Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

Mmmmmmm......Hummus.

I Love the stuff. 

Luuuvvv it.

It all started with a sample at Sam's Club. Which led to me buying a tub of hummus every other week.  Although tasty and delicious, I figured I could save a couple of pennies & make the stuff myself.  And I make this every other week, because I eat it every day.

 It's so easy to make....basic ingredients.

And so easy to make thanks to my awesome food processor

Yummo!

Here's how I make mine:

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

Enjoy!

I'm linking up to these fabulous places this week:

Weekly Winners: April 17-23

First off, I had a craving this last week.

Oh, I was wanting strawberries.

So first, I made from scratch Strawberry cake

Oh the strawberryness

And then I made Fresh Strawberry Pie for my husband {or me}

This week also marked a hopeful journey into spring

The boys mowed the lawn {the first of the season}

I marveled at my growing garden

I giggled at the prospect of my flowering tulip bulbs

I enjoyed my quiet time

We decorated cookies

And we decorated eggs

I am a happy girl :)

To go see other lovely entries, head over here:

Cold Weather Crops

As we start coming out of the cold winter months, nearing closer to summer, I dream/think about our garden for that year.

I really enjoy having a garden.  There's something to be said for having fresh produce in the house. 

Here is our lovely garden so far-not much to look at, but it has so much potential.

What am I excited for:

Spinach.  Some baby spinach to add to salads.  Only salads.  I don't do cooked spinach.

Fresh Lettuce.  Lettuce that will continue growing even after I snip some off.

Onions.  I decided that since I've been buying onions everytime I've gone shopping, we should just plant some.  And the great thing about onion bulbs is that I can get both green onions {by planting the bulbs closer together} and regular softball sized white onions {by planting the bulbs farther apart}.

I planted this parsley 2 years ago, and it's coming back in full swing.  This is one of the many herbs that I plan on having this year.

Strawberry Pie

Oh.  I've got Strawberries on the Brain!  Or should I say, I've got Strawberries on the Tastebuds ;)

Saturday, I made a fabulous Strawberry Cake.  I had leftover strawberries, so I decided to make my wonderful hubby a strawberry pie-from scratch.  No boxes of gelatin for this gal.

I went with a graham cracker-ice cream cone crust.  Yes I said ice cream cone.  I only had one package of graham crackers, and that was just not enough.  I got a great deal {at only 25 cents per box} on sugar cones and they worked perfectly at a crust substitute.

Crust aside, my favorite thing was the filling itself.  I added the zest & juice of a lemon, which I thought perfectly complimented the strawberries.

I so very much enjoyed this dessert.  Here's how I made it:

Strawberry Pie

Enjoy!

I'm linking this recipe to these Fabulous sites:

Cilantro Pesto Pasta Salad

Ahhh.

I think I've caved in.

Cilantro & Lime are now my friends.  My tasty new friends.

See, I used to be not able to handle cilantro.  I had a bad experience.

But my tastebuds & stomach have adjusted over the last 7 years, and I am loving the combination of the two.

So I was sitting on my couch this afternoon, when I had the thought, "Why don't I make a pesto using Cilantro?"  Bamm!  What a great idea.

I decided to make a chilled Pasta Salad using my Cilantro Pesto.  I was wanting a lite summerish dinner {although it is nowhere close to summer here in Utah}.

I had these cute little sweet peppers that I got last week, so I threw a couple on the grill to smoke them up.  I also added some corn & extra pine nuts.

It was perfect.

And yes, I ate the whole plate that is picture above.  It was that good.

If you would like to try it out, you can go here and print it off:

Cilantro Pesto Pasta Salad

Enjoy!

I'm linking this recipe to these Fabulous sites:

Strawberry Cake

For some reason I was craving Strawberry Cake.  And then it didn't help when I was reading one of my favorite blogs {A Southern Fairytale}and Rachel made REAL Strawberry Cupcakes.  That just sealed the deal.

In my family cookbook, there's a recipe from my Grandma for Strawberry Cake that my Dad loves.  My goal was to make a cake from scratch, have it be very strawberry, and have my Dad like it.

I think I accomplished that.

My Bro-in-law dubbed that this cake contained no sugar.  Yes Dave, there's no sugar...wink* wink*

I had to really restrain myself yesterday when it came to eating the scraps of cake {after I leveled the cakes}.  It was that addicting.

Do you see how big the cake is?

It's all gone now.  All gone.  I'm kinda sad.  But I not only made this cake to satify my craving, but to fill up other's dessert bellies.

Oh yes.  I think my Dad liked it.  I am happy.  And full.

If you would like to see how I made my cake, click here:

Strawberry Cake

Enjoy!

I'm linking up to these sites:
Mouthwatering Mondays

Weekly Winners: April 3 - April 16

So I'm actually including two weeks worth of pictures because I was on vacation last week.

The kindergarteners had a kite day this week, & Madi & I got to go play.  Madison was so excited to see & play with her brother.

My yummy creation for this week, Orange Granola.  It only lasted a couple of days.

We spent Spring Break {but more like Winter Break for Utah} down in Las Vegas; the boys were excited to see some super heroes.

"Grrrrr."

Splash time

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Thanks!