HAPPY NEW YEAR BLOG FRIENDS!
I had a great time celebrating the holidays with my family and friends and I hope you did too. I want to thank you for stopping by to read my blog posts from last year.
I thought it'd be fun to do a recap of my 5 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2021.
You might remember the large crocheted Chonky Bee Pillow I made for my daughter. I enjoyed crocheting this project for my daughter and I hope to find another project to make this year.
We love Girl Scout cookies in our house. We were pleasantly surprised with a box of assorted cookies my daughter sent to us. I decided to make Girl Scout Thin Mint Brownies with the box of thin mint cookies we were gifted. We enjoyed eating these delicious tasting brownies.
I was very surprised when I found out this Life Lately blog post was very popular last year. It's just a little update of what was going on with me.
I did a blog post last April on Trader Joe's Finds. I was once again surprised that this was one of my popular blog posts. I love food shopping at Trader Joe's. I wish I had a store closer to me otherwise I'd be shopping at TJ's every week.
This Oyster Sauce Baked Salmon recipe was another popular blog post from last year. My husband and I like to eat fish for dinner at least once a week. I make this Oyster Sauce Baked Salmon whenever we eat salmon. Baking the salmon with this oyster sauce is one of my favorite ways to prepare and eat salmon.
I hope you enjoyed reading my top five blog posts of 2021. I enjoyed blogging last year and I look forward to a new year of blogging. Thanks again for your sweet comments and blog friendships. Here's to blogging in 2022!
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Julie
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year!
Love,
Julie xo
I love finding people on Instagram to follow. I've been following Babs from @brunchwithbabs for a while now. Babs is popular on Instagram and is a mom of four and grandmother of eight, who loves sharing her recipes and wisdom. Some of you might remember when I shared this post about Babs back in April. If you like easy recipes and tips, I recommend you follow Babs on Instagram at @brunchwithbabs.
Over the summer Babs had a Bootcamp where she shared some of her food shopping lists, recipes, and tips.
When I saw this recipe for One-Pot Broccoli Pasta and I knew I wanted to try it. I usually make broccoli rabe with pasta for dinner as it's a family favorite. This method that Babs shares for making broccoli pasta is so easy to prepare and tastes delicious.
My husband and I liked this pasta dish and I'd love to share the recipe with you.
You can see below the broccoli and pasta cooking in one pot. I've never done this before and I always cooked them separately. Cooking both in one pot saves time and is so easy to cook this way.
The pasta is all cooked and ready to eat.
ONE-POT BROCCOLI PASTA
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound penne pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
8 cups broccoli florets
juice of 1/2 lemon (or more, to taste)
1/2 cup Romano cheese
DIRECTIONS:
Boil a large pot of water. When it comes to a boil add two tablespoons of salt. Add the pasta and the broccoli and cook for 9 minutes, until al dente.
Before straining, reserve one cup of pasta water. Strain pasta and broccoli.
With the empty pot on medium heat, add in 2 tablespoons olive oil and the minced garlic and stir until fragrant. Re-add pasta and broccoli, stir. Add the rest of the olive oil and reserved pasta water.
Add 1/2 cup Romano cheese and mix. Top with lemon juice and combine. Ready!
NOTE: For the pasta: I used Trader Joe's Brown Rice & Quinoa Fusilli Pasta.
 |
| YUMMY ONE-POT BROCCOLI PASTA! |
I enjoy crocheting during the winter months. I thought I'd share with you some easy projects to make for the holidays or the upcoming winter months.
I made this crocheted infinity scarf last year. This is an easy scarf to crochet using Yarnspirations Caron Latte Cakes yarn. I bought my yarn at Michaels craft store. This type of yarn is soft and has the look of fun fur mixed in with it. Do any of you remember fun fur from many years ago? My mom used to knit scarves with this type of furry yarn.
I made these crochet fingerless gloves back in 2019. I crocheted them for my daughter, her friends, for family members, for myself, and for the church group, I used to belong to for charity crochet. These are simple and easy to crochet and they make the perfect gifts for the holidays.
I love making small crochet projects like the crochet face scrubbies I made back in 2019. These scrubbies can be used with soap or with a facial cleanser to wash your face. You can make these scrubbies in different colored cotton yarn and make them into gifts with soap and a makeup bag.
I enjoy crocheting coasters and I made these boho coasters back in May. This is another simple crochet project using cotton yarn. I made mine with white yarn but colored cotton yarn would like nice too. The coasters are great to use for a mug, a glass, or a teacup.
I also shared last year some of these holiday crochet projects that you might like to make. Anyone of these projects would make a great last minute gift for Christmas.
I hope you enjoy some of these projects for the winter months.
I love Muffins! I wanted to make pumpkin muffins that were low carb without a lot of sugar and didn't have any oil or butter used in the recipe. My husband and I are enjoying these small pumpkin muffins in the afternoon with our espresso coffee.
I searched and found this low carb/high protein pumpkin muffin recipe on Pinterest.
The pumpkins are so easy to make and still taste great without any sugar added to the recipe.
The best part about these muffins is that each pumpkin muffin has 11 grams of protein with just 5 grams of carbs. They are 135 calories for one muffin and just 2 Smart Points.
I hope you enjoy these low-carb pumpkin muffins.
LOW CARB/HIGH PROTEIN PUMPKIN MUFFINS
The original recipe can be found at Mason Fit
INGREDIENTS:
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 2 scoops PEScience protein powder, vanilla
- 1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat an oven to 350F and spray 8 slots in a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or place 8 silicone muffin molds on a baking sheet.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Gradually stir in the eggs, canned pumpkin, and vanilla extract. Stir until you have an evenly mixed batter.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin tin or molds, filling each mold about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 23-26 minutes or until the muffins are cooked through and the tops are golden brown.
- Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool and enjoy!
NOTES:
Each muffin has 2 Smart Points
You can find silicone baking cups on Amazon.
WHAT I CHANGED:
The first time I made the muffins, I sprayed the muffin tin with cooking spray, and the muffins stuck to the tin. The next time I made the muffins I used cupcake liners that worked out great. I baked the muffins the second time for 24 minutes. I also didn't have any pumpkin pie spice and I used cinnamon instead. I used 2 scoops of Orgain Organic Protein Powder, Vanilla Bean flavor. I was able to make 12 muffins.
 |
| YUMMY LOW-CARB PUMPKIN MUFFINS! |
Hello blog friends. Are you almost ready for Thanksgiving?
I thought it'd be fun to do a This or That Thanksgiving since it's a few days away.
I've circled my answers seen below.
2. Lunch or Dinner - We've always done Thanksgiving dinner.
3. Stuffing or Dressing - We LOVE stuffing in our house.
4. Dress Up or Dress Down - It's always been dress up for us or dressy casual.
5. Mash Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes - We love mashed potatoes in my house but my sister-in-law makes the best sweet potato pie.
6. Football or Movies - My husband loves to watch football on Thanksgiving. I enjoy watching movies later in the evening if we are home.
7. Black Friday or Cyber Monday - I like the Black Friday sales.
8. Pumpkin Pie or Pecan Pie - Our family LOVES Pumpkin Pie.
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
You can play along and leave your answers in the comment section.
What will you pick?
Wishing everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons