Carrot Poke Cake

    Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there! I've been on a poke cake kick lately. It started a few weeks ago with my banana cream pudding poke cake. Then, I went on a camping trip and I made two, a reeses cup and a strawberry jello poke cake. I've yet to be disappointed! My dad likes carrot cake so I made this carrot cake version for him this weekend!

Carrot Poke Cake

Ingredients:

- 1 boxed carrot cake mix ( and ingredients to make cake) or your favorite carrot cake recipe

- 1 box of cheesecake flavored pudding

- 2 cups of milk

- 1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

- 1/2 cup of powdered sugar

- 1 (8 ounce) tub of cool whip

- crushed graham crackers to top

    Prepare cake as directed in a 13x9 baking dish. Let it cool. With the back of a spoon, poke holes throughout the cake. Whisk together the pudding mix and milk. Pour the pudding over the cake and set in the refrigerator to chill. Meanwhile, beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer. Then, whip in the cool whip. Spread the frosting on the cake and top with crushed graham crackers! 

Strawberry Banana Ice Cream Sanwiches

    These are actually pretty healthy for ice cream sandwiches! We had a little pool party with my cousin Mindy and her kids this week after Vacation Bible School! I froze the bananas the night before and then whipped these up in minutes the next morning. They'll need a few hours to freeze, and you may want to let them sit out for a few minutes before you serve them. Super yummy though and you'll get a serving of fruit!

Strawberry Banana Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients:

- 4 or 5 large bananas

- 1 and 1/2 cups of strawberries, diced

- 1/2 of an 8 ounce tub of fat free cool whip

- graham crackers

    Slice up the bananas, place them in the freezer for a couple of hours (at least 2). Once frozen, add them to the food processor and blend them with the cool whip until smooth. Fold in the strawberries and spread into a parchment paper lined 8x8 baking dish. If you'd like thinner sandwiches, use a larger pan. These came out pretty thick. Place in the freezer for another few hours to let it set. Once frozen, remove from the freezer, slice and sandwich between the graham crackers, enjoy!

Easy Zesty Pasta Salad

    This is the PERFECT summer pasta salad recipe! I made it a couple of weeks ago for a little poolside cookout that my boyfriend and I went to with friends! I used McCormick's Salad Supreme! It's so good! You should definitely make this for your next cookout!

Easy Zesty Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

- 1 pound box of rotini pasta

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- 1 cup of Italian dressing

- 2 tablespoons of Salad Supreme 

- 1 can of black olives, sliced

- 1 large cucumber (or two small), diced

- 2 cups of cherry tomatoes, quartered

- 1 (8 ounce) block of mozzarella cheese, diced

    Cook the pasta as directed, toss in olive oil, and set aside to cool.  In a large bowl, mix together the dressing and the Salad Supreme. Once combined, mix in the olives, cucumber, tomato, and mozzarella cheese. Refrigerate for a few hours to chill and then serve.

The Best Broccoli Cheddar Soup

    I've always been a huge fan of Panera Bread's Broccoli Cheddar soup! It's so creamy and cheesy, I just love it! I wanted to make something different for our church's soup and sandwich luncheon a few weeks ago. I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like broccoli cheddar soup. So, I found a recipe that looked awesome and I tweaked it a little bit. This recipe makes a lot of soup. If you're not cooking for a lot of people or a lot of left-overs, I recommend you cut it in half.  

The Best Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients:

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- 1 medium onion, diced

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter

- 1/2 cup of flour

- 4 cups (32 ounces) of chicken broth

- 4 cups (32 ounces) of half and half

- 2 cups of shredded carrot

- 1 (16 ounce) bag of frozen broccoli

- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

- salt and pepper to taste

- 1 (16 ounce) package of shredded cheddar cheese

    In a small sauce pan over medium heat, saute the onions in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. In a large 6 quart soup pot, melt the butter. Once the butter has melted, whisk in the flour to make a roux. Let the roux cook and bubble for 3 or 4 minutes. Next, slowly whisk in the chicken broth and half and half. Add a little salt and freshly cracked pepper. Let simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring with the whisk about every 5 minutes. Whisk in the nutmeg. Then, add the carrots, broccoli, and onion/garlic mixture. Let it simmer for another 25-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. With an immersion blender, blend the soup to your desired consistency. Add the cheddar cheese, let it melt, and serve!  

Zucchini Carrot Cream Cheese Bars

    I loved this dessert recipe. I feel like it's not completely unhealthy since there are vegetables in it. The lemon zest in the cream cheese frosting really added another dimension of flavor! I brought it to church last week for the kids and we enjoyed them. Without the frosting it's probably more of a zucchini bread. With or without the frosting, this zucchini and carrot treat is super good!

Zucchini Carrot Cream Cheese Bars

Ingredients:

- 2 eggs, slightly beaten

- 3/4 cup of brown sugar, packed

- 1/2 cup canola oil

- 1/4 cup of honey

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 1 1/2 cups of shredded carrot

- 1 cup of shredded zucchini

- 1 1/2 cup of flour

- 1 teaspoon of baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

- 1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

- 1 cup of powdered sugar

- zest of half a lemon

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, oil, honey, and vanilla. Then, fold in the carrot and zucchini. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ginger. Fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture until just combined. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch baking pan and bake for about 30 minutes. When a toothpick comes out clean, it is done. When finished, let cool completely. Prepare the frosting when cake has cooled and you are ready to serve. With an electric mixer, beat together the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and lemon zest. Top the cake with the frosting and serve.

