It's a Circus!

I just finished and shipped my latest order, and I love the way everything turned out. Thought I'd share in case you're looking for party ideas. This party package is for a precious girl's circus-themed first birthday party. I thought the mom had a great idea. She wanted a birthday banner that she can use each year for each child. So I did the name separate from the "Happy Birthday" and focused on gender-neutral colors including the pinks and purples only in the name banner. I love, love, love all the bright colors!

1 Onesie - Front

And who can resist a rainbow ruffled hiney? =)

Circus Bunting (x2 - each was 13-feet long)

Birthday Bib

And the birthday banner

These projects could not be more fun to create!

Simmer Pot

Ahhh, I love Fall. And, judging by my candle cabinet, I'm a tad obsessed with Fall scents. I just always wish my house could smell more authentic than some chemically-crafted candle. As I was baking some pumpkin bread the other day, I thought I'd throw some of the spices into some water and boil it to emit the scent. It was heavenly. Every day since I've loaded up my mini crockpot with fruit, spices, and water to give my house the perfectly real scents of the season. Since I peel an apple at least once a day for the kids, I've been saving the skins and core to throw into the pot. My favorite combination so far is apple skin, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla. But the combinations are endless. An added bonus - when I pour the contents down the drain each evening, it cleans and freshens the garbage disposal nicely.

Here's the how-to:

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil (on the stovetop or in the microwave). Pour into a crockpot (although you can always just leave it on the stove), add your favorite combination of scents (apple peels, apple juice, oranges, lemons, cloves, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, lavender, etc.), and let simmer all day. Make sure to check it frequently and add water as needed. Yum!

Church bags

My 3-year-old is at the age now when she has things for Sunday school that need to be carried back and forth each week between church and home. She has a backpack that we use often, but we always switch it out with her Leapster and accessories, her Tag reader and books, and her Sunday school things. When we showed up to church with her Tag reader and books sans Bible and Sunday school supplies one Sunday, I knew it was time to get a bag that's solely for Sunday school. Of course her brother had to have one too. I picked up some plain canvas craft bags at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 (and half off!). Then I grabbed a handful of fabric scraps, backed them with Heat-n-Bond, cut out some letters and shapes (I used this tutorial for the flowers on Hannah's bag), and decorated a bag for each of them. Hannah's carries her Bible, her memory verses, and a snack or two. And Parker's holds a couple of diapers, wipes, snacks, and a toy. I already love that they are always packed and ready to grab. And the fact that the whole project was less than $8 for BOTH bags is a win for sure!

Color Finder

There are so very many ideas floating around the blog world for using paint chips from your local paint store. I came across one I had to try, and it's been a huge hit. I just grabbed a rainbow assortment of paint chips, hole-punched one corner for a ring binder clip, and hole-punched the opposite corner of each to use as a see-through hole for color matching. I tossed it into our library book bucket, and the kids have used it to match colors in their library books, magazines and catalogs, and even their toys. It's provided hours of fun and learning in one simple, free project. I'd highly recommend this for your little ones.

A Christmas Tradition to Get Started on Now

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I started a tradition right after I first got married (over 9 years ago!) that has been so much fun. Each year I put up a small, tabletop Christmas tree on a sofa table right in our foyer. I make handmade ornaments (but you could just as easily and with just as much meaning purchase a variety of store-bought ones) to fill the tree. Then, each and every guest that passes through our doors during the Christmas season picks an ornament off the tree to take home. Even the Verizon installers chose one a couple of years back. The two grown men acted like kidsina candy store over homemade ornaments. It just makes people happy! And it, in turn, will bless your heart too.

Need some handmade ornament ideas? Here are some of my favorites:

Paint Stick Ornaments with Free Printables

Altered Canvas Ornaments

Felt Flower Ornament

Rag Fabric Flower Ornament

And many more...

