Blog - Inside BruCrew Life

Letting Go

That fateful day has arrived. The day every parent dreads or can't wait for. It's time for me to learn the art of letting go as my first baby heads out on his own for his first day at college.

When you hold your first born child for the first time, you don't think about the day they are going to leave home. 18 years ago we welcomed our first baby boy into our life. What a journey that started for us.

Nothing can describe the immense love and joy we had as we stared down into that tiny face. Those cute chubby cheeks made the nine months of pregnancy and the c-section all worth it.
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Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake

Three times the chocolate makes this moist and rich Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake a decadent and delicious way to eat your greens. This chocolate zucchini dessert is the perfect recipe to serve all year long.

About This Recipe

Do you get excited for certain ingredients at certain times of the year? During the summer months, I get excited to use green veggies in my baking.

I know I should enjoy zucchini as a veggie more often, but I seriously love baking it into chocolate zucchini desserts. It gives them such an awesome texture and taste!

This Chocolate Zucchini Cake and this Double Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread WERE two of my favorite ways to "eat my greens". They were my favorite until I had a slice of this decadent chocolate zucchini bundt cake. This cake is now my favorite zucchini dessert recipe.

A few weeks ago I headed to the grocery store because I was craving more chocolate covered zucchini. I wanted to use the green veggies to make an over the top zucchini bundt cake.

This moist and rich chocolate zucchini cake has chocolate glaze and chocolate chips. One bite and you will agree that this is the best way to eat your greens.

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Biscoff S'mores Pudding Cookies

Fill your cookie jar with a batch of these chewy Biscoff S'mores Pudding Cookies. The soft, puffy cookies are great for lunch boxes or snacking on any time!!!

Bonus - If you love Biscoff, don't miss out on this Biscoff Cheesecake!

We are counting down to the start of school here. Our kids only have 4 more days of summer vacation until that first day of classes begin. The high school that our daughter is attending this year starts at 7:30 am. She says she needs to make the most of sleeping in for the next few days because she is not ready to be up that early. Her school last year didn't start until 9 am. That's going to be an adjust for her (and us) because she is not a morning person. At all!

Who am I kidding? I'm not much of a morning person either. Although this past summer I really tried to get up by 7 am, so that I could get my quiet time, work out, and odds and ends work stuff done before the kids got up. The past few weeks though we have been up late trying to unpack all the boxes and figure out where things can go, so I have definitely been sleeping in a bit more. Time to get back on schedule with work and baking. I miss baking crazy things like this chocolate s'mores pudding cake.

But hey, there are only 4 more days to enjoy all the summer things, right? Sleeping in happens to be one of those things, so maybe I'll just enjoy a few more late mornings after all. All things s'mores is another thing that says summer to me. Since we were so busy with moving stuff this summer, we haven't enjoyed as many s'mores treats in the backyard.

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Blueberry Pecan Coffee Cake

This Blueberry Pecan Coffee Cake is sweet and nutty. It's a great way to kick off a weekend breakfast or brunch!

Can you believe that school is only a week away? Well, I guess that depends what state you are in. Our schools in Texas don't start until the end of the month, while the schools here in Florida start sooner.

The kids are excited but nervous to head into another new school. At least this time, they have a previous move under their belts. I think moving a year and a half ago gave them the confidence to do it again.

They realized that their old friends in Indiana didn't forget about them, and they made new friends quickly in Texas. I think this will help them, as they get ready to make new friends here in Florida.

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Caramel Frappuccino Pudding Pops

These easy Caramel Frappuccino Pudding Pops are a fun cold treat for a hot summer day. The coffee and caramel blend in these popsicles will give you the boost you need.

Last week, we spent the entire week boxing up our entire household and cleaning rooms in preparation for our big cross-country move. In fact, I will probably still be driving (ok, riding) in the car as you read this. 1500 miles is a long way to travel all loaded down with everything you own.

Of course, it would be one of the hottest weeks of the summer as we were packing. I kept some of the packed boxes in the house until the last minute, as I didn't want food or candles to melt while sitting in the big metal truck.

