My Version of #MealPrep Monday: My Favorite Time-Saving Side Dish - Suddenly Grain Salad

I know I say this often, but we're pretty busy in our house. We don't really have time to think most days... I'm constantly working on a project or school work and hubby is either working or at school, most of the time. We love being able to unwind, relax, and have dinner on the nights that our schedules actually line up and we get a chance to just breathe. I'm sure you can relate...

Well, this week, we both are overwhelmed with awesome projects (that I can't wait to share), a busy work schedule, and a ton of homework so I decided while he was slaving away on editing a video for class that I would whip up a delicious lunch and surprise him. It's my wifely duty to make a meal every once in a while, right?

Luckily, this meal is so easy to make, he had no idea I even made lunch until it was done. I barely made a sound but came out with a plate that had him speechless when he realized what I'd been doing. I'll be honest and share that the plate looks and tastes so much more time-consuming than it actually was.

I made a mixture of some of our favorite foods, a veggie, some of our favorite chicken tenders prepared differently, and Suddenly Grain Salad.

Our veggies consisted of a delicious heaping side of brussel sprouts... I'll be honest and reveal that I just heated these up - they are from a local health food store and absolutely delicious!

The next item on the plate was the gluten-free chicken tenders. These little guys are one of our favorite foods and since I was trying to "elevate" the dish a little I drizzled some homemade apricot preserve to add a sweet component... I highly recommend you give this a try; so tasty and so, so easy to put together; plus, kids will love it!

The best item on the plate was definitely the colorful and delicious Suddenly Grain Salad though! It’s a flavorful mix of quinoa and wild rice with a tasty little mixture of nuts, all with a zesty dressing packet included. I made the Harvest grains this time which was infused with cranberries as well and it was delicious! I can't wait to try the Southwest and Tuscan varieties later this week!

Whether you are trying to wow your picky toddler with "tapas" or sneaking a quick meal into a busy day, I highly recommend you give this tasty (and easy to prep) meal idea a try! You can grab everything you'll need at the grocery store including Suddenly Grain Salad, but don't forget to print this coupon so you save some $$$ on the ingredients! Find Suddenly Grain Salad in a store near you! Which recipe will you try first, this delicious Southwest recipe or this savory Mediterranean recipe? Let me know in a comment below!

[ad] Quick & Easy Avocado Ranch Flame Grilled Burger

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BPPatties #CollectiveBias

I'll be honest, most days dinner is kind of a make-what-you-want event around here. I don't often have the time or patience to stand over a hot stove and cook a long involved meal. Like most people, I'm always on the go, working on school work, or crafting up something for the blog, so I don't often prepare fancy meals with all the fixings. I'm more of a quick & easy type of chef.

Actually, my hubby tends to be the better chef out of the two of us, but I've been working on my baking and cooking skills... mainly so I can share recipes with you, but also so we can eat and stuff. With him working full-time, interning, and in school most days we've had to adjust our schedules some which means I've had to step up my cooking game some nights.

While we've had a couple of mishaps, today I'm sharing one of our new favorite QUICK and super easy meals, this Avocado Ranch Burger is outta this world delicious with 2 Ball Park® Flame Grilled Patties, stacked on top of delicious gluten-free bread, a tomato, a few slices of onion, and a delicious Avocado Ranch sauce drizzle - what more could you ask for?

This flame-grilled Avocado Ranch burger is the one you've been dreaming of and you can make it in just a matter of minutes, with no grill required!

[ad] This quick and easy dinner is the perfect way to surprise your sweetie on a busy night! Get the recipe for this delicious flame-grilled Avocado Ranch burger over #ontheblog today! #yum #BPPatties #liveauthentic #thatsdarling #finditliveit #abmhappylife #foodie #thisgirlcancook #callmechef #wifeystatus

A video posted by Lauren Paints (@sunkissed_sweetheart) on Sep 10, 2015 at 12:49pm PDT

To prep this delicious and simple meal, simply stick two pieces of toast in the toaster and two Ball Park® Patties on a plate, heat in the microwave for about a minute (adjust time according to the package directions). Now it's time to prep your homemade sauce, it's so simple to make and absolutely the perfect creamy addition to your Ball Park® Patties!

