Something New for Your Family Table Week #15....Lemon & Asparagus Pasta with Grilled Scallops

Hey friends, I cannot believe it is the last day of April! I am beyond ready for May, because Spring has to come by now right??

I am channeling Spring by sharing one of my favorite Spring dishes with you today.

This Lemon & Asparagus Pasta with Grilled Scallops is fresh, delicious, and simple to make.

You can grab the recipe here. '
It would be perfect on your family's table for dinner this week.
Have a great week!
See you tomorrow, there is always room for one more at our family table.
xoxo
Genevieve

Friday Favorites

Hi friends!! This has been quite a week here... I'll share more on that next week. But I tell you this has been my thought these last few days....

I missed a few posts this week and wanted to end the week with some of my favorite moments from this week. It's a list of nine random things that made me smile this week.
 As always I am linking up with three of my favorite blogging friends, Erika, Narci & Andrea to share a few of my favorites from this week.

one
Last Saturday it finally began to feel like Spring here! One of my favorite parts of the day was looking out the window at seeing these boys playing baseball. And my second favorite part was seeing grass, not snow!

two

We celebrated my parents 70th birthdays last weekend. They are 13 days apart so we went out to dinner to celebrate. My kiddos made them each a card and those homemade cards are always my favorite. 

Here are my favorite people, all in one photo! 

 We had a great night celebrating.

three
My number three favorite from this week was finally getting back outside to run. I met my girlfriend for a run and coffee and it was the perfect start to my week.

four

Sunday we had temps near 70 and my kids took off on these bikes at 10: 30 in the morning and did not come home until 6! I love that we live in a neighborhood where they can get out on their bikes and find fun with their friends outside! 

five
We had our first fire of the season this week. S'mores by the fire are definitely a favorite!

We also did some grilling and my "burger salad" was amazing!

six
Monday night my girl and I snuck out for my favorite ice cream... twist custard with rainbow sprinkles. It just so happens to be Ella's favorite combo too. Wonder where she got that from?😉


seven
I know I have talked about these shoes before, but I have been living in them this week.

They are cute and oh so comfortable.

eight
Luke has become a huge NBA fan this year. He can quote so many stats and players. He has been loving watching the playoffs this week and I loved seeing him in Paul's recliner, with a bowl of ice cream, watching the games. He is a mini-Paul!!
 

nine
And last, I have been getting ready to celebrate Luke's First Communion. I am loving how my banner is turning out! I'll share more party details next week!

We are looking forward to celebrating Luke with our family and friends!

Have the best weekend!

See you on Monday, there's always room for one more at our family table.

xoxo

Genevieve

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I have some happiness here for your Tuesday! These White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes are one of my all time favorites from when we owned our bakery. They are the perfect flavor for Spring occasions, so I thought I would share the recipe with you. They would be perfect for Mother's Day, First Communion Parties or Showers. And well this is how I feel about cupcakes.....

Now let's get baking!

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups of Cake Flour

3 TSP of Baking Powder

1 TSP Salt

1 cup of Unsalted Butter (room temp)

2 1/2 cups of Sugar

3 Eggs (room temp)

3 TSP Vanilla

2 cups of Milk

1 cup of fresh raspberries(plus more for garnish)

Sift your dry ingredients and set aside. Preheat your oven to 350.

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy (3-5 minutes).

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition

With mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of flour mixture. Blend and then add 1/3 of milk. Repeat this until all have been added.

Take the raspberries and gently break them up into halves or smaller with your fingers. Gently fold them into the batter with a spatula, mixing until just combined.

Scoop into paper lined cupcake pans. I use an ice cream scoop here. You will want to fill them about 2/3 full. This will make 30-36 cupcakes

Bake for around 20-25 minutes.

For the frosting

2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp)

16oz of cream cheese (room temp)

2 TSP of good vanilla

2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
6 oz white chocolate

Melt the white chocolate using the double boiler method and set aside to cool.

Whip the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (5-7 minutes)

Add the vanilla and blend.

Add the sugar one cup at a time and mix on low to combine.
Pour the cooled white chocolate into the frosting and mix. 

Now here's my secret.... everyone always asked me how my frosting was so fluffy. Well to quote Michael Jackson...."Just Beat It". Seriously....after you have added in the sugar and blended, whip it on high for a few minutes. And if you think it looks good, whip it for 30 more seconds and you will have light and fluffy frosting!

