Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausage

Guys. I picked THE worst time to decide to start doing this again. This is a food blog and currently I can not have food. That is an exaggeration.

I’m doing the Whole30. My intent was mainly to cut out gluten and dairy and reintroduce it to see if it had any effect on some health issues I’m having. I am 2 weeks in and I want to dive face first into a cake. I want to just live in there. And every time I open my fridge, I want to chug the entire carton of heavy whipping cream that has been sitting untouched because I can’t use it.

I have made some pretty good dinners, but one of the hardest parts is breakfast. Essentially, I eat eggs every.single.day. Which is great, except I am so tired of eggs. SO tired. So I needed to find some ways to jazz my eggs up. There’s a pretty strict criteria for eating breakfast goods like sausage and bacon while on the Whole30, because apparently all of the things that make bacon taste like angels dancing on my tongue are bad for you blah blah blah. Enter homemade turkey breakfast sausage. I know. I was skeptical, too. How you going to make some turkey taste like sausage? Not gonna happen. Except ohmygosh it did. My husband and I sat over the skillet and ate an entire pound of turkey. As a snack. No lie. No regrets. This is not only healthier for you because you know what is going into it, but it is a leaner meat. It is perfectly flavored and moist and not the dry, tasteless cardboard one might expect out of turkey. I made crumbles so that I could stir it into scrambled eggs and omelettes, but it would also be great to make into patties. Separate them with some parchment and freeze them and you have homemade sausage patties for a quick breakfast sandwich! SO many uses for this stuff!

Or you can just make it to eat as a snack on a random Tuesday. Whatever. No judgements here.

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp dried sage

1/2 – 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (adjust to taste)

1 tsp dried oregano

salt to taste

2 tbsp coconut oil, divided

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine turkey, spices, and 1 tbsp coconut oil. At this point you can either leave it as is for crumbles, or form into patties.*

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add the remaining 1 tbsp of coconut oil. Add the turkey and cook until browned and cooked through.

*Note: If freezing, form into patties and place each patty onto a small square of parchment paper. Stack patties and freeze. The parchment will keep them from sticking to one another and make it easier to remove one at a time.

Source: SkinnyMs.

 

Taco Dip

This is the party food.

You know the one. The go-to that you take to every party or get together. The one everyone heads straight for. Yeah, that one. This is it. At least, it is for us.

We found this recipe when we were trying to come up with appetizers and party food for a baby shower. It was either Bailey’s or Pilot’s, we can’t remember which. But it was years ago that we found this jewel of a dip.

We could have blamed it on the fact that pregnancy makes everything taste 1000x better (or worse), but the fact that everyone devoured this dip the first time we made it. Like gone in seconds.

Since then, we have made this dip for every party, baby shower, and get together that we have thrown or attended. And now we know this is the kind of dip that goes so fast you better pile it high the first time around, because seconds just don’t exist with this in the spread.

So next time you get together with friends, or have a party, or want to eat dip for dinner, make this. And expect to fight for the last scoop.

-Heather and Melissa

Taco Dip

Ingredients:

1 (1 oz.) package taco seasoning (You could use homemade, but we really like the fake stuff)
1 – 16 ounces can refried beans
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
16 ounces sour cream
16 ounces salsa
1 small head of lettuce, shredded
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together about half of the contents of the taco seasoning package with the canned refried beans.
2. In different medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, and the rest of the taco seasoning until well combined.
3. In a large, 9×13 dish, spread out the refried bean mixture in an even layer on the bottom of the dish.
4. Next, spread an even layer of cream cheese mixture on top of the beans, being careful not to mix with the beans.
5. Spread salsa on top of cream cheese layer.  Sprinkle shredded lettuce on top salsa and then sprinkle shredded cheese on top, to create the final layer.

Source: All Recipes

The Slacker's Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup

We know, we know, most of you probably have half of your Thanksgiving already prepared by today, let alone your menu finalized and prepared for. You probably made lists and timelines and prepared for months in advance for the big feast.

And that’s cool. If that’s your thing. But mostly, we kind of procrastinate. Ok, I (Heather) mostly always procrastinate. If Melissa made a Thanksgiving feast, she would most surely be a planner and list maker. But, neither of us are going to be hosting Thanksgiving this year, so we are procrastinators. Sorry. 

We know that our fellow procrastinators are out there, just scouring the recipe round-ups, looking for that last minute something. And we love you for that. And because we love you, we rounded up some of our own past recipes that would be a perfect addition to your Thanksgiving menu. All of these are pretty easy to throw together, but will taste like you spent hours in the kitchen.

Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal – Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, even on Thanksgiving. You’ve got to keep your energy up, cooking and hosting. So make this the night before, throw it in the oven in the morning while you are prepping other things, and you have a very easy, filling, and most importantly, delicious breakfast to get you through the day. Win.

Baked Pumpkin French Toast – Yet another throw in the fridge overnight, bake in the morning, enjoy. This french toast is totally wonderful. I mean, it has a streusel. Anything that has the word streusel in it, is automatically grounds for making and devouring. Start your cheat day off the right way, friends.

Deviled Eggs – You guys know us. We are Southern girls. And we’ve said it before, if you are southern and you are having a get together, which is defined as any occasion in which 5 or more people are involved, then you need deviled eggs. Enough said.

You Look Like Cap’n Crunch Sweet Potato Casserole – This sweet potato casserole is a huge hit at our Thanksgiving. My (Heather) mom requests it throughout the year, especially at Thanksgiving. We adapted the recipe for a challenge to make a Cap’n Crunch topping, which my husband now prefers, but you could top it with marshmallows or the original recipe called for a pecan/brown sugar topping. Whichever is your thing. Do you.

Roasted Broccoli – AKA the best broccoli of your life. This broccoli is so delicious and really should be a player on your Thanksgiving table. You won’t regret it. Trust.

Sixty-Minute Dinner Rolls – Dinner rolls. In 60 minutes. That taste like regular rolls that take forever to rise and rise and rise again. What else do we need to say?

Brown-Sugar Buttermilk Pie – This pie. I (Heather) have been waiting since last year for a reason to make this pie. And the reason has come. Tomorrow, I will be throwing this together and trying hard not to eat it before Thursday. You should do the same. It puts pumpkin and pecan pie to shame.

So that’s it. That’s all we got. Next year, we will be on top of things. Maybe. Probably.

Happy Thanksgiving all! Enjoy it with family and friends! Reflect on all of the things in our lives that the Lord has given us, and count your blessings, because they are great!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. -1 Chronicles 16:8

-Heather and Melissa

 

The Slacker’s Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup

We know, we know, most of you probably have half of your Thanksgiving already prepared by today, let alone your menu finalized and prepared for. You probably made lists and timelines and prepared for months in advance for the big feast.

And that’s cool. If that’s your thing. But mostly, we kind of procrastinate. Ok, I (Heather) mostly always procrastinate. If Melissa made a Thanksgiving feast, she would most surely be a planner and list maker. But, neither of us are going to be hosting Thanksgiving this year, so we are procrastinators. Sorry. 

We know that our fellow procrastinators are out there, just scouring the recipe round-ups, looking for that last minute something. And we love you for that. And because we love you, we rounded up some of our own past recipes that would be a perfect addition to your Thanksgiving menu. All of these are pretty easy to throw together, but will taste like you spent hours in the kitchen.

Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal – Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, even on Thanksgiving. You’ve got to keep your energy up, cooking and hosting. So make this the night before, throw it in the oven in the morning while you are prepping other things, and you have a very easy, filling, and most importantly, delicious breakfast to get you through the day. Win.

Baked Pumpkin French Toast – Yet another throw in the fridge overnight, bake in the morning, enjoy. This french toast is totally wonderful. I mean, it has a streusel. Anything that has the word streusel in it, is automatically grounds for making and devouring. Start your cheat day off the right way, friends.

Deviled Eggs – You guys know us. We are Southern girls. And we’ve said it before, if you are southern and you are having a get together, which is defined as any occasion in which 5 or more people are involved, then you need deviled eggs. Enough said.

You Look Like Cap’n Crunch Sweet Potato Casserole – This sweet potato casserole is a huge hit at our Thanksgiving. My (Heather) mom requests it throughout the year, especially at Thanksgiving. We adapted the recipe for a challenge to make a Cap’n Crunch topping, which my husband now prefers, but you could top it with marshmallows or the original recipe called for a pecan/brown sugar topping. Whichever is your thing. Do you.

Roasted Broccoli – AKA the best broccoli of your life. This broccoli is so delicious and really should be a player on your Thanksgiving table. You won’t regret it. Trust.

Sixty-Minute Dinner Rolls – Dinner rolls. In 60 minutes. That taste like regular rolls that take forever to rise and rise and rise again. What else do we need to say?

Brown-Sugar Buttermilk Pie – This pie. I (Heather) have been waiting since last year for a reason to make this pie. And the reason has come. Tomorrow, I will be throwing this together and trying hard not to eat it before Thursday. You should do the same. It puts pumpkin and pecan pie to shame.

So that’s it. That’s all we got. Next year, we will be on top of things. Maybe. Probably.

