Welcome to the weekend, my friends! We’re headed to the Pend Oreille River (in the Idaho and Washington area) this weekend to spend several days vacationing with my sister’s family. I can hardly wait! 

And lest anyone think we’re leaving an empty house behind and talking about it here – spoiler alert, we’re not. But in the meantime, if you have a favorite casual restaurant suggestion in the Newport, WA area, I’d love to hear it.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK:  With an abundance of sweet ripe berries, fresh green spinach, chewy pasta, and a bright and flavorful light balsamic dressing, this strawberry spinach salad is an unexpected and delicious pasta salad.

The best ever bbq meatloaf is here to add variety to your dinner table. Take an easy meatloaf recipe and make it more delicious with the addition of tangy barbecue sauce. 

Follow this super simple guide on how to boil corn and you’ll be enjoying summer’s best in no time at all. Sweet, buttery goodness will be yours!

Is it really summer if you don’t have crazy amounts of zucchini and corn? Whether you’re hitting the farmer’s market for a deal or growing zucchini like it’s your job, this simple yet delicious side dish pairs these two classic warm weather vegetables!

What happens when you combine a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe with white chocolate and freeze-dried raspberries? You wind up with a batch of absolutely irresistible white chocolate raspberry cookies. 

The best ice cream cookie sandwiches start with the best ever perfectly chewy cookies. I’m happy to tell you that I’ve found the cookie recipe that works perfectly when frozen.

You need these buttery sweet chocolate chip cookie dough bites in your life. Each one is filled with miniature chocolate chips in a bite-size chunk of snackable cookie dough!

What I’m CRAVING: It must be the season for porch sitting and cocktail sipping because I’m craving both my friend Meseidy’s whiskey smash and my brother-in-law Jason’s mai tai. It’s a good thing we’re on vacation this week, because both of these are going to be happening soon.

My FAVORITE THING this week is this Hitster game. Y

Hi friends! How are you? The weekend is heeere! What do you have going on? We have some plans with friends and are looking forward to celebrating our favorite guy on Father’s Day. I’d love to hear what you have going on!

Huge congrats to the winners of last week’s giveaway:

Renee

Karla

Jillian

Check your inboxes and I’ll get your prizes on the way 🙂

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love ot hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

(Flower Child date with the crew)

6.14 Friday Faves

Read, watch, listen:

Why did the Moana 2 trailer make me emotional lol.

YOU GUYSSSSSS. I started this… and wow. Booktok did not lie. I don’t know why I fought it for so long, but I’m immersed.

Solo meal ideas.

The big impact we don’t realize we make every day. 

An excellent podcast about breast cancer screening methods.

Fitness, health, and good eats:

Totally making these two huge cookies for the girls. 

How to be a polite group fitness participant.

Blackberry pie bars with oat crumble crust. 

Why cardio is still important.

Got these water bottles for the girls and they’re so good! I love that they don’t leak. I’m going to order one for travel because my hydroflask always leaks, and the Stanley is too huge (and makes a giant mess).

What’s the difference between Orangetheory and F45?

Fashion + beauty:

Been loving this comfy Rails dress. This is one of my favorite brands and they always have great fabric and quality.

Read more

Traeger Smoked Ribs

These Traeger ribs are coated in a bold dry rub and smoked to mouth-watering perfection! They fall right off the bone and are perfect for picnics and BBQs!

The Best Traeger Ribs Recipe

When I went out to South Carolina to meet Cade’s family, he took me to a traditional southern restaurant to try real southern BBQ for the first time. It was delicious!

I couldn’t believe that a dry rub was all that they needed as I’d only had ribs slathered in sauce, but more important than that, they were falling off of the bone. The tenderness could not be beat! I was sold! Since then we’ve tested and tested rib recipes and this one is one of the best smoked rib recipes ever.

We have several rib recipes on the blog that we love, like our slow cooker Asian sticky ribs or our smoky BBQ Instant Pot ribs. They are all different in cooking techniques and flavors, but this is our first smoked ribs recipe — you’re going to love it!

Make a batch of homemade BBQ sauce, and get ready for your mouth to water, your fingers to get messy, and for these Traeger smoked ribs to become a regular on your menu! They are the best ribs I’ve ever had!

Traeger Smoked Pork Ribs Ingredients 

These Traeger pork ribs are flavored both with a dry rub and additional flavorings that are added halfway through the smoking time. A dry rub is simply a blend of dry ingredients that gets rubbed on meat before smoking or grilling. 

Here’s what you’ll need to make the best smoked ribs: 

• Pork Ribs 
• Smoked Paprika
• Dark Brown Sugar
• Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Cumin
• Kosher Salt
• Cayenne
• Honey
• Dijon Mustard
• Apple Cider 

Keep scrolling to the recipe card down below to find the measurements needed for each ingredient.

What Are the Best Ribs for Smoking?

