Tag: Fall

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Fall Is My Favorite!

I love the smells, the colors, the spices, the recipes, the harvests, and the decorating,basically everything about Fall. What is your favorite season? Do you tend to really do it up big when it arrives? As you will see, I do!

Recipes

Peach Dump Cake (shesnotcookin.com)

2 pounds peaches, peeled and sliced

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1 box (15.25 oz.) Yellow Cake Mix

1/2 cup melted butter

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. Peel and slice peaches. (I like to leave one with the skin on and peel the remaining peaches).
  3. Add sliced peaches to a small mixing bowl. Add in brown sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and cinnamon. Stir well to combine.
  4. Transfer peach mixture to prepared baking dish.
  5. In a separate mixing bowl, combine melted butter and cake mix. Use a pastry blender (or clean hands) and stir until a crumbly dough forms.
  6. Sprinkle on top of peaches in baking dish. Top with coarsely chopped pecans.
  7. Bake in 350°F oven for 40 to 50 minutes, until top is light golden brown and peaches are bubbling at the sides.
  8.  Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Sweet Potato Muffins (goodinthesimple.com)

  • 3 cups of mashed sweet potato, see below for instructions
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¾ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup ground flaxseed meal, optional
  • To prep the sweet potatoes (this can be done a day or so ahead if you want to break up the muffin-making process): Pierce the potatoes with a fork and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, or until the inside is soft when poked with a fork. Remove and let cool. When the potatoes are cool, peel off the skin and mash the sweet potato filling with a fork or masher until any big lumps are gone. Measure out 3 cups worth of filling.
  • To make the muffins: In a large bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and then add the sweet potato.
  • Pour into muffin tins/cups. If using flaxseed, sprinkle on top of the muffins. Bake at 325 for approximately 30 minutes.

White Chicken Chili (deliciouslysprinkled.com)

  • 2 large chicken breasts
  • 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 can corn undrained
  • 10 ounces can Rotel tomatoes with green chilis undrained
  • 1 packet ranch seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 Tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ cup water
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • Spray bottom on crockpot with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Place the 2 chicken breasts on the bottom of the crockpot.
  • Add black beans, corn, rotel, ranch seasoning, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and water. Mix everything.
  • Place the block of cream cheese on top. DO NOT MIX.
  • Cook on low for 6-8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. 
  • Stir and shred chicken. Serve and top with toppings.

Notes: This was so delicious that I would have eaten it with a straw until I burst! I didn’t have Rotel so I used diced stewed tomatoes. You can top with anything such as avocado, sour cream, fresh tomatoes, or shredded cheese. My pro tip would be to use chili cheese Fritos! It was to die for.

TikTok Viral Breakfast Wrap

You need to watch this video and try it! Quick and yummy.

Crafting Like it’s My Job

Denim Feather Earrings

Ghost With Wine Glasses

I bought two wine glasses and two multi-colored skulls at Dollar Tree. I turned the glasses upside down and glued the skulls to the bottom of the glasses. I am going to put LED candles in the bottom as soon as Amazon gets them to me. I have them on either side of my tv and not where pictured in this photo.

Skull Sunflowers

I bought sunflowers from Dollar Tree and then glued skulls in the center for a spooky bouquet. I used a clear glass vase filled with black stone.

Pink Ghosties Bouquet

I found these white leaves at Dollar Tree and cut little pink ghosties out of felt. I glued the ghosties on wooden skewers and viola!

Ghost and Candy Corn Stuffies

I used muslin and cut our several ghostly shapes with pinking shearers. I sewed them together leaving an opening. I then stuffed them with fiber fill, sewed up the little opening and put a face on with a black fabric marker. For the candy corn I used burlap cut in the shape of the candy and used the same process to sew and stuff. I used acrylic paint to put the traditional colors on.

