MercyMe It's Christmas! CD - A FlyBy Promotions Review & GIVEAWAY

I love the sentiment of Christmas and the entire holiday season.  Despite growing up in a very financially poor home I have very fond memories of the Christmas season.  It's a time to more acutely focus on the things that matter most; the little things.  Maybe at least in part that is why I love the winter so very much.  Yes, I am one of those peculiar individuals that will merrily answer, "Winter!" when asked, "What is your favorite season?"


Seriously.


What is not to like?


There is magic in winter, a simple joy that exists in none of the other seasons, and I have been blessed to call a region home for most all of my life that has four distinct season.  Yes, it IS a blessing!  Without winter there would be no snowmen, hot cocoa, crackling fires, cute hats, snow angels, dogs flinging flakes with their noses, and Christmas just wouldn't quite feel the same.  One of the most beautiful side effects of winter and Christmas time, I believe, is seasonal music.  I have loved Christmas music ever since my mom introduced us to John Denver and The Muppets all those years ago.

My last experience with a Pizza Ranch original CD was so joyous that I couldn't resist the opportunity to review their latest CD, MercyMe, It's Christmas!  This is BY FAR my most favorite Christmas CD ever.


No joke.


I 100% absolutely LOVE this CD!!!


I would gladly share with you my favorite song if I could actually choose one.  It really is that good.  It's crankable!  (I'm a blogger.  I can make up words.) Really!  This is a full of energy, praise, joy, harmony, and power.  It evokes emotion, commands your accompaniment (you cannot help but sing along), and puts your focus on the reason for the season.  Despite this being a Christmas CD I could seriously listen to this year round.  I've got no problem playing the whole album on repeat.  It's THAT good!

In our family we have a tradition.  Christmas morning my husband and I get to go downstairs alone.  We make a pot of coffee and make sure everything is perfect and tend to any breakfast details that may be needed.  It's a quiet, peaceful time just for us.  Once we start hearing activity on the floor above, we wait just a little longer.  Suspense is a beautiful thing sometimes.  Then, when it feels right we turn on the music loud enough for the miniature humans anxiously awaiting the cue upstairs.  So begins our Christmas morning together as a family.

I bet you can guess which CD we'll be cranking to call down the children this Christmas morning.  I almost cannot wait.  Take my word for it.  This is one amazing CD!

About MercyMe It's Christmas CD and its debut with Pizza Ranch:

Mercy Me It's Christmas CD is available in Pizza Ranch locations through December 31st of this year.  It has 4 exclusive songs that can only be found on the CD version being sold by Pizza Ranch.  Each CD will be sold for $5 plus tax.  Pizza Ranch will give away the CD with a $25 gift card purchase as well as sell the full album at each of its 200 locations throughout the Midwest and Great Plains states.  "We are so excited to debu our new Christmas album, MercyMe, It's Christmas. with Pizza Ranch", said Bart Millard with MercyMe.  "Pizza Ranch is a fantastic restaurant with a great mission to glorify God.  It's the perfect gift to give this Christmas season and the perfect CD to get you in the Christmas spirit."


You know what's even better than this CD?  A FREE COPY just for you!  Just leave me a comment below and share with me your most cherished Christmas tradition, and you'll be entered in a random drawing for your very own copy shipped to your door for FREE.  It's that simple!  Trust me.  You WANT this CD.  Deadline to enter is Sunday, November 22nd.  Don't miss out on your chance!

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

 Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Stuffed Peppers

Food has always been a huge part of our lives.  I come from a long line of farmers, and my mom cooked like we lived on one when I was a kid.  A lot of my more fond memories from growing up center around food.  The beautiful pear trees that grew on my grandparents farm for over 100 years yielded a tremendous bumper crop every other year.  My grandparents, and anyone that wanted to lend a hand, put up hundreds of quarts of pears most summers.  Everyone awaited the bushels of pears each year, and I know I asked my fair share of, "Is this the year for pears?".  To this day nothing tastes quite like a fresh, ripe Bartlett Pear.  I look forward to the fruit trees maturing that we have planted on our property.  Maybe one day our grandchildren will have similar memories to share.

