Breakfast Casserole

I love anything I can make in advance. This is one of those. do the work the night before and put it in the oven in the morning. Perfect for a Saturday/Sunday breakfast. The only thing you have to do is plan a little. :) Enjoy!

8 oz Ciabatta bread cut into 1 inch cubes

1 lb turkey sausage

1/2 c chopped green onion

1 1/4 c milk

1 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese

6 large eggs

2 Tbl chopped fresh parsley

Preheat 400 degrees. Spread bread in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast about 8 min. Cook turkey sausage in pan over med heat until done. About 6 min. Crumble. Combine sausage, bread, and onions in a large bowl. Combine milk, eggs, and cheese in a seperate bowl. Add egg mix to bread mix and toss till coated. Spoon mix in a 2 quart baking dish. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat 350. Uncover casserole and bake for 5o min or until set and lightly brown. Sprinkle with parsley and serve. Should serve around 6.

What's for dinner?

Today I'm attempting corned beef in the crockpot. I've only actually made corned beef once and I used my pressur cooker. It was good, but I'm still not totally comfortable knowing when stuff is done (or overdone in my case) using that method.
My husband loves corned beef hash (the stuff in the can is super yucky, IMO) and reuben sandwiches, so I thought I'd treat him. I got the potatoes out to clean and throw in the pot when that all to familiar smell came from the bag. You know the one......musty.....dirty.....a little wet. UGG. So....no potatoes for the hash. Guess we're making ruebens. lol. Here is what I did.

1 bag of baby carrots
some sliced celery
a hunk o corned beef
the little spice packet that comes with the beef
1 1/2 cups water

I'll update with a pic later.

Faith Deployed Giveaway

One of the many things I'm working on right now is getting a military ministry for wives up and going for our area. So, I've been scouring the Internet in search of great books, ideas, resources, and so on. I came across Faith Deployed. It looks great! So of course, I'm trying to win it! :) You can try too. Click on the link to sign up for this giveaway.
Oh, and if your interested in the military ministry for the Omaha area.....check us out here. One Hope Omaha.

Pirate Cake

Ok, this may not look like a pirate cake, but for some reason I had
a hard time finding gold coins to put in the center. Next best option was
rolos. :) The cake is blood red velvet made in a bundt pan with chocolate
Italian Buttercream frosting.

The recipe is the same from the Princess Cake except with no strawberries and we added

1/2 cup melted cooled semi sweet chocolate, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 Tbl cooled coffee.

Princess Cake

Claire's birthday is in August and Caleb's birthday is in October.
S0, for now, while they are young, we celebrate their birthdays together.
This year our theme was a Princess' and a Pirate's Party. Here is Claire's princess cake.
It's a vanilla cake made in a bundt pan. The frosting is an Italian Buttercream frosting. The recipe comes from Warren Brown of Cakelove. We modified the technique but not the ingredients.

Italian Buttercream

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

5 egg whites

4 sticks butter, cut into Tbl at room temp

-In a metal bowl over med heat. Beat egg whites with sugar. With a clean hand, we stir (with our hand) until the sugar has dissolved. (I know it sounds odd....but it works) Make sure not to let the whites scramble. With a mixer, whip the whites with a wire whisk on high. Mix until stiff peaks. Continue beating until the bowl reaches room temperature. It will be thick and glossy. Beat in the butter a Tbl at a time. The butter will deflate the frosting. Now is the fun part. Mix in your flavorings! For the princess cake, we pulsed strawberrries in the blender. If the frosting seperates, keep beating it. It will come back together.

This recipe is delicious, however, the next time I make this....I will experiment with less butter.

so I'm a wife......a mom....semi student....driver....cook...

I think most of you that read or follow my blog are just like me.....mom extraordinaire! With that title come overwhelming responsibility.....and that's where I've been the last two weeks. If I can just be transparent with you guys, I have been so overwhelmed with household work, taking my kiddos to school, dance, going to a class myself, and just trying to stretch myself in all the areas that desire me or need me. whew. So, I'm workin or getting caught up and getting a handle on how life is for us right now. I've committed to myself to take time everyday to spend time in my Bible and prayer and that alone has brought more peace in my heart. With that said, this is the prayer I'm offering up today:

Lord, I ask that my extended family members will know and experience Your wisdom each day. May they find that wisdom is more precious than rubies, and godly understanding better than gold. Nothing they desire on earth can compare with knowing You and following Your ways. Some of them are far from You, Lord. I pray they would learn the ways of Your wisdom, the pleasantness of Your paths, and the peace that You bring.

(from Power Prayers for Women by Jackie M Johnson)