Bacon-wrapped Green Bean Bundles

Everything is better with bacon, right? I was happy to run across the Williams Sonoma recipe for Bacon-wrapped Green Bean Bundles, just in time for thanksgiving!
 

 

Wrapped with a strip of bacon, these green bean bundles add an elegant touch to the Thanksgiving table. To get a head start, you can trim and blanch the beans a day in advance, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 8 thick bacon slices
• 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp. roasted garlic powder
• 1 1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed and blanched
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

In a large nonstick fry pan over medium heat, cook the bacon in batches until the slices are just beginning to brown along the edges but are still very underdone and pliable, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and let cool, then cut each slice in half crosswise.

In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, salt and garlic powder.

Divide the green beans into 16 equal portions, about 6 beans each. Gather each portion into a neat bunch and wrap a half slice of bacon around the center to hold the beans together. Place the bundles on the prepared baking sheet with the loose ends of the bacon underneath. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the bundles and drizzle with the butter mixture.

Roast until the bacon is cooked through and browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the green bean bundles to a warmed platter and serve immediately. Serves 8 to 10.

Miss L was able to enjoy a full turkey dinner this year with us!
Last Thanksgiving, we had to stuff a blanket behind her to fit in the highchair.

Final product...delicious! And good for any dinner - not just a holiday!

Her headband or head looks funny b/c of the shadows...anyhow - Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving Day begins with a light breakfast while watching the Parade...followed by various appetizers in the afternoon during football, followed by our traditional feast in the eve.

Below is our cheese tray - Jeremy's fave: Blue, I'm a gorgonzola + honey + pear on a cracker type
J also enjoys the Asiago- he shreds, I like Gouda, we had some sharp cheddar for little girl, summer sausage and some proscuitto-wrapped mozzorella - mmmmm.



Time to Getaway!

It seems that the holiday hangover is in full-effect in our household. The hangover + the sub-zero temperatures last week, has driven us both to want to scratch the itch to go somewhere.

I thought maybe I should blog about our most recent trip to Orlando, back in November (which seems soo long ago!) prior to booking our next trip away.

We exchanged our timeshare for a week in Orlando in mid-November. We were less than a mile from SeaWorld and just a short distance from the fun on International Drive and Disney World.

We spent one entire day touring Kennedy Space Center. Although this is Jeremy's "thing" being the space-math-science type, it was really fun for me as well! Miss L did great as we spent about 6 hours on-site {without a nap!}.

Another day was spent at SeaWorld, which was our favorite. Although, Miss L was only 15 months old, she loved it! And we loved seeing everything through her eyes. One unique use of technology that really wow'd this modern family as during the pre-show, the big screen had these animated characters bouncing up and down saying "Hi, Josh or Hi, Samantha" and the screen said to text your child's name to SeaWorld to be highlighted on the screen. So we did...and thus you can see in the pic below that "Patti" said "Hi, Alexis!" THEN, I received a text from Patti saying email me a photo of you at SeaWorld...and so I sent a photo snapped just an hour ago to Patti and at the end of the show...Miss L's photo was on the big screen. How neat!!  

One of the last activities we did nearly as the Park was closing was enter a life-size faux snow globe for a magical holiday moment. All three of us were in the giant snow globe for some over-priced, photography momentos...but J did get out and let us girls play. He said, he's heard a lot of "oohs and awes" in the last 15 months of Miss L...but he had never heard or seen so many people stop in their tracks and look at us and comment. It was truly a magical moment that I will never forget.

 

We also visited Dowtown Disney...


Dancing with the other kids...surprised?

One of the best parts of our trip included a couple dinners with my long-time bestie Kel and her 4 boys {1 big, 1 three-year old, 2 one-year old twins}. They also graciously hosted us overnight on our last night, where the four of us enjoyed cocktails by the fire outside and our big boys enjoyed looking through Brian's massive telescope into space. Thanks G Family for the fun!

We also had dinner with a long-time friend from my time with the Tigers. She and her husband are foster parents to Miss B and the girls {just a couple months apart} had fun at dinner together!

Entertraining everyone at the Pool - this is what we do!
Her "Leo" personality shines at a young age.

Sign of a good vacay...actually slept on the flight home.

Where to next? Anywhere but the North Pole. Perhaps Cali again as it offers the Ocean, Palm Trees AND In-n-Out {which ironically has palm trees as the logo}! Hmmm...

Happy 17-month {birth} day!

Last year at this time, Miss L was starting to get up on all fours and nearly crawling and now today, we are celebrating 17 wonderful months with Miss L.

Below are some photos of today. I am not sure if there is an evening that goes by without us dancing or playing music. She is running around, playing with her best friend, Mr. Cole, and crawling on top of everything. She loves reading books, playing with dolls, and watching Family Guy with her daddy (yep, best parents of the year award!)

We officially have to spell out words in front of her. Miss L said her first two-word "sentence" or shall we say phrase...just this week. "More Cookie," she said, clear as day! Yep, she loves cookies. This habbit began around the holidays, specifically around the Christmas C-word Exchange!