Dragonfly

I used a table leg and painted it black. To cover the metal screw at the top and to make a head, I used a plastic bottle roughly in the shape of a lightbulb, painted it black as well and glued it to the top of the leg. To add some bling, I painted a couple of areas on the table leg with gold paint. I then went to work on four discarded ceiling fan blades. The fan blades were cleaned and dried thoroughly. I used 3 different colors of spray paint to jazz them up. Finally I screwed the fan blades onto the table leg. I used paint to cover the heads of the screws. To make a hanger I stapled some wire to the back of the dragon fly about 2/3 up the leg.

Hacks

  • Fruit flies are a particular problem this time of year. I put a little wine or vinegar in a small dish. To that I add a little dish soap. The bugs are attracted to the wine or vinegar and the soap kills them. Works like a charm.
  • Preserving your pumpkins is easy. Fill your sink with water. Add about a cup of white vinegar. You know you have enough when you can smell the vinegar. The ratio is about 10 parts water to 1 part vinegar. Place your pumpkin in the mixture. Clean it and then let it sit in the mixture for ten minutes. If your pumpking couldn’t be fully immersed in the sink, just turn it over and let the side that hadn’t been covered now soak for ten minutes.
  • If you want your house to smell like Fall you need look no further than your slow cooker. Fill the slow cooker with water. To that add a handful of cinnamon sticks, rind from 2 or 3 oranges, 2 tablespoons of whole cloves, and 3 to 5 whole bay leaves. Simmer away on low!

Hope you found some fun ideas and please make that chili! I guarantee it will knock your socks off! See you next month!

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Fall is in the Air

Yes, Fall is in the air and soon we will be smelling the Concord grapes and see the grape pickers pass by. All of a sudden it got a little chilly in the evenings and sunset is inching up earlier. I don’t really mind that. It is good to have 4 seasons. I lived in Delaware for several years and seasons were just not the same. Winter was more of a monsoon season than anything else.

Lately, I have been on a crafting binge. Some have been done on my own and some with fellow crafters. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and am finding it hard to stop. Although, it is to the point where I am going to have to rotate decor during this Fall season. (You know, when you break it down to Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving, the possibilities increase dramatically!) Pinterest is my jam and I find so many recipes to try and projects! In this post I will share some of what I have done.

I was checking on my blog and saw that I never published my August post. It is weird because I really thought I did. It is live now and I will continue working on September’s (whoops!) That has never happened before!

In addition to the craft projects I have some other items to share with you so let’s get into it!

Products I Love

  1. Nexcare Bandages are a good product but this particular line of their product is stupendous! My daughter, Sara, introduced me to them. She had discovered them when she had bilateral carpal tunnel surgery. They are very waterproof and are applied in a totally different way than normal bandages. I guarantee you will love them!

2. These large storage bags are awesome and I use them for so many things too numerous to mention and a lot of them are not food! My cousin, Linda, exposed me to these. They are available at Dollar Tree and are 5 gallon size. (I love that store!)

Hacks

*Coke syrup – you can get this at some drug stores or online. My Mom always kept a bottle at home. It is good for nausea and upset stomach. My Mom worked in a drug store so I am sure that is where she first heard about it. A friend of mine is a pharmacist with his own pharmacy and he still carries it.

*Soft mints – the most popular brand is Bob’s. I know you have seen them. Most often they are in the big plastic tubs. They are great for heartburn! Actually, any mint helps but these are awesome! A friend of mine was having awful heartburn from an antibiotic she was taking and these helped her almost immediately!

product image zoom

Recipe

I absolutely love citrus flavored things and when I found this recipe I just had to try it. It is definitely a dessert salad as it is sweet. As is my custom, I shared some of what I made and I had good reviews on it. Yum!

Dreamsicle Salad *celebgood.com

1 box orange Jell-O
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
1 Cool Whip 8 oz.
1 can mandarin oranges 14 oz. , drained
1 cup mini marshmallows

In a large bowl combine orange Jell-O and boiling water.
Whisk until Jell-o is dissolved.
Add cold water and allow to chill for 15 minutes in refrigerator.
Slowly whisk in vanilla pudding mix until smooth and chill for another 15-20 minutes or until it becomes slightly thickened.
Fold in Cool Whip, mandarin oranges and marshmallows

Craftiness

(as in, I think I have a problem and is there a support group for this?)

