Better Than Chili on a Freezing Night

So it's freezing here in Fort Worth. After basically being trapped in our house for the past few days the hubs finally decided he could venture out to get provisions and he desperately needed a hair cut.

Since I had time on my hands I decided to bust out my Southern Living Cooking Light Cookbook. I love their recipes that stretch from appetizers to breads to main courses/sides and every type of dessert imaginable (a word to the wise - do not open on an empty stomach). They can be a little lengthy in ingredients/directions so I really haven't used it a ton since time is usually not a luxury I have (seeing how I am a working mother of twins). Another thing I love about this cook book is its pictures. I for one usually will not attempt a recipe unless I see what the final product will look like. So as I was browsing this picture caught my eye.

The ingredients were as followed...

6 tablespoons of pearl barely (I used brown rice), 1 1/2 cups water, 4 large bell peppers , 1 small onion - diced, 1 celery stalk (I think we used 3 - I like celery), 3/4 lb ground chicken (not found so i used turkey), 1 1/4 cups light beer or chicken broth, 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, 1/2 teaspoon salt, ground pepper to taste, 3 teaspoons of golden raisins, 2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Directions...

Cook rice/barely according to directions on package - set aside. Bring a large pot of water to boil. After cutting tops of bell peppers place in boiling water for 3 minutes. Rinse with cool water immediately after to stop further cooking. Preheat your oven at this point to 375. In a large skillet cook diced onion with celery until soft for about 3 minutes. Add your chicken/turkey and cook until browned. Add 1/4 cup of beer or broth, mustard, caraway seeds,salt & ground pepper. Cook until liquid reduces to a glaze - 2 minutes. Remove mixture from heat. Add in the barely or rice, raisins, and almonds. Stuff mixture into bell peppers, place in a snug baking dish. Pour remaining beer in the bottom of the dish and bake for 30 minutes. Discard sauce after baking and serve.

I wish the hubs wouldn't have plated them so quickly - we ate the so fast I didn't get to take of picture of them. They were delicious and definitely a break from the regular cold weather pot of chili that is our usual norm.

We Saw Santa!

We braved the mall yesterday, got there at 8:45 in hope of avoiding any lines, and got the boys pictures with Santa. They are still at a good age where they don't freak out around strangers. Generally speaking they are all smiles when it comes to new people. Our photo shoot started out great. Both boys seemed in awe of the St. Nick. And then Mason totally freaked out and tried to escape from Santa's lap. You can see the progression below. Hope every one has a very Merry Christmas.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas...

Well the tree is up, presents bought and wrapped, little touches of Christmas are everywhere - except where two sets of little hands won't reach. The only thing left to do is see Santa. I am hoping we can fit that in sometime this week. The boys are still pretty good with strangers so fingers crossed no one will cry this year.

I am off for the next two weeks which means I am in Heaven. I was so in need of some time with my boys and hubby. This break is just what I needed. So far today I have cleaned the house, did a load of laundry, reorganized the boys kitchen cabinet, several other kitchen cabinets, checked some blogs, drank some coffee, lounged around in my jammies with my little ones crawling all over me - life is good. Although I had a busy day - I still feel so realized. How is that possible - I am sure it is in part that I know I don't have anywhere to be except here. I am loving it!

Here are a few pics of our holiday home - keep in mind I would have done more - but I was trying to baby proof decorations - if that's possible.

Our Peace Tree - Love PB

The Boys Tree in our spare room - I saw the bucket idea from a few blogs I frequent and just so happened to have the perfect brown bucket from the boys birthday party - looks so much better than the white skirt I had around it.

If you heart PB - you will notice I have used their wrapping ribbon around the ornament - I made my aunt and mom tell the checkout gal that they were buying gifts when we shopped there the day after Thanksgiving so they would throw some in our bag. It wasn't totally a lie - the gifts were just for ourselves - either way I scored a bunch of their cute ribbon for free!

I hand sewed each of these stockings - and stitched our names in them. I made the hubs and mine and Abbie's the first year we were married. Last year I told him I was going to buy the boys from PB and he said it just wasn't right and had to make them. He was right and they turned out really cute - I used their nursery fabric.

6 Years Ago....

The hubs and I just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! 7 years ago this week we first met. Little did I know one conversation would change my life. It took no time all to fall in love and a short 6 months after we met we were engaged and 6 months after that we were married (a year to the day we first met). We decided to tie the knot in Las Vegas which was just more our style. So on a Tuesday at 4:00 with 60 guest who couldn't turn down the chance to take a little trip to vegas we said "I Do."

My husband is an amazing man. He is the kind of person who makes you better just by being around him. He has the best sense of humor of anyone I know. He makes me laugh every day.

He loves unconditionally. He is a hard worker who has a tough job that he absolutely loves going to. He is goofy. He is brilliant (don't tell him I told you that) and knows way more about things than I could ever imagine. A little over a year ago he became a father. He loves our two little boys so much. He takes care of them by himself several days a week - yes 2 babies 1 dad several days - enough said. He loves being a dad and our boys just amaze him. He is the kind of man you cherish and don't take for granted - he is one of good ones and I am so lucky to have found him.