This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Wet-Nap but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #showusyourmess  http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

Hello friends and a happy Monday to you! I'm excited to share with you a fun way to welcome spring and enjoy candy leftovers. Around our house, the Easter Bunny sent a few more Peeps and peanut butter eggs than all of us together can consume. This year, we used these treats in our own sort of welcome spring party. I know that it's been spring according to the calendar for quite a while now, but here in the Midwest the temperatures have finally turned warm enough for us to be outside doing our usual things - blowing bubbles, enjoying nature, and eating outside.

So we put together a S'mores Bar in a basket. And then we fired up the grill to roast our marshmallows. Each of my three children have distinct taste in s'mores (of course) so we added in a little something for everyone.

M, the oldest, adores peeps and can gobble an entire container in a sitting. She created a peep-chocolate-chocolate sauce masterpiece that was delicious and a whole lot of mess. *Don't try this at home unless you have clean-up tools easily accessible. We kept a Wet-Nap pack with us to make sure we could do a quick wipe of hands, faces (and even hair!).

C, our middle, is a huge fan of peanut butter cups (so am I), and she made her s'more with a peanut butter egg and marshmallow. In the end, she won for messiest with marshmallow on her face, hands, hair, and clothes!

L, our youngest, is not one for getting too messy. He's also not a fan of marshmallows. So, he created a s'more with chocolate bars and sprinkles. He pretty quickly ditched the graham crackers and had chocolate bars covered in sprinkles. It's a good combination - couldn't fault him there.

We topped off our s'mores eating with a great game of wiffle ball, and it felt like the hibernation is finally over! Welcome spring.

This week brings more sunshine, softball and soccer games, and some quality time breathing in the fresh air! Have you made any s'mores yet this season? It's never to early to make the delicioius combination.

xoxo, MJ

P.S. If you want to show off your messy ones and enter to win a $1,000 giftcard to Walmart and a year's supply of Wet-Nap click over to the contest that ends June 16, 2015.

P.P.S. Print a coupon while supplies last for any Wet-Nap product over here. I grabbed ours at Walmart because, well, they have everday low prices.

Happy Tuesday, friends! I missed you all. Did you have a restful holiday weekend?

We had a fabulous three days of no alarm clocks, sprinklers and s'mores, vegetable garden planting, and good old-fashioned hanging-out-with-friends time. It was just what we all needed.

And now, to get back in to the last round of activities before the school year ends.

I had a little extra time in the kitchen this weekend, and I wanted to share with you some yumminess we put together for a sweet little BBQ/water play date with friends. I was able to shop my own herb garden to make this salsamole (it's got too many tomatoes for a traditional guacamole and too many avacados for a traditional salsa so I've named it salsamole). It's super fresh and pairs nicely with a lime salted tortilla chip.

I became acutely aware of how much I am not a food blogger as I was making this and trying to shoot attractive photos. So I'll offer the throw away line that this tastes so much better than it looks (although it looked better than it photographed, too). And I'll tell you that food photographers are geniuses.

I got this lovely recipe from a friend and adapted a few things here and there to make it just to my liking! So, here you goes...You'll need:

7 medium tomatoes (romas are awesome here, but if you can't get them, or only have big or small tomatoes, think the equivalent of seven medium tomatoes. I am a no stress ingredient kind of chef so make some good guesses, it'll still taste great.) Cut these guys up to about a 1/4 inch.

3 large ripe (Haas) avacados, diced about the same size as the tomatoes

1 1/2 c of thawed frozen corn kernels

1 T of corn oil

3 T of chopped green onions (we took our scissors out to the garden!)

1/4 c fresh cilantro (again, hooray for a short trip to the herb store for us)

1 t pickled jalapeno

1 t minced garlic

1 1/2 t salt

3 T lime juice

1/2 t cumin

1 t apple cider vinegar

 

(this photo is taken from inside the bowl. Be the ingredient.)

Preheat your oven to 450. Put the corn on a baking sheet and toss it with the oil. Roast, tossing once, for 7-8 minutes until golden good. Let corn cool.

Fold tomatoes, avacados, cilantro, green onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Stir in the vinegar, lime juice, vinegar, salt, cumin. Add in the cooled corn.

Cover and refrigerate. Can be made up to 24 hours ahead. Pair with a great chip and eat quickly...your family will try to gobble it up before you can get your helping. Oh wait, maybe that's just in my home. :) Happy eating.

And if tomatoes and all those vegetable aren't your thing. Well then here's to many happy s'mores.

It's beginning to look a lot like summer around here. And I love it!

Hoping you found a little bit of Heaven peeking out from around the corner this weekend...and that you keep it with you as we head back into the usual.

XOXO,
MJ