Can I get a collective “Haaaaallelujah”!?

weather

Go central Iowa!! After weeks of down pours, the coast is finally clear! At least for foreseeable future, anyways. ;) Sun, sun and more sun. This is going to be a good week, I can feel it!

I kicked it off with a fab breakfast, featuring a new recipe, Peanut Butter & Jelly Oats!

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In the mix:

  • 1/3 cup old fashioned oatmeal
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1 banana (1/2 sliced in while cooking, 1/2 on top)
  • cinnamon, vanilla extract
  • almond butter
  • homemade strawberry jam!

I hit up twitter and facebook last week to see if anyone had a good, low or no-sugar jam recipe, and some helpful soul directed to me this recipe. Look at that ruby red lusciousness!

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Ummmm…best thing ever. EVER! If you would have walked in my house around 9pm last night, you may or may not have found me hunched in front of the open fridge eating this by the, ahem, spoonful. It’s just so fresh and bright tasting!

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Combined with warm oats and melty almond butter, it was a b-fast to remember. :)

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I brought a huge Veggie Salad and strawberries for a nice, summery lunch today.

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In the mix:

  • Baby spinach
  • Broccoli slaw
  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • Roma tomato
  • Green onion
  • Goat cheese

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I love adding broccoli slaw to salads, because it’s got such a great crunch. Half the fun of eating salads is the crunchiness, imo.

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Adding a few dallops of goat cheese will help keep me full, and, well, who ever needed an excuse to put goat cheese on anything?!

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Strawberries are still criminally cheap at the grocery store, so I made sure to stock up this weekend.

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Jewels!

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In other news…Judy’s Baked Beans got me in the paper!!!

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You know, Judy’s Baked Beans, aka my favorite food on earth!? Well, the local paper contacted me about recipes people could make for the 4th, and these baked beans were the very first thing I thought of.

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My Mom’s been making these for my family for YEARS, and I recently started whipping them up too. They’re absolutely unforgettable, and now all the people in Des Moines (and you too!) will be able to make them, whee!

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Thanks to The Register for featuring my recipe. Baked beans for all!

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In other news, can we please talk about the Toffee Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches that were on page 2?? O…M…G…

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Time to get this week started – have a great day!

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What’s your must have 4th of July dish?

In addition to the beans, I require a nice, crispy brat and an ice cold brew!