Berrylicious Smoothie Bowls

Start your day with this berrylicious recipe - loads of berries plus whatever toppings you want!

I've been wanting to jump on the smoothie bowl bandwagon for forever, but I'll be honest..I hate pulling out my blender so much. I don't have it out on the counter (although I would love to) and I also hate cleaning my blender. But I finally decided it was time to try one and it was super wonderful. Probably still not something I'll make all the time, but definitely a nice treat when you're craving berries in particular. I topped ours with blueberries, blackberries, banana, honey, coconut, almonds, and granola (cashew butter and cocoa nibs).

Peach Blackberry Sangria #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! For more details, check out this page.

It's time again for another Food Fight and this month's theme is RUM! Today is National Rum Day and that is how the theme was chosen. The Food Fighters were not given any particular type of dish so long as it contains rum or rum flavoring. I have to admit that I struggled a little with what I wanted to make because I don't have a lot of recipes saved with rum in them and I don't make a lot of food with rum. I did have a page from the September 2016 Food Network Magazine that was for a Mix and Match Sangria recipe. So the amounts of different ingredients are from that, but the choices were mine alone.

I have had sangria once and it was many years ago, right before I got pregnant with Mason. I had a peach sangria at TGIFriday's. It was so delicious and I hands-down knew I wanted peaches in this sangria paired with white wine and white rum. Nick wanted to do all berries, so I compromised with blackberries going into the mix as well. The recipe called for superfine sugar or light brown sugar and I used vanilla sugar that I had purchased for Kasekuchen. This is a pretty strong sangria and I personally would love to try it with a sweeter wine because I am not a dry wine aficionado. Maybe a tad less rum, although everyone else loved it. The peach and blackberry with lemon was delicious though!

The cups before the Sprite was added...

PB&J Crumble Yogurt Parfait #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! For more details, check out this page.

This month's theme is PB&J -- peanut butter and jelly. Why? Because not only is March National Peanut Month, but it's also National Peanut Lover's Day today! And peanut butter and jelly is such an iconic and classic combination that I thought would fit perfectly. Today, you find recipes containing peanut or peanut butter and fruit (not necessarily jelly or jam). I chose this amazing breakfast parfait that I couldn't get enough of: PB&J Crumble Yogurt Parfait.

Technically speaking, it's actually peanut butter crumble yogurt parfait with fruit, but since I did add the fruit, I renamed it PB&J Crumble Yogurt Parfait. The peanut butter crumble is fantastic. I could and did eat it by the handful. Nick did too. I have eaten it with fresh fruit (the first picture) and frozen fruit that had been slightly heated up.

Everything about these parfaits makes me such a happy camper. But I cannot wait to see what other pb&j treats my blogging pals have to share!

Triple Berry Crisp

This crisp is the perfect thing to whip up with berries with or without ice cream on top.

We had family in town last summer and we scraped together a quick meal to serve a crowd. I needed a quick summery dessert that wasn't really heavy and didn't take many ingredients or time to make. I had already pulled together the 30-Minute Shepherd's Pie and I knew I wanted to do something with berries. I hunted in one of my favorite cookbooks: Sally's Baking Addiction. I found this berry crisp recipe and I had everything on hand to make it. I ate mine without ice cream because it's incredible without it.

Belgian Waffle Sundaes

Fluffy waffles topped with a mixed berry sauce, whipped cream, chocolate, and macadamia nuts!

I adore using my waffle iron, but unfortunately I don't use it as often as I'd like. It's kind of one of those things where I've been on a mission to utilize everything in my kitchen as regularly as possible. We just recently started going through the boxes in our basement from our move in the end of 2014 and we're finding all sorts of goodies down there. Like my mini springform pan, my bread pan, and a few other kitchen goodies.

