Christmas for Brantley

Given everything going on and such, we at first decided to make Brantley's Christmas small. However, Husby and I have been scouring the ads and couponing and price-matching and checking out the local Consignment Shop for things.

For 2011 Christmas:

• More 12-18 month clothes, PJs
• Snowsuit & boots
• Let's Rock Elmo
• Toy Chest
• Table & Chairs
• Leapfrog Tag Jr.
• Books for Tag Jr.
• Megablocks Tool Bench
• Megablocks Recycle Plant
• Megablocks Construction Set
• Cars Megablocks Set
• Playskool writing tablet ABC's & 123's
• Leapfrog PDA

Christmas in Myrtle:

• Leapfrog Zoo Magnets
• Fisher Price Phone
• Leapfrog Fix & Learn Speedy
• Leapfrog Jr. Big Bird Letters book
• Leapfrog Jr. Cookie Monster Numbers book
• Portable DVD player (Set of 2 for the truck)

*Wonderpets playset from the R,B, M, V M.

*Spring Reindeer ornament from T&J

*Birthday Gift from the C's: 2 Pooh wood puzzles, Children's Place khaki pants & thermal shirt

Christmas in Pcola

• Lettersaurus
• Good Night Scout book
• Clothes, Paul Frank undies & hat 

*Cake Pop pan & Bakerella Book

*Pirate Tub crayons, Cars Puzzle, Winnie doll

It was a great Christmas....

Menu Suggestion for Myrtle

+Dessert+


Apple Streusel Pizza




Ingredients:
Aluminum foil
2 medium apples
2 Tbsp cinnamon sugar
1 can of cinnamon rolls with icing (flaky recommended)
1 cup vanilla almond granola


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil.
2. Cut apples into small pieces and toss with 1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon sugar.
3. Open rolls and roll the entire dough onto baking sheet to form crust about 9 x 13.
4. Sprinkle apples over crust and bake 6-7 minutes until edges are golden.
5. Top with granola and bake 6-7 minutes until center is cooked.
6. Cool 3 minutes.
7. Place icing in microwave-safe dish and microwave for 15-20 seconds until thin and pourable.
8. Drizzle pizza with icing and sprinkle remaining 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon sugar.

+Salads & Sides+


Cheesy Zucchini Boats




Ingredients:
2 large zucchini
3 Tbsp Italian bread crumbs, divided
1 cup shredded Italian-blend cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise; scoop out seeds and pulp, leaving 1/4-inch-thick shell.
3. Place zucchini in baking dish.
4. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of bread crumbs down center of zucchini halves. Combine all 3 cheeses with Italian seasoning, salt & pepper.
5. Divide mixture evenly into zucchini; sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbsp. bread crumbs.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes or until zucchini is tender when pierced with fork and top is golden.

Corn Risotto



Ingredients:
1 (8oz.) pkg. Steamfresh sweet corn
1 (32oz.) reduced sodium vegetable broth
1 cup rice
1 cup diced onion
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp basil
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook corn as directed.
2. Place all ingredients (except the cheese) in large microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on HIGH for 10 minutes.
3. Stir once and microwave 10-15 more minutes until rice and vegetables are tender,
4. Stir in Parmesan cheese; rice will thicken as it stands.

Diced Caprese Salad


Ingredients:
1 (8oz.) pkg. fresh mozzarella chese, diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp basil
1Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil


Directions:

1. Toss cheese, tomatoes and basil in serving bowl.
2. Drizzle with oil and stir to mix well. 
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Parsley Potatoes


Ingredients:
6 red potato wedges, divided
1/4 cup parsley
2 Tbsp garlic butter

Directions:

1. Boil potatoes so they are warmed
2. Stir garlic butter and parsley into potatoes and Serve.
   

+Dinner Ideas+


Cheese-Stuffed Meatloaves



Ingredients:
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups pasta sauce, divided
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup diced onion
1 1/4 lb lean ground beef
4 sticks mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.
3. Combine 3/4 cup pasta sauce & remaining ingredients (except the cheese) until blended.
4. Divide into 4 portions; shape around string cheese so it is covered completely.
5. Seal tightly so hot cheese will stay inside
6. Bake 20-25 minutes or until 160 degrees inside.
7. Before serving, microwave remaining 3/4 cup pasta sauce on HIGH 1 minute or until hot.
8. Boil pasta to serve with.

