May is National Salad Month, and I am celebrating with my salad besties at Little Leaf Farms over on Instagram this week! They asked me to share a recipe with *Big Salad Energy* – where the salad is giving off main character vibes – and I had an idea for a shareable, showstopping salad that puts those big curly crunchy leaves and seasonal spring produce up on a pedestal! This spring veggie and salmon salad is packed with flavor and color and is ripe for entertaining guests for some al fresco dining! Get the tasty spring recipe below:
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Canyon Ranch is hosting their first ever Family Week this summer, from July 28-August 4, 2024. The week is like a unique luxury wellness summer camp experience for the whole family, full of activities for kids (think: TikTok dance classes, friendship bracelet making scavenger hunts) while adults can enjoy some of the signature Canyon Ranch classes and amenities. Along with experiences that will be tailored to the entire family, like cooking classes, a backyard BBQ, and even a campfire!
Canyon Ranch invited us to come check out the property and try out some of their amazing programming in advance of the family summer camp week, and I jumped at the chance to visit the stunning Lenox location with my sister for a girls getaway weekend. The property is breathtaking – nestled in the Berkshires and built on the grounds of the historic Bellefontaine Mansion, it blends classic New England charm with a serene modern wellness escape.
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I love a good Trader Joe’s hack for making meal prep a little easier, and there is nothing easier than this tasty, flavor-packed jalapeno-pistachio chicken salad recipe! The chicken salad gets a kick of heat and sweetness from the delicious Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Sauce (seriously, this stuff is so good!), and tons of texture from the crunchy carrots and chopped pistachios. I love to make this in a double batch and eat it for lunch all week inside lettuce wraps – a few salty, crunchy potato chips on the side is the perfect pairing! Get the full recipe below:
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Last week I hosted an event and needed to bring an easy dessert to feed a crowd, so I pulled out this fool-proof and extremely easy lemon shortbread cookie recipe from my cookbook: New England Invite: Fresh Feasts to Savor the Seasons. The citrus brightens up the sweet and buttery flavors and cookie dough has just 5 ingredients. I added in some food coloring to tint it in different ombre pink, red and purple tones for Valentine’s Day (you could adapt the color for any holiday, I’ve done green for St. Patrick’s Day shamrock cookies too!). This recipe also makes a fun, buttery, sticky dough and is a great way to get kids involved in the kitchen—have them help shape the dough into a ball and roll it out before you stamp out the cookies with cookie cutters – get the adapted recipe below! 
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This granola bar recipe is an old favorite from my blog archives, and I pulled it out this weekend for a little experiment with my new heart tray I picked up at Target! Instead of slicing the granola bars into bars, I pressed into the heart molds and added a few heart sprinkles onto the top and bottom, and they were a BIG hit. My one tip is to make sure you press them into the molds really hard so they compact down tight and stick together! This recipe contains peanuts and peanut butter, so leave out the nuts and swap for a nut-free if you’re planning to make them for a lunchbox snack. Get the recipe and the supplies below! 
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Meatballs are a weeknight staple at our house, because they’re easy to make ahead, great to freeze and use for leftovers, and they’re pretty much always a crowd pleaser! So I’m always trying to find new ways to add different flavor spins on the classic meatball mixture. I was recently craving my favorite chicken piccata dish from a restaurant in my hometown. It’s traditionally a dish of chicken cutlets dredged in flour and browned, and served with a sauce of butter, lemon juice, capers, and stock or white wine. So I decided to take all of those flavors and bring them to my turkey meatball recipe for a quick weeknight dinner!
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I’ve been toiling away at this recap of our wintry Christmas road trip up to Quebec City all week because I have so many fun details to share (and because I got so many questions about it while we were there)! This trip was a bit of a full circle moment for my husband and I, because we had started this tradition of spending a few days in Quebec to take in all the festive holiday decorations back when first were dating. Then 12 years ago on a frigid snowy night a few days before Christmas we got engaged in front of the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec. This was our first trip back since that engagement weekend, and it felt so special to be visiting after all these years and experiencing this magical winter city as a family.
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I am partnering with my friends at RiceSelect today to cook up the most fragrant, savory holiday risotto dish today with their classic Arborio rice — it’s my go-to for risotto dishes! I made this risotto dish with browned sausage, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and pops of flavor from the finely chopped dried cranberries, fresh sage, and orange zest sprinkled on top. It’s bursting with of seasonal flavors that will fill your kitchen with delicious notes if you’re entertaining for the holidays. 
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My friends at Bertolino Foods shared some of their delicious ingredients with me, and their Certified Angus Beef Shaved Ribeye was calling me to make one of my favorite sandwiches: a garlic bread steak and cheese! This melty, buttery, garlic steak and cheese sandwich is the ultimate weekend snack and works great for football snacks if you make it on a large loaf of French Bread and then slice it into handheld sized strips.
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Now that we’re settled into the routine of fall, I have finally have a bit of time to sit down and recap all our awesome summer adventures, including our super fun trip to Legoland New York! Jane was hooked on the idea of going to Legoland after watching our favorite travel vloggers, the Top Flight Family, review their stay at the theme park and hotel (we have watched that video more than I should probably admit!). After months of begging to go, we decided to make a last minute detour to check out the Lego-themed amusement park on our way back from a family visit in nearby New York. After I shared a reel of our fun day at the park, I got TONS of messages from followers asking us for all the details on what we did, where we stayed, how long you could spend there, and I’m hoping that this post answers all of those and more!
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