Ingredients for the Avocado Ranch Sauce

1 avocado
1/2 tsp. hot sauce
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp cup mayo
1 tbsp diced red onion, chopped
2 tbsp chopped cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1/2 tbsp white sugar
a pinch of salt & pepper

You'll begin by halving and pitting the avocado. Now, place the avocado, hot sauce, and lime juice in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Add in the buttermilk, mayo, onion, cilantro, garlic, sugar, and salt & pepper. Blend until completely smooth, pulsing the ingredients until they are all thoroughly combined. Taste test & your set!

Once your sauce is finished, you'll apply a liberal amount to each piece of toast, placing the burger patties and toppings on the bread and then dinner is served! It's as easy as that to make an epic, unforgettable Avocado Ranch Burger... I won't tell anyone it's that easy to get such an impressive dinner on the table if you won't!

You can pick up everything you'll need for this super quick and easy dinner at Publix. I highly suggest you grab a few extra packs of the Ball Park® Flame Grilled Patties in one of the seven different varieties available! These Ball Park® Patties are the perfect way to treat yourself to a delicious meal without wasting any time! We grabbed a pack of the new Hickory Smoked Bacon & White Cheddar Chicken Patties and they are delicious!

While you can have dinner on the table in just minutes with Ball Park® Patties, you can enter this sweepstakes even quicker! Check out all the details and enter to win the Hall of Flame Sweepstakes today!

I'd love to know what you plan to do with all the extra time now that dinner won't take so long to prepare? Tell me how you'll spend your free time in the comments below!

Treat Yourself: Triple Chocolate & Caramel Ice Cream Sandwich with Blue Bunny

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SunsOutSpoonsOut #CollectiveBias

Eating delicious triple chocolate cookies is something I've been dreaming of since I began strictly dieting this summer and while I'm still trying to watch my figure, I also deserve to treat myself every once in a while so I made these AMAZING triple chocolate ice cream sandwiches with some of my favorite Blue Bunny Ice Cream, Bunny Tracks!

With a creamy, cold peanut butter and fudge infused ice cream inside of two delicious, soft, triple chocolate cookies, all stuck together with a gooey, sloppy layer of caramel; this recipe is the answer to a deprived foodie's sweet tooth cravings and it's sinfully delicious!

Since I've been dieting, my hubby has been kind enough not to eat too much chocolate in front of me, which has been nice; but I know he's missing it as well! That's why I decided to make these delicious sandwiches gluten-free (he has a wheat allergy). The only bad part about making these gluten free is that my hubby will likely consume all of these beautiful desserts before I even manage to get my hands on another one. If you have someone in your family that suffers from a gluten (or wheat) allergy, these desserts are the perfect way to treat them to a food they probably miss dearly!

Now I know what you are probably thinking, something this delicious must be difficult to make... But you'd be surprised how easy these sweet treats are to make! You'll want to turn on some music and get the electric mixer out because this recipe is about to rock your world!

Just a little tip, I typically make my batch of cookies the same day I plan to serve these beauties, so that the cookies are nice and fresh!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour     
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp Hazelnut Spread
Caramel Topping

Blue Bunny Bunny Tracks Ice Cream

Begin prepping this recipe by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Next you'll want to combine the butter, sugar, eggs, hazelnut spread, and vanilla and mix with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.

Now add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips, until it's all blended well.

Bake for 15 minutes in the oven, or just until set. Allow these delicious chocolate beauties to remain on the cookie sheets for around 20 minutes or until cool to the touch.

Once the cookies are cool, add a scoop of Blue Bunny Bunny Tracks Ice Cream on to the bottom of one cookie, add a swirl or two of caramel, and place another cookie on top.

Enjoy!

Now that I've shared one of the most delicious recipes of the summer, I'd love to hear your favorite way to indulge your cravings? Want to sample Blue Bunny Ice Cream before you buy it? Check out this list of all the Walmart locations that will be giving out FREE ice cream samples July 16-19!

Summer Adventures + Tasty Outshine Bars

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #OutshineSnacks #CollectiveBias

The days I've spent paddling around the water this summer have to be some of my favorite days, owning a kayak has been a real joy. Although kayaking is a ton of fun, it's a lot of work, especially when we go out for hours and hours at a time.

I'm definitely not complaining. Being able to travel to "islands" and check out what uninhabited beaches look like is really, really cool. But I must say, this July heat is really, really hot, that's why after a long day out on that little boat of ours I love to treat myself to something sweet, cold, and full of delicious fruits & veggies: Outshine Bars!

Since these tasty treats come in so many different varieties, it's always a difficult choice deciding which one I'm going to treat myself with! I'm in love with the fact that Outshine only uses ingredients that taste as good as they make you feel, a refreshing treat from the inside out.

