Easy Chickpea Salad Recipe

14 Jun By Leave a Comment

My favorite season of the year is fall. I like the cool crisp air and wearing jeans and hoodies. However, I also love summer. Not so much the heat, but I enjoy all the outdoor BBQ’s and the foods that tend to be there. Like these absolutely delicious Key Lime Bars. If you are looking for an easy and refreshing side dish to take to your next BBQ, this chickpea salad recipe is perfect! Not only is it perfect, but it’s not something you see at every BBQ!

*This post may contain affiliate links*

chickpea salad

chickpea salad
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Easy Chickpea Salad

Delicious and easy to make, chickpea salad. Perfect for all of your summer BBQ's!

Course Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine Mediterranean
Keyword bbq, chickpea
Prep Time 15 minutes
Chill 30 minutes
Servings 8 People
Calories 234 kcal

Ingredients

  • 1/3 Cup Red Onion diced
  • 2 15 oz Canned Chickpeas drained and rinsed
  • 2 Small Roma Tomatoes diced
  • 2 Small Jalapeno's diced
  • 1/3 Cup Fresh Parsley chopped
  • 4 Stalks Green Onions diced
  • 5 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
  • 1/8 tsp Sugar

Instructions

  1. Place the diced onion in a bowl of ice cold water and let sit for 10 minutes, then drain. Set aside and cover with a paper towel to absorb the excess water.*

  2. Combine the remaining ingredients in mixing bowl and toss well.

  3. Add the onion and stir to combine.

  4. Taste and adjust the lemon juice and seasoning, as needed.

  5. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Toss well before serving.

Recipe Notes

*Place the onion in water to cut out the strong onion flavor. If you like that strong onion flavor, just skip that step. 

 

Chickpea Salad Deliciousness!

Doesn’t this sound delicious?!? Pasta salads are great and totally have their place at the BBQ buffet, but this chickpea salad is different and not something you see all the time. This chickpea recipe makes roughly eight 1/2 cup servings.

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While this recipe calls for lemon juice, definitely play around with the flavor you would like. I plan on trying it with red wine vinegar. I think that would taste good too! What do you think?

Other Recipes to Try

Besides this chickpea salad, other recipes you must try this summer are:

Following Keto? Try These Recipes

Are you following the Keto diet and are starting to freak out about all the graduation parties and BBQ’s you will be attending this summer? These are great posts to check out with tips and recipes to try!

Enjoy! If you try this chickpea salad, please leave a comment letting me know how you like it!


Golden Birthday Celebrations

28 May By Leave a Comment

Have you heard of people celebrating their Golden Birthday? I hadn’t heard about this until I had kids. Of course my kids birthdays fall on the 15th and 17th of the month. So, as you can imagine, I’ve been waiting a long time to celebrate someones Golden Birthday! The time has finally come! My son will be turning 15 soon. Let the Golden Birthday planning begin!

*This post may contain affiliate links*

Golden Birthday

What is a Golden Birthday?

You may be asking yourself, “what exactly is a Golden Birthday?”. This birthday celebration is celebrated when you turn the number of the day you were born. For example, my son is turning 15 soon. He was born on the 15th of the month. So…this year is his Golden Birthday year!

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First Things First

The cake. When I am planning a birthday party, I always plan the cake first and then everything else. I don’t typically go overboard in the planning stage for birthdays, so for this birthday, I definitely want to. When you Google “Golden Birthday cakes”, you get bunch of different images of some pretty amazing looking cakes. I love the cakes that are covered in edible gold glitter! While that may be a bit too girly for my son, I also found cakes that look like blocks of gold. I’m thinking that is what I am going to make for him (and by me make it, I really mean my husband…he’s good at that stuff)!

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Make the Golden Birthday Special

When you are planning this special birthday, you want to think about all the small details. Things like gold colored paper products, cups, plastic silverware, etc. Other ideas I have are:

  • Wrap everything in gold wrapping paper or bags with tissue paper
  • Gold streamers
  • Giant gold balloon numbers
  • Gold balloons
  • Snack table with:
    • Bowl of Rolo candy
    • Golden Oreo cookies
    • Tortilla chips and cheese dip (and salsa…I don’t care that it’s not gold. You can’t have tortilla chips without salsa!)
    • Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
    • Pizza Rolls
    • Goldfish crackers

Whatever you decided to do, I am sure your friend or loved one will thoroughly enjoy it! It doesn’t have to be elaborate or over the top. Just make a list of the things you normally do and see if you can sub things out for things that are gold in color!


