Sausage Stars

Sausage Stars... YUM!!

I wish I could take credit for this delicious recipe, but I can't... there are so many renditions of this recipe floating around online. Today, I'm sharing my version of it. These little snacks are so stinkin' good! If you need a good snack to whip up during football season, for your next holiday party, or even for your next pot luck... give these a try! Here's how I make mine:

Ingredients
16 oz. sour cream
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix
1 lb. ground sausage
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 12 oz. package wonton wrappers*

This recipe makes about 36 Sausage Stars.

To start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Next, cook up your sausage in a skillet. While your sausage is cooking, mix in your garlic salt and crushed red pepper. You can add more crushed red pepper, or even use a hot version of the sausage if you want your Sausage Stars to have a little kick. It your sausage is greasy, drain the grease once it's cooked through. My sausage wasn't too greasy, so I didn't have to drain it.

Place your wontons in a cupcake pan, and bake empty for about 5 minutes.** While your wonton shells are baking, mix your ranch mix and sour cream together in a medium size mixing bowl. Then dump in your shredded cheddar and your cooked sausage.

Take your wontons out of the oven and fill them with 1 large tablespoon of your sausage/ranch/cheese mixture. Place your snacks back in the oven for about 7 minutes, or until filling is warm and wonton corners are browned.

These snacks are SO GOOD! We love to  have snacks and appetizers for my family get togethers, and this recipe is always a big hit. I've even been known to have them for dinner with a side salad when I get a craving! Some of the other recipes I've found call for peppers, olives, etc. in the sausage stars. I like them without the veggies, but you could add any chopped veggie to the mix and give the recipe your own twist.

*I had about 12 wontons left once I made my sausage stars. I just put mine in the fridge to use for another recipe later, but if you want to use all of your wontons, you could fill your stars less full and use all of your shells that way.

**I have made the recipe before without cooking the wonton shells first, but the bottom will be soft. If you do that, cook them about 10+ minutes total in the oven. I like to cook the wonton wrappers by themselves first to allow the bottom to get a little crispy.

Pregnancy Month 6+

Wow... can you believe how close we are to meeting our baby boy? Less than 10 weeks and he will be here. We are so excited.

This past month has been a busy one! At our last appointment (around 27 weeks), baby boy was measuring around 2 lb. 3 oz., and growing right on track. He is an active little guy, and I love feeling all of his kicks and wiggles.

This past month I took my glucose test, which was not too bad, but unfortunately I failed.... so then I had to take the 3 hour test as well. The 3 hour test required that I fast for about 12 hours prior to my 8am appointment. By the time my appt was over at about 11:20am, I had fasted for 15 hours and I was so hungry! Thankfully, I was able to meet Lee for lunch right after the appointment, and we got great news that I PASSED! Praise the Lord!

In addition to the glucose test, this past month we finally made some progress in baby boy's bedroom... we (mostly Lee) got the room painted, his furniture purchased, and his car seat/stroller purchased as well. We are still working on getting his bedroom furniture put together, but we've gotten to dresser and glider done, and next will be his crib.

Overall, I'm still feeling pretty good as far as pregnancy symptoms go. Lots of feet/hand swelling, which I expected would happen being pregnant through the summer. This past week or 2 I am just now starting to notice my big belly, and am getting uncomfortable. Sleeping on my side all the time is causing me some back pain, and bending over has become a task I try to avoid, but those are all symptoms I've expected would eventually come. I keep telling myself that if this is the peak of my symptoms, I'm a lucky lady!

During the last month we took our babymoon, a weekend getaway to Nashville. We also celebrated our 5 year anniversary on this trip, making it extra special. We stayed at the Opryland Resort. If you've never been there, I recommend checking it out! It is a beautiful place. We walked around and saw the resort, laid by the pool, ate way too much good food, did some shopping, and we also caught a Matchbox 20 Concert, which was my birthday gift to Lee.

As I'm finishing this blog post, I am now 31 weeks pregnant, and this pregnancy is more than 3/4 over! These past 7 months have flown by. I'm starting to have a mix of emotions: excited to meet our baby and wanting that time to be here, thankful to have this big baby bump and not wanting to wish way this pregnancy, and feeling a little nervous about going into labor, which will be here in no time.

Other than some swollen hands and feet, a mix of emotions, and a growing baby, we don't have much else to report for this month, which is great!! That being said, here are some updates of our baby bump. It's been OVER a month since my last bumpdate, so there's some extra pictures this time... next month's bumpdate will have a few less. :)

Normally this blog post would stop at 28 weeks, but since I'm late posting, here are weeks 29 & 30 as well! 

Friday Favorites 7/21/17

Happy Friday, friends! Today I am linking up with Erika, Andrea, and Narci to share my favorite things from the week.

My first FAV from the week is a pic from last weekend: Baby's first boating trip to KY Lake. Lee grew up boating, and has spent the last 5 years or so teaching me how it all works. Now I love it too, and I can't wait for our little boy to grow up boating, and maybe learning water sports if he's interested. We took a trip to the lake last weekend with some friends, and it was a great time. It was so nice to relax and disconnect for a few short days. I know our weekend trips with friends will be much different once baby boy gets here, so we're soaking this all in. We've gone boating several times this summer on the Ohio River, but this was our first all weekend boat trip for the summer. I'm looking forward to returning to the lake in a couple weeks with Lee's side of our family.

Baby's first boating trip

My second FAVORITE from the week is this dish: Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes. YUM! This side dish was so good, and maybe somewhat healthy. Lee and I both decided it would go in the "make again" list of recipes.

Bacon, veggies, garlic, cheese.. what more do you need?!