She's a great sleeper, hitting the crib around 8:30-9pm nightly and waking up somewhere in the 8 o'clock hour in the morning. Most days, she takes two naps...it just depends on her wake-up time. All-in-all...she is one happy lil' doll.

This was on our way to daycare. She loves her daycare and so do we!
We also just installed the convertible car seat this week and I am loving it!
I think baby is happy about the added room also!

Climbing into our "Cozy Coupe," which was under the tree from her daddy!

 

Oh yes...our "heat wave!" I never thought I would say 32 is warm.
In fact, I didn't wear a coat to work yesterday b/c of the temperature. But look ahead...low of -3 on Monday.
All good things must come to an end.



Miss L is getting sooo tall! This is her dancing.
Which remiinds me, we need to weigh and measure her here at home.

We love our car!
 

New Beginnings

Happy New Year! I love this time of year (minus the Holiday Hangover & negative temperatures). I am such a sucker for the emotional excitement surrounding the start of the new year. I love the fresh new slate, new goals and a new outlook. No wonder I don't mind moving so often! :)

I rarely make resolutions, but rather craft smart and stretch goals. Jeremy and I sat down recently to pay bills, create our 2013 budget and outline our goals. Between paying down debt (student loan should be done this year...yay!)...to setting aside a % of bonus money to Miss L's savings and depositing $ amount to our travel fund...we find it really helpful to set these and continuously review. Plus, it feels really good to meet or exceed these goals annually.

I would be remiss if I didn't admit to striving to enhance my life by hitting the gym a bit more frequently, reaching for the salt shaker a lot less, drink more water, sleep more, stay in contact with friends and family more often and blog more!

After accidentally leaving my sisters (et al) hanging with the daily blogposts outlining Thanksgiving blessings that stopped...WAAAYY back in November...I decided I need to blog more. It is such a nice way for long-distance friends & family to keep posted on our comings & goings. Not too mention, I have successfully filled in details of Miss L's baby book thanks to our blog. (Bonus!)

Work has been crazy busy (in a good way!) the past few months, which makes it difficult to stay on top of working out, dinner, cleaning house and blogging.

It has been a busy past 45 days...

• I think my last post was as we dashed away to Orlando,FL for some R&R (blog soon, I promise!)
• We enjoyed our intimate Thanksgiving dinner...check out an upcoming post about my newest side dish this year...bacon-wrapped green bean bundles - delicious!
• Jeremy celebrated another wonderful birthday. We booked a sitter and enjoyed dinner at our fave: Kona Grill
• My big Mistletoe & Martini Holiday Boutique shopping night at work went off magically in late November
• December brought a lot of fun and great family memories

  - My lovely sisters came out for an entire week to basically be our nannies and cleaning ladies in return for lots of kisses and cuddles with Miss L
  
  - Together with my sisters, I hosted my 2nd Annual neighborhood Christmas Cookie Exchange

  
  - Visited Michigan to enjoy family time for Christmas
  
  - An unforgettable NYE Celebration for both Miss L & us

 

Happy New Year!

 

Blessing #9...My Grandparents

I feel so fortunate to have grown up directly next to two equally amazing people, my grandparents. Although I am close and appreciate all of my grandparents, there is a certain rapport one builds when they grow up 1/4 mile from their paternal grandparents.

My grandparents were there for me at nearly all of my sporting events growing up, fed me, sewed many pieces of my wardrobe, taught me about farming, about hard work, love, religion and family!

Grandma's house is the Clubhouse and all of the family are members. After an addition put on by my in-laws, the Clubhouse is now large enough to host all most of the family at once! Daily, there is always visitors dropping by to "hang out" and of course Grandma feeds them a meat and potato meal with some banana nut bread on the side and Grandpa invites them to try his homemade Strawberry Wine. This happens naturally as their five grown children live within a 5-mile radius of the Clubhouse. But also b/c they are the type to never turn anyone away, always have their door open and are hospitable. 

Grandpa is practically the mayor of our small town, after driving bus for decades and transporting generation after generation to/from school, sporting events and Cedar Point and Band Camps. Grandma is recently retired, yet still works nearly every day at one neighbor's greenhouse or farm; meanwhile, is a great grandma to a growing family.

After being "away" from home for six years now, I can attest that I miss these two people dearly.
Yesterday they celebrated 55 years of marriage...what a milestone!! I am so proud to call them Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy 15-month Birthday Lil' Girl

Today marks the 15-month milestone...we are just toddler-ing along, month-after-month.

And for my personal records so that I may update Miss L's baby book in the {hopefully} near future, I write the latest updates.

Miss L your smile is contagious and your giggles make me smile!
Current stats {unknown, dr appointment in about 10 days}
You definitely have been "filling out!" Milk does your body good

6 shiny white teeth, working on more
Enjoys grilled cheese, yogurt, granola bars, & milk
Chases after Mr. Cole, Carlos the monkey, & hugs her dolls
Loves to give kisses and high fives
Knows ears, toes, belly & more
Getting uber-cuddly as of late
Sleeping & eating well
Happy as always!