Key Lime Bundt Cake

24 May By Leave a Comment

One of my FAVORITE pans to use is my bundt cake pan. It’s super easy to use and the bundt cake looks great on my cake stand on my table. With summer finally feeling like it’s on it’s way, this key lime bundt cake recipe is something that you will want to take to every summer BBQ! I don’t know about you, but I am all about anything and everything key lime!

*This post may contain affiliate links*

key lime bundt cake

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key lime bundt cake
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Key Lime Bundt Cake

Delicious and must try recipe for a key lime bundt cake.

Course Dessert
Keyword bundt, bundt cake, key lime
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 16 People
Calories 447 kcal

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Unsalted Butter softened
  • 2 Cup Sugar
  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 2 TBSP Key Lime Juice
  • 3 TBSP Lime Zest
  • 1 TBSP Lime Juice
  • 3 Cup Flour
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Cup Buttermilk

Lime Glaze Ingredients

  • 1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter
  • 3/4 Cup Sugar
  • 2 TBSP Water
  • 2 TBSP Lime Extract
  • 1 Lime zested

Lime Icing Ingredients

  • 2 Cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1 Lime zested
  • 1 TBSP Key Lime Juice
  • 1 TBSP Clear Corn Syrup

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your bundt pan with your favorite baking spray.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

  3. Using your stand mixer (or hand mixer), cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and buttermilk until combined and smooth.

  4. Whisk together the key lime juice, lime zest and lime juice until combined.

  5. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until combined.

  6. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 65 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).

  7. In a small sauce pan, combine all glaze ingredients and whisk until combined and the sugar is dissolved over medium heat.

  8. When you remove the bundt cake from the oven, poke holes in the cake and pour the glaze over the holes, making sure the glaze gets into the holes.

  9. Allow the key lime bundt cake to completely cook while still in the pan.

  10. Once cool, invert the cake onto a cake plate.

  11. Whisk together your the icing ingredients and pour over your key lime bundt cake.

Recipe Notes

*Sub gluten free flour to make this gluten free!

Doesn’t it look delicious?!? People will love you even more when you bring this to your next summer BBQ! You’ll be the hit of the party! Everyone will be asking for your recipe! If you want to go with a lemon lime theme, you must make these delicious lemon bar recipe. It’s most definitely not your traditional lemon bar, but like the key lime bundt cake, it will also be the hit of the party!

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What is your favorite summer BBQ recipe? A few more you may be interested in are:

Great BBQ Recipes for Your Next Cook-Out

Back Porch Bourbon Tea

Banana Bundt Cake Recipe

If you give this recipe a try, let me know what you think!

key lime bundt cake


Back Porch Bourbon Tea

14 May By Leave a Comment

Are you a bourbon lover? My husband isn’t much of a drinker, but he does love his bourbon and unsweetened ice tea. What happens when you combine his two favorite drinks? You get a delicious Back Porch Bourbon Tea that is perfect for those summer BBQ’s! Your summer guests will love this twist on a summer staple!

*This post may contain affiliate links*

bourbon tea

 

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Back Porch Bourbon Tea

Take your ice tea recipe up a notch with this amazing Back Porch Bourbon Tea recipe!

Course Drinks
Keyword alcohol, bbq, beverage, bourbon, ice tea, iced tea, party, summer, whiskey
Prep Time 10 minutes
Chill 1 day
Total Time 1 day 10 minutes
Servings 25 People
Calories 133 kcal

Ingredients

Fruit Infused Ingredients

  • 1 Gallon Unsweetened Tea
  • 2 Large Lemons sliced, set some aside for garnish
  • 2 Large Limes sliced, set some aside for garnish
  • 2 Large Blood Oranges sliced, set aside for garnish

Ingredients for 1 Serving

  • 5 oz Fruit Infused Tea
  • 1 oz Bourbon
  • 1 oz Blood Orange Liqueur
  • Mint Sprigs for garnish
  • Fruit Slices for garnish
  • Ice

Instructions

Directions for Fruit Infused Tea

  1. Pour your unsweetened tea in your gallon pitcher and mix in your lemon, lime and blood orange slices.

  2. Refrigerate overnight.

Directions for the Drink

  1. Using a shaker, mix the 5 oz of fruit infused tea, bourbon, and blood orange liqueur.

  2. Pour over ice, add a mint sprig and fruit slices.

Recipe Notes

Enjoy this refreshing beverage with or without the alcohol. It's your choice!

This Bourbon Tea recipe sounds delicious, doesn’t it?!? I can already see me making it this summer for all the different get togethers we have planned!

Is Bourbon Tea Low Carb?

