Family Friday: A New Development

I’ve decided to try something new here on the Apples to Ziti blog. After getting some feedback from you readers, I’ve decided to streamline my posts about my family & life. Your opinions are important to me. So I’m declaring Fridays the official posting day for ‘Chronicles’ about my family and life. Henceforth they shall be called, “Family Friday” posts. Clever, right? This will leave the rest of the week open for recipe and mom-lifestyle posts. I can’t promise you that I will never post about my family or life on the other days of the week. Sometimes exciting things happen and I just want to share them right away!! But, if at all possible, I will restrict posts about family & life to Fridays.

Along with this, I would love to encourage you to reply with comments or emails about your own families and life on these Friday posts! Or anytime actually!! Attach a picture if you can. I love to see you in action with your family. I love to see your latest creations in the kitchen. I love to see pictures of your pets. Your kids! Your outings! The whole gamut!  Getting to know readers is one of my absolute favorite parts of this blog. I’m excited and humbled when you tell me you’ve tried out one of my recipes, and I very much enjoy hearing about recipes you are concocting in your own kitchens!

I can’t wait to hear from you!

If you want to follow along with the daily happenings in my kitchen and life… you can click to Follow me on Instagram!

Please take a moment to take quick poll to give me some more feedback for the blog. Click ALL that you are interested in. It might be one area or all of them!

Thanks!

Happy Family Friday!

love, Jenna

PS- The picture above is from our family’s Easter Photo Shoot 2014 (this year). You can read more about that HERE.

PSS- If you missed them earlier this week, the recipes posted were Vanilla Bean Banana-Walnut Muffins and Slow-Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken. Enjoy!

The Small Things Blog + Sonia Kashuk Spring Beauty + Giveaway

Photo Credit: The Small Things Blog

I thought it was high time I did a “Beauty” post here on Apples to Ziti. I grew up with three brothers so I didn’t have a sister to do my makeup and hair with. I was always playing one sport or another in junior high and high school so I never really wore makeup and my hair was in a ponytail most of the time. Even off the court or field I only wore makeup on special occasions really. Even then I didn’t know what I was doing. Not really, anyhow.

Nowadays I’ve figured out how to do my makeup and hair on some level. But, as of recently, I have had some help! A friend of mine told me about “The Small Things Blog”, authored by the lovely Kate. She writes about hair, beauty products, and her adorable, baby boy David. Being married to a David myself, this name holds a special place in my heart. You can read more about Kate and ‘The Small Things Blog’ HERE.

I knew very little… okay, pretty much nothing… about hair and beauty products prior to following Kate’s blog. I feel like I’m getting advice from a trusted friend when I watch her hair tutorials and read her posts. I want to try the products she suggests because I know that she knows what she’s talking about. We are friends. She just doesn’t know it yet.

Ha! Okay, so I have no delusions that we are actually friends, but it’s nice to get some “sister” advice since I’m not getting that advice from my brothers anytime soon here. Or from my husband for that matter.

On top of loving the hair and beauty advice from Kate, I also love the meaning behind the title of her blog: “The Small Things Blog”. She, like myself, believes that hair, beauty, clothing, and jewelry are not what gives us our self-worth. Most of the things she writes about may be superficial, but they are not “the big things” (the important things) in life. They are just… “The Small Things”. I love it.

This week Sonia Kashuk is sponsoring a Giveaway on The Small Things Blog. Click HERE to enter the sweepstakes to win a $100 Target Giftcard and to read Kate’s take on the Sonia Kashuk beauty line at Target.

I am definitely headed to Target this weekend to try out Sonia Kashuk’s line. I’m seriously curious about the Chic Luminosity Blush/Bronzer duo in Glimmer that you see in the picture on the right above. Stunning, isn’t it?

Good luck to you all!

love, Jenna

Disclosure: I am receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing this blog post, but I honestly jumped at the chance to write it as I really do read, and would highly recommend, ‘The Small Things Blog’ to you.  As much as I would love a $100 gift card to Target, I would also love to see my readers connect with this blog and have a chance at winning the sweepstakes. Good luck!

Contest runs from 5/5 to 6/30.

Slow-Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken

On Cinco de Mayo I posted a Vanilla Bean Banana Muffin recipe that is to die for. But the thing is… banana muffins are not what you would call ‘festive’ for this holiday. Therefore, even though I didn’t have time to get step-by-step photos ready, I thought I should at least post one recipe this week in honor of Cinco de Mayo. {I will try to get a step-by-step for this recipe up soon though!}

Vanilla Bean Banana-Walnut Muffins

What a wonderful way to start off a new week… with muffins. I’m inclined to shout, “TOP OF THE MUFFIN TO YOU!!!”

Ah. That felt good. If you’re having a lousy start to your week, shout that out and see if it doesn’t brighten your day.

Easter Family Photo Shoot

I hadn’t planned on sharing our Easter photos really. But after seeing them I felt that I must. It will give you some insight into our family. This first shot really speaks a lot to our family life.

Shortcut Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Coffee Glaze

I’ve been meaning to share these Cinnamon Rolls for a long time now. I can’t wait any longer!!!

Blackberry Cheesecake Parfaits

Hello there little hoppy (aka ‘Bunny’). You are going to be a hit. I can just feel it.

Just wait until you dip through the layers of these SUPER-easy-to-make Blackberry Cheesecake Parfaits.

Chocolate Mug Cake: The solution to all your stress?

Praise the Lord for Grandmas!! AMEN???

My grandma Nell tucked this adorable “Chocolate Mug Cake” in with some Easter treats for my girls. The back of it reads “God sends no stress that chocolate and prayer can’t handle.”

Paleo Cinnamon Raisin Harvest Muffins

Eat like a caveman!!

A dear friend of mine and her kiddos came over to hang out recently. They implemented the Paleo Diet with their family a while back and, when I knew they were staying for lunch, I thought I’d try my hand at some Paleo recipes!

Petite Pancakes with Mixed Berry & Mango Toppings

There are some things we can’t remember about our childhood and some memories that are crystal clear. There are also those moments that were captured on a video and we, after watching that video, adopted the memory as our own, even if we were too young to actually remember the occasion. Or perhaps a story was told so many times that we feel we remember being there.

One memory of mine happened more often than not on Saturday mornings during my childhood. My dad would fire up the griddle, melt some butter, and cook up a big stack of pancakes for my brothers and I. Maple syrup was a must. No substitutes would do.

Doughnut Pops

When I lived in Chicago, one of my favorite things was the coming of Spring. Thousands of tulips were planted in the downtown area where we lived. You couldn’t turn a corner without running into a bed of freshly planted blooms. Finally… winter was OVER!!! Now living in Phoenix winter is over all too fast, but I still love that initial weather change from the “cold” to warm with a cool breeze. It’s short-lived here… but I still enjoy it… especially since I know it’s the final breath of fresh, cool air before the intense summer heat comes upon us. Then you’ll find me by the pool!