Menu Monday | New Recipes To Try

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 26, 2017 // 3 Comments

It’s the last Monday of the month! That means I’m teaming up with my friends Come Home for Comfort and Polka-Dotty Place to share our favorite recipes from this past month that you HAVE to try!

This entire month just FLEW by and I’m shocked another month is over. That means only a few months left of summer (yay!) and sweating and bugs and making jeans uncomfortable and ovens annoying to turn on…. do ya feel me?

During June I had a chance to try out a new cookbook – Love Real Food by Kathryne Taylor, the blogger behind my #1 favorite food blog, Cookie + Kate. It’s a great cookbook! The recipes are simple but delicious, and I love how each recipe has a way to modify it. There are suggestions to swap out veggies or grains if you don’t have the specific ingredient on hand. Or suggestions to make the recipe vegan or gluten free. It’s a simple, real foods cookbook that even a beginner cook could master.

As for recipes, there were some summer favorites that entered the rotation!

Austrian Potato Salad | This is a mayo-free potato salad that is OH so delicious! It’s packed with flavor thanks to mustard. It’s just the best thing ever. I have to be careful when I make this – can’t make too large of a batch or I am tempted to eat the whole thing in one sitting!

Parmesan Garlic Roasted Baby Potatoes | I’ve had this recipe at least 5 times at my mother-in-law’s house, and I love it each time. I decided to whip up a batch for a fun weeknight side. It’s one of those recipes that looks fancy and full of effort, but it was easy as pie. (well… maybe not pie… pie is hard!)

Kale Sweet Potato Curry | One evening I was cruising Pinterest and saw this pin for meals to make when you don’t feel like cooking. Win! It was the perfect recipe for the moment. I had a pile of kale and sweet potato that I had intentions for but little motivation. So I instead decided it would be better if they became a curry. Because nothing screams summer like a curry, right? But seriously, when you’re craving comfort food but don’t want to fire up the oven, a curry is your friend! And this was definitely cheaper than take-out Thai food.

What are some amazing recipes you’ve tried lately? Have you peeked in your trusty recipe box recently?

Follow Whitney’s board New Recipes We Tried And Loved! on Pinterest.

High Five for Friday #128 – So So Tired + A Scare

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 23, 2017 // 8 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Becky, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

I’m so grateful for these H54F posts. It keeps me in the loop! And honestly, lately it’s the only post I’m consistently here. Mercy!

1. Father’s Day was a great day! I really think my husband had a fantastic, but quiet day. We had breakfast at home, and then he and Elizabeth tackled creating a walking path through our woods. It didn’t take them as long as we thought, actually. We’ve been using it all week. I need to take you all on a little tour via Instastories!

2. Our little summer camp has been fun! This week was Cooking Week! So we headed out to the farmer’s market on Tuesday to pick out some yummy produce. And then Wednesday and Thursday have been some hands on “make your own food” fun! Every kid needs to know how to make their own PB&J and cut up their own strawberries, right?

3. Can I tell you a funny story? I’ve been exhausted for weeks. Like the “I could nape at 2PM, 5PM, and head to bed early” kind of tired. I was so tired that when I dropped Elizabeth off at a friend’s house for a play date it took me a good solid minute to figure out that I had the car in drive… and not reverse in order to back out of their driveway. I mean, we’re talking complete confusion/road rage at myself. And THEN on the way back from the Farmer’s Market, instead of driving home, I drove PAST our neighborhood all the way to Elizabeth’s school… haha didn’t even realize it until we were pulling into the parking lot and Elizabeth said “Mom, why are we at school?”. HA!

4. The world was out to get me this week. My favorite jeans developed a hold… in the crotch area! Of all the places to rip, why couldn’t it be a strategic, lovely knee rip? Why did it have to be the crotch? I’m debating whether to replace the jeans with the exact same pair or get another kind. I really loved these jeans from Talbots! But not if it means another crotch rip. (Ugh… why is that word icky?) Anyone have a favorite pair of jeans that are higher-waisted (I’m a mom) and ankle length?

