Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Tuesday 10 - Free Printables!!

Today I'm going to share with you 10 of my favorite free fall printables. I love everything about fall, and these are some of my favorite printables that I've found.

Some of them are going to be decorating my house for Thanksgiving this year, too! You can check out our Thanksgiving Extravaganza 2011 pinboard to see what ideas we've come up with so far (I'm hosting at my house, but Brandi and her family will be joining my family for one big happy family dinner!).


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There you have it. I hope you all have a wonderful first day of November!!

We're linking up here:

Top Ten {Tuesday}


Friday, October 21, 2011

Chili? No, I don't think so.

Happy Friday everyone!! Today it's my turn again for Foodie Friday! This week I posted in my Tuesday Ten about chili and how I love a pot of it on the stove. Well, it just so happens that was the BEST chili I ever made and I actually remember how I made it!!


Ingredients:
1lb ground turkey
1/2 package bacon (or more if you want - or less, for that matter)
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can light red kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 can stewed tomatoes (the kind with the green peppers and onions)
1 medium sized onion (chopped)
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper (I know chili powder has it in there, but I like a little extra)
1 packet Sazón seasoning (made by Goya - you can get it in the hispanic aisle of the grocery store or you can omit if you wish)
Garlic powder
Adobo (or any other season salt you wish)
Salt & pepper

First, I took the bacon and cooked it in my stock pot (kudos to Brandi for that idea). I didn't really take the effort to lay it out nicely, I just threw it in there and let it crisp. Once it was crispy, I took it out and let it dry on a towel while I tossed in the onion and the ground turkey.

Once that was almost cooked I added the seasonings. I tend to do seasonings by smell so I added a lot of chili powder, a bit of cayenne pepper, the whole packet of Sazón (my staple seasoning - I learned about it when I was in Puerto Rico and now I add it to just about everything), some garlic powder, Adobo, salt, pepper, and then I added some more chili powder for good measure.

After the seasonings mixed, I added the bacon back in, then added in the tomatoes and the beans (drained the beans but not the tomatoes). I like a really thick chili so I didn't add any water to it at all.

I let everything heat and then put some in a bowl with shredded cheddar, sour cream, and dipped some Frito Scoops in it! Yum!!



I also want to share with you another one of my favorite things about fall in my house. I think this is Brandi's favorite part of visiting my house during fall. :) One visit to my sister's house many years ago, I smelled something delicious and asked her what it was. She informed me that she had a pot on the stove with cinnamon sticks, an apple, some other spices, and deliciousness. She just let it sit on low and the smell permeated the house and made it smell like what I imagine only heaven can smell like. Naturally, I had to do the same thing. So, I take an apple (doesn't matter the kind - I get the cheap ones from Save-a-Lot), some cinnamon sticks, some ground cinnamon, some nutmeg, some pumpkin pie spice, and whatever else I find in my spice rack that smells like fall (this time I added some vanilla extract - yum!), put it in a pot, and let it simmer. :) It looks pretty gross after a while, but it smells DELIGHTFUL.



There you have it! I hope you all enjoy chili nights and pot-o-yummies. Let me know how it goes for you!



And now it's your turn to share some of your favorite foodie things, favorite recipes, food tricks, etc. with us! Please don't link up etsy shops, giveaways, or other such things. Please just link up blog posts of your own. Also, please put our button in your post or on your page somewhere.



Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Tuesday Ten - Fall Time!

Hello everyone! Today I'm going to share with you 10 of my favorite fall things around my house. Fall-time is my favorite time of year and I just love breaking out the sweaters, afghans, and flannel sheets!!

1. Chili cooking on the stove. I don't care whose stove it is, as long as I get a bowl!! Brandi and I try to get together on Sundays to watch the football games together and eat chili. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. But at least we try to have traditions!!

 2. My PartyLite candle stand thingy. No, I don't know the official name and no, I'm not going to look it up. :-P I scored this at a party I hosted for super cheap and I absolutely love it! I use it all year 'round but the pumpkins are my favorite. :)

3. My ceramic jack-o-lantern. Every time my mom sees this or a picture of it she says 'oh THAT'S where that went' because she's convinced I stole it. I swear she gave it to me. :)

4. My fall wreath. I made it!

5. This little scarecrow guy. I got him at Pat Catan's for about $1, but I think he's super cute with his buttons and hat.