Following the Keto diet or a low carb diet and want to know if this Back Porch Bourbon Tea is low carb? Guess what…I calculated it using my favorite app, Carb Counter. Here is an image of the calories and carb count:

bourbon tea

I don’t typically like to drink my carbs, as you can see, this bourbon tea is low carb enough that I would make wise food choices and enjoy a drink or two. For your Keto followers, this Carb Counter app gave this recipe a Keto Grade A.

bourbon tea

Summer is on it’s way (I hope). There is nothing better than a grilled burger on a warm summer day! If you are looking for a delicious dessert recipe to make, you MUST try these Key Lime Bars or these amazing Pina Colada Whoopie Pies!

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Recovering from Knee Surgery Tips

8 May By Leave a Comment

A little over four weeks ago, I had my second knee surgery. If you recall, back in October, I had the first part of the knee surgery for my right knee. While I’ve already been through this once (and not that long ago), this second surgery recovery has not been easy. With that said, planning is key. Some things that helped me the first time around, did not help at all this time, but don’t worry! I have found new knee surgery tips and I am sharing them all with you. Hopefully they help someone else going through knee surgery!

*This post may contain affiliate links*

knee surgery tips

Why Knee Surgery?

For years (like 15+ years), I have dealt with knee pain in every aspect of my life. 12 years ago, I dislocated my knee for the first time and over the course of the next 12 years, I put up with my knee slipping slightly out again and again. In July of 2018, my knee dislocated again. This prompted me to see the surgeon again. We had tried every option available to me, other than surgery, but it was finally time to bite the bullet and have knee surgery. My kids were older and much more self sufficient and my husband was in a place in his career that he was able to work his schedule so he could work from home and help with my recovery.

What was the Surgical Plan?

My surgeon asked me what mattered more to me…fixing the instability, alleviating the pain or both. Obviously my answer was both. There was no way I could choose between the two. Both bothered me equally on a daily basis. In answering with both, my surgical plan went from one surgery to two. The first surgery was this past October. The surgeon went in, cleaned up the underside of my kneecap and took a biopsy of my cartilage. That biopsy was sent to a lab on the East Coast where they grew more of my own cartilage. The second surgery that I had four weeks ago, the surgeon cut away the damaged cartilage, implanted the new cartilage (called the MACI procedure) and then used a donor tendon to replace a damaged tendon to help stabilize my knee (called MPFL Reconstruction).

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Most Important Knee Surgery Tips

First and foremost, TAKE YOUR PAIN PILLS. Set alarms on your phone to remind you. Just take the darn pills. I missed a dose or two and the nerve blocks wore off and I can’t even begin to put into words the amount of pain I was in. We eventually had to call the on-call nurse and she told my husband how to administer the pain pills in a different way (a bit more frequently, but still safe…he asked!) and finally…after a day and a half…I was over that insanity. So take the pills…even if you don’t think you have that much pain. Just do it. This is, by far, the most of all the knee surgery tips.

Elevate and Ice

Once I was done taking pain pills (only needed them for about four days), the best way to help my pain is by elevating it and icing constantly. I was sent home with a machine to ice my knee. You put water in the machine and frozen water bottles and it constantly keeps the pad on your knee cold. If you don’t get sent home with one of those, I highly recommend you buy one. I sleep with it every single night and use it during the day. I also recommend you get one of the elevating wedges. Shortly after the first surgery because trying to get the pillows just right never worked. The wedge was amazing and worth every penny!

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Do Your Exercises

My surgeon sent me home with several exercises I needed to start right away. Once I saw my physical therapy team, they gave me more. The two most important exercises for me to do right after surgery were heel pumps and quad sets. The more you can work on getting your quad muscle to fire properly, the better! Another thing I would highly recommend is a strap to help stretch your hamstring and a Tiger Tail rolling stick to help massage your quad muscle. Trust me, those two things are a must have!

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Catch Up on Netflix and Reading

Part of my recovery requires me to use a machine that was dropped off at my home. I set the degrees each day and it bends my knee accordingly and repeatedly. Since I use this machine every single day for six hours a day, I have a lot of time to just sit and watch Netflix or read. So far I have watched:

  • How to Get Away With Murder (remaining season I had left to watch)
  • You
  • Santa Clarita Diet (seasons 2 and 3)
  • The Crown
  • Criminal Minds (currently watching)

When I’m not watching Netflix, I am reading. You can find my favorite books on my book site, A Real Page Turner.

How Long is Recovery?

It will be 18 long months before I can return to normal activity. Right now I am on crutches and doing rehab. I am hoping that I will get off crutches in a few weeks and start building up my strength with walking and gain the ability to start driving again. Ultimately, I cannot wait to be able to return to the gym. I’ve missed working out. Going from working out 3-4 times a week to not being able to work out at all, stinks big time! BUT, if this fixes my knee and makes it so I don’t have to be afraid to take a step, then it will be worth it to wait a little while longer!