I adore pesto sauce and nothing is better than fresh pesto. I always have an abundance of basil during the summer and a lot goes into making pesto. With basil, garlic, and olive oil how can you go wrong? My daughter has a nut allergy so we try to keep them out of the house. She also isn’t a fan of tomato sauce, so she does the typical kid thing of butter and Parmesan cheese on her pasta. I wanted to introduce her to pesto since she loves watching me cook with garlic and basil. While she likes eating my pasta with pesto on it, I haven’t made her a convert yet!

I can’t believe I haven’t shared this recipe with you before. When I was going back and forth tweeting someone about pesto and the fact that a restaurant used walnuts in it I realized I couldn’t refer her to my recipe because it wasn’t up here. So, I grabbed some basil at the store and made up a quick batch. It takes just a few minutes and you really will love the incredible taste!

If you want to add nuts, simply add 4 tablespoons of pine nuts with the rest of the ingredients, before adding the olive oil.

Nut Free Pesto Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup loosely packed basil leaves
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor, add basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and cheese and pulse until chopped. With the food processor on, slowly pour the olive oil into the food processor. Allow to blend a few seconds after you have poured the last bit of olive oil in and then stop.

Makes 1 cup. Keep refrigerated for one week.

Adapted from Sugar-Free Mom

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot. As always, all of the opinions expressed here are my own.

Now that my edible container garden is set up, all I have to do is sit back and relax. Let the plants grow and eventually enjoy the fruits of my very little labor! Besides watering them, there is no care. There is no wedding, thanks to the weed block! The container garden is one outdoor project that takes care of itself essentially.  This is nice since we’ll be pretty busy this year tending to our raised garden beds in the yard and doing a few other projects that I have bookmarked. Ever since we moved in we wanted to start another compost pile, except make a nice one that can easily be rotated. It’s time to start utilizing our spent food as well! After browsing The Home Depot Garden Club, we got some great ideas on how to build one ourselves in no time! Next spring, I also want to get a jump start and start some seeds down in my basement. I always thought it would be a hassle, with the lights, etc. but now I realize it will only take an hour or so to set it up and once it’s done, it’s done and we can utilize it every year!

I’ve always tried to feed my family with organic and sustainable items, but the more we can grow and make here at home the better! Besides being healthy for us, my daughter will learn an appreciation for what goes into the food that reaches our table. Doing something as simple as starting an edible container garden educates her and fascinates her as she gets to play in the dirt, water the plants, and eventually watch them grow. What can be more fun than that? As a mom, it’s definitely two-fold! Great education and good food that goes into her belly!

For those that are thinking about setting up an edible container garden, I say go for it! The hardest part is picking out which container you like at The Home Depot! Once you get home it takes maybe 10 minutes and you are done! If you live in a colder climate like I do and start early, just make sure you can either move the containers into a warm area or cover them over at night to protect the plants from frost. There are so many things you can grow, why not have your own batch of your favorite fruit or vegetable right outside your door?

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.

I can hardly believe that our sweet Caroline has turned three. I remember that Easter afternoon she was born like yesterday. This years party was a little different than others in that the guest of honor had a lot of input! She picked out the theme, Hello Kitty, and she helped pick out the decor and the ever important cake! No more planning sweet birthday parties for my babe, we have headed into kid territory! That meant diving a little into store bought licensed materials to make the Caroline happy, versus me wanting everything home made! The fun part was she anticipated this day for a couple of months. There was a bit of a countdown and the days leading up to her birthday she could hardly contain herself! We lucked out with the weather, although it was a bit cold. We took what we could get seeing as there was a winter storm that dumped a bit of snow the week before! We needed the snow to melt quickly so that the ever important bounce house could be set up. All Caroline requested was cake, ice cream, cupcakes, and a bounce house. We did not disappoint I didn’t get as many pictures this year since it’s a lot harder to keep up with kids running around, guests to entertain, and balloons popping, but I wanted to share with you this very important and fun day.

I went a little heavy on the menu since the party was from noon till 2pm. We were trying to maximize prime sunshine hours! I kept my head level preparing for the party, and her “real” birthday a couple of days beforehand by lots of planning. As I have mentioned before, Mise en Place! It’s so important, more so for something like this where it’s all about food, dessert, decor, hosting and lot of children! I started prepping the weeks leading up to the party. First, starting with making the ice cream. Then I started making the cakes and freezing them. Then things like the fondant were prepared and cookies made. When you are doing something like this, use the freezer if you can. It is your biggest ally when it comes to baked goods! If there is enough interest, I would be happy to show how I prepare for the party and how I make a schedule for the days leading up.

