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You may have made tie-dye shirts before, but have you ever made tie-dyed shoes? I had this idea in my head for cute summer shoes. I wasn’t sure how these would turn out, or if the shoes would even take the dye but they turned out awesome and we loved making them! This Summer, we hope to be engaging the kids in crafts and activities so they aren't glued to their screens all day long. I feel like I try to do a pretty good job of giving them free time to play, as well as some structured activities we can do together, or with friends. These DIY tie-dye shoes were a fun and colorful summer craft we all enjoyed! Tie-Dye Shoes Supplies: Tie Dye Kit White Canvas shoes ( kid shoes and adult shoes ) Paint palette Paint brushes (we used chunky brushes ) Directions: 1. Prepare your tie-dye bottles by adding water and shaking them up until the powder dye is fully dissolved. My little one loved helping with this part. We used this Tulip one-step tie-dye kit and it was so easy! 2. Squirt your rainbow colors into the paint palette and using a big paint brush, dip it into the dye and add it to the shoe. Squirting straight from the bottle didn’t work for us. It was more of a dabbing the dye technique. But test it out and see what works best for you and your kiddos. 3. We started at the toe and worked our way back following the rainbow pattern. (Note: We didn’t use all 12 colors from the set) 4. Set your shoes in a plastic bag overnight (or about 12 hours). Then rinse, air dry, and wear! While my daughter was making bright rainbow shoes, my son was making colorful color-block shoes. We took our laces out when we tie-dyed our shoes so they would stay white but you could dye them rainbow colors or a solid color if you wanted to. Shop Tie Dye Shoes Project: The final product turned out so cute! She will be wearing the heck out of them all summer long! Also, you will have lots of dye left over to create tie-dye shirts too! For more summer fun for kids, check out these posts: No-Churn Triple Chocolate Ice Cream and Flower Jars Craft !

When I was a kid, I used to go camping with my family in our camper. Now, as an adult, I have enjoyed my share of tent camping trips as well. I'm sharing some of my favorite camping gifts and accessories that will make your next camping trip even more fun! We rounded up a little bit of everything, from RV camping to tent camping, kids to tech-loving adults, there is something for everyone in this camping gift guide. I hope everyone gets to spend a lot of time outdoors this summer and take lots of trips to the mountains and lakes to enjoy nature. Smores Caddy Starting off strong with this cute Smores Caddy . It is a cooler bag for all your smores ingredients and 4 telescoping roasting sticks Camping Hat If you're like me, camping means no hair and makeup, but I still want to feel cute. This Camping Hair Hat is the perfect camping accessory! Camping Cutting Board This Camping Cutting Board is a 9-in-1 multifunctional tool for any camp kitchen! The best part, it's foldable! Cooler Light Upgrade your cooler with this Cooler Light to keep the party going late into the night. RV potholders These Happy Camper Pot Holders are just too cute! They would make a great gift for someone with a camper. Shower Caddy Keep your toiletries organized with this Shower Cadd y Movie Projector This one is a splurge, but this Movie Projector is too cool! Connect your phone, tv stick, laptop, or USB to project movies onto a wall, white sheet, or the side of your camper for an outdoor movie night while camping! Camping Table There never feels like there is enough space while camping, but this Folding Camping Table comes in handy with built in cup holders. Camping Lantern You gotta have light when you're camping. We love this LED rechargeable camping lantern that can unfold to create an overhead light or act as a flashlight. Travel Pillow Kids will love coloring in the map on a road trip on this US map camping pillow . Picnic Tablecloth How cute is this washable Camping tablecloth set . It comes with clips and a storage bag as well and fits most picnic tables. Campfire Popcorn Enjoy some fresh popcorn at the campsite with this Open fire popcorn maker . Light up Hat Don't get stuck in the dark trying to find the bathroom. Stay safe with this Beanie hat with light . Solar Powered Bank Keep your phone charged with this Solar powered bank . It's waterproof, lightweight, and has a compass. Campsite Flag Make your presence known with a Personalized campsite flag . This one is my favorite! Be sure to pin this camping gifts guide and share it with family and friends! What gadget is your favorite to add to your camping gear or gift to family and friends?

