DomestikatedLife

Spring Veggie and Salmon Salad.

kate — Tue, 21 May 2024 19:11:31 +0000

May is National Salad Month, and I am celebrating with my salad besties at Little Leaf Farms over on Instagram this week! They asked me to share a recipe with *Big Salad Energy* – where the salad is giving off main character vibes – and I had an idea for a shareable, showstopping salad that puts those big curly crunchy leaves and seasonal spring produce up on a pedestal! This spring veggie and salmon salad is packed with flavor and color and is ripe for entertaining guests for some al fresco dining! Get the tasty spring recipe below:

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Spring Veggie and Salmon Salad.

Ingredients

1.5 lb salmon
½ lb fingerling potatoes, quartered
1 large leek, whites thinly sliced
¼ cup of mushrooms
3 Tbsp of Dijon Mustard, divided
1 Tbsp of Mayo
½ Cup of Olive Oil, plus more for drizzling
¼ cup of Red Wine Vinegar
½ Tsp of Capers
¼ Tsp of Sugar
Salt and Pepper
2-3 Containers of Little Leaf Farms Baby Spring Mix
Carrots and Asparagus, cut into ribbons
Radishes and Cucumbers, thinly sliced
Snap Peas or English Peas

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425. Spread 1 tbsp of mustard and a drizzle of olive oil over salmon, add it to a parchment lined baking sheet. Toss quartered fingerling potatoes and thinly sliced leeks with 1 tbsp of mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper and add to baking sheet. Cook for 20 minutes, and then add the mushrooms to the pan for an additional 5-8 minutes, until the salmon reaches your desired doneness. Remove from oven and let cool.
To make the dressing, whisk together 1 tbsp of Dijon, 1 tbsp of mayo, ½ cup of olive oil, ¼ cup of red wine vinegar, ½ tsp of capers, ¼ tsp sugar, salt and pepper.
Assemble the salad by filling a big bowl with 2-3 containers of Little Leaf Farms Baby Spring Mix. Add the cooked salmon, roasted fingerling potatoes, mushrooms, and leeks over the spring mix.
Toss the ribbons of carrots and asparagus with a drizzle of the dressing before adding nests of the ribbons on top of the dish, garnish with radishes, cucumbers, and peas. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and dressing.

Please note: this recipe was originally developed as part of a paid partnership with Little Leaf Farms on Instagram. All opinions, images, recipes and content are my own – thank you for supporting brands that support this site!

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A Weekend Getaway at Canyon Ranch Lenox.

