Miss Attitude and My Little Sous Chef

Miss Hannah BEGS to go "side" (aka outside) all the time!

"Hotttt".  I hear this word often during the dinner - even if the food has been sitting there forever and is already cold!  She waves her hand and blows on her food.

Miss Hannah loves carbs and cheese (I mean who doesn't!?!).  The bread was the first thing to go off her plate this night.  No surprise.

I've been struggling with Hannah for a couple weeks now to brush her teeth.  She was really good about it, but lately it's a battle every morning and every night.  The other morning she won (and my foot lost).  She dropped a very heavy toy on my foot as I was chasing her around the bathroom attempting to brush her teeth.  The bruise is even worse now - 4 days later.  Ouch!

Walking with an attitude at the park!

"Rawwwrrr"  Riding the dinosaur toy at the park.

Walking with more attitude at home after the park.

Hannah is very interested in "helping" me in the kitchen.  I'm secretly excited about it even though it can be a pain trying to get dinner together with her crying to "hep".  I love that she wants to learn how to cook and help me in the kitchen.  I grew up helping in the kitchen too and I love to cook for my family now - I hope she will too some day!

We made some really AWESOME stuffed green bell peppers the other night.  YUMMY!

Recipe scaled to make 6 1/2 bell peppers (3 servings for adults). Just double to make for more!

Ingredients:

3 large green bell peppers

1/2 lb ground beef (or you could you any other lean ground meat)

1/2 chopped onion

1/2 cup brown rice

1/2 cup water

2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 can petite diced tomatoes with juice

Salt and Pepper to season

Shredded cheddar cheese (could also use low fat)

1 can tomato soup

In pan brown beef and onion; drain fat. Add rice, water, Worcestershire sauce, and diced tomatoes. Cover and simmer 15 minutes until rice is soft (I added a little more water because it didn't seem like enough to plump up the rice).

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut peppers in half lengthwise and scoop out ribs and seeds. Add peppers to water and boil 5 minutes to soften - this part was key!

Place peppers cut side up in baking dish. Fill with beef/rice mixture. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. Mix 1 can tomato soup with just enough water to make it a gravy consistency (honestly, I did not add much because I wanted the sauce to be pretty thick). Pour tomato sauce over peppers. Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Be sure to scoop up the extra sauce from the bottom of the pan and put on top of peppers as you serve!  I served with rolls and boiled potatoes with butter and parsley - so good!

Hannah's main job is stirring.  She also loves sprinkling cheese, sticking her fingers in everything, opening packages/boxes, putting salt/pepper/seasonings on food, and she even likes to help wipe down the counters after we're done!

Wine and cooking with my Hannah - great night!

And lastly - here's Hannah being naughty and climbing in/semi-breaking a basket in our living room.  She can be a trouble-maker sometimes, but she's a cute trouble-maker!