Pan-seared Brussels Sprouts & Weekend Shenanigans

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. As for me, my weekend was pretty busy and kinda hectic. Our toddler was sick with what I had a few weeks ago but her symptoms were worse than mine. We had to take her to the doctor and they placed her on an antibiotic which kinda broke my heart. This is the first time she has EVER been sick. She is almost four years old and has never had to go to the pediatrician because she was sick. She has had a stuffy nose one or two times but this time our baby was truly sick. She woke up one morning and said, “I don’t feel good mommy” and my heart literally ached. I tried everything I could to not pass my cold onto her but with the hubby working, it seemed unavoidable. So we spent the weekend cuddling, watching Frozen and Rio, and snuggling. Since taking the antibiotic she feels so much better. The congestion is much better and she told us she is feeling better. Don’t you just hate it when your babies are ill? They look so helpless and miserable and it really breaks my heart. I am really glad she is feeling better and playing around the house like her old normal self. 

Besides taking care of my babies, I managed to prep for a few photography sessions I have this week. I am so excited and I can’t wait to share a few images with you guys on here. I am still learning and growing as a photographer but the more I practice, the better and sharper my images will be. I have a newborn session and I think that is the one I am the most excited about because newborn photography is the area I am most interested.

After prepping for my sessions, I started our Sunday dinner. On the menu we had: brussels sprouts, three cheese macaroni, and fried chicken. I think this menu is as southern as it gets. I have vowed to watch our fried food intake but Sundays are usually a cheat day where we eat what we want so let the wing frying begin! 

I pulled out my bag of brussels sprouts I purchased for $1.99 at Aldi, cut up some bacon, and tossed it all in the skillet. The smell of bacon makes my mouth water. I added some salt, pinch of sugar, garlic powder, and a few splashes on water once the brussels sprouts were half way done. I place a lid on the skillet to let them steam a bit and turned off the heat and added a tablespoon of shredded parmesan cheese. They still had a little crunch to them and they had so much flavor. I placed them on a plate along side my three cheese macaroni and fried wings and dinner was served. The hubby loves southern meals like these so he was all smiles! :

Pan-seared Brussels Sprouts 

Items needed
1 bag of fresh brussels sprouts already washed 
1 strip of bacon or 1 slice of prosciutto chopped into pieces (you can cook bacon beforehand and add after brussels sprouts are done or you can cook with brussels sprouts) 
Salt to taste
Garlic powder
Pinch of sugar
Tablespoon of shredded parmesan cheese


Directions

Trim ends off of brussels sprouts. Cut in half lengthwise through the stem end. Cut up bacon or prosciutto and toss in pan to start cooking on medium high heat. Once bacon starts sizzling and cooking add brussels sprouts, salt, garlic powder, and sugar to pan. Turn down heat and cook on medium heat. Stirring occasionally to ensure all sides of brussels sprouts are cooked and bacon doesn't burn. After about 3 to 4 minutes once bacon fat has rendered and both sides of brussels sprouts are browned (light to medium in color) add 1/4 cup of water and place lid on (ajar) to steam for another 4 minutes or until tender yet still crunchy. Water should pretty much have evaporated at this point. Remove lid and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Enjoy!

Tangy and Zesty Chicken Pasta Salad

Last week I was hankering for something zesty and tangy. Weird huh? I am not pregnant :-). I just wanted to put that bit of information out there. Anyways, so since I had this craving I decided to make a simple pasta salad recipe my sister shared with me. This literally is one of the easiest yet tastiest recipes and what makes it even better is it doesn’t take much time to prepare at all. If you are like me, you don’t have a ton of time everyday so quick dishes like this will be right up your ally. 

Be prepared for your tastebuds to be tantalized. 

Alls you need is: 

Tri-color Rotini pasta

Zesty Italian Dressing 

Cooked chicken breast chopped to your liking

Feta cheese crumbles 

Mini sweet peppers chopped finely 

Directions:

Bring water to a boil and toss in rotini and cook until al dente.

Cook chicken breast until done. 

While chicken is cooking, you can chop up your washed sweet peppers, removing the membranes, and set aside. 

Once chicken is finished cooking, allow to cool, and then chop into small pieces. Once noodles are done, drain and toss in a bowl. You can let the noodles cool if you want. I like to let my noodles cool a bit so I usually start cooking my noodles before I start the chicken. 

Once noodles are cooled a bit, toss in chicken, peppers, and add your zesty Italian dressing. 

Top with crumbled feta cheese. 

Enjoy!

Oh and here is the letter C my sweet baby worked on :-)

Spring Tablescape

Anyone ready for spring time? My two favorite seasons of the year are Autumn and Spring. I love Spring and get excited every year when it rolls around. There is just something about seeing the barren trees and bushes no longer barren but full of beautiful bright green leaves and colorful flowers. I know for some with allergies Spring time is a nemesis. My brother has allergies and fresh cut grass and pollen makes him sneeze uncontrollably at times. My heart aches for him at times because his eyes are so red and his throat itches. So I know not everyone loves Spring but I absolutely love this time of year. To prepare for the season change I am finishing another round of deep cleaning. I plan to pull the stove out and clean behind it and clean under all of the beds. I also have been organizing and planning outings to take our daughter on during the day. Our town has some pretty good events, theatre shows, and more for toddlers to enjoy, so I plan on doing more outings since the weather will be nice and pretty. 

I also decided to work on a Spring/Easter themed tablescape. The challenge was to not spend over twenty bucks and I am happy to say I succeeded! Yay! So, I want to share my simple and savvy tablescape with you and how I stayed on budget by getting most of my items from the Dollar Tree! Yes, the Dollar Tree! Don’t you just love the Dollar Tree! They had these pretty dinner plates with matching mugs and when I saw them I instantly thought of Spring. The fact that they were only one dollar made this find even sweeter. I also grabbed some yellow placemats to compliment the yellow in the plates.

I found some cute white dishes with bunnies on the front of them at the local thrift store. I LOVE the thrift store and purchase a variety of items from them quite often. My place setting was still missing something in my opinion so I decided to pay good ole Hobby Lobby a visit for some inspiration. The day I decided to go was the best day ever because they had forty percent off all of their Easter items. I ended purchasing a set of four nests that came with eggs and green moss for under three bucks and my Spring/Easter tablescape was complete! 

If you need white saucer plates, visit your local Dollar Tree or thrift store. Walmart even has some for under a buck. You don’t have to spend a ton of money to create something beautiful this Spring. Happy decorating you guys!