Bacon wrapped jalepenos with cream cheese filling

I hope y'all all had a very merry Christmas!  We did and I will share photos soon of our fun-filled day!

In case you are planning a New Years Eve party, I wanted to share this  YUMMY recipe with you. I made these for Christmas and they were a hit!

Just a little warning: they do have a kick to them..afterall, they are jalepenos.

I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman...she never disappoints.

Bacon Wrapped Jalepenos

Ingredients:  Jalepenos, cream cheese, and bacon. That's all!

Well, toothpicks are optional, but they do help with keeping the bacon wrapped around and it's easier to eat.

*I wear latex-free gloves when I am cooking with jalapenos because something in their juices burns my hands..everyone is different, but if you're wondering why I have on gloves, it's to keep my hands from burning like fire for three days (I learned the hard way)*

Step one:  Wash and cut the ends of off the jalapenos. 

 Step two: Cut them in half and clean their seeds out..I call it their guts...same thing. ;)

 Step Three: Fill each half of the jalapeno to the top with cream cheese.

 

 

Step four:  Get your bacon and cut it into thirds, like so:

 

 Step five: Wrap the jalapeno with a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. 

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour-And viola!! An easy and SUPER yummy appetizer for New Year's Parties! 

Now you can crank up the degrees to 375 and cook for around 30 minutes if you want to..I have just found that the longer you cook them, the more flavorful they will be.  And I think the HOTNESS tends to get ramped up if you cook them longer...this last batch were extra hot and I cooked them for over an hour. 

I will be making them again.  Very soon.

I'm also pretty dang excited to share another recipe I made for Christmas...STUFFED MUSHROOMS.  They were SO delish.  

Happy Tuesday!

Xoxo,

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  I hope your day is filled with sweet memories and wonderful family and friends.  Even after thousands of years, the birth of Jesus is still as sweet and mysterious as before.  Thank you, Jesus for your birth and more importantly for your death on the cross.  

And this was too cute not so share, so I hope you enjoy!

New York City {in photos}

Man, I still haven't gotten all settled since our big NYC trip.  There is still one load of laundry to do, and I've got lots of cooking an baking on the horizon for Christmas!

We had a great time in New York City.  It's such a different world than our little ol' town in North Carolina.  But I loved it! 

There were MOBS and MOBS of people, though.  Which is to be expected around Christmastime especially.  Like shoulder to shoulder traffic in some parts of the city. 

Here are some photos from our weekend...enjoy!

Waiting at the airport...

 Of course we had to go inside Tiffany's.  That place is 9 stories or something..and I almost convinced hubby I needed a diamond for my other hand..  ;)

 

Every corner or so, there were always beautiful flowers for sale. I loved looking at all the variety.  Aren't they beautiful!?

 And yummy produce too! It was a lot more costly than here in NC!

 One of the days we were there the wind chill was 12 degrees.  IT WAS COLD.

 We got our brown bags from Bloomingdales. :)

 We went and saw the Rockettes which was SO great- that was my favorite part of the trip. 

 Gorgeous tree at Rockefeller Center.  The line for the skating rink was like over 2 hours long, so we decided against that.  (In the photo, they were cleaning the rink..)

New York was so beautiful at Christmas. 

 

It's definately a trip that needs to be added to your Bucket List!

New York City!

Guess what?

I'm making a trip tomorrow...to somewhere really fun!

I am going to NYC tomorrow with hubby and the in-laws. :)

Those are just a few of the fun things we'll be doing..if you've ever been to NYC, do you have any recomendations of places to go?

Can't wait to share the fun we will have!

Advent Conspiracy.

I don't know about you but I find myself getting stressed out about the gift buying, the cooking, the running errands in preparation for Christmas. 

Anyone else feel that way yet?

But what's funny to me is this:

Why is it that people get the most stressed out about Christmas when it should be the holiday that is the LEAST stressful? 

The most important part of this holiday is not about giving or receiving presents.

It's about the birth of Jesus. and what he did here on earth.  He didn't run around like a busy bee searching for gifts.. he gave.

He gave his time.  his gifts.  his love.  and then he gave his life.

and that's what I am trying to focus on this year.

It's so easy for me to worry about getting the right gift for my family or making sure I spend X amount of dollars on this or that...

but that's not important.

what IS important is giving yourself. your time. your love.  like Jesus did.

I hope you don't get too caught up in the hustle and bustle and instead sit at the feet of Jesus and thank him for what he gave us.  Eternal life.

Check out this video, I think you'll like it.

 

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Some things to look for this week:

I am sharing a yummy holiday recipe and perhaps a little DIY project...pretty excited about it!

P.S.  Just had to share this cute picture that  I snapped today!

Xoxo,

Scarfament Swap

This year, Danielle over at Take Heart hosted an awesome swap where you purchase and ornament and a scarf (scarfament) and you get to meet a new blogger in the process.  It was so much fun and I now have a new crafty friend from California!

