Christmas Lights Archives -

Traditions: Bells and Lights

Post author:Melanie
Post published:December 23, 2013
Post category:Dinners / holidays
Post comments:6 Comments

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. How ’bout a quick little recap for you all?!

On Friday, we bundled up and rang the bells for the Salvation Army. We were thrilled to tell everyone that their donations would be matched on Friday and Saturday all across Minnesota and North Dakota! To donate to the Salvation Army, you can click over here: Salvation Army.

Bell ringing was followed by Chinese take-out. I can’t remember the last time we ordered Chinese food but it was just as good as I remembered. Nice and salty. 🙂

There was lots of gift wrapping, Christmas music, dancing, and a little cleaning happening around our house this weekend.

Saturday night we grilled up top sirloin and then headed out to look at Christmas lights in the neighborhood.

We made a stop at Dairy Queen for a double fudge cookie dough blizzard for me and the seasonal mint one for Dana, just as we always do when we go looking at lights. I love traditions. 🙂

And I treated myself to a couple of cups of insanely priced peppermint mocha and turtle lattes on Friday and Sunday!

Again, another tradition of the holiday season. So worth it.

Today is my last day of work for the week and I am so anxious for the Christmas festivities to continue!

Happy day my friends.

I’ve Been Cooking!

Post author:Melanie
Post published:November 25, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Lunch
Post comments:12 Comments

Hello, hello! Did everyone have a fabulous weekend? Mine was incredibly low-key which is always fine by me. We got a lot done around the house: deep cleaned, took down fall decorations and put up Christmas decorations :smile:, and spent the majority of the day on Sunday putting up Christmas lights. I listened to Christmas music this weekend too which made me very happy.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned how badly I wanted to get back into the groove of meal prep and cooking actual nice meals versus waiting until the last-minute and then throwing something completely random together. This past week, I got to work on that.

For lunch on Wednesday, I made myself an open-face egg and cheese sandwich (heavy on the mustard) which tasted absolutely perfect.

On Thursday I made eggplant lasagna with spinach and ground beef.

It was good, but not something I would make again. As much as I try to love eggplant, I just don’t.

On Friday I made us buffalo chicken salad with romaine lettuce, red onion, feta cheese, buffalo chicken, and buttermilk ranch dressing. SOOOO good! I love this salad.

On Saturday I took a break from cooking, mostly because I wasn’t super hungry once dinner time rolled around because I spoiled my dinner with ice cream. Whoops. #yolo #saystheRD

On Sunday I made a batch of cauliflower gratin based off of this recipe: Cauliflower Gratin by Good Dinner Mom. I didn’t have regular milk so I subbed in almond milk and I only had mild cheddar not sharp. This turned out pretty well still. On the side I had some leftover chicken (from the freezer) on top of spinach. Easy peasy dinner.

Later I snacked on some homemade air-popped popcorn while watching a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad with my guys! Later I grabbed some raisins and some other snacks too.

So there’s the proof. I’ve been cooking! I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

Who’s excited for Thanksgiving?! Only three days to go!

Question of the day: Have you been cooking up anything tasty lately? Please share!