This simple Asian Inspired Cucumber Salad is cool and crisp, and makes a good side dish for many meals this summer! Cucumbers are a summer favorite around here, and this simple cucumber salad is light and crunchy and satisfies my summer cravings! I've had a similar type of cucumber salad in many different Asian restaurants, so it's Asian-inspired but, can go with a variety of different dishes. Asian Cucumber Salad Ingredients: 1 lb mini seedless cucumbers (about 8) 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce 1 Tbsp sesame oil 1 Tbsp honey 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes sesame seeds (optional) Directions: Wash and dry your cucumbers. Cut off the ends and thinly slice. In a bowl, add the cucumbers, and salt. Stir to coat. Add the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight for the best flavors. Top with sesame seeds before serving. This goes great with many Asian-inspired dishes! I love the crunch and flavors that come together in this simple Asian Cucumber Salad. I like to keep things light and serve mine with sushi but it can be paired with so many other dishes as well. Feel free to adjust any ingredients to suit your tastes! Enjoy!

Summer is coming to an end. Kids are starting back to school, and it’s time for Moms everywhere to celebrate the end of summer and embrace the routine again. Since watermelon is a quintessential summer fruit, what better way to celebrate the end of summer than with a watermelon sangria recipe?! We think it’s pretty perfect. We like making our watermelon sangria in a mason jar, because well, why not and plus it’s easy to take on picnics. Yes, now that the kids are in school we're encouraging you to plan a day date for you and the hubby. Play hooky and plan a romantic midday picnic for just the two of you! Pack a cheese tray, some watermelon sangria, and some chocolate to nibble on, and head to a local park or picnic table for some sunshine and fresh air. This watermelon sangria is pretty easy to put together and makes a tasty drink for a picnic. This recipe makes enough for one mason jar serving, but you can adjust the ingredients to suit your taste and serving size. Watermelon Sangria Ingredients : Sparkling Watermelon Water ( this or this work well) White wine Rum Watermelon, cubed and frozen Mason jars Directions: Start by simply filling your mason jar with about 1/2 inch to 1 inch of rum, depending on how strong you like your sangria. Then, fill your mason jar about halfway with your wine. Next, add in your sparkling watermelon water until your jar is about 3/4 of the way full. At this point, you can stick your jar in the fridge or picnic basket for a little while until you’re ready to sip it. Lastly, you’re going to add in some frozen watermelon chunks before serving it. We cut our watermelon into about 1-inch cubes and put them into the freezer for a few hours before serving our drinks. Finish off your watermelon sangria with a few sprigs of mint – yum! Serve it with a pretty straw if you’d like or drink it straight out of the jar. Happy last days of summer! For more delicious recipes, check out our lavender lemonade and lobster rolls , both are perfect for summer!

June is Pride Month when the LGBTQIA+ community and allies celebrate love for all. Many queer families and children use this time to be seen and accepted. We are sharing Pride books for kids and teens. Providing our children with diverse stories gives them an amazing opportunity to emotionally connect with people who may be similar or different from them. Pride Books for Kids We found these books to be joyous additions to story time with our children! Be prepared for heartfelt conversations, an outpouring of empathy, and lots of giggles! Plenty of Hugs by Fran Manushkin - A rhyming picture book about 2 mommies that spend the day with their toddler. A loving celebration of family! Teo's Tutu by Maryann Jacobs Macias - A sweet story about a boy's first ballet recital. This book celebrates gender creativity, being yourself, and the joy of dance! Pride Pupp y by Robin Stevenson - Follow this family and their puppy through a vibrant day at the Pride parade. Lots of rainbow colors and giggles in this book. Our Subway Baby by Peter Mercurio - The powerful picture book that tells the true story of how one baby found his way to a loving home from the NYC subway. My Shadow is Purple by Scott Stuart - A heartwarming book that takes on the societal themes of masculinity and embraces the many experiences across the gender spectrum. The Pronoun Book by Cassandra Jules Corrigan - Together we can learn about pronouns and why they are important through this powerful book about gender diversity and acceptance. Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian - Two worms meet and fall in love, but who wears the tux and who wears the dress? Worm Loves Worm is a creative take on love! Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer - Stella celebrates the meaning of family with her two Dads during a Mother's Day celebration. Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack - A queer-friendly fairy tale for young readers. Gay boys deserve fairytales too! And there is a dragon. There is a follow-up book too - Tale of the Shadow King . Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer - A board book that is inclusive to everyone and shows that the main thing that makes up every family is love! And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell - a true story of a nontraditional family that started at the penguin house in the Central Park Zoo. Pink is For Boys by Robb Pearlman - These kids combat gender stereotypes and show that all the colors in the rainbow are for everyone to love! There are so many great children's books that celebrate Pride. We will probably add to this list every year! Next up are our middle-grade Pride books! Middle-Grade Pride Books Middle-grade years offer a lot of changes and the beginnings of more real-life plots and deeper meaningful connections with characters. There can be a lot of changes both inside and outside our bodies and reading these books can help kids process different feelings and emotions while offering them characters they can relate to. We hope these books help build compassion towards ourselves and others who may be different than us. Melissa by Alex Gino - People see Melissa as a boy named George, but Melissa knows she’s a girl. She wants to play Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web but her teacher says that’s a girl part so she comes up with a plan to show the school exactly who she really is. Previously published as George. Answers in the Pages by David Levithan - Parents at school are trying to ban a book with possibly gay characters. Donovan fights to keep that from happening in this timely novel that involves the twists and turns of trying to gain gay acceptance. Hazel’s Theory of Evolution by Lisa Jane Bigelow - Hazel is a 13-year-old girl getting ready to go into 8th grade. This book embraces growing through tough times and examines topics such as miscarriage and what it means to be a good friend. It has a diverse cast of characters including Jewish, queer, and transgender. Hazel loves science so there are a lot of STEM references for science lovers too. Small Town Pride by Phil Stamper - when this middle school boy comes out as gay and his dad hangs the pride flag outside their home, he quickly becomes the topic of discussion as people fear this pride may lead to *gasp* a pride parade. Through the eyes of the lovable character, we learn about some of the feelings 13-year-olds experience about their bodies, sexuality, and thoughts about love. Snapdragon by Kat Leyh - a comic book style book with lots of inclusivity and trans positivity. This book reminds us that we aren’t always what society wants to typecast us as. It reminds you to believe in yourself and find joy in the weird and wonderful things that make us unique. Ana on the Edge by AJ Sass. Ana is a figure skater and wearing princess costumes for her performances makes her uncomfortable. She befriends a trans boy and discovers she might be nonbinary. This is a good middle-grade book for learning to take up your own space and embrace who you are. Ellen Outside the Lines by AJ Sass - A thirteen-year-old neurodivergent girl who only gets crushes on girls. When a new nonbinary classmate enters her world Ellen questions her binary view of the world. Ellen has to learn to embrace that not everything moves in straight lines. This is our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us - Insightful and diverse stories that celebrate LGBTQIA+. Celebrate humanity and who we choose to be and love. Each short story is heartwarming and brilliant. Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo - a folksy magical book about two preteen girls from rival witch families who accidentally restart an old war. With an intersex character, it exposes the biases they face as well as some honest portrayals of poverty all wrapped up in the magical story. The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali - A boy who loves history is trying to find out more about past LGBTQ historical figures. Amos works to shed more light on history that we forget and brings life to things like being black or being gay. This book works to make space for the anger and frustration that many feel while offering hope as Amos tries to change the world. Drum