We have a big road trip coming up in April and I have been making some snacks for us so we don't have to stop as often. This road trip trail mix got its name because it is our go-to no matter where we are going. It works great for camping, hiking, boating, road trips, snacks during the day, and any other time you want a high calorie snack that lasts a while. If you omit the chocolate disks you can substitute them with other forms of chocolate; dark chocolate, vegan chocolate, white chocolate, or even these. Everything in this recipe can be altered to suit your taste, or likes. You can also use more, or less of any of these if you want to taste one thing more than the others in each handful. Either way, it's a great starter recipe to try on your next road trip, or day trip. This is the basic recipe mix that we use.
10 Ingredient Road Trip Trail Mix
Tomato Cucumber Salad
With the end of the summer season coming to a close, it's about the time of year where I figure out how to use the remaining tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden. One of the quick and easy recipes I've come up with the last two years is a tomato and cucumber salad. It's a delicious and healthy way to incorporate a few vegetables, especially if you're needing to use several at once that could possibly go bad before using them for individual dishes. The best part of having a garden in your own backyard is being able to walk outside and get whatever you need for a certain dish.
This year's garden we grew tomatoes (cherry, Roma, and beefsteak), cucumbers, nasturtium, pumpkins, zucchini, yellow squash, onion (red and yellow), watermelon, butter lettuce, cabbage, and peas. We had good results from a few crops, but others not-so-much. We have come to the conclusion that they aren't getting enough sun each summer. So, we are going to move some things around next growing season.
Our tomatoes and cucumbers did well and with that overabundance, I created this summery dish. Here's how it's made.
- Four to five medium to large tomatoes (any kind), diced into bite-sized pieces
- Four to five small to medium cucumbers, sliced and then cut in half
- Black olives, whole, cut in half
- Three to four pickles, diced small
- Four to five tablespoons olive oil
- Splash of vinegar, to taste
- Two tablespoons Italian seasoning
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
Bacon Jalapeño Poppers
This recipe has pretty much become a go-to for holiday snacks in our house. We sometimes make them before we take off to go camping, or before the weekend begins. They can be made up ahead of time and placed in an airtight container in the refrigerator and popped into the microwave, air fryer, or oven for a short time to warm them back up, because they are best served hot.
- 20-30 jalapeño peppers (seeded and cut lengthwise in half) **use gloves for this**
- 3-4 (8oz) blocks of cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1 tablespoon of onion powder
- 1 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 teaspoon of salt (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon of jalapeno juice (this adds some additional spice to the mix)
- 10-12 jalapeno seeds (more or less to your own spice tolerance)
- Cooked bacon (entire package)
Mix cream cheese, onion powder, pepper, salt, and seeds together in a bowl and fill each jalapeño shell with mixture. Be sure to overfill to your desired amount. Cut bacon into small diced pieces and sprinkle on top of cream cheese mixture.
Place on baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until the tops are browned and bacon becomes crispy.
Nuts and Seeds Banana Bread
- 1/2 cup melted salted butter
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, or more to taste
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground or grated nutmeg
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract (not imitation)
- 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 2 cups)
- 1/2 cup, or more of seeds and nuts (peanuts, pumpkin, flax, sunflower, almond, cashew, chia)

Chocolate Chip Cookies Five Ways
Picnic-Style Potato Salad
One thing is certain in our house and that's the fact that everyone in this house loves potato salad. But not just any potato salad, it has to be made right. There's a lot of different versions out there, but this version is by far, our favorite. And it's easy to make, which is a plus. I hate cooking, baking, all of it. I can't stand being in the kitchen longer than 10 minutes making anything to eat. So, the easier the recipe, the better. You're going to love this potato salad, and the best part is, you can add anything to it that your own family loves. Here's how it's made.
- 5 red potatoes (this recipe can be double, or tripled, just work in single recipe batches)
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 1/4 cup dill pickles
- 1 green onion
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons green onion dip mix
- 2 1/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar (or less to taste)
- 3/4 cup minced parsley
- 3/4 cup mustard (or less to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Valentine's Day 2023
This year for Valentine's Day I got up early and made heart-shaped waffles and heart-shaped eggs for us. The waffle maker I used is from Dash and when I saw it online I knew immediately that I had to have it. We had snow on the ground and it made the day even better having a warm themed breakfast for thing in the morning. We started the fireplace and just enjoyed the day together. Everyone loved the heart-shaped waffles, which were blueberry, and the heart-shaped eggs. I also incorporated the Love Day breakfast with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. It was a perfect start to the day. Scroll to the end of this post to get one of these super cute waffle makers for yourself.
Soft Gingersnaps
One cookie that gets made yearly in our house is gingerbread. I've yet to attempt to create a gingerbread house from this recipe, but I'm eager to try, so maybe next year I will give it a try and see if I can create a house from my recipe. But for simple gingersnaps, this recipe is our all-time favorite. It's a quick recipe that combines the great taste of gingerbread with a snap to them that you get from store-bought gingerbread cookies.
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 7 tbsp. sugar
- 1/2 stick cold butter
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 1 tbsp. molasses
- 2 egg yolks (separated)
Peanut Butter Cookies
This past weekend we decided not to hit the waves, but clean out a lot of forgotten spaces in our house. One space being the pantry. We are good at rotating foods in our pantry, but every once in awhile we find out we have more of one item than we think. This weekend it was peanut butter. Six jars later we realize that we are pretty set on having enough for awhile. I tried to think of ways to use it and there is so many possibilities. After sorting through all of the options, we agreed on making peanut butter cookies and played around with some of the chocolate candies we picked up at the local food co-op here. We love these chocolate candies and they are similar to M&M's, but are made with Fair Trade chocolate and dyed with better ingredients. Since changing our eating habits to better quality, it's amazing how many things that once tasted "good" now taste off. One of the main products I've noticed the change in taste is chocolate and peanut butter. I used to love Hershey's, especially Hershey Kisses, but now, nope. I can't eat them without feeling like I'm eating chocolate-flavored wax. These chocolate rainbow drops can be purchased online here, if you wanted to use them like we did in this recipe. Here's how we made our peanut butter cookies.
Ingredients:
Lemon Squares
I hate cooking. Anyone that knows me well will tell you that. Cooking, baking, or even standing in the kitchen making a sandwich, I hate it all. Which, seems odd to say, as most people that are in my bloodline seem to enjoy it a lot. I've never been one to find any joy in it. I've heard people say that it gives them joy, or melts their heart to watch people eat what they've cooked. Nope, not me. If you like it, cool, if not, I'm not surprised. Ha! But, there are random times where I will go into the kitchen and make something completely unexpected. Skylar tells me all the time that he likes that part of me the best. When I cook, or bake something that no one expects. He tells me that's his favorite kind of cooking and describes me as-"The unexpected cook."
- 1 cup softened organic butter
- 2 cups organic sugar
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose organic flour
- 4 organic eggs
- Juice of two organic Meyer lemons
- Organic powdered sugar for sprinkling (optional)