A Solid Foundation of Faith

My kids are now 3 years, 5 months and 17 months old. Neither are in preschool, so the three of us hang out all day every day together. After carefully considering whether or not to send our 3-year-old to preschool this year, we've decided to keep her home instead. I used to teach at a preschool, and my plan was to start to implement that curriculum at home with both kids. But my 3-year-old already knows all of her shapes, colors, numbers, letters, letter sounds, and most letter blends. She's starting to read and write 3-letter words. We have zero structured learning time as-is; she is just a sponge and loves to learn. I do not feel like she needs any supplementing in that area. She's already where she needs to be for Kindergarten, and I have no interest in rushing any more schooling in unless she's ready and seeking.

So my heart really turned more toward a year-long vacation Bible school set-up. I have such a desire to build the foundation of faith here, in my home, prior to sending my kids off to Kindergarten. My problem is not at all a lack of ideas, resources, or time. It's 100% a lack of planning. We are always dreaming up projects. But, after finally gathering everything to complete them, my 3-year-old has typically lost interest. Often our last-minute ideas require trips to the craft store to complete. I really wanted a way to have a loose plan for each week that includes gathering supplies for different projects to have at-the-ready for times when boredom strikes.

I've been working hard for the past week on a new blog chronicling my plans. A Solid Foundation of Faith is my new baby. Each week I'll add a theme based on a Bible story or concept. I'll list activities, recipes, adventures, service ideas, books, songs, and fingerplays that go along with the theme. From then on it's up to each person how to use it. You can go all-out and schedule your week around the activities. Or, like me, you can pick and choose the projects that would work for your family, gather all of the supplies each weekend, and pull them out when you have the opportunity.

I'll use it much like Tiny Tidbits to feature ideas here and there that I've seen online too. And I'll share with you some things that I learned as a chapel leader of kids 18 months old to 2nd grade over the years. But, unlike this site, the activities will all be geared toward the under Kindergarten crowd, specifically shaping their hearts for Christ.

If this is of any interest to you, I hope you'll come visit!

Women's Fitness - A Great Resource

Another fellow mom of an April 2008 child shared her website with me, and I wanted to add it to my sidebar, but not before pointing you all in that direction. Rachel, a practicing physical therapist, mom to two boys, and a woman committed to healthy living and physical fitness, started a website as a way to compile reliable advice for women regarding living a healthy lifestyle. I hope you'll take a minute to browse her site, and I hope you find as much helpful information as I have.

Here's the link: FitMommy

Kids' Table

We always pull our card table out for the kids when we have people over for dinner. I have an inexpensive (and pretty ugly) tablecloth that I usually throw on top, but last time we had dinner guests I grabbed my daughter's roll of butcher paper to cover the surface. I had fun doodling pictures for the kids to color, and it was a hit. We ended up keeping it up overnight, and my daughter did some more coloring the next morning. Simple, inexpensive, and interactive - win-win-win.

A Sweet Tradition

When I had my first baby, my sister-in-law brought a couple dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies along with a little card to set out in my post-partum room. The card thanked the doctors and nurses for taking such good care of me. It got a huge positive response, and several of the nurses would just drop in to grab a cookie. It was also nice to have something sweet to offer all of our visitors.

It's become somewhat of a tradition in my circle of friends and family, and I loved sharing it with a friend who just had her second baby recently. Since she loves, loves, loves all things s'mores, I went with that theme. I made Golden Graham s'mores bars inspired by this recipe, cut them into 2" squares, stuck them in a plastic bag, and tied it with an "It's a Girl!" ribbon. I printed the sign above, and stuck everything in a cute gift bag for her to carry to the hospital. This might be one of my very favorite baby-related traditions now!

Garlic and Herb Pull-Apart Bread

I saw a delicious-looking recipe for pull-apart bread that I was dying to try. The problem is that it used homemade bread dough that incorporated most of the flavorings. Sure, it's ideal. But I don't often have time for all that. So, after consulting my sister, I came up with a shortcut recipe that was a huge hit.

Garlic and Herb Pull-Apart Bread

2 tubes of refrigerated flaky biscuits

1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

seasoned salt

black pepper

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Heavily grease a bundt pan, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, open your biscuit tubes, separate them, and cut them into quarters.