Roll Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow - Melly is a girl away at band camp and she’s put in situations that push her out of her comfort zone. We love that Melly doesn’t let anyone label her and she blooms into her own person through exposure to different music, developing a crush on a fellow camper, and dealing with emotions about her parents. Melly grows in really meaningful ways. Another good musically inspired LGBTQ middle-grade book is In The Key of Us by Mariama J. Lockington. The Science of Being Angry by Nicole Melleby - a deeper dive into the big feelings of an 11-year-old . Her moms don’t always say or do the right things. A middle-grade exploration of feelings, queerness, mental health, and family. Pride Books for Teens and Young Adults Please note: While we encourage embracing differences and providing empathy to those around us regardless of gender or sexual preferences, many of these books have some older themes and trigger warnings attached to many of them. Research accordingly, and if any of those make you uncomfortable, we encourage you to think about what your teen can handle, may be facing or seeing firsthand , or is ready for, and be prepared for the many different conversations these books may spark. Happy reading! Teens and young adults, they want more sophisticated characters. Less in their face moral stories, but more connection and acceptance as they navigate the social waters of high school and beyond. Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould - a book about ghosts, queer girls, and the mystery of a young boy's disappearance. An ominous story where the truth is buried but how long can it stay that way? Another similar book is Burn the Bodies Down about a teen who unravels her family's hidden past. Ophelia After All by Raquel Marie - Ophelia rediscovers herself in this YA contemporary book. A diverse cast of characters and coming of age story that pulls at the heartstrings! The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - An epic fantasy book with pirates, dragons, magic, and more. It follows 4 main points of view and several LGBTQA+ characters. Horse Barbie by Geena Rocero - A brand new (May 2023) memoir about Geena, a trans pageant queen from the Philippines. This book discusses the risks of being honest, social acceptance, our views on beauty, pageants, and modeling as well as discrimination. Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy - Ramona addresses the complexity of the heart. She thinks she's gay but then she discovers that love can be fluid which is pretty poetic since she's a teenage swimmer. Loveless by Alice Oseman - Georgia doesn't understand why she doesn't have crushes until she discovers the A in LGBTQIA+ and proves that love and connection can come in many forms. Pedro and Daniel by Frederico Erebia - This historical fiction is a story about two Mexican American brothers growing up in the 1970s. Both are gay and neurodivergent but have different struggles in life. You enter a giveaway to win a free copy of this book on Goodreads . All The Things They Said We Couldn't Have by Tasha Oakes-Monger - a story of trans joy and community, but also the serious struggles of transphobia. Gives a light to trans people in a dark world but also can be used to enlighten cis people who want to learn more about being transgender. Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. - A memoir about a young 14 Mulsim girl who has a crush on her female teacher. She is also grappling with family, displacement, migration, sexuality, and finding her community. In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune - A fantasy book that is a retelling of Pinocchio but with robots and inspired by other stories such as Wizard of Oz and Wall-E. The primary theme is emotions; love, guilt, anxiety, empathy as well as forgiveness, and acceptance. Includes an asexual main character as well as a gay relationship. Fine: a Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing - short stories and interviews presented in graphic novel style. Focuses on gender roles, relationships, and sexuality while proving that there isn't one right way to look at something and that you are enough. A celebration of the transgender community. Endpapers by Jennifer Savron - Gender identity exploration with a nonbinary main character who finds a gay love letter and is determined to track down its author in hopes it can help her understand and answer questions about herself as well. There are so many good books out there, we had a hard time creating our list. Let us know your favorite picture or chapter books to read during Pride month! Also, check out our Bookworm Bookmarks for helping encourage kids to get reading this summer!

