Gift wrapping gone for good?

It seems like since the acceptance of gift bags as gift wrapped, we hardly ever see a paper wrapped gift! I don't know about you, but since I noticed the gift bag trend growing, I have put a strong effort toward paper wrapping all of my gifts. I love wrapping paper. It is so fun! Plus opening a wrapped gift is much more fun than pulling a gift out of a bag. :-D

Check out this gift I just wrapped for my boyfriends 10 year old niece! 

So long sweet summer...

As summer comes to an end, I feel a little sad because I will have to wait another whole year until I get to do the summery things that I love doing. Hanging out on the beach...working on my garden...soaking up the sun - I will miss you summertime! 
My absolute favorite summer thing to do is to have a late night bonfire at my parents cottage in Northern Michigan. I love to look up at the stars and look down and see a toasty fire. And you can't have a fire without s'mores! I think the only reason I love s'mores so much is because you can only have them when you have a cozy bonfire. 

What are you favorite summertime foods? 

What are you going to miss about summer?

My sister and I toasting marshmallows to make s'mores

A Mediterranean Twist on Stuffed Peppers

After an entire summer of attempting to grow grape tomatoes, they finally turned red! YAY! I wanted a recipe that really showcased their flavor. I know they are just tomatoes, but it took a whole 'lotta TLC to get these babies to grow for some reason. Anyway, I found a great recipe that showcased their flavor and had a ton of WOW factor. I would definitely use this kind of recipe when I have company over to be majorly impressive with very minimal work. These peppers have great (what I like to call) "food porn" value. The presentation is awesome with these yummy stuffed peppers. I served one per person with a side of warm pita bread. This recipe creates a lot of juices that are good for dipping the bread in.

Mediterranean Stuffed Red Peppers (a Martha Stewart recipe)


Ingredients
2 small red bell peppers (5 to 6 ounces each), halved lengthwise through stem, seeds and ribs removed
1 heaping cup cherry tomatoes - I used grape tomatoes
1 1/2 ounces feta cheese (preferably goat's milk), crumbled
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, coarsely chopped
8 basil leaves, torn into pieces
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil


Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in top third. Place bell pepper halves, cut sides up, in a baking dish. Toss together tomatoes, feta, thyme, and basil in a medium bowl; season with black pepper. Fill each pepper with tomato and feta mixture, dividing evenly. Drizzle each with oil.


Bake stuffed peppers, covered with aluminum foil, until they begin to soften, about 30 minutes. Remove foil; continue to bake until tomatoes begin to burst and cheese turns light brown, 13 to 15 minutes more. Remove stuffed peppers from oven, and serve warm.

Below are pictures of my own stuffed peppers: