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summer

Summertime Rainbow Garden Veggie Pizza

July 27, 2020 by Rachel 25 Comments

This was our first year trying to grow our own vegetables in our backyard garden. We have quite a bit of space, but decided to start small with just two raised garden beds. I went a bit crazy with seeds, thinking very few would take. But I was really wrong and now we have an abundance of veggies! What’s a mom to do with all the veggies?! Make the perfect Summertime Rainbow Garden Veggie Pizza, of course!

rainbow veggie pizza

This is one of those recipes that the kids can be really involved in. In fact, my kids have been super involved in the whole gardening process! They helped me plant the seeds and starters and they help me water every day. You should have seen the reactions they all gave to our first teeny veggie!

I figured that this would be our summer “lesson” in unschooling. And thus far, it has worked! My oldest (almost 8), has had so many questions about how and why plants grow. I do my best to communicate the science behind it, but truthfully, YouTube has been much better at it!

rainbow garden veggie pizza

Rainbow Garden Veggie Pizza

This pizza is as easy as it gets. Instead of traditional pizza dough, I opted for something easier — and perhaps even tastier — pita bread! Another great alternatives to traditional pizza crust would be naan.

As far as veggies are concerned, we used most of the items we could find in our garden. Yellow and red bell peppers, cucumbers, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and tomatoes! As far as veggies are concerned, the possibilities are endless!

rainbow garden veggie pizza

The pita bread (or naan) is just the perfect size for kids. They can put on whichever veggies they want, and leave off what they don’t! My middle daughter, for one, wanted her rainbow veggie pizza to consist of nothing but cucumbers and broccoli! No arguments from me, that’s for sure.

RAINBOW GARDEN VEGGIE PIZZA

Getting the kids involved in the process just increases the odds of them actually eating it. So my advice to you would be this: clean and cut the veggies and place them in separate containers. Ahead of time, mix the cream cheese mixture together. Set out the pita or naan on individual plates. And let them go for it! The worst thing that could happen is that they eat even more veggies!

Rainbow Veggie Pizza

Rainbow Veggie Pizza

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sliced cucumbers
  • 1/2 cup cauliflower
  • 1/2 cup broccoli
  • 1/4 cup sliced rainbow carrots
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (halved)
  • 1/2 cup of red / yellow bell peppers (cut into chunks)
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 4 ounces of cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 4 pieces of pita bread (or naan)

Instructions

    1. Wash and cut vegetables
    2. Using a 9x13 pan, add pita bread to cover the bottom of the pan.
    3. In a bowl, mix softened cream cheese, lemon juice, Greek yogurt, and
      salt and pepper together well.
    4. Spread mixture onto pita bread
    5. Evenly spread vegetables and cheese atop pita
    6. Enjoy!
© Rachel

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Filed Under: children, cooking, easy recipes, parenthood, recipe, recipes, summer, Summer Bucket List Tagged With: children, cooking, easy recipes, parenthood, recipes, summer, Summer Bucket List

How to Host a Social Distancing End of Summer Cookout

July 26, 2020 by Rachel 32 Comments

Summer will be over before you know it, and what used to be a fun season of cookouts and fun summer hangouts has turned to waving to your neighbor from across the lawn. If you are looking for a fun way to celebrate the end of summer, you can still have a fun end of summer cookout, safely. Here are some tips to help host a social distancing end of summer cookout.

girl with american flag

Keep things clean and sanitized

If you are going to have a cookout where you will be sharing items and touching surfaces, you want to make sure that you are keeping things clean! The main reason for social distancing is to reduce the number of germs being passed around, so ensure that you are keeping your areas clean and sanitized often. Have sanitizing wipes readily accessible, and don’t forget to wash your hands often.

purple and blue wine

Seat in sections and grab food in rotations

If you are serving food, make sure that you spread out seating and implement food rotation areas. This should help prevent contact between others and still allow you to talk to one another without shouting! Try to avoid sitting too close to each other and take advantage of your full yard or block if you live on a less busy street. It may not be the best option for every situation, but you can still have a decent celebration this way!

man cooking on grill

Bring your own food and supplies

If you want to avoid cross-contamination, bring your own supplies. This includes food, drinks, and whatever else you will need. While it’s not as fun to have everyone bring their own supplies, this can keep people from getting sick from contacting another person’s stuff. Having everyone bring their own things could end up being the best option if you’re feeding a lot of people. Just make sure that you still keep your distance from each other, even if everyone brings their food and supplies.

flowers with pie

Get single-serve materials for serving, drinking, and more!

Single-serve options are not usually an excellent idea for the environment. In this case, they could be lifesaving! Encourage people to use canned sodas instead of a 2 liter and avoid contact hot spots. Encourage the use of disposable products and single-serve items that don’t require you to wash afterward.

Move to the front yard

Normally cookouts take place in the backyard huddled by the grill, but instead, bring your cookout to the front yard! Have all your neighbors sit in their yards and enjoy cookouts together! Each person can make their own dish, and you can still be near each other even if you can’t sit right next to them. You can also play fun games that don’t require you to be near each other or play contact games. 

