Food & Family

Christmas Break started off early with a few snow days! I tried my hand at a few new dinners on those days. On Thursday, I made Taco Pie. The pie crust was taco meat mixed with crushed tortilla chips. The filling was spanish rice, corn, salsa, beans, and taco sauce. I didn't take a picture - and it's probably a good thing because it didn't look that spectacular. Brown and tan food doesn't photograph that well... BUT it did taste good!

Friday night I cooked up Chicken Caprese with Bacon.

Of course we had to add bacon because Zach loves anything with bacon.

I actually took pictures of this one as I went.

First, I thawed out 3 chicken breasts and put them on a piece of foil in a 9x13 pan. Then I brushed them with oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

Next, the recipe said to top with a slice of fresh tomato and a fresh basil leaf... well, I didn't have either of those so I had to improvise. I topped them with canned diced tomatoes (that I drained first) and then sprinkled about 3/4 tsp. dried basil on top. (*Tip: if you rub the dried spices between your hands before adding it to the dish, it brings out the flavor more!)

Then came the bacon. The recipe had me cook it in the oven for a few minutes so it was partially cooked but still flexible before criss-crossing it over the chicken.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until no longer pink. Top with a slice of mozzarella cheese and put back in the over for about 1 minute (until cheese melts).

I served these with a salad on the side. Delicious!

We celebrated Cook Christmas on Saturday the 22nd in Frankenmuth at Zehnder's. There was a little room reserved for us and they served us a delicious, family-style dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat very much of it because my stomach wasn't feeling very well. I think I ate something bad a lunch the day before and had an upset stomach for the rest of the day. It got worse when I was trying to sleep and woke up every hour until I threw up around 1AM. Ick. I hate throwing up. But I felt better. When I got up in the morning, there was a purplish-blotchy rash all over my chin and up around my mouth. It looked like a bad 5 o'clock shadow... I did my best to cover it with makeup but it didn't really help. I called a nurse friend and asked about it. Since I hadn't started any new lotions, shampoos, or medicines, she thought it could be broken blood vessels from the vomiting. That's what it probably was since there were broken blood vessels in my eyes too. If those are the after effects of one vomiting episode - I'm not thrilled about what might happen when I have to push out a baby in April... Anyways, it was great to see everyone and catch up with them. Aunt Linda & Uncle Wayne got us a cute box of baby socks, a baby outfit, and this adorable little lamb stuffed animal.

Here's a week 25 belly shot. I've been told that it looks bigger in person that in the photos - so it's getting bigger than it looks! :)

25 weeks

The day before Christmas we got a package from Candace with this adorable pink John Deere onesie and socks. This baby girl is loved. :)

Christmas Eve was spent with my parents and family. Here's a picture of Simba hanging out under their tree.

Christmas Cat

Christmas Day (morning) we spend with Zach's family. I got a few things I was really excited about! One was an iPad from Zach! It's great and I've been trying to find time to play on it and use it often. The second was the Pioneer Woman Cookbook!

I first started following her blog a year ago or so. I liked that she put pictures of each step of her recipes on the blog and she also included step by step pictures in the cookbook too. There is a breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, beverages, and canning section.

Later on Christmas Day, we drove to Farmington Hills for Thorne Christmas. We headed back home that night because Zach had to work the next day. My parents stayed a few days and it was a good thing they did because my grandpa ended up going into the hospital. He coughed really bad all night, nobody slept, and my dad helped my grandma take him to the hospital in the morning. They admitted him and put him on a lot of antibiotics and did a few breathing treatments and he started to get better. Doctors think it was bad bronchitis. All his symptoms were almost identical to what happened to him the day after Katie's wedding in June. He spent a few days in the hospital before they discharged him on Sunday afternoon.

Zach and I went to Livonia on Saturday the 29 for O'Neill Christmas. My grandparents live about 10 miles from there so we went and spent the night with Grandma then went and visited Papa on Sunday.

We celebrated Tyler's birthday by eating dinner at Pizza Hut then going back to Zach's parents for dessert and presents. Instead of giving him a gift card or big bills in cash, we took 27 one-dollar bills and taped them together then rolled them up and put them in a box. So when he opened it he kept pulling out more money. It was hilarious! And much more fun than a gift card!

Happy 27th Birthday!

We spent New Year's Eve at the Morse's house with a bunch of family and friends. Katie & Kyle came up from Illinois again and Rachel & Jared were even there too! (The only one we were missing was Amy, who went to a college conference called "Urbana" for a week.) We had people sacked out all over our house so I got up and made a big breakfast New Years Day before we went out to my parents' house to watch bowl games and play some backyard football. Pregnancy has limited the contact sports for me for awhile so I stayed inside. It was either that or stand outside and freeze playing referee...

Well, that's all for now. Next post I'll add the mini pineapple upside down cakes I made as well as some nursery ideas I've got rolling around.

Love,

Sarah