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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I’m currently on the train to New York for a quick work trip, and I’m using it catch up on some blog post I’ve wanted to write since the summer. A few kid-free hours on the Amtrak to NYC feels like the apt time to share a few pics and tricks from my last visit to New York with a kid-in-tow! We are very lucky that my sister and brother-in-law live in Brooklyn and give us a reason to visit every few months. On our most recent trip, my sister planned tons of kid-friendly New York City activities that made it a magical experience, and the reason that Jane loves visiting the Big Apple! Sharing a few of the fun things we did below, in case it helps plan your next NYC family trip! 
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I am partnering with my friends at RiceSelect today to mix up some tasty back to school snack mixes and storing them in repurposed rice jars. These easy, no-cook snack mixes are a great way to use up leftover snacks, the last scoop of dry cereal, a few nuts that are left over from a recipe, and other end-of-the-box ingredients.
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I hosted some friends on a recent summer night and there was the teeniest chill in the air that hinted at the change of the seasons. I set out to experiment on a dish that still had the bright, fresh flavors of summer, but with a hearty twist. The result: this lentil and quinoa salad, full of crisp spinach, delicately sliced slivers of red onions, crumbles of goat cheese and crunchy almonds, and topped with the tastiest, juicy peaches. Add the lentils and quinoa while they’re still warm to the bowl to help wilt down the spinach and red onions, and soften the almonds a bit. The goat cheese will also blend into the mixture, but save a little to add on top too! The celery seeds give the salad extra flavor, and I kept the dressing super simple with some fresh citrusy lemon juice and a light drizzle of oil and vinegar. Add the fresh peaches to the bowl right before serving to keep them from getting mushy, the sweet flavor of summer peaches is the highlight of this dish!
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I got the most beautiful box of colorful summer ingredients from my friends at Clover Food Lab delivered last week and it inspired one of the tastiest (and summer-iest!) salad I’ve made in a long time. It was a perfect pairing at my book club dinner with herb-y lobster rolls. Atop a big bowl of fresh mixed greens, I sprinkled thinly sliced red onions, juicy tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden, loads of summer blueberries and fresh corn cut off the cob. Everything was topped with goat cheese crumbles and chopped up pecans and almonds. Give it a little drizzle with white balsamic and good olive oil (I LOVE Graza Olive Oil!) and season with salt and pepper before serving – major YUM! Get the simple recipe below: 
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I can not stop myself from eating these Manchego, Olive, Soppressata and Melon Bites! They’re a super easy, no-cook appetizer idea that is perfect for summer entertaining. Start with mini skewers or toothpicks and add small blocks of manchego cheese (or another sharp cheese of your choice), marinated olives (get these from the grocery store olive bar), slices of soppressata (fold them into ribbons on the toothpick for easy bites) and cubes of sweet cantaloupe. I made them a few hours ahead and kept them chilled in the fridge under plastic wrap until ready to serve. They’re a refreshing, flavorful bite to pass around the table at summer parties!
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Kicking off my annual book review post to catalog and review all of my reads throughout the year. You can see everything I read in previous years on: 2018’s list, 2019’s list, 2020’s list, 2021’s list, and 2022’s list! For loads of what-to-read inspiration, scroll down for my 2023 reading list with mini reviews for each book, and see what’s up next in my reading queue!
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We kicked off summer with a fun long weekend trip down to Washington, DC! I hadn’t been to DC since before we were married, so exploring the city with a kid and through new eyes was a fun adventure – it felt like we were there for the first time. We packed our trip with lots of kid-friendly museums and experiences, so I thought I’d share our itinerary and some travel wins for future planning! 
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One of our favorite family traditions is our annual camping trip (ahem, glamping trip) to Huttopia! This was our fifth year staying at a Huttopia campsite, and our third trip staying at the Southern Maine location. I last wrote about our New England glamping adventures after our first trip (Jane was just a baby!) and figured it was time for an update on our experience and favorite parts of this family friendly New England glamping weekend! 
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