When I'm craving something creamy I grab the Outshine Simply Yogurt Bars in Strawberry, they offer the perfect texture and sweetness to please my sweet tooth and satisfy my creamy cravings! I'm in love with the texture and the strong strawberry flavor is so indulgent, I'm in love!

When I'm wanting something hydrating I grab the Outshine Coconut Water Bars, these bars pack a punch of coconut water and the taste is incredible! The little chunks of pineapple add the perfect amount of kick and make this Outshine Bar a favorite in my home!

Whenever I want something sweet and tangy I grab the Outshine Fruit Bars, they come in so many different fruit flavors and I'm totally in love with all of them.

When I'm needing an extra serving of veggies I opt for the Outshine Fruit and Veggie Bars, they offer a fruit & veggie infused kick of goodness without sacrificing taste!

No matter which delicious Outshine Bar I choose, I'm bound to have a smile on my face! What more could a girl ask for than a delicious snack bar and a day spent out on the ocean? Check out all the other delicious ways you can enjoy Outshine Bars here and learn more about how they give back to the community! Want to give Outshine Bars a try for yourself? You can grab a pack at Walmart today!

Since Outshine is all about feel-good snacking, they want everyone to enjoy delicious fruits & veggies. That's why they're helping provide 1 pound of produce to local food banks (and sharing cool savings) when you take their super fun snacking quiz! Do your part to help contribute and you'll receive $1 off coupon! Don't forget to take the snacking quiz now through July 31st here!

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

If you are anything like me, you love a good home cooked meal but sometimes cooking just sounds like no fun at all. Since life gets busy and most of us have pretty full agendas, spending hours in the kitchen (even though I work from home) just really isn't an option. I'm all about quick and convenient; but now that I've recently lost a bunch of weight, I'm also all about eating healthy and nutrient rich foods.

These easy to prepare Spicy Buffalo Chicken Wraps are insanely delicious with pops of spicy flavor and cool ranch mixed together inside of a romaine lettuce wrap. There really isn't anything better on a hot summer night than a healthy and super delicious meal like these wraps. Plus, all the prep work you really have to do is boiling a pot of water! That means if you can make ramen or macaroni, you are totally capable of making your friends (or family) this delicious recipe.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breast

Buffalo Sauce
Large Romain Lettuce Leafs
Tomato

Onion
Salt & Pepper
Lemon
Ranch Dressing (choose a dressing wisely)

Start this recipe by boiling a medium sized pot full of water. Right before the water begins to boil, place chicken breast into the water and allow to boil until it's done. While waiting for the water to boil, remove the super hard stems from the romaine and chop up enough of the onion and tomato for everyone.

Remove from water and shred in bowl with two forks (or using a beater in a mixing bowl).

Drizzle a small amount of lemon, season with salt and pepper lightly, and pour a decent amount of hot sauce.

Spoon about an ounce of chicken inside of the romaine lettuce and top with a nice amount of tomato and onion. Add a little bit of ranch to each wrap and dinner is served!

Enjoy!

Celebrate Independence Day with 4th of July Fruit Kebobs

Fourth of July weekend is officially here and we are excited to celebrate at our house. We broke out the BBQ and made some super fun 4th of July themed snacks today and I just have to share this super simple recipe with you so you can indulge in some of this deliciousness this weekend as well. The flavors of roasted strawberry, marshmallow, and blueberries combined together taste like a decadent dessert and leave a deliciously fruity and sugary after taste that embodies everything summertime. Plus, since these are so easy to make, kids can help with the prep work!

Ingredients you'll need to make these tasty kebobs:
Strawberries
Blueberries
Marshmallows
Skewers

To begin rinse the strawberries and blueberries and then pat them dry.

Next cut off the tops of the strawberries, making them easier to eat in skewer form.

Now add a strawberry, a marshmallow, and 2-3 blueberries and repeat so that each skewer has two levels of deliciousness.

Warm up the grill or a make a small fire pit and place the skewers above the flame for about 10-15 seconds a piece, rotating it so that it all gets a nice bit of heat.

Remove from heat and allow to cool for a second or two, then slide from the strawberry up for a nice fruity, toasted marshmallow dessert in every bite!

Enjoy!

This treat is sure to make your family smile on the fourth and if you don't feel like firing up the grill, these kebobs are just as tasty "raw".