We made some Puffy Sidewalk Chalk Paint with the kids as a way to spend some time outdoors creating art on the sidewalk in front of our house! Puffy Sidewalk Chalk Paint Supplies: 1/3 cup flour 1/3 cup water 1 tsp liquid dish soap (I used Dawn) 1/2 stick of sidewalk chalk, crushed 8oz squeeze bottles Plastic baggie for crushing chalk Hammer for crushing chalk Small bowl for mixing ingredients Knife and cutting board for cutting chalk Funnel Scissors (some of the paint was too thick for the holes in the bottle so I cut the tip off a little to make the hole bigger.) Note: This recipe is for making 1 color of chalk. Repeat this recipe as many times for as many colors of chalk as you want. Directions: Cut your sidewalk chalk in half and place it in a plastic baggie. On a hard surface like the sidewalk, use the hammer to crush the piece of sidewalk chalk into a powder. 3. In a bowl, mix together the flour, water, soap, and chalk powder. Stir until well combined. 4. Using a funnel, pour the mixture into squeezable containers. 5. Repeat steps as many times as needed to create several different chalk colors. Have fun creating art! The kids loved writing and drawing with our new paint. Shop Puffy Sidewalk Chalk Supplies:

It was recently my birthday (yay, me!) and now I'm fully regretting not throwing a Taylor Swift-themed birthday party with my friends. We listen to Taylor a lot in this house and I'm always down for a fun party! Would it be too late to throw a party with Taylor Swift, singing at the top of your lungs, and heart-shaped glasses as the theme? Regardless of if I end up pulling my life together enough to do a party, I wanted to share with you my ideas for a Taylor-themed bash! This would be the perfect opportunity to have a 1989 TV album listening party! You could go all out in a specific Taylor album-themed party, but this party inspiration board is for an all-around Eras Themed Party. Eras Tour Tapestry // Disco Balloons // Bracelet Making Kit // TS Guitar Banner and Cupcake Topper s // Inflatable Guitars // Pastel Rainbow Party Plates // Champagne Problems Banner // Number 13 temporary hand tattoos // Holographic Garland // Instax Camera // Butterfly Drink Markers // All Too Well Wine Label // TS Birthday Banner // Heart Glasses // Karaoke Machine // Disco Cups // Confetti Poppers // Fake Microphones Shop our newest Taylor Swift-themed gift guide! We've got TTPD inspired gifts for the tortured poets! Looking for more Taylor Swift ideas for your party?! We've got cookies, drinks, gifts, and crafts that would add that special touch to your Eras party! Make sure you bring your Swiftie a fun gift! Shop our Swiftie Gift Guide for ideas! You've gotta have the Chai Cookies that Taylor Swift made during her secret sessions for 1989! Let's talk cocktails. We were inspired by Midnights to create this Lavender Haze cocktail . It has a soft lavender color with a frothy egg finish to look like her lavender haze clouds. Want something non-alcoholic, this Lavender Lemonade is just the thing. Floral and refreshing, it's the right balance of sweet and tart! Make an Eras Tour shadow box to display your concert or party pictures! You could frame some of the party pictures you take with your Instax camera. Make the friendship bracelets and then make this Lover House Bracelet Holder to store and display them in! Have so much fun at your Taylor Swift Party!

To kick off March, I wanted to share some "Meatless March" meal ideas. These are great for meatless Mondays or any night you may want some meat-free dishes. This veggie chicken parmesan zoodles meal is the kind of meal that you can make as much or as little as you want. Making dinner for one or the whole family, this meal comes together in about the amount of time it takes to cook the chicken patties. This is a lightened-up version that is meat-free. Veggie Chicken Parmesan Zoodles Ingredients: Veggie Chicken Patties (I used Morning Star) Zucchini noodles Spaghetti noodles olive oil marinara sauce shredded mozzarella seasonings - salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning Cook your spaghetti noodles as instructed on the packaging. I cook about half of what I would normally make per person. Cook your veggie chicken patties as instructed on packing. You can either purchase your zucchini noodles from the store premade, or make your own from a zucchini and a spiralizer - I've done both ways. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan and saute your zucchini noodles until softened. Season as desired. Add in your spaghetti noodles to incorporate the zucchini and pasta together. In a small to medium saucepan heat your marinara sauce over medium heat until heated through. Plate your zucchini and noodles. Top with a scoop of marinara and a sprinkle of mozzarella. Cut your cooked vegetable chicken patty into strips and place on top of your sauce and mozzarella to melt your cheese. Serve and enjoy!

