family | food | motherhood | parenting | recipe

Super Simple Kid-Friendly Vegetable Side Dishes for Weeknight Dinners

By on April 16, 2019
Super Simple Kid-Friendly Vegetable Side Dishes for Weeknight Dinners | www.sunshineandholly.com | how to get kids to eat vegetables | quick and easy veggies |

When I was a newlywed, I LOVED to meal plan. There was nothing better than going through cookbooks and magazines and searching online for yummy recipes to try. (Thank goodness Pinterest wasn’t around back then – I would have spent way too many hours pinning a million recipes!)

But the novelty of meal planning wore off, especially after having kids. I hate spending all that time picking out recipes, shopping, and cooking, only to have my kids turn up their noses at what I’ve prepared. #momlife

These days I do my best to meal plan, but there are many nights where I still stand in front of the open fridge, looking for inspiration when I haven’t prepared ahead of time. But typically I have a meat and vegetable side dish planned for each night. I like to keep the side dish simple and easy – the less chopping, cooking, or dirtying up pans, the better!

Here are a few super simple kid-friendly vegetable side dishes for weeknight dinners:

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fall | family | food | kids activities | motherhood | parenting | recipe

4 Nut and Dairy Free Ideas for School Lunch

By on July 20, 2018

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website. (Click on the pictures to shop the links.)

Disclaimer: I was provided with free product from Stuck on You in return for my honest review. All thoughts an opinions are my own.

I know we’re still deep in the thick of summer, especially those of us here in the south where the temperature is way above “glistening” and on to full “sweating.” But back-to-school time will be here before we know it! My son is starting Kindergarten this year and I’m so excited for him. He’s going to an amazing charter school with a wonderful community of teachers and parents. We’ve already had a couple of play-dates and a family picnic this summer to get to know people.

His new school is nut-free, and we’ve also cut out almost all dairy from our diet. So school lunches have been on my brain. My son eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich almost every single day. (In fact, when he was 2, his teacher at preschool told me he cried that day during lunch when he saw he had a ham sandwich instead of peanut butter!) Needless to say, I’ve been preparing him so that he’ll know he won’t get to have his beloved pb&j at school anymore, but he can have it at home! And I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of healthy, filling school lunches that don’t include dairy or nuts.

Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with so far:

4 Nut and Dairy Free Ideas for School Lunch

 

Mediterranean favors fill this lunch box.  My kids love hummus almost as much as I do, so I know this lunch will be a hit.

4 Nut and Dairy Free Ideas for School Lunch | sunshineandholly.com | #sponsored | #affiliatelink | back to school | back-to-school lunch ideas | lunch boxes | lunch containers for kids

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family | food | fun | recipe | spring | summer

Layered Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

By on June 5, 2018
Layered Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting | sunshineandholly.com | fresh | easy

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website. 

“Strawberry ponies
strawberry lambs,
dancing in meadows
of strawberry jam!”
-Jamberry by Bruce Degen

What’s better than sweet spring strawberries?

Layered Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting | sunshineandholly.com Layered Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting | sunshineandholly.com Layered Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting | sunshineandholly.com

How about an even sweeter layered strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting?!

Layered Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting | sunshineandholly.com

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family | Family Fun | food | fun | kids activities | kitchen | parenting | recipe | spring | summer

Fresh Squeezed Homemade Lemonade Kids Activity

By on April 20, 2018
Fresh Squeezed Homemade Lemonade Kids Activity | sunshineandholly.com

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website. 

A few weeks ago, Maddie got into a bottle of olive oil I had left out on the counter, along with a lemon and some salt. I’d just finished making a marinade for a steak we were planning on grilling that night and hadn’t had a chance to clean everything up yet. I left Maddie alone for 5 minutes while I went to do some other chore. When I walked back in the kitchen, I saw that she had poured out a ton of olive oil into a cup, squeezed lemon juice all over it, and sprinkled a ton of salt. She was covered in oil!

Fresh Squeezed Homemade Lemonade Kids Activity | sunshineandholly.com

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food | kitchen | recipe | spring

Roasted Fennel and Onion – Easy Side Dish

By on March 21, 2018
Roasted Fennel and Onion - Easy Side Dish | sunshineandholly.com | spring recipe | quick and easy side dish | one pan dish | sheet pan dinner

Fennel is one of those foods that people either love or hate. I have a hard time coming up with foods that I DON’T like, so, (surprise, surprise) I happen to love fennel! It’s delicious served raw, sliced thin and tossed in a salad. But my favorite way to eat fennel is roasted with a Vidalia onion and a tiny bit of garlic salt. I’d say this is one of my top 5 favorite vegetable side-dishes. (Mashed potatoes will always hold the number one spot in my heart!)

Roasted Fennel and Onion - Easy Side Dish | sunshineandholly.com | spring recipe | quick and easy side dish | one pan dish | sheet pan dinner

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