This post is created with America’s Dairy Farm Families and Importers, in partnership with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. However, the views and opinions included are my own.

My kids love asking for parfaits when I offer to make them as an afternoon or after dinner snack (aka dessert). I started making parfaits years ago and they get excited about eating them every single time. Parfaits are not only pretty to look at, but they can be filled with some pretty tasty ingredients. With my recent trip to a local dairy farm here in Florida, as well as a trip to a dairy farm in Rhode Island, I can’t help but think about and appreciate the hard-working families that are really behind the wholesome dairy, like the Greek yogurt in these parfaits, that my family enjoys. You can read more about my experience at the farm here.

Whether I’m making a parfait for me or my kids, I always go with whatever combination of seasonal fruit, yogurt, nuts or granola I have on hand. This particular parfait was inspired by one of our favorite fall fruits, pears. We love pears this time of year, and you can pretty much always count on finding a tub of good vanilla Greek yogurt and nuts in my fridge too. Call it a snack or call it dessert (or even breakfast!), a parfait like this creamy Greek Yogurt Parfait with Pears and Walnuts always hits the spot.

To make our parfaits extra tasty (and fancy!) I like to spice them up a bit. I added a sprinkle of cinnamon and ginger and a drizzle of sweet honey and it was the perfect touch. I like to chop the fruit and the nuts to the same size so that it’s easier for each spoonful to have a taste of everything combined. The perfect flavors for fall and my kids absolutely loved the combination.

You can make the parfaits with traditional layers, or if you are in a crunch for time and just want to keep it simple you can add your ingredients to a bowl and enjoy it all the same. If you are looking for an entertaining idea for breakfast or brunch, set out the ingredients separately and offer a build-your-own-parfait bar.

Greek Yogurt Parfait with Pears and Walnuts

Yield: 2 parfaits

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups vanilla bean Greek yogurt
• 1 pear, chopped small
• ground cinnamon, for sprinkling, to taste
• ground ginger, for sprinkling, to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• honey, for drizzling

Directions:

1. Add 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt into the bottom of parfait glass. Top yogurt with chopped pears and sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger, to taste. Add chopped walnuts and drizzle with honey. Repeat layer, then top with a dollop of yogurt.
2. Serve immediately for best presentation or cover and refrigerate for up to 6 hours to serve later.

This post is created with America’s Dairy Farm Families and Importers, in partnership with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. However, the views and opinions included are my own.

The post Greek Yogurt Parfait with Pears and Walnuts appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

This recipe and post was created in collaboration with America’s Dairy Farm Families and Importers, in partnership with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, however the views and opinions included are my own.

Since 1970, April 22 has been known as a national day of awareness focused on our environment – Earth Day! This Earth Day I am partnering with the dairy community to tell you about how dairy farmers work hard to take great care of their cows while committing to sustainable practices on their farms. My family consumes a variety of dairy on a daily basis, such as the milk in today’s Cinnamon Peanut Butter Chia Seed Pudding recipe, and I can appreciate knowing it’s coming from a place that is strongly dedicated to preserving our environment and providing a fresh, quality product.

Food memories, they can creep up on you when you least expect them to. My daughter and I recently watched a video for chia seed pudding and she asked if we could make it together. As I was pouring the mixture into the small jars and glasses I suddenly remembered how my mom always had little homemade pudding cups for us in the fridge. Granted, it wasn’t chia seed pudding – instead flavored pudding made from the box – but it was one of my favorite snacks or dessert when I was a kid. Pistachio was always my first choice, chocolate a close second.

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Click here to pin this Strawberry Almond Oatmeal Bites recipe!

I can’t believe this is my first post of 2017! I decided I needed a bit of a breather in January, some time to regroup after a month of helping my littlest guy recover from a tonsillectomy and my biggest guy (my husband) recover from a shoulder/rotator cuff surgery. I’ll admit, it was nice to take a break from worrying about picking up my camera and just focus on cooking for my family. My head is always spinning with new recipe ideas, as well as trying to figure out what to make for dinner that I honestly enjoyed just making recipes from cookbooks, friends and my blog without thinking too much of it.