Recipes are a big part of our personal history.  Food nourishes us, sustains our lives.  It connects us on a deeper level.  We connect in a special way over the gathering, preparing, and sharing of food.  It fosters relationship.  I love to share my recipes with others, and I especially love to cook for others.  I think it's in my blood.  Someone cooking for me is a rare treat.  Someone cooking for me in my own kitchen; well, that's unheard of.

The summer we celebrated my grandfather's 80th birthday my cousin and his beautiful girlfriend stayed at our home.  The day she cooked us dinner will forever be etched in my mind.  It was such a kind gesture!  She even complimented me on the organization of my kitchen AND did the dishes after.  Talk about feeling special.  It was so sweet!  And, guess what?  She actually sold me on stuffed peppers.  I hated them growing up.  Sorry, mom!  To this day I do not care for cooked green peppers, but I LOVE these cooked green peppers.  So does my family.  Now, if that isn't saying something right there!  A recipe that my whole family will eat and enjoy?  SOLD!

This is my version of her recipe.  Honestly, I make it a little different each time.  I tend to use what I have, and you can too.  It's the formula that's most important.  Green Peppers + Rice + Ground Meat (or Sauteed Veggies if you're not into meat) + Spaghetti Sauce + Cheese = Super Delicious Dinner

Now, if you're super crunchy, and you can your own pasta sauce, use it.  If you're like me, and you use the best you can afford at the time of the jarred selection at the store, use that.  Personally, I always try to purchase the best quality of products with the shortest list of ingredients that fits in my budget.  I don't use the same brand of rice or pasta sauce each time.  I don't even use the same type or amount of meat each time.  The original recipe calls for ground turkey.  I have used ground beef, ground chicken, and even left over ground beef seasoned for tacos.  All yielded equally yummy results.  I would even use ground lamb, venison, or buffalo in this recipe.  Whatever floats your boat.  If you don't eat meat, just leave it out or add your own mix of sauteed veggies or your favorite meat analog product.  There is no right or wrong way to make a recipe, and I don't think I ever follow one completely.  That's why I prefer to cook and not bake.  Cooking is much more flexible!

So, here goes:

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef, chicken, or turkey
2 boxes boxed rice mix (I prefer Near East Long Grain and Wild Rice)
1 jar Spaghetti Sauce (I prefer Bertolli)
6 medium to large Green Peppers, cut in half from top to bottom with stems, seeds, and veins removed.
1-8 ounce package shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese (if something else is your favorite or more handy, try it!)

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Fill a Dutch Oven 3/4 full with water, and bring to slow boil.

3.  Place three or four pepper halves into boiling water.  Allow to blanch for just a minute or so.  You just want to bring out the color in the pepper, not cook it through.  (This step is the secret of why these are so amazing.  Don't skip it!)

4.  Turn peppers onto a kitchen towel and allow water to drain out.

5.  Brown ground meat, and drain fat if necessary.  Add rice mix and cook per package directions.

6.  While rice and meat mixture is cooking place blanched peppers cut side up in two baking pans.

7.  When rice mixture is cooked, stir in spaghetti sauce.

8.  Generously fill each pepper half with rice mixture.

9.  Generously top each filled pepper with shredded cheese.

10.  Loosely cover filled and topped pepper with foil.

11.  Bake for 30 minutes.

12.  Remove foil, and bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted as desired.

Our original feast was served with garlic bread and salad.  We've been avoiding wheat products around here, so we have it with a cooked veggie and salad.

Should you have any left over filling, I do on occasion, just put it in a container and refrigerate or freeze.  It's good to heat and eat just the way it is, or you can add it to soups, or save it for the next time you make stuffed peppers.

Surprise!