Combine the melted butter and seasonings in a bowl. Dunk each piece of biscuit in the butter mixture, and toss it into your greased bundt pan. Repeat with half of the biscuit pieces. Then sprinkle one half cup of the cheese over this layer making sure it falls between each nook and cranny.

Top with the rest of the biscuit pieces dunked in butter, and finish with the rest of the Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Turn onto a plate, and serve warm.

Rainbow Ice

We've been HOT in Texas this summer and have had to keep most of our activities indoors. One afternoon my 3-year-old and I made a tray of rainbow ice cubes, and they were a huge hit! I just filled up a small plastic tea pot with water for her to fill each cube, then we squeezed one small drop of food coloring into each one. We stuck to mainly primary colors. She used a toothpick to stir each cube.

Once these were frozen, the possibilities are absolutely endless. My daughter had so much fun mixing a couple of cubes into a Sprite to see what color it would turn. I always cool her oatmeal with 2 ice cubes after it's cooked, so I used a blue and a red one. As she stirred and her oatmeal turned purple, she was thrilled. You can also stick a toothpick in these as they're freezing to use as a handle. Then, when they're frozen, the kids can use the toothpick to hold it to paint on paper outside. They could also use the colored cubes as a sensory activity floating in water in the sink.

Hope you have as much fun with these as we did!

Long-distance Baby Shower

Some of our great friends from our neighborhood had their second child, a baby girl, Saturday. They are a part of our neighborhood group of 4 couples who meet every other weekend for Bible study and dinner, and we are so incredibly blessed by them. They moved here a year ago from the west coast, so most of their close friends and family are way too far away to have made it in for a baby shower. The rest of us girls from the group wanted to throw an unforgettable shower that somehow included the long-distance friends and family. We had so much fun, and it turned out to be a hit.

We decided to send invitations to everyone with information on the when's and where's of the shower in case they wanted to send a gift. We also included a little note asking everyone to email a family photo along with a message or favorite quote that we could turn into a photobook for the nursery. The invitations were simple - plain cardstock cards (sold in bulk at Hobby Lobby) with a 2D cupcake sticker. I just ran them through my printer before attaching the stickers.

Since the guests were our four couples, we wanted to do something a little different than traditional shower foods. Instead we made up a menu of the mom-to-be's pregnancy cravings. Chili-cheese dogs, french fries, strawberry limeades, and some crunchy snack-food appetizers rounded out the menu. She also loves all-things-s'mores, so dessert were these delicious s'mores cupcakes (recipe here).

We really wanted to keep the decor simple too and focus our budget more on our gifts. We made tissue paper pom poms in the nursery colors to hang from the chandelier.

We also used my Onesie Kit (more in the shop asap!) to make a clothesline filled with precious girly gifts.

It was so fun to have a table filled with gifts from friends and family from so far away.

We wanted to be sure to include something special from our kids. So we gathered them all up (including the baby's big brother secretly), and used their fingerprints as "sprinkles" on this cupcake decoration for the nursery.

We played two fun shower games - Math the Mom-to-Be, and Celebrity Baby Names.

And then we opened gifts. The finished photobook was priceless. I used Mixbook for the first time, and it was quick, easy, and precious!

What a neat memory of such a special evening.

We had such a great night celebrating!

Freezer Paper Stenciling

Have you ever tried freezer paper stenciling? I tried my hand at it a few weeks ago for the first time, and I am hooked! I offered to make a t-shirt for a friend's little boy's first birthday. It was an Uno themed party, and she couldn't find the shirt she had in mind. She described it to me, and I got to work. I wanted a very clean, almost screen-printed look - not a handmade, artsy look. I bought a handful of shirts thinking this probably wouldn't work, and I had a Plan B and Plan C. I was shocked when it turned out almost flawless after my first attempt! The design itself was the most complicated part as I had to create it from scratch. But I used my SCAL software, Inkscape, and my Cricut to cut the stencil. But it was a lot easier than I imagined despite the many steps. Then I just ironed the freezer paper onto the shirt, and painted 3 thin coats of white fabric paint. I held my breath as I peeled the freezer paper off, and I was so pleased with how crisp the lines were. If you haven't tried this, you should!

