Birthday, Parent's Visit & Fun!

This week has A LOT coming up! Luke's 8th birthday is Tuesday, Aug. 30th- and like his mama, he loves to celebrate his birthday! : ) We started today with a birthday lunch with one of his BFF's Cooper- we ended up going with Cooper's family, which was so much fun! Being a boy after his mom's heart, he picked Bartaco- Yessssss! One of my favorite places!
I mixed it up and tried a rice bowl and it was delish!


Followed up by a trip to Jeni's ice cream off of Howell Mill! 


On Friday night, our friend (Ben's co-worker) Mark had us over for dinner- he is such a fun friend- the kids absolutely love him.  He cooked an amazing meal- I will need to get the recipes- 
*Ribs, collard greens, cole slaw, corn "pudding"/casserole and oatmeal cream pies for dessert*


He took us to some nearby polo fields- in Atlanta- which is amazing to see this area in the city- a beautiful, fun night! 




MEAL PLANNING! 
My parents are coming to visit this week to celebrate Luke's birthday, so I need to be on my "A game" to make sure I have some meals planned, even though we end up going out to eat a decent amount. 

Here are the meals- will swap these around some days probably! 

*Nourishing Gourmet Blog*
Y'all NEED to make this! It is so quick and easy. Start to finish, I think it took me 15 minutes? A must make! I use these rice noodles to put the mixture on top of (Costco). 


I mentioned before that we have this when we go to the Alsatian region of France- it is ONE POT/DISH! Easy people. Easy. This is not the picture that goes with the recipe, but you get the idea. It will look similar. I need to take a picture of my own! 
Choucroute Garnie

I am using two recipes from Danielle Walker's blog this week, this is the first one- I am going to use grass fed beef stew meat instead of bison- just because there was no bison at Trader Joe's ; ). And no chayote squash either, so I am going to use butternut squash- ya know, make it your own! 

This cookbook above is where I get most of my recipes from, and her new cookbook is coming out soon! I am excited! It is called "Celebrations" so I am thinking it should be good. I love to celebrate! 

I love me some spaghetti and meatballs- comfort food! Will serve over either zucchini noodles or gluten free noodles...I am NOT making the sauce from scratch on this one tonight- keeping it easy. 

Image result for pictures of spaghetti and meatballs

Other nights, a salad night, maybe another baked potato night, etc...freestyle and quick. 


Bonus snack recipe- I made these for a friend who just had a baby-changed these up- Like always : ) Y'all, feel the freedom to substitute and use whatever you do have. 
I had to sub peanuts for the almonds, I did use gluten free pretzels for the regular ones,...
Not the most healthy, but not terrible either? Fun food anyhow! 
I did not take a picture because I made them quick and the ones we kept, we ate quickly! 
This is Cooking Light's pic. 
Peanut-Almond Snack Bars Recipe

Have a great week! I CANNOT wait to celebrate the boy who made me a mama. He lights up our lives, brings so much joy & life (or maybe other emotions) to situations, you know RIGHT where he stands on everything, he loves his friends (extrovert to the max), his sister, he asks a MILLION questions and has strong opinions, a tad bit crazy and I love seeing his smile each and every morning. 










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