Anyways, my waffle iron is easily one of my favorite kitchen tools. It doesn't take long to heat and batter never takes long to make for it. Cooking time is quick, too. It's literally so easy to make waffles...so so easy. I have had this recipe hoarded for many-a-years...like since Ashton of Something Swanky posted it in 2012. Her blog has been one of my favorites for a very long time. I don't think I can recall a time where a recipe of hers has failed me and I trusted that this one would be no different. The waffles are so fluffy and I loved the idea of a berry sauce on top instead of syrup. Fun fact: I hate the smell of maple syrup and I will only put enough on my waffles/pancakes/French toast to taste. I hate any excess. I also hate that it's sticky. I actually had a similar waffle at a hotel continental breakfast a few weekends ago and it reminded me of how much I really want to make these again. The chocolate chips and macadamia nuts add richness and crunch for an overall wonderful breakfast or brinner!

So, in short, find yourself a waffle iron. Mine was purchased for under $20 and is still going strong years later. It doesn't have to be expensive to cook waffles! :)

Blackberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

 Have you ever had a malted muffin with berries and chocolate? No?!

Well then, you must try this recipe!

Bear with these pictures, I was trying to be artsy fartsy and show how gorgeous these muffins were and how fluffy and moist they turned out by tearing a chunk out of one. I probably should have set it off to the side a little more. Sometimes I crack myself up. Regardless of my silliness, I love these muffins. Truly a great recipe!! I don't make recipes with blackberries enough and they are the best! Our produce has been great throughout the winter, so I didn't have to wait until summer to get a good batch of blackberries to use. I thought the chocolate was the perfect partner in crime for the blackberries. AND as I've mentioned, these muffins are fluffy and moist. These muffins are just beyond heavenly and it's all thanks to the malted milk in them!

Oh you heard me correctly...or read me correctly...read that correctly...MALTED MILK. The dimension of flavor it adds - it's so hard to describe. You all just HAVE TO MAKE THESE!!! Sorry for the all-caps there. But it is one of those times that needs the exclamation! :)

Blackberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream #SecretRecipeClub

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal day for my group, Group D! What is Secret Recipe Club? It's a bunch of food bloggers separated into four groups that post once a month on a designated Monday. Each month, we are paired with another foodie from our group secretly (hence the name). We then pick a recipe (or two or more) from that blog and make it. On our reveal day, we reveal whose blog we had and what recipe(s) we chose all at the same time. It's like a Secret Santa every month, but with food and blogs! It's a great deal of fun :)

This month I was assigned to Group D (and Secret Recipe Club) newbie, Amber of Caleigh's Kitchen. Amber & her husband, Doug, live in Texas - as she states, so far east that they go to Louisiana for a good meal. Her blog name came from her very adorable Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix pup, Caleigh, who is always in the kitchen with Amber. And everywhere else, too! Not only does Amber have an adorable pup, but also a super cute 3 year old, Kirkley. All together, the four of them are just so cute!!

I went a little broad with my recipe hunting this time and I picked out four recipes to choose my final recipe from: Smokey Poblano Salsa...errr, chili! Her post had me cracking up about the salsa. And the roasted ingredients...YUM! Then there's Honey Glazed Sweet Skillet Cornbread because I have recently had two cornbread fiascos...one was basically yellow cake with a tiny bit of that cornmeal grit and the other was raw no matter how much I cooked it :/ Deer Camp Cabbage just looked too good NOT to try and I will be trying it very soon.

In the end, the blackberry ice cream won out. I have been trying to make more ice cream this summer because last September, Nick bought me an ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid and I already feel guilty enough about never having used the pasta attachment he got me years ago for Christmas...or the meat grinder attachment he got me this year for Christmas. Oopsies. Lately, our berries at Kroger have been on point, so I knew I wanted to make the ice cream out of the four recipes. I tried with no success to get mine the lovely purple (even mashed the berries), but at best, it got a slight greyish purple color. I added some mini semisweet chocolate chips in there as well. Next time I make it, I want to try and make a blackberry "syrup" - basically cook down the blackberries with the sugar and lemon and refrigerate it and make this a swirl ice cream. Possibly with no chocolate chips.

Regardless of the color it turned out, it's still an incredibly tasty ice cream. It's smooth and the right amount of fruity. I also really enjoyed the mini chocolate chips. They complimented the blackberry perfectly!

