Bread with the Brisels

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and tweaked it a bit to fit our family's taste and it turned out great! This will absolutely be in our meal rotation. Who doesn't like a crockpot meal this time of year?! Salsa Verde Crockpot Chicken Serves:  4-6 Ingredients:  1 yellow onion, sliced 2 chicken breasts 1/4 cup chicken stock 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon chili powder  Salt & Pepper  1 7oz jar of Salsa Verde  1 brick of reduced fat cream cheese 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese 1/3 cup of skim milk  1 head of broccoli florets, cut into bite sized pieces  Directions:  Turn your crockpot to low and make a "bed" of your sliced onions.  Place the chicken breasts over the top and add in garlic powder, chili powder, salt/pepper, salsa verde and chicken stock.  Cook on low for about 3-4 hours.  About 45 minutes before serving, add in the brick of cream cheese and allow it to melt for about 15 minutes.  About 30 minutes before serving, shred the chicken and stir in the

  Happy Tuesday! Yesterday, October 14th, was Global FPIES Day.  FPIES (Food Protein Enterocolitis Syndrome) is a food allergy of the gut. If a child with FPIES ingests a trigger food, he/she will begin intensely vomiting about 2-3 hours post-consumption. The vomiting occurs for several hours, and there are serious dangers that the child will become dehydrated.  Jack has been diagnosed with FPIES since March of 2024, and his diagnosis is something I think about daily. In fact, I think about it every time he puts ANYTHING food related in his mouth.  This time last year, we were about to begin our journey towards a diagnosis. At one point, Jack had 0 (ZERO!) foods that we were certain he could eat. Now, I've lost count of his safe foods. What a blessing that is! Most children outgrow FPIES by age 2-3, so each day we get a little closer to being FPIES free. I'm proud of our progress and I'm proud of our boy. 

Happy Monday! I'm back. 😊 Dustin was out of town for the majority of the week last week and we were barely hanging on by a thread over here. I'm excited to share a new recipe with you today!  If you're from the Midwest, chances are high that your family has a signature chili recipe. If you try someone else's chili recipe, it just doesn't taste quite "right." Today I'm sharing the chili recipe that I grew up eating. As a rule, you must serve with cinnamon rolls and carrots + celery sticks. Don't ask me why, it's what my mom always told me. 😉 Brisel Family Chili serves: 6-8 Ingredients:  1lb lean ground beef  1 white onion, diced  4 stalks of celery, diced 1 large can of diced tomatoes in tomato juice (28 oz) 1 can of dark kidney beans, drained and rinsed (15.5 oz)  1 can of tomato juice (roughly 3/4 of a 46 oz can)  2 tablespoons minced garlic  1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon brown sugar Salt + Pepper  Directions: In a skillet, brown up

Our very favorite brand of pajamas are called  Little Sleepies  and they are pretty much all that our boys wear to sleep in. They are so soft, I don't blame them! The very best part of these pajamas is the length of time your children can wear them.  Here's Jack wearing his Halloween pajamas last year... ...and here he is wearing them this year. 😊 Isn't it crazy the difference a year makes? I don't think I'll get him to squeeze in these pajamas next year, so you'll find me soaking it up until October ends. 😉

Our oldest son Sammy began Kindergarten in August and it has been so fun to hear about what he is learning during his days.  This weekend, he played "school" and was doing phonemic awareness activities with his stuffed animals. He was using the same verbiage as his teacher and it just made me laugh so hard! My favorite funny from this weekend happened at church.  The lector got up and welcomed everyone, and said what page number the opening song was on. Sammy stood up with the rest of the congregation and put his hand on his heart. Bless him - he was all set to do the Pledge of Allegiance. Dustin and I about died from holding in our laughter! His two worlds were colliding, and he lost track of where he was. 😅 In case you needed a laugh on this Monday morning, there you go. 😉 Have a great start to your week! 

Happy, HAPPY Friday!  I hate to even say it outloud, but Jack slept through the night two nights in a row this week. He's been getting so many teeth - all at the same time for about three weeks. This led to lots of broken nights of sleep for our boy. It is AMAZING how much better I feel getting a full night of sleep. Haha.  Needless to say, I'm feeling extra perky this Friday.  I'm linking up with Andrea  and  Erika  to share a few favorites from my week. 😊 Sammy's flag football team is the Chiefs, and so obviously his favorite dog supporter needed to get a matching outfit. Look at Sammy's red cheeks! We're ready for fall weather to arrive in full force over here. Haha.  This week was National Night Out in our town, and Dustin helped work it. I stopped by with the boys, and Jack was genuinely surprised to see so many people who looked like his daddy. He got so excited when he saw the first police car, but was disappointed his daddy wasn't inside. 😉 Dustin