kate — Wed, 15 May 2024 16:31:19 +0000

Canyon Ranch is hosting their first ever Family Week this summer, from July 28-August 4, 2024. The week is like a unique luxury wellness summer camp experience for the whole family, full of activities for kids (think: TikTok dance classes, friendship bracelet making scavenger hunts) while adults can enjoy some of the signature Canyon Ranch classes and amenities. Along with experiences that will be tailored to the entire family, like cooking classes, a backyard BBQ, and even a campfire! Canyon Ranch invited us to come check out the property and try out some of their amazing programming in advance of the family summer camp week, and I jumped at the chance to visit the stunning Lenox location with my sister for a girls getaway weekend. The property is breathtaking – nestled in the Berkshires and built on the grounds of the historic Bellefontaine Mansion, it blends classic New England charm with a serene modern wellness escape.One of the unique aspects of Canyon Ranch Lenox is that all the buildings are interconnected, so if you’re visiting in the middle of winter, or on a rainy spring day, you can access all the facilities through interior connected hallways without going outside. It has a bit of a college campus feel! I loved exploring the historic library in the old mansion (I imagine it’s the best place in the world to read a book during a snow-stormy winters night), and all the wellness facilities were in contrast to the original mansion incredibly modern and up to date.We had unseasonably warm spring weather on the first afternoon we arrived and enjoyed sitting outside on the Adirondack chairs you can find around the property. I imagine the grounds are awe-inspiring in the autumn with colorful foliage, and the wide open manicured green lawn is begging for kids to play games on it during the summer camp Family Week later this summer!I think when people first hear Canyon Ranch, they think of a spa getaway (and I’m confident that’s what my sister thought she was getting into when I invited her!). The number and variety of fitness, wellness, and creative classes that are offered over the course of the week at Canyon Ranch is vast and I was determined to fit in as many as I could while we were there for the weekend, so there was minimal time budgeted for relaxing (apologies to my sister, ha!). Since we were previewing some of the experiences offered at the Family Week this summer, we started off with a quintessential summer camp activity: archery! My sister and I had so much fun at this activity, we hadn’t done it since we were teens in gym class and quickly jumped into the rhythm after a safety, gear, and skills lesson from our coaches. After just a few rounds of practice were focusing in on our target and I even got a bullseye!Another activity that we were both excited to try out was a small group intro to pickleball lesson. We had an awesome instructor with a great sense of humor who was extremely patient with our limited skill sets! It was a great primer on the basics and rules of the game, and we got practice our serves and participate in a full game with the other pair in our pickleball group. This would be such a fun activity to do as a family (I’m already hunting for more pickleball courts back at home, it was so fun!).Of course, I couldn’t pass up the cooking classes on the activities agenda and was delighted to see a bread baking class on the schedule while we were at Canyon Ranch! I love to cook, but baking tends to be an area where I always find room for improvement in my skills repertoire, and after trying some of the amazing breads in the Canyon Ranch restaurant I was even more eager to learn what this class had to offer. We entered the class and found several friends from our morning archery class waiting for us around the test kitchen demo counter – one of the things I really enjoyed about my experience in Lenox was the great energy of the people we met, everyone was positive and friendly and open to the experience of learning new things which made for a great crowd in each of the activities! The focus of the class was all about the science of wild yeast and gluten, and the varieties of heirloom grains. We made a few different kinds of bread, learned about interesting new heirloom grains, and even got to see some be fresh milled before incorporating them into a bread recipe. And the chef taught everyone how to feed the Canyon Ranch sourdough starter, which we go to take home so we can make our own sourdough bread using their recipe! One thing I’d love to mention about the experience at Canyon Ranch: every single coach and teacher that facilitated our activities was amazing. They all had such a deep level of skill and knowledge in their area of expertise and brought palpable passion and positive energy to the sessions. You could tell that they attract some of the best talent in their fields at this facility!While our day was packed full of these summer camp themed activities, we also had a few relaxing moments too. I took two yoga classes, one was an early morning sun salutations class that got the blood flowing, and one was more meditative to close the end of the day. We enjoyed some quiet moments reading on the property and took some time to enjoy the hot tub in the gorgeous spa facilities that overlook the lush, wooded Lenox landscape. I can’t forget to mention the food and drink: my favorite topic! There is a main dining room where you can order breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the property, along with casual dining spot for snacks and quicker meal options. Across both dining locations through, the food is incredibly thoughtfully designed to be wholesome, healthy, and seasonal. We ate a lot of very local, artfully plated, veggie-forward dishes with a stunning array of colors, textures, and flavors. Our favorite meal of the day was breakfast, they had some delicious and beautiful options to start the day. And don’t skip the desserts! One thing to know is that alcohol is only served at special, pre-arranged events. Guests may bring it and enjoy it responsibly in the privacy of their rooms, but you won’t find it on the menu or around the property. Another thing to know is that the attire on the property is very relaxed, you’re welcome to eat in the dining room in your workout clothes, and you’ll find most people stay in casual clothing even through dinner. We brought a few cute sundresses to wear for our evenings but ended up opting for more casual looks after seeing the vibe after our first night!We ended our stay on the last night with a really fun activity: after dinner on most evenings there was some sort of performance or event going on, and we jumped in on a game of music bingo. I thought at first it was going to be a little bit cheesy, but after the first round almost everyone in the room was singing along to the musical clues. I think it was all those good vibes from earlier in the day, people were relaxed and in a great mood and there is some bonding that comes from learning how to play pickleball and bake bread together. It almost felt a little bit like an evening at summer sleepaway camp. Visit Lenox Family Summer Camp to learn more about the Canyon Ranch family week experience happening this summer, from July 28-August 4, 2024! Please Note: Canyon Ranch Lenox hosted my stay at the property over the course of this weekend. All opinions, images and content are my own.

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Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Pistachio Chicken Salad Recipe.

kate — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 17:59:57 +0000

I love a good Trader Joe’s hack for making meal prep a little easier, and there is nothing easier than this tasty, flavor-packed jalapeno-pistachio chicken salad recipe! The chicken salad gets a kick of heat and sweetness from the delicious Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Sauce (seriously, this stuff is so good!), and tons of texture from the crunchy carrots and chopped pistachios. I love to make this in a double batch and eat it for lunch all week inside lettuce wraps – a few salty, crunchy potato chips on the side is the perfect pairing! Get the full recipe below:

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Trader Joe's Jalapeño Pistachio Chicken Salad Recipe.

Ingredients

3 Cups of Cooked Chicken, diced (I often use rotisserie chicken!)
⅓ Cup of Shredded Carrots, roughly chopped
⅓ Cup Pistachios, roughly chopped
3 Tbsp of Scallions, minced
1 Tbsp of Dijon Mustard
⅓ Cup of Mayonnaise
Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Sauce, to taste depending on spice levels!
Salt + Pepper
Lettuce, for serving

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, carrots, pistachios, and scallions and toss to combine. Add the Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, and Trader Joe’s jalapeño sauce and mix well until combined.
Add more jalapeño sauce until you get your desired spice level. Season to taste with salt and pepper and chill before serving in lettuce wraps.

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Easy Lemon Shortbread Heart Cookies for Valentine’s Day.

kate — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 21:48:48 +0000

Last week I hosted an event and needed to bring an easy dessert to feed a crowd, so I pulled out this fool-proof and extremely easy lemon shortbread cookie recipe from my cookbook: New England Invite: Fresh Feasts to Savor the Seasons. The citrus brightens up the sweet and buttery flavors and cookie dough has just 5 ingredients. I added in some food coloring to tint it in different ombre pink, red and purple tones for Valentine’s Day (you could adapt the color for any holiday, I’ve done green for St. Patrick’s Day shamrock cookies too!). This recipe also makes a fun, buttery, sticky dough and is a great way to get kids involved in the kitchen—have them help shape the dough into a ball and roll it out before you stamp out the cookies with cookie cutters – get the adapted recipe below!

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The Easiest Lemon Shortbread Heart Cookies for Valentine's Day.

Serves: 24-30 Cookies

Ingredients

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
4 cups flour
Food Coloring, optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, butter, and sugar in a bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
Sift flour into the butter mixture and stir to fully combine the ingredients. If desired, add food coloring to tint the cookies to your preferred color.
Use your hands to pack the dough together into two balls, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
After the dough chills, place it on a floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to ½ inch thickness.
Stamp the dough with your desired cookie-cutter shape and transfer to baking sheet.
Bake the cookies at 350°F for 10-12 minutes, watching the color of the cookies closely, until they just start to turn a light golden color.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let them rest for 2–3 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Adapted from New England Invite: Fresh Feasts to Savor the Seasons, By Kate Bowler

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Valentine’s Day Heart Granola Bar Bites.

kate — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 20:01:57 +0000

This granola bar recipe is an old favorite from my blog archives, and I pulled it out this weekend for a little experiment with my new heart tray I picked up at Target! Instead of slicing the granola bars into bars, I pressed into the heart molds and added a few heart sprinkles onto the top and bottom, and they were a BIG hit. My one tip is to make sure you press them into the molds really hard so they compact down tight and stick together! This recipe contains peanuts and peanut butter, so leave out the nuts and swap for a nut-free if you’re planning to make them for a lunchbox snack. Get the recipe and the supplies below!

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Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars.

Serves: 12 Bars

Ingredients

2 Cups of Rice Krispies cereal
2 Cups of oats
1 Cup of chocolate chips
½ Cup of chopped peanuts
¼ Teaspoon of salt
¼ Cup of honey
½ Cup of light brown sugar
1 Cup of peanut butter

Instructions

In large bowl, toss together cereal, oats, chocolate chips, peanuts and salt until combined.
In a microwave safe bowl, combine honey, brown sugar and peanut butter and heat for 45-60 seconds. Stir the warm mixture to combine the ingredients and set aside to let it cool slightly.
Pour the slightly cooled peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and combine until fully incorporated.
Line an 8x12 baking dish with parchment paper and press the granola bar mixture into the dish firmly, until evenly dispersed and packed to the edges. Or press the mixture into a heart-mold, pack the mixture very well until compressed.
Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour to firm up the bars.
Flip the chilled mixture out on a cutting board and slice into bar-shaped pieces; store in an air-tight container.

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Chicken Piccata Meatballs.

kate — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 16:23:14 +0000

Meatballs are a weeknight staple at our house, because they’re easy to make ahead, great to freeze and use for leftovers, and they’re pretty much always a crowd pleaser! So I’m always trying to find new ways to add different flavor spins on the classic meatball mixture. I was recently craving my favorite chicken piccata dish from a restaurant in my hometown. It’s traditionally a dish of chicken cutlets dredged in flour and browned, and served with a sauce of butter, lemon juice, capers, and stock or white wine. So I decided to take all of those flavors and bring them to my turkey meatball recipe for a quick weeknight dinner!One of my favorite tricks for making meatballs faster is to use my air fryer – they cook in about 12 minutes, get a nice golden brown crispy exterior, and the clean up is way faster than the oily-splattery-mess on my oven. You can also opt to use ground chicken or turkey in this recipe, but I always find that the ground turkey has a bit more flavor and stays juicier! The lemon and garlic flavors really come through on the meatball, and I love the buttery, briny caper sauce. I serve it over pasta, but they would taste great over rice and could also easily be paired with veggies or a side salad. Scroll down for the recipe!

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Chicken Piccata Turkey Meatballs.