This year will see my hubby to 50 years of living.  He's a great man, dedicated to family and helping others.  The kids and I wanted to do something super special for him.  Of course he's one of those dads that always tells you to not worry about his birthday, he doesn't need any gifts, and he would prefer a handmade card.  Coming up with something to buy him is near impossible, but we knew something that would mean more to him than any material gift.  So, we made plans to surround him with all of his children and grandchildren.  It was a challenging task that took six months to plan and tremendous effort to keep under wraps, but we did it.  We pulled off the ultimate surprise without a hitch!  Yep, you read that right.  Something went completely perfect for our family, and it was amazing.

Our youngest daughter and her husband flew in from Missouri, and our Navy son flew in from South Carolina.  Due to the government shutdown, we did not know if the Navy son would be able to take leave until the day before the party!  So glad he was granted leave.  It would not have been the same without him since he was an integral part of the surprise, and who would have helped me clean the house?  We gathered all the children, minus two, and all the grandchildren, minus one, into our home. Vehicles were hidden down the road, finishing touches were made, and pictures were taken.

We prepared a traditional holiday meal, had a photographer do family photos, and we waited.  I knew better than to try and capture the moment myself.  Our family is just too big, and it takes too much effort just to keep the party rolling for me to be in charge of photography.  It just isn't humanly possible.  So, for the really big events that I just don't want to be without pictures I hire out, and I breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the party.

We wrapped up all the details in plenty of time, and we waited.  I watched out the office window for his car to emerge through the trees, and there it was.  "He's home!", I yelled, and everyone got into place.  It was so awesome to hear everyone yell, "Surprise!", as he walked through the door and see the look of confusion on his face when our son in law was the first person he laid eyes on.  Totally priceless!  He was so touched and enjoyed himself so much that he thanked me for it for days.  Pulling this off for him is sure to remain a high point in my life.  SO AWESOME!

SURPRISE!

Smith Family Part Two; the Third Batch

The Family

All present and accounted for!

Mr. & Mrs.

Happy Birthday to You!

Ultrasound pics of #13

It really was a great time.  We missed the children and the gandchild greatly that were unable to attend.  With eight children and 12 grandchildren it's no wonder we can never seem to get them all in the same place at the same time, but we are a houseful nonetheless.  The cousins always have such a wonderful time together, and I am so happy we find ways to get them together now and then.

It just feeds my husband's soul to have his family around him.  If we could have figured some way to make it work we would have had everyone possible here (siblings, parents, grandparents, cousins, friends, etc.), but it just could not be done.  Guess we'll save the super big bash for when he turns 60.

Photo Credit: 
 https://www.facebook.com/Knixon.DontBlinkPhotography

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My heritage is a little more than Irish, however it is predominantly Irish and the only culture I was raised with. My great grandparents on my father's side came directly from Ireland. My grandfather was a judge, my uncle is a lawyer, and my dad was a cop. Can you get more Irish than that? Too funny!

It seems St. Patrick's Day has become quite a strong tradition within my immediate family. The holiday has become right along the line of Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with my kids. They truly look forward to it as a time to gather and share a meal. It kind of surprised me.

Last year, I didn't really invite anyone over. I just planned my meal as to just include those of us still living in our family home and invited a couple over that we have grown close with over the years. I honestly thought that the kids would just celebrate on their own if they chose to. Well, I was wrong.

Our second oldest called and wanted to know if we were having dinner. Of course I was, so she came over with our oldest grandchild. Then, two other of the older kids called. They didn't end up coming over, but they were looking for the traditional meal as well.

Needless to say, I just planned the meal to include everyone this year, and it was a big hit. However, it is VERY time consuming and costly. I think we are going to have to rethink how we do it next year. I will have to teach these kids how to make some of the food so I am not tending to everything. It really is a lot of work.

I hope those of you that celebrate have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. Our celebration was held on Sunday, so we are enjoying the leftovers for lunch today. If you never have studied it out, the history associated with St. Patrick's Day is very interesting and a worthwhile venture.