Banana Nut Granola

April 19, 2019 Amanda Plott

Banana nut bread has to be one of my most favorite things in the world to eat for breakfast. I honestly don’t make it enough, and haven’t made it in a good long while. So, needless to say, I’ve been craving it lately. I thought this time around though, that I would put a little twist on it and turn it into a granola instead!

Cereal has been the name of the breakfast game in my house for a good solid week now. We’re busy eating up a few boxes that were used in that Camp Out Trail Mix last week. Waste not, want not. Right? As we got to the end of the boxes, I knew it was time to make this Banana Nut Granola…

Camp Out Trail Mix

April 13, 2019 Amanda Plott

This past week, my girl turned 9 years old! As part of her ‘birthday week’ of celebration she got to miss out on a couple days of school so that we could go with a few of her friends to a local kids resort. The theme of the resort is a lodge style camp setting. And since I’m always looking to take snacks to keep on hand during our trips, I decided to mix us up a batch of camping themed trial mix!

This trail mix is full of fun little bits that I tried to keep somewhat ‘healthified’. One of the first things I think about with camping is tents and firewood. So I used some bugle chips and pretzel sticks! After that I aded some fish and bears. I mean, hopefully you won’t see a bear while out camping, but bears are out in the woods so…

Spring Vegetable Crudités Plate

April 10, 2019 Amanda Plott

To go along with my Skinny Whipped Feta Dip from yesterday, I decided to make a beautiful plate of Spring veggies! The plate is half Spring inspired and half Mediterranean inspired to go along with the feta dip. Along with the other disable bits, there’s some olives and capers on the plate too.

The plate of Crudités starts off with the Skinny Whipped Feta Dip. Then there’s plenty of slices zucchini, salami, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, berries, and of course… olives and capers! I’ve made my fair share of plates, trays, and other sorts of sharable appetizers before. But, I have to say that this Spring Vegetable Crudités Plate is well balanced and one of my new faves!…

Skinny Whipped Feta Dip

April 8, 2019 Amanda Plott

The weather here in Texas right now is all over the place. We’ve gone from near freezing, to sunny and 90 degrees, and on further to torrential downpours of rain all in the matter of a couple of days. I almost feel like I should be doing the reverse of a rain dance at this point. But, besides bringing in a plethora of allergens, the weather has left us with an immense amount of Spring flowers this season.

So, I’m pushing on with the Spring inspired recipes. And this Skinny Whipped Feta Dip is topping the charts. To go along with the Spring season, I picked up some Spring inspired essentials. Namely, fresh produce including zucchini, tomatoes, lemon, and dill!…

Lightened Up Carrot Cake

March 27, 2019 Amanda Plott

I’ve made a good lot of carrot cakes in my time. Anywhere from traditional to gluten-free, and a few others along the way. There’s a few things I’ve learned in my carrot cake making journey. One is that you always ALWAYS need a good simple cream cheese frosting with it. And two is that it needs to be chunky.

I like my carrot cake loaded up with plenty of the good stuff. Carrots, raisins, pineapple, coconut, and yes… even nuts!

I based this ultimate carrot cake off of the one that I made for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. It’s an ingredient heavy cake, just like most carrots cakes are, but I promise you that the cake itself is rather easy to make. No overly complicated instructions…

Rainbow Carrot Salad

March 17, 2019 Amanda Plott

Spring is well on the way and when the weather starts to turn warm, I start to crave that bright burst of citrus and salad. Namely lemons and anything cool and crunchy. This Rainbow Carrot Salad is one for the books. It’s light, easy to make, and a perfect little side dish for any good weeknight meal.

This Rainbow Carrot Salad is one that I love to serve along side my Crunchy Garlic Baked Chicken, since both have just a touch of that fun lemon zip. The carrots are a good base for this salad. They’re cool and crunchy while being able to soak up all the other flavors going on here…