Saturday Morning Coffee Cafe

Hi Everyone!

Welcome back to the Coffee Cafe. If you're new this week, let me tell you all about it. This is a weekly post in which I feature things that have caught my attention around the Internet, blogosphere, Pinterest etc throughout the past week. The format is always the same: 4 recipes, 3 crafts, 2 parenting articles and 1 picture or quote to wrap it all up. I hope you will visit the sites I've linked for you and give some love to those blog owners and find something you love as well! Ready? Ok, grab your coffee (or beverage of choice) and let's get started!

Recipes:

1. Teriyaki Chicken Tacos with Pineapple Pear Salsa. You know how sometimes you see a picture and read a recipe, and you can almost actually taste what's being featured? That is exactly what I thought when I read this recipe from Jenn over at Carlsbad Cravings. I could just so clearly imagine that teriyaki taste with the sweet pineapples in the salsa that I may have actually drooled a little!

2. Pecan Pie Bars: Speaking of drooling...ummm...these Pecan Pie Bars did not help my drooling problem when seeking out recipes for today's post! Another great recipe idea from Kelly over at Just a Taste. I love the idea of taking a Pecan Pie and turning it into a bar recipe. This is my recipe for next week's baking treat; and I can't wait to try it!

3. White Cheese and Chicken Lasagna: When I saw this recipe for this yummy looking white lasagna from Laurie over at the Tasty Kitchen, the first thing I thought was, "Wow, that just looks all kinds of delicious!" It's a perfect summer lasagna, I think as well. I tend to think of traditional red sauce meaty, cheesy lasagna as more of a winter comfort dish. I think this would also be perfect for a potluck or end of the year sports banquets that we all attend around this time of year!

4. Hot Ham & Cheese Party Rolls:  No doubt you've seen the popular ham and cheese sliders recipe that are often featured at potlucks and brunches. I make them all the time as well. I was rather intrigued when I saw this recipe from Amanda over at Kevin and Amanda Food and Travel Blog for a similar recipe; but instead of individual sliders this one features a pinwheel roll made from pizza crust. I thought this was very clever spin on the popular slider recipe. The sauce is different as well, adding to the recipe's uniqueness.

Crafts:

1. Glow in the Dark Water Balloons  The water balloons are just one of many glow in the dark activities featured in this article over at "Double the Batch" These activities look so fun for a warm summer night. Granted, depending on when you do them and where you live, you might have to wait until 10pm for it to be dark enough to do them! That's completely ok though, because you know...Summer!!

2. I really thought this Thanks So Much card from Michelle from "Handmade by Michelle" was just so pretty! I love all the white space in the front of the card with the flower die cut edge over the band of rainbow colors. It's just so striking!

3. Another card I found simple, yet rather striking is this "Find Joy" card from Brenda over at "Stamping As Fast as I Can" Brenda did a great job of pulling the focus of this simple card to the watercolored splotches behind the sentiment. Any crafter will tell you that the so-called "messy watercolor" look of a card is somewhat like the "messy hair bun"....it actually takes a bit of skill and practice for it to come out just the way you envision! This is fantastic, however! Well done!

Parenting:

1. In this article by Nina over at "Sleep Should be Easy" she discusses Why you shouldn't reward your kids and what to do instead. She makes valuable points about teaching our children that doing what they need to in return for internal rewards rather than external rewards should be our focus as parents. It's a great read, go check it out!


2. See Crafting #1....yep! I'm taking an easy out here this week. The activities in that article aren't just about the activities themselves, they're also a great way to spend some time with your kids!

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture or a quote this week for you. I just had a really hard time finding one I could use. I wanted to use a picture because I've done quotes lately and thought it would be nice to do a picture. I found pictures I wanted to share; but no way to link or give credit back to the original photographer. That is very important to me! If I can't credit it, I won't share it. So, on that note, I will bid you farewell until next week! Enjoy your weekend!