I like to top mine with a fresh raspberry and a chocolate swirl. They look fancy, but are really easy to make. Put a few pieces of white chocolate in a plastic sandwich bag and microwave in 30 second increments until it is melted. Snip a very small tip off the corner of the bag.
Line a sheet tray with wax paper and pipe fun swirls or any shape you want with the chocolate. Let them cool or pop in the fridge to cool quickly. Once they have hardened you can gently lift them off and place on top.
They are a simple but fancy addition to the cupcakes!
Have a sweet Tuesday. We will see you tomorrow for What's Up Wednesday....there's always room for one more at our family table.
xoxo
Genevieve

Something New for Your Family Table Week #14....Butternut Squash Lasagna

Good Monday morning friends!!  I am so excited to share this plant based meal with you. It has been one of my favorites so far as we have explored more meatless meals. I found this recipe from Brittany over at A Healthy Slice of Life.

It is so full of flavor, my crew and I just loved it. 

Friday Favorites.... Spring is on the Way!!!!

Happy Friday friends!!  I am oh so happy to be saying those words for two reasons....
1. This was a long week.
2. The weatherman said we need to make it until Friday and our weather is finally going to start turning more Spring-like! #allthepraisehands

Girl Chat.... Guilty Pleasures

Happy Thursday friends! Not sure about you, but this week is feeling extra long...probably because of the very cold and grey weather here! So today I am sharing some fun and linking up with a few new blogging friends for their monthly edition of Girl Chat!  

This month's topic is Guilty Pleasures. We all have them...but honestly,  I don't think we should feel guilty about them! I am going to call mine "Things I do that make me Happy". Because essentially, that's why I have these "guilty pleasures".... little random things that make me happy. We are all out there everyday doing our best to make life happen for everyone else, so to have a few things that are just for us is A-ok in my book!

Here we go, a few random things that make me happy!

Starbucks Coffee

First reason being I love the coffee itself. Second I love the shape and feel of the cup, random I know! Third, the cup looks cute in an OOTD post and I can show you my nail color and bracelets😉

Painting my nails

Speaking of nail color, I love to have my nails done, but don't really have the time to go to a salon. So I paint my nails myself every week and I love it. I have a pretty big collection of nail colors and it's my weekly treat.

Laying by the beach or the pool

There is something about the water that is just so calming. I love,love Summer and the warm weather. I try to soak in as much as I can! Give me a good book and I am in paradise! 

Fresh Flowers at the grocery store

I am a sucker for fresh flowers when I am grocery shopping. 

They all look so pretty and just make me smile. I never have a real need for fresh flowers, but they always brighten up my day.

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

I mean if you haven't tried them... try them and you will understand.

 I have been known to hide them from the rest of my family.

90's Hip Hop

Yep....give me P-Diddy and the Bad Boy Family on Pandora and I am a happy girl. Brings me back to my high school days and that makes me happy.

Time at Target.....Alone

I mean we can proabably all agree that we love Target. But Target alone, with no time you need to be anywhere brings it to a whole new level of greatness.

 There is always so much good stuff to see... in beauty, clothing, house stuff, party supplies, new food items....all the things!!

So there you have it. My list of guilty pleasures or as I like to call it, things that make me happy!
Thanks to these ladies for hosting this month's chat. You should hop over and check out what they are talking about too!

Danielle at Sparkles & Lattes

Emily at A Little Bit of Emily

Lindsay at Lindsay's Sweet  World

Lizzie at This Happy Life

Sierra at Beautifully Candid

See you tomorrow for Friday Favorites. There's always room for one more at our family table.
xoxo
Genevieve

Weekend Wrap Up...It's still Winter...

Happy Wednesday friends!! It is unfortunately still Winter in these parts and honestly feels like the longest Winter we have ever had. And that is coming from a Buffalo girl. Ugh!  Anyway we found fun in the cold and had a busy weekend here. One that left us pretty tired on Monday😉

Paul had off on Friday, so we popped in to meet Luke for lunch at school. I always try to meet them for lunch on their birthday, but Luke's fell over Easter Break so we were a little late. We are not allowed to take pics in school, so it's just me & Paul in the parking lot!

I love sitting with the kids in his class and hearing stories about him! I heard how he likes all the girls in school, shares his dance moves and is so much fun at recess. Ha!!  None of it surprised me, he has always been the life of the party. I am just hoping he knows when to reel it in......

That night we joined my parents and sister for dinner out. I really need to work on Paul's picture taking skills. He does a lot of things well....selfies are not one of them.

He is at least smiling in this one, however half the table doesn't know  he is taking the picture!

