Loaded Cheeseburger Nachos for the Big Game

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

Loaded cheeseburger nachos are perfect for the Big Game. If you love cheeseburgers, you're going to love this yummy take on your favorite grilled dish, cooked right in your oven with french fries, beef, and bacon. #KetchupWithFrenchs [ad] | super bowl | game day recipe | big game recipe | appetizer | side dish | beef | bacon | bacon cheeseburger |

There’s something seriously divine about biting into a juicy, delicious cheeseburger. My family is pretty serious about our beef and our cheeseburgers– every year, we even buy an entire cow. That’s how much we really, really like burgers. But burgers are just a pain in the booty to make for tailgating and Big Game parties. Getting it just how everyone likes it, making the perfect patty, standing over the grill… that’s not how I want to spend my game time events. That’s why these loaded cheeseburger nachos are perfect. They totally keep the party going, and they have all of the best parts of a cheeseburger– beef, bacon, fries, and delicious ketchup. You can’t go wrong with them!

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Summer Grilling: Fruit and Veggie Skewers with 5-Minute Dips!

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

Looking for an easy summer recipe? Try these 5-minute dips. One is perfect for fresh vegetables, with it's easy cheesy flavor. The other, a fruit dip with tart lemon flavor! You'll love how they taste with these fruit and vegetable skewers-- get your summer grilling tips here! #FireUpTheGrill #Ad

In summer, I totally hate heating up the whole house. I mentioned that recently, and I’ll say it again– dinner is not worth turning an oven on for! That’s why summer dinner is better on the grill. But how often do we think of grilling as being all about the meat? Forget those days– fresh veggies and fruit on the grill are all the rage, and I’ve got the easiest way to do it, plus two dips to pair with dinner!

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An Open Letter To My Son: I Will Protect You

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

I cannot keep you from all bad things, but I will do anything I can to protect you... an open letter to my son, about why I want to protect him and how I plan to do it, without being a helicopter parent. #LoveAndProtect #Ad

Zach, do you remember that time you climbed that tree? I knew you were climbing too high, I just knew that you’d fall, but you urged me to let you, begged me to let go of your hand so you could reach the next branch. And you know what happened? You made it. You reached it. You didn’t fall. I let go, and you stayed safe. It’s in my nature to be a little bit overbearing at times. I’ll always have worries– am I raising you the right way? Are you growing the way you should? How much life insurance should I have in case something happens to me? What sort of things do you need to know before you prepare for kindergarten?

I want to tell you right now that I don’t have all of the answers, but I do want to make you some promises.

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How My Family Celebrates Chinese New Year (And Why It Matters to Us)

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

Chinese New Year is an important celebration, and not just in China! As a homeschooling family, we love to celebrate new holidays and traditions from around the world, and as foreign exchange student hosts, it makes it even more fun! Here's the low-down on what Chinese New Year is all about (and how to celebrate with your family, too!) #NewYearFortune  #ad

After nearly a decade of hosting foreign exchange students, my family is no stranger to sitting down to dinner not knowing who will be there and how many cultures might be represented at the table. It’s opened our eyes to new celebrations (like when our first student taught us all about St. Nicholas Day), but our family, having yet to host a Chinese exchange student, has never gotten the opportunity to celebrate Chinese New Year. We decided to change that this year. And, what better way to celebrate than with some appetizers that are restaurant-inspired and totally delicious?

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3 Ingredient After-school Snacks with Honey Maid Go Bites

When it comes to after school snacks, it can be difficult to find something that is wholesome AND delicious AND easy to make. With these two recipes that have less than 3 ingredients and take minutes to prepare, you'll have a protein-rich snack for your kids before you know it. #ThisIsWholesome #CleverGirls #Ad

After school snacks are difficult. I mean, it’s easy to provide wholesome meals to your kids, and it’s easy to pick delicious snacks, but it can be hard to pick a delicious snack that’s also wholesome and doesn’t take forever to prepare, because let’s face it, we’re all tight on time as we’re rushing from class to the soccer game to the grocery store and everywhere else. That’s where Honey Maid Go Bites come in. Not only are they awesomely delicious pockets of graham cracker-y goodness, but they’re wholesome and perfect for creating some fun recipes with!