6. New love: Pumpkin Scones. Recipe. Delicious. 

7. I love my couches and this chair is my favorite part of the set. I scored the afghan that's on the back for a whopping: FREE. It was on the curb up the street and I stopped to look at a sewing machine/table to snag for Brandi (also FREE!!) and grabbed this beauty, too. Sweet old lady made it and her son said he's glad it's going to a nice home. *tear* Anyway, that's not what I love most: I recently rearranged my living room and made this corner into a little 'reading nook' and it's sooo cozy there. You can't keep me away!

 8. My flannel sheets. I only wish they were plaid.

9. This is my favorite sweater. It's technically a 'jacket' and I scored it on sale from Old Navy (think it was $10 on sale originally like $30) and I wear it all the time. It's sooo comfy cozy!


10. This afghan was crocheted by my Great Grandma who I never knew. My older family members loved her, and my sibs got their own afghans because they were babies when she was alive. I wasn't, so I didn't get one, but when my Aunt Penny died I got first dibs on an afghan from her collection and I chose this one. I use it all the time.

So, there you have it! 10 of my favorite fall things around my house. I hope you enjoyed the mini-tour of mi casa and seeing all the things I love. What are some things you love most about fall?


We're linking up here:

Top Ten {Tuesday}Photobucket

Friday, October 14, 2011

Foodie Friday- Linky Party!

Hi everyone! Have you been doing any Fall baking? Today I am sharing with you a recipe I tried out yesterday.


 Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies by: Scrambled Hen Fruit


These were so very messy to make but in the end definitely worth it. If you try this recipe definitely read through the whole thing first. She gives advice about the cooling process so that they don't fall apart or stick to the parchment paper. The only thing I did differently was I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose.

My advice would be to make sure you don't make them too large. I usually make big cookies because I'm impatient with scooping batter but my first batch out of the oven I had issues with.


You can see because I made them too big the caramel didn't distribute right and when I tried to pick them up the caramel stayed and I had to pick it off the parchment paper and stick it back in.

The next ones turned out great!

You can tell I don't really make an effort to make them all the exact same size. I don't see the importance of making them the same size and sometimes I want a smaller or bigger one :)

 That's Julie in the background mad at me because I wasn't giving her a cookie as fast as she expected.
 They are so gooey and yummy. I made some without caramel in them too for my husband, he is weird and doesn't like caramel.



So, now's your turn to share some of your favorite recipes, food tricks, etc. with us! Please don't link up etsy shops, giveaways, or other such things. Please just link up blog posts of your own. Also, please put our button in your post or on your page somewhere.





Friday, September 23, 2011

September Stew - Foodie Friday

Hello everyone! It's Foodie Friday time again! I love Fridays for a multitude of reasons, one being Foodie Fridays, and another is that I get to wear jeans to work on Fridays. Yeah!

Ok, so this week I felt like making stew. Nevermind the fact that it was about 74 degrees outside by the time the stew was done and we ate it. I wanted stew. I made stew. It was deeeeeeeeelicious! Ask Brandi, she had some of it. ;)


Since I hate using recipes, here is what I put in it: stew beef (floured and browned then put in the crock pot with everything else), red potatoes, baby carrots, spanish onion, celery, Adobo, beef bullion, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and water. Because I hate measuring anything, I ended up using BOTH of my crock pots to make it. At least I had some to share! Brandi, JJ, Dad, Mom, AJ (my dad's sister), Tony, and my freezer shared this stew. Oh, I ate some too. :)

It was tasty and very very comfort food. I can't wait for a cool night in October to pull the container out of the freezer and enjoy it again.

I hope you all have a splendid weekend! I have a wedding to go to this weekend. I made the wedding present and am so in love with it that I'm going to make some extras for friends whose weddings I went to recently and/or didn't get to go! I'll show you on Made it Monday so be sure to come back and check!!