5. We had a bit of a William scare this week. He’s totally fine! But it was still a scare. He was sitting on my lap while I was on FaceTime with my parents… and he grabbed the place mat and pulled a VERY hot, fresh cup of coffee down on him and me. Ugh! Thankfully my reaction times in a crises are super fast, unlike my normal, every day reactions. I put him on the floor, whipped his clothes and diaper off and dropped him in the sink to spray him with cold water. He wasn’t burned at all, but he was really annoyed he needed to be hosed off with cold water. Don’t blame him…

This is particularly frightening because when I was 8 months old I pulled a cup of fresh, hot tea onto my clothes-covered arm. I still have a huge scar on my left arm. I just don’t want that to happen to either of my kids… mercy.

Today’s featured blogger is Kait from CommuniKait! Kait is a lifestyle blogger living in Hawaii (awesome!) so you know you’ve got gorgeous pics to look at on her blog! She’s also got some delicious recipes, like these spicy tomatillo salsa shooters. Swing over and say hello to Kait!!

How was your week?? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

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High Five for Friday #127 – Summer Goes On and On and On

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 16, 2017 // 3 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Becky, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

You know it was a good week when you start to think about it and you realize there are zero pictures! That means I was totally in the zone. 🙂

1. William took his first “official” steps during his birthday party a few weeks ago. But I had not been able to capture it on camera! I finally caught a good video of him walking towards me, and it was the cutest thing ever! Poor Elizabeth, though, getting shooed!

FINALLY captured a video of him walking!! He took his first steps at his first birthday and he's been steadily improving every day! #lookout #firststeps #oneyearold

A post shared by Katie (@ktcupoftea) on Jun 11, 2017 at 6:13am PDT

2. Any other moms starting to drag already? Summer has been fun, and it’s nice to have open days to do fun things. But I’m running out of care… I keep thinking June is over, but then I look at the calendar and see basically 2 full weeks left. Bah!

3. One thing we’ve been doing this summer to help is having weekly themes! Another mom and I teamed up and we’ve been having fun! Last week was Jungle Week. And this week was Art Week. So far, we’ve each taken one morning to come up with crafts, games and snack that’s “to theme” (loosely, mind you!). And then a third day is a field trip. Today we’re heading to the art museum! Elizabeth is pretty excited, actually! It’s been a fun way to help the summer! And our kids are REALLY loving it! We also try to pick a word for the week to use. Something large and fancy. It is really nice to have friends who are willing to do this with you!

It's #artweek over here at our house! Rounded up some of our favorite books about art and color that we already had, as well as a few new reads from our library! @durhamcountylibrary #locallibrary #fancynancy #summerreading

A post shared by Katie (@ktcupoftea) on Jun 14, 2017 at 1:46pm PDT

4. Elizabeth has been doing Vacation Bible School all week! It meant we’ve had some late evenings… boo…. but she has LOVED IT! She memorized all the songs immediately, got super into the theme and really understood all the concepts. I’ll admit, it was sweet seeing her love it. I stayed a little longer each night just to watch her sing the songs and dance around.

William lived for VBS every night. They fed everyone dinner, and William was just thrilled! And then I noticed that he was starting to recognize the songs too, and was bouncing in his high chair every time a song kicked on, especially the Theme song. What a hoot!

If your kids are signed up to do the Fun Maker Factory VBS, you can find the theme songs on YouTube! Then you can practice at home 😉

5. If you’re not following along with my InstaStories, you’re missing out. That’s basically the only place where I’ve had a chance to share. Blogging has become SO hard to squeeze in… and finding quiet time to film a video is basically impossible this summer. So head over to Instagram for more consistent updates 🙂

Today’s featured blogger is Meg from Borrowed Heaven! Meg lives in Charleston, South Carolina, and blogs all about her life as a newlywed! Check out her recent summer bucket list, I’m all about her goal of trying 5 new restaurants in Charleston! What a yummy city to explore! Swing over and say hi to Meg!

