Peanut Butter Fudge

This is THE BEST peanut butter fudge recipe there is! I promise. My mom has had this recipe for years and it does not compare the to microwave "easy" recipes out there. It's simply delicious. It makes a full 9x13" pan, so there's plenty to share or take to a holiday outing.

Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe
Ingredients: 
4 cups of sugar
1 stick of butter
2 T Karo syrup
2 cups peanut butter
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 tsp cocoa

Directions:
Mix sugar and cocoa well. Add syrup and milk. Cook on medium heat until it comes to a boil. Add butter. Cook until soft ball stage (see note below). Add peanut butter and remove from heat. Use a whisk to beat until it starts to thicken and lose gloss. Pour into buttered 9x13" pan. Cool in fridge. Cut and Enjoy!

*Note* If you have never made candy before on the stove top you might not know what "soft ball stage" refers to. I had no idea and I called my mom in a panic after waiting for what seemed like forever for it to cook.

Soft Ball stage refers to a specific temperature range when cooking sugar syrups. Soft-Ball Stage occurs at 235-245 degrees. (you do not need a thermometer) This stage can be determined by dropping a spoonful of hot syrup into a bowl of very cold water. In the water, use your fingers to gather the cooled syrup into a ball. If it has reached soft-ball stage, the syrup easily forms a ball while in the cold water, but flattens once removed from the water.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

I made this pie for our family Thanksgiving and it was wonderful! Last year I had a bit of difficulty making a pecan pie. For some reason it just wouldn't set. I was nervous about making another one this year, but this was such an easy recipe and turned out perfectly!

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
Original Recipe HERE

Ingredients:
(1) 9" prepared (unbaked) pie crust
3 eggs
3/4 c. light corn syrup
4 T butter, melted
3/4 c. light brown sugar firmly packed
2 T bourbon
2 T flour
1 T. vanilla
1 1/4 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

-In a large bowl mix eggs, corn syrup, butter, light brown sugar, bourbon, flour and vanilla until well combined.

-Add pecans and chocolate chip.  Mix well.

-Pour into prepared pie crust.

-Bake on the bottom rack for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.

-After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes.

Let pie cool at least an hour.

Enjoy!!!

Weekend

 We decorated our tree this weekend. 

 Pancho hates wearing clothes, so he was pretty mad when I put him in this Santa costume. 

 On Saturday we had a few friends over to hang out and we went a little overboard with the food. 

 Dan put together a nice looking meat and cheese tray! 

 I made the most amazing peanut butter fudge! I will post the recipe on the blog this week. I also made turtle treats and red velvet cookies.

Holiday Party Looks

This is my absolute favorite time of year for shopping, both for myself and others! I get so excited for the festive holiday dresses and outfits. I had to accept months ago that dressing is no longer fun and that there's always next year, post pregnancy.  I still get bummed that I can't buy anything or wear all the cute dressy holiday clothes this year. I could say it a million times, but there is a such a lack of trendy, quality, and affordable maternity clothing.

Since the baby is due this month, we don't have the usual amount of holiday events. We only have one company party, and I dread dressing for it. Nothing says fun like dressing up your 38 week pregnant self for a party you can't enjoy alcoholic drinks and certainly won't be embarrassing yourself by dancing at. ha! While trying to find something appropriate to wear I found LOTS of great non-maternity options.

If you are NOT pregnant and still looking for fun holiday options, here are so great ones!

Sequins

 

Top Row: all H &M
Bottom Row: ASOS dress
// Nordstrom Skirt // Victoria's Secret Pants // Nasty Gal Blazer
// ASOS jumpsuit

Feathers

Dillards Skirt // Dillards Dress // Revolve Clothing Dress// Dillards Dress // Topshop dress

Leather Dresses

Forever 21 // Ann Taylor // Forever 21 // Revolve Clothing // Nordstrom

 

Jumpsuit

Express // Ann Taylor // Loft

Maternity Holiday Look
 

Destination Maternity lace sleeve dress // H&M blazer (non- maternity) // H&M dress (fits like top) // Pea in the Pod faux leather maternity leggings // Macy's fur clutch purse

Nursery Progress

Since the beginning we have been busy designing the nursery. We have gone through countless ideas and colors and with 4 weeks to go we are still trying to get it finished. Dan has done a good majority of the work himself. I can't wait for everything to be finished! It may or may not happen before the baby comes home but we are at least ready with the necessities now.