One of the things I’m trying to get better at is making healthier snacks available for my kids to take in the car on their way to basketball or volleyball practices. We are full on entrenched in sports right now and spend many afternoons and evenings trekking back and forth between gyms. It seems like my kids are ALWAYS hungry and I’ve been trying to be more mindful about what they are snacking on and making sure they are eating more than just pretzels or crackers (it’s hard!). One thing I know for sure, anytime I make snacks like these oatmeal bites, quinoa bites or egg muffins, they are the go-to snack and don’t last very long. Seeing my kids choose those first is motivation enough to get myself into the habit of making quality portable snacks more often.

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This recipe was created in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill.

My children have pretty big appetites. I feel like they are always eating – as I’m clearing up one meal they are already asking for a snack. I’m not going to say this bothers me in the least, seeing their love of eating definitely makes my Italian mama heart happy. But, it can be a challenge to keep up with having smart, healthy snacks always available for them so they don’t turn to junk. I typically offer them yogurt, cheese sticks, fruit, pretzels or granola bars…but they do get bored.

I wanted to try out a new kind of snack on my kids a couple of weeks ago while we were off school for a long holiday weekend. My kids LOVE parfaits, and ask for them all the time. They keep me on my toes in the granola making department that’s for sure, I really don’t make it often enough for them (we go through it so fast when I do make it!). Instead of parfaits this time, I offered them a plate of Blueberry Almond Oatmeal Bites served along with a bowl of Greek yogurt drizzled with honey. Fancy, huh? It actually took less effort than making 2 parfaits!

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One big thing I’ve been doing lately is trying to cook from my cookbooks more. I have a huge cookbook collection that I covet, yet sadly they are just sitting pretty on a shelf in my kitchen the last couple of years. How did that happen? (The internet, that’s how). Well, things are changing. My kids have heard me talk about how I miss cooking from my cookbooks and they’ve been pulling some off the shelves and onto the kitchen table lately so that we can look through them and find something to try. This has been fun for all of us!

I bought this cookbook last year when it came out – Aarti was one of my FAVORITE Next Food Network Star contestants and I watched her show regularly after she won her season (did she win her season? I can’t remember now). Total sadness that it is no longer on air. My daughter loved her show too, and my husband and I pretty much were introduced to Indian food because of her (LOVE). This recipe for Kheema comes from her cookbook and made it to our meal plan this past week. We loved it.

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The post Kheema {Spiced Ground Turkey and Peas} appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

This recipe was created in partnership with Fleischmann’s® Simply Homemade®.

I think it’s no secret here that I don’t bake very often. It’s not that I dislike baking, it’s just more of a process for me than cooking (and it’s hard to find the time!). Cooking comes to me very naturally, I don’t always feel the need to use exact measurements or ingredients and I can be really creative with what I have on hand. There are times where I wish baking came to me more naturally, but the reality is it doesn’t so it takes a bit of persuading from my sweet kids to talk me into baking them treats.

When I told my kids I was going to try out a new line of baking mixes for the blog, they were thrilled (and so was I!). I couldn’t wait to try the new Fleischmann’s® Simply Homemade® Muffin & Bread Mixes, not only because they are filled with ingredients I feel good about (real fruit and juices!), but they are also created to use with Greek yogurt – an ingredient I love to include in recipes whenever I can.

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I know what you are thinking, of all things for me to come home from my cruise obsessed with, it’s this Bircher Muesli, right? Not the mango margaritas, seafood dinners and chocolate journeys desserts I indulged in on the Ruby Princess, but a breakfast I found on the breakfast buffet – this is what I feel the need to share with you immediately. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, even when you’re cruising. Humor me please.

Typically I’m an egg for breakfast girl, but when I stumbled onto the section of the breakfast bar that was holding bowls of Bircher muesli, dried fruits and plenty of nuts I was instantly intrigued. What in the world is Bircher Muesli anyway? That’s what I was wondering! It’s basically overnight oats (or what I sometimes call refrigerator oats, but a little different and invented by the Swiss physician, Maximilian Bircher-Benner (a bonus history lesson for you!). I go on an overnight oats kicks every now and then and needless to say, I’ve been on one since I got home from my Princess Cruise a few weeks ago.