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Managing Car Care (When Your Toddler Won’t Cooperate) with Pennzoil

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

You want your car to be safe when you have kids, but when do you have time for the maintenance like oil changes? It's surprisingly easy, you just have to #DropShopandOil. #ad

Having a toddler is not at all what I expected. While I do truly savor every minute of it, I also cannot figure out how to squeeze in things like breakfast, or shaving my legs, or, y’know, oil changes, on a regular basis. At the same time, as a mom, I’m not satisfied with my car maintenance not being taken care of when it should– an unsafe car is NOT an option when you have a child riding along. Short of hiring a sitter so I could get an oil change, I was really clueless about what to do…

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Cranberry Pecan Tea Cake Bars featuring Bigelow Tea and Truvia Natural Sweetener

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

Looking for the best treat to pair with Bigelow tea? Try this tea cake, which is easy to make, sweetened with no-calorie Truvia natural sweetener, and doesn't taste "diet" at all. It's delicious and filled with flavor-- perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea time. #SweetWarmUp #ad

 

It’s no secret that I’m quite the coffee addict. And with coffee comes a very strong-handed pour of flavored creamer, which, you know, has all kinds of sugar… and calories… and other fun stuff that is far from healthy OR natural. As I’ve worked really hard to lose some of the weight I put on over the past couple of years, I realized I had to make some changes. That meant cutting back on coffee (it’s just too hard to drink it without the flavored creamer) and cutting back on my sugar intake, too. That’s where Bigelow Tea and Truvia zero-calorie natural sweetener come in. And what’s tea time without a delicious, low-sugar treat? That’s where this delicious cranberry pecan tea cake come in! Made with Bigelow Tea and Truvia natural sweetener, you’ll not even believe me when I say it’s low-sugar, because it doesn’t taste like it!

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Müller Ice Cream Sundae Yogurt Mini Pies

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. Any opinions are my own. #MüllerMoment #CollectiveBias

Looking for a really indulgent, flavorful treat? Try these Ice Cream Sundae yogurt pies, which are made with Muller Ice Cream Inspired yogurt. Packed with nutrition, these are a hit at any party, with all ages, and are a more nutritious way to indulge. Plus, look at that hot fudge!   | #ad | #mullermoment | yogurt recipe | mini pie party recipe | easy recipe | 5 ingredients or less |

Is anything better than an indulgent treat at the end of a long day? Well, I think a not-so-bad for you indulgent treat may be better! I grew up an ice cream addict. My family regularly had homemade ice cream at celebrations and holidays, and I love sitting down with a bowl of ice cream at night. And my favorite flavor? Mint chip. Mmmm… Müller created a line, brand new in stores, of ice cream inspired yogurt, and they even have a mint version… and when life gives you ice cream inspired yogurt, it’s pretty much a given you’re going to make a delicious sundae-inspired treat, right?

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12 Can’t-Miss Ways to Use Zipzicles! (And a Giveaway)

Growing up, it was clear that summer wasn’t summer without the industrial size bag of ice pops in the freezer. They were perfect– no stick, no drips, and you could let it melt most of the way before drinking that sickly-sweet syrup inside. That’s an experience for the ages, one I wanted my son to experience, but at the same time, I hoped for an option that would maybe be a bit better for him… and for me as I indulged in one, two, fifteen ice pops on the hottest days of the year.

Enter Zipzicles, which are pretty much the coolest thing since frozen water. I mean, they have all of the classic trademarks of summer– they’re plastic, just like the ice pops you remember, and they’re able to be filled with anything you can imagine. But even better, they’re reusable or disposable, whichever you prefer, and they’re re-sealable. I don’t know about your kids, but it seems like Zach gets halfway through an ice pop and gets bored, leaving the rest to melt all over or just be thrown away. I didn’t like either of those options, so the zip-seal on these is just amazing for ending the half-eaten ice pop battle.

The best part is that they’re recyclable, and they’re food-grade materials that are third-party tested to be BPA free. Woohoo for safety!

But I knew that just filling them with the same thing over and over was bound to get boring, so I wanted to get creative and figure out everything my Zipzicles could hold.

Zipzicles are perfect for making your own applesauce pouches for kids– at 2.5 ounces, it’s just the right amount, and it’s far cheaper than buying store-bought pouches. You can fill them from the large container of applesauce, or even make your own sauce for a healthy treat. And because the Zipzicle is flexible, it takes up far less room in a picnic basket than an applesauce cup.

Of course, you can also make your own yogurt-on-the-go pouches, which it seems ALL kids love. I personally buy the off-brand 38-cent yogurt at my store, and it fills 2 pouches. You can’t beat that price! If you freeze the Zipzicle overnight, then toss it in a lunch box in the morning, it helps keep food cool and will be perfectly thawed when it’s time to eat.

