Have A Bite Of...

Taco Stuffed Peppers

Nothing like the stuffed peppers of the 80's, I swear!

Easy, healthy, and flavorful. Did I mention E-A-S-Y? 

These babies are a dream come true on hectic weeknights!

Ingredients:

3 peppers, any color

1 tbs avocado oil

1/2 lb lean ground turkey (or beef)

2 tbs diced onion

1/2 cup water

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 tbs taco seasoning (more or less to preference)

Optional: Cheese

Toppings:

Corn, fresh or frozen

Fresh tomatoes, diced

Black olives, sliced

Green onions, sliced

Yumm sauce

Sour cream

Salsa

1) Wash peppers, slice in half, and remove stem/seeds. Place in baking dish, cut side up, and bake at 400 for 8 minutes*.

2) While the peppers are cooking, heat the avocado oil in a medium skillet and brown the meat. Add diced onion, sauté for an additional 2 minutes. Stir in water, cooked quinoa, and taco seasoning and simmer until liquid has reduced. 

3) Spoon the meat and quinoa mixture into the peppers, top with cheese if desired, and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

4) Serve warm with any combination of toppings. My favorites are corn, tomatoes, olives, green onions, and Cafe Yumm sauce. 

*This dish will reheat beautifully if the peppers are not overcooked. 8 minutes of pre-baking will result in al dente peppers. Add another 2 minutes to the pre-baking time if you like softer peppers or are not planning for leftovers.

Life Update:

We've stumbled our way into a functioning routine, which is a huge relief after the chaos of the newborn months. I've actually done grocery shopping and Costco with both kids (and no backup), Little Miss is tolerating car rides, and Jr is handling sharing Mama a little better. Sleep is still a precious commodity - naps are short, two night feedings qualifies as a great night, and sometimes the kids sleep in until 7am. 

Little Miss is growing (mostly) steadily and her personality is really starting to show. We're still fighting reflux at times, but things are getting better on the whole. She has learned to roll from back to tummy, started on solid foods, is starting to enjoy bath time, and loves playing peekaboo.

Grumpy snuggles.

Squash!

Houston, we have a roller.

Jr is a talking, dancing, singing machine. He's constantly picking up new words and parroting everything which, after months of focusing on his language skills, is an absolute delight. He knows all of his letters, is always looking for ways to be a helper, and has been determined to start doing things on his own/in his own way. Watching him gleefully run towards big kid independence is equal parts exhausting and amazing.

My grocery assistant was pretty thrilled with our cucumber selection.

I. Love. Christmas.

Finally making progress on the nursery artwork!

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."

Thornton Wilder

Have A Bite Of...

Twix Cookies

These babies were super easy to make and a hit at Christmas dinner.

You can find the recipe over at chef in training; the modifications I made were to the chocolate topping(s). I used milk chocolate for half of the cookies and semisweet for the remainder. Also, I don't use shortening so I melted each 1/3 c. of chocolate chips with 1 Tbs. of evaporated milk.

Does anyone else feel guilty about not using an entire can of evaporated milk? I don't use it often and the recipes that call for it never require more than a few tablespoons at a time, so I'm always at a loss of what to do with the excess.

The caramel layer was so gorgeous I almost didn't want to cover it with chocolate...

Who am I kidding? Everything is better with a little chocolate!

Our parents and my sister came over for Christmas brunch and a gift exchange. There was a lovely mix of toys and books for Jr, and not a single battery operated toy in the bunch!

There were homemade cinnamon rolls and fruit, smoked sausages and eggs, coffee and spicy tomato juice. We laughed and reminisced, played games and just relaxed. The look of pure joy on Jr's face when he tried out his new rocker, it must have felt like he was flying.

We're going to need a bigger toy basket...

Such a big boy!

"All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!"
Charles Schulz

Happy Holidays!

Things have been busy around here. Everyone has to pull their weight.

The munchkin has discovered laptops...

We acquired a Christmas tree.

Professional tree pickers.

Professional tree cutter.

The tree people were quite impressed with his level of preparedness (overalls, boots, and coat).

Timber!!

You've got that, right? Good.

Ta-da!!

There was a very merry half-birthday.

Six months old?!

And we took approximately nine hundred pictures for our Christmas card.

We are quite talented at ensuring one member of the family is never looking at the camera.

"As long as we know in our hearts what Christmas ought to be, Christmas is."

Eric Sevareid

Happy Thanksgiving!!

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Our trip back home for Christmas was pretty fantastic. I packed light, for the first time ever, making do with only my purse and one carry-on bag for the entire two weeks. I'm usually at least a three bag traveler so this was a significant accomplishment. My first flight alone went smoothly, without turbulence or other worrisome things. My seatmate, however, did not share my opinion, being an extremely nervous flyer who rocked incessantly through the entire flight. 

Oregon was on its best behavior for my arrival, complete with blue skies and sunshine! Please excuse the prop in the photo; I was committed to documenting this rare occurrence. Unfortunately, the sun only lasted for the afternoon before returning to the standard grey and rain.

Mt Hood

Before leaving Idaho, I had lamented the fact that my cozy slippers took up too much room to accompany me. Chris arrived about a week after I did and, little did I know, had decided to make room in his bag to bring my slippers with him. I'm a lucky girl to have married such a thoughtful man.

We enjoyed lots of laughter, conversation, relaxation, and food while visiting family, catching up with friends, and playing around on the farm. I intended to post a slew of pictures from the trip, but it appears that we accidentally left our camera in Oregon. These two measly photos are all I have for now, but I suppose two are better than none.

Scenery from my parents' neck of the woods

 The pets were excited to have us home again; the pup hasn't let us out of his sight and the cat has been purring nonstop.

Blurry, but just look at that grin

Obsession of the week: The Lumineers - Ho Hey

 If you haven't heard this yet then you're definitely missing out. I'm not much of a dancer, but I can't stay still listening to this song.

Season's Greetings

Wishing you a wonderful holiday and happy New Year! 

Home for the Holidays

I'm back! Sort of. A more accurate statement would be that I'm choosing to cut my day short (at the 14 hour mark) to do something other than school...like update my blog. Exciting times, I know.

We drove back to Oregon for Thanksgiving and it wasn't as terrifying as I expected it to be. Growing up in the Willamette Valley means that I have an excessive healthy fear of driving when it snows. This fear is completely rational when you consider the fact that no one knows how to drive in the snow back home - and those that claim they do are still grievously out of practice.

Needless to say, I do not agree with Dean and Frank's cheery assessment of the wonders that accompany the "marshmallow world" of winter and proceeded to have a minor heart attack when snow began falling shortly before we planned to leave. (Don't get the reference? Click here)

The weather calmed down and I resumed breathing normally...

Until the weather outside of La Grande took a turn for the worse.

Luckily, it stopped snowing east of Pendleton. Of course, that is also where the real excitement began since the road was covered in ice...but ice makes me less panicky than snow. Eastbound traffic had a much rougher time than the few of us heading west - cars were off the road, a few trucks had jack-knifed, and traffic was at a standstill.

It stopped snowing, hooray! Oh, wait...

The roads were clear from Pendleton all the way back to Salem, but we found out later that I-84 closed shortly after we went through. Yikes.

Oregon welcomed us back with the usual grey and rain, but a couple of sunbreaks peeked through early in the week.

All in all, it was a successful holiday: we caught up with family and friends, laughed a lot, ate too much, and came back from the break refreshed and well rested.

"I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world." 

- George Washington