While nothing can replace the fun of standing next to your neighbors and friends to celebrate the end of summer, hopefully, this will help ease the pain of not being able to hug your loved ones from afar!

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Filed Under: health, live happy, summer, tips + tricks Tagged With: health, summer, Summer Bucket List, tips + tricks

Yummy + Easy Summertime Frito Salad

July 19, 2020 by Rachel 19 Comments

Listen, y’all. I’ll admit Summer is not my favorite season. Not by any stretch. It’s hot and I just don’t like the overwhelming humidity. But ya know what I do like? Easy Summertime meals like this yummy + easy Summertime Frito Salad.

What makes this salad special?

First off, it’s easy. Second, it’s a total guilty pleasure. Third, even my kids will eat it! So I suppose technically it’s only a salad in terms of ‘a bunch of items mixed together.’ You know, in the same way that tuna salad is a ‘salad’.

Yummy + Easy Summertime Frito Salad

Honest to goodness, I personally love any salad that is not based in lettuce. It’s true! I just don’t love lettuce! Fruit salad? Yes. Pasta salad? Yep. Ham salad? Sure do love it! Rockne’s Firestone Salad (an Akron classic, if you ask me)? THE absolute best.

But I DO love a good delicious and simple Summertime salad! And, like I have said, this one meets all of the criteria for amazing. It’s fresh, tasty, and you won’t be able to stop yourself from going back for seconds!

Yummy + Easy Summertime Frito Salad

Warning: It’s addictive, but not at all healthy!

If you are looking for something to bring to your potluck or end of Summer celebration, look no further than here. But if you are looking for something healthy, please don’t look at this! haha! I mean, seriously, this is NOT one of “those” meals! But it is delicious and it does switch up the normal potluck and mealtime routine.

Yummy + Easy Summertime Frito Salad

This yummy + easy Summertime Frito salad will satisfy every craving!

Frito Salad

Frito Salad

Ingredients

  • Fritos 9oz package
  • 2/3 cup Sour Cream
  • 1 Green pepper, diced
  • 1 can of corn, drained (substitute fresh corn for a different take!)
  • Cilantro (optional)
  • 1 tbs chili powder 
  • 1 tbs onion powder 
  • 1 tsp ground cumin 
  • 1 tsp garlic powder 
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika 
  • 1/2 tsp salt 
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper 

Instructions

    1. Dice the green pepper and combine in a large bowl with the drained corn.
    2. Combine the seasonings and the sour cream until well mixed.
    3. Add sour cream mixture to the green peppers and corn.
       
    4. Just before serving, add in the Fritos and fold to combine. Top with chopped cilantro for an extra special touch!
      Yummy + Easy Summertime Frito Salad
    5. ENJOY!

Notes

For an extra kick, mix in:

  • Chopped green or black olives
  • Minced jalapeno
  • Sriracha
  • Diced red onion
  • Diced tomato

© Rachel

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Filed Under: brews + food, easy recipes, recipes, summer Tagged With: brews + food, easy recipes, recipes, summer

Five End of Summer Bucket List Items

July 7, 2020 by Rachel 33 Comments

After the Fourth of July, it always feels like summer comes barreling to an end and before we know it, we are back in the grind. That is why I made a vow to make sure my family takes full advantage of the rest of the season by coming up with an end of the summer bucket list!

Visit a Farmer’s Market and Make Dinner as a Family

woman shopping at market

Farmer’s markets are so fun to visit! I love browsing the different stands, seeing all the unique goods, and teaching my kids about new food. I also love knowing that I am feeding my family fresh, locally grown food that helps support Ohio’s economy. To make a fun experience even better, we plan to take the food selected by the kids and cook dinner together as a family. My apple galette recipe will be a perfect dish to serve at this dinner!

Go to a Drive-In Movie

I can remember my parents taking me to drive-in movies each summer when I was younger. I thought it was just the coolest thing to watch a movie in our car. This summer is the perfect time to introduce my kids to the drive-in movie experience. We haven’t been to a movie in months, so this will be extra special! 

Get Some Ice Cream and Pay-It-Forward

Summer bucket list

One of my favorite things to do, summer or not, is getting ice-cream. For some reason, ice-cream just tastes better when someone else scoops it for you. Am I right?! But, do you know what is even better than ice-cream? Making someone else’s day! Next time we get ice cream, we will pay-it-forward and treat the next person in line with a sweet treat. I can guarantee my kids will enjoy the giving, more than the ice cream.  

Ambush Your Kids with a Surprise Water Fight

My kids love when we play with them! They’ll love it even more if we surprise them with something totally unexpected like a water fight. We’ll fill balloons and buckets of water beforehand and ambush them when they least expect it. It will be a blast! 