Serves: 20 Meatballs

Ingredients

1 lb. Ground Turkey or Chicken (I prefer turkey for the flavor!)
½ Cup of Seasoned Breadcrumbs
¼ Cup of Parmesan or Romano Cheese
1 Egg
1 Lemon, zested
3-4 Cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 Tbsp of Parsley, minced
Salt and Pepper
3-4 Tbsp of Butter
1 Shallot, thinly sliced
2 Cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 Tbsp of Flour
Splash of White Wine (optional)
1 Cup of Chicken Broth
½ Lemon, juiced
Capers
Parsley, to garnish (optional)

Instructions

Combine ground turkey, seasoned breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg, lemon zest, minced garlic and parsley and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Use your hands to mix the ingredients until just blended, then using a tablespoon, scoop and roll the mixture into meatballs. Repeat until you have roughly 20 small sized meatballs.
You can cook the meatballs in a pan with a little bit of olive oil over medium heat until they’re browned and cooked through. Or you can place the meatballs in an air fryer, and cook at 390 degrees for about 12 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
(At this point, you can start making the piccata sauce if you’re ready to eat right away or save the meatballs in the fridge until you’re planning to eat later!)
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a wide pan and add in the shallots and garlic. Sauté until the shallots soften and the garlic starts to caramelize on the bottom of the pan.
Whisk in the flour to the buttery mixture until it’s dissolved, and then add a splash of wine to deglaze the pan. Stir in the chicken broth and lemon juice and continue to whisk until the sauce begins to slightly thicken.
Toss in the cooked meatballs and capers. Add as many capers as you’d like to taste – their briny flavor can be robust, so add them slowly and incorporate more as needed.
Finish with fresh parsley and cracked black pepper and serve over pasta if that’s your thing! (It’s my thing!)

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A Family Trip to Quebec City at Christmas.

kate — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 17:31:08 +0000

I’ve been toiling away at this recap of our wintry Christmas road trip up to Quebec City all week because I have so many fun details to share (and because I got so many questions about it while we were there)! This trip was a bit of a full circle moment for my husband and I, because we had started this tradition of spending a few days in Quebec to take in all the festive holiday decorations back when first were dating. Then 12 years ago on a frigid snowy night a few days before Christmas we got engaged in front of the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec. This was our first trip back since that engagement weekend, and it felt so special to be visiting after all these years and experiencing this magical winter city as a family.Getting to Quebec City. The first question everyone asked me when I said we were going to Quebec was “are you driving?” said with a breathy little gasp. At the time of writing this blog post there were no direct flights from Boston to Quebec, so yes, we drove! And by we drove, I mean my husband drove all 6.5 hours and I was a passenger princess. We left very early, and while the drive is long it is also very scenic (from what I saw in between my car naps). During this trip we were super prepared with snow tires and all the winter gear, only for it to be unseasonably warm and rainy the days leading up to our trip! But I’ll share from our experience doing this ride in previous years to take the winter conditions into account – we did this road trip in the snow before and didn’t have all the right tires and gear and it was a little dicey, so better to be prepared!Ice Skating at Domaine Enchanteur (Domaine de la forêt perdue) We broke the drive up slightly by making a pitstop on our way up at Domaine Enchanteur, a magical ice skating and snow-shoeing trail located about 90 minutes outside of Quebec City. All credit goes to my husband for finding this straight-from-a-fairy tale location! I think it’s picked up some notoriety on TikTok lately, thanks the picturesque labyrinth of wooded trails they maintain by Zambonis that allow you ice skate freely into the forest. Along the trails there are little sculptures and places to stop to feed some animals in a petting-zoo style setting — including reindeer! A true highlight days before Christmas! I’m not much of an ice skater (ok, I’m not much of an any-sports-er), so I was a little nervous about the actual ice skating! But they had some skate-assist bars for little kids and these sleds that you could use to push along on (see them in this video on my instagram page!). As a hold-the-side-of-the-rink skater, I found this to be a huge relief. It was also nice to give Jane a little rest when she got tired of ice skating and push her along the trail. The perks of skating in a much wider-open space like these trails were that I finally got a good rhythm feeling how the ice-skating movement is supposed to work. It’s so hard to achieve that on a crowded ice skating rink! Keeping it real: it wasn’t all picturesque instagram-worthy moments, I did take one bad spill and land splat on my back like a starfish, ha! If you find yourself in this area and can make a visit to ice skate at Domaine Enchanteur, I highly recommend it. A few logistical tips – we did a mix of bringing our own skates and renting skates from them; they mostly spoke French but were able help us just fine in English with the basic instructions we needed to get our tickets; there were some tasty snacks (beignets, grilled cheese) and delicious hot chocolate available for sale at the entrance if you need a bite to warm up with in between laps. The conditions are also weather dependent and they post their conditions on their Facebook page each day, so check there before you go! Our tickets also included an item from their farm stand on the way out, we took home some little bottles of maple syrup as a souvenir before we continued our journey onto Quebec!Where to Stay in Quebec City. We continued our drive to Quebec City and made it to our destination: Le Château Frontenac. During our previous stays in Quebec we had stayed at a few different smaller boutique hotels but they didn’t quite suit our needs this time traveling with a kid. On our last trip to Quebec, during our engagement, we had stayed at Le Château Frontenac and had an awesome experience – it’s sort of “THE” place to stay when you visit and very much so part of the experience of going to Quebec City. The massive historic hotel, built into the hill overlooking the St Lawrence River, feels like you’re staying in a European castle or walking into grand hotel from another era.