 

Dan putting the crib together.

 

Precisely measuring the wall and attaching the decals.

 

A friend of mine is having a quilt made for us in the colors we have chosen above. I am SO excited to get it and tie all the other colors in the nursery together!

Mint green DIY changing table dresser.

 

I'll take some more pictures with my good camera and post as soon as it's a little closer to being finished!

Kardashian Kids

I have never really been into the Kardashian's style, but I recently looked up their kids line and I think it's pretty cute! I would imagine their Babies R Us kids line will go over better than their Sears women's line. I really like the neutrals with a touch of edge like the faux leather patch pants. Dan might not approve, but if we have a girl I could see myself buying a few pieces of the collection. They have a new boys line coming out too.  

Black Feathered Skirt

I need this skirt! I have been wanting a black feathered skirt for a few years now and never found one that was affordable. This skirt is not on the Express website and is only in select stores. They have another version that is fringe, but I am in love with the feathered one!

If you happen to see this in your local Express let me know! Help a girl out. I will pay you to buy it for me. I realize I can't wear it now, but I feel like it's something I need in my closet anyway.

Thanks!

Photo from Brooklyn Blonde.

35 Weeks

I am 35 weeks pregnant today. I look about 40+ weeks and feel like this pregnancy has lasted forever. I feel pretty good most days, but nights are dreadful. I am so tired but it's painful to sleep. I am carrying the baby rather high and it kills my ribs and sternum. I swear my stomach is in my throat and the heartburn is more like nausea.

I won't sugarcoat it, I have been feeling rather over pregnancy. I have had a hard time dealing with the unsolicited comments on my size. At least once a day someone will tell me how big I am, ask if I am carrying twins, demand to hear how much weight I have gained, or tell me their birth story in comparison. As a person who never felt comfortable with my size before pregnancy this has been incredibly hard for me. I realize this will only continue and I will deal with this again after birth with comments on my new size and getting back to the size I was. I'm working on growing thicker skin, but it's really hard. It was hard to type and even share this.

There are some things I do enjoy about pregnancy. I love to feel the baby move and our baby moves quite a bit all day long. I also like the congrats and nice comments people in the grocery store make. People do love to talk to a pregnant women!

We are almost done with the nursery. My goal is to have everything pretty much ready by the beginning of December so we will be prepared the whole month. Fingers crossed we don't have to wait until the due date (Dec 30th) to meet our little one. I am getting SO excited to find out the gender. I am dying to buy girls or boys clothing! I plan to splurge on Cyber Monday and then return once we know the gender. I can't help myself, you know I love to shop!

We have another ultrasound at week 37 because my belly is measuring ahead on weeks and the baby is a little bit bigger. Dan and I were both smaller babies, but it looks like we will definitely have a bigger baby!

Our last childbirth class was last night and I am just so excited to meet our baby! With every move the baby makes I just think how much I look forward to holding him/her. 5 more weeks. Hoping for less!

DIY Mint Green Changing Table

A friend of ours gave us this little mid century credenza a few months ago. We decided to paint it and use it as a changing table in the nursery. I'm really happy with how it turned out and have to give all the credit to Dan. Dan did all the work for this while I supervised.

The original piece is made of wood and laminate, so we (Dan) first sanded the entire thing and then sprayed several coats of paint on it. We couldn't get the spray paint to look smooth without streaks, so the next step was to paint it by hand. Poor Dan put a lot of work into this.

 

 Because of the number of paint coats we put on the piece, the drawers stick and don't slide too easily. We are still working on this. I special ordered tapered mid century modern wooden legs and replaced the metal ones.