Here's a great tutorial if you're interested. Happy stenciling!

Infant Carrier Tent

I'm so sorry for my blog hiatus. Life just sneaks up on me sometimes, and I can't find a spare moment. I'm hoping to be a bit more disciplined now that Fall is almost here and things have started back into a much more normal routine.

For now, I wanted to share my latest project. We had some friends in town last weekend, and they brought their precious twins over one night for dinner. A friend had made them infant carrier tents that I thought were so clever! I had never seen one before, and I instantly knew I had to make one for one of my good friends who actually delivered baby #2 this morning. The twins' mommy went over the features she loved and the features she thought could be improved upon. And I set to work...

I love the finished product (so much so that my baby fever hit an all-time high after completing this! I better get out to meet that new baby asap to cure the fever!).

I copied the binding on the twins' tents, and I think it is precious. Basically I just sewed the top and bottom pieces together wrong-sides facing. Then I cut the edge into fringe. It should fray a bit when washed. So cute and unique.

I also gave the straps a little ruffle decor which I think adds so much to what could be a very plain piece.

Since my friend plans to nurse, I made this strap that matched which can be thrown in the diaper bag to turn any blanket into a nursing cover.

I love whipping up quick, easy, and precious baby goodies!

Almond Flour Pancakes

We eat a LOT of pancakes around here. It's one of the handful of things that I can count on actually getting into my kids on a regular basis, and it's so nice to have them already cooked and ready-to-go in the mornings. Both of my kids eat them plain and even cold, so I can grab the straight from the fridge as I'm making my cup of coffee and toss them at the hungry babes. =)

I'm always trying new things to increase their nutritional punch, and I recently stumbled upon recipes using almond flour. At my last visit to Sprouts the raw almonds were only $3.99/lb, so I grabbed a bunch. Using my coffee grinder, I ground all of them into flour, dumped it into a Mason jar, and stored it in the freezer. It can be used just like regular flour to boost the protein in things like pancakes, muffins, etc. A word of caution - it is incredibly bland. I'm looking to test out roasting the flour a little before baking with it. I wonder how that would affect the flavor.

So, here's my newest pancake recipe using almond flour. It's an evolving recipe for certain, and I'll be sure to post updates.

Almond-Flour Pancakes

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup fruit/veggie puree (these were banana and sweet potato)

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl with a wire whisk. Add the wet ingredients, and stir just to combine. Let this sit for 10 minutes, then cook on a hot griddle. I set my griddle to 375 and cook them for approximately 3 minutes per side. But I've found that this varies tremendously depending on the cooking method, so make sure to test it out.

Serve with butter and syrup. Or, for the kids, serve cut into strips to dip into applesauce, yogurt, syrup, or fruit puree. Yum!

Storage containers I couldn't live without

I am a very organization-minded person. When I'm considering anything, my first question is "Where am I going to put it?" We have a very small house with only one living area, so it's very easy to feel overrun by stuff. I love to streamline, purge things, and keep everything organized, and I thought it might be helpful to share with you my favorite storage containers.

Small Toy Storage:

For most of our toys with lots of pieces (Mr. Potato Head sets, building blocks, Little People, all letter toys - magnetic, foam, and letter blocks, etc.) I use the Expedit storage system from Ikea. I absolutely love these pieces because they're very sturdy, very inexpensive, and look higher-end than the equivalent at Target or Walmart. The good: price, quality, style. The bad: the storage shelves are not the standard 12x12. The fact that they are bigger (15x16, I think) is good for more storage room, but it limits the options for baskets. After 5 months of using what we already had basket-wise, I saved up for all of the baskets that actually fit the system. I twas well worth the cost. Now the toys are completely hidden, it's stylish, and the baskets are HUGE!

Here my son demonstrates their use while wearing his favorite storage container. ;) Goofball.