We loved our experience staying there as a couple when we visited a decade ago. I have a vivid memory of sitting at the regal 1608 bar, drinking a glass of champagne and calling our parents long distane (eek – this was before Facetime! We’re so old!) to tell them we just got engaged. Coming back now many years later, with a kid in tow, our experience was just as special. We found the Château Frontenac to be incredibly family friendly without sacrificing any of the luxuries of a nice hotel. Upon check-in, one of the concierges gave Jane a princess crown to welcome her to the “castle” and they had a fun welcome packet for kids that included postcards, puzzles, stickers and coloring activities. We tucked this in our bag for some handy fun during meals! There was also a quite comprehensive list of activities that were available to hotel guests, and we took advantage of the kids lobby scavenger hunt, as well as the complimentary tickets for the famous Toboggan ice slide on Dufferin Terrace (more on that below!). I skipped the indoor pool and instead explored the Christmas markets solo for a bit (the best treat, thanks to my kind husband!), but Jane gave it a two-thumbs-up review!I think one of our favorite parts of staying at the Château Frontenac was the amazing breakfast buffet each morning at Place Dufferin. We could have easily skipped lunch each day with the amount of food we ate at this delicious breakfast – the quality and variety was top notch! It was included in the rate of our stay because we booked the room through our American Express, along with some other nice perks like late check out and a food and drink credit. The hotel is a luxury experience, but the price of the hotel felt a bit more manageable when we knew we able to enjoy some of our meals on site included in the stay. (PS: if you’re into travel perks, we love our Amex card and find its totally worth the annual fee if you’re on top of using all the credits they offer like hotel/airfare credits, lounge access, monthly Uber credits, credits for some of our media subscriptions. There are people out there that are hardcore credit card points geeks, and we’re not that intense, but I do get excited about taking advantage of good travel perks! Dropping my referral link if you want more info!).

And finally, you can’t beat the location of the Château Frontenac – it’s at the nexus of where the old city meets the new, the buzz of the Christmas markets starts right at the doorstep of the hotel, and its iconic architecture dominates your viewpoint from most of the popular tourist spots. Where we ate. Typically, when we travel I spend WEEKS plotting our meals leading up to a trip, and I was so busy with work and holiday-prep before we left that I was rushed with last-minute planning. There were a few restaurants I had on my wishlist to visit from our previous stays, but wasn’t able to snag reservations. Le Lapin Sauté was one of them, it’s a charming little spot with a rabbit-focused menu — add that to your list if you’re able to get a table! I was also determined to return to another favorite spot from our past visits: L’Oncle Antoine. It’s a cozy little pub in a stone cellar that feels like you’re stepping back in time when you walk in; we had enjoyed mulled wine and pints of beer by the fireplace. We couldn’t visit this time because Jane doesn’t quite make the pub entry age yet, but if you’re there kid-free, it’s a very cozy spot to warm up with a drink!

We did have a few tasty dishes at La Bûche for dinner one evening during our stay, and the interior of this restaurant was probably the highlight. Jane loved the grafitti’ed bathroom where thousands of guest names were scrawled over the walls. I think our best meal of the weekend was at Q-de-Sac Resto-Pub. It was a great family-friendly spot with some of the best kid-menu options we found. Jane had enjoyed chicken and fries and my husband had a great burger; I had an outstanding French onion soup with delicious steak tartare. We also watched several wood fired pizzas go by our table that looked appetizing, and the location makes a great spot to capture a picture of Old Quebec underneath the towering gaze of the Chateau Frontenac.What to do in Quebec City with Kids. I mentioned that if you’re staying at the Château Frontenac, you can request complimentary tickets for the famous Toboggan ice slide on Dufferin Terrace from the front desk. Anyone can ride the slide that runs along the side of the hotel, but the free tickets were a nice perk of staying at there. When we first arrived in the late afternoon we walked outside to check out the slide since it was at the top of Jane’s list to do while we were there and the line was incredibly long. Given how cold it was outside, with the wind coming up over the edge of the cliff that looks over the Old City and the St Lawrence River, we watched a few people zoom down on their toboggans and decided to try again first thing in the morning when it opened up. The next day we came back in the morning when they first started to open the slide for runs, and there were minimal lines. We only waited 2-3 minutes for someone to hand off a toboggan for our climb up the steps. I’m notoriously afraid of heights so I really had to put on my bravest face as I made the climb, but I’m so glad that I did because the view from the top is pretty amazing. Once you get to the top, everyone piles on top of the long wooden sled and pretty much just tucks in and holds onto each other before they release a lever and you zoom down an icy shoot to the bottom. It was FAST, and thrilling and scary (you can see the ride in this video on my instagram page!). My legs were like jello and shaking when we got to the bottom from all of the adrenaline. Once down was enough for me, though I’m glad we tried it! Check the dates and weather before you go, it does have to be cold enough for the slide to be fully frozen for it to operate, and it was closed a few days before we arrived and again a few days after during an unseasonable warm and rainy-stretch of weather. The Funicular was another fun, relatively inexpensive little attraction that is totally worth doing if you’re visiting Quebec with kids. It’s an old, inclined cable car that takes you down the steep slope from the terrace area in front of the Chateau Frontenac down to the Old City – essentially a big outdoor elevator! It’s cash only (there’s an ATM inside the little room where you line up to get on), and kids were free to ride. Though entirely by accident, we timed it perfectly on our first afternoon and rode back up to the hotel right at sunset and got a beautiful view (see it in this video) of the Quartier Petit Champlain and river from the cable car as we lifted up and out of the Old City.