Actually Rest and Relax

Summer is supposed to be the time of year when things slow down so we can relax and enjoy each other’s company. With so many responsibilities, it is sometimes hard to remember to enjoy this slower season and live in the moment. We are going to make a pointed effort to rest and relax intentionally during these long summer days. 

I hope the end of your summer is blast!

Tell me – what is on your end of summer bucket list?!

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Filed Under: #MomLife, bucket list, children, family, parenthood, Summer Bucket List Tagged With: children, kids, Live Happy, summer, Summer Bucket List, tips + tricks

Summer Lovin’ // our summer in photos

July 12, 2019 by Rachel 16 Comments

Oh, HI! I didn’t mean to take a 10-ish day break from writing, but I have THE BEST excuse…

… we’ve been doing ALL THINGS SUMMER!

Oh — and we got a puppy. Because obviously, I make the best decisions. Ha! Her name is Lady and she’s a 12-week old terrier mix we adopted from a local shelter. The kids adore her and I am desperately trying to break her of her nipping habit.

But in addition to the puppy, we’ve been keeping busy with all things fun. From going to the library, to hitting up the splash pad, and everything in between.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m not trying to keep my kids “busy” all Summer long. We have LOTS of downtime, too. We have quiet time at least once a day (whether it be in the form of naps or iPad or books).

But those spaces in between? That’s where the memories are made. They might not remember the details, but they’ll remember the fun. They’ll remember the fun of their first trip to Waterworks; they’ll remember the milkshakes and the popcorn; they’ll remember they caught goldfish (and named them Goldie + Jonathan).

And I’ll remember their smiles and contagious laughter. And it will be enough to get us through until the next Summer. ♥ ♥

What are you doing

 

to make the most

 

of your Summer?

Filed Under: #MomLife, Akron, busy mom, children, cleveland, Cuyahoga Falls, explore locally, Explore Ohio, family, live happy, mommyhood, NEO, Ohio, parenthood, pictures, summer, Summer Bucket List Tagged With: #MomLife, akron, being a mom, busy mom, children, cleveland, Cuyahoga Falls, explore locally, explore Ohio, Live Happy, mommyhood, motherhood, NEO, ohio, parenthood, pictures, summer, Summer Bucket List

Latchkey Kids – A Safe Summer With Guardian Alarm

June 25, 2019 by Rachel 35 Comments

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY GUARDIAN ALARM BUT THE CONTENT AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE ARE MY OWN

It’s officially Summer! Can you believe it?! Since school let out, there’s been some chatter amongst a large group of work-at-home moms of which I am in a group on Facebook. We are… struggling. Our kids can be extra demanding without the structure of a school day, and we’re all just doing our best to make it through and (fingers crossed) get a little bit of work done throughout days.

Thankfully, our new home as a huge yard with lots of room to run and play, so I’m doing my best trying to balance our days between being outdoors and finding a time where at least I can be inside getting some work done.

In addition to the huge yard, we have a park and playground adjacent to our house! Approximately 90% of our outdoor moments are spent running on that playground, chasing one another around, and swinging from the monkey bars. How lucky are we, right!?

Well, I consider myself extra lucky because, thanks to Guardian Home Security, I’m able to quickly walk out my back door and with a swipe of my hand, my deadbolt is locked until I put my passcode in upon return. Easy peasy! There are no bulky keys needed to bring with me (or keep track of) on the playground. And I can use my phone and the Total Connect App to unlock the deadbolt as we approach upon our return (very convenient for when it’s starting to rain and I need to get my crew indoors ASAP).

But I also need to allow my oldest to go to the playground with friends (and their parents). And Guardian Alarm makes it incredibly convenient. Ari has his own 4-digit code to unlock the deadbolt; so I can be tending to the girls inside or working, and he can let himself in to get a snack or use the bathroom. I feel so much better about letting him be a pseudo-latchkey kid (which, let me tell you, does not come naturally to me, despite being free to roam the neighborhood myself as a kid).

I try to ease some of my helicopter-parenting-tendencies with the help of the Guardian Alarm camera (which I conveniently have pointed towards the area of the yard where our children play the most). So whilst I’m working in my office, I can glance at my phone and have a clear view of where they are (newsflash: these days it’s almost always on the trampoline).

Truthfully, I was really nervous about this Summer. I was afraid that I would need to be outdoors with my kids 24/7; but, in reality, Guardian Alarm has provided me with even more peace of mind than I imagined. Sure, it’s about keeping our family safe from intruders; but it’s also about giving myself a chance to breathe because I know they are okay.

What’s one way

you give your children

a little freedom

during the Summer?

 

Filed Under: #MomLife, Akron, children, cleveland, Explore Ohio, family, home safety, living sustainably, mommyhood, money saving tips, Ohio, parenthood, Summer Bucket List, tips + tricks Tagged With: #MomLife, akron, being a mom, busy mom, children, cleveland, explore locally, explore Ohio, family, home safety tips, mommyhood, money saving tips, ohio, parenthood, summer, Summer Bucket List, sustainable living, tips + tricks

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