Blog - Inside BruCrew Life

S'mores Sugar Cookie Bars

Gooey marshmallow frosting and chocolate bars make these sweet S'mores Sugar Cookie Bars a fun dessert for summer picnics and parties.

Summer is in full swing here. With all these hot blazing days we have made a few trips to the pool and Bahama Bucks. Gotta love a cup full of shaved ice with all kinds of flavored syrups.

Of course when I think of summer, I think s'mores. Ok, that's not quite true because I tend to think about s'mores all year long. I have made it my mission to include s'mores in every kind of treat.

Popcorn, cheesecake, cookies, and even breakfast have all been s'mores-itized in our kitchen. Haha! That's my new word for the month. S'mores-itized! Now to figure out what else I can add chocolate, marshmallow, and graham crackers too... [Read more...]

Seven Places to Visit in San Francisco

We only had a few days to check out the sites of the city, so here are Seven Places to Visit in San Francisco that we enjoyed. Bring comfortable shoes because you will be doing a lot of walking.

A few months ago my husband had a conference in San Francisco. I was able to fly out and join him for a few days after his conference was over. Since we only had a few days to explore, we tried to hit some of the most popular places.

Now I realize that there are WAY more than seven places that you could visit in San Francisco. But we only had 3 days and our legs to get us there. We did rent a car one of the days because we wanted to visit the redwood forests outside the city, but most of our exploring was done by walking and an occasional Uber.

The first two days we were exploring it was cloudy and raining, so we didn't see things as well as we would have liked, but hey, it was still fun.

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Pina Colada Cheesecake Parfaits

Grab a spoon and a spot in the shade while you enjoy a few of these No Bake Pina Colada Cheesecake Parfaits! These creamy cups are the perfect treat for summer picnics or parties!

This past week our family enjoyed some time away at the beaches in Florida. A week of sunshine, waves, and sunsets was just what we needed after a busy year of school and work. If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen some of the fun things we were doing.

We decided to make most of our meals in our room since it had a mini kitchen. It's nice to have food in the fridge for quick and easy meals after a long day in the sun.

Of course, vacations also call for a few meals out. My favorite thing to order are shrimp tacos, and there is nothing better than a shrimp meal on a beach. [Read more...]

Frosted Orange Poppy Seed Bread

Frosted Orange Poppy Seed Bread is a delectable twist on the classic. Perfect for summer brunches!

We are now a few weeks into summer break, and so far our two youngest kids have been doing a good job at staying busy. Of course, I think that is mostly due to the fact that their friends are home from Puerto Rico right now.

They have been playing zombie tag at the church and swimming at the pool every single day. I have a feeling when their friends leave to go home, I'm going to here a lot of "I'm bored" and "what can we do today?"

For now I'm going to enjoy the peace and quiet that comes when they are out of the house. Don't get me wrong. I do love having our kids home during the summer. It's the whining and complaining that I can do without.

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No Bake Nutella Oreo Icebox Cake

Layers of cookies, chocolate cheesecake, and strawberries make this easy No Bake Nutella Oreo Icebox Cake the perfect summer dessert. Chocolate and no bake always get my attention!

Up until this past week, we have had hot days and cool nights. That cooler weather was perfect for having a campfire in the back yard at night and for working out in the early morning.

Then this week hit and we have had more humidity during the day than usual. The hotter days have been carrying over into the evening. That doesn't stop us from lighting up some of the wood in our backyard though. S'mores are a must have during the summer.

Who am I kidding? I could do s'mores all year long. Give me that gooey chocolate and marshmallow any day! [Read more...]

Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits

Layers of fruit, yogurt, and granola make these Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits an easy and fresh breakfast choice. Start the day out right by grabbing a jar as you walk out the door.

After a week or two of munching, snacking, and eating out, we are ready to get back on the good food eating train. Part of that is because our beach trip is right around the corner, which means time to put on the swimsuits.

Yikes! There's nothing like the thought of wearing that thing in public to keep me from grabbing more homemade chocolate chip brownies. Ok, so even the idea of wearing shorts, tanks, and swimsuits doesn't stop me from wanting the sweets. My sweet tooth can't ever be stopped! But there is a big difference between enjoying the sweets and actually having the sweets. Right now, I'm doing good at only reaching for good food. Hopefully, in a few weeks, I can still say that...

