Smokehouse Game Day Platter

This simple and tasty Smokehouse Game Day Platter is sure to score a touchdown with your guests at your next football party or get-together...

This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. 

If you ask me, the best thing about the big game is the food, folks. I mean, I can get into cheering for the hometown team and all, but the I get the most fired up over the game day snacks. 

No matter which team wins, as long as the snacking spread is a winner then I am a happy gal. ;) Being the food blogger/self-proclaimed foodie in my family, I am usually the one bringing something a little different for the game day spread. Chips and dip are great and all, but let's kick that football party menu plan up just a notch or two, shall we?

Blue Diamond's new game changing Smokehouse Almonds served as the inspiration for this tasty and easy to make game day platter. It starts with a can of Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds- salty, crunchy, with just the right amount of smoky flavor. 

I paired it with sweet & smoky cocktail sausages and a few of our favorite smoked cheeses with crackers. This simple and tasty Smokehouse Game Day Platter is sure to score a touchdown with your guests at your next football party or get-together...

Salted Caramel Almond & Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

As a Blue Diamond Tastemakers blogger, I am sharing with you all this recipe for soft & thick Salted Caramel Almond & Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds.

I have to admit that when a little package from Blue Diamond showed up in the mail a couple of weeks ago I was pretty excited. You see, I knew that they were sending me a container of their Salted Caramel Almonds. Salted Caramel, folks. I have pretty much had a thing for salted caramel since the first time I tried salted caramel ice cream from a pretty well-known local ice cream shop in Ohio years ago. If it has anything to do with salted caramel, then count me enthusiastically in. ;)

While I think that these Blue Diamond Salted Caramel Almonds are perfectly delicious straight from the can, I knew that I wanted to bake with them. It has been a good while since I have shared a homemade cookie recipe with you all, so I thought why not a soft & hearty oatmeal cookie chock full of these crunchy Salted Caramel Almonds? And just to take them slightly over the top, I threw in some mini chocolate chips for good measure...

10 Essentials for Your Carry-On Bag

Never leave home or board a plane again without these 10 Essentials for Your Carry-On Bag...

This “Flavor Your Adventure” post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. 

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

When I first started blogging around 4 years ago, I never dreamed it would end up being a career for me. And I couldn't have possibly fathomed at the time that my blogging would one day open so many travel opportunity doors for me. In fact, I have flown more times in the past 7 months than I probably have in the last 5 years combined! 

From a fabulous opportunity to visit the Southern Living test kitchens in Birmingham to an amazing foodie adventure in Portland to my most recent trip to take part in the Food & Wine Conference in Orlando, I have experienced my share of great flights, bumpy flights, delayed flights (don't get me started on that one), and lost luggage this past year. I have also learned what I need, want, and don't necessarily need in my carry-on bag.

When you are limited to just two carry-on's and your purse is included in that number, you start getting very particular about what you put in those two bags. And you have to keep in mind that you will have at least limited access to one of those two bags as it will be stowed in an overhead compartment for the duration of the flight. So what are my 10 must-have, don't fly without them essentials for my carry-on bag? Check them out below... :)

Peach-Mint Green Smoothie

As a Blue Diamond Tastemakers blogger, I am sharing with you all this recipe for a refreshing & healthy Peach-Mint Green Smoothie. This post is sponsored by Almond Breeze Almondmilk.

In late spring of each year, I get down into the dirt and start planting seedlings and seeds in a spot in our backyard with dreams of having a garden brimming with homegrown veggies come July and August. And almost every summer, I am met with a little disappointment. A few tomato plants seem to do well early on, and then for what seems like no reason at all they just dry up and never produce another tomato. Pumpkin vines start sprawling through half my garden making me excited for all the fun (and free) pumpkins we would have in October only to have them bloom and produce cantaloupe sized pumpkins... in mid August. This year I decided that I needed a break, so we didn't plant a garden. Then a very strange thing started to happen late last month... plants just started appearing on their own.

First, it was the parsley plant I had dumped over the side of my deck railing at the end of last fall. It came back to life. Then it was a single pumpkin plant in what was my garden last year. And after a few good rains here the past couple of weeks, I now have an abundance of fresh, beautiful garden mint at my disposal. I have come to the conclusion that maybe I am better at accidental gardening than purposeful gardening. ;)

Now when I say I have an abundance of fresh mint, I am not exaggerating. I have a TON, folks. Since peaches are so affordable right now due to it being peach season, I knew I wanted to create a healthy and summer perfect recipe combining those sweet peaches with the refreshing crispness of the mint. And that is just what I did with this Peach-Mint Green Smoothie...