North Pole Breakfast

Our Elf, BRoLi, paid Brody a visit this am...BRoLi and Santa made up quite the feast for B man to start his day!!!

They even thought of making mini pancakes / powdered snowman (aka cheerios dipped in powdered sugar) for BRoLi!!

Cheezit Chicken

Yeah, you read that right -- CHEEZIT chicken!!!  Talk about heaven in your mouth!  Might not have been the healthiest, but OH SO GOOD!!!  So glad it was cookbook tonight and we got to see our friends :)

Serves 4

Ingredients:
8 chicken tenders
1 cup sour cream
3 cups Cheezits, crushed
1/2 cup butter, melted

Crush the cheezits by placing them in a large ziplock bag and rolling over them with a rolling pin.

Preheat oven to 375.

Roll the chicken tenders in the sour cream and then in the Cheezit crumbs.

Place them in a baking dish - drizzle with the melted butter.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes.

Garlic and Herb Stuffed Brussels Sprouts

Mmmmm YUMMY!!!  The only way I like my brussels is FRESH - and they are even better when they are stuffed with awesomeness :)

 

Ingredients:

15 very large Brussels Sprouts (need to be LARGE)!

1 Cup Whole Milk Ricotta

1 Cup Parmesan, shredded

½ Cup Panko Bread Crumbs

3 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon dried Thyme

1 Tablespoon dried Basil

1 Teaspoon dried Marjoram

1 Teaspoon dried Sage

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

A Pinch of Pepper

Olive Oil

Wash Brussels, trim the ends and then halve them.

Fill a large deep pan with water, bring it to a boil and add the sprouts. You want to add them cut-side down, since we are doing this to make coring them easier. Let them cook for 1-2 minutes and remove them and let them cool.

Core the brussels sprouts - Finely chop the cored Brussels sprouts pieces. We are going to saute them in some olive oil along with three cloves of garlic, minced, over a medium-high heat. Cook until the chopped sprouts are tender and the whole mixture is aromatic!

Mix the cooked garlic and sprout mixture along with 1 cup of whole milk ricotta, 1/2 cup of Panko bread crumbs, 1 cup of parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon of dried thyme, 1 tablespoon of dried basil, 1 teaspoon of dried marjoram and 1 teaspoon of dried sage. Add in some of the salt and taste the mixture. Ideally, you want it to taste a bit overly salted because it will be less salty once they are baked. So you’ll need to experiment a bit here.

Using a small spoon, fill the Brussels sprouts with the stuffing. Over fill them. This stuff is good!

Bake the stuffed Brussels sprouts for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees, or until the caps are crispy and burnt.  Enjoy!

Halloween Decor!

I found a perfect way to display Brody's festive Halloween costumes year to year!!!  :)

Festive Halloween Meal!

Mummy Juice Boxes & Raisins

Truck Driver Costume

I'm always looking for creative / DIY Halloween costumes, and this was a HUGE hit wherever we went this year!!  Brody is obsessed with trucks so figured we would make him a truck driver...and being prego myself, I was his "bumpy road".  

Supplies:
Diaper boxes
Spray paint
Colored Duct tape
Paper towel tubes
Suspenders (or Dad's old belt)
Peterbuilt toddler hat

Bat Glasses

 

Supplies:

Black Ribbon

White puffy paint

 

Halloween Treats

Halloween Treats!!!  Perfect for my Mom's / Erik's bday celebration :)

Frosting Recipe

Deviled Eggs

Taco Dip

Banana Ghost (choc chip eye/mouth) & Clementine (celery stem)

Witch Broom Rollups

Ingredients:
2 zucchini
slices of ham
Monterey jack cheese
string cheese
green onions
toothpicks / pretzels

Trim ends of zucchini and discard. Using a vegetable peeler, slice zucchini lengthwise into 16 paper-thin slices; place in a single layer on a work surface. (Discard first slice of peel and seedy center.) Wrap and chill remaining zucchini for another use.

Stack ham slices and cut into 4 long strips. Repeat with cheese slices.

Sprinkle zucchini slices with pepper. Lay a ham strip in center of a zucchini slice and top with a cheese strip. Starting at one end of zucchini strip, roll it into a tight spiral; secure with a toothpick. Repeat.

For "brooms" - just cut string cheese and tie with green onion.  Insert either pretzel or toothpick - DONE!

Toddler Pumpkin Fun

We got our first batch of pumpkins, and since Brody picked out his own - I figured why not let him decorate it for our table centerpiece :)

First a little finger paint...

 

Then some sprinkles, sparkles...

 

Lots of feathers...

 and TADA!!

Elephant / "Little Peanut" Baby Shower

YAY!!!  It's Baby Rose / Linda shower day!!  Momma Linda is doing sort of an elephant / gray, turq, cream theme for the nursery, so we got busy coming up with the "Little Peanut" theme.  Had so much fun celebrating both of them :)

 

First the invitation (which we got off Etsy)

 Then the decorations...

 

Elephant Pom Poms!!

How to make: Tissue Pom Pom

 

Little Peanut Banner!

 

Elephant washcloths!

How to fold a washcloth elephant!

 

The guest book!

and then the FOOD!!!!  I used the invite format and tweeked it to make the food labels!  Check out how creative those label names are :)

 

Can't forget the "Watering Hole"...

Punch Recipe

 

 ...with the cutie mason jars!  Made those little elephants from my cricut and attached to straws!

 We played 2 really fun games:

1. Price is Right
2. Memory Game

Baby Shower Memory Game

Supplies
2 Poster boards
Cardstock
Candy (found a lot of mine at Oldtimecandy.com)

Basically just write the baby term name below on both poster boards (not in the same spot of course).  Need 15 letters covering on one side / 15 #s covering on the other side.  Then make sure you buy the candy bars for each baby term.

To play the game - just have guests guess 1 letter and 1 # (one from each poster board).  Then if the terms match, pull the cover off and give them the candy that associates with it!

Running nose – goobers

Time alone – zero bar

Night of Conception – SKOR bar

Breastfeeding – milky way

Umbilical cord – twizzler pull n peel

Doctor – butterfingers

Engorgement – milk duds

Dirty laundry – mounds bar

Hospital bills – 100 grand

Epidural – lifesavers

Baby giggles – snickers

Contractions – whoppers

Boy name – mike & ike / Girl Name - Baby Ruth / Baby Name - whatchamacallit

Baby fat – chunky

Poopie diaper – tootsie roll

DIY Mummy

More Halloween fun at our house!!  Brody LOVED this :)  He had a blast helping me put the tape on, and patting it tight!!!  Then he carried his mummy around with him the rest of the night!!

Supplies:
Black paper
masking tape
scissors
Eyes