Monday, July 11, 2011

Yummy Summer Salad

I got this recipe from one of my best friends, I think she got it from her husbands side of the family. It is a super simple, very flavorful summer salad/side dish that is great for BBQ's!

Frito Corn Salad

2 Cans (drained) Corn
1/2 Cup shredded cheese (I use mexican blend)
1/2 Diced red onion
1/2 Diced red pepper
1/2 Diced orange pepper
1/2 Diced green pepper

I mix above ingredients together and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until time to serve. Right before serving mix in 1/2-1 Cup of mayo. You just want everything coated, you don't want it super thick. Then add about 1/2 the bag of Chili Cheese Fritos. This salad does not save, the fritos get soggy so eat up!

I hope you enjoy!

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<3 Nicole

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Happy *Late* 4th of July!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th. Here in Washington we had great weather which was nice, we were able to spend almost all day playing outside, visiting with family and attending a bbq! Here are a few pictures from our 4th of July weekend!

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4th of July at my inlaws

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Cousins snacking on chips

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Playing in the pool at my parents

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Turtle fireworks!

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We caught a huge black and yellow butterfly, Jasmine, our kitten wanted to investigate the situation..

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

<3 Nicole

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Provolone Stuffed Turkey Meatballs & Spaghetti

We went to Applebee's for dinner a couple of weeks ago and they had stuffed meatballs on the menu and I thought that sounded good, definitely something I would rather make at home than try at a restaurant (I am not a fan of ground beef) so last week I decided to make up my own recipe and give it a try. I don't measure and I know that is really annoying to some people so I am sorry about that but here is the recipe:

Provolone Stuffed Turkey Meatballs

1 pound ground turkey breast
1/4 Cup bread crumbs
1 egg
Seasonings of your choice (I do onion powder, garlic salt, fresh cracked pepper)
1 tsp chopped garlic

Combine ingredients

bite sized chunks of provolone cheese

Form meatballs around the cheese chunks, place into a lightly sprayed baking dish. Bake at 350 for 20-35 minutes, until meat is lightly golden.

Serve with spaghetti sauce over whole wheat spaghetti noodles and enjoy!


My whole family loved these, I will be making these a lot!

<3 Nicole

Updates, lots of updates!

I know, I know, I have been so terrible about regularly updating my blog lately. I have had a lot on my plate lately and I will get better about updating the blog.

Lets start with Fathers Day, I decided I would surprise my husband with our first camping trip of the summer over Fathers Day weekend. I found a cute little campground about 20 minutes away from home and it is first come first to get a campsite! So Friday morning he went to work, and I woke up and packed and organized and got everything loaded into the car. I am a little crazy, so I convinced myself that the girls and I needed to leave before 12 to get to the campground in hopes of getting a site before they were all taken. Of course we got there and out of the 40ish campsites only about 8 were taken. So I parked, the girls and I wandered around until we all agreed on the perfect campsite. We unloaded and set up, and by we I mean I since the kids were too busy exploring the campsite and clearing it of all the pinecones! Ha I love those two little girls! Anyway, I got everything set up except for the tent, you need to people to get it upright so I had it all ready to go... I filled out our reservation ticket but couldn't turn it in until I had Ben's plate number which of course I don't know off the top of my head! I called him and told him we decided to have a picnic at the park and asked if he wanted to come meet us. He said of course, I told him to text when he got close. When he sent the text and told me he was close I told him the picnic area was full so we decided to eat at a table in the campground. A few minutes later we spotted him walking through the campground looking for us. He was so shocked that I could pull this off without him finding out and he was also shocked that I only managed to forget a few things. (Packing is not my thing, I always forget at least one thing!) We made lunch then went across the street to the state park and spent the afternoon flipping rocks and searching for little crabs and fish! We went back to the campsite and had a snack then picked up our tennis rackets, tennis balls and some toys for the girls and went back to the park to play. It was a fun low key afternoon, we were all very tired by around 5pm. My oldest daughter who I'm pretty sure would try to stay up for three days straight, started asking if it was time for bed yet! It was a very fun first camping trip, we woke up to pouring down rain the next morning but luckily we packed everything up before we went to bed. All we had to do was put the kids in the car and load up the tent,sleeping bags, air mattresses and we were ready to hit the road. Camping is one of my favorite things to do in the summer, we go again with my inlaws in a couple of weeks, I will have another post about that adventure!

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I was setting up camp, these two were playing!

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Daddy flipping rocks!

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River fish that were hiding under big rocks with the tide out!

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Crabs!

Another thing I wanted to mention was the fact that I co-own a small business with a great friend. We have been doing it officially for almost a year now. Unofficially we have been doing it for probably close to two years. Our biggest event is coming up in September so for the past four weeks I have been so incredibly busy creating and building up product for this event. I am a planner, I like having everything done with time to spare, I am looking forward to having my stash completed and ready to go within the next few weeks so I do not have to stress about being creative throughout the fun summer months! I will do a blog post about our event after it is over!

Thank you so much for checking my blog, I am sorry my posts are not very regular but I will work on it!

<3 Nicole

Monday, June 6, 2011

Guest Blogger

Hi there!
I did a guest blog spot for my friend's sisters blog. She is going to be a new mom and has been looking for people to help share new mom advice. You should go check out her blog @ kiralynnpdx.blogspot.com and look out for my post!

<3 Nicole

Monday, May 23, 2011

Babies Babies Babies!

It seems like I know about 27 million people who are pregnant right now! (Not really but there are at least a handful!) I love buying cute baby gifts for my friends, and if they are having girls I love making handmade hair clips or headbands. My friend and I own a small business, Clips by Kara & Nicole, we attend the Blackberry Festival in Bremerton (the first weekend in September) as well as many smaller local craft fairs. We really enjoy it, it's fun, it gives us something crafty and creative to do and we get to spend time meeting new people! Anyway, I wanted to send you over to Kara's sisters blog, she is doing a giveaway. She also makes handmade headbands which are adorable and geared more towards adults or older children. Go check out her blog: http://kiralynnpdx.blogspot.com/ and enter the give away, let her know you were sent from my blog!

<3 Nicole

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Hello Again!

First of all, I wanted to say that I am sad that I haven't updated the blog recently, I would like to blame it on something but I honestly can't do that. I haven't been super busy lately I just haven't tried any fun new recipes, gone on any adventures or really done anything worth sharing. This week we have had some pretty amazing weather, at least as far as Lifer Washingtonians are concerned. Some might say 60-70 degree weather towards the end of May is nothing to get excited about, but for those of us who see rain 85% of our lifetime, any day the sun is shining is a super fabulous day! We should get this great weather all through the weekend so I am sure I will have some fun pictures to share next week!

My Dad's birthday is coming up and my Mom decided to do a theme party, it will be a 60's party. My husband and I found this cute little vintage clothing store in Bremerton, it's called ISH Vintage Clothing, it was recommended to us from an acquantance of mine, Katie. We each picked out a cute outfit and rented them. I am so excited but I still have to decide what the girls are going to wear... if you have any cute ideas share please!!

My friend Kara and I are going to a party on Friday, we will be able to mingle with other small business owners in the Bremerton/Silverdale area. We are really looking forward to a girls night out! I am sure I will have some pictures and stories to share about that adventure too!

That is it for now, within the next few days I will get back to posting new and old recipes that I love! Thanks for being patient and waiting for me to get back into the blogging routine!

<3 Nicole