Flower Wreath

For this wreath I bought artificial flowers at Ollie’s Bargain Outlet and just filled a large wreath form. My wreath form, being large, took a lot of flowers but you wouldn’t need to make one that large. I just hot glued the blossoms on the form after removing them from the stems. (Dollar Tree is also a great source for flowers.) I made a hanger using some jute that I had and creating a loop around the wreath form.

Rope Wreath

For this project you can use any size rope or wire wreath form you would like. My cousin and I worked together on this project. She used a different rope than I did and decorated it with different flowers and the result was totally different than mine. We got the idea from https://www.hometalk.com/43679532/dollar-tree-jute-wreath

Splatter Screen Pumpkin

This project is quite a popular pin on Pinterest as are most Dollar Tree DYI’s. I had to do a lot of searching to find the screens and actually, my brother-in-law, Hank found them for me. This was a lot of fun to make and I decided to be kind different and do mine in a muted blue shade.

http://www.thissoutherngirlcan.com/seasonal/dollar-tree-splatter-guard-screen-pumpkin

Last but certainly not least;

Cookie Sheet Sunflower

This project was made with two friends, Sue and Shelly. Sue pointed out later that it looked more like a Black Eyed Susan than a Sunflower. I love it anyway and we did follow the directions so………..this is the result……..

I hate to admit this, Sue no laughing, but if I were to do it again I think I would make the center of the sunflower larger as it would be more realistic. I ordered bee stickers from Amazon (where else?) and they seemed to add a nice touch. This is another Dollar Tree DYI which you can find at https://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/dollar-tree-foil-tray-sunflower-farmhouse-wall-art/

Contrary to popular opinion, I do other things beside crafting. For instance, just this morning I took the dogs to be groomed, delivered some items, mailed a package and picked up some things I needed at Tractor Supply.

“Oh, what is that you say?”

“What about housework?”

I do try to squeeze that in. Just this morning I scrubbed the toilet. I mean, geesh!

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Favorite Fall

I actually find appealing things about all four seasons but I have decided that the things about Fall that I love outweigh the others. There is the warm days, the cool nights, the coziness of early evenings, soups and chili, warm spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, baking pumpkin bread, beautiful colors and the fun of decorating for Fall. I know there are more things I love about Fall but those are just the things that come to mind first.

What is your favorite season? Leave a comment and let me know which season and why.

Of course, I have been busy decorating since that is one of my favorite things to do. The front of my house is covered with mums and different color and shapes of pumpkins. Now that we are in October I am going to bust out the Halloween items. Generally, I refrain from jack-o-lanterns and such until October. However, now we are full-on skeleton and spooky!

I got together recently with my cousin, Linda, and we had a crafting afternoon. We had seen a wreath in a craft store that was very high in price and we thought we could make it much more cheaply and it wouldn’t be hard to create.

We set a date and each purchased our own supplies. After a nice lunch of chili and cornbread muffins we went to work!

For the wreaths we each purchased a wreath form, black and white yarn, black, white and orange felt. Armed with our hot glue guns we set to work. (Linda had purchased thicker yarn than I did feeling that it would require less wrapping around the wreath form. She was probably right but both wreaths looked good in the end.)

We wrapped the yarn around the wreath form, alternating black and white at regular intervals. To keep from having to stop and measure with a measuring tape we each just pulled the yarn out to our maximum wing span and cut it. That was a time saver! As we did each section we used our hot glue guns to secure the end of one piece of yarn and the beginning piece of yarn.

Next we created our felt flowers to accent the wreath. Linda had done some research on Pinterest to see how they were done. She found you cut the felt in a spiral and then roll up the resulting felt. I checked online and found that you could use a cd as a pattern to cut a circle and then proceed to cut your spiral.

