I’m slowly giving into the fact that it’s no longer summer. The weather in Kansas has been so wishy washy…75 one day, 30 another. I’ve been holding onto those 75 degree days with all my might, but they have been slowly disappearing, giving way to gray skies and colder temperatures. I think we saw our last warm day for awhile at the beginning of this week.

With the cold weather comes the return to comfort food…those dishes that aren’t so popular in the hotter days of summer resurface for the season. My attempt to hold onto summer sometimes shows up in what I make for comfort food. For example, we have Ham and Swiss sandwiches all the time in the summer so to “winterize” that favorite, I like to make a Ham and Swiss soup. This is one of my absolute favorite “hearty” soups to make, for good reason. The flavors blend together so nicely and it really is one of those soups that warms you up from the inside out….

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Friends… I hear you. We are struggling! This back to school business is hard. After a summer of relaxed bedtimes, come and go as you please schedules, and meals at all the odd hours of the day, this whole getting back into the swing of a rigid school schedule is tough.

I never thought that having 4 kids in 3 different schools, on 3 different starting and ending schedules would be difficult. Not to mention going 4 different directions after school for the various activities… tutoring, football, volleyball, dance, school of religion, etc. I’d love to be one of those bloggers posting 25 great back to school breakfast recipe roundups or 50 quick and easy after school meals, but to be honest with you, after 1 week down I can tell this school year we are going to be lucky to hug and say goodnight at the end of the day, let alone sit down to elaborate meals at the same time every night. My mojo for the 2014-2015 school year is simply going to be to survive.

I’m not complaining… just keeping it real. I love my life, my kids and our crazy schedules and wouldn’t have it any other way! I just know we, like so many of you, are going to be facing challenges this year to stay connected and sane….

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Photo used with permission from The National Pork Association

Last week I had the opportunity to have coffee with Jodi, one of the Industry Relations talents with the Kansas Pork Association. I love working with brands, but I really love working with brands when I can truly get to know the person / people behind the brand. To me, my blog has always been about personal connections. Anytime I can develop a friendship with someone I am working with, it means that much more to me. I choose the brands I work with many times based on the potential for relationship building. I don’t want just a one off partnership. I want to work with people who care about me and my family and I likewise share the same sentiments.

Jodi and I hit it off instantly over our coffee date. She’s a Florida native, a horse lover, and lucky her… she gets to live in Kansas now 😉  She is passionate about her job and the quality of work the Kansas Pork Association is doing across the state. The work she is doing with farmers is important, and I am so happy to partner up with them.

The Kansas Pork Association currently has a grand giveaway going on over on their facebook page! If you are a resident of Kansas or Missouri, simply go “like” the Kansas Pork Association Facebook page to register for one of TEN Holiday Ham gift baskets! It’s an awesome promotion going on now through December 16th.

If you are looking for an awesome recipe to place on your holiday table this year, this Sweet Ale Glazed Pork from the National Pork Association is one of the best you’ll find. Enjoy!

Recipe: Sweet Ale Glazed Pork (Recipe and Photo Courtesy of The National Pork Association)

• 7-8 pounds bone-in ham half, spiral-cut, cooked, with Honey Glaze Mix included
• 3/4 cup brown ale, OR porter beer
• 1 teaspoon mustard, grained
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Place ham, face down, on rack in shallow baking pan. Cover pan tightly with foil. Bake in heated oven for 1 3/4 – 2 1/2 hours or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest portion (not touching bone) registers 135 degrees F. (about 15-18 minutes per pound).
2. Meanwhile, pour beer in small saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, until beer is reduced to 3 tablespoons, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in glaze mix, mustard and pepper.
3. Remove ham from oven. Increase oven heat to 425 degrees F. Spread glaze mixture over ham. Bake, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes to set glaze until 140 degrees F. Remove ham from oven and cool slightly. Loosely cover with foil and refrigerate until serving time or up to 1 day in advance. Serves 14 to 16

This is a sponsored post on behalf of the Kansas Pork Association. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

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I start each summer off with high hopes and big plans. We make summer “bucket lists” – essentially outlining the fun things we want to do before summer ends. In reality, I spend the last one to two weeks of summer cramming in as much activity as I can so I don’t suffer the post-summer mama guilt that seems to haunt me at the end of each and every summer.

To try to make up for my lack of ability to actually check off every item on our summer bucket list, I start each school year being super on top of things at breakfast time. There’s no cereal, bagels or pop tarts… only home cooked, hot of the stove or out of the oven breakfasts. This lasts for, oh, about one week then we are back to our typical grab whatever you can and rush out the door mornings. Tell me you can relate… please!

I make a version of these handy little egg cups wrapped in bacon, but thought I’d try them without the bacon and instead adding a little bit of chopped ham. Friends… these are so incredibly easy, I promise. Send your kids off with these delicious, breakfast goodies in their bellies and you’ll feel like a parent who has their stuff together, even if you are only faking it.

Recipe: Ham and Egg Breakfast Cups

These can be placed in the refrigerator after they are baked and reheated in the microwave for a quick and easy breakfast on the run!

• 12 eggs
• 1 cup chopped deli ham
• 2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Spray a muffin pan generously with Pam cooking spray
3. Crack one egg into each hole of the muffin pan, using a fork to gently break the yolk.
4. Sprinkle each egg with ham, salt, cracked black pepper and cheese.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. Pop out of muffin tins and serve.

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The deadline for the Adopt a Blogger event is coming up. Veteran bloggers… we need your help! Sign up to adopt a newbie blogger by this Friday (click on the Adopt a Blogger icon above). Newbies, you can still sign up as well. This will be a lot of fun and a great way to encourage people in the food blogging community to connect! Thanks to the 50+ of you who have already signed up to be adopted or to adopt a blogger! You will be getting your blogging match next week. If you are interested in the HTML code to add the Adopt a Blogger icon on your site, let me know!

It does not take a lot to confuse me…I will readily admit that. Some things in “Blogland” really have me perplexed the past couple of days. Maybe by me posting my open admission of confusion here, someone can help me figure out how to get out of this fog by solving my problems!

#1) What is going on with those of you who use Blogger as your host? I cannot make comments on your blog posts any longer without doing so as anonoymous. Did Blogger change this on purpose, or is it just a glitch in the system while they are making improvements or something? The dropping of the URL field for non-Blogger commenters just seems like a step backwards to me, so maybe I am completely missing something. I noticed something about the blog owner being able to go in and change a setting where users can sign in under an Open-ID. What in the world does that mean? Anyone out there care to help me figure this all out so I can continue commenting on Blogger blogs non-anonoymously?

#2 – For the past couple of months, when I write and then publish a post, I will come back to visit my blog and notice that certain keywords are highlighted and linked back to an Amazon.com product. I have an Amazon associates ID, but did not knowingly set up for the automatic links to take place. I’ve gone back to the Amazon associate page to try to figure out how to remove the links, but I cannot find that option any where. Anyone out there understand what I am talking about? Do you know how to get those links removed and how to keep them from automatically happening?

#3) I am really not the only one in the world losing my mind. Head over to my family blog for a funny story and to see what I’m talking about.

For a recipe that is guaranteed not to confuse anyone, take a look below for a (not light) comfort food dish! It is so non-confusing, even I could do it!

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