Tag: snacks

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Fabulous living

Bringing Back Live Music

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a great December! I’ve been doing my best to soak up as much Christmas spirit as I can, between drinking lots of hot coco, doing shopping, having my Christmas lights on, and doing some fun Christmas activities too, like ice skating and watching ALL the holiday movies. I’ve been doing my best to get it all in between work and family time.

It’s been a long time since things have been normal since the pandemic began back in 2020. 

But slowly and surely, things are going back to normal. 

One step towards normalcy has been the return of events and activities including live music and concerts. 
At the start of December, my mom and I traveled to Cleveland for dinner and a concert. 

I didn’t take as many pictures as I planned but had the best time.

Here’s a quick recap:

We started the night meeting friends for dinner in downtown Cleveland at The Chocolate Bar.

If you know me then you know I have a HUGE sweet tooth, so this was the perfect spot.

We all enjoyed appetizers and shareable items from potstickers, to artichoke dip and chips, soft pretzels, deep fried raviolis, and then pulled pork sandwiches.

A look at some of the snacks.
The dessert line up was even better. Here’s a look at the menu.
Here’s what I got…the triple chocolate fusion. It was soooo good!

I also got a mug of a mint hot chocolate. It was the best warm cup of cheer.

After dinner we walked over to the show. My mom and I saw Andrea Bocelli. It was a beautiful show, from the choir to the orchestra, the soloists and Bocelli himself. We were blown away by the talent and the performances. He sang a mix of Italian opera, some songs in English and some Christmas tunes too!

Concert time!
A close up of the performances.

After the show, which included FOUR encores (!!!), my mom and I checked out some lights in the city before heading home.

My concert buddy! We’ve seen Matt Nathanson, The Piano Guys, Ed Sheeran and now Andrea Bocelli.

It was so nice to be able to have a sense of normalcy, even though we were masked the full time. After waiting for this show for months, I was so happy to finally see him live in concert especially after not being able to attend live music events in almost two years.

It was the best way to enjoy a night out and enjoy some live music too.

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Let's Get Cooking

Summer Pasta Salads and Appetizers

Hello all! Happy Wednesday! I hope you are all having a great week! I hate to say it but I have been slipping on making a new meal once a week. It’s definitely been harder to make it happen in the summer with more family time and a more relaxed family schedule. We sometimes eat later or go out more. I’m looking forward to getting back to cooking in the fall. 

I have still made a few recipes this summer, some of which are staples in my home.

We will start out with my Italian Pasta Salad. I think we got this recipe on a box years ago. We tried it and loved it and haven’t looked back.

My favorite summer pasta salad.

Here’s what you need and how to make it.

What you Need:

Rotini Pasta (or your favorite kind of pasta)

Italian Dressing

Cherry Tomatoes

Mozzarella Cheese Balls

Sliced Cucumber

Steps:

  1. In a pot, boil water to cook pasta. (I change the amount of pasta I use depending on who I’m cooking for and how many servings I need.)
  2. Drain water and then put pasta in large serving bowl.
  3. Slice cucumber and then add cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella, to pasta.
  4. Stir in all the ingredients and drizzle Italian dressing.
  5. Put in fridge to chill until ready to serve.

*If you plan on saving and serving again, make sure to add more Italian dressing

If pasta isn’t you choice, maybe you like to snack on chips and salsa.

When we went on vacation, we had a great shrimp cocktail sauce salsa. It was full of so much flavor. 

Appetizer night

Here’s an idea of how I’ve made this tasty dish.

What you Need:

Cocktail sauce

Salsa (I like a peach salsa or a medium hot salsa)

Baby Shrimp (can be frozen or in a can)

Steps:

  1. In a bowl mix half of the cocktail shrimp sauce and half of the salsa in a bowl
  2. Mix in the baby shrimp and then chill until you are ready to serve.
  3. Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips.

*If you aren’t a big fan of mixing half of each sauce you can change your parts to ¼ of one and ¾ of another. 

Also pictured is brie cheese with raspberry sauce. I like to cook the cheese and add the sauce at the end, it’s full of flavor and filling too.

I like to enjoy it with bread or crackers.

All of these recipes are super easy for entertaining in the summer and are easy to throw together. 

What are some of your favorite snacks to serve and share.

Drop them below!!

Categories
Fabulous living

Smore’s Trail Mix

This summer I came out with a new blog series all about recipes.

 In June, I shared my favorite salads, an easy lunch or dinner option. You can read all about it here. 

In July, I shared my favorite pizza recipe, perfect for entertaining. You can find that here. 

Today, I’m sharing a wonderful snack or dessert option. This would go great for a snack by the pool, a road trip treat or something sweet for back to school. Plus, if you don’t have a bonfire to roast smores this is a fun and clean alternative. 

This treat takes less than five minutes to prepare and can be enjoyed by all. 

For starters, here is what you will need:

The supplies

Golden Grahams Cereal 

Mini Marshmallows

Chocolate Chips 

*amount needed will change based on portion sizes*

Directions:

Mix one cup of golden grahams with one cup of mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. 

Once everything is mixed, enjoy with friends and family. 

Up close of the trail mix

This is one of my favorite trail mix treats, although it’s not the healthiest, it is a fun alternative to messy smore’s. What are your favorite trail mixes to enjoy?

Perfect for on the go

Sorry, for the shorter post, I am on vacation with my family and doing my best to disconnect for a few days. See you on Thursday for a new look of the day!

Categories
Fabulous living

Slice of Summer-Pizza Edition

Happy Tuesday!