If you are having some friends over for a party and want a quick wow factor, our easy chocolate fondue and edible friendship bracelet skewers are the way to go. These fruit skewers are inspired by the friendship bracelets from the Eras tour and our girl Taylor Swift. This would be a perfect snack for Valentine's Day, Taylor Swift party, or a book club get-together. If you missed our Taylor Swift Eras-inspired book recommendations, you should go check it out Edible Friendship Bracelet Skewers Fruit - I choose to use strawberries and raspberries Marshmallows - These will be your letter "beads" Edible pens - Easy to create your letters on the marshmallows Donut holes - because why not, they taste amazing in the chocolate fondue Bamboo skewers - Dip them in water to make it easier to slide on the marshmallows These edible pens were so easy to use. I used the dab technique instead of dragging the pen across the marshmallow to get clean lines. You can either pre-make these for everyone to have plated when they arrive. They would make cute placeholders for where people might sit. Or, you can have everything divided into bowls for each person to create their own edible friendship bracelet skewer during the party. Strawberry Hearts Also, strawberries cut into heart shapes are easy and fun for these fruit skewers. I simply cut a V shape a the top by the stem and then round up the edges so it's smooth. The left side is rounded and the right side isn't rounded yet. I also felt like they were too big so I cut them in half as well.

It's no secret to my close friends, that I'm a HUGE Swiftie! Most of the time, if you get in my car, Taylor Swift is playing, and I'm not sorry about it. My daughter and I were lucky enough to be able to attend night 2 of The Eras Tour! It was the best time and we traded so many friendship bracelets. When we came home, we created this DIY Lover/Folklore House Friendship Bracelet Holder to store all my daughter's Friendship Bracelets from the show. Supplies: Clear birdhouse (this one or this one) Lover House printable (Just search for this on Google) Friendship Bracelet printable Eras tour printable Moss Hot glue gun Scissors Glue dots pencil Directions: 1. Print your Lover House background and lay your birdhouse over the house and draw an outline of where you want to cut. NOTE: First, using Word, I cropped my Lover house to the edges of the house. Then, I resized the house to as big as I could get the actual house on the paper by opening it as a Word document, putting it on the landscape, and then using the ruler at the bottom to see how big I needed to print the image, based on the size of my birdhouse. For example, if the bottom of the birdhouse is 6 in, resize the width of your birdhouse to 6 inches and the height will auto-adjust to keep the house to scale. The dimensions of the house aren't quite the same as the birdhouse (the pitch is steeper) so you'll have to cut the top corners of the 1989 and Lover rooms but it doesn't really affect the overall look. Also, since the pitch of the roof is much steeper on the birdhouse so you'll probably have to include some of the sky at the top instead of cutting right along the roof outline. You can barely notice once it's all put together. 2. Once you've cut out your house background to fit how you like, use glue dots to glue the paper inside the birdhouse. I had to add a little tip of the night sky around the Lover House to the top of my house because the dimensions of the Lover House don't exactly match the dimensions of the birdhouse but you can't tell once it's all put together. (See the tip of extra sky I tapped in the top of the room by my fingers below) 3. Print the friendship saying printable and the eras tour printable (linked below) and cut to fit inside your birdhouse on the front and sides. I laid my birdhouse down on top of the paper and then outlined it and cut it to fit inside. Resize as needed to fit your particular birdhouse. Glue those inside your birdhouse using glue dots. *I created the Friendship lyric printable using a font called Taylor Swift based on her handwriting and created the Eras Tour stars to match the colors in the Eras Tour collage of images. Friendship Bracelet Lyric Printable Eras Tour Stars Printable 4. Now add a touch of Folklore! I measured and cut this moss mat to fit on the roof of my house. I glued it down with hot glue. Now, you can fill your Lover/Folklore house with your friendship bracelets, tickets, or other mementos from your Eras Tour concert! We had so much fun making our friendship bracelets for the concert! We went the opening weekend, so we were nervous that people wouldn't be trading them, but we traded with SO many nice people and had such a blast doing it! I highly recommend making bracelets for your concert night too! For our friendship bracelets, we mostly used colorful beads and these alphabet beads to spell out song or album names. We also used these glow-in-the-dark alphabet beads for some of our bracelets! We added charms to several of ours. One of our favorite bracelets that we made multiple ones of was this "Karma is a cat" bracelet with these cat charms on them! I hope you guys have as much fun making this project as I did! Do you have plans to go to The Eras Tour? Let me know in the comments! Shop Friendship Bracelet Supplies: beads alphabet beads If you're in a Lavender Haze mood, check out our Lavender Haze Cocktail recipe, the Lavender Lemonade, a refreshing mocktail, to sip on while you are crafting! And keep the craft party going with our Eras Tour Confetti Shadow Box DIY and DIY Friendship Bracelet Glasses Throw your own Taylor Swift Party with these fun ideas! Check out my party post.