I can not express enough how generally impressed I was with the food on our cruise. When I remember cruising with my husband and parents back in the day, I definitely remember food, but I remember the quantity of it more so than the quality. My friend (and plus one) Heidi and I both ate breakfast and a couple of lunches in the main buffet area and we commented more than once on the selection of food items that were being served. You know how I am with my salad so of course I was seeking out the salad bar on the very first day. Guys, I was loving my salads all week long, especially with whatever fish or sandwich they were serving nearby. I really tried to keep things light (when I could!) and the variety of food and dining really made it possible.

Just a sampling of the many many food items I had while on the ship…

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It’s a happy day for my husband when he finds out I came home with a steak from the grocery store. For whatever reason, we (I) don’t eat a lot of red meat, I think it may stem from my family not eating a lot of it in general when I was growing up. I have nothing against it, I just don’t have a natural desire to cook or eat it regularly…but the other day I did get a craving for a nicely grilled flank steak.

Flank steak is probably my favorite cut of steak, it’s lean and absolutely delicious grilled, like this Grilled Flank Steak with Brown Sugar rub I’m sharing today. Any other flank steak fans out there?

Summer has officially kicked off in our household (yay!!) – school ended earlier this week and I have to say, I am so happy to breathe easy again. This last month of school has been ridiculously busy with projects, book reports and school functions…as it is every year. I forget what May is like until I’m a week in and then I’m like…Ohhhhh myyyyy, where is summer????

Well, summer is here for us, and we are all smiles in these parts. I’m a little extra smiley this week because not only did school end, but a big house project I had been planning ended too. When we moved into our new house a year and a half ago I had a list of a million things I wanted to do, reality is you need a lot of money and time to get all those things done so I’m pacing myself. 🙂

My big spring/summer project was to get my outdoor space cleaned up and functional. We had pavers added to a couple of areas off our driveway and pool area and turned the space into a beautiful outdoor seating area and place to grill. I have always loved using my grill and considered it an extension of my kitchen. With my new outdoor space, my grill is back in business and I’m about to turn into a grilling machine – this is my favorite time of year to use the grill, not only because of the weather (it’s actually NOT ideal grilling weather in Florida ha ha), but because of all the amazing produce in season. Grilled veggies are the best!

Here’s a peek at one of my new happy spaces…our new grilling area and my herb container garden (right off our kitchen and family room):

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Summer food truly does make me happy. Living in Florida, I do feel lucky that our summer food season is already among us with beautiful and colorful fruits and veggies already popping up in the grocery stores and produce markets. I am always more inspired by warm weather produce, mostly because when it comes to cooking, I admittedly tend to have a lazier approach and enjoy fresh, simplistic recipes that are fruit and veggie heavy – think salads, smoothies & anything that can be cooked on the grill.

I’m excited to be partnering up with Produce For Kids today to help promote their new summer e-cookbook, Simply Summer: 20 Fresh Cookout Recipes – this e-cookbook is now available so be sure to get your free copy! Today’s Peach Pie Smoothie recipe is from Simply Summer and it showcases one of my favorite summer fruits – peaches!

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Last fall, shortly after my baby was born, a friend of mine brought me some lunch. She brought a salad, some apple chips and a bowl of pumpkin soup. That pumpkin soup seriously rocked my world! It was made with ‘real’ pumpkin, not from canned pumpkin (I’m not knocking canned pumpkin – I use it all the time – but what a difference!) and it was pureed and topped with a drizzle of roasted pumpkin oil. So gourmet! (and incredibly thoughtful because let’s face it, lunch like that wasn’t happening very often during those early baby days!)

(bringing food to a mom of a newborn – best thing ever!!)

I remember feeling so healthy after eating that soup, knowing it was just a bowl of pure goodness. Normally I prefer chunky soups but for some reason, a squash soup like that pumpkin soup or this Slow Cooker Curried Butternut Squash Soup is just perfect pureed smooth.

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