buying flowers at the craft store! You may also like our: DIY Wildflower Seed Bombs Flower Garden Parfaits

Spring and Earth Day are perfect times to discuss protecting and caring for our beautiful planet. We have curated some of our favorite Earth Day Books to get kids thinking and talking about our beautiful world. From looking at our world from space to learning about bees, rainforests, conservation, recycling, and the beauty of trees, these books are perfect conversation starters for kids. Earth Day Books for Kids Earth! My First 4..54 Billion Years by Stacy McAnulty - Learn about Earth from Earth's point of view! Meet April by April Martin - Learn about the special events that occur in April, including Earth Day. Hello World! Planet Earth by Jill McDonald - Easy to learn facts about Earth, perfect for toddlers. The Magic and Mystery of Trees by Jen Green - Kids can learn just how special these mighty organisms are and how they are all connected. Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers - A note to Earthlings about living on Earth and loving it, and the people that live here. The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins - The true story about how one tree-loving lady changed a city! Save the Scraps by Bethany Stahl - Learn the importance of composting. The Bee Book by Charlotte Milner - Little readers will learn about the wonderful world of bees. A perfect introduction to bee conservation and their importance. Earth Ninja by Mary Nihn - Learn about recycling, reducing, and reusing. Heroes of the Environment by Harriett Rohmer - The 12 real-life stories of people who have done great things for the environment. Zonia's Rain Forest by Juana Martinez-Neal - Learn about the wonders of the rain forest following a young girl who discovers part of the rain forest has been cut and she decides to save it. What a Waste by Jess French - A book that teaches about pollution, renewable energy, and recycling. Little Turtle and the Changing Sea by Becky Davies - Explore the problems of plastic waste in our oceans. You are a Wildlife Warrior by Bindi Irwin - Uncover your inner conservationist and help save the planet and all the animals that call it home. We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow - A poem book that reminds kids of all the benefits of a tree! Other ways to celebrate Earth Day: Play outside Make a bird feeder Plant a fairy garden Make a flower garden parfait to eat Make some wildflower bombs Start a kitchen scrap garden