Welcome to the weekend, my friends! We’ve had a great week with family visiting, driving out to watch the eclipse in totality (so many thoughts here, but WOW sums it up), celebrating my niece’s birthday, playing games, and cooking so much food. You know it’s been a relaxing time when I’m now happily looking forward to several straight days of work. (But first, we’ll enjoy the rest of the weekend!)

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: Loaded with our favorite Mexican flavors; this southwest chicken soup is slightly spicy with chunks of tomatoes, corn, black beans, and tender chicken. I like to top the steaming bowls of soup with a handful of shredded cheese and the entire family gives this dinner two thumbs up. The best part? You can make this soup in just TEN minutes!

Mango corn salsa is a sweet and spicy treat boasting a satisfying crunch of fresh corn and mild jalapeno heat. Whether it’s scooped over grilled chicken or served on its own with chips for dipping, it disappears fast.

Creamy, sweet, and tangy poppy seed dressing lightly coats each bite of this broccoli slaw salad. With crisp fresh broccoli and carrots, the bite of red onion, the crunch of pecans, and the sweet chewy fun of dried cranberries, this broccoli salad is a terrific side dish for almost any meal.

Bursting with sweet and slightly tart blueberries, this blueberry simple syrup will elevate your lemonades, pancakes, and cocktails with the essence of pure summer goodness.

Oh, my friends, these blueberry lemon bars turned out even more amazing than I hoped! With sweet bursting blueberries in every bite of the tangy lemon bars, they proved irresistible for me.

These buttery, not-too-sweet glazed lemon cookies have a mild lemon flavor and a sweetly tart lemon glaze. They have been a hit with everyone who tries one.

As much as we all love a good old-fashioned banana split ice cream sundae, I’m here to tell you that banana split ice cream is a whole new world of homemade ice cream.

What I’m CRAVING: Hot pretzels! I have a somewhat ridiculous weakness for fresh pretzels. There’s a pretzel shop in our village and I rarely resist stopping in when their light is on. (Thankfully, the shop is only open two days a week!) In the meantime, when the local pretzels aren’t available, we can make our own using

Hi friends! Happy Friday!! How was the week? I hope you had an amazing one. Ours was good; busy as usual, but time for some fun in the mix of school and work stuff.

What’s going on this weekend? P has a basketball game and a birthday party, and it’s her First Communion. We’re having brunch to celebrate with the fam. Liv has dance, it’s our nephew’s bday, and the Pilot and I have a date night. We also want to plant all of the spring/summer flowers and veggies! I let everything die last year with the eye saga, so I’m looking forward to starting over. I’d love to hear what you have going on.

(Pic from a fun event last weekend with friends)

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 to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

Friday Faves. 4.12

Read, watch, listen:

So excited to be a guest on the IHP Coach Success podcast this week. You can check out the episode here.

Devouring this book! Abby Jimenez is one of my fave spring/summer authors because her books are perfectly light and fluffy, with fun storylines and witty banter.

The best advice I’ve heard in ages.

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As much as we all love a good old-fashioned banana split ice cream sundae, I’m here to tell you that banana split ice cream – it’s a whole new world of homemade ice cream.

Creamy, freshly churned banana ice cream is swirled with crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries, peanuts, and chocolate chips to create this ice cream.

Banana Split Ice Cream Sundae

Each scoop of banana split ice cream is a whole explosion of flavor and when you take scoops of this ice cream and top them with whipped cream, it’s an ice cream sundae everyone wants to dive into.

There’s just something fun and nostalgic about the flavors of a classic banana split. That’s probably why we enjoy these Banana Split Brownie Trifles so much. Well, that and the fact they’re pretty awesome too, with layers of vanilla pudding, fudge brownies, fresh berries, and sliced bananas.

And for the next weekend morning when you want a special treat? Happy memories of childhood banana splits meet the morning comfort of pancakes in these Banana Split Pancakes.

Banana Split Ice Cream

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this recipe:

• bananas
• sugar
• heavy cream
• milk
• vanilla extract
• crushed pineapple
• maraschino cherries
• chopped peanuts
• mini chocolate chips

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Hi friends! Happy humpday! Looking for a booty workout? Check out this one; it’s one of my very faves. I hope you’re enjoying the week so far!

Spring Quinoa Salad with Artichokes, Feta, and Asparagus

When I first wrote this post, we had just gotten back from an awesome Vegas vacay. It was so good to get back into the swing of things and back in the routine of the girls’ classes and lessons, teaching fitness classes, and catching up on work stuff.  It also felt good to eat some home-cooked food! When we travel, I try to stick to one indulgent meal each day and go for my normal eats for the most part, but Vegas is a little different. It was easy for me to make healthy choices for breakfast, but you definitely have to take advantage of all of the fantastic entree and dessert options. 😉

I was also like, “I can’t wait to eat a vegetable when we get back” but then I looked in our fridge, it was pretty much empty, and I ended up eating coconut milk salted caramel ice cream for lunch. I guess I was still in Vegas mode. 😉 Once I was finally able to replenish the fridge, I created this little on-the-fly salad with some of the new grocery stash.

This salad is perfect for any upcoming spring parties or picnics, and includes two of the “great A’s”: artichokes and asparagus. It has fresh, flavorful, and bright lemon flavors from the lemon juice + zest, and since it’s quinoa-based, it’s sturdy enough to last a few days in the fridge so you can make it in advance! I made it as part of this week’s meal prep (along with some grilled chicken, amazeballs, and protein baked oatmeal) so I could easily eat it alone on top of salad greens or with grilled chicken or tuna for an easy lunch.

This salad is filling and satisfying, plus it’s gluten-free. Vegan friends can omit the feta cheese, or add in their favorite vegan cheese, for a vegan option

Plus it’s one of those, “toss everything in a bowl and forget about it” kinda recipes, which means I’m a fan.

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Sharing the latest guide I’ve created that you can download completely free here. 

Hi friends! How are you? I hope that you’re having a wonderful day so far! I’m off to the kids’ school for a bit and looking forward to recording a podcast episode for IHP later today.

For today, I wanted to share something that I’ve been working on creating behind the scenes for quite a while now: a master resource guide with all of my favorite wellness products.

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Free wellness resources list

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This free wellness resource list is more than just a collection of products; it’s a roadmap to healthier living. I’ve done the research, tested countless products, and curated only the best-of-the-best for my reader friends. Whether you’re looking to boost your energy levels, support your immune system, or simply live a more balanced life, this resource list has you covered.

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And Much More: From supplements to superfoods, at-home workouts to mindfulness resources, this resource list is packed with valuable tools and information to help you thrive in every area of your life.

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Ready to access our free wellness resource list? Simply sign up using the form here and you’ll receive instant access to this comprehensive guide. Whether you’re a wellness newbie or a seasoned pro, this resource list can be your go-to source to take things to the next level.

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