Many readers/followers asked if I thought this was a good trip to take with kids, and I think Jane was at a great age for it. She really appreciated all of the magic of the Christmas decorations and the winter wonderland feeling of the city. She was also old enough to walk around the city on her own, and the weather was mild enough that things weren’t too icy or slushy! But I will note that if you’re considering a trip to Quebec with very little kids, it’s not a very stroller-friendly place. Almost every storefront and restaurant has at least a few stairs, and there are a lot of larger staircases and steep sidewalks that you need to take to get to and from the Old City/Old Port area. I can see how they could be a little challenging to traverse with younger kids and wintry conditions! I also got lots of questions about the weather, and if it being so cold was a challenge while exploring with a kid. I think having good winter gear was key, and a general mindset that we had to pop into a lot of gift shops to warm up and indulge in a few more hot cocoas than we’d normally have on a regular day to stay thawed out.Walking around the Quartier Petit Champlain and window shopping at Christmastime is what made me fall in love with Quebec city the first time we visited, and what has kept me wanting to come back again and again. The quaint little gift shops, the over the top holiday decorations that hang from every tree and rooftop, the magical twinkling string lights and snow and fire pits that line the streets – it feels like a winter wonderland fairy tale with every step you take.Jane turned to me and asked “Is this the real Whoville?” and honestly, yes. Yes, it is. That’s exactly how I felt when I was walking around the outdoor German Christmas markets that lined the streets outside our hotel. We ducked into a few of the larger Christmas market squares after dinner on our first night, and they were so lively, with music humming over the speakers and Christmas lights strung overhead. Everyone was walking around with warm cups of mulled wine and checking items off their gift lists as they visited the quaint pop-up vendors. I was very impressed with the production of these markets, each one we walked through had meticulously detailed signage, huge festive art installations and Christmas decorations, and they were spotlessly clean despite the crowds (even the trash and recycling cans were secured in beautifully designed bins that matched the Christmas decorations!).

Every single detail was just positively dripping with Christmas cheer. There is no other word to describe them than festive. And that’s exactly how I felt — the entire trip to Quebec City put me in the most festive holiday spirit! And we can’t wait to go back.

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Sausage, Cranberry, Sage, and Orange Risotto.

kate — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 17:16:07 +0000

I am partnering with my friends at RiceSelect today to cook up the most fragrant, savory holiday risotto dish today with their classic Arborio rice — it’s my go-to for risotto dishes! I made this risotto dish with browned sausage, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and pops of flavor from the finely chopped dried cranberries, fresh sage, and orange zest sprinkled on top. It’s bursting with of seasonal flavors that will fill your kitchen with delicious notes if you’re entertaining for the holidays. RiceSelect rice is one of my pantry staples, and their Arborio rice is high in starch, giving the dish its signature silky texture and al dente bite (the texture is my favorite part of a risotto). It works as a perfect canvas for highlighting seasonal holiday flavors. I also am a real sucker for their packaging, I love the indented handles that make it easy to pour ingredients, and they’re made of 100% BPA-free plastic (I did a cute DIY project with them earlier in the year – see it here!).A risotto is a great dish to make for holiday entertaining because it feels elevated from an everyday meal, but the basic ingredients are quite simple. A good quality rice, some flavorful chicken stock, and a mixture of “add-ins” like sausage, herbs, and other aromatics that will impart extra flavor and texture. You can adapt the flavors to the seasons and highlight whatever is fresh, local and fits your tastes! My favorite part about this dish? You can make it all in one pan, use it for serving, and have the quickest and easiest clean up after your meal so you can get back to the party! Whenever I’m planning a holiday menu, I’m always looking for ways to streamline dishes, serve ware, and clean up, and this recipe fits the bill! Scroll down for this tasty holiday risotto recipe, and find out more about RiceSelect products at riceselect.com

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Sausage, Cranberry, Sage, and Orange Risotto.