How was your week?? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

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High Five for Friday #126 – The Week of No Pictures

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 9, 2017 // 5 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Becky, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

You know it was a good week when you start to think about it and you realize there are zero pictures! That means I was totally in the zone. 🙂

1. I made a mistake on LinkedIn… For whatever reason I decided to log in to LinkedIn this week (haven’t done that for almost 2 years!) and started clicking around on old co-workers’ profiles, just to see what was up with them. Turns out those folks all saw that I had viewed their profiles, so I got several emails the next day about “when I was coming back to work”. Ooops! Not today, friends. Not today… but question for those of you that did go back to work after having kids, when did you know the time was right?

2. Elizabeth had to go to the dentist this week, and I’m pretty confident she thought it was the best day ever. She was SO happy the entire time. I love her “happy to be here” spirit!

3. I have a fun side project going on right now. My dad recently retired, but is now setting up his consulting business (as one does once they retire. Seriously… is this a normal thing in retirement???). So he’s enlisted the help of his marketing-background daughter who now also has online marketing experience (yay me!). He also has a cracker-jack graphic designer on board (hooray for my sister!). So it’s been fun talking “business” with him and getting him all set up. You’d think that a former VP of a huge consumer goods company would be able to figure things out, but he does actually need his daughter duo team. Right now I’ve been mapping out his website and brand messaging. I’ve ACTUALLY got a huge sheet of paper taped to the wall of the playroom where I’ve been mind mapping it all out. I LOVE IT!

4. Date night last night was a hoot. We actually started out at a different restaurant just for drinks with some of my husband’s co-workers. It was nice to put names and faces together. We didn’t anticipate staying as long as we did! But it was fun chatting with everyone. I actually love being in the situation of not knowing anyone in a group. It’s like a secret mission to find one thing in common with each person so you have a talking point.

5. I read a pretty powerful verse this week, and it’s stuck with me. Isn’t it amazing to know that the Creator of the Universe, this big God, actually takes personal interest in you?

This verse shouted at me today. It just did. I rambled on #instastories a bit about what's been going on in my brain for several months. But…. this verse was my manna for today.

A post shared by Katie (@ktcupoftea) on Jun 6, 2017 at 12:40pm PDT

Today’s featured blogger is Jennie from A Pocketful of Polka Dots! She’s a great fashion blogger with so many great, affordable looks!! Be sure to check her out and say hi!

How was your week?? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

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High Five for Friday #125 – Partay!

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 2, 2017 // 7 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Becky, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

It was an average week, but an EXTRA fun holiday weekend! Here are my 5 favorite moments from William’s family birthday party!

1. It was a BLAST having all our family here to celebrate William’s first birthday! Our families don’t get to see one another often, but when they do, they have a great time! It was so glorious to hear all the laughter and stories!

2. William’s party was a Peter Rabbit-themed party. I’ll share a little more next week, but I chose this theme mainly out of laziness 🙂 I have a ton of rabbit things from Easter, and my MIL had a few Easter Peter Rabbit things… so bam! A Peter Rabbit themed party it was! And William had a Peter Rabbit outfit that belonged to my husband that was perfect. So a pretty easy party to put together.

3. William looked so cute in his high chair with the balloons behind him! I ended up buying a helium tank (WalMart has the best price, FYI!) to just have on hand for spur-of-the-moment balloons, so it was easy to blow these all up the night before the party. My husband, my SIL and myself had quite the time with that helium while decorating! HA!

4. If you haven’t seen this video, you must! William figured out how to blow the party horn, and it was the CUTEST thing ever!

He figured out how to toot his birthday horn! ?❤️? #oneyearold #birthdayboy

A post shared by Katie (@ktcupoftea) on May 28, 2017 at 11:59am PDT

5. One of William’s gifts was picked out by his cousin, who is currently obsessed with the Apollo 11 mission (not bad for a 3 year old! HAHA!). She chose a rocket! William wanted me to immediately open it up and take it for a spin. And he promptly walked away with it and kept crashing it everywhere! Watch your toes!

It was such a fun birthday party! It took us a week to recover, but it was a blast 🙂

Today’s featured blogger is Jackie from My Sort of Adult Life! Her blog is stuffed full of exciting adult-ish antics! Love this easy recipe for gluten free blueberry muffins! And her review of her favorite Origins products has me wanting to book a trip to the Origins store here ASAP! Swing over and say hello to Jackie!

How was your week?? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

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