Blog - Inside BruCrew Life

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.
[Read more...]

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!

[Read more...]

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.

[Read more...]

No Bake Strawberry Mousse Cakes

Using store bought cakes and a few ingredients makes these No Bake Strawberry Mousse Cakes an easy dessert to put together for summer parties or dinners.

A strawberry mousse cake topped with hot fudge drizzles and a fresh strawberry on a red towel.

Some days you will find me in the kitchen baking up a crazy storm for hours. Other times I want a quick dessert that takes very little time because I have other things to do. This little cake is one of those desserts that doesn't take much time at all.

Got to love a dessert that looks like you bought it at the bakery, right? Let's keep it our little secret that these take less time to make than driving to your local sweet shop.

[Read more...]

Key Lime Bars

A thick cookie crust and bright green key lime filling make these sweet and tart Key Lime Bars a must make recipe this summer.

Why You Will Love These Bars

It has taken me some time to come around to liking citrus desserts. The past few years I have made and eaten more lemon and lime desserts and have come to an appreciation of their flavors. Of course, if I'm given the choice of only one dessert, anything chocolate is going to beat out the citrus.

Key lime has a special place in my heart though because my hubby and I went on our honey moon to Key West many years ago. It was there that I had my first slice of key lime pie. Chocolate dipped, of course.

Key lime pie is one of my hubby's favorite desserts. He also loves these mini strawberry pies. Oh, my word! I totally need to mash those two desserts together. What do you think? [Read more...]

Tropical Banana Bread

This Tropical Banana Bread is the best way to use up those ripe bananas on the counter. Adding cherries, pineapple, and coconut makes this sweet bread a favorite in our house.

This weekend we experienced a chill in our weather. It dropped into the 30's overnight and then was extremely windy, rainy, and chilly the whole weekend. When your body is used to it being in the 80's, that is a big change.

Our youngest son had two soccer games on Sunday, so that morning he and I loaded everything up and headed out to the field. Apparently, I can't ready the team app very well though because we got there and found out the game had been cancelled. At first I was slightly annoyed that I had misread everything wrong, but then I realized that meant I didn't have to sit for an hour and half in the 45 degree weather. Thank heavens!

By the time we had to go back for the second game, the chill was out of the wind and the sun was out, so it wasn't as bad to be outside.

[Read more...]

Apple Snickers Cheesecake Trifle

Layers of crunchy apples, creamy cheesecake, and candy bars make this Apple Snickers Cheesecake Trifle an impressive no bake dessert. Perfect dessert for summer picnics or dinners.

*Crunch Pak apples sponsored this post. I am partnering with them as a blog ambassador creating delicious apple recipes.

CLICK HERE TO PIN THIS RECIPE FOR LATER!

Our local grocery store offers a free cart service for their shoppers. As a recipe developer I frequent the grocery stores a few times a week. One of these days, they are going to remember who I am. Most of the times when I am there I'm weating workout gear and a hat pulled down low. There are a few times when I head to the store that I am actually ready for the day and wearing normal clothes. Plus, I rotate stores each time I go too. Fingers crossed this keeps me from being remembered.

What will get me remembered is if I actually take advantage of the cart service. You see, I have a very bad habit of parking my car, grabbing my groceries, and forgetting where I parked. And that's all in the time frame of about 30 minutes. I usually refuse the free grocery carry out and tell them I got it.

Not because I don't want the help, but because I don't want them to laugh at me when I can't find my car. Trust me, I'm sure that could be a hot topic in the break room. Or maybe I'm just paranoid, but whatever the case I'm not going to chance it. I'll continue to wander around the parking lot loaded down with all my bags rather than be giggled at. [Read more...]

Salted Caramel Snickers Fudge

This easy Salted Caramel Snickers Fudge is loaded with lots of candy bars and is the perfect blend of sweet and salty.

The other day I was reading a magazine and saw an article on defying age. Since I just celebrated the 12th anniversary of my 29th birthday, my eye was drawn right to that info. Most of the tips were things that I knew already. Smile, exercise, stay out of the sun, sunscreen...and eat less sugar? What??? That last one is not the easiest thing in the world. My sweet tooth is larger than my thighs.

But if it can help me stay looking younger, I guess I can try to limit the sugar intake in my older age. But I'm not going to like it.

The one thing that can derail my healthy eating in a hurry though is salted caramel. I'm trying my hardest to stay away from anything in the dessert family right now, but there is something about that combo of sweet and salty that I just can't resist. Give me all the salted caramel brownie bites over wrinkles any day! [Read more...]

Pineapple Sriracha Chicken Salad

The homemade sweet and spicy salad dressing adds a fun kick to this easy Pineapple Sriracha Chicken Salad. This is such a healthy and refreshing salad for summer nights.

There are two times a year that I go on a big salad kick. Now don't get me wrong, we eat salad all year long because it's healthy and delicious. Everyone in our family enjoys a big giant salad for dinner. Especially one that looks like a giant beach ball before it gets tossed!

But for me, the beginning of the year and the beginning of spring are the two times I get the urge to eat even more salads than normal. Of course, at the beginning of the year it's mostly because I indulged a little too much in holiday treats. Salad is necessary to battle that cookie bulge.

I do really well for a month or two before slipping back into my old eating habits. Before I know it, spring has arrived and it's time to bring out the shorts and t-shirts. The only problem is that once again there are bulges to be battled. Bring on the protein shakes and salad dinners because mama wants to wear shorts this summer. Please tell me I'm not alone in these salad phases.

[Read more...]

Strawberry Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Bake

Strawberry Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Bake adds the sweet taste of spring to cinnamon rolls. And don't forget about that chocolate.

Our pantry has gone from being neat and organized to shelves of chaos in a matter of months. I still have baskets and plastic bins for certain items, but I have managed to stuff all sorts of other things in, around, and on top of those bins. The problem is that I cannot go into the grocery store with a list and come out with just those items. Extra ingredients and food items just jump into my cart as I walk by.

Half the time I get super excited to make something, only to come home and put the ingredients into the pantry and then promptly forget about them. If you do this multiple times a month, things start to pile up in the pantry. This is the predicament that I have found our pantry in at this very moment.

This week I challenged myself to bake something from the items in the refrigerator and pantry. A few weeks ago I had grabbed some refrigerated cinnamon rolls for a quick and easy breakfast for the kids. But then we got busy and left for spring break, and I forgot about them. I found them in the back of the fridge and thought they could be fun to work with.

[Read more...]

« Previous Page