The Little Things Newsletter #477 – Life, laughter, and lots of great food!

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! What are you up to this weekend? I’m looking forward to a simply fascinating weekend of cleaning out my closet. Are you jealous? I’m over here, genuinely excited about it. We cleaned the garage last weekend (that’s a royal “we” by the way, my middle son did a fantastic job of the garage clean out on his own), and that motivated me to clean out more of my spaces in the house.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK:  It isn’t often that a salad manages to qualify as a full meal for my crew, but this Italian chopped salad checks all the boxes for us, with plenty of meat and cheese, crunchy fresh vegetables, tangy olives and pepperoncini, tossed in a zesty Italian dressing.

I could write an ode to smoked salmon dip at this point. My whole family has fallen in love with this snack. We dip vegetables into it, crackers, and even chips. I’ve smeared it on a bagel and eaten it off a spoon straight from the fridge. You can not go wrong with this one, my friends.

With little more than a few small zucchini and a couple of ears of fresh corn, you can be on your way to piping hot, crispy, craveable zucchini corn fritters. And while you can eat these crispy fritters all year long, they’re especially spectacular made with corn cut straight off the cob in sweet corn season.

And speaking of corn season, fresh corn, crisp peppers and onions, rich cream cheese, and spicy jalapenos are combined in this creamy fiesta corn dip to create a snack worthy of any occasion.

Chock-full of bacon and beef, sweetened with molasses, and simmered until thick and sweet, cowboy baked beans are a favorite for family dinners, barbecues, and potlucks.

Potluck pasta salad is filled with bell pepper, pasta, tomatoes, olives, red onion, and cheese. It’s delicious warm, cold, or at room temperature. This pasta salad is a classic favorite. It is a light and tangy salad that is perfect for summer barbecues, weeknight dinners and lunches, potlucks, and parties.

If you haven’t roasted strawberries before, this is a great time to try it! Creamy strawberry ice cream made with roasted berries is a treat like nothing you can buy at the stores.

Homemade blueberry pie filling tastes so much better than store-bought! And best of all, it’s super easy to make. Use this awesome berry sauce to top pies, cheesecakes, pancakes, or waffles. It’s delicious on ice cream, too!

What I’m CRAVING: Lumpia! (ha, when am I not craving lumpia??) And I just saw that my friend Billy is over there making homemade lumpia wrappers. <insert my gasp here> I can’t wait to try my hand at that now, too.

My FAVORITE THING this week is this Instagram account. Have you seen the Haneline twins? They make me so happy every time I see them.

What I’m READING: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. This is the fifth and newest book in the Hunger Games series, and I really enjoyed it. This is Haymitch’s story. It gives us all the backstory and history and explains a great deal more about the games.

What I’m LISTENING to: Child of God II by Forrest Frank. I stumbled on the song Your Way’s Better a few weeks ago and I’m hooked. (I know, I know, as always, I’m late to the trend, but still – this is so much fun!)

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 NIV

Wishing you a beautiful week full of little things that make you smile!

Mary