Paul had to go into work for a few hours on Saturday, so the kids and I went out for smoothies....

and then hit up Trader Joe's for a few of our favorite things. They love the little carts and each wanted to push one. 

See there is Luke...entertaining😉 

Sunday Ella had a dance competition in Niagara Falls and we were to be on the road by about 6am. Well the weather was just awful...and ice storm! Thankfully her dance teacher was able to move their time later to allow the weather to improve before we made our way there. We woke up to everything covered in ice! This was looking our through our windows....

But we made it to the competition and the girls did a great job!!! 

This one below is one of my favorite dances. It is to the song Jet Set and they have the cutest airline props and sparkly suitcases! 

After a full day of dancing we came home for a quick change and then off to Luke's baseball scrimmage. Again... it was snowing so thankfully it was indoors! 

It was fun to watch him play again! 

This is the first year the kids do all the pitching (which makes for a bit of a long game.....) Luke pitched for two innings and did pretty well! 

It was a fun weekend watching E & L do what they love!!

See you tomorrow....there's always room for one more at our family table.

xoxo

Genevieve

Tuesday Talk....Mom & Daughter Chat Edition

Hi friends! I am linking up with  Erika &  Ashley for Tuesday Talk. A monthly link up where we can talk about any and everything!

In January we talked about the crazy snowstorm we had here...Snowvember!

In February we chatted about having kids pack themselves for trips!
Last month we talked about eating more plant based meals.
This month is about a Tuesday Talk I had with my not so little girl about some changes happening over the next couple years. And this my friends, sums up how I feel.....

Something New for Your Family Table Week #13....Cauliflower Steaks

Happy Monday friends! After a tough ice storm this weekend, I am really hopeful that Spring is just around the corner! 

I found  this meal and I was really intrigued with the concept of a cauliflower steak. My family loves cauliflower and I was excited to give it a try!

You can get the entire recipe  here. I will share a few of the tweaks we made.

The first step was slicing the cauliflower into large slices. I just put the smaller pieces on the end of the pan and ended up with about 4 "steaks" from a medium cauliflower.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday friends!!! You know what this week feels like.....

It literally feels like it's January 74th

I need sunshine, dry weather and temperatures over 40. We have been in Winter mode for nearly 7 months and I am done. Done. 

Now onto more fun topics for our Friday. As always I am linking up with three of my favorite blogging friends, Erika, Narci & Andrea to share a few of my favorites from this week.

one

We celebrated my Mom's 70th birthday on Sunday. She is just the best... the one I call with the good, the bad, the happy or sad....she's my person. I talk to her every day, usually more than once. I am so blessed to have such an amazing Mom!

 We are celebrating again next weekend. My dad also turns 70 this month, so my brother and his family are coming to celebrate and I cannot wait to celebrate with them!

two
Well this came out on Tuesday and we have watched it everyday since. Everyday.

If you have not seen this movie, you need to put it on your weekend to do list. It is so, so good... and the music...even better!

three

I am way late to the game on this ice cream, but it is so good. And kind of a guilt free option. It's a bit pricier, but worth it I think. My grocery store has like 30 flavors, so I can't wait to try a new one next week. Side note- I have this hidden in the freezer... this is "Mama's Ice Cream".

The only issue I have is this little pint is apparently 4 servings??? 

four
Luke's birthday has been kind of a week long celebration... but that's ok...you only turn 9 once! So I recapped a little about how we celebrated his special day.
Luke's Birthday Celebration

 And it included a trip to jump at the trampoline park and out for what he called "Man-Sized Ribs". Note...sitting at the bar watching baseball with your buddy kind of makes for the best day ever.

five
 We have had a busy start to April with Easter and birthday celebrations. Yesterday I shared a little of this & that. Some random pics of life lately around here. While the celebrations are fun...regular old life, like watching this sweet girl work on her homework are some of my favorite moments.

A Little This & That

So that wraps up some favorites from my week! This weekend were are making a trip to Trader Joe's to stock up on some of our favorite things. I shared my favorites before, but everytime I go I feel like I find a new favorite!

Trader Joes' Favorites
Then on Sunday Ella has a dance competition and Luke has a baseball scrimmage.
Hope you guys have a great weekend.
See you next week...there's always room for one more at our family table.
xoxo
Genevieve

A Little This & That

Happy Thursday friends! We have had a busy couple weeks with Easter and Birthday celebrations and I thought I would share a little of what we have been up to... a little this & that!

We are still waiting for Spring and at this point I am ok to move directly to Summer. Most mornings we have still been waking up to a snow covered yard.