Ingredients

Olive Oil
3-4 Italian Sausage Links, casings removed
1 Medium Yellow Onion, diced
1 Cup of Mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp of Butter
1 ½ Cups of RiceSelect Arborio Rice
4 Cups of Chicken Stock, warmed
½ Cup of Heavy Cream
¼ Cup of Dried Cranberries, chopped
2 Tbsp of Fresh Sage, finely chopped
½ an Orange, zested
Salt and Pepper

Instructions

In a large, wide pan over medium heat, drizzle olive oil. Add crumbled sausage, onions and mushrooms to the pan and cook until the sausage is browned, and the onions and mushrooms are soft and beginning to caramelize.
Push the sausage, onions, and mushrooms to the side of the pan and add the butter to the center deglaze the pan. Then add in the arborio rice and toast for 1-2 minutes.
Begin to add in the warm chicken stock to the pan, one cup at a time, stirring frequently until it’s absorbed. Repeat until all the chicken stock is added to the rice and absorbed.
During the last few minutes of cooking, stir in the heavy cream and cook until absorbed; season to taste with salt and pepper.

Please note: This post was created in paid partnership with RiceSelect. All opinions, images and content are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support this site!

The post Sausage, Cranberry, Sage, and Orange Risotto. appeared first on DomestikatedLife.

Game Day Garlic Steak and Cheese Sandwiches.

kate — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 05:00:52 +0000

My friends at Bertolino Foods shared some of their delicious ingredients with me, and their Certified Angus Beef Shaved Ribeye was calling me to make one of my favorite sandwiches: a garlic bread steak and cheese! This melty, buttery, garlic steak and cheese sandwich is the ultimate weekend snack and works great for football snacks if you make it on a large loaf of French Bread and then slice it into handheld sized strips.The focus of the sandwich is the steak, and Bertolino Shaved Steak is lean, tender, thinly shaved beef that packs tons of flavor and cooks up in just minutes. I make a flavorful garlic and parsley butter and use half of it to butter some fresh French bread and toast. The other half of the garlic-herb butter gets used to add even more garlicy flavor to the beef. Once the French bread is buttery and toasty, I top it with the shaved steak cooked in garlic-parsley butter and it all gets topped with some sharp provolone cheese. I put the whole thing open faced on a sheet pan and slide it into the oven under the broiler to give the cheese an ooey, gooey, melty finish. Let it rest for just a minute or two and then fold it in half and slice it up for an elevated take on the steak and cheese that will be a major crowd pleaser! Get the full recipe below:

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Game Day Garlic Steak and Cheese Sandwiches.

Ingredients

⅓ cup of Butter, softened
6-8 Cloves of Garlic, finely minced
1.5 Tbsp of Fresh Parsley, finely chopped
1 Large Loaf of French Bread
2-12 oz Packages of Bertolino Certified Angus Beef Shaved Ribeye
6 Large Slices of Provolone Cheese
Salt and Pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the softened butter with the minced garlic and chopped parsley. Use the back of a fork to mash the ingredients together until the garlic and parsley are well incorporated.
Slice the large loaf of French bread open and use about ½ to ⅔ of the butter mixture to coat the inside of the bread. Place the buttered bread on a baking sheet and toast open faced in the 400-degree oven for 5-10 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
While the bread is toasting, add the remaining garlic-parsley-butter mixture to a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, and add the Bertolino Certified Angus Beef Shaved Ribeye steak to the hot pan. Lightly season with salt and pepper and cook the steak until desired doneness.
Top the toasted garlic bread with the cooked steak, and then a layer of the provolone cheese slices. Return the baking sheet to the oven and broil the sandwich for 1-2 minutes, until the provolone cheese is gooey and melted.
Remove from oven, fold the sandwich in half and use a sharp knife to slice the steak and cheese into handheld sized strips for serving.

Please note: This post was created in paid partnership with Bertolino Foods. All opinions, images and content are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support this site!

The post Game Day Garlic Steak and Cheese Sandwiches. appeared first on DomestikatedLife.