We prefer St. Louis style ribs for smoking, but baby back ribs would also work great. St. Louis style ribs cook fast and have great flavor. Baby back ribs are meatier and may take a little longer to cook to a safe temperature. Spare ribs also work, but they tend to have less meat on them and will need even less time to smoke.

How to Smoke Ribs

We’ve given detailed instructions on how to make smoked pork ribs in the recipe card below. Are you ready for tender ribs that melt in your mouth?? Here are the basics to mastering this Traeger ribs recipe: 

1. Combine the smoked ribs rub ingredients in a small bowl and set it aside.
2. Mix together the mustard and apple cider and brush it all over both sides of the ribs (be sure to remove the silver skin first!).
3. Then, generously

Grilled Flank Steak- My Favorite Balsamic Marinade

There’s nothing quite like a perfect grilled steak and so I’m sharing my secrets on Grilled Flank Steak and my favorite balsamic marinade. 

We went over to one of our friends’ home the other night for dinner. We brought the meat and salad and they supplied side and dessert (oh my gosh it was the most delicious strawberry shortcake. A true favorite of mine!)

I got this recipe from a girl I went to Elementary and Junior High School with. Fast forward 5,000 years, we became friends on facebook and the rest is history! 

Anyway, this is hands down our new favorite way to cook flank steak. If there is one meat recipe you try from me this weekend, make it this one. You will love it forever.

What is Flank Steak?

Flank steak is a somewhat tough but lean cut of beef that is long and flat. It is still quite flavorful but it mostly benefits from a marinade that tenderizes the meat.

Prepared this way, marinated, cooked quickly at high heat, and thinly sliced, flank steak practically melts in your mouth.

What’s in the Marinade?

At first glance, this flank steak recipe might look like a lot of ingredients, but you’ll likely have most of them in your pantry or fridge already. Here is everything you will need…

• Soy Sauce– This adds a lot of flavor and a touch of salt to balance out the sweetness in the marinade.
• Oil– Vegetable is what we use, but you could use olive oil.
• Dark Brown Sugar– Dark brown sugar gives a touch of sweet and balances the salty of the soy sauce, but we prefer dark brown sugar to add a little more depth of flavor.
• Worcestershire Sauce– Umami is the flavor you forget about. Yes, there’s sweet, salty, bitter, sour but did you know umami is that earthy goodness? Worcestershire enhances that in a beef marinade.
• Dijon Mustard–

Sharing tips on how to utilize hot and cold therapy at home. 

Hi friends! How’s the morning going? I hope you’re having a great day so far!

For today’s post, I wanted to talk about hot and cold therapy, especially since they’ve been pretty buzzy topics on social media lately. This natural remedy can provide numerous benefits, so I wanted to share how to do hot and cold therapy safely at home. There are a couple of important reminders and considerations in this post, too!

How To Do Hot And Cold Therapy At Home

Hot and cold therapy is straightforward, requiring only basic items that you likely already have at home.

What Is Hot And Cold Therapy

Hot and cold therapy involves the use of heat and cold to stimulate different physiological responses in the body. It is an affordable and highly recommended remedy for improving overall health and well-being. When you apply heat to an area, it helps to increase blood flow and relax muscles. Cold therapy, on the other hand, constricts blood vessels, reduces inflammation, and stimulates the nervous system.

Alternating between heat and cold can provide comprehensive health benefits by combining the effects of both therapies. Heat can enhance circulation and relax muscles, while cold can reduce inflammation and invigorate the body. This alternation can be particularly effective for boosting circulation, enhancing recovery, and improving immune function.

Potential Benefits of Hot And Cold Therapy

It *can* do all of these things:

Enhance circulation

Reduce inflammation

Stimulate the nervous system

Boost immune function

Relieve muscle tension

Improve skin health

Promote faster recovery

Enhance mental clarity

Increase energy levels

Hot And Cold Therapy At Home

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

To get started with hot and cold therapy, you will need a few basic supplies:

Heat packs or hot water bottles

Ice packs or cold packs

Towels

A timer

****Or you could go total body by alternating time in a sauna with time in a cold plunge.

Step 2: Applying Heat

Heat therapy works by dilating blood vessels and improving blood flow to the area being treated. This can help relax muscles, relieve tension, and promote healing.

Warm the Heat Pack or Hot Water Bottle: Use a microwaveable heat pack or fill a hot water bottle with warm water.

Prepare the Area: Place a towel over the skin to protect it from direct heat.

Apply the Heat: Place the heat pack or hot water bottle on the desired area for 10-20 minutes at a time.

Remove the Heat: Take off the heat source and give your skin a break before reapplying if needed.

Step 3: Applying Cold

Cold therapy involves using ice packs or cold packs to stimulate the nervous system and reduce inflammation.

Prepare the Ice Pack or Cold Pack: Use a commercial cold pack or wrap ic