I have a hard time sticking to eating real food. It doesn't matter how much we change our meals, I get bored. Am I the only one who is like that? Please tell me someone else out there gets tired of veggies and protein every.single.day. Why can't I eat nachos and tater tots and still look good in that darn swimsuit? Stinking genetics!!! LOL! [Read more...]

Honey Lime Strawberry Sauce

Keep a jar of this easy Honey Lime Strawberry Sauce in your fridge this summer. It is the perfect fruit topping for ice cream, waffles, or cheesecake.

We are officially on summer break here. Bring on all the sleeping in, picnics, pool days, and late nights that come once school is out. We don't have too many plans this summer. I know a week at the beach is definitely going to happen, and lots of trips to Six Flags.

Gotta get our money out of that season pass, right? At least that's what my daughter says anyway. The old person in me just wants to stay as far away from those twisting upside down rides as I can. I can remember going on roller coasters all summer long as a teenager, but I can't handle them at all now. My equilibrium has definitely aged. LOL!

But other than that, we will probably just be relaxing and enjoying the lazy days in our backyard. Eating lots of fruit and drinking pitchers of sparkling key lime fruit punch sounds like the perfect plan for those days. [Read more...]

Thoughts from a Mom's Heart

Over the past few years, I have slacked off on sharing some of our family life and thoughts from a mom's heart. Oh, I still share our family stories along with the recipes you love, but I realized that I haven't shared as much about our life. I have so many pictures of what we are doing or thinking, and they just sit on the phone and computer.

Sharing more things with you guys is something that has been on my heart lately, so I hope you enjoy a few posts here and there that are just about us.

Over the years the kids have stopped fighting me about taking pictures on certain days. Christmas, Easter, Mother's day, and the first day of school are all days I want pictures of. They used to groan and moan and cry and give me grief.

Oh, wait, that hasn't changed much over the years. They still moan and groan about it, but they at least are much more willing to appease mom now that they are older.

Plus, I think they have finally learned that if they just do it right away without the grief, it takes less time. Now they still make lots of faces and poses, and I make them come back and take one more good picture with everyone smiling. But at least they do it with a happy heart. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
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Homemade Blueberry Lemon Danish

This easy Homemade Blueberry Lemon Danish is delicious way to start out the day. A soft dough and blueberry pie filling makes these breakfast treats come together so quickly.

*I am partnering with Lucky Leaf this year as a blog ambassador bringing you delicious recipes using pie filling.

Homemade Blueberry Lemon Danish - the soft homemade lemon dough filled with blueberry pie filling makes an easy breakfast or snack recipe that everyone will love.

This past week has been crazy busy around here. Our church provided lunches on three days for a local elementary school as a way to say thank you to the teachers for all their hard work. I made some funfetti sugar cookie bars and neapolitan fudge for the first two days, then I decided to make cute little cheesecake parfaits for the last day. Let's just say that 60 parfaits seemed like an easy thing when I first started.

I enlisted my hubby to help me with chopping cookies and washing dishes that night. Four hours later we finished up the last one. Now part of the reason it took so long is that I was developing the actual recipe for two of the varieties that we made. The other two recipes were already finished, and we just had to whip up triple batches of each. Easier said than done though.

Maybe I should have just stuck with an easier dessert, although I heard that the teachers loved all of them. So it was totally worth it!

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Egg Taquitos

Green Chile Egg Taquitos make breakfast a tasty grab-and-go affair! The whole family will love these easy time savers.

We are on the home stretch for the end of school. The kids are on a countdown now. They are all pretty much checked out since there is less than a month of school to go. They just want summer and sleeping in to be here now. I can't believe that in three weeks that will be happening.

Since our oldest is graduating high school, I'm totally pretending that is not a reality because I'm not ready to have my baby be that old. Excuse me while I go have an ugly cry while I look at baby pictures.

Ok, I'm better now, but let's not talk about the end of school again. Let's talk about keeping the kids going strong the last few weeks.

Over the past few years, we have really tried to stress the importance of starting the day out right with breakfast. Not that we didn't feed our kids breakfast before, but they are finally getting it.

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