Breakfast Casseroles

Crustless Cheese and Spinach Quiche

1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup pesto
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Press the excess moisture from the spinach. Combine the spinach, 1 1/2 cups cheese, cream, pesto, and eggs in a bowl and mix well. Pour the spinach mixture into a 9-inch pie plate sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until set. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese and bake for 2-3 minutes longer or until the cheese sets.

*Really easy, good, and a great way to eat your veggies for breakfast!
From Birmingham Junior League's "Table of Contents"



Tomato Breakfast Strata

1 cup milk
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 (12 oz) loaf French bread, sliced
2 cups flat-leaf parsley, chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups (8 oz) shredded Cheddar Jack cheese
3 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 cup prepared basil pesto
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream

Mix the milk and wine in a shallow dish; the mixture will have the consistency of buttermilk. Dip the bread slices in the milk mixture until coated and arrange in a single layer in a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the parsley and drizzle with the olive oil. Layer the cheese, tomatoes, and pesto one at a time over the bread slices.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl until blended and stir in the salt and pepper. Pour the eggs over the prepared layers and then carefully pour the cream over the top. Chill, covered with plastic wrap, for 8-10 hours. Remove the strata from the fridge and let stand, covered, for 1 hour or until room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap and bake for 45-50 minutes or until puffy and brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

From Bham JL's "Table of Contents"

I had an extra tomato after making this recipe, so I used it to make this Kale and White Bean Soup. I substituted one freshly diced tomato for one can of tomatoes.



And don't forget the delicious Holiday French Toast, perfect for Christmas morning.


Notice the determination to get his shoes...standing on tip toe!


And he got it!

Encouragement in Times of Grief

I have had a good number of friends who have suffered through miscarriages, and it breaks my heart every time I hear about these tragic situations. This morning I was reading Elisabeth Elliot's "Keep A Quiet Heart," and this passage was of such encouragement to me, as Elisabeth always keeps a Heavenly-minded perspective. Not only is this encouraging to those who have lost children, but this passage pertains to anyone suffering and going through times of grief. (it's long, but read on!)

Elisabeth Elliot is writing to a friend who lost a baby:

"How our hearts went running to you, weeping with you, wishing we could see your faces and tell you our sympathies. Yet it is 'no strange thing' that has happened to you, as Peter said in his epistle (I Peter 4:12)--it gives you a share in Christ's suffering. To me this is one of the deepest but most comforting of all the mysteries of suffering. Not only does He enter into grief in the fullest understanding, suffer with us and for us, but in the very depths of sorrow He allows us, in His mercy, to enter into His; gives us a share, permits us the high privilege of 'filling up' that which is lacking (Colossians 1:24) in His own. He makes, other words, something redemptive of our broken hearts, if those hearts are offered up to Him. We are told that He will never despise a broken heart. It is an acceptable sacrifice when offered wholly to Him for His transfiguration. Oh, there is so much for us to learn here, but it will not be learned in a day or a week. Level after level must be plumbed as we walk with the Shepherd, and He will do His purifying, purging, forging, shaping work in us, that we may be shaped to the image of Christ Himself. Such shaping takes a hammer, a chisel, a file--painful tools, a painful process.
Your dear tiny Laura is in the Shepherd's arms. She will never have to suffer. She knew only the heaven of the womb (the safest place in all the world--apart from the practice of abortion) and now she knows the perfect heaven of God's presence. I'm sure that your prayer for both your children has been that God would fulfill His purpose in them. It is the highest and best we can ask for our beloved children. He has already answered that prayer for Laura.
Do you know the Letters of Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)? He wrote so beautifully to mothers who had lost children. Here is one:

Grace rooteth not out the affections of a mother, but putteth them on His wheel who maketh all things new, that they may be refined; therefore sorrow for a dead child is allowed to you, though by measure and ounceweights; the redeemed of the Lord have not a dominion or lordship over their sorrow and other affections, to lavish out Christ's goods at their pleasure...He commandeth you to weep; and that princely One took up to heaven with Him a man's heart to be a compassionate High Priest. The cup ye drink was at the lips of sweet Jesus, and He drank of it...Ye are not to think it a bad bargain for your beloved daughter that she died--she hath gold for copper and brass, eternity for time. All the knot must be that she died too soon, too young, in the morning of her life; but sovereignty must silence your thoughts. I was in your condition: I had but two children, and both are dead since I came hither. The supreme and absolute Former of all things giveth not an account of any of His matters. The good Husbandman may pluck His roses and gather His lilies at midsummer, and, for ought I dare say, in the beginning of the first summer month; and he may transplant young trees out of the lower ground to the higher, where they may have more of the sun and a more free air, at any season of the year. The goods are His own. The Creator of time and winds did a merciful injury (if I may borrow the word) to nature in landing the passenger so early.

(back to Elisabeth's writing) Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered, not by the things which He enjoyed. In order to fit you both for His purposes both here and in eternity, He has lent you this sorrow. But He bears the heavier end of the Cross laid upon you!"

Thanksgiving recap

We had such a fun Thanksgiving holiday, started off by a trip to Memphis. Having 6 children under the age of 7 in one house was so crazy, so fun, so wild! Here's our attempts at getting pics with the cousins:




Ya Ya with all her grandchildren


Ya Ya with the 2 youngest grandchildren (Jackson, 10 months; Lane, 7 months)




Jackson loves his Aunt Ashley

We raced home Thanksgiving afternoon to see my brother, since we knew we'd have such limited time with him, and he rarely makes it back to Birmingham because of his busy life in Austin, Texas. Jackson was enthralled by Uncle Jason's beard:




A house divided! Sad Iron Bowl loss for Auburn, we but love Auburn nevertheless! War Eagle!!!

