Friday, it's Friday!

In keeping with my focus on gratitude for the rest of the year...

I'm grateful for lakes on beautiful fall days.

New books.

Growing kids, even if it means more new clothes.

Time in my kitchen to try new recipes.

Apples, fresh and crisp, right off the tree.

Puppies.

Hockey.

Time for coffee with friends.

I'm also thankful for my hard working husband, who's turning 50 today :)

We went apple picking last weekend, and we've already eaten our way through almost one bag of apples.  There's nothing like a freshly picked apple, and I've got a few ideas on how to put them to good use.

I made this Buffalo Chicken Dip again, I think we're addicted.

I think my cabbage roll loving hubby might like this dish.

I love hard boiled eggs, I hate peeling them.  Easy to Peel Eggs - thank you.

I love these DIY Fabric and Burlap Pumpkins!

THIS twisty pumpkin pastry, awesome!

Our daughter wants to go to Ireland.  I think I need to go with her.

How cool is this Black and White Halloween Topiary?  And how is it that Halloween is only three weeks away??

This is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada.  I haven't planned or prepared a thing, so tomorrow will be a busy day for me.  See my old Thanksgiving posts here.

And I've created a Facebook page for this blog.  I tried resisting the commitment to more social media, but what can I say, I gave in to peer pressure.  

*Sigh*  

Likes appreciated.

Happy Friday, Happy Weekend, Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Lately

Instagram lately.

We've been eating a lot of these Taco Chicken Bowls lately.  Ingredients we all like, and crock pot easy.

I hosted a Pampered Chef party a while ago and I am in love with all the products I received.  The RockCrok is amazing, as is the microwave egg cooker...which is actually a piece of stoneware.  I had no idea that stoneware could be used in the microwave.  I've never been big on cooking in my microwave, but now I'm looking at my stoneware collection in a whole new way.  And the dish we prepared was so good that I've made it three times since.  I'll be sharing it here soon.

Summer is slipping by, the weather has been amazing and evenings have been perfect for sitting outside with a book.  I'm reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  I think I may have already read a couple of books from this series, the first book was published over 20 years ago, but the eighth book has just come out and OCD me needs to start with book one and read the series in order before I can even look at book eight.  Are you on Goodreads?  I'm finding it a great way to keep track of the books that are on my 'to read' list.  Although, the way that list seems to be growing it might take me a lifetime to read them all!

I've been pinning some good stuff lately.  I love Fig Newtons, and these look like a yummy homemade version.



I need some of these to get a handle on the never ending paper that piles up on my kitchen counter.  Are they pretty or what?

And when I grow up I want to have a beach house just like this one.

Happy Weekend!

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Monday Ramblings, and Turkey Soup

It's Monday. It's cold and it's raining. I spent most of the weekend fighting a cold and the last place I wanted to be today was at work.

The colourful leaves that have buoyed my spirits these past few weeks are falling off the trees, and there are flurries in the forecast.  Thankfully, I spotted Pumpkin Spice Tea on the menu at Tim Horton's this weekend.  That stuff makes everything better.

Of course, being sick meant that comfort food was needed.  So last weekend's turkey stock became this weekend's turkey soup.  It was awesome.  I need to cook another turkey so I can make this soup again.  Maybe we'll have a turkey for Halloween.

I'm finding my happy wherever I can.  Like the beautiful collection of pumpkin recipes I've collected on Pinterest.  I'll be diving into my canned pumpkin stash when I get home, and baking my way to my autumn happy place.  Click the image to check them out for yourself.  You're welcome :)

The Great Pumpkin Pinterest Board

Links to the pictured recipes:

Pumpkin Pound Cake @ Tutti Dolci

Pumpkin Magic Bars @ Bakers Royale

Pumpkin Praline Trifle @ Bakers Royale

White Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Cups @ Liv Life

And as I searched for more happy and pretty, I was reminded why I love Tumblr.  There is some beautiful photography out there and this is where I like to keep a little part of it all for myself.  No words, just pictures.

