At the family table | Zesty Italian Salad recipe and dinner idea!

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All opinions are mine alone. #BaronessPatches #CollectiveBias

Before we head into our story time about being around the family table and motherhood #fails, I want to tell you guys about the sweepstakes from the Baroness herself. A mom who hopes to connect with other moms and rebel against the status quo by celebrating the realities and messiness of motherhood. She proudly embraces imperfection with ingenuity and humor. Motherhood is no easy flight. Can't we all relate to that? I know I can. I have earned my patches this past week for sure! (Pizza for Peace!) Enter to win something to help you mom here:

#BaronessPatches #Sweepstakes (8/10 to 9/7)

Sooo... to tell you guys a little about how MY Monday went... I was on a roll this past weekend, I made homemade baked chicken nuggets with things I already had in the pantry (and freezer), fruit snacks from scratch, I made (semi) homemade donuts for Saturday morning breakfast, I made this delicious homemade salad dressing you are going to see in this post and Wesley and I planned our meals for the week and shopped only for those meals. I felt like I was winning this small little corner of adulthood. I had some work to do and errands to run yesterday, so I took Ezra to my moms and Jonah to school and Wesley was going to pick them up while I cooked dinner. That went wonderfully. I got work done, took care of my errands and even made a detour into the cool toy store for a surprise for the boys. I made an awesome salad and hamburger steaks with caramelized onions and had it all ready and on the table for our family meal just before the boys came in the door.

Well, as soon as we all finally sat down and started to eat, I cut into my hamburger and realized I had undercooked them... like waaayy undercooked them. I was apparently too busy busting a move and singing to no one to notice they weren't done before I pulled them off the stove. My poor husband was totally fine with and was going to eat it anyway... bless his heart. Thanks for the solidarity. It's good to know that we are in this together and that you would eat raw hamburger to not hurt my feelings. Alas, I refused and two minutes in the microwave did the trick. They were actually still pretty good.

You know being a mom that does it all is overrated. Instead of getting upset at these mishaps, we just fix what we can and laugh it off when something as simple as hamburgers don't work out how we planned. Life is all about finding the happy medium in every day that allows you to BE happy every day.Something that makes me happy IS us sitting down and eating together every evening. It's one tradition that both of our families did when we were kids and that we will continue for our kids. It may be a struggle most nights now, but it's building the foundation of our kid's lives, just like it built our foundation.

The food is only part of the equation and some nights it can be elaborate homemade meals and some nights it can be a delicious pizza from the freezer and a crisp salad with homemade dressing - it's all about the happy medium. As we ate our Red Baron® Brick Oven Pepperoni the other night, my husband talked about how that pizza reminded him of meals at his grandparent's home. It doesn't have to be complicated... it just has to be!

You have 20 minutes to heat a pizza and while it rises you can throw together this salad in no time! It paired so perfectly with our pizza and it felt good to fill bellies without complaint at the end of the day.

Zesty Italian Salad 

Ingredients:

• Romaine (or your favorite lettuce or salad mix)

• Marinated Artichokes

• Roasted Red Peppers (jarred to save time)

• Pepperoncini

• Pearled Mozzarella 
• Creamy Italian Dressing (see recipe below)

Instructions: 

Chop Romaine, Roasted Red Peppers, and Mozzarella and toss with other ingredients and Creamy Italian Dressing.

For the dressing, make ahead to serve chilled. Makes 4-6 servings.

Creamy Italian Salad Dressing

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• 2 tablespoon sour cream 

• 1 clove garlic

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 4 teaspoon sea salt

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Blend. Store in the refrigerator 20-30 minutes to chill. 

Serving this crisp salad with a savory pizza makes for a great combination that's quick, easy and yummy! Plus, it's pretty budget friendly. If you use Ibotta to get money back when you shop, see Red Baron's deal here! You can pick up Red Baron varieties at Walmart and have dinner ready in no time AND save a little money! 

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Tell me your Baroness stories and mom mishaps this week! Also, what are you pairing with your pizza?