Thank you, Amber, for a perfectly summer frozen treat - we cannot wait to try the chili, cornbread, and cabbage!

Nutella Cheesecake Shooters #SundaySupper

It's time for another round of #SundaySupper yumminess! Because today is Mother's Day and we all love the moms in our lives, we are sharing recipes for Mother's Day. I chose dessert because that is something my mom enjoys making. My mom always volunteered to make mints (the cream cheese kind) for wedding showers, baby showers, and graduation open houses when I was little. She volunteered to make desserts for church. She made cookies, bars, and cakes. She actually went to school for cake decorating and does that for a hobby nowadays for her church's "meals on wheels" type program.

I chose to do a smaller portion dessert because even though my mom loves sweets - she doesn't like big portions of them. She also loves fruit and cheesecake! So this combination is just perfect for her and many other moms too :) When I made these, I split them up into five portions - two for the kids and three for the adults. When I make it again (yes, again!), I will definitely double the amount and make it in 4 jam mason jars for four full desserts. It's really fast to throw together and turns out very tasty and sits light in your stomach. So it's really perfect for a big get-together pot roast type Sunday dinner - like we're having tonight at my mom-in-law's. It was the perfect amount of dessert and incredibly creamy and fluffy. It tasted like an amazing cheesecake, but in a more pudding type version. Definitely cannot be missed - you have to try this for the moms in your life!

Secret Recipe Club: Blackberry Cobbler

This month, my assignment is one of the newer Group D members: Becca from Lovely in Pink. She has a ton of great recipes on her blog - I narrowed my search down to two: Southwest Chopped Chicken Salad and Blackberry Cobbler. I've been really craving chicken salad and cobbler lately, so I was really glad to see Becca had recipes for each of them on her blog.

I haven't made the SW Chopped Chicken Salad yet, but I will be asap. The cobbler was made for our Sunday dinner a few weeks ago. I decided to make that a thing now...dessert on Sundays! This cobbler was everything and more that I could have wanted. It tastes just like my gramma's cobbler and she passed before I could get the recipe. Definitely brought me back!

Easy Blackberry Cheese Danish

This recipe is easily one of the very best danishes I've had to date. I am a lover of berries - especially blackberries. Since I don't eat them enough or breakfast enough, this is a great compromise and it is quick breakfast to whip up in a flash.

CCC: Sour Cream Blueberry-Blackberry Muffins

April is Blueberry Muffin month!

I am not a morning person. AT ALL. A majority of the time, what I plan to make for breakfast doesn't get made because I am far too asleep yet to coherently do any cooking/baking. Muffins are one of my favorite things to make for breakfast because you can typically make them in one bowl and then in paper-lined muffin cups (no messy dish to wash) - you pop them in the oven for 20ish minutes and wah-la, breakfast is done!

I have a very large, large collection of recipes that I've been trying to work through. I have many duds to weed out and many duplicates...hidden in there are recipes that once upon a time, I was really wanting to make like the next week. For this month, I wanted to find a recipe to use that I already had on hand. The first blueberry muffin recipe I found that I hadn't made in my collection was Tina from MOMS CRAZY COOKING: Sour Cream Blueberry-Blackberry Muffins.

I have mentioned before my love of sour cream in baking recipes, so I knew this one ought to be a keeper. I really liked how fluffy and moist they turned out. I also really loved the blackberries in with the blueberries. Oh and the sugar mixture on top was a killer addition to these already wonderful muffins! We will definitely be having these again.

And as always, I will be jumping around today stumbling, pinning, tweeting, and FB-ing everyone's recipes.

French Toast with Berry Butter

I can't even begin to say how amazing this was. The berry butter is unbelievable. This recipe will blow your mind...again, Ree Drummond did not fail me!

Baked Oatmeal with Berries

This has been on my list for a really long time. I have had the ingredients and kept meaning to make it. I finally did and I am blown away at how delicious it was. Both kids ate it too! That's when you know it's really good. :)