 

With that said, today I am thankful that I am a parent...but not a single parent. J doesn't travel routinely for work, but when he does {this week} it is a constant reminder of how difficult the job of a single parent is. I have a friend that holds the fort down while her husband travels week in and week out. I have a lot of respect for her. Thankful to be blessed with a great partner and most importantly, the ability to be a mommy!



Blessings #6 & #7...family!

Subject Line: Operation Minneapolis for Christmas

That is the subject line between an email exchange of my sisters and I. They are finding the best possible way to find their way 700 miles away to my home to play with their niece and visit us. They have sourced pricing on airlines, trains, buses, driving their own car, etc. A lot of work has been put forth trying to make this happen, and I am sooo thankful! I cannot wait to see them, hug them and spend quality time with them {we definitely do not get enough time together!}.

For the last decade, my brother and I have grown extremely close. In fact, I would call him my best friend, aside from J. And the cherry on top: J and my brother are also best friends, often texting about fantasy football, Detroit Tigers updates, and so on!

We felt really lucky when J's mom made her way out here in September to enable us to get away together {for work...and a little pleasure!}, a much needed and appreciated getaway!

Then, there is my mom who constantly hand-crafts items for Miss L: from "scarfs and shawls to a Halloween outfit" - it is always nice to get a package of made-with-love items.

And then there's my aunt, uncle and younger cousin that flew out to visit us this summer for their vacation!!! Yes, they vacationed in Minnesota. Although beautiful in the summer, I can think of other places to vacation in this beautiful world. They were so determined to see us, visit with Miss L, they spent their hard-earned money and precious vacation time to be with us. Quite a touching thought! And we had a blast!

I'm pretty lucky to have so many grandparents living still, and to have so many caring individuals in my life that I call family! More than just two days worth of blessings, certainly appreciated daily!

My siblings -JJ, JJ's gf Lauren, Lynnae & Jener - I heart them!

 

 

Blessing...#5

The ability to vote. I'm not super political, but I do exercise my opportunity to participate in democracy.

Right now, I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook...as I hate reading the hundreds of posts pushing their political viewpoint.

My take is that I love everyone the same, regardless of their political beliefs...so stop preaching to me. And if you don't vote, you cannot complain about our elected officials.

So...off I go to vote first thing in the morning...complete with my sample ballot!

I hope you will do the same!

Blessing...Day 4

Tonight, as I lay my Miss L down to sleep in the beautiful crib and on special bedding that I spent hours trying to find, I am reminded of how special this is. Not everyone has the ability to physically hold their baby, rock them to sleep, bath them or even lay them into their crib. I was thinking of this yesterday at about 5:30am, when she was coughing so much during a period of restless sleep. I went in her room, picked her up from her crib and held her upright for a while as I rocked her in her rocking chair. It was such a bittersweet moment, I wanted her to be free of coughing and back to sleep for both of us...but I loved her cuddles.

For one reason or another, many people are short one of their 5 senses. I feel so fortunate to just have the ability to hold her tiny body, smell her baby-scented hair, see her beautiful smile, touch her baby soft skin and taste her sweet {mostly sloppy} open-mouthed kisses! Our health and hers...I am very thankful for both.

Having fun picking out pumpkins!

Riding the wagon with pumpkins, mums, clay pots and more!



"Mommy says I'm Boo-tiful"

Blessings Day 2 and 3

Okay, November 2nd came and went...so now we're onto November 3rd and me writing 2 blessings at time...but that's okay, as that is life!

Today, I am thankful for my dear husband and that God blessed us with a little doll. I even said this outloud today as we were browsing a shop in the Cities called, Oh Baby! It is filled to the brim with adorable and over-priced baby everything from bedding to bows. When looking at some of the frilly, sparkly, adorable merchandise for my doll, it makes my eyes sparkle and my face light up. And I look to J and say, "I'm so glad God blessed us with a girl." It is not for everyone and by all means, I hope the next (future) baby is a boy...but I am loving our world with Miss L.

Nearly every day I am reminded how sweet and thoughtful my husband is, not only to me but to our daughter. He is my best friend, true love, partner in crime, motivator, and biggest cheerleader.

Here are a couple of photos from our adventures today, particularly the car seat aisle of Target (not one, but 2...and we didn't come home with a car seat)...

Having fun, playing in the boxes!

Where is Miss L?

Blessing #1

With a lot of posts of Facebook illustrating a daily thankful post during the month of November, I decided to do a less subtle method here on my blog.

On this 1st day of November, I am thankful to have a job or jobs that I absolutely love. I am blessed to have found a paid job that I love and enjoy (for the first time in about 6 years!), and am VERY thankful for the best job in the world...being a mommy! Or as Miss L says, "mmmommmmma!" Lots of mmms.

Both jobs are challenging in their own right, and yet both jobs feel so natural and enjoyable to me.

Making a "kitty" pumpkin - Oct. 30th

Happy Halloween! October 31st

I must love this job, if they got
me to dress up as a Chicken!
Halloween Party for 550 people at the Club
October 26th