I was originally going to share this recipe in the fall but it was a busy time & I never got around to posting it.

I always thought of fruit crisp as being a fall recipe.  The truth is, it's good any time of the year!

I used a can of blueberry pie filling when I made it but it would be so great with seasonal fruits throughout the year!

My mom has been making this fruit crisp recipe for years.  It's the best!  I never realized how easy it was to make until I made it yesterday.  It has been years since I made it & I forgot how easy it is.  There are only 5 ingredients total!  It also comes together super quickly.  Another thing I love is that it only takes one bowl to make & the bowl is pretty clean when it's done.  I hate cleaning up a lot of messy dishes!

Hey Besties! 🌟✨

I'm super excited to share a little secret with you all - I've been whipping up some absolutely delish protein shakes lately! Now, I'm no stranger to protein shakes, but let's just say my taste buds, and I have had our ups and downs with them. That was until I discovered Orgain Protein powder - a game changer, especially for those like me who sometimes do a little dance with dairy sensitivity.

Picture this: I'm rummaging through my kitchen cupboard, and what do I find? A tub of PBfit! I thought, why not jazz up my protein shake routine? Spoiler alert: it was a peanut buttery slice of heaven!

So, let me spill the beans (or should I say the powder?) on these protein-packed concoctions. Feel free to play around with the kinds of milk, fruits, and creamers - it's your shake, your rules!

Coffee Protein Shake

• 2 scoops Orgain Vanilla Bean
• 1 cup brewed coffee (chilled because we're cool like that)
• A dash of coffee creamer (for a little extra pizzazz)
• A dozen ice cubes (or, as I like to call them, chill pills)

Just blend it all up until it's as smooth as our crafting skills!

Fruit Protein Shake

• 2 scoops Orgain Vanilla Bean
• 1 cup Coconut Milk (because we're all about that tropical vibe)
• 1 cup Wellness Blend frozen fruit (shoutout to Aldi!)

Blend, baby, blend! Until it's as colorful as our DIY projects.

Coffee & Peanut Butter Shake

• 2 Tablespoons PBfit (peanut butter paradise, here we come!)
• 1 cup brewed coffee (chilled, again, because we're cool)
• A dash of coffee creamer (because why not?)
• A dozen ice cubes (our frosty friends)

Blend it up until it's as smooth as our latest thrift store find!

And there you have it, my dear friends - my top three protein shake recipes that are as fun to make as they are to drink! I'll share more of my shake adventures on Instagram, so be sure to catch them in my stories.

Stay creative and healthy, my friends! 🌍✨🥤

- Orgain Protein Powder
- PB Fit Peanut Butter Powder

- PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter

Semi-Homemade pasta sauce recipe!

I’ve never really been the type to make homemade pasta sauce.  That was also before I had about a million Roma tomatoes in my garden!  Since I had so many tomatoes, I decided to venture into the waters of homemade sauce making.

I imagined myself adding different spices together until I came out with the perfect pasta sauce.

In reality, I bought a pasta sauce seasoning packet at the grocery store.  It’s the same thing, right?!  Haha!

One thing I didn’t realize was that it takes a lot of tomatoes to make a sauce.  The first time I made tried to make a pasta sauce, I used 14 Roma tomatoes & came out with 2 small jars of sauce.

An homemade blueberry pie!  Fresh blueberries, white wine & a homemade crust make this pie irresistible!

We went blueberry picking last weekend.  I never realized how tedious blueberry picking actually is!  It takes so long just to get a small amount a blueberries!  It also didn’t help that I chose one of the hottest days of the year!  My husband & I were actually going grocery shopping when we passed a “U Pick Blueberries” sign.  Of course, we followed the sign all over the countryside until we arrived at a wonderful farm.  We then spent the next hour or so picking blueberries & sweating profusely!

Complaints aside, it was all worth it because the blueberries were used in this amazing pie.

This pie is completely from scratch, which is a first for me.  When I worked in retail, I had a customer tell me all about her homemade apple pies.  She then asked how I make pies & I had to admit that I used a pie filling in a can.  She left me in the dust after that!  In my defense, I never knew how easy it actually is to make pie filling.  Not to mention it tastes so much better too!

For the crust I used a homemade pie crust recipe I found in one of my vintage cookbooks.  It worked out perfectly.  If you don’t have a homemade pie crust that you love, check out Ali’s post on the perfect pie crust.  It’s life changing!

The pie filling is modified from Tieghan’s Mulled Cherry Bomb Pie recipe.  I used white wine instead of red & 1/2 cup more brown sugar.  It came out so good.  The white wine I used had a more mild flavor with the blueberries, which I enjoyed.

As you can tell by the pictures, I have no idea how to crimp the edges of the crust!  I just did the best I could to make sure the filling stayed in the shell!  It had a small overflow, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected!

Even though making a pie homemade is a time consuming activity, I think it’s worth it!  I’ll definitely be making more homemade pies from now on!

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 Egg
• 2/3 cup pineapple juice (from can)

• 3 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 20oz can pineapple rings
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

If I had to eat one food for the rest of my entire life, macaroni & cheese would be it.  I’m not a macaroni snob, either.  I love boxed mac and fancy prepared mac the same.

Mac & cheese was my go-to work lunch for years.  I would splurge on the hot mac from the deli.  When I wasn’t hungry but still wanted to eat a little something, I always got the microwave mac.  I even bought the frozen meal mac & cheese.  When I felt fancy, I bought the frozen meal with broccoli!

The recipe I’m sharing today is more on the fancy side, but totally easy to make!

Like all good things in my life, this recipe happened by accident.  I was originally going to prepare a red sauce ziti one night when my husband got the butter out.  He usually likes to butter the noodles before he adds sauce, but I had another idea:  why don’t we just add cheese to the buttered noodles & make a mac+cheese?

Lots of cheese & spices later, we had the most fantastic mac & cheese!

I’ve briefly mentioned before that my dad is a “kitchen sink” cook.  Leave him alone in a kitchen (or around a grill!) & the spices come out.  Everything but the kitchen sink is added to his recipes & they’re never lacking in flavor.  I still remember the time when he was left alone with the grill at my cousin’s graduation open house.  The burgers were never more flavorful!  The thing is though, it’s never a bad spice taste; it’s an interesting mixture of flavors that actually is delicious!  Even though my dad does some weird spice combinations, I’ve never tasted a bad meal from him!

While I tend to cook on the bland side, sometimes I take after my dad & kick it up a notch.  It doesn’t help that my spice rack is right above my stovetop either, which provides easy access to the spices!  For this mac & cheese, I utilized my go-to spices:  garlic powder, onion salt & pepper.  My favorite thing is adding pepper to any mac & cheese.  While I kept it mild on the actual mac, I ended up adding a ton to my individual bowl.  As I noted in the recipe, add the spices to your individual taste.  It also saves me because I never actually measure anything!  I just start adding things until I like the way it tastes!

Mac + Cheese

by Tiff @ www.onthecreekblog.com April-27-2017

A super easy stovetop macaroni & cheese!

Ingredients

• 16oz Macaroni Noodles
• 8oz Shredded Cheese (I used Colby Jack & Mild Cheddar)
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/2 cup Milk
• Pepper (to taste)
• Garlic Powder (to taste)
• Onion Powder (to taste)

Instructions

- Make noodles according to package directions, drain
- Place noodles back into pot, add butter & stir to combine
- Add milk.  (You may need to add more or less depending on your desired consistency.)
- Add cheese & mix well.
- Add your spices according to your taste.  If spices aren’t your thing, just skip!