Homestyle Chicken Tender Bake


Ingredients:
6-8 chicken tenders
4 potatoes (mashed)
1 jar chicken gravy
1 (11-12 oz) sweet corn
Aluminum foil
1 1/2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.
2. Spread potatoes evenly in 2-quart baking dish.
3. Top with chicken, gravy, and corn.
4. Cover with foil and Bake 30-35 minutes until hot and bubbly.
5. Remove foil and top with cheese; bake 3-4 minutes more or until cheese melts.

+Breakfast+

French Toast Bake



Ingredients:
1 pkg. Johnsonville  Brown Sugar & Honey Breakfast Links
12 eggs
1 can (30oz.) pumpkin pie filling
1 can (12oz.) evaporated milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
15 slices of bread, cubed
Confectioner's sugar
Maple Syrup

Directions:

1. Cook sausage as directed. Cool & cut into 1/2 in slices.
2. In large bowl, whisk eggs, pie filling, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.
3. In separate bowl, combine sausage and bread cubes.
4. Add pumpkin mixture and stir to coat.
5. Transfer to greased 13 x 9 baking dish.
6. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes; until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Dust with confectioner's sugar and syrup before serving.

+Christmas Day Dinner+


Italian Lasagna with a Garden Salad




Ingredients:
1 lb Italian Sausage; casings removed
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 can (~14.5 oz) tomatoes, diced
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. salt
2 can tomato paste (12 oz. total)
10 lasagna noodles
3 cups ricotta cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. Parsley flake
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. pepper
16 oz. mozzarella cheese; shredded


Directions:

1. Brown sausage; draining fat. Add garlic, tomatoes, basil, oregano, 1 tsp salt, and tomato paste.
2. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes-add water if too thick.
3. Cook noddles as directed.
4. In bowl, combine ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, parsley, eggs, 1 tsp salt and pepper.
5. Layer noddles in 13 x 9 x 2 dish.
6. Layer with ricotta mixture, then meat sauce mixture, followed by layer of Mozzarella cheese.
7. Repeat layering.
8. Bake 30-40 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
9. Let set for 10 minutes before serving.

All I want for Christmas...

Brantley reporting here...Mommy & Daddy are gearing up for the holidays and today we spent the afternoon touring the local stores. While wandering for new boots and jeans for Mommy, I was able to catch some shut-eye, but also got a few sneak peeks as to all the latest and greatest toys out there. I want it ALL! I've been extra good this year...I am still working on the "playing nice" with Lucky, but hey I am only 1, so I deserve a break.

At 14 months, I am 24.6 lbs and starting to use the potty (but only at night before bathtime). I wear anything size wise from 9 months to 12 months and even some 18 month things (although they make my butt look big), therefore my apparel is pretty well stocked (unless you find more cute Gator or G. Harvey outfits). Mommy & Daddy are working on making a backyard haven for me, since I love outside. Below is my 2011 Wishlist. You can also ask Mommy & Daddy for other ideas.

I also want to mention, I would like you to put a good word in with the Tooth Fairy and explain to her I need some more teeth (and preferably not all in 1 shot...spread them out a little, but still please give some more). I want steak and I can not have that yet since I still do not have enough teeth....

Brantley's Wishlist:


More Teeth!!

Leapfrog Tag Pen

Storage Case for Tag

Good Night Scout Book

Leapfrog Cook n Play Potsy

Books for Tag

• Mr. Brown can Moo, Can You?
• Cookie's 1st Book of Numbers
• Big Bird's 1st Book of Letters
• I Spy: Imagine That
• Green Eggs & Ham
• Winnie the Pooh-Piglet Saves the Day
• Ready to Read Book Set
• Short Vowels Book Set
• Finding Nemo
• Learn to Write & Draw
• Reading Books-Consonants
• Disney's Pooh Loves to...
• Curious George: Color Fun (spanish)
• Mickey's Holiday (english/spanish)
• Pluto at the Vet (english/spanish)

Wooden Puzzles like this or this

Little Tikes Bike (3 in 1)

Fix & Learn Speedy

Bubble Mower

I need to think some more...or explore the Toy aisle tomorrow while we go food shopping..I'll get back to you on this...Thanks in advance!