Visiting Legoland New York in the Summer.

kate — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:57:25 +0000

Now that we’re settled into the routine of fall, I have finally have a bit of time to sit down and recap all our awesome summer adventures, including our super fun trip to Legoland New York! Jane was hooked on the idea of going to Legoland after watching our favorite travel vloggers, the Top Flight Family, review their stay at the theme park and hotel (we have watched that video more than I should probably admit!). After months of begging to go, we decided to make a last minute detour to check out the Lego-themed amusement park on our way back from a family visit in nearby New York. After I shared a reel of our fun day at the park, I got TONS of messages from followers asking us for all the details on what we did, where we stayed, how long you could spend there, and I’m hoping that this post answers all of those and more!What We Loved. The park is designed to be a big loop and is divided into different lands that align with Lego themes. we followed the advice of our favorite YouTubers and started our day by moving through Bricktopia. The Bricktopia Factory tour was one of the first rides we went on and we loved it – it was reminiscent of the Ratatouille ride in Disney where you’re immersed in the ride experience. The Ninjago was another ride that felt like a Disney-ride, with an interactive game that required you to be a ninja and fight off villains (I got the high score and am still bragging about it, no big deal).

In the Lego Castle world, we loved the tower ride and stopped for a bit to have lunch in front of the big castle. We visited on a very warm summer weekend, and the two indoor restaurants had extremely long lines because people were trying to get out of the sun and into some shade and air conditioning. If you’re looking for a faster bite, the castle eatery was pretty standard family-friendly amusement park food, and there was plenty of shady seating under outdoor umbrellas. I waited for a table and the food, while my husband and Jane hopped on line for the tower-climbing ride to maximize our time.

As we continued on to Lego City we hit up some of the most memorable rides/experiences of the day. We hopped into the 4D movie theater to watch a short lego movie, and it was a welcome, air-conditioned break from the hot sun. If you can time it correctly, it was a great mid-day pit-stop to beat the heat. After that, Jane tried out the lego driving school, which was definitely the highlight of the day! Kids can drive around a mini city, complete with stop lights and road signs, and when they finish they can get a “lego city driver’s license” to take home. We were very impressed with her driving skills, she took the rotaries like a real Massachusetts driver, ha!

The Pirate land at Legoland NY is one of the final areas of the park loop and one of the best themed in my opinion! There was a really fun boat ride that had water cannons on it, and you can wind up the water cannons to squirt and people passing by on the outside. But don’t worry, pedestrians can get their revenge at similar water cannons along the walkway and squirt back at the riders on the pirate ships!

We ended the day walking through Miniland, which has tons of complex displays of mini cities built out of Legos. This part of the park is built into a hill, so we slowly wound our way through all of the city displays before ending back at the entrance. There is a massive Lego gift shop at the entrance of the park, which we popped into for a souvenir keychain on the way home – if your kids are itching for a lego set at one of the other gift shops, it’s nice that you can hit this on the way out and not have to carry it around all day!

By far Jane’s favorite part of the whole experience was the plethora of large scale lego sculptures that you could touch/sit-in/take pictures with in each land. I think I have 90 pictures on my phone because she wanted to take a picture with every.single.one. And I’ll admit, they were pretty cool! They also helped break up some of the walking that we did around the park. What We Skipped. We did the majority of the park in one day, but we did skip a few things to prioritize what we really wanted to see. One of the big things we skipped was splash zone-water park area, mainly because we didn’t pack a bathing suit and didn’t want to be soaking wet our ride home. If you wanted to do this water area, you have to pre-reserve a timed slot online beforehand. It looked *quite* crowded on a hot summer day, and no one in our family seemed bummed out about skipping it, but if you were staying overnight on the property it might be fun to do this mid-day and then take a break for some dry clothes and lunch back at the hotel.

We also skipped staying over at the hotel. Our good friends went a few weeks before us and raved about how cool the themed rooms were and how fun play area in the lobby was. The hotel rates were very expensive on the weekend we were there (more than we paid to stay for a night in Disney World!) and because we had family nearby we decided to skip out on an overnight. If you’re coming from the Boston area, we left the park to head home around 3:30 in the afternoon and made it back home at a reasonable hour. I also thought that for an average Lego fan like Jane, one day was a really good amount of time to see the nearly the entire park. A Few Legoland NY Tips. A few things we learned from our day at Legoland New York! First, the park and resort is cashless and some of the food stands were virtually managed, meaning you had to order and pay through the Legoland App. There was no way to order or pay at the Castle where we ate lunch, and we were savvy enough to quickly download the app and use the QR code to place our food order and check out – but there were definitely families struggling with this! Having the app pre-downloaded would be really helpful, and we ended up using it to navigate the park and find food and ice cream and bathrooms too.

The app also had wait times listed for the rides, but we found that they weren’t entirely accurate (in most cases we waited way less than the listed times, a few times we waited a bit more). Another thing we weren’t entirely prepared for was the mini-figure trading!

Our trip was impromptu and we didn’t bring any mini-figures with us, but there are trading posts throughout the park where you can swap your mini-figure for another (and you can trade with park staff that have that them on their name badges!). It was a cute idea, and next time we’ll come prepared! And with that, my final note, we had so much fun that there will definitely be a next time for us at Legoland New York!

The post Visiting Legoland New York in the Summer. appeared first on DomestikatedLife.