A while back, I shared some summer salads and I got so many positive responses back from YOU! 

I figured it was time for another recipe, today I’m sharing all about homemade pizza (well, kind of homemade pizza). 

In my family, we are big fans of Pizza Friday- a fun way to unwind after a long week and treat ourselves! Whether it’s ordering in or making our own, we all love Pizza Fridays!

I’m sharing our favorite types of pizzas-one that everyone will like and specialty pizza. Start taking notes, you will want to make these for yourselves!

Who doesn’t love pizza?!

We will start with the original cheese pizza.

What you Need:

-Pie Shell (Boboli pizza is my favorite-easy to use right away or freeze and save for later.)

-Pizza Sauce (whether you like to make your own or buy store bought-you need lots of sauce)

-Mozzarella Shredded Cheese (I typically don’t measure it out but rather sprinkler it on top of the sauce)

What you need

Directions:

After laying the shell out on a pizza tray, pour and spread pizza sauce on the pie shell, I prefer the more sauce the better on mine. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the sauce and spread evenly. Add basil or oregano for extra taste. Once your pizza is constructed, place in oven for 8-10 minutes at 450 degrees and Enjoy!

Before
After

Our next pizza will be a white pizza-which is personally my favorite!

What you Need:

Pie Shell (Boboli pizza is my favorite-easy to use right away or freeze and save for later.)

-Mozzarella Shredded Cheese (I typically don’t measure it out but rather sprinkler it on top of the crust)

-Cherry Tomatoes (They give so much flavor to your pizza)

-Olive Oil (for flavor)

-Basil Seasoning (for taste)

-Oregano Seasoning (for taste)

-Balsamic Vinegar (for taste) 

Add these spices to your plain pizza

Directions:

Start by sprinkling mozzarella cheese on top of pie crust evenly. Lightly drizzle olive oil on top on mozzarella cheese. Slice cherry tomatoes in half and lay on top of cheese. Sprinkle basil and oregano seasonings throughout the pizza evenly. Add a dash or balsamic vinegar for taste. The seasonings are optional, it’s mostly done for flavor. Once done with assembling the pizza, place in oven for 8-10 minutes at 450 degrees. Take out and enjoy! This is an easy meal for a family on a busy night, it takes less than 15 minutes to prepare and make. This would also make a great appetizer for an Italian night!

Before
After

What are your favorite pizza combinations?!

Share them in the comments below!!

Eat up!

Categories
Fabulous living

Summer To Do:

Summer is in full swing. My brothers are finished with school and we are getting into a summer routine. The weather is warm, pool parties and barbecues are underway and (I think) things are starting to slow down. Although, I am working a lot this summer I still want to make sure I have some fun. It may seem a bit late to the game but I made a summer to do list. Some things are specific, others are more hopes but I’m sharing it with you today. Towards the end of summer I will share home much I accomplished. When it comes to summer fun… here’s my list.

Summer List

  • Complete Internship
  • Go some place new
  • Take a trip
  • Sleep in
  • See high school friends
  • See one (or more) college friends
  • Read SIX book (one more than last summer)
  • Watch SUITS

    Can’t wait to start this new series
  • Watch Evil Genius
  • Watch Comedians in Cars getting Coffee

    my latest obsession
  • See Mamma Mia 2

    SOOOO Excited to see this movie
  • See Oceans 8

    Another movie I can’t wait to watch
  • See family and spend time with them
  • Try something new
  • Go to the beach
  • Take more walks
  • Eat at a food truck

    With food trucks becoming more and more popular I need to try some!
  • Watch the sunset and sunrise
  • See a concert
  • Spend more time outside
  • Go swimming more often
  • Do more free things (Zoo, parks, festivals)
  • Trip to Pittsburgh
  • Breakfast at iHop
  • Don’t rush as much and be in the moment
  • Smile more
  • Be spontaneous

That’s a round up of my dreams and goals for this summer! I may add things as the summer goes on. But I love to make a list of to-do’s to make sure I get everything in and it’s not August and I realize I have two weeks to get everything in.

Do you make up summer bucket lists? If so, what’s one thing on your to -do???

Categories
Fabulous living

Pinterest: Success or Fail?

I love baking, and trying new things. I was home for Fall Break a few weeks ago and besides being home and seeing my family, I wanted to try some new recipes. I hit up Pinterest and a few of my favorite blogs for some ideas.

Here’s the first one I tried. You can see the full recipe here. It was a delicious fall treat for October.  Here’s a quick recap:

All you need are some apples, crescent rolls, cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, all spice seasoning  and butter.

You are going to lay out all your crescent rolls all spread out on a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet.

Slice your apples and peel the skin off if you so choose.

Apples and butter mixture

In a bowl you are going to melt your butter and mix in the sliced apples.

Crescents with the mixture on them

In a second bowl you are going to mix brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice and then you are going to spread it over each crescent roll.

Rolling crescent rolls with the apples and mixture

I used the large crescent rolls so I put two apple slices per roll, in the future, I am going to put more than two because I found while eating them there was too much pastry and not enough apples.

Ready to be put in the oven.

You are going to roll the crescents up, put one coat of the melted butter over top each roll and put some of your mixture on top of each crescent. Bake it for 28 minutes at 350 degrees.

Ready to eat for delicious fall treat!

Take them out and cool. Eat them warm for a delicious fall treat.

I hope this gives you some ideas for fall treats. I ate this as a dessert but they would also be great as an appetizer or lunch snack. Give it a try and let me know what you think of it. What are your favorite fall snacks?