The secret to this Better Italian Stuffed Peppers recipe isn’t anything crazy, so why does no one do it? I guess it took a hater of stuffed peppers to make the magic happen.

Motherhood with Joy

My friend recently had her little boy in the hospital with a bad case of pneumonia. Anytime a child, especially one that’s still a young toddler ends up in the hospital, my heart lurches into the reality of time and love. It seems only yesterday and somehow a million years ago that I was lying in a hospital fighting to survive along with an unborn baby doing the same thing, but at my own expense. I lack an awful lot in life, certainly when it comes to parenting, but times like these always remind me of one thing, and I hope it will make sense to say it, at least I’m here.

I may not make perfect decisions or respond to situations perfectly, but oh how I perfectly ache to be a good mother. To remember to love them and to strive a little more to extend that love to those outside of my home. As I honor the gift of motherhood I find myself wondering, what is the secret to motherhood with joy?

My friend’s son made it out of a much longer stay in the hospital than expected. She had so much on her plate and could have lost faith in tomorrow, in medicine, even in God, but she continued on, giving all she could muster each day for him.

I guess that’s it. All I can do it strive each day to begin again and remember that though tempted to lose faith in many things, myself, people and the world, God never loses faith in those things. Maybe I won’t end up with adult children that think I was the best mom, but maybe they will think I was trying to love them. Maybe that’s enough. Just to try to love.

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! This has felt like a really long week for having been just a four-day work week. I’m looking forward to downtime with family and maybe a hike this weekend too.

Starting next week, we’re back to the regular mix of savory and sweet recipes on the website. Anyone else craving some meat, potatoes, and vegetables after seeing so many ice cream recipes??

ON THE BLOG this week: Rich, dark, ultra-smooth, and creamy chocolate meets a hint of orange in Chocolate Orange Ice Cream like no other you’ve ever tasted.

Tart and sweet Roasted Rhubarb Ice Cream is a flavor combo my taste buds crave. The tart pieces of rhubarb are nicely balanced by the sweet cream.

Sweet and slightly tart Cherry Ice Cream is made with just a handful of easy ingredients. No custard base, no eggs, no cooking time, just a quick whirl in the blender with cream, sugar, and cherries.

Dairy Free Chocolate Ice Cream that doesn’t taste dairy-free and doesn’t have any hint of coconut? YES! It is possible and it is fantastic!

Bite-size chunks of Monster Cookie dough are more irresistible than ever when tucked into the Best Ever Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

What I’m CRAVING: Ranch Chicken and Potatoes with Cheese – this dinner is so good! The recipe is one from my first cookbook and my friend Deborah shared the recipe on her site a while back. It’s definitely time to make it again.

What I’m WATCHING: Heartland Season 11. How could I have forgotten about this show? I stumbled on it again the other day and grinned like mad. I have 4 seasons to catch up on now. It’s been fun to watch the characters develop and see how things have changed.

What I’m READING: Mama Bear Apologetics by Hillary Morgan Ferrer. I’m still working through this one. I’ve never called myself a “mama bear,” so admittedly it makes me cringe a bit every time I read those two words, BUT if you can look past that part, this is an excellent reference on teaching your kids apologetics.

If you aren’t already familiar with apologetics, contrary to how it might sound, the word apologetics does not mean saying you’re sorry. Instead, it refers to the defense of what you believe to be true. Understanding apologetics enables us to confidently deal with the intellectual challenges to Christianity. Our faith is grounded in reason, not just feelings, and learning apologetics

Rich, dark, ultra-smooth, and creamy chocolate meets a hint of orange in sweet ice cream like no other you’ve ever tasted.

If you’re skeptical of the chocolate and citrus combination, one taste will be all it takes to convince you. (And if you don’t love the darkest of chocolate, any chocolate you love will work beautifully in this ice cream.)

Chocolate Orange Ice Cream

We tried a Chocolate Orange flavored ice cream while we were in Montreal and Sean declared it the best one he tried throughout our vacation.