Happy Thanksgiving all! Enjoy it with family and friends! Reflect on all of the things in our lives that the Lord has given us, and count your blessings, because they are great!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. -1 Chronicles 16:8

-Heather and Melissa

 

Officer of the Law

So, folks, sorry this isn’t a recipe, but we have some great news!

Yesterday, we all went up to Wendell, NC to watch my husband officially swear in as a police officer! It was such an exciting day! We started out meeting some opposition, just a lot of little things going wrong, threatening to make us late, but we managed to arrive early and in good spirits. It’s a very small department and my husband was swearing in with one other new officer, making it a very small and rather informal occasion. But we couldn’t have been happier or more proud of him as he stood with his hand on the Bible, taking his oath to serve and protect. At least, I think that’s what he took an oath to do. I was a little busy trying to keep Ella from being so excited that her voice overpowered all the others speaking.

Anyways, as I watched my husband stand there, I was reminded of how tirelessly he has worked over the past 3 years for us. I spoke briefly about the things that have been going on with our family in our last Faith Friday, but he closed his skate shop, which had been a dream of his since he was very young, to pursue a career in law enforcement, all  because he wanted to make a stable life for his family. Don’t get me wrong, he WANTED to become a police officer, the Lord had put that desire heavy on his heart right before Pilot was born, but it was a big change to go from skateboarder to police officer. I watched my husband, looking handsome in his suit and tie, and I was reminded of all of the times we had tried and failed to find work and jobs, the humbling of ourselves to accept money from friends and family and even strangers, so that we could pay our bills, the pang of sadness in having to lose our own home, in having to give up the dream of my children having their own nursery carefully decorated by me, and move in with my parents, and the fear in raising one and then finding out we were having another, when we had little to no income. I watched my husband, bend over and sign his name on the dotted line, and every single thing was worth it. And I realized that all of those things, the house and nursery and toys and pretty things, those things don’t mean anything at all. They aren’t what is important. Our Lord, our God, our Father who provided for us every step of the way, used these past 3 years to build us and shape us into more humble, more gracious creatures. And as I stood there, watching my husband admire his badge, I was overcome with how glorious our Lord is, how faithful our Lord is, and I was thankful for the husband he had given me. The husband who worked and worked and seemingly failed and failed, but continued to get up, to make choices and sacrifices continuously and to look to the Lord for strength and guidance, and who, with the Lord’s direction, finally made it.

My husband, our daddy, we are proud of you. Good job, Officer Taylor.

Stay tuned for Faith Friday coming up with a dessert you won’t want to miss and Melissa’s turn to talk about changes!

-Heather

We're sick :(

We here at Kids in the Sink are having a sickly week.  Melissa came down with a fever on Tuesday and poor little Ella came down with one yesterday.  So, unfortunately, we won’t be able to have our Faith Friday and a dessert today but stay tuned because next week holds a bangin’ Faith Friday dessert!

For now, enjoy this photo of a rare moment when Ella was snuggling with Melissa.  The sick ones were hanging out together cuddling!

 

 

We’re sick :(

We here at Kids in the Sink are having a sickly week.  Melissa came down with a fever on Tuesday and poor little Ella came down with one yesterday.  So, unfortunately, we won’t be able to have our Faith Friday and a dessert today but stay tuned because next week holds a bangin’ Faith Friday dessert!

For now, enjoy this photo of a rare moment when Ella was snuggling with Melissa.  The sick ones were hanging out together cuddling!

 

 

Our Vacation!

Did you guys think we had hit 100 posts and then quit?  Probably you did.  Have no fear, though, we did not quit.  We just went on vacation. We’ll be back to our usual posts later this week, but in the mean time, enjoy some shots from our vacations. You can clearly tell which of us is the photographer and has the great camera.  It isn’t Melissa.  Hope you guys had a blessed week, too!

-Heather and Melissa

We were on vacation…

At first, Pilot didn’t even want to get down to put a toe in the water. Ella and I walked back to our room to grab a few things and when we walked over the dunes, we saw that Pilot had already conquered his fear.

He loved jumping over the waves with daddy. He even started to go headfirst into them himself, swallowing ocean water and getting right back up again.

He also enjoyed having splash fights with daddy. The sun kept ducking behind the rain clouds, but that didn’t stop my boy from enjoying his first trip to the ocean.

I was so lucky to capture Ella’s first experience with the water. You can see in the first picture that she is content to sit and is quite unaware of the breakwater creeping up behind her. The second picture is reaction immediately after it swells around her. Priceless.

Pilot loved the water, splashing near the shoreline and playing farther out. He continued to ask for the ocean for days afterwards and I think we will have to make several day trips this summer when the weather is nice and will afford us more time spent playing in the warm sunshine.

