Dash of Sparkle July 2020

Hello Friends! Here we are again, another month of this crazy year has gone by and that means it is time for another dash of sparkle newsletter! July was a pretty fun month for us. We held our first annual Appetizer Week on Whipped It Up, camped, road tripped, made plans for the future, and endured some of the hottest weather of the year so far!

Needless to say, we got up to A LOT in July.

What we did in July

Starting out the month we took a road trip to British Columbia to visit some family. It was nice to finally get out of our house and see some other people. Of course, we took the necessary precautions and made sure that it was safe to visit.

a deer walking up the road on our trip to British Coloumbia

The weather was against us on that trip and it basically rained or was gloomy the whole time. A theme of 2020 it seems! Haha!

Camping Season

After that we started CAMPING!!! It was a late start to our camping season this year (typically our camping season starts in early May). It was SO NICE to get out camping. We have already been 3 times and we have a ton more planned throughout the summer.

Hail Storm & a Tornado

During our last camping trip, basically as soon as we got there I started getting texts and notifications on my phone that our community was hit with a hail storm... sigh... There wasn't much we could do at the time, but thankfully my brother was able to swing by the house and make sure none of our windows were broken.

When we got home we discovered a garden that had taken a beating, a pummelled hot tub cover and fire table. We are still waiting on our insurance adjuster to come take a look at our roof and siding, but judging what we have been hearing from our neighbours, both will likely be a full replacement.

One week to the day before this hail storm took place, I was sitting at my desk working away, it was LOVELY weather outside. All of a sudden my phone started beeping and ringing saying "tornado warning for your area, take shelter immediately."

All I could think was "what the heck?!" it was such a beautiful day out, no way there is a tornado...

Sure enough I looked outside and the only cloud in the sky was a massive rotating cloud. Thankfully it didn't touch down near us and moved away in about an hour. But like seriously... 2020 needs to take a chill pill!

a large yellow flower on my acorn squash plant in my garden — A photo of my acorn squash plant before the storm.

Other Stuff

In the midst of a super busy summer, we have managed to plan out what we are going to do to complete our back yard. We have a ton of gravel being delivered this week and Eddie has sketched out some plans for a shed that he is building in the next couple of weeks.

We will document that whole process over on our IG stories!

For the backyard we have a very exciting addition coming to our family very soon that we have to have it completed for... If you have any guesses to what that might be, leave a comment down below!

The Blog

We started a new tradition on Whipped It Up last week with our first every Appetizer Week! This is an annual event that will take place every year on the last week in July.

If you want some more information on how it is going to work, check it out here!

Save This Recipe! 💌

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!

Appetizer Week

Day One- Mac & Cheese Bites with Sweet Basil Marinara

a stack of mac and cheese bites with the top two cut open to expose the cheesy insides

These are seriously SO GOOD. They are easier than you might think to make and are the perfect appy for a summer BBQ.

Day Two- Chicken Salad

This Chicken Salad can be served as an appy or enjoyed as a meal. It is SUPER healthy and packed with protein. It is good to take camping or on a road trip for an easy, healthy snack.

Day Three- Coconut Shrimp with Honey Soy Dipping Sauce

coconut shrimp fried to a delicious golden brown and served with a side of honey soy dipping sauce

This right here is by far my favourite recipe from appy week! I am a sucker for coconut shrimp and this recipe is UNSTOPPABLE. It is super easy to make, the coating actually sticks to the shrimp and the honey soy dipping sauce is all sorts of salty sweet goodness!

Day Four- Canadian Poutine

a large clump of fries on a fork with cheese stringing down

This one was a no brainer... we are both born and raised Canadians, so obviously we needed an authentic poutine recipe in the archives.

Day Five- Hawaiian Sliders with Bacon Mayo

Ok, maybe THIS one is my favourite... This recipe is the FREAKING BOMB. I mean bacon mayo... with a chorizo patty... topped with melted cheese and pineapple pico de gallo... all on a Hawaiian sweet roll... YES PLEASE.

Other New Recipes

Shrimp Tacos

Crispy Baked Tofu

Spicy Peanut Chicken Satay

chicken satay served over a bed of rice, garnished with fresh parsley

We hope you and your family are staying safe this summer and we would love to hear your dash of sparkle for the month of July in the comments down below!

To get a hold of us, you can shoot us an email or leave a comment down below! We can also be found on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

xo, Jessica