Peanut Butter Cookie Lasagna

    Oh. My. Gosh. Nutter Butter goodness! A few friends of mine from my Gainesville days got together over the weekend for a little cookout. Frankie and I got some food together and made the trip up there for the day. My friend Shannon sent me this recipe and asked if I could make it! Of course I could and I did! Yum-o!!

Peanut Butter Cookie Lasagna

Ingredients:

- 1 package of Nutter Butter cookies, chopped into fourths

- 1 cup of peanut butter, melted

- 1 package of vanilla instant pudding mix

- 2 cups of cold milk

- 10 Reeses cups, chopped

- 1 (8 ounce) tub of cool whip

    Prepare pudding as directed and set aside. In a casserole dish (I used an 11x8 because 8x8 didn't seem large enough) place half of the chopped cookies. Drizzle the cookies with the melted peanut butter and top with half of the Reeses, pudding, and cool whip. Then, spread the rest of the cookies on top of cool whip layer, drizzle peanut butter, spread the rest of the pudding, and then the rest of the cool whip. Top with the rest of the Reeses and drizzle the rest of the peanut butter. Let refrigerate for a few hours. It's probably a good idea to do it a day ahead to let the cookies soften.

Tater Tot Hot Dog Casserole

    So, I was trying to find something to make for dinner for the kids at church this week. My goal was to feed everyone using ingredients that we already had in the kitchen. Mission accomplished! This stuff was super good! I had white American cheese so that's what I used but, you could use any kind of cheese you'd like.

Tater Tot Hot Dog Casserole

Ingredients:

- 1 large can of your favorite baked beans (I used Bush's vegetarian)

- 1 medium onion, diced

- 6 hot dogs, sliced

- 8 slices of white american cheese

- 1 (32 ounce) package of tater tots

     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the baked beans into a 13x9 baking dish. Layer the onions, hot dog, cheese, and tater tots on top. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the beans are bubbling and tater tots are golden brown.

Baby Shower Ideas! Welcome Wyatt!

    A few weeks ago, I had the honor of helping some friends throw a baby shower for a good friend of ours, Laci! I immediately turned to Pinterest to get some ideas! I've come to the realization that Getting Bridgie With It, up until now, has been entirely recipes and all about food. I'm going to start expanding my horizons a little bit. I want to share ideas and not only foodie ideas.

    I was really excited to celebrate little Wyatt coming into the world with my friend Laci. We've worked together and been friends for years and I adore her! I thought it would be cute to do light blue with black lace as a theme. Here are some ideas for baby shower planning if you're brainstorming!

The Clothespin Game

    The sign is pretty self explanatory! I just made the poster out of poster board and wrapped the clothespins in lace and ribbons. I think I lost my clothespin within the first 10 minutes! Luis ranked supreme at that one! Amanda was pretty great at it too!

Luis kicking butt!

Tree Of Friends

    Our friend Luis is also an amazing artist! I bought a cute frame and I asked him to draw us a tree for the baby shower sign-in! We asked friends to "leaf" their finger prints and sign their names. It turned out really adorable! 

Guess The Baby Food

    I never realized how disgusting baby food can be. This is a really cute game idea for any baby shower. You'll definitely notice that the moms in the group will be really good at this one! I simply numbered each can of baby food and made little guess cards out of card stock. The cards had a place for you to write your name and numbers with blank spaces to fill in your guess! 

Guess How Many

    Here's another super simple and cute idea for a game. Grab a couple of baby bottles, you could even have more than two with different candies! I used skittles and whoppers. I counted them all and wrote down the number on the back of the sign. I made little cards of card stock again for you to write your guess and your name. I put out a jar for you to place your guess in. Some of the girls came really close! Brandy was right on and guessed the whopper number perfectly! You go girl!

Candy Bar!!

I loved this idea! Fill a bag with goodies to take home and enjoy! Yum!

Veggie Cups

So simple and adorable. 

    We had a lovely afternoon! Amelia did a killer job making food! I feel like I got to meet a lot of my friends' children and get a little glimpse into future mommy-hood. (it's terrifying but exciting lol!) Little baby Wyatt was born yesterday morning! 7 pounds, 8 ounces of beautiful little baby boy! Laci, you're an amazing mommy and I'm so proud of and excited for you! Love you chica! 

Baked Brown Sugar Granola

    I spent the past weekend doing one of my all time favorite things to do, camping! Two days of partying with some of my best friends and my amazing boyfriend! Instead of the standard lunch meat and peanut butter sandwiches, I decided to make pulled pork with root beer. I whipped up a corn dip that I definitely need to make again just so I can take some pictures to blog! My phone was dead the whole weekend and we didn't have electricity! I whipped up some buffalo chicken pinwheels with tortillas, shredded chicken, and cream cheese! I even made my own granola and toasted my own coconut for my trail mix! Every trail mix should have chocolate chip cookies in it. I ate it for breakfast floating down the Santa Fe River! Talk about a beautiful morning!

Baked Brown Sugar Granola

Ingredients:

- 4 cups of old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 stick of butter

- 1/4 cup of water

- 1 cup of brown sugar

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla

- 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large pot, over medium heat, melt the butter. Then, whisk in the sugar and water. Add the vanilla and cinnamon. Add the oats and mix well. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray lightly with non-stick spray. Spread the oat mixture onto the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let the granola cool and break into chunks.