It wasn’t long before Ella joined in the play. She loved kicking her little roly poly legs and splashing the water around. As it came up around her, she would get so excited and start flailing her arms and legs.

She also really loved the wind blowing in her face. Does anyone else have kids who always stick their tongues out when the wind hits their face?

Our little beach trip was short, but we had a blast. I loved watching my babies see their first view of the ocean and seeing them go from scared and confused to not wanting to leave the water! I’m sure this was only the first of many beach trips to come!

On to Melissa’s vacation…

This is my attempt at a family shot but neither of my kids will smile at the same time so, here we are. At least we’ve got two out of three smiling here!

Kale’s thinking : Ok, so, wait… what’s going on here?

Oh, ok! It’s water! Riiiiiiiight… He LOVED it, whether or not his expression here appears like it or not. He was fearless (which is um, scary) and would put his head right into those waves as they came.  It was all a big adventure for him.  This was his first time ever in the ocean and really counts as his first trip since he was about 3 months old when we came last year.

This wasn’t Bailey’s first time but I can safely say that this was the first time she really enjoyed herself in the sand and ocean.  When she was a little smaller, she didn’t even want to touch the sand and the water only minimally interested her.  This time, though, she had a blast! She looks a little goofy here but that’s her excited face!

I had such a great time hanging out with my babies at the beach.  Seeing them smiling and splashing in the water was fantastic.   It was a mini vacation but it was great!

Faith Friday + Our 100th Post!

Big news, friends! This is our 100th blog post!

We are so excited at how this little blog has flourished in the last 7  months! When we started this blog, we thought we might have a few friends read every now and then, but we never imagined that we would have over 45,000 hits to date since November 6, 2011, when we posted our first, really BAD, blog post. I(Heather) can’t even look at those pictures. I shudder. I really protested to even LINKING that!

At the start of this blog, I(Heather) was very much focused on the photography aspect, and it became a goal to get onto food porn sites, like Tastespotting and Foodgawker. And we finally did! Our first photo to be accepted was our Brown Sugar Buttermilk Pie, onto Tastespotting, and we were so excited! Foodgawker took a little longer, but we finally made it onto that site with our Dessert Scones.

Although it is exciting to have our photos published and bringing more traffic, we quickly began to realize that we wanted more for our blog. We wanted to use our blog to bring glory to God; to spread His word, offer encouragement, and plant seeds. And thus, Faith Friday was born.

Our first Faith Friday post was our Oatmeal Cream Pies. It absolutely blows our mind that our first Faith Friday post STILL gets us the most hits, even today! It was with our Oatmeal Cream Pies that we got the genius idea to pin our own things on Pinterest, and after that, the hits kept coming! And they were almost all centered around our Faith Friday posts, specifically our very first one. We really began to see that maybe God was at work here. Maybe we were doing exactly what He wanted, spreading His word in our own way, and playing on the strengths He has given to us.

We each have lives outside of this blog. We each have things going on that are hard to deal with, let alone blog about. But to know that God is in this blog, is working through this blog, gives us the drive to continue. To keep posting and taking pictures and making recipes. Sometimes it is hard and time seems to be something we can not EVER get enough of, but somehow, each week, we come together doing what we love and share it with you.

We are forever grateful for all of the support and all of our readers. We have readers in Brunei Darussalam, even! Is that even a place!? Even so, we’re thankful for you, too. We are amazed at the ways in which God has worked through us and through this blog. As we try to encourage our readers, we have been encouraged ourselves. By the revelations God gives us while writing, by the comments left by our readers, telling us that we made one small difference in someone’s day. We hope that we can continue this blog and watch it grow to God’s glory for many more months, years even, to come. Thank you, dear readers, from the bottom of our hearts.

-Heather and Melissa

 

Our Garden – The Beginning

When I say “our” garden, I use the term loosely. Really, it’s Melissa’s garden.

It’s at her house and she takes care of it and I come over every day and look at the new growth and take pictures.

Sometimes, I watch the kids while she works in the garden. And sometimes, I promptly stop watching the kids and leave them to fend for themselves after getting attacked by two, count ’em, TWO spiders. But that is a story for another day.

Anyways, I watch the garden and take pictures and one day I will enjoy eating the fruits (and veggies) of her labor.

We have both always wanted a garden and I don’t have the means to grow anything this year, but Melissa decided to take the plunge.

We are excited to see how things grow and blossom. We’ve attempted to grow basil and chives in tiny pots, with not much success.So a garden is kind of a big adventure.

So far, so good! These pictures were taken about a month ago, shortly after we planted. We were late in posting because we weren’t sure if things would grow or not 🙂 But they did and they are and it’s great! Stay tuned for more garden updates and maybe one of you genius readers can help us with a garden problem we’re having!