Jenn's Random Scraps on Tumblr

Want to make your own Turkey Soup?  Do this.

Make stock by simmering your leftover turkey carcass, along with a chopped onion, some minced garlic cloves, and a few chopped celery ribs, in enough water to cover by a couple inches.  Let it simmer slowly for a couple of hours, then cool it enough that you can pour it through a mesh strainer without burning yourself. Salvage any meat from the carcass to use in your soup. If you wish to remove excess fat from the stock, chill in the fridge until the fat solidifies on the surface.

Return your turkey stock to your stove-top and bring to a boil.  Add whatever veggies you like to see in your soup.  I used chopped onion, celery and carrot.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I also added a few shakes of Montreal Chicken Spice and a dash of Bovril Chicken Bouillon.  Simmer gently until the veggies are cooked and tender.  Add your leftover turkey meat and whatever noodles you prefer.  I used extra broad egg noodles.  When the noodles are cooked, your soup is ready!

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Crock Pot Adventure

It was shaping up to be another one of those days. I'm working late, knowing everyone will be coming and going from school, work, and hockey at different hours - and there's no plan for dinner. Lately there's been a lot of pizza nights, last minute drive-thru nights, breakfast for dinner nights, fend for yourself leftover nights... I'm definitely not going to win Mom of the Year anytime soon. 

So. I raced home at lunch and looked at my Crock Pot. Then I loaded the dishwasher, moved laundry from the washer to the dryer, and looked at the Crock Pot again. I love my Crock Pot, but I was in a rush and had no idea what to do with it. Most of my recipes are simple but still require meat to browned, veggies chopped, spices and sauces to be prepared... none of that was going to happen today. Instead, I took a package of frozen chicken breasts out of the freezer and put them into the Crock Pot (seriously frozen, I couldn't even separate the pieces so I just plopped the whole frozen slab in there) along with some leftover raw carrot & celery pieces, 2/3 of a bottle of Italian Salad Dressing, some water, and some parmesan cheese. I literally grabbed whatever was handy and tossed it in. I have no idea how this will taste, whether the chicken will be done on time or what to serve it with... rice maybe? This has the potential to be an epic fail, but there's no way they're going to end up eating pizza again tonight.

Stay tuned...

Update.  Dinner was edible, maybe even good.  Hubby added some frozen corn when he got home and ended up serving it with rice.  Did I mention I love my Crock Pot?

And sorry for the crappy taken-in-a-hurry-with-my-phone photo.

And as we're on the subject, here's a peek at my Pinterest Crock Pot board:

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Hallowe'en

Hallowe'en is here.  And we're ready.  This may not seem newsworthy but it is.  There have been years where we've found ourselves panicking to get costumes ready at the last minute;  running to the store hours before trick-or-treating to buy whatever might be left of the Hallowe'en candy;  tossing around some last minute decorations… all in a stressful hurry-up-and-get-ready blur.   This time the costumes were ready by last weekend and that by itself is cause for celebration.

Granted, we’re getting off easy this year.  We didn't have pumpkins to carve due to an incredibly hot & dry summer that resulted in disappointing apple and pumpkin crops.  There was no apple-picking this fall, and pumpkins have been impossible to find.  Outdoor decorations were also struck off the Hallowe'en to-do list thanks to Hurricane Sandy.  They would have just ended up halfway across the neighbourhood.

One of my favourite Hallowe'en photos, from way back when they were all still young enough to go trick or treating:

And I have a confession to make.  Those boxes of Hallowe'en chocolates, the ones sitting in the pantry appearing to be whole and intact…. well, they're not.  I opened them.  And ate some, a lot actually.  And hid the wrappers.  And glued the boxes back together. 

And finally, a peek at my Hallowe'en Pinterest board.  Pinterest is the ultimate time waster... I love it!

Happy Hallowe'en! 

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