I love doing baking projects with my favorite little people, my grandkids, who are truly the best kitchen helpers. Last year, my youngest grandson, Joe, now 6, joined me for some Mémé time to try out the favorite “Mrs. Fields” chocolate cookie recipe from my side of the family. Being the week before Easter, we used pastel-colored candies to make the cookies more festive.
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If you have a chance to visit Delray Beach, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re from a cooler clime like me where winter can seem forever long. My husband and I visited in February and we were blessed with five idyllic days of perfect weather. Delray Beach provides an excellent home base to explore Palm Beach County where there’s so much to do. You’ll fill out your itinerary in record time and start planning your next visit to the Gold Coast.
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Purple is my favorite color, so to pay homage to this hue, I’m sharing a delicious blueberry-flavored smoothie that’ll bring a smile to your morning. Over the past year, I’ve been experimenting with smoothie recipes and developing my go-to collection. I’ve been obsessed with the color of my smoothies that range from red, green, pale orange, yellow and purple. I find extra pleasure sipping on pretty-colored healthy breakfast drinks, so I continue experimenting with ingredients. As they say, variety is the spice of life; it’s so true with smoothies!
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I’ve embraced smoothies and I feel better for it. Really. It’s not a hardship to sip on a delicious and nutritious breakfast while getting in my veggies and fruit first thing every day. I’ve never been a big breakfast eater, so adopting smoothies has fit in well with my lifestyle. Plus, they’re so convenient working from home or drinking in the car when commuting to work or running errands.
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This post celebrates my first year as a personal blogger. It’s been a learning experience and something I’ve dreamed of doing for more than a decade. While I’m still getting my feet wet, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished so far in my first 40 posts marking my blog’s anniversary. It started with plotting out my goals in 2022 while self-quarantining from COVID-19. During my isolation period, I carefully set my goals in writing using my brand-new Commit30 planner. I jotted down “write more,” and there you here you have it. This was the impetus to bring Literally Laurie to life.
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St. Maarten/St. Martin is my happy place that checks off many of my happiness goals! In this post, I will be sharing some of my favorite places and things to do on this two-nation island for a family vacation. This Caribbean destination has a unique following of devout visitors who consider the island their home away from home, returning year after year. While renting a car may not be necessary depending on where you stay, to get the best experience especially for your first trip, plan to rent a car for at least a few days to freely explore the island.
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This is an easy, go-to sheet pan dinner I cook often during winter when the grill isn’t as accessible. Because the chicken sausage is precooked, I can get this meal on the table fast. I almost always have these ingredients on hand; and if I don’t, I can easily swap out the veggies with something else in my fridge.
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I’ve been making sheet pan dinners decades before this method became the rage on Pinterest. When we built our house, I insisted we needed two ovens and it was the best decision. Sheet pan dinners are my go-to during the week, especially during the winter, and there’s always something on hand that will make a tasty, quick meal. Plus, I don’t have to babysit the cooking process. I just need to check on the progress and give the sheet pan ingredients a quick stir a few times while it roasts.
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I no longer make New Year’s resolutions. Somehow resolutions always seem frivolous and short lived, barely going past February. Since last year, I’m committed to plot out my goals instead for the coming year and track them in a journal. It makes a life-changing difference, believe me. In this blog post, I’ll share this process to help you make the most of 2023.
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I’m long overdue for another room reveal and I’ve been saving the last room on my main floor for the holiday season. I love how festive it is especially when the room is filled with family and friends to celebrate happy occasions. When we did our full interior paint refresh, this was one room that remained in the same color family. It got a new fresh coat of color in a slightly different shade using Benjamin Moore’s Caliente. The color is described as “a charismatic, classic shade of red that is radiant and full of energy.” Sounds just about right for an engaging dining experience, right?!
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I’ve updated this post from last January after making two large batches of dry rub for holiday gifts. I’ve been making my original all-purpose dry rub for a few decades and added in a coffee barbecue recipe about four years ago. While I love cooking, most of the time I’m a quick cook; especially during the week, when I’m trying to get dinner out without too much muss and fuss. With that said, one of my timesavers is turning to my homemade rubs I use several times each week to season my suppers.
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The North End in Boston, MA is always a favorite destination to wander around and absorb all the Italian neighborhood has to offer. Fortunately for me, it’s only a 75-minute-drive away! I especially like to arrive in midafternoon and stay through evening to witness the sights, sounds and local flavors as daylight transforms Boston’s oldest residential community to darkness.
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When it comes to growing flowers, I wouldn’t say I have a green thumb because not everything I attempt to grow turns out as expected. Instead, I’d say I’m tenacious and patient. Determined to have color in my flower beds throughout the summer, I’m willing to try new plants, move them around and give them a chance if first they don’t succeed. In fact, I always use brown mulch as it helps hide the evidence of moving things around throughout the season.
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I’ve had a love affair with bigleaf hydrangeas for as long as I can remember. Every summer, I’d admire the huge blue mops during Cape Cod family vacations. This is what I expected I’d grow when I planted my first Nikko blue hydrangeas. Of course, I now know that these old-time hydrangeas can be a challenge.
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An easy, affordable and fun kids’ activity that will keep them engaged is planning a cupcake-decorating project. It’s great for a kids’ party or even family time. So, when the temps soared into the 90s at a family party we hosted, I knew the little ones would welcome a project and air conditioning break. My grandkids and I are no strangers to decorating cupcakes with me. I started making kits during the early days of the pandemic when socializing was limited to our family bubble. Our first one was an Independence Day theme; I still cherish those memories and photos.
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