Costco Haul

We found some fun things from Costco this month.  Maybe your family would enjoy them, too!

We sampled these Belgian Boys pancakes and loved them!  They were so easy to heat up for breakfast for dinner.  They come in two packs.  It's obviously cheaper to make your own, BUT these are way cheaper than going out to breakfast or dinner.

My family LOVED these pumpkin streusel muffins.  The best Costco muffins we have tried so far!

Fully cooked bacon.  Pricey, but so handy to have on hand for meals.  We added it to breakfast, BLTs and burgers at dinner time.

I like to have these on hand for easy school lunches for me.

Another delicious lunch option for me.  I heat up one, add in a fruit and veggies and it's so good.

Apple cider donuts!  They were just as delicious as we hoped they'd be.  They were soft and so flavorful.

I'm adding these to the kid's lunch box this season.

I've never seen Reese's pieces in bulk!  I'm going to make some cookies and add these to lunch boxes.

This Honey Roasted Nut Mix is delicious.  Great for a snack or on a salad.

I grabbed these pants for Fletcher because they were on sale for $11.99.  The quality seems great and they look nicer than cotton joggers.

I made breakfast for dinner one night last week with many of these items.  We heated the pancakes up on the stove.  I might do the oven next time so I don't have to keep stirring to get them warmed.

Almost as delicious as the ones we get fresh from the orchard.

The kids were obsessed with this Costco dinner.

What are you buying at Costco this month?

Friday Faves

Happy Friday, friends!  Gosh, it's been a heavy week in the media.  I'm so sad at the state of the current events, can't believe Charlie Kirk is gone and am in shock at the sad things happening around the country.  Praying for Charlie's wife and kids and all of those who lost someone they loved this month.  I'm thinking of you Sarah V and your girls.  Praying for hope and change and peaceful days ahead.

It was a pretty stressful week at work that left us feeling exhausted most nights, but we still managed to squeeze in some favorite moments.

1. Friday Night Lights.  I volunteered to take Olive and her friends to their school's high school football game.  It was USA night.  She had a blast with her friends and I enjoyed sitting with another mom in the stands.  I brought all the girls back to our house for a sleepover to kick off the weekend.

2. We have a new Donut Bank near our house.  Fletcher and I got up early to go and get the girls donuts on Saturday morning.  The donuts were stocked.  We grabbed everyone's favorite donut and it was the easiest sleepover breakfast.

3. Fall baking!  Leo the Muffin Man helped me make some banana muffins.

4. Leo's class earned a trip to the hammock garden to read.  He loved it!

5. Apple cider donuts at Costco!  They were delicious!  Check back next week for a Costco Haul post.

6. I love seeing Leo and his buddies on the playground at school.  He has friends in my class.  We all get excited to see Leo on the playground.

7. Early wake ups.  We have all been waking up earlier.  Olive heads to school first and Leo has enjoyed dropping her off.  Silly guy.

8. Picture Day!  Fancy shirt.  Fancy hair.  Fletcher has picture day today.

9. Teacher treats!  One of our students brought us a box of cookies.  Yum!

10. Sunset bike and scooter rides.  Leo grabs some grass and says Let's be cowboys!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend with the people you love most.

See you back here on Monday!

Linking up with Momfessionals

Quick Pumpkin Bread

I tried a new pumpkin recipe this Fall.  It doesn't have any oil in it and it was so good!  Plus, it's easy for the kids to help make this recipe.  We have already made it twice this Fall.  I started with this recipe from Keeping It Simple Blog and made some changes.

We opted to make 2 loaves instead of 1 and added chocolate chips to one.  Both were so good.

Recipe:

1 2/3 c flour

1 1/4 c sugar

1 c pumpkin

1/2 c melted butter

1/2 c warm milk

2 eggs

2 t cinnamon

2 t pumpkin spice seasoning

1 t vanilla

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

sprinkle of salt

1/2 c chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients.  Add in wet ingredients.  Line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper.  Evenly pour batter into two loaf pans.  Add chocolate chips to one and stir around.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool and slice.  This bread is so yummy!  Perfect to make with your kids or perfect to share.