Expedit Storage Shelf

Nasum storage basket

Large Toy Storage:

Big toys (Fisher Price racetrack, farm and animals, basically anything awkwardly shaped and that does not fold) are so very hard to store. If I have them out on a shelf, my house looks like a toy store. They don't fit underneath couches or beds, and most cabinets are too shallow to fit them. We got a wardrobe, also from Ikea, several years back - way before kids. It has changed rooms and purposes more than any other piece of furniture in our house, and we LOVE it. It was only $199, and it has held up very well. It now resides in our family room and holds (and fits!) all of our bulky toys, all of our kids' art supplies, my sewing machine and a box of current projects, diapering supplies for the main living area, books (which I rotate out often), puzzles, games, and stationary/office supplies.

Hemnes Wardrobe

Books, Art Supplies, Puzzles, Computer Supplies:

I absolutely love these locking-lid storage boxes. We have them all over the house for various things. I love that they have a handle on top for easy transporting. These hold art supplies that we can easily grab and carry to the table, books that can be carried outside to read on a blanket, and even our bubbles that we keep in the pantry but carry outside to play. They're inexpensive and sturdy and incredibly handy.

Sterlite Show-off with Locking Lid

Sand, Rice, Other Small Manipulatives:

As you all know by now, we measure, pour, stir, rake, and funnel sand, rice, beans, etc. on a daily basis. My kids love to play with these types of small manipulatives, so we needed a quick, easy, and secure way to store them. In our wardrobe, I have one of these 9x13's of rice, beans, and sand. I also have a separate container with spoons, funnels, measuring cups, etc. They stack easily, are shallow enough that the kids can play with the contents right in this container, and they're sturdy. These are also the perfect size for cookies and casserole leftovers. I think I probably have 15 of these, and I use them ALL the time.

Rubbermaid TakeAlong Container

Shoes, Bed Linens, Unseasonal Clothes

As for just about everything else that doesn't have a home, we keep them in under-the-bed containers. We do not have a linen closet in our house - not even closets in our bathrooms. We have one small coat closet (where I have to store things like the high chair, gift wrapping supplies, pool floaties, life jackets, rain gear, etc.), and that's it save for the closets in the bedrooms. So we store all of our bed linens in under-the-bed containers under the bed for which they're intended. We also use under-the-bed containers for shoes and all of the opposite-season clothing. These are so convenient because they can be easily moved for cleaning. I typically use my Roomba for under-the-bed vacuuming. So, I just lift the dust ruffles, pile the under-the-bed boxes on top of the beds, and let the Roomba run. This way there are no loose things to pick up to clean. Nice and simple.

Sterlite Underbed Storage Box (with wheels - a must!)

Hope these solutions are helpful for you! What are your favorite storage solutions?

Strawberry Vanilla Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

One of the many benefits of having a 3-year-old daughter is that there is always a reason to make pink cupcakes. =) I was browsing blogs Thursday afternoon, my daughter just happened to glance at the computer when I was on this site, and we were making cupcakes by the next morning. They sounded perfect as-is, but I couldn't resist making a coconut cream cheese frosting instead. They turned out to be delicious, and we can't stop eating them! Delicious.

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

(Followed exactly from this recipe)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup fresh chopped strawberries

4 tablespoons milk

Using my stand mixer, I beat the butter and sugar for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add eggs to the creamed sugar and butter one-at-a-time, and mix until combined. Add vanilla. Increase the speed to high, and add the strawberries mixing thoroughly to break down (this took 2-3 minutes for me). Turn down the speed, and add the flour mixture 1 cup at a time, and mix until well-combined.

Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full, and bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let cool completely, and then frost.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

1 block of cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

1-2 cups of powdered sugar (I used 1 because I don't like it super-sweet)

1 tsp coconut extract

1 1/2 cups sweetened and shredded coconut flakes

Beat the cream cheese and butter in a sand mixer until well-combined. Add the sugar and coconut extract, and beat until smooth. If the frosting is too thick, you can add milk 1 tablespoon at a time to thin. Using one cup of powdered sugar made mine the perfect consistency. Stir in the coconut by hand, and use to frost your favorite fruity cupcake.

