The Little Things Newsletter #481 – Life, laughter, and lots of great food!

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! I’ve spent more time outdoors this past week than I have in a while. The mornings have been gloriously cool and perfect for walking or just rocking on the porch. While I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to summer, I’m very much looking forward to fall with a grin on my face.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: Filled with savory, sweet, and just a little bit spicy ground beef tucked into melting cheese, you’re going to love Korean beef quesadillas. A bit of leftover Korean beef inspired this delicious fusion twist on our late-night quesadilla cravings.

Chicken and vegetables simmer in a creamy filling underneath a flaky biscuit topping to make these irresistible mini chicken pot pies. (I think my youngest would be happy to eat chicken pot pie every single day if I made it that often.) This is also a great way to use up bits of meat or vegetables lingering in the fridge too.

Creamy cottage cheese topped with juicy, sweet peaches, plenty of fresh mint, and a drizzle of honey is about to become your new favorite thing. Please, please, please, can peach season last just a little longer? (Not a fan of cottage cheese? Just use Greek yogurt!)

If there is a dish I could eat all year long, it’s a vegetable-packed pasta salad. I’ve mentioned before, and it holds true with this garden pasta salad, that I like a LOT of vegetables in my pasta dishes. If I can manage a 50/50 ratio of vegetables to pasta, that’s happiness for me.

Love fajitas, but hate standing over sizzling skillets in the summertime? Then these sheet pan chicken fajitas are about to change your fajita-making game.

No-bake cookies have met their match with these no bake chocolate peanut butter bars. They’re the perfect way to end the summer and celebrate everyone heading back to school. It doesn’t get much easier than just stirring everything together and pouring it into a pan.

Creamy, rich, chocolatey Nutella ice cream with a melt-in-your-mouth swirl of Nutella mixed throughout is a dreamy way to satisfy your sweet tooth this summer – or this fall, or winter, or pretty much any time of year, if you’re me.

What I’m CRAVING: A long winter nap. Can I admit that in the midst of summer? There’s something irresistible about a rainy or snowy weekend day when you can curl up on the couch with a cafe con leche, a London fog, or maybe a hot chai latte. In my world, that would include a great book to read or just dozing to my heart’s content. It doesn’t happen often enough, but when it does? It’s almost magical. In the meantime though, we’re still moving nonstop through summer, eating all the salads and cold dishes possible.

My FAVORITE THING this week is this little ice cream maker. (You can see me using it here.) Let me start by telling you that I’m not an affiliate for the company or making a dime to promote them, I am simply as impressed as I could possibly be with this machine.

Ice cream in just FIVE minutes. Let that sink in. Start to finish with no frozen ingredients required, this ice cream is ready to eat in less than 5 minutes. Just pour in the ice cream base and churn the ice cream. It is that simple. I’ve made a lot of ice cream, friends. With over 150 ice cream recipes on my website, I’ve probably churned a thousand batches over the past few years. 

And I have reviewed (at my own cost) pretty much every machine on the market. So, when Josh, the creator of this ice cream maker, reached out to me, I was honestly skeptical. But WOW. Just wow. You can learn more about Tern ice cream and see more videos on their website.

OH! And one more fun fact before I stop rambling about ice cream – due to the way this machine churns without incorporating tons of air, it gets huge bonus points from me for the ability to make ice cream as healthy or indulgent as you like and still deliver smooth and creamy results.

What I’m READING: The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn. The full title of this book is How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary. This is a short book and a fast read, but I really enjoyed it. The book is filled with simple stories of ways that people can impact the lives of others with a little more than a great attitude and positive outlook on day-to-day activities.

Full disclosure, the author annoyed me a few times (likely just his personality coming through), but overall, I still give this book a thumbs up and do recommend it. 

What I’m LISTENING to: I’ve started my mornings with Ellie Holcomb’s All of My Days all week long. This album remains a favorite for me.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.” Psalm 147:3-5 ESV

Wishing you a beautiful week filled with little things that make you smile!

Mary