Easy Pork Chops & Sams Sliders

I've made it through the chaos of back to school and am back to cooking more these days.  I have two really easy dinner ideas for you today.

Sams sells these Member's Mark Prime Rib Ground Beef Sliders for under $20.  That's WAY cheaper than taking your family out to get burgers.  You get 18 sliders.  We love them!  They aren't frozen and we usually grill up the whole package.  It serves us a delicious dinner and some really great lunches for the week.  We tried the slider buns from the Sams bakery which were good.  They were the perfect size and not as sweet as the Hawaiian rolls we've tried before.   I season them like I do a regular burger - Kinder The Blend seasoning, seasoned salt and worcestershine sauce.  We did white cheddar cheese on top plus all the burger toppings.

Bacon, grilled onions, sauces, lettuce, tots and pickles.

Delicious burger bowls for lunches.

I never buy pork chops.  Kevin happened to win a golf tournament and won a ton of pork chops from a local place.  We got something like 100 pork chops so I had to learn how to fix them.  They were THICK.  I tenderized them.  Added The Blend Kinder seasoning to both sides.  Then grilled them on my grill pan with butter.  Melt some butter in a hot skilled and sear both sides.  Add butter on top.  Grill until nice and toasty.  Then I cut them up for everyone to eat.  That might seem silly, but the kids don't love messing with a bone and cutting up meat.  I don't love it either, but these delicious pork chops are worth it.

I serve porkchops with all kinds of sides - mac and cheese, roasted vegetables, salads, cornbread, etc.  My whole family loves pork chops this way.

Happy cooking!

Friday Faves

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope you've had a good week.  We are ready for the weekend.

The best parts of the week were:

1. Notre Dame lost their first game of the season, but we had the best time cheering for them.  It was a close game, with a lot of good things.  Touch down push ups are a little harder with Leo getting bigger.  The big kids thought it was hilarious that the score was 6-7 for a minute.  Anyone else have big kids saying 6-7 all day long??

Fighting Irish Leo.

2. Mr. Mittens loves a sunny spot.  He's getting fuzzier with age.

His grumpy face makes me laugh.

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3. We have been finding the coolest creatures in our yard.

It's hard to tell, but this month was way bigger than my hand.  I think it's a luna moth.

I went to leave for work and find the cutest, tiniest turtle walking up my driveway.  If we weren't on our way out the door, Timmy would have been our pet for the day.

4. You know rainbows are my favorite.  Leo is studying Noah this week at school and made me the prettiest rainbow.

5. Blue and Gold Fridays.  Our school is doing school spirit Fridays this year and it's so fun.

6. Olive says everything is so demure.  So I made her take a picture with this pillow at Marshalls.

We hit all of our favorite stores last weekend.  We both found a few things we loved.

This Piper K brand at Marshalls/TJ is SO GOOD.  I grabbed a scarf in my school colors and the cutest teacher scarf ever.  I can't wait to wear them.

7. Fall is my favorite.  I updated my Fall wreath for September with some mini pumpkins from Dollar Tree.  Read about it here.

8. Leo loves to draw!  I make lists and he's nearby drawing something cool like robots or characters he dreams up.

9. We celebrated my brother's birthday with a Chipotle inspired lunch that was AMAZING and celebrated Kevin's mom's birthday with delicious buttermilk cake.

10. We've had the prettiest sunsets and cloud situations this week.  The weather has been so nice.

A throwback favorite showed up on my timeline from 5 years ago.  Gahhhh.

Baby Leo loved his paci, his blanket and being worn in the Ergo.

Fletcher picked up sticks everywhere we went.

Olive in a unicorn dress leading the way.

I miss those sunset strolls around the neighborhood with littles!

Time is a thief.

I hope you have a great weekend!

See you back here next week.

Linking up with Momfessionals