When we had cut all our spirals and wrapped them to create the flowers we hot glued them on the yarn wrapped wreath. Below is the result.

We were both very pleased! Mine is on my front door as I write this.

The one that we saw in the craft store was about $50. I figured out my supply cost and it was approximately $13. Sweet, right?

Tips

  1. I found out a little trick while making my cornbread muffins for the above mentioned lunch. After mixing the batter you should let it rest for 3 to 4 minutes and then give it a quick stir before placing in the muffin pan. This creates a higher, really nice looking crown on your muffins.
  2. The holiday season, which we are approaching, can be filled with stress. If you need a little stress relief there is something to help. It is a musical piece called Weightless by Marconi Union. It lowers the heart rate and has a calming effect. You can find it on YouTube. Below is the link.                                                                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfcAVejslrU
  3. In the cold months I always struggle a little with dry and/or cracked heels. I have found a home remedy that really works. You need a tub to soak your feet in. The foot soak is a mixture of 2 cups of hydrogen peroxide and 2 cups of water as hot as you can handle. Soak your feet for 30 minutes. After you remove your feet from the tub dry them and use a pumice to gently slough off the dead skin. Then put a nice moisturizing cream on your heals and put some socks on. Give it a try!
  4. Speaking of hydrogen peroxide, there are just a lot of different ways to use it around the house. To name just a few; removes stains and odors in clothing, kills mold, whitens grout, finger nails, and teeth, aids acne in healing faster, disinfects wounds,  sponges, lunch boxes, shower curtains, cutting boards, counter tops, toilets and the toilet cleaning brushes, aids in healing canker sores. That is just a few.
  5. I am not sure about you but I always wash and  save containers from foods I buy that would make good leftover containers. This works great when sending food home with others. They don’t have to worry about getting containers back to you and you don’t have to worry about them bringing them back. The down side is that all these different shaped and sized containers really junked up my cupboard. In a moment of clarity I took all of them out of my cupboard and placed them in a garbage bag with a drawstring and hung them up in my pantry. Now, whenever I need a container to send something home with a guest I go to the bag and grab a container. No more messy cupboard for me!
  6. As you know from a previous post, I make Ice Box Pickles. They always taste better to me when stored in the refrigerator in a glass jar. I don’t can so I was considering buying some glass canning jars for that purpose. Then I noticed a salsa jar I just had emptied. I washed it thoroughly and saved it for my next batch of pickles. After that I noticed spaghetti sauce jars and jelly jars were a good size and would work too. It is nice not spending extra money.

Recipes

It is zucchini season and I wanted to try a different way of using it.

Zucchini Crisps

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. I used parchment paper to line my baking sheet.

2 medium zucchini sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 Tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs (you can season your own if you don’t have them pre-seasoned)

salt and pepper to taste

Put the olive oil in a medium bowl with a lid. Add the zucchini slices to the bowl, cover and shake gently to coat. In a second bowl place all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Then dip each crisp in the dry mixture. Place the covered slices on the baking sheet. bake for 18 to 22 minutes.

Caprese Skewers

I used mozzarella, basil leaves and cherry tomatoes to make these skewers as an appetizer for my daughter’s wedding. I used 4 inch skewers to create them. When finished I arranged them on a tray and drizzled dipping oil lightly on them. You could also use a balsamic reduction.

I hope you have a fantabulous October!! Make the most of whatever it is you personally enjoy about this month. Kick some serious Fall action and take prisoners!

Let me know in the comments your thoughts on anything in the blog.

 

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Happy Mid-October

Hello folks! Hope all is well with everyone. I am currently in the game of “how long can I not use my furnace”. I do it every year and try to last as long as I can. So far, it has been easy. We have had one or two chilly days but a little baking cures that. Baking warms up the house and you get extra benefits like freshly baked goods and delightful smells.

