Cheesy Bacon Pull Apart Bread

Who doesn't love cheese and bacon? Here's the original blog post where I found it. I wish I had gotten a picture that really showed the cheese and onions. You could modify these ingredients to your liking, black olives, red pepper, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella, garlic, you name it.

Cheesy Bacon Pull-Apart Bread

1# bacon, cooked till crispy and crumbled
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
4-5 green onions, sliced
24 Rhodes rolls, thawed but still cold
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2-3/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese
Saute green pepper and onions in oil till tender. Cut Rhodes rolls in quarters and place in a large mixing bowl. Periodically stir in some of the melted butter so they don’t stick together. Add remaining ingredients and the rest of the butter. Mix everything together till well combined. (I just used my hands.) Dump everything into a well greased Bundt pan. Let raise till doubled, about 30-60 minutes. You can let it rise longer. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Serve warm.

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10 Reasons why I sometimes wish I could trade places with my husband...

I love my husband.  But recently, I've been wishing that I could trade places with him because...

10. He doesn't have the doctor on speed dial...or even have a single doctor's number in his phone.
9. He will never have to get up at 3am to pee because a baby is kicking his bladder.
8. He will never have a "12-week plan" to lose baby weight.
7.  The kids are excited to see him...because he actually gets to leave them for several hours each day!
6.  He gets the easy job in the whole bringing-this-baby-into-the-world process :)
5.  Nesting...what's that?
4.  "Braxton Hicks" is just the name of some dead guy.
3.  His "summer wardrobe" doesn't consist of clothing that is 2-3 times the size of his "winter wardrobe".
2.  His belly will never get in the way of him being able to sleep on his belly if he wants to...
1.  He will NEVER experience how uncomfortable it is to be 9 months pregnant!

Can you tell I'm ready to pop?!

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Sausage Pizza Loaf

This recipe comes from one of my current favorite cookbooks, Taste of Home Almost Homemade. I will admit that I have a little addiction to cookbooks, so I'm sure it will no longer be my favorite in a week or so. I read cookbooks in bed even, I love them so much. I realize that's not normal. But I don't think I'm in need of an intervention or anything, so don't worry.

My whole family really liked this one, and it was really quick and easy.

Sausage Pizza Loaf

1 pound Italian sausage

1/4 cup each chopped onion, sweet red pepper, and green pepper

2 packages (6-1/2 ounces each) pizza crust mix

2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup chopped pepperoni

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

In a large skillet, cook the sausage, onion, and peppers over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Combine crust mixes and prepare according to package directions. With greased fingers, press onto the bottom of a greased 15x10x1 baking pan. (I just used a big cookie sheet here. I don't get too hung up on pan sizes and things unless I'm baking)

Combine the sausage mixture, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and egg; spread over dough to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese, oregano, and garlic powder.

Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch seams to seal. Arrange seam side down on pan and shape into a crescent. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 mins or until golden brown.

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Easy Fresh Strawberry Pie!

I was in the mood to make a pie for the 4th of July.  Don't ask me why...it just seemed like the perfect summer dessert to celebrate the holiday.  So, after a quick look through my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook, I found the perfect recipe.  This was quick, easy and YUMMY!

This is Betty Crocker's image

Betty Crocker Fresh Strawberry Pie

1	baked pie crust, see below
1 1/2	quarts strawberries, hulled (and I sliced mine because I don't like HUGE strawberries in my pie)
1	cup sugar
3	tablespoons cornstarch
1/2	cup water
3	ounces of cream cheese, softened

Pat-in-Pan Pastry Crust

1 1/3	cups all-purpose flour
1/2	teaspoon salt
1/3	cup vegetable oil
2	tablespoons cold water

Heat the oven to 475°F. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, salt and oil until all flour is moistened. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all water is absorbed.

Gather the pastry into a ball. Press in the bottom and up the side of a 9-inch glass pie plate; flute. Prick the bottom and side of the pastry thoroughly with a fork. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely on a cooling rack, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, mash enough strawberries to measure 1 cup. In medium size saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Add in the 1/2 cup water and mashed strawberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute; set aside to cool.

