Bread with the Brisels

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to do more reading and less scrolling on my phone at night. This month I read four excellent books that were outside of the genres I typically reach for. Normally I love a little "chick lit," but this month I read three thrillers, and one novel that kept me thinking. Here's April's book review. Book #1: "Wish You Were Here" by Jodi Picoult  I don't typically love a Jodi Picoult novel. I think the last book I read written by her was "Nineteen Minutes," and I probably read it over 10 years ago. The very first page of this book starts with the date "March 13, 2020." I think we can all remember what a pivotal date that was for us! I equate 3/20/2020 with the "start" of the Covid-19 pandemic, and was instantly transported to days of disinfecting groceries, making Dustin strip his clothes in the garage and immediately showering after work, and staying home (indefinitely) from teac

  Typically when I prepare tacos, it's the usual line-up: ground beef, taco seasoning, soft shell taco, etc.. I was looking for a new way to serve tacos and came across the "Stand and Stuff" crunchy taco shells. They're my new favorite way to serve a taco! I bake them in the oven after they've been stuffed and the shell gets toasted and crispy. This easy, extra step takes a simple taco to the next level. :) Enjoy this cheesy variation on a classic meal!  Cheesy Ranch Chicken Tacos Serves: 6     Preparation Time: 4 hours    Baking Time: 10 minutes Ingredients:  1lb of boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (see preparation note below) 1/3 cup ranch dressing (We like Trader Joe's ranch dressing) 1 can of Rotel  1 can of corn, drained 1 teaspoon of chili powder  1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for topping  Juice of one lime  Salt and Pepper, to taste  Salsa and diced Red onion to garnish Directions:  Chicken Preparation Note: To easily have shr

This recipe is unbelievably easy to whip up and is the type of dessert that makes people think you spent hours in the kitchen. (AKA my very favorite type of dessert.) A white cake mix is the base, and you can use fresh or frozen blueberries for the filling. It's similar to a cobbler, but more cake-y than fruity. As a person who enjoys the crust more than the fruit of a cobbler, it was an instant hit for me. :)  After sampling some I even think this would be a great dish to serve at breakfast or brunch! It would be perfect to serve for Mother's Day.  :) I added a teaspoon of Vanilla Bean paste to the cake base to add a yummy, homemade flavor. If you have not ever baked with vanilla bean paste, add it to your grocery list to try sometime! It's not as expensive as vanilla bean pods but adds the same flavor and appearance. It's one of my favorite ingredients to bake with. Whether you're serving these bars for brunch or dessert, I think they'll be a hit. :) Blueberry

Caramel and butterscotch are two favorite flavors in my household! I started baking a lot with butterscotch when Sammy was two, because for the longest time he didn't like chocolate! Thank goodness he's gotten over that food aversion. :) Dustin is a big fan of caramel and butterscotch, so these bars are a hit in our house. Add in a little flaky sea salt, some oatmeal for texture, and I'm ready to lick the pan. :) A yellow cake mix is the base of this bar recipe, and I make them in an 8x8 pan. This makes the bars super dense and really easy to pull together quickly! If your bars look to be brown around the edges but still pretty "gooey" near the middle, just pop the bars under the broiler for a minute or two. Don't let them get too overdone! I hope you and  your family try this recipe and enjoy them as much as we did.   Salted Caramel Butterscotch Bars  Serves: 12     Preparation Time: 10 minutes     Baking Time: 25 minutes  Ingredients:  1 Yellow Cake Mix (any

I love, and I mean LOVE a breakfast casserole. Growing up, breakfast casseroles were typical items on the menus for holiday breakfasts. I think they're too delicious to only eat a few mornings a year! This breakfast casserole has the typical ingredients: eggs, milk, breakfast sausage, cheese, salt and pepper, but instead of a traditional bread/crouton/croissant I used....Everything Bagels and Everything but the Bagel seasoning. This added such an interesting texture and crunch! Definitely try this recipe!  Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole  Serves: 6      Preparation Time: 10 minutes      Baking Time: 35-40 minutes Ingredients:   7 Eggs  3/4 cup milk (I used skim) 1/2 lb. breakfast sausage, browned, crumbled and drained 2 Everything Bagels, torn into bite sized pieces 1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese Salt & Pepper Everything but the Bagel seasoning  Directions:  Lightly grease a deep 8x8 pan (I use Pam), and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Brown your sausage on the stov

  This is our last Disney recap! We were so sad to see this Disney trip come to a close. The only way to get rid of the "Post-Disney-Blues" is to plan your next trip. ;) We knew after our marathon-worthy day (Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot) that we would need a slow morning, so that's exactly what we did! We had reservations around 8:00AM at Topolino's Terrace at the Riviera Resort. This was our last character meal and the one I was the most excited for! Reservations for this restaurant are really hard to come by, so I was ecstatic that we had secured one! We got to meet Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Mickey and Minnie at this particular character meal.  The menu at Topolino's has fixed prices, which means that no matter what you order it costs the same. Our waiter gave us an insider tip: You can order one item, but with a side of another if you'd like to try more than one item. I ordered the Quiche Lorraine with a side of the sour cream waffles, and Dusti

Our second to last day was a long, fun-filled one! I think I had over 30,000 steps on my FitBit! On this particular day we hit 3 parks. Are we crazy? Yes, yes we are. :)  We woke up on New Year's Day ready to ring in the New Year at...Animal Kingdom! ' All of the parks have themed Christmas trees. This one had really neat wooden ornaments on it! This day was scheduled to be our split park day. We arrived at Animal Kingdom bright and early. We used Genie Plus to make an early reservation to ride Kilimanjaro Safari (insider tip, the animals are most active in the mornings.) We loved seeing all the animals!  Like Father, like son. Haha!  While we were on the ride, Sammy kept asking, "What animal do you like?" We saw giraffes, rhinos, lions - they were so active! After this ride we ran into Starbucks for some morning caffeine for Dustin and I, and a cake pop for Sammy.  A cake pop at 9AM? Sure, it's vacation!  We spent the rest of our time at Animal Kingdom enjoying &