Finished!!! 

Paint Color: Sweet Pea- Olympic Paint

Custom Legs- Thirteen Colonies

Weekend

I had such a great weekend! Last week at my doctors appointment I was measuring 4 weeks early. Yikes! I am 32 weeks, but am measuring 36. My doctor scheduled an ultrasound to see why I was measuring so early. On Friday morning we got to see the baby via ultrasound. Turns out the baby is just big! Currently 4lbs and 14 oz. So almost 5lbs. OMG! No wonder my belly is huge and my ribs are killing me.

Can you see the face? Chubby cheeks and button nose? 

Friday afternoon I had a cleaning lady clean my house for the first time. I didn't know what I was missing, our floors were gleaming! It was so nice to have our house extra clean and take that responsibility off my shoulders. 

On Saturday my friends hosted a baby shower for me at our house. It was so nice and decorated so cute! I had the best afternoon with my friends. I feel so lucky to have friends drive from all over to come and see me before the baby. Several of my friends already have babies, so it was great to hear their advice and stories. 

 Cutest diaper cake! 

 Friends

My wonderful hosts Chelsey, Danielle and Kerrie

The fall decor was so cute. The food was amazing! 

 

I spent some time Sunday getting the nursery organized. We have a few more things to do to get the baby's room finished, but I am happy with how it's coming along. I really love sitting in the room anticipating the baby's arrival! I'm getting so excited knowing we have almost 7 weeks left before we meet our new baby.

The Party Shop

Did you know Urban Outfitters has a party shop? I love it! It's similar to the stuff you see on Pinterest or Etsy. I wish I had a party to plan right now. They have some really cute things like the oversized balloons, party paper straws and fringe garland. Check it out!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

I have made this recipe twice in the last week or so because we like it so much! The original recipe is from Recipe Girl, but I made it a little different, by using Rotel instead of canned tomatoes. I also didn't add the spinach, but only because I didn't have it. I think spinach or kale would be really good and only make it healthier for you. I also didn't use Romano cheese. Instead I just used a shredded Italian mix that I had on hand.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers 

Ingredients:

FILLING:
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable broth
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 cup Rotel
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese (I used a shredded Italian (Parm, Romano, etc mix)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese 

PEPPERS:
2 large peppers (any color will work)
4 tablespoons Rotel
2 teaspoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese (I used a shredded Italian mix)
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup vegetable broth

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. 

Prepare the filling: Place quinoa in a small saucepan. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and garlic and cook, stirring, until golden, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes to develop the flavors. Remove the pan from heat, add the cooked quinoa, Italian cheese mix, basil and mozzarella.

Halve the peppers lengthwise and remove the core and seeds. Place the peppers cut-side-up in a baking dish. Fill each pepper with filling. Top each with 1 tablespoon crushed tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon Italian cheese mix and 1 tablespoon Mozzarella. Pour the broth into the bottom of the dish. Cover tightly with foil.

Bake until the peppers are soft, about 50 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!

Friday Favorites

If I wasn't pregnant I would be all over these Spanx faux leather leggings! I tried to find some maternity options, but there don't seem to be any good ones. I might even ask for these leggings for Christmas with hopes of wearing them this winter. Is that setting myself up for failure? In other "I can't wear it, but you should" clothing options, I really like this plaid dress from Dottie Couture. I love the green and blue plaid! I'm also really into mustard yellow right now and think this ASOS coat and hat are both adorable outerwear options. Plus, this Nordstrom scarf has all the right fall colors, don't ya think?

Nashville Baby Shower

Last weekend my mom and my cousin hosted a baby shower for me in Nashville, IN. The shower was adorable at my cousin's rustic cabin. It was the perfect fall setting! It was so nice to see everyone and spend time with my family.   

 

with my mom and dad

 

It turns out Dan and I have the very same baby book! Our moms brought them to the shower and it was fun to look through our milestones! I received a cute baby book as a gift to start documenting Baby Shearin's activity and add future pictures and notes.

With my sister in law Jena.