Christmas at Greene Life

Sorry for such a late post about Christmas. We have been travelling since Dec. 22nd and got home to our house yesterday evening. Here is a photo recap of our last few weeks:

 Napping with Great-grandma

My Grandma Shirt

 

Exersaucer (early Xmas gift from Mommy & Daddy)

Opening his 1st Christmas Present

Meeting Auntie Megan

Meet n Greet (meeting Mommy's childhood friends)

Eating Carrots

 Christmas Eve (outfit courtesy of A & C)

 

 Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning lounging by the tree 

Christmas Outfit

 Jumparoo at Grandma's in SC

 

Penguin Hat!

  

Getting ready for 1st snowfall

1st Snow

 Dressing up for Family Pictures

Ringbearer

Family Photo

Sleeping during the Reception

  Hanging with Grandpa J

 Meeting Trinity in Pcola (She's 3 weeks younger than me)

 New Year's Eve (being the Naked New Year's Baby with Grandma)

Eating Sweet Taters

 Hanging with Uncle Cody

As you can see, it has been a very busy vacation. Unfortunately, it will be a busy week in the Greene Manor since we are playing catch up on stuff we missed due to being away for the holidays, Mommy doing after-Christmas shopping today and tomorrow, catch-up on house chores and preparing to go back to work (Daddy today; Mommy next Wednesday). As you can see, I (Brantley) have been eating solid foods, so Mommy also must start making baby food for me. Thankfully Grandma vS gave her some great cookbooks (the pictures make me drool).

On Saturday, Mommy and Daddy will be volunteering their time from 8pm til 2am to participate in the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build somewhere here in the area. I volunteered to come as well, but Mommy and Daddy told me I need to instead go to bed at their friend's house since I am too little to be a builder just yet. They said maybe next time, so in the meantime I am asking for my own set of tools so I can be prepared for the next build.

Christmas Card....Choices, Choices, Choices...

This year, I am finding it difficult to choose a Christmas card. I always choose to use Shutterfly since they make the cutest designs and they are prompt at sending them to us, and they make the whole card process so easy for busy people like Husby and I. For B's birth announcement, we used this . To match B’s birth announcements, we got this Thank You note since I like to handwrite my thank yous.

The first Christmas after Husby & I got married, we used Shutterfly photobooks to make gifts for our Moms to remember the wedding and have a memory to cherish. They both definitely enjoyed the books and this year, my Mom even used Shutterfly to make us a photobook to remember the Baby Shower. I must say, Shutterfly is very computer friendly and customer savy since my mom is not the greatest with manipulating photos for last minute gift ideas.

For Christmas last year we went with these two cards:

This year I am in love with so many of their designs and I am finding it difficult to decide. This is my Top 3 picks:

Shutterfly has definitely outdone themselves once again. I am leaning towards the first card design. I love the classic feel and the slight religious undertone since Christ is the reason for the season. If I go with the first one, I think I need to use a B&W photo to make it feel nostalgic. We are hoping to go do pictures sometime this weekend, so I have time to get them delivered before we leave for vacation. Also, it will give me something to do in the truck while we are driving for the holidays. Since B will be just over a year next Christmas, I think for next year’s Christmas gift, we may use Shutterfly to do photo calendars for the holidays and use B as our model.

Shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free photo cards for previewing their 2010 Christmas card collection, just for mentioning Shutterfly in one of their posts. Check it out here.

Happy Holidays all!

Where are you Christmas?

Although, we have many reasons to celebrate and be in the Christmas spirit, Husby and I are just not in the mood. This has been a wonderful year for us with the blessing of our son, but we have also had a lot of sad/difficult moments as well. I think the recent is also a combination of daily life stress, holiday stress of traveling with B and all the craziness we will be experiencing while on vacation (when we were sortof looking forward to a low-key, quiet family Christmas with our parents). I think we will need a vacation to recover from our "vacation". Since we are leaving before Christmas and not returning to our house until after New Year's, we have decided to not decorate this year. I am really sad, as Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and without the decorations, it just does not feel like Christmas. My birthday is next week and I am honestly feeling like it is just another day (I always heard after 25 birthdays are just birthdays, but I guess I never believed it). I am looking forward to spending time with my boys and it being a quiet evening, nothing dramatic...don't even need a gift, but if a gift is given please let it be something like a charm necklace representing B (like his birthstone or something along those lines).

Our Christmas wishlists are all centered on home improvements and B. I asked for some more Mommy books to read, some toys and books for me to read to B, and professional photos of B. I think Husby has only requested more tools and gift cards to HD and Lowe's for the home projects.

