What's Poppin'

School is back in full swing! My kids absolutely love school, so I’m thankful that the transition is pretty easy for us. I miss the lazy summer mornings but I’m feeling so energized and productive after a summer of hardly working at all. I’ve grown my team significantly in the past few months, and I’m so excited to have everyone on board to bring you even more great recipes and videos.

Over Labor Day weekend, my in-laws renewed their vows in a beautiful ceremony in a local park. I’ll share photos when I get them – if you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw a few on my stories.

Ben has also been back in full swing at work…he has been for awhile, actually. If you’re new around here, Ben is my husband and he’s a high school principal. I tell him often that I could never do his job. I don’t think people actually realize how difficult of a job it is and how hard principals work. They’re often the recipients of a lot of criticism…I wish people could see Ben taking phone calls at midnight to ensure every single student in his building is safe and receives a good education.

He almost had to skip his parent’s vow renewal to deal with a school crisis.

Stepping off my soapbox…moral of the story, take a minute to shoot your kids’ principal an email with some words of encouragement. It will be much appreciated and I’m sure it is very much deserved.

On to What’s Poppin’!

New Look!

You may have noticed that things look a little different around here! My designer helped clean up the site a little and freshen things up. The biggest changes are in my recipe index. I wanted to make things SUPER user-friendly, and I think we achieved that!

You can now search by recipe type, recipe diet, season, ease of preparation, occasion, and more! You can also find recipes by ingredient, so if you have chicken breasts in your fridge, just hit “C” and you’ll find Chicken Breasts!

We also added a recipe key (the small green graphics) for some featured categories, so you can quickly identify if a recipe is Vegetarian, Gluten-Free, One Pan, Dairy-Free, 30 Minutes or Less, 5 Ingredients or Less, Freezer-Friendly, or Meal Prep appropriate.

You’ll also see featured seasonal recipe on the top of the site, and if you scroll to the bottom, you’ll see some other key categories. Right now we’re featuring Sheet Pan Dinners, Soups & Stews, and Game Day Eats.

Products I’m loving lately:

I’m apparently on a pajama kick, because I’ve bought three pairs recently and I love them all. If I told you that these were so incredibly soft, it wouldn’t do them justice. I can’t believe how soft and comfy they all are. I bought this long sleeve top and pants (I get extra snuggles from my kids when I wear these because they love how soft they are), this shorts/short sleeve set, and this nightshirt (I’m 5’10” and it covers my rear end). Love them all!
My daughter (E) is getting (actually already got) this desk for her 9th birthday. I love it and would use it myself if it were adult sized!
Bought these and these for E’s birthday goodie bags because they made me so nostalgic.
This soap dispenser. I already had one but it broke (after probably 6+ years of being use multiple times per day), and I immediately bought another one. Can’t live without it in my kitchen!
UNO Flip! We love this fun take on UNO…it’s a nice change of pace.

Favorite Fall Recipes

I cannot believe how much it is feeling like fall in Michigan. It’s crazy! It’s making me seriously crave all the fall flavors (although, I haven’t had a pumpkin spice latte yet). Here are some of my faves:

Panera Squash Soup – just like the restaurant version, but a little healthier!
Delicata Squash Tacos – these vegetarian tacos are SO good, especially with pickled red onions
One Pan Sausage Dinner with Fall Vegetables – we have some take on this probably once a week!
Stuffed Acorn Squash – I’m so obsessed with this squash!
Instant Pot Chili – you can’t beat a good bowl of chili on a crisp fall day

Slow Cooker

5 Ingredients

Grilling

Make Ahead

Sheet Pan

Tacos

Pizza

What’s Poppin’