Bread with the Brisels

This hearty breakfast casserole has it all: tater tots, sausage, eggs, and cheese. You can easily make it up and refrigerate up to 24 hours in advance, which makes things easy in the morning. The recipe below makes one 8x8 pan, but you could easily double it to make a hearty 9x13 or two 8x8 pans. We like to make two 8x8 pans - one to eat, and one to freeze. If freezing this recipe be sure to freeze on a flat surface to avoid drips. Serve it with a Mickey waffle for optimal enjoyment.  😉 Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole  Serves: 6 Prep Time: 30 minutes, plus cooking Ingredients: 1/2 bag of tater tots from the freezer section  8 eggs 2/3 cup milk (I use skim) 1/2 lb sausage, browned  3 scallions, sliced thinly 1/2 cup red peppers, diced  1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded 1/2 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded 1/2 tsp onion powder Salt and Pepper to taste Directions:     1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 2. Lightly grease an 8x8 pan. Place tater tots over the bottom of pan in a single la

It's Wednesday! Today I am linking up with Sheaffer and Shay to share a little bit of what's up in my life right now.  What we're eating... ALL the fresh summer produce! Iowa is famous for sweet corn and there are stands set up in the parking lots of area businesses. Our favorite stand told us that this would likely be his last week of selling, so you bet we'll be enjoying sweet corn a few times this week. Here's what else is on the menu for the week: Sunday - BLTs and corn Monday - Dustin, Sammy and I went to dinner at a local restaurant before Sammy's Back to School Night  Tuesday - Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole (we love a breakfast casserole for dinner at our house!) Wednesday - Apple Butter Ham Sliders and sweet potato fries  Thursday - Grilled Pork Chops and sweet corn Friday - Mandarin Chicken and vegetable stir fry (thank you, Trader Joe's) What I'm reminiscing about... June  July August Awwww. I'm struggling to believe that it's already

Happy Monday! In the spirit of it being almost September I'm sharing some of my family's FAVORITE fall books. In our home we have a basket of books on the main floor that I try to exclusively keep seasonal books in. It's a small way to make our reading time extra special, and I look forward to reading these titles each year! If you have favorite fall reads at your house, put them in the comments below; I'd love to add some new titles to our collection!  Links: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything The Biggest Pumpkin Ever You're My Little Pumpkin Pie Fall I Love Fall Too Many Pumpkins

Happy Friday! Today I'm linking up with  Andrea  and  Erika  to share some Friday Favorites from the week.  While last week was breezy and cool in Iowa, this week made up for it in heat. We were in an excessive heat warning almost the entire week which meant we could only really play outside in the morning. Sammy leaned into his creative side this week and we spent plenty of time coloring and drawing. His latest interest has been pirates, so he drew this picture of a treasure map. X marks the spot! ;) The library has also been a favorite of ours during the heat wave this week. I love taking Sammy to story time at the library during the summer months. I tuck baby Jack in his wrap, and Sammy gets to enjoy story time, songs, and a little craft. It's the perfect outing! This Thursday, Dustin was on his "off days" so I was able to enjoy a solo outing with Sammy.  An easy favorite of mine this week would be this sweet smile. Jack has absolutely found his voice and tells us

This is a favorite childhood recipe of mine, and one that my mom enjoyed as a little girl as well. The recipe has evolved over the years and I've added a few extra touches to this version. Through the generations one ingredient has stayed the same: sliced provolone cheese. I'm not sure why, but if it's what my Nanny and mom insisted on I'm not going to argue. :) This meal is one of our very favorites. We typically serve with a green salad on the side. Enjoy! Pizza Burgers Serves: 6 Prep Time: Less than 1 hour Ingredients:  1 lb lean ground beef  1/2 red onion, diced 1 green pepper, diced 1 package english muffins, split in half  1 package provolone cheese slices 2 tablespoons garlic, minced 8 ounces tomato sauce  1/2 cup ketchup 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce  2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tsp yellow mustard 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder  Salt and Pepper to taste Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and arrange your halved english muffins on a bakin