I can’t tell you how many times I go to the fridge and someone has drank all but the last bit of juice. There’s not enough for a full glass, but there’s also no way I want to just toss it. The solution? I pour it into a Zipzicle. The far-left ice pop is actually the  rest of some Mango Juicy Juice with bits of chopped mango tossed in for some real fruit flavor– yum! The mango pop is probably Zach’s absolute favorite, and like I said, it rids me of the last-drops-of-juice problem.

You can also tailor Zipzicles to your party theme or color by buying drinks that match the theme, then freezing them. For a red-white-and-blue idea, I went with a blue raspberry punch, a white grapefruit juice, and a red fruit punch. I filled the pop 1/3 of the way with the red, froze it until solid, filled it 1/3 of the way with the white, froze it until solid, and finished with the blue to the fill line. It made for a very festive pop without much work.

I’ve also noticed that when Zach and I make smoothies, we end up having some leftovers there, too. The pop on the right is just leftover Mango-Pineapple smoothie from the post last Friday. It’s a great way to make the most out of smoothies– just make a little extra when you’re whipping up your morning favorite, and pour it into a Zipzicle for a frozen treat later.

I can’t get enough of citrus in the summer, and one summer treat I always love is a cherry limeade. I took some key limes, squeezed them, then added grenadine. I mixed in a generous splash of lemon lime soda, then let the mixture rest until most of the carbonation was gone (freezing carbonation tends to be messy unless it’s very diluted and left to flatten a bit). As I filled the Zipzicle, I added in some slices of key lime and some diced maraschino cherries as a pretty garnish!

I also love the Passion Tea Lemonade sold by a certain (cough Starbucks) coffee chain. I make my own version by brewing some lemonade in my Keurig over a bag of Tazo passion tea, then chilling it until it’s cool. I then fill up Zipzicles for my very own frozen twist on a Passion Tea Lemonade, which is SO refreshing after a trip to the park.

I also love taking my favorite sweet tea, squeezing in some lemon, and then filling a Zipzicle with sweet tea for the best southern-style sweet tea treat in the world. It’s so perfect because I can customize it however I’d like.

There’s one New York Eatery that became famous for it’s frozen hot chocolate, and it makes sense why– the stuff is delicious. While this isn’t a duplicate by any means, the idea of hot chocolate served cold is always a great one. I froze my favorite hot chocolate, and garnished it with a little whipped cream at the very top. Pretty and delicious! Pair a frozen hot chocolate pop with some fake snowballs and you have everything you need for a winter party in summer!

I also often make Zipzicles filled with my favorite coffee. How many times have you brewed yourself a cup of coffee only to forget to drink half of it? Well, rather than dumping my cold, forgotten coffee down the drain, or microwaving it only to forget that I’ve put it in the microwave (darn you, mommy brain!), I pour it into a Zipzicle to enjoy frozen later. It’s a great way to re-use my forgotten coffee without any effort, and what coffee fan doesn’t love a decent iced coffee now and then? Bonus points– if your coffee is too hot, you can just break off pieces of this and throw it into your cup of joe to cool it off without watering it down.

But Zipzicles aren’t just for frozen treats. Zach and I love to go on picnics, or at least have picnics in the floor. Using Zipzicles to contain condiments instead of using the individual packets makes it so much more convenient, and cheaper. Now, we never pack a sandwich without a Zipzicle of mayo or have  hot dogs at the park without a Zipzicle of ketchup. It’s just so much easier than fumbling with bottles or paying for individual packets when we go out! It’s also a great solution for sandwiches packed on road trips– then they won’t get soggy from being slathered with mayo before-hand, but also won’t be dry from no condiments at all!

I also use a Zipzicle to contain the pizza sauce for my homemade pizza lunchables, as you saw on Wednesday.

You can even use Zipzicles for pre-measured formula powder. I mean, instead of buying those little expensive packets of formula, try buying a container of formula and measuring out the powder you need. Write mixing instructions on the label and you’re all set!

If you can’t live without Zipzicles another second, you can check out their website here and order some of your very own. Social media addict? Check them out on Facebook, or follow them on Pinterest for tons of great ideas.

There are literally hundreds of ways to use a Zipzicle and so many things you can fill it with, but these are a dozen of my favorite ideas, and I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below. What would you freeze in a Zipzicle? Tell me in the comments and you’ll be entered to win a package of Zipzicles to use at home! One lucky winner will get their own package so they can try all of the ideas above and any others they can imagine!

 

The contest will run until Friday, May 23, at 11:59 CDT. Only US residents 18 or older may enter. For full disclosure, Zipzicles by WizCo were provided to me for use in this post, but all opinions and thoughts are my own.