My next FAVORITE for the week is another food item. This one is not healthy by any means, but I like it anyways! Coffee mug muffins... so easy and something yummy I can snack on at work. They come in packets about the size of a hot chocolate packet. There's 4 packets per box, and you just dump one packet into your mug, add water (or milk), and microwave for a little over 1 min., and then you have a warm muffin! So far I've only tried chocolate chip, but I like it. I'm going to try blueberry next. According to the website above, they have all kinds of other flavors, too! I'm going to have to watch for those.

My last FAVORITE for this week is another boating pic from last weekend... this time, with Flat Jesus in the pic. Our church gives out these flat Jesus cards and you can color him if you want, and then take him with you on vacation. That way, if you can't make it to church on Sunday, you take a pic with Flat Jesus and use our church's hashtag on social media. Then the next week, before church service, everyone can see a slide show of all the fun places Flat Jesus has been this summer. I love this idea, and have enjoyed looking at every one's pics from this summer.

Flat Jesus went to KY Lake! Also notice our Cardinals hats... love it!! 

This weekend we are planning to mark some things off our to-do list around the house, finalize a few baby registry items, order our nursery furniture, and I have a prenatal massage scheduled. I got a gift certificate for my birthday, and I am so excited to finally use it! This will be my first massage since getting pregnant. I have a feeling this will be the highlight of my weekend. Happy Friday, friends!! 

Pregnancy Month 5

Month 5... how is that even possible?! Has it really been 6 months since Lee and I were praying that our upcoming embryo transfer be a success? Time is FLYING by. I am now 24 weeks pregnant and am feeling lots of kicks and movement from baby boy. Lee is starting to be able to feel him more too, which is so exciting!

In addition to baby moving, this past month has brought plenty of feet and ankle swelling, and a new found appetite for vegetables. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a sweets, bacon, cheese, and junk food loving girl. I have been trying to eat a more balanced diet since being pregnant, but at the beginning, the only new thing I had tried and loved had been asparagus. This past month I've also found that I love Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and zucchini! I'm hoping to keep eating more fruits and veggies and less sweets once baby boy gets here... we'll see how that goes! I'm also noticing baby boy's growth is making bending over a little more difficult, but not unmanageable yet. I've also noticed that my sleep pattern has changed. I still get tired here and there in the afternoons, but pre-pregnancy I was pretty much always sleeping about 9 hours a night. Now I am sleeping more like 7-8 hours a night, and I feel like I'm functioning just as well. I realize that 's only 1-2 hours difference, but for me, that's progress. I feel like my body is already starting to adjust to less sleep, which I suppose is good prep for when baby gets here.

At our last doctor appointment, our doctor said my blood pressure is still good, baby boy's heart beat is strong, and our impromptu ultrasound showed he is growing right on track. I had a little spotting prior to my last appt and even though we didn't have one scheduled, my doctor suggested an ultrasound just to double check that all is well. I appreciate that my doctor is so cautious and caring with our pregnancy. I feel like she really 'gets it' that it took us a long time to get to this point, and we are so excited, but also a little nervous. She really does everything she can to make sure we are comfortable with all that is happening with our pregnancy. 

At my next doctor's appointment, I will do the dreaded test for gestational diabetes, but the upside to that is we have an ultrasound scheduled and should get a good view of baby's face if he cooperates! We got to see his face a little with the last scan, but our doctor said this next time should be a great time to see him, given his size around that time. We are really looking forward to that. I am praying over these next few weeks that the testing go well and that I will not have gestational diabetes during my pregnancy. 

Our little guy still does not have a name, but we have began choosing a nursery theme and picking stuff out for his room. We are going with an adventure/outdoorsy theme, and I think it is going to be so cute! Here is a pic of the fabric for part of his bedding.

Other than that, we don't have much news to report, so I'll leave you with some bump pics. :) 

21 weeks and getting ready to celebrate my cousin's bridal shower!

22 weeks during 4th of July! My shirt says "Baby You're a Firework!" 

23 weeks and barely able to squeeze into a few of my non-maternity shirts like this one! 

24 weeks and going strong!

This is not the best pic of my face, but you can definitely see how by Baby F is in this front view pic! 

Baked Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes

I never imagined I'd try Brussels sprouts OR sweet potatoes and like them! Pregnancy is doing all kinds of crazy things to my taste buds. I went to my friend Jenna's for dinner one night a few weeks ago and she served sweet potatoes, but not the kind you see at thanksgiving covered in marshmallows. Hers were prepared sliced, salted, and baked. I really liked them! Then I came across some Brussels sprouts at Aldi and decided to give them a try. So when I asked for recommendations on Facebook on how to prepare my sprouts, someone suggested pairing them with sweet potatoes, and a few people suggested olive oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and bacon... so that's how this recipe came to be!

Ingredients:
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cubed
8 oz brussels sprouts, cut in half
2 slices raw bacon
Olive oil
garlic salt
sea salt
pepper
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

To start, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line your baking sheet with foil for easy clean up (optional). Spray your foil with cooking spray. Spread out your Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes across your pan. drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle your salt, pepper, and garlic salt on your veggies. I don't have measurements for these seasonings bc I used a grinder for all of them. Cut your raw bacon into small pieces and spread out over your veggies. Bake for 40 minutes (or until crispy), turning halfway through.The last 5 minutes, sprinkle on your Parmesan. This side dish was so easy and so tasty! I've made it twice in the past 2 weeks!

YUM!

I usually get my garlic sea salt grinder at Aldi, but recently mine ran out and I couldn't find a new one there. I found this one at my local supermarket. I use this grinder on almost everything!