Finally, my hubby had to take them into the truck because he was creating a wall of cardboard boxes at the front. Fingers crossed all the sprinkles aren't in one big clump when we unpack.

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Cherry Apple Crumble Bars

The spices and fruit filling in these Cherry Apple Crumble Bars work so well together. Eat one of these cherry cobbler bars warm with vanilla ice cream for a delicious summer dessert.

The past few weeks we have been slowly packing boxes as we get ready to move across the country again. As I pull things out of closets and drawers I keep asking why. Why do we have so many towels for 5 people? Why did I keep all the jewelry making supplies from when I was in the "make your own" phase? I haven't made anything new for almost 2 years. Maybe it is time to let go.

Why are there 15 jillion bottles of curly hair product in my closet and under the sink? Oh, yeah curly girl problems. I like to try every single product out there for curly hair because you never know which one might work the best.

The problem with that theory is that you end up with a lot of bottles of product that just sit there because it didn't make your hair look as good as you hoped. This week I am making myself use the old stuff up. If you see me wearing a hat, you will know why.

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Green Chile Pulled Pork Tacos

These Green Chile Pulled Pork Tacos are loaded with meat, cheese, and salsa. They are such an easy and delicious dinner for busy nights.

Are you ready for my current taco obsession? Last year I was all about these Caribbean Jerk Shrimp Tacos, and now I cannot get enough of these easy pork tacos.

It's funny how your tastes can change in just one year. Don't get me wrong, I still love to make or order shrimp tacos. But for the time being these tacos have gone to the top of my list.

My hubby and I love to go on dates to some of the local taco places in our town. Our absolute favorite place is Torchy's Tacos. They seriously have the best tacos, queso, and margaritas.

We are going to miss that restaurant when we move later this month. I guess that just means we need to scope out another fun date place in Florida.

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Raspberry Orange Slushies

A pitcher of these easy Raspberry Orange Slushies is a great way to cool off on a hot summer day. Fresh fruit, juice, and ice makes such a refreshing drink.

Last night we went and watched my hubby play in a soccer game. He was invited to play on an indoor team that had most of their players out for vacation. He played in high school, so he felt like he could hang tough with the team. Plus, he felt like all our cross fit workouts surely had him in shape.

Oh, my goodness! It was so funny to watch. Now he did ok and cleared the ball most of the time, but he also had to sub out quite a few times because he couldn't breathe. And then there was the moment when he kicked the ball and took out a tiny little blonde girl too.

As we were watching the team play, a part of me thought I could still play too. After all, I played soccer all through high school and college. It couldn't be that difficult to pick back up, right?

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Easy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

All you need are two ingredients to have this Easy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork for dinner tonight. Serve it with barbecue sauce and buns or use it on tacos or nachos.

Growing up I wasn't a big meat eater. Give me a big plate of veggies and I was a happy camper. My parents always had me eat at least three bites of meat before I could be excused from the dinner table.

One of my younger sisters was the complete opposite. She would finish her meat and then sit there staring at the veggies left on her plate. I don't know why we didn't do a covert trade when our parents weren't watching.

Over the years though, I have started to enjoy more meats. Well, I don't know if eating burgers and chicken counts as more meat. I'm still not a big fan of red meat. The texture and taste just aren't for me. In the past few years, I have come to love pulled pork too. I probably like it because pork is considered the other white meat.

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Cherry Sweet Rolls

These easy no yeast Cherry Sweet Rolls are filled with a homemade cherry preserves and drizzled with a sweet almond glaze. Great breakfast treat for summer mornings!

Can you believe that summer is on the downward spiral? It feels like summer came and went for us this year. I think that is mostly because we had so much going on at the beginning of the summer. Our oldest graduated high school, we had family come visit, and we went to Florida for a week.

Our next big thing is moving...again! Packing our house and settling all the lose ends here will definitely fill the rest of our month with madness. Schools in Florida start earlier than Texas, so my kids are counting down the next month.

They have hit that summer slump of being bored. I may need to put them to work in the kitchen making some Nutella no bake cookies and cleaning up after. Haha! I think they would quickly become un-bored if I suggest that.

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