Who doesn't love an easy chicken casserole for dinner? This recipe for poppyseed chicken is a family favorite. My mom cooked it often while I was growing up and I remember requesting it when I came home on the weekends during my college years. It's creamy with a crunchy topping, thanks to the Ritz crackers on top. You can make this recipe and bake immediately, or prepare the recipe up to 24 hours in advance.  We like to serve it over white rice, with a green salad on the side. It's the perfect meal for back to school season! Poppyseed Chicken Serves: 6     Prep Time: 1+ hour  Ingredients: 3 large white meat chicken breasts, shredded *see note below 1   can Cream of Chicken soup (I use the Campbell's Healthy Request brand) 1 cup sour cream (I use reduced fat) 2 sleeves Ritz crackers, crumbled 1/4 cup butter, melted 1 tablespoon poppyseeds 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp celery salt 1 tablespoon lemon juice Salt/Pepper to taste Directions: 1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Happy Monday! It is going to be H-O-T this week in Iowa. We're under an excessive heat warning, and temps are close to 100 degrees through most of the week, with a return to the 80s on Friday. I do not envy my coworkers this week - recess duty and car pick-up line are going to be miserable this week! I'll be pulling out all of the indoor activities to keep Sammy busy this week.  This weekend we attended church on Saturday, and a Blessing of the Backpacks was held. All students and teachers were called to the front of the church and a blessing was said for them ahead of the school year. Safety and protection was prayed over them, and patience was prayed over the teachers. Sammy was very excited to participate in this blessing and loved getting to wear his backpack to church.  He starts preschool following Labor Day and is looking forward to it. We've really loved our time together this summer but I can tell that he is getting antsy at home. It will be a great transition for

  Happy Friday, friends! It's been a LOVELY week weather-wise in Iowa. Temperatures have been in the 70s, the mornings have been cooler, and I'm itching to light a pumpkin spice candle. Haha! I'm linking up with  Andrea  and  Erika  to share some Friday Favorites.  This week, Sammy and I baked up some yummy Butterscotch Snickerdoodle bars. They're flavored with maple extract, have a layer of cinnamon sugar, and dotted with butterscotch chips. We were BIG fans at my house! Find the recipe  here. My FAVORITE funny from the week was sourced by Sammy. We spent lots of time outdoors which meant that his face was slathered in sunscreen often throughout the week. He is pretty sensitive to sunscreen and sometimes gets a small pimple when we have to apply it frequently. The poor guy got one on his nose this week last week but instead of calling it a pimple, he mistakenly called it a "nipple." Haha! Every time we saw a family member he made sure to tell them about the &

     We recently wrapped up our remodel of the nursery for our new family addition and I am in LOVE! In our home we have four bedrooms, and made one bedroom the dedicated "nursery." We installed special organizers in the closet that have drawers that fit infant items (think swaddles, onesies, burb rags, and bibs) much better than big boy items. So, when we moved Sammy to a big boy bed, he switched bedrooms entirely and left the nursery empty for our next child.      Sammy's nursery was puppy dog themed and I really loved it! We used lots of navy blue, white and gray in the decorations. Here are some photos:  And here's an after picture! I really love this new space.      Even though we found out we were having another boy I was still excited to make some updates. You spend a lot of hours in that rocking chair the first year of the baby's life nursing and rocking the baby to sleep, so I wanted to freshen things up a bit.      We decided to install board and batten

  I frequently cook with butterscotch flavoring in our household as it's a favorite flavor of my boys. This oatmeal bar has butterscotch chips and a layer of cinnamon sugar. It's sweetened with both vanilla and maple extract; all of these flavors together make a bar that is quintessentially "fall" flavored. Try a bar crumbled over vanilla ice cream...I dare you. :) Butterscotch Snickerdoodle Bars Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar, packed 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 1 tsp maple extract 1 tsp vanilla extract 1.5 cups white flour 1.5 cups oats (I used quick cooking) 1 cup butterscotch chips Cinnamon Sugar for filling (1/3 cup sugar and 1 T cinnamon) Directions: 1. Grease a 9x13 pan with baking spray and turn your oven to 350.  2. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and white/brown sugars together until fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla and maple extracts.  3. Add in bak

Many of the bloggers I frequently follow share newsy "Day in the Life" blog posts. I always enjoy reading these posts so I thought I would create one, too. Someday I think I'll enjoy looking back on this and remembering what life looked like in August 2023 with a four year old and a two month old. :) Up and at 'em! For the first time anyways. :) Baby Jack has his middle of the night feeding and while he eats I read a chapter or so of a book. I typically give Dustin a text to let him know that Jack is having a feeding so he doesn't worry about us, and head back to bed as soon as he is finished eating. On this night there was a terrible storm outside - hail, lightening, thunder, and heavy rains. Our dog Roo HATES storms, so I wasn't able to go back to sleep as quickly as I would have liked. I think we drifted back to sleep around 4:20.  Now it's wake-up time for real. :) We slept in this morning! Sammy joined me in bed and we snuggled for a little bit before