Baked Ziti

The past week or so I've been doubling my dinner recipes so I can have meals to freeze. After making a recipe that turned out way too big for our family and splitting it into 2 8x8s instead of 1 9x13, I realized how easy it would be to just make 2 of some things. During these summer months it seems like we're much busier during the day. It makes it hard some days to plan dinners, and we've gotten into a bad habit of eating out way more than we should. This baked ziti is one of those recipes that is simple to make and easily doubles. I'm actually going to post the doubled version since I never ever make the regular recipe.

Baked Ziti

2 boxes of ziti, cooked according to the directions

1 large jar of Prego (or I usually do 3 of the heart healthy smaller jars)

1 large onion, chopped

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork sausage

16 ounces of sour cream

8 ounces of ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded mozarella cheese

8 slices of provolone cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, saute the onion for 5 minutes. Add the ground pork sausage and ground beef and brown. When it is all cooked, pour the meats and the pasta sauces into the cooked ziti, and stir.

In a seperate bowl, stir together the sour cream, ricotta cheese, and mozarella. I usually add a sprinkle of dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, and fresh black pepper.

Grease 2 9x13 baking dishes. Spread a layer of the pasta with sauces (1/4 of the total in each dish so you'll use half of the pasta in this layer) in the bottom of each dish. Top with a spreading of the sour cream/ricotta/mozarella mixture, then 4 slices of provolone cheese per dish. Repeat the pasta and sauce layer then the sour cream/ricotta/mozarella layer, then top with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

If you're going to freeze them, wrap them tight with plastic wrap and freeze them now.

To finish (a fully-thawed dish), bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheeses are melted.

Swiss Chicken

I logged on to post an update to my Swiss Chicken recipe only to find that I had never posted the original recipe in the first place! I can't believe this staple hasn't made the blog yet. It's my favorite go-to for nights when I just need comfort food. It works perfectly in the crock pot, freezes easily, and uses mainly pantry ingredients I always have on-hand. I've taken this to church potlucks, dinner clubs, and to friends who have just had babies. Hope you love it as much as we do. (And sorry I don't have a picture. I'll try to remember to snap one the next time I make this.)

Swiss Chicken

4-6 chicken breasts (frozen are perfectly fine)

4-6 slices ofSwiss cheese (1 per chicken breast)

1 can reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup

1 cup of milk

1 box of stuffing mix, any flavor

1 stick of butter, melted

Grease the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish, and preheat the oven to 350. Lay as many chicken breasts as will fit in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then cover each breast with a slice of Swiss cheese. Stir together the soup and the milk, and pour over the top. Sprinkle the entire box of stuffing mix (still dry) over the top, then drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 55-60 minutes.

Crockpot version: Just layer the ingredients in the same way, and set the crockpot for 8 hours on low. It will most likely be done before then, but I've never had the problem of overcooking or burning with this recipe.

Notes: I had a craving for Thanksgiving dinner the other day, so I made this recipe. I had some leftover whole cranberry sauce from my pork tenderloin recipe, so I topped the chicken with a spoonful of that once I served it, and it was delicious. It definitely hit the spot. It made me realize that this dish would taste delicious using turkey instead of chicken too.

Father's Day Casserole

We had a Bible study dinner for my husband's birthday the evening before Father's Day. I made the pork recipe I recently posted in addition to a cheesecake. I had planned on also throwing together a casserole that I could put in the oven the next morning for a Father's Day breakfast in bed, but I completely forgot. We woke up Sunday morning with no plan and very few ingredients. While scouring the refrigerator, I came up with the idea to make a manly casserole with some of the leftovers and ingredients. It was a hit, so I thought I'd share.

Father's Day Casserole

6 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup heavy cream

salt & pepper

4-6 slices of bread

1 cup of leftover shredded pork and about 2 tablespoons of juices

4 ounces of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup your favorite shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)

Tear bread into pieces, and toss in the bottom of a well-greased 9x9 baking dish. Lay the pork over the top, and sprinkle the juices all over the bread.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, cream, salt, pepper, and cream cheese. Pour over the top of the bread and pork, and press down with the back of a spoon ensuring that the bread soaks up all of the liquid. Sprinkle the top with the shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the egg is set and the top is browned slightly.