The Little Things Newsletter #480 – Life, laughter, and lots of great food!

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! I’m reveling in a momentary break from the crazy humidity here in central Ohio this weekend. The cool mornings for the past couple of days have been an absolute gift. My youngest and I pulled together his school supplies this morning, and it’s a little hard to believe how soon school will be starting. Fall is definitely on the way, and I’m pretty excited about it.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK:  If you enjoy making your own salad dressings (and you already know that I do!), this honey dijon vinaigrette is a great one to keep on hand. It’s made with simple ingredients from the pantry and fridge, it’s quick to make, full of terrific flavor, and works with just about anything—from simple side salads to grilled chicken or roasted vegetables.

Tender, garlicky shrimp, creamy avocado, crisp vegetables, and a tangy-sweet dressing combine in this irresistible shrimp and avocado salad. Every bite makes me grin when I’m eating this salad.

Garlicky and mildly spicy, mushroom spinach pasta is a study in flavorful simplicity. Perfect al dente pasta is tossed in a light pan sauce of white wine or chicken stock, onion, garlic, mushrooms, spinach, and Parmesan cheese.

Rich, savory, and hearty, air fryer kielbasa is a tasty addition to many different recipes. There are a whole lot of adjectives I could use to describe kielbasa, but flavorful is the best one of all.

Sweet dried cranberries, salty bacon, sharp red onion, crunchy pecans, and creamy cheese come together in an awesomely flavorful and texture-filled way to make this broccoli salad.

Heath bar cookies start with a chocolate chip cookie dough base, but in addition to those melting semi-sweet morsels, these rich buttery cookies contain the toffee-tastic magic of Heath bars.

Creamy and sweet, this grape ice cream is an unexpected delight on a hot summer afternoon. If you enjoyed grape popsicles as a kid, this ice cream is a nostalgic flavor bomb.

What I’m CRAVING: These Asian BBQ chicken wings caught my eye a couple of days ago, and now I need to make them. I’m also craving the spectacular Asian Salmon Salad I shared a few months ago. I have the salmon marinating now and I’m looking forward to making the salad for dinner tomorrow night. Can’t wait!

My FAVORITE THINGS this week are these reusable plastic lids for my mason jars. It’s a small thing, but I simply love the convenience of them. I don’t have that many of them, so I often find myself sifting through all the metal lids in the drawer, hoping one of these will be available whenever I need a jar lid.

What I’m LISTENING to: Lemonade by Forrest Frank & The Figs. This song just makes me laugh and grin. (And the story behind it is so much fun! All this while Forrest is lying in bed with a broken back, too.)

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

Wishing you a beautiful week full of little things that make you smile!

Mary