The Menu

Crudites with Ranch Dressing

Fruit Platter

Pink Chocolate Covered Popcorn

Chips and French Onion Dip

Cowboy Caviar and Chips

Goldfish

Pull-Apart Pizza Bites with Marinara Sauce

Pigs in a Blanket with Ketchup

Canape Bread with Deli Meat and Cheese

Pink Tortilla Mozzarella Quesadillas with Salsa

Yellow Cupcakes with Buttercream and gumpaste bows

Hello Kitty Cake – Chocolate Cake, “Pink” Yellow Cake, Raspberry Buttercream, Marshmallow Fondant

Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, Chocolate ice cream, Vanilla Bean ice cream, and Strawberry ice cream

Favor Bags – Hello Kitty Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing and fun toys.

Cupcake gumpaste bows were purchased from Sweet Lavender Bake Shop and Caroline’s hair bow was purchased from Blondie’s Bowtique

Decor was purchased or made by myself.

Just because the Easter bunny has come and gone, doesn’t mean egg recipes are old news! I love eggs and eat them four or more times a week, but there is something about spring time that makes me want quiches, omelets, and frittatas. It could be because it is “brunch season,” with Easter and now Mother’s Day coming up. *cough cough*  What I love about this recipe is it uses two things that I have mass amounts of in the summer, zucchini and basil. My garden is over run with both of these things and I am always looking for recipes to utilize these. If my husband gets his way and we get chickens, then I’ll really be all set!

The wonderful folks at OXO are excited about eggs as well and they provided me with their Good Grips Egg Beater, Flip & Fold Omelet Turner, and their 3-1 Egg Separator through their EGGstravaganza Blogger Outreach program. They want everyone to know about their great egg products and their newest gadget, the 3-1 Egg Separator. To be honest, out of all of them this was what excited me the most. This tiny little gadget that is a uni-tasker. I’m not a fan of those, but this seemed right up my alley with all the egg separating I do. I honestly didn’t think the Omelet Turner would be that big of a deal, but it has been a great tool in my kitchen. It’s so flexible, yet has strength. I’ve used it for a lot more than eggs! The egg beat is another great tool, never mind eggs, you can use this to make anything that needs to be quickly whipped or beaten. It’s also great fun for a toddler.

Now, one lucky reader is going to win the OXO Egg Beater. I already received one back at a conference and while my daughter would love to take the extra I figured I’d hand it off to one of you! This Egg Beater is fabulous. You just easily detach the mixers from the handheld piece and toss in the dishwasher. It’s just one piece that removes and couldn’t be simpler to clean!

***Congratulations Heather!!!***

All you have to do to enter to win is:

• Leave a comment! (Tell me what egg recipes you like, if you want to try this one, or which OXO eggcellent product you’d like)
• Leave a separate comment below that you like us on Facebook
• Leave a separate comment below that you follow us on Pinterest
• Tweet about the giveaway (it’s easy, just click here!) and leave the link to your Tweet in the comments

That’s 4 separate entries to win! Make sure to leave separate comments as your comment number is your entry number. Goodluck!

I’m sorry, but the giveaway is only open for those living in the United States. A winner will be selected Friday, April 26th at noon EST by a random number generator and contacted by email. All entries are subject to verification.

OXO provided me with these three tools, but as always the opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Zucchini Frittata

Ingredients

• 2 small cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup basil
• 8 eggs
• 2 Tbsp milk
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

Using a oven safe medium saute pan, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the crushed garlic and allow to cook for 30 seconds. Remove the garlic and tear some basil into the pan and add all of the zucchini. Stir and cook the zucchini until it is tender, but has not cooked through, roughly 2 minutes.

Blend eggs in a blender or beat well using a beater, with the milk. Season with salt and pepper. Blend on the highest speed to incorporate a lot of air in the eggs.

Pour the eggs into the saute pan and let it sit for 1 minute. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top of the eggs and place into the oven. Cook until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove pan from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Invert a plate on top of the pan and turn over. This usually slides out so easily that I can lift it slightly with a silicone spatula and then slide it right out of the pan. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

Adapted from Michael Chiarello