Bananas Foster Pancakes

One of my favorite things to do on Saturdays is make breakfast with and for my husband. These days, he spends time with Josh on Saturday morning and I get busy in the kitchen cooking up something more special than just the usual cereal and pop tarts. This past weekend we had bananas and pancake mix on hand so I decided to be creative and "dress up" our pancakes a bit. They turned out super yummy and SO easy!

What you need (serves 2)

- 2 bananas, sliced diagonally
- 2 T butter
- 2 T brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (or more!)
- GF pancakes

Directions

- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat 

- Add sliced bananas and brown sugar

- Cook until golden and syrupy (about 5 minutes) stirring well

- Add the cinnamon and stir.

- Turn off the heat and spoon over the top of your pancakes

- We added a bit more syrup to ours (splurge!) but powdered sugar would be delicious also!

A fast and easy breakfast that looks difficult and gourmet...sign me up!!

Cheesy Broccoli Orzo

I made this the other night as our side dish for dinner and boy was it delicious! It was so easy and the husband gobbled it up and declared it something he wanted again. Well ok then!

I had never had orzo before but I saw a GF version at WalMart and figured it was worth a shot! It looks exactly like rice in shape and size but it's actually a pasta!

*If you can't find GF orzo you could substitute your favorite rice, and just cook the rice and broccoli separately, and add on some cooking time for the rice.*

 The orzo cooks super quick and this dish took 10 minutes start to finish and I only used 1 pot. I mean does it get any better than that? Here's how to make it!


What you need (from Iowagirleats.com)

- 1 C GF orzo
- 1.5 C broccoli florets (I actually bought "cut broccoli" by accident but it was good too)
- 1/4 C shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 T shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 T butter
- 1/4-1/2 C milk









Directions

- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook for 3 minutes.

- Add broccoli and cook for 3 more minutes or until orzo is tender

- Drain well and return to pot, but off the heat

- Add the cheese, butter and 1/4 C of milk. Stir well and add more milk if you need to

- Season with salt and pepper to taste (I always use seasoned salt and only needed about 1/4 tsp)

- I served ours with some simple baked chicken and it was a quick and easy under 30 minute weeknight meal!

Lately...

Our life lately has been busy busy busy! We moved out of Taylor and Steph's house almost 2 weeks ago and are getting settled in our new home. We are renting a 3/2 house from good friends and we absolutely love it and are enjoying setting up all of our things! I am slowly working on decorating - first up is Josh's room since I didn't do a nursery for him before we moved from Florida. I'm having so much fun planning it!

Josh is doing awesome these days. He's in the middle of his third month and we just made the transfer to him sleeping in his room at night. So far he's doing really well. He usually gets up once or twice...sometimes to eat and sometimes he just wants to be rocked bounced back to sleep (we keep a yoga ball in his room for such purposes!). He's rolling over tummy to back - not all the time but has done it enough times that we know it's intentional. He loves his bath time and is so smiley and giggly, especially when you talk to him. He's cooing back and trying to mimic us when we stick out our tongues. It's so cute! We so love our little buddy!

Here's some pictures from our move and some other random ones. I take at least 20 pictures of him a day. That's my prerogative as his mom so ya'll just have to deal with it :)

Sweet welcome gifts from our landlords!

First picture together in our new home!

Eating chick fil a on one of Josh's blankets...classy

Painting Josh's room

I love his expressive faces!

My favorite crinkle nose smile

Here's our new home!

Yay! Doesn't Josh look thrilled?

All moved in!

Lots of work to do!

The beginnings of Josh's room

The master - deconstructed

Pops Fred (great grandpa) put together Josh's crib for him. I love it!

Playing in the new digs

Playdate with Winnie

Chatting with Pops Fred

Fun visit with Memere and Pops Fred

Sleeping in his new crib for the first time!

Where's Waldo?

My big boy all bundled up...it's getting cold here!

Cousin love

New crib sheet!

Front entry

The kitchen - pretty much all unpacked

The cutout into the living room is awesome

Living room - still a work in progress!

View from the front door

Josh's room coming along

Guest room / office

Guest bath & Josh's bath

Master Bath

Master bedroom

More updates to come!

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

Can you believe I'm actually posting a recipe?!? I haven't been trying any new recipes lately mainly because I don't have time to sit and look up new ones to try in the midst of keeping my 3 month old alive and moving to our new house in Charlotte. But...I made this the other night and it was good enough to share! Next time I think I will add some red pepper flakes for some spice and maybe try to "doctor up" the meat a little more, but for a first time new recipe it was great! And the husband really enjoyed it as well which is always a good thing!

Please forgive me for not taking as many pictures as I normally do with recipes. My reasons for the lacking photos...see above.


What you need (no picture - because well...see above)

- 4 green bell peppers, cut in half with seeds and ribs removed
- 1.5 lb deli sliced roast beef
- 16 slices provolone cheese
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 T butter
- 4 T coconut oil
- Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees

- In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat the butter and oil over medium-low heat

- Add the onions and garlic and sautee until caramelized, about 30 minutes. You'll want to stir them often to keep from sticking

- Once the onions have caramelized, add in the roast beef and cook an additional 5 minutes to let the flavors combine. Add salt and pepper to taste

- Line each pepper half with a piece of provolone cheese

- Fill each pepper half with the beef/onion mixture and top with another piece of cheese

- Arrange peppers in a casserole dish and bake 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese becomes golden and bubbly

- Serve and enjoy!

I served ours with white rice and we enjoyed cutting up the peppers and mixing it all together!


More new recipes coming soon!

Wubba Goes to Florida

Josh and I went to visit my family in Orlando a few weeks ago. It was SO good to be back home for a while! Our days were filled with catching up with friends and family, visiting Grace church and attending the fall baptism, shopping for winter clothes with Mimi, giggles and smiles with the aunties and cousins, a family photo shoot and lots and lots of snuggles from everyone. Our trip wasn't near long enough.

Josh did awesome on the plane (I was a bit nervous flying with an 11 week old by myself)! He slept most of the way there and smiled at the flight attendants and other passengers. He was an absolute angel child the way back and slept the ENTIRE flight. Thank you LORD! Going through security and managing the luggage by myself was a bit challenging. But I could (and will!) do it again and by then I'll be an old pro at the whole flying with a baby thing.

Here are some fun pictures of our time in Florida. I miss it already.

Josh and I ready to head to the airport

Super smiley even though our flight was delayed

Chatting with Mimi

Playing in my new pack n play!

Being tortured by the aunties already :)

Leni entertaining Josh

Josh was SO entertained!

Playing with Aunt #1 and #2

I love his smile in this picture! Note the zebra print sheets as his backdrop :)

Cousin Invasion!

Oooohing and Ahhhing

Cade and Josh chillin' together

Selfie by Cade
 

Aunt Kristin is the BEST!

Cousin Mollie trying to figure out this boy cousin thing

Kisses from Cousin Caroline

A wonderful visit with Hilary and Reuben

Haha!!

And a visit with 2 week old new buddy Silas

New favorite picture taken by Gamps (my dad)

Josh and Mommy 4 eva

Shopping with Mimi!

Getting her hair rolled and checking her messages - you know like every 8 year old

This was the face that happened when I asked Leni if she could raise one eyebrow!

Beautiful Kristin getting styled

Josh's turn!

The ceiling fans at Jason's Deli were mesmerizing

Josh and Aunt #3

Exploring the mirrors in Mimi's house

And the ceiling fans

Giving goodbye kisses :(

Saying our goodbyes to Mei Mei

Getting last minute snuggles with Gamps

Saying goodbye to Mimi at the airport

Goodbyes stink. Hurry up December!