Last night my friend, Linda, and I went to a Taste of Home live cooking show. It was called “Taste of Home Happiest Holiday Tour”. The chef was Kari Karch. She was funny and ever so knowledgeable! We bought the best tickets and had preferred seating, a catered dinner and a bag of swag! We had a blast,  learned a lot and gathered some new recipes. This week and in coming posts I will share with you what we learned.

Here are your Kari Karch tips for this week:

Did you know that there are boy and girl sweet peppers (whether they be green, red, orange or yellow)? The ones with 3 bumps on the bottom are boys and four bumps means the pepper is a girl. The boy peppers are sweeter. (Go figure!) So if you need the peppers for sweetness in a dish get the one with 3 bumps on the bottom.

You should make your pancake batter 24 hours ahead of time and place it in the refrigerator. This allows the proteins in the flour to do their thing. You will end up with fluffier, high pancakes! Also, it is super easy to dispense your pancake batter from a squirt bottle found at all dollar stores. You will just need to cut the tip back a little so that you can use it for the thicker batter of pancakes.

Money Savers!

As you probably know by now, I have a smart phone. I use an app called
“Free Prints” which you can download from the Google Play Store or from iTunes. Using this app you receive 85 free prints a month. All you pay is shipping and that is $10.70, approximately. It is convenient because even though I have a nice Fuji camera, I take most of my pics with my phone which has an excellent camera. It makes ordering prints soooooo easy! Also, you can create one free 5″x7″ photobook each month! Win! Win! If you would like to check it out you can use the following link.

 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.photoaffections.freeprints&hl=en

Lately, I have been ordering some items from Wal-Mart and having them delivered directly to my home. The main reason I started this was so I didn’t have to do so much lifting and hauling. I buy a lot of birdseed for my feeders, food and treats for my 3 dogs and 1 cat and cat litter.  Particularly, the birdseed is heavy. If you buy it at the store you are first, lifting it from shelf to cart, then cart to cashier belt. Next you are putting it back into the cart, going to your vehicle, lifting it from cart to trunk and you aren’t even home yet. Once you get home you must unload your purchases. For me it is first to the porch, then inside and finally to the back deck or the kitchen. That’s a lot of handling of the same items! May I just say that I really hate that?! 

If I order online the drudgery and heavy lifting is cut dramatically! On most items you get free 2 day shipping for orders over $35. Items that are not eligible for 2 day shipping will be delivered free in 3 to 5 days. If you would like to read more about this please follow the link below.

https://help.walmart.com/app/answers/d. etail/a_id/1544/kw/free%20shipping

The also price match other retailers (online or brick and mortar) and their own prices in the store if they differ from the online prices. See below.

https://help.walmart.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/31/kw/price%20match%20online%20prices%20to%20store%20prices

Another big saver for me is Amazon Prime. I absolutely love it! The prices are reasonable. The shipping is fast (two-day). If you need a gift pronto or you are out of something and need more as soon as possible this is the way to go. One of the items I buy is a Redken product for beachy waves. In the Wal-Mart beauty salon it is  over $22 with tax. Amazon has it for $14 plus tax! In addition to your purchases there are videos, music, books and more available to Prime members! If you would like to learn more about Amazon Prime see below.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200444160

Recipe

I am going to leave you with a recipe that I have been using for over 30 years. It is my Fall staple!

Pumpkin Bread

2/3 c. shortening                                                  2 t. soda

2  & 2/3 c. sugar                                                     1 & 1/2 t. salt

1 -16oz can of pumpkin                                       1/2 t. baking powder

2/3 c. water                                                               1 t. cinnamon

3 & 1/3 c. flour                                                          1 t. cloves

2 eggs                                                                          2/3 c. raisins or

2/3 c. nuts (optional)

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Grease 2 loaf pans. Cream shortening, sugar, eggs, pumpkin and water. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add to wet ingredients. Add nuts and/or raisins if desired. Bake for 75 minutes. Test with a toothpick in center of loaf to check for doneness. Viola’

Have a wonderful week! In my next post you have things to look forward to (more Taste of Home tips from Kari Karch)! Hey, be real out there! Oh, and be kind!!!

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