I'll post some great breakfast casserole recipes I've been making recently. I'm headed into work, but I'll get another post out soon. Off to finish up addressing Christmas cards and trimming the tree!

Part 2

All I want for Christmas is my TWO front teeth! Correction from the previous post. Jackson is now getting both front teeth in. His ear infection has cleared up, thank goodness, but now we're dealing with repercussions (aka side effects) from the Amoxicillin!

Jackson has been clicking his tongue and imitating everything we do. I was blowing my nose the other day, and I hear him trying to imitate the sound with his mouth. Too funny. He's able to put the Puffs I give him in his mouth (gotta love the pincer grasp!), and he's sort of waving bye-bye to people now, along with shaking his head "no" all the time (not sure if he means "no," but it's funny nevertheless. He keeps doing it because we keep laughing at him).

We're headed to Memphis to celebrate with Andy's family, and then back home to celebrate with my family and to see my brother who flew in from Austin, TX. Happy Thanksgiving!

Recent Recipes

Ear infection. Poor J-man has his first ear infection. At least we have a diagnosis, and now that he's on the Amoxicillin, he isn't quite as fussy as he was. Sweet buddy, he's such a trooper.

With this cool weather, I've been cooking up a storm, everything from pumpkin bread to hot soup!

Emily Gross inspired me to make these Kale Chips. I bought some kale at Home Depot and planted it in a pot outside, so it was fun actually using my "makeshift" garden. (Note, don't over-salt these like I initially did)


Very tasty, and a great way to eat a "super food"

I made this Pumpkin Bars recipe into cupcakes for a Halloween party. Reduce the baking time by 10-15 minutes.





I had some farro I needed to use, so I found this recipe on one of my favorite recipe sites, Smitten Kitchen. This is a good and hearty Mushroom and Farro Soup. Serve with a crusty Italian bread for a delicious meal. (Note, I did not have the dried mushrooms the recipe calls for, and I thought my soup still turned out great. I just added one extra cup of water to the broth. You can also substitute barley for the farro. I used white mushrooms, and I did not add the sherry vinegar it calls for at the end. I didn't feel like buying sherry vinegar for this one recipe.)



I also made this White Bean Dip by Giada De Laurentiis. I did cook my dried Northern beans in the crockpot. Through trial and error, I'm learning with these beans you need to add more water than you do for the black-eyed peas, and I cook them on LOW for about 6 hours. These beans are a little more finniky in the crockpot than the black-eyed peas. But still so easy to do!



Happy Cooking!

All I Want For Christmas...

Is a new front tooth! Poor Jackson has been teething, and I'm feeling his upper left side tooth coming in. He's overall such a happy baby, but the teething, combined with some chest congestion, and the time change has made for some long days in our household recently. But here are some fun pictures to show what we've been up to.


Jackson met Santa at a local store here in town. He loved him! He also loved the life-sized elves in costume that were walking around.





We also attended my Meemaw's 80th Birthday party in Montgomery. Jackson did so well throughout the lunch, and we had fun celebrating the wonderful life of my grandmother!



One of the sweetest things said about her was a story from 30 years ago when she was battling breast cancer. She kept telling her husband and her four boys, "If only I could make it to see my first grandchild." (at this point in the story, I'm tearing up, and then I realize, it's ME she was referring to!) But the neat part of the story is how Meemaw beat breast cancer by the grace of God, and now she's lived to see her many grandchildren, as well as her first great-grandchild (Jackson). We hope she lives to see many many more great-grandchildren! (That means the other married cousins need to get to work! Ha)

On November 10th, Jackson started picking up foods (aka Puffs) and putting them in his mouth. He's getting fairly proficient at it. He's crawling everywhere, into everything, and you can't leave his side for a minute because you never know what he's getting into.


He loves his new activity walker, an early Christmas present from GiGi and Pops

And random thought: If you're looking for a good mini-series to watch, we've been watching The Pacific after Jackson goes to bed, and it's really incredible. It's incredibly intense, very graphic, but amazing to see the true stories of our soldiers during WWII. Andy and I are really enjoying it, and it makes us appreciate our veterans even more. Thanks for all you do to serve our country!

9 Months Old

I can't believe my little boy is growing so fast, and we are enjoying watching him grow! He turned 9 months yesterday, and we got back from his 9 month doctor's visit just now.

He weighs 18 lbs, 14 oz, and is 28 inches tall. Our pediatrician said he's right on track for growing, and that he is slimming up because he's moving all the time. Jackson is an avid crawler now, pulling up on everything, and thinking he's pretty hot stuff when we notice him standing up while holding onto the chair.

He does this hysterical face of grinning really big, squinting his eyes, and throwing back his head. We all get a kick out of it, and so he keeps doing it. It really resembles a face that my dad made when he was little. Below is a picture of him starting to make that face. I'll have to post when I get an excellent picture of his hysterical face.



Jackson is saying "guh guh," "ma ma" and "ba ba." He still nurses every 3 hours, and he's still eating pureed baby food I make him. His recent new love is green beans, but he's still eating pears, apples, sweet potatoes, zucchini, squash, and Puffs (a great life-saving snack when he's getting fussy!).

Jackson goes to bed around 7 or 7:30 at night, and he's up at 6:30 on the dot every morning. He'll usually play in bed until around 7 a.m. or so. He's so so happy in the morning. AND, he only naps in his crib now. Thanks to Andy being home one weekend, he got him solely napping in his crib a few weeks ago (plus, Jackson wasn't really fitting in his swing anymore).

Overall, we're so grateful for an easy, laid-back, funny baby!