Blog - JESSIKA REED

Creamy, Dreamy Snow Cones with Homemade & Real Fruit Syrup

Is it snow cones, shave ice, shaved ice, etc??? I grew up calling them snow cones but whatever you call it, these are delicious! Summer time memories are full of hitting the snow shack picking up a cone of deliciousness! My mom is getting married in less than 2 weeks and while meeting with her venue the wedding planner mentioned snow cones with ICE CREAM! I asked more about it and she was surprised I had never done that. I started looking online for how to do this and couldn’t find anything really in the way of recipes.

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Homemade Real Fruit – Tiger’s Blood Snow Cone Syrup

Tiger’s blood is my favorite syrup for snow cones. It is strawberry and coconut. I have been testing out a few different syrup options trying to find the right sweetness (but not too sweet) and right thickness without being too runny. They have all tasted good but I have finally found the one I LOVE!! Also, I was really appalled at the amount of sugar that went into syrup and one of the greatest things about making things at home is you can control what goes into it.

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Grilled Chicken and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

The other day I was talking to a friend about some vegetarian stuffed peppers she made. I couldn’t stop thinking about them and started coming up with all sorts of combinations to try out. I had never made stuffed peppers but love things that I can individualize easily since Stephen has much more plain tastes then I do.

These turned out awesome and even got a great review from Stephen.

We stuffed these with shredded grilled chicken, quinoa, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta cheese and topped with provolone cheese! Yum Yum Yum!!! This makes 6 stuffed peppers.

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Our new small backyard landscaping

I am so excited about our new backyard. This place has been a point of shame and just plain gross most of our time living in our home. I will be very honest with you, our backyard has been mostly just a dog poop haven. Sometimes it has been so bad that I haven’t even wanted to open the windows. We used to have dogs on both sides of us (we are in a town home) and the ones that have left were big dogs. The combination of that is bound to leave some lovely aromas floating around, no matter how often it is cleaned up. This is an area I have mostly avoided but it was on my list to fix this year and I am loving how it turned out. [Read more…]

Foil Grilled Corn on the Cob

It is grilling season and we are finding ourselves throwing everything on the grill – and I love it! I usually knew corn as boiled and then a few summers ago I set out to find a better way and this is the most flavorful, juicy, and delicious I have found! I have tried grilling corn in the husk and while that does okay – I usually end up using a lot more butter on it and the flavor just isn’t the same to me. This resolved all of that for me!

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