My partner was Savannah over at Savannah Smiles and she made me this ADORABLE ornament:

 

Ahh, I love love it!!! It matched my tree and the other ornaments perfectly!  And twine and stamps are my favorite... :)

And she sent me this beautiful scarf! Plum is my favorite color to wear in the fall/winter.  I have been wearing it a whole bunch!

 

And the best part is she sewed a little rossette on the end.. is that not the cutest little thing?  

 

Thanks Savannah! You are the bomb-so glad we are real friends now. ;)

 

Insta-Friday!

Hello, friends!!

Today was a good day. It was casual day at work- and that makes me happy.

When my boss announced that we could wear jeans, it reminded me of this clip from The Office:

I love The Office.

ANYWAY, I did dress appropriately... hehe!

Here's my week via Instagram! 

1. Took advantage of Cyber Monday and bought these cheetah print flats for under $10 shipped! Oh yeah, and my cute little Penny Girl wanted in the photo.

2. Hubby cooked dinner just a tad too long. ;) It's okay babe, you are still awesome!

3. Got on the ball with making some Christmas gifts. I have seriously been running so far behind this year...but i'm trying my hardest not to get caught up in the Christmas hustle and bustle. I want to remember the REAL reason for this holiday- the birth of Jesus!

4. 4. Tried a new recipe form Pinterest. and it was THE BOMB. Southern Style Pulled Pork BBQ. I was proud of myself for nailing one of hubby's favorite foods!

5. Going to do a lot of baking this weekend...and I can't wait to share the recipes with y'all next week!

6. Finally put the finishing touches on our Christmas decor.

7. Picked up some pallets and CAN'T WAIT TO MAKE SOMETHING AWESOME FROM THEM! :)

8. Make some Monkey Bread for a Saturday morning snack. YUM!

And tonight I am going to a Pinterest Party with some of my friends! What? You haven't heard of that before? We are just getting the supplies for a project on pinterest we want to do, and then making it together while eating junk food and chatting away! Sounds great, huh?

Happy Weekend, friends! If you want to follow me on Instagram my username is mrskaitjones. Please come join me for a glimpse into my week.

Xoxo,

Look what I found...

I picked up three of these beauties yesterday:

 

My mind has not quit thinking about all of the possibilities...

I 

Love

Pallets.

(I swear, pallets and burlap are like my catnip..hehe)

and I have been waiting for months to get my hands on one or two.

Here are some great ideas:

1. Make some crates out of them:

Source: pinterest.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

2. Make a display for dishes:

Source: webecoist.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

3. Make an end table:

Source: klabbogdatt.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

4 Make bookshelves:

Source: practicalenrichment.wordpress.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

5. Make a photo frame display:

Source: amandacarverdesigns.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

6.  Make lots of other cool things:

Source: hgtv.ca via Kaitlin on Pinterest

I mean, the possibilites are endless!

Any other neat ideas on what to do with pallets?

Do share!

Xoxo,

A sneak peek...

Over our Thanksgiving break, hubby and I had a photo session with my new super-talented friend, Cristi.  She was SO much fun and I can't wait to get some more done from her in the years to come.


She sent me a sneak peek and I just had to share...

I LOVE IT.  SOOOO much.

Picnics have a special place in our hearts... hubby proposed to me while on a picnic, our first date was a picnic, and he bought me an awesome picnic basket one year for my birthday so I knew I wanted to incorporate it into our photo session.

Here's one more!

 

Happy Tuesday!

Our Christmas Mantle!

Happy Monday, y'all!

I've been so excited to share our Christmas mantle this year!  It's been decorated since before Thanksgiving (yes, I am one of those people)!

I decided to go with a more neutral theme and I love the way it turned out.

I guess you can call it "Rustic Country". ;)

 I made the Burlap stockings and just cut out some cardstock for the initial tags. I saw some at Pottery Barn and thought they were so cute. The cute reindeer on the right is from Pier 1 and the stocking holders are from Target.

The greenery is just leftover Christmas tree branches I cut off from the bottom. 

 The hurricanes are filled with snowflake ornaments from Dollar Tree and silver ornaments from Target.

 Got these little reindeer from Goodwill.  They were $4 for both. I am thinking I may spraypaint them silver and cover them in glitter.  Because glitter makes everything better..dontcha think? We will see..

 A few festive Christmas pillows...I am planning on putting all of our Christmas cards on the window.. :)  Christmas cards are one of the best things about the season, if you ask me.

 I made this pillow out of Burlap (can't you tell I love this stuff?) and stamped the word Believe on it.

This one is made from a placemat from Target! $2.00!  I just opened up a little corner with a seam ripper and stuffed it with pillow foam! Easy peasy!  And then there is my sweater pillow in the right corner.  That one cost me less than $2.00.

And there you have it! Our Christmas filled living room.  I love it.  When I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is turn on the tree!

It's the best time of the year!






 




Xoxo,