chicken wild rice soup

Here is one of or favorite cold weather soups.  A few people have asked me for the recipe and it has taken me a while, sorry everyone.  Those of you who know me know that I really only measure ingredients when I have to.  Sometimes this makes it hard to share a recipe because I am not sure of the exact measurement of all of the ingredients.  So last this time when I made this soup I was a little more careful to write it down.  So here it is.

The recipe I first tried called for cooked chicken and canned chicken broth but if I am going to cook the chicken I might as well make chicken broth as well right. So here is what I start with in my crock-pot.  

Chicken Broth and Chicken:
2-3 chicken breasts
2-3 carrots chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 tsp salt
few shakes of pepper (is that a measurement?)
1/2 tsp celery salt
(I don't always have celery but if you have it use 1-2 stalks and add a little more salt)
1/2 Tb Parsley
I then fill my crock-pot full with water about 8 cups.
Cook this on high for 4-6 hrs or low 8-10hrs.

Sometimes I use dehydrated carrots and onions in the chicken broth instead.  Whatever you have on hand will work.  When the chicken is done scoop out chicken to a cutting board and then strain the broth.  This will make more that what you need for the soup.  I put my extra in a glass jar and put it in the fridge for a later dinner in the week or freeze it in ice cubes trays for longer storage.

For the soup:

Cook 2 boxes of Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice (original)  with seasoning according to package directions.
When done add about 3 cups of chicken broth and cubed cooked chicken.
You may also add some the diced carrots or celery from your broth if you like.
Add 1/2 cup of cream (this is a key ingredient) and about 1/2 cup milk.  You can adjust the milk to more or less depending on the consistency you would like.

The recipe really is pretty simple.  If you want to use canned chicken broth and use some other type of cooked chicken that would work also.  Hope you like it!!

picture blocks

Here is a fun halloween decorations that is personal to your family and pretty inexpensive.  I have seen a lot of these pictures blocks so we decided to try it.  I edited my photos and put the text letter on the photo in Picasa from Google.  It is a free software download that I use a lot.  I am sure there are many other photo editing software programs that would do something similar.  I then had the pictures printed just in regular 4x6 size.  I then cropped the photos a little more to create different heights and to slim them down to fit on the blocks.  

I then cut a scrap piece of 2x4 into the sizes I needed for the photos.  I then sanded and painted the blocks.  Next I put some modge podge on the blocks, stuck the photos on, and then put a top layer of modge podge over the photo.  Last I sanded the edges a little.  This could be made for any holiday.  Happy Halloween!!

fun fall leaf pictures

We made these a few days ago and our little girls loved them and it gave us something fun to hang up showing the changing leaves.  First we went on a little walk and everyone collected leaves, fall flowers, seeds, or small twigs. We brought them home, laid them out on the table and everyone started creating.  We found that it works best if you start to draw your creation and then put a dab of glue on the paper and then stick the leaves, flower petals, or twigs on the paper.  You can them finish drawing details if you would like.  Simple and really fun!

pumpkin name settings

If you are in charge of Thanksgiving this year or want a fun get together with friends or family. This ideas is sure to get your guest talking.  This simple ideas was found at Better Homes and Garden. I love it because it is so simple and a fun gift for your guest to take home.

transform your pumpkin

What guest wouldn't love to serve themselves from this fun pumpkin punch bowl. Hollow out a pumpkin, scraping the side well to remove all the seeds and pulp before filling. Fill with cider and sliced apples. Serve in canning jars with a cinnamon stick.

This is such a fun way to serve chip at a fall get together with friends and family. So simple and so impressive that you will have your guest talking.

These are some of my favorite ideas to do with pumpkins that can use all season long. I found both ideas at Better Homes and Garden. They also have some more amazing ideas.

Now get creative we would love to see what you can do.



eggplant parmesan

I love Italian food especially when it is made with fresh ingredients. This is one of my favorite dishes it is so light and yummy, made with my favorite things from my garden, tomatoes, eggplant, basil, and garlic. So lets get started.

You will need:
1 lg. eggplant (smaller ones work great for side dishes too.)
2 cloves of garlic
1 lg. tomato
olive oil
5 basil leaves
shredded Parmesan cheese

Start by washing and cutting your eggplant into half the log way. Scoop or cut out the inside of the eggplant leaving just the skin. Chop the eggplant that you removed from the skin into small cubes. Cut the tomato into small cubes and mince garlic as well. Set a side and preheat oven to 350*. In a small pan you are going to heat up about 4 tbs of olive oil and begin to saute your garlic for about 1 min just enough to season the oil. To the pan add your eggplant and season with salt and pepper to your liking. Cook the eggplant for 2 min and remove from heat. Add chopped tomatoes to the eggplant mixture and chopped basil as well. Scoop the eggplant mixture into the eggplant shell. Top with Parmesan and bake for 10-15min. until cheese is browned and eggplant is soft.

Enjoy!

simple way of giving thanks

Make a thankful book.

This would be a great activity for little ones while waiting for the delicious dinner or anytime this next week. All you need is:

Scissors

Old Magazines

Paper

Glue

My 4 year old loves loves to cut, glue, color, and tape so this was to perfect afternoon activity at our house. For others not so good with scissors yet I has a pre-cut pile of pictures from old magazines to choose from. We stapled a few pages together to make a book and they decorated to cover. We then chose all sorts of things that we were grateful for and pasted them on all the pages. It was very simple but very fun.

Here are some other Thanksgiving ideas that we thought would be fun.

Nature Give Thanks Banner

Pumpkin Pie Bites

make a monster friend

A little late than never right. Sorry for the gap in posts. We were having a few technical difficulties and we were also busy Halloweening.