It really was fantastic. So, naturally, I couldn’t resist trying my hand at recreating it. Four (maybe it was five ?) batches later, this ice cream has been declared one of Sean’s all-time favorites.

Do you love the chocolate and orange combination too? Don’t miss the EASY to make Chocolate Covered Oranges that my family adores!

Over the years, I’ve made this ice cream with extra dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, regular cocoa powder, and special dark cocoa powder too. It works every single possible way.

Sean and I love it best with the darkest of dark chocolate, however, my boys like it best with semi-sweet chocolate. The final color of the ice cream will be determined by how dark your chocolate is. As you can tell by the photos here, it will vary a good bit.

I’ve made this both with and without orange zest, as well as with store-bought juice. The zest makes a big difference in the results, especially when using fresh orange juice.

Fresh and store-bought orange juice will both work well. The fresh orange juice produces a milder flavor with a little more sweetness to it. The store-bought orange juice was just enough stronger than fresh I preferred it in the end.

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The Move – Part 1

Technically not homeless, but technically we also don’t have a home.

I almost want to tell you we are stressed out of our minds and in a total panic over here, at least that’s what we should be feeling. But the truth is, we made such a crazy and insane decision, one that makes absolutely no sense at all and my gosh, we are riding in the happiest, most hopeful peace I’ve ever felt.

So, with all the questions and so little time to answer why don’t I start back at the beginning and explain what’s really been going on in our lives for the past year and why we sold our home with zero possibilities for a place to rent or buy, why we threw our hearts at @utahrealestatepaige @whitneykimballrealtor and it ended up being one of the many best (and lucrative) decisions we’ve made. Ok, so it all started with Nashville…

We Were Going to Move

Well here’s a problem! I want to keep telling you our story but I don’t know how far back to go! I’ll say this, for three years now I’ve felt very strongly, more so each year that our time in Utah county was closing. By fall last year, I was certain that it would be our last Christmas in this house and I have no answer for you how I knew, I just had been listening so much over the years that it felt like clear knowledge in me, we were going to move. But where?!

We prayed a lot and then some more but nothing felt right. This last fall Cade was again in a position to move into a promotion (one we’d never felt right about before) and this time it not only felt right but certain. We were given a long, long list of places from California to Pennsylvania and Nashville to Nevada plus lots in between and we began praying.
Now don’t get all crazy here, that probably sounds like so much fun but the truth is, a long list and you get to speak up on where to move your family is a huge decision and one that we took seriously to our knees. How do you uproot your family like that? It’s scary, and exciting, wonderful and intimidating!

We expected answers and were willing to go wherever we were needed and could serve those around us, but no clear direction other than, you’ll be leaving Utah county came.

Ughhhh! I was so tempted towards discouragement!

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Bite-size chunks of Monster Cookie dough are more irresistible than ever when tucked into the Best Ever Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

Best Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Let’s talk cookie dough. I have a weakness. Hand me a spoon, a fork, or a mixing bowl, there’s no cookie dough that doesn’t have a siren call for me.

That said, I do play favorites. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream is a classic that I do love. However, it will never trump Monster Cookie Dough for me.

We’re celebrating three weeks of new ice cream recipes this summer with a very cool ice cream maker giveaway! Enter to win the Cuisinart ICE-100 1.5-Quart Compressor Ice Cream Maker by CLICKING HERE and submitting your email. The giveaway ends July 8th, 2022.

The most popular question I get is whether it’s possible to make ice cream without a machine. The answer is YES. You can make ice cream without a machine. Find the full directions here!

Monster Cookie Dough

I’ve had a weakness for Monster Cookie Dough for about as long as I can remember.

I’ve mentioned it before, but a particular friend and I have a history that includes eating almost the entire batch of the dough for our Monster Cookies at times in the past.

This love of the dough led to making Monster Cookie Dough Bites many years ago and now it has led me to the best ever Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

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