Stuffed Bell Peppers

Whipped these up the other night to use up the bell peppers before they went bad. Wow!!
Ingredients:
3 bell peppers--I used green and 3, but had enough stuffing for more
1 lb ground meat--I used spicy pork sausage, and I recommend it!
1 box of stuffing--I used chicken flavored
Slice tops off bell peppers and de-seed. Cook meat until brown and make stuffing according to the package. Pre-heat oven to 350°. Place peppers in casserole dish and stuff with sausage and stuffing. Cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until peppers are soft/cooked.
A pretty quick meal and such great flavor! Since I only had 3 bell peppers I had a lot of filling left over, which was great by itself!
And by the way, publishing tthis from my phone to give it a try.

{my world}

Just have to share...

This little guy is going to take off. He's already kicking and moving his legs like crazy. Once he gets going, he's never going to stop.

He loves his little play mat/gym. He's grabbing toys and pulling things towards him. Interpret: House must be baby proofed ASAP!

He's munching on his fingers and drooling (has since early December). He sucks on his bibs/burp clothes. Teething anyone? He's been pretty fussy this week and not napping/sleeping/eating well. Teething? Growing? Little man seems to be uncomfortable. Poor guy. Just wants to cuddle with mommy. I can deal with that.

Thanksgiving...yes this is late I realize that!

This year for Thanksgiving it was just us three. I was still on maternity leave and Josh got the day off, yay! Knowing we were going to be heading to Colorado in just a week, I didn't want to make too much food. The left overs lasted all week. What great left overs!

Jackson and I were up at the crack of dawn, or an hour or two before that. I love watching the Macy's Day parade every year so we got to do that. I hope to keep this tradition for years with Jackson :)

I didn't want to make too much and what I did make I decided at the last minute to make, minus the ham. For not having all the ingredients, I'd say I did pretty good! This was Jackson's first Thanksgiving, though he probably won't remember it. Next year will be more fun for him.

Here is our day in pictures with a few recipes to follow. I think I need to make a batch of mini pumpkin cheesecakes to keep on hand :)

The appetizer spread: Raspberry jam & Cream cheese; Pesto & goat cheese, Pumpkin Pie Chex mix

Our Thanksgiving Dinner spread of food!

Sweet Potato Casserole

The FAMOUS Cranbery Casserole. Recipe here. This is a Thanksgiving tradition!

Made up my own version of Green Bean Casserole with ingredients I had. A new twist!

Brown sugar glazed ham

And my first attempt at cheesecake. Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake. WOW!!

Little guy was all tuckered out!

And here are a couple of the recipes I used. Definitely going to be making these pumpkin cheesecakes throughout the year!!

 

Individual Pumpkin Spice Cheesecakes

From Can you stay for dinner?
(recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated)
makes 12
For Crust:
5 oz graham crackers (9 whole crackers)
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (3/4 of a stick)
For Filling:
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Generously coat each cup of a standard sized muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Grind graham crackers in a food processor. Or, smash in a zip lock bag :) Whisk in spices until evenly combined. Stir in melted butter and press mixture firmly into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool pan on a wire rack.
4. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin, flour, spices, salt and vanilla. Add the eggs and yolk; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour over prepared crust.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until center is just set. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. I did these overnight. Worked great!
6. Garnish the cheesecakes with a generous dollop of whipped cream if desired.

Sweet Potato Casserole
www.foodnetwork.com

Filling:

• 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Filling:
In a large bowl combine all the filling ingredients. Transfer to a buttered 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.


Topping:
In a medium bowl combine the brown sugar, flour, and butter until moist and the mixture clumps together. Stir in the pecans and spread over the top of the sweet potatoes in an even layer. Bake until the top is golden, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve hot.

3 months old

My little Jack in the bean stalk is 3 months old today! I can't believe time has gone so fast, and will continue to keep going just as fast. He's learned and grown so much in these 3 months, I'm excited for what is to come. 


He's now sleeping 8 hours a night and has been for about a month now. Has gotten MUCH better about taking naps during the day and now has almost 3 good naps, one is over an hour long!


He's almost out of 0-3 and 3 month clothes. Still wearing size 1 diapers but won't be long until we switch to 2's. 


He's laughing and giggling and smiling. He knows when his mommy and daddy are talking to him. He has even been able to fall asleep on his own a couple times, but I still love rocking & cuddling him to sleep!

I just love this face!

It's beginning to maybe feel like Christmas? [late post]

[another 'started but didn't finish' post. here it is anyway!]
With just returning to work recently, getting the hang of taking Jackson to daycare everyday, running on little to no sleep everyday and still running around doing EVERYTHING, it hasn't really hit me that Christmas is in a FEW DAYS. 

We finally got a Christmas tree last weekend. I know, finally right?! Decorated it, got some gifts wrapped (in between other chores and while Jackson was sleeping) and semi tried to clean the house. I haven't made Christmas cookies, though I was able to send out Christmas cards at the last minute. 

I'm lucky enough to have Christmas eve and day off this year. Haven't taken Jackson to see Santa yet this year. Even though he is so small he will likely not remember it, it's his first Christmas. So I'm going to do my best to get him to see Santa. Though, if it doesn't happen, next Christmas he will be a year old and it should be a bit more fun.

I'm realizing how much there is to do being a mom during the holidays. WOW! So much respect for the other Mom's out there!


And of course, I didn't finish this post and get it out before Christmas, so I'll post it now. Who cares. Just adding more to the busy of the season.

I hope your Christmas was a very special one. I hope you spent lots of time loving those close to you and enjoying little things in life with friends and family. 


Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas & Happy New year from my little family to yours :)

Many Faces of Jackson

Yes, I'm that mom who takes a million pictures of her child. Do you blame me? When he's this cute, you have to take lots of pictures!

This little guy melts my heart. Absolutely love him. It's been a rough week back to work, just missing this guy tons. I truly adore him and our time together. 

Getting back on my feet of blogging (been WAY too long!), uploading pictures, sent out birth announcements only 6 weeks after he was born, got Christmas shopping done BEFORE Thanksgiving (go me!), sent Christmas cards...whew! It is definitely a learning curve how to manage time with a little one. Thinking ahead is a whole new thing. I always thought of myself as a planner, but now I have to plan extra far in advance especially when going somewhere and getting things done. And I can function just fine on 4-5 hours of sleep. 6-7 hours is heaven! Sleeping in until 5:30am is FABULOUS! 

Here's to a wonderful Tuesday!

How Time Flies

It is extremely hard to believe that it is the middle of December already. But it is. My little man is almost 3 months old. Can we make time stop please?! I've been busy loving him and spending precious time with him and now I'm back to work, day 3. So far, so good. I've cried, yes. But Jackson is doing well!

Yes, this feels like me. Especially with all the emails I had to go through (still have to go through) at work and the catching up I'm doing. I need to post pictures and updates and everything, but have been busy. Soon though, I promise. I have not forgot about the blog. And I haven't had time to read all of your other blogs :( Soon, I promise.


Hope you all are doing well and getting ready for Christmas.

Love this little guy! So glad Joshy takes so many pictures of us :) I'll have some family pictures to share soon as well :) 


Have a wonderful weekend!