I'd love to hear what your plans for the 4th include...? Will you be making any delicious recipes or setting off fireworks, I want to hear all about your adventures this weekend in the comments below!

Let's Talk About Emotions with Inside Out Cupcakes

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #InsideOutEmotions #CollectiveBias

Stop for a moment and tell me, how are you feeling today? Are you full of joy? Feeling a little sadness? Possibly even a little red in the face from anger after a tough day? Maybe it's hard to translate how you are feeling at this very moment?

If you really think about it, we have some super complex emotions, so if you are having trouble I don't blame you. Some of us cry when we are happy, a lot of people smile a joyful grin when they are embarrassed, and some people even laugh when they are angry, translating those mixed signals into words is so very difficult at times.

Emotions are a difficult thing to discuss; when we are children we can't quite put our feelings into words and once we are older we are told to keep composure. While it's nice to keep your emotions at bay in some situations, here's some news for the adults holding it all in all the time and the kids learning to express themselves: all emotions are normal and it's healthy for us to express ourselves.

While I'm not an expert on the expression of emotions, I will be the first to admit I wear my heart on my sleeve. I am passionate and feel everything deeply so not sharing how I'm feeling is abnormal for me. 

After seeing Inside Out recently, I'm a huge fan of the movie and just have to share my joy! I love that the characters in the movie make relating our emotions to situations so incredibly easy. It's like a guide book for kids to learn to express themselves in an emotionally healthy way, while still having plenty of humor for adults to get a real chuckle.

In celebration of all the joy I'm feeling about Inside Out, I decided to make a rainbow of Inside Out cupcakes, sharing all of my emotions through baking! I made yellow cupcakes for Joy, blue cupcakes for Sadness, red cupcakes for Anger, purple cupcakes for Fear, and green cupcakes for Disgust! They all each had their own little twist but were made with the same delicious, cake batter recipe.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil)

1/2 cup almond milk with a pinch of lemon juice added (or buttermilk)

Gel food coloring in yellow, blue, red, purple, and green

Frosting:

1 stick of butter
1 tbsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tbsp of almond milk

 *This recipe yields about 12 cupcakes, I made two batches so I could make plenty of each color.*

Directions-

You'll want to begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together with whisk, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, add eggs and beat with mixer for about 10 seconds.  Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 40 seconds, now add the vanilla and oil, beat for an additional 10 seconds or so.

Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about a fourth of the flour mixture.  Add about a fourth of the milk, then add another fourth of the flour and another fourth of the milk and so on.  Beat until just combined.

Pour batter into 5 bowls and add desired amount of food coloring. I added a pinch of coconut and lime to the disgust cupcakes, 1 tbsp of cocoa to the anger cupcakes, 1 tsp of lemon extract to the joy cupcakes, and left the fear and sadness cupcakes just plain ol' vanilla for those that like that type of thing. These additions are totally optional but add some fun flavor varities to the cupcakes.

Then pour into a muffin pan prepared with silicone liners or directly into a silicone baking pan.  Fill approximately 2/3 full.

Place in oven and bake for 12-14 minutes. We ate some Inside Out fruit snacks while we waited for our cupcakes... Remove all the cupcakes from the oven once you can stick a toothpick (or fork) into the center and it comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for a minute or two, then remove cupcakes from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack.

While your cupcakes are cooling, you can start on your frosting prep! Combine the butter, vanilla, confectioners sugar, and almond milk in a large mixing bowl and mix on high for about a minute or until the frosting is smooth in consistency. Separate the frosting into five bowls again and add desired amount of food coloring and flavors, if you desire.

Once your cupcakes are completely cooled, cut each one in half and add a thick spoonful of frosting to each "top" of the cupcake and place the bottom on top. You want the inside of your cupcake to be the outside, hence their name "Inside Out" cupcakes! 

Add Sprinkles, if you wish and these little emotional cupcakes are ready to serve!

Enjoy!

These Inside Out Cupcakes are like little cupcake sandwiches and are absolutely delicious. The perfect colorful addition to a conversation about emotions or a very happy celebration of any sort! 

Now that I've shared my delicious (and emotional) Inside Out cupcake recipe, I'd love to hear which cupcake you think best represents how you feel on a daily basis...? I'd also love to hear if you've seen Inside Out or if you plan to see this adorable movie? If you want to celebrate seeing the movie in style with all the fun emotions, you can find all kinds of cute plush animals, toys, and more at Walmart!