Stuffed Pepper Soup

Lately I have buckled down and started meal planning again! I really enjoying finding new recipes and seeing which ones are a hit in our house. I break my meal plan down by giving each day of the week its own category (i.e.: Crockpot night) to simplify the planning portion.

---

I'll be posting soon about how I meal plan for the week and then make my food list - so keep an eye out for that one!

---

I wanted to share with you the most delicious Stuffed Pepper Soup recipe I found on Pinterest that was posted from Mamagourmand.com! What I loved about this recipe is that stovetop, crock pot, and Instant Pot directions are all included so you can make this recipe any which way you want and still have a delicious meal for dinner!

I used the crock pot for this recipe and not only was it comfort food in a bowl, but we had enough for leftovers in the fridge and some for freezing! Any meal that I can stretch for another night that we need something quick is a big win in my book! That's multitasking at its finest and I am always here for that.

I am going to share the crock pot version I used and then you can check out Mamagourmand.com to pull the complete recipe that includes all versions if you need other options!

---

Stuffed Pepper Soup

(Crock Pot Version)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground beef

• 1 medium onion - chopped

• 3 cloves garlice - minced

• 2 Bell Peppers (any color) - chopped

• 3 - 8oz cans tomato sauce

• 2 - 14oz cans diced tomatoes

• 2 cups beef broth

• 2 cups water

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 1/3 cups INSTANT RICE

Crock Pot Instructions

• In a skillet on the stove brown ground beef, garlic, and onions together until beef is cooked through and the onions are soft

• Transfer this mixture to the crock pot - add in the remaining ingredients. EXCEPT FOR THE RICE!

• Cook on high for 3 - 4 hours OR low 6 - 8 hours

• Towards the end of the cooking time cook your choice of rice separately, then you can add rice to the Stuffed Pepper Soup, or you can leave separate and place rice in bottom of serving bowls and place the Stuffed Pepper Soup on top of the rice.

• NOTE: If you are planning on freezing any lefto

ver Stuffed Pepper Soup, then DO NOT add rice to the soup, keep it separate.

---

This recipe is simple, delicious and makes you feel so good! Recipes like this one are a gem to keep in the recipe vault for cool fall afternoons or cozy winter nights. Having a recipe that is versatile for all types of cooking methods is so wonderful. I hope you enjoy this Stuffed Pepper Soup as much as we did!

---

Remember to follow along on IG @sabrina__dominique for daily life tips, recipes, and general chaos!

Let's Make Dirt Cups!

Well January is proving to be cold here in North Carolina! This is our first winter here and it's a BIG change from the warm winters of Southern Florida, but nonetheless we are enjoying the change in seasons and finding joy in it! Today was too cold for us to venture outside to explore a local park or nature center, so instead the girls and I decided to have a little fun in the kitchen and create our own "Dirt Cups"!

Did you ever make these fun (not to mention easy) desserts as a kid?

I love to bake with my girls, it's fun and interactive, but also teaches a lot of lessons all rolled into an edible ending! They enjoy mixing, stirring and adding all the ingredients and I enjoy watching them use their reading and math skills to whip up a tasty dessert. Really, it's a win-win situation.

Here is what we used to make our Dirt Cup creations!

1 Package Jello Chocolate Pudding Mix

1 Package Jello Vanilla Pudding Mix

1 Package Oreos (extra stuffed!)

1 package Chocolate Chips (Optional)

Gummy Worms

Constructing this dessert is easy and with a little prep work you can stand by while the kids go to town on making their own! We choose to make our pudding the traditional way (cold milk, stir, let stand for 5 minutes) but if you're looking to make it even easier use the pudding cups. After we made both the vanilla and chocolate pudding, I placed them in the fridge to chill and set, while that was happening, I took about 10 Oreos put them in a plastic Ziploc bag and used a rolling pin to crush them up. Then I let the kids go to town! Each of them took turns hitting the Oreos with a wooden spoon and boy did they feel accomplished afterwards! Just make sure to use a secure bag so Oreo crumbs aren't flying all over the place.

I placed the now Oreo crumbs or "Dirt" in a bowl and set aside. Next up was opening the gummy worms - and testing out a few to make sure they were still good! I grabbed the two bowls of pudding out of the fridge and now we were ready to put all the pieces together.

Let's Assembly

(We used Clear Plastic Cups)

1. Add layer of chocolate pudding

2. Add layer of crushed Oreos

* We added mini chocolate chips also*

3. Add another layer of pudding

*We added our vanilla layer next *

4. Add another layer of crushed Oreos

5. Add gummy worms

6. Top with whip cream

7. Enjoy!

I hope this fun and easy winter day activity / delicious treat helps get you and your kids whipping up some creations and spending some fun quality time in the kitchen together!

---

Remember it doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be FUN!

Let's Celebrate the F U N of 2022

I was on the search for something exciting to add to our calendar each month, but that something also had to be low key, just something fun to celebrate or look forward to each month. A new way to bring our family together and make new experiences! Then I came across a post on Pinterest about Fun and Unique Holidays to celebrate with kids for the month of January. There were lots of options to pick from and this is when I discovered each month has its own unique set of fun little celebrations to keep kids engaged and create new family traditions! I immediately repined this article and then kept finding more and more lists of these cute and whimsical "holidays" for each month.

Almost every day has some kind of quirky celebration to honor - so I decided planning ahead for TWO extra holidays each month would do and set out to make this one of my yearly family goals!

---

So here we are in the month of January and our two new oddball holidays our family will be celebrating are: National Bubble Bath Day and Chocolate Cake Day! These two picks were a no brainer for me, since my kids will do just about anything to take a bubble bath! Especially since these COLD North Carolina Winter days are reminding us just how far we are from our old days kicking at the beach in "Winter". The water is always calling us - National Bubble Bath Day to the rescue!

This fun little "holiday" was celebrated today! I hyped it up by putting it in Bold Print on our Family Calendar that hangs up for everyone to see - it piqued my kids interest right away and they began counting down the days until they got to swim in the bathtub. Little did they know mom was going to make it EXTRA special by filling the bathtub with Water Sensory Beads first and then adding bubble bath to it! When they walked into the bathroom in their favorite bathing suits, with bath toys handed picked, I thought their little eyes were going to pop out of their sockets at the sight of the Water Beads! They hopped in and we turned on some fun music while they spend over an hour whirling around in the water and playing with the Water Beads together! It turned out to be the perfect day for it too - the weather was sunny but a blistering 40 degrees! (For us transplant Floridians that's about below negative!). All in all, this was a fun, kid friendly "Holiday" that made us all laugh and spend time together. It was low key, minimal planning on my effort and no money was spent - but lots of smiles and two little girls who said they had the "best time!". So, I would say National Bubble Bath Day was a sucess!

---

Now we move on to Chocolate Cake Day! This delicious "holiday" is celebrated on January 27th - just in case you are looking for another reason to eat some chocolate! I believe this will be my favorite on this list of unique and odd holiday celebrations. My wheels are already turning on how I can plan to make this day extra special for my girls. Maybe do mini chocolate cakes and let them decorate, do chocolate lava cake, ice cream cake! So many possibilities!

I hope this inspires you to find your own unique holidays to sprinkle into your monthly calendar that makes fun days and experiences with your little ones! Pick ones that fit into your time and your budget, so you don't feel overwhelmed when they come around.

---

Remember it doesn't need to be prefect, it just needs to be fun!

---

Click on the link above to see a large list of special holidays you can start celebrating!