However, I love all the Christmas specially-themed treats. If you know me, you know I cannot pass up Chick-fil-A's Chcolate Peppermint Milkshake. Well today, I saw this...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peppermint Patty Frappe Recipe from Southern Living

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Yield: Makes 3 cups

Ingredients

• 2  cups  vanilla ice cream
• 1  cup  milk
• 9  miniature or 3 (1.4-oz.) chocolate-covered peppermint patties, chopped

Preparation

Process ice cream, milk, and chopped peppermint patties in a blender until smooth.
Grown-up Frappés: Decrease milk to 2/3 cup. Add 1/3 cup crème de cacao.

and to go with the Frappe...

Milk Chocolate-Peppermint Bark again from Southern Living

Total: 6 hours, 25 minutes
Yield: Makes 2 3/4 lb.

Ingredients

• 1  teaspoon  butter
• 3  (11.5-oz.) packages milk chocolate morsels
• 12  cream-and-mint-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, broken into pieces
• 1  cup  small pretzel sticks
• 1 1/4  cups  coarsely chopped soft peppermint candies, divided

Preparation

Line 1 (15- x 10-inch) jelly-roll pan with parchment paper; grease with butter. Microwave milk chocolate morsels in a large bowl at HIGH 1 to 2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring at 45-second intervals. Gently stir in cookie pieces, pretzel sticks, and 3/4 cup coarsely chopped candies. Spread in prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup coarsely chopped candies. Let stand until firm (about 6 hours). Break or cut into pieces. Store in a cool place up to 3 days.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think I need to go get some ingredients and make these to get us in the holiday spirit.

All I want for Christmas...

Mommy and Daddy are super busy nowadays between taking care of me, our home, my puppies, and other odds and ends around here. I figured I would take this opportunity to write Santa my Christmas wish list (that way Momm and Daddy cannot edit it down to all boring stuff). Thanksgiving is next week and I hear it is going to be a feast (but I'm sure I won't be getting anything).

My Christmas List:

• Burpcloths- I love to snuggle my burpcloths! Mommy and Daddy say I "go through them like water"...whatever that means.
• Sophie Teether- I am all for simplicity just like Mommy & Daddy...but Mommy's friends told her I need this when I start teething because it soothes my gums. I am already having issues with my gums and since I do not hold on to anything at any greath lengths, Mommy bought me a Razberry teether pacifier. I like it, except it is too big for my little mouth...however, I am a drooling machine and using all the bibs in my drawer (Santa, you really need to send burpcloths if this drooling is going to continue)
• Plush Turtle Ballpit-This looks like a fun playtime toy...plus I can probably throw these balls for my Lucky dog soon....I know he loves to fetch, maybe he'll play fetch with me...
• Bumbo Play Tray- Mommy & Daddy got me my Bumbo this past weekend and I love it! I love to sit in it and look around while Mommy & Daddy get stuff done, I am asking Santa for the tray so I can play in it and be a bit more secure as I get more wiggly
• Wubbanub-it's a plush animal & pacifier/soothie at the other end
• Baby Einstein videos
• More board books and other children's storybooks for storytime
• For Mommy: The Jenny McCarthy Book Series...don't laugh, but sometimes during the day, Mommy reads while I nap or lay with her...she likes this author's books because she is brutally honest about life as a Mom and everything that comes with Motherhood...Mommy read Belly Laughs when I was in her tummy, so now she wants: Baby Laughs & Life Laughs.
• Laundry basket for me to lay & sit in..just kidding...no baskets needed
• Light bulbs for my 2 special lights...I'm a star afterall...I need the light on me (maybe you could sneak in some colored lights even)-I cannot wait until Mommy & Daddy decorate for Christmas so I can look at all the pretty lights
• Toys, toys and more toys...
• Drum set-Daddy wants me to learn drums so we can have "jam sessions", Mommy rolls her eyes...

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and merry holiday season. We drove up to my Mom's for Christmas with the pups in tow and will be here until Sunday and then home for a few days and leaving on Tuesday for the in-laws for New Year's. It has been a rough year and we are both looking forward to ringing in the new year. I need to do an update on what has been happening in the last few weeks since I have been MIA, but we are about to go to a neighbor's for dessert. Because things have been so hectic, gift giving was quite odd this year. My husby got me a cute dolphin ring which wraps around my finger and then has a row of diamonds....

I will post our update and fill in the last weeks later.

Happy Holidays All!