Homemade Pasta Using the KitchenAid Mixer

By sunshineandholly on August 14, 2017

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I mentioned in the recipe for my caramelized onion bolognese that we served the sauce over homemade pasta. If you’ve never made homemade pasta – you should at least try it once. It’s not that hard – I promise! Our kids love helping us make pasta, almost as much as they love eating it!

Although on this day, Maddie was the only one interested in cooking. Graham decided he would rather play on the iPad. Silly boy.

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family | food | recipe

Caramelized Onion Bolognese

By sunshineandholly on August 9, 2017

Caramelized Onion Bolognese | sunshineandholly.com

To me, comfort food is a big bowl of pasta. It speaks to me all about love, home, family, laughter, warmth, and togetherness. The twirl of a fork, the sprinkle of parmesan, the slurp of a noodle – it doesn’t get much better than that!

Caramelized Onion Bolognese | sunshineandholly.com

One of my favorite sauces is a hearty, warm, meaty bowl of bolognese. My recipe is slightly sweet from the caramelized onions, but still savory and filling. The herbs give the recipe depth, and I love how the chunky diced vegetables give the sauce great texture.

Caramelized Onion Bolognese | sunshineandholly.com

My caramelized onion bolognese is perfect over a larger pasta, like linguine, pappardelle, or tagliatelle. But it’s great with spaghetti noodles too, and that’s what we usually have in our pantry. You could also pile it on top of polenta. I’ve also been known to eat it plain out of a bowl, like chili. It’s that good!

Caramelized Onion Bolognese | sunshineandholly.com

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5 Things to do When Your Kids are Driving You Nuts

By sunshineandholly on July 28, 2017

Wednesday was just one of those days. You mamas know what I’m talking about. Days when the time seem to slow down to a snail’s pace. You think for sure you’ve been playing with your kids for at least 4 hours, but when you look at the clock, it’s been 12 minutes. Days when your kids won’t play nicely together and seem to be rotating though screaming, fighting, hitting, and arguing…over and over and over!

I looked at our clock, and it was still 3 hours until my lifesaver, my hero, my relief, Dada, would be home. It was way too hot to go outside, we couldn’t go to the pool, and we’d already had way more than the recommended screen time for the day.

What’s a mom to do? (Besides pour a nice tall glass of wine.)

Here’s my go-to list of 5 things to do when you’re kids are driving you nuts.

A Love Letter to My Village

By sunshineandholly on July 24, 2017

Motherhood is tough. Motherhood is messy. Motherhood has kicked my booty. The first few years are some of the hardest. So much crying (both me and the babies!) and the never ending cycle of feed, burp, change diaper, rock to sleep, over and over and over and over. Then there’s the whining, the tantrums, the constant questions, the potty training, the messes…it’s enough to drive a person completely crazy or send them into a dark depression!

So what gets us through it? (Besides lots of coffee and wine.) What is the light, the breath of fresh air, the hope for all the lonely, tired, lost mamas out there?

It’s our village – the group of women and men surrounding us, lifting us up, encouraging us, and helping out during some of the most difficult years of our life. Every mom needs her village, and I’ve been so blessed with mine. There have been so many people over the years who’ve been a rock, a shoulder to cry on, an inspiration, a light.

And I just wanted to take a minute to thank them.

a love letter to my village | sunshineandholly.com | motherhood | it takes a village | mom friends

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Tips for Visiting the Sunflower Farm

By sunshineandholly on July 19, 2017

On Monday, I took the kiddos up to a sunflower farm about an hour outside of Atlanta. I had been to a sunflower farm before, but I was dying to get some beautiful pictures with the yellow flowers, the blue sky, and my cute kids. And our trip was a huge success! The weather was perfect, and the sunflowers were gorgeous.