Today, I'm sharing one of my favorite (easy) crockpot dinners. This Crockpot Italian Tortellini is quick to throw together in a few minutes and makes a yummy dinner on a busy day. It's practically a dump-and-go meal. Perfect for a busy Winter soupy meal. Jump to recipe! Ingredients: 16 oz frozen tortellini 1 lb ground Italian sausage 5 oz spinach (or a few handfuls) 2 cans of Rotel 32 oz vegetable broth Italian seasoning (I used dried oregano and basil) 8 oz block of cream cheese. In a large pan, brown your Italian sausage. While the sausage is cooking, I start getting out my other ingredients and my crockpot. I'm a timesaver, and this is my hustle meal. In your crockpot, add in the frozen tortellini, Rotel, vegetable broth, Italian seasonings, and spinach. Once your sausage is done cooking, add that to the crockpot too. Stir to mix everything around. Top everything with a block of cream cheese. There is no need to stir at this point or chop up the cream cheese. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Once you're ready to eat, stir in the cream cheese and serve. ** It's delicious with bread to soak up the sauce. This recipe was one that I was told by a friend when we went to a birthday party. She served it and it was amazing. I may have tweaked it over the years, I can't remember if it's exactly the same as she told it to me, or if it's been changed as I made it for my own family. This crockpot tortellini is so good. We make it year-round over here, but it's even better in the Fall and Winter when you just want a bowl of something delicious to warm you up. It's also a good one to take to someone for a meal train when they've had a baby or need a dinner delivered. It doesn't get much easier than this! We hope you like it as much as we do. Crockpot Italian Tortellini Ingredients: 16 oz frozen tortellini 1 lb ground Italian sausage 5 oz spinach (or a few handfuls) 2 cans of Rotel 32 oz vegetable broth Italian seasoning (I used dried oregano and basil) 8 oz block of cream cheese. In a large pan, brown your Italian sausage. While the sausage is cooking, I start getting out my other ingredients and my crockpot. I'm a timesaver, and this is my hustle meal. In your crockpot, add in the frozen tortellini, Rotel, vegetable broth, Italian seasonings, and spinach. Once your sausage is done cooking, add that to the crockpot too. Stir to mix everything around. Top everything with a block of cream cheese. There is no need to stir at this point or chop up the cream cheese. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Once you're ready to eat, stir in the cream cheese and serve.

Christmas is literally right around the corner. I waiver between a savory breakfast casserole and a sweet breakfast casserole. If you're looking for something sweet to serve this holiday weekend or on Christmas morning this easy egg nog cinnamon roll bake is the best! Egg Nog Cinnamon Roll Bake Ingredients: 2 rolls regular size cinnamon rolls (16 rolls) 4 eggs 1 cup egg nog 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg Frosting: 4 oz cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup powdered sugar 2 packages of frosting that come with cinnamon rolls Directions: **Note I make this recipe and let it sit in the fridge overnight so that you can just pull it out and bake it the next morning. If you decide to do that too, just skip the oven part until ready to bake. 1. Preheat oven to 375 2. Open your cinnamon rolls and cut each roll into quarters. Place cinnamon rolls in a sprayed 9x13 glass baking dish. Set aside your frosting for later, we are going to jazz it up a bit. 3. In a medium bowl, whisk together your eggs, egg nog, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 4. Pour the egg nog mixture over your cinnamon rolls, evenly coating them. 5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes. (or cover and store in the fridge overnight and bake the next morning. Before baking, set the casserole out for 20 minutes to bring it to room temperature before baking) **Note: While it's baking, I set out my cream cheese so it can soften. Frosting Directions: 1.In a small bowl, add your cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 2 frosting packets together and mix well. 2. Once your cinnamon rolls have cooled for a few minutes, top them with the frosting. 3. I like to add another sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg on top to make it pretty!