Spread softened cream cheese evenly in the cooled pie crust. Top with remaining strawberries (whole or sliced). Pour cooked strawberry mixture over the top of the fresh strawberries. Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours. Store in the refrigerator IF you have any leftovers.

This is my image...obviously I don't have a "Food Stylist" like Betty :)

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I wish I could do this!

Our whole schedule has been off for the past week.  My husband was out of town Monday - Thursday and then he was home with us Friday - Monday.  And with this being the 4th of July weekend, the boys have been up extra late the past few nights.  Tyler (my almost-4 year old) hasn't taken naps for almost a year now, but Ryan (my 2 year old) still needs at least an hour nap during the day to make it to his 8-9pm bedtime without being crabby.  

Today, Ryan didn't get a nap.  He wasn't crabby, but I caught this on video and wanted to share.  

Now that I'm 9 months pregnant and sleeping isn't very comfortable for me, I'm so jealous!

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Kitchen Cabinet Knob Repaint

My before and after picture here is really terrible so you probably can't even tell a difference.  Our builder grade cabinets had really, really shiny gold knobs that I hated.  Knowing we were moving and not really wanting to spend money on new ones, I decided to paint them.  I like them much better now.  They blend in alot more than the shiny gold ones.
So first I took all the knobs off.  Then I cleaned and dried them.  Then I lightly sanded them on all surfaces to allow the paint to adhere.  The spray paint I was using was a primer and paint in one.  Otherwise, I'd probably prime and then paint.  My spray paint also had a hammered texture.  So basically, the key with spray paint is just really light coats (I mean REALLY light) so that you don't get drips.  It takes time and patience but you can't rush spray painting.  I just tried to lightly coat all surfaces and allow to dry in between.  So lightly spray, dry, lightly spray again, dry, rotate or turn knob a little, repeat all over until all surfaces are covered.  Then wait about 24 hours before putting them back on the cabinets.  I haven't had any problem with flaking, but it's only been a couple of weeks.

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Banana Cherry Healthy "Ice Cream" - less than 200 calories

Don't get too excited, it's not actually ice cream.  But, this recipe is super healthy and very, very good in my opinion.  This one came about because I'd seen (through Pinterest) that you can make soft-serve like ice cream from frozen bananas only.  I tried that and decided you definitely had to have some kind of liquid.  First I tried water and it was ok, but then I tried coconut milk and decided it was the way to go. I'm not much of a measurer, so when I come up with a recipe myself I have a hard time pinning down amounts.  Feel free to adjust these as you like.  I had some cherries in my freezer so I made this version, but I can think of lots of other flavor combos.  You need the bananas because the texture comes 100% from them.

Here are some other ideas I had for flavors, although some of these would probably up the calorie content a good bit:  Banana-Chocolate (cocoa powder and sugar or splenda), Banana-Mocha (cocoa powder or choc syrup or even Nesquik and some instant coffee), Banana-Strawberry, Banana-Split (strawberries, pineapple, choc syrup on top), Banana- Coconut +/- chocolate.  Hmmm....can you tell I kind of like chocolate?  For now, I am loving the cherry version and I've been craving one of these every day since making the first one.

1 banana, sliced and frozen  (very important that the slices are frozen!! I put the slices in a bag and lay them flat to freeze so that the slices can be separated and blend easier)
4 frozen cherries
1 tsp vanilla extract (pure vanilla is so much better)
coconut milk, amt varies

Start with 1/4 cup coconut milk (you could use whatever milk you prefer but I love the flavor that comes from coconut milk) and put the milk and all other ingredients in your blender or food processor.  I use a magic bullet, and this is such a small amount that you definitely couldn't use a huge blender or processor.  Add more milk as you blend until you get to the desired consistency.  Basically you want all your bananas blended, but you don't want to start getting a liquid consistency (which mine actually did in the photo).  I have to shake my magic bullet as it's blending and sometimes stop and stir.  In the picture, I have some Cool Whip on top.


My estimate is that the calories on this are about 160 without Cool Whip (depending on the size of the banana and type of milk. Coconut milk is 45 cal per half cup.)

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