My girls have loved these so much that I thought I would post this anyway. I have seen something similar here at Family Fun.

First I had each child choose scraps of fabric they wanted. You will need two body shapes (whatever you would like). It might be fun to have your child draw a shape and use that. I just cut out a shape. Next you will need two legs, two arms, a pocket on the back (optional), and face materials (buttons, ribbon, beads, felt, etc.)

With the legs and arms already stuffed place all of the parts on the inside and sew around the body shape.

Leave a hole to turn it right side out and then stuff the body and sew up the hole. The most fun for my little one was creating it. They loved to design their own monster.

An after thought I had was to cut out a little felt heart and place that inside while stuffing the body (something similar the Build-A-Bear).

***These little monsters became very helpful at our house because they are not afraid of the dark and will help you at night if you get scared.

ghosts and bats for breakfast???

Fun Fall Breakfast

Get out all of your favorite cookie cutters (one of our favorite kitchen accessories). Everyone choose their favorite shape. Butter both sides of a slice of bread and cut out your shape from the middle.

Then place your bread on a griddle or frying pan and crack an egg in the middle. Add salt and pepper if desired. Cook until your egg is done. I flip mine and cook on both sides because I like a well done egg.

Enjoy your simple fall breakfast (or lunch or dinner, which we also do a lot around our house.)
We ended up with a ghost, a bat, a foot, and Winnie the Pooh. My little one laughed all morning about eating a foot for breakfast.

fabric pumpkins

A while ago I purchased a box of scrap material from a local furniture factory. I am not sure if all factories do this but if there is one in your area you might want to check into it. It was very inexpensive for a very large box. Anyway the fabric has been great for costumes, throw pillows, i spy pillows, and many other projects including these fabric pumpkins from The Idea Room.

I changed the size a little on mine to adjust to the scraps of fabric that I had.
I love these because thay were easy, fast, and friendly for little hands (non-breakable).

dollar store leaves

If you are looking for a easy and inexpensive way to bring fall into your home (who isn't), here it is. I found this pack of leaves at Dollar Tree dollar store. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the package. I was so excited I just ripped into them.) I had enough to use them in these three ways. I added them to some pumpkins (also from the dollar store) and some grapevine balls in a basket.

Add them to a mantle of top of a entertainment center.

Use them as table confetti.

You could also use these of a wreath. For $1.00 this was a great investment!
(I also found a glitter version of these at Walmart later for about the same price.)

cinnamon carmel corn with white chocolate

It is FALL!! Popcorn is a favorite snack/treat at our house. Here is a recipe for Cinnamon Carmel Corn with White Chocolate and Reese's Pieces. I have made this several times just in the last few weeks. It is easy and it will fill your home with a very yummy fall smell. This is our variation of a recipe I found at Our Best Bites. We love that you can use honey or Karo Syrup. If you have a food allergy(which tends to run in our family) or trying to cut back on high fructose corn syrup , honey works great.

12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)
1 C brown sugar
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 C honey (you could also use Karo Syrup)
1 stick real butter (1/2 C)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
3 squares almond bark
1 Cup of Reese's Pieces

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Place popcorn a side in 1 or 2 large bowls. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon until it is mixed well in a microwave safe bowl. Chop the butter into chunks and place on top of the sugar mixture. Pour honey (or Karo Syrup) on top.

Microwave for about 30 sec. and then stir. As I found out on the first batch(burned black and stinky), everyone's microwave will be different.

Keep stirring and then cooking it for about 30sec - 1min at a time until it looks nice and bubbly like this. Then add the vanilla and baking soda. This will make it a little foamy.

Pour it over your popcorn and stir to coat . I placed mine onto two lined cookie sheets. It will be gooey now but it will harden as you cook it. Place it in the 250 degree oven and cook for about 30 min (switching the bottom pan to the top and stirring after 15 min). Test it to see if it is crunchy enough. While it is cooling melt your white chocolate or almond bark (I just microwaved mine).

The best part.....add the Reese's Pieces and then drizzle the white chocolate over the pan. Let is set up (hardest part... waiting) and then enjoy.

Yummy looking, yummy smelling, and yummy tasting!!

fun fall projects

FALL MONOGRAM WREATH


I love fall. It is the time of year I finally feel like baking after a hot summer and I love to make our home cozy for the coming cold. I found this fun wreath and I loved it so here is what our turned out like. I had a grape vine wreath and some orange berries already in my fall decor box so I just wired these together. I found a fall floral bush and just sniped it into individual pieces and stuck it into the wreath. I didn't glue anything because I then can take it apart and use it for other seasons. I found my "S" at Michaels for $1.99 and I painted it white and then sanded the edges and rubbed some stain over it. I didn't have any wide ribbon on hand to hang it with so I used a strip of fabric. I learned how to hang it over at the Nesting Place.
I usually have some kind of wreath on our door and thought this was a fun and different look. It was very easy and I loved out it turned out.

RUSTIC WOOD PUMPKINS

These cute wood pumpkins are made from a landscape timber. It was cut into 4, 5, and 6 inch lengths. These timbers are usually tinted a cherry color but I sanded these to make them smoother and then painted them orange. Going over them one more time with the sandpaper gives them an antiqued look. A hole drilled in the top allows space for a small piece of a branch to make the stem. Then they are finished off with a fun green ribbon or piece of fabric for the leaves. This simple project makes a great centerpiece or mantle decor for this fun fall season.

REVERSIBLE FALL BLOCKS

These cute fall blocks do double duty. They spell out fall on one side and boo on the other. They are made from a 2x4 cut into 5 inch lengths. They are actually 3X5 when finished. A coat of black paint, some scrapbook paper, and vinyl letters finish off the project. Easy and simple but so fun.