It has been a busy month. One full of crafting and my first Crockpot of Chili. We had a few cold days and therefore, the chili had to be made. However, today it is 77 degrees and I want a grilled hotdog. Life’s ups and downs!
Recipes
Grandma’s Fudge
All my life we have made my Grandma Nellie’s Fudge. I hadn’t made it in a long time and thought I might make it and add some marshmallow fluff to her old recipe and see what resulted. The recipe card is yellowed and stained. The words are old-fashioned but it’s a great recipe.
1 and 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
Butter the size of a walnut (the old-fashioned words)
I heaping tablespoon of peanut butter (I use about a half cup)
Cook the sugars, milk and butter to a rolling boil. Stir constantly. Test a drop of the syrup every once in awhile in a dish of cold water to see if it forms a ball when rolled in the water. When it does, you turn off the heat and beat until the mixture thickens. Once that happens add the peanut butter and combine. This time I added a tennis ball size (my old-fashioned words) amount of marshmallow fluff and mixed that in. Finally you pour the fudge onto a pre-buttered plate and allow to set.
Crockpot Tomato Soup (thediaryofarealhousewife.com)
- 28 oz Crushed tomatoes, (canned)
- ▢30 oz Diced tomatoes, (canned)
- ▢1/2 cup White onion, (diced)
- ▢1 teaspoon Thyme, (dried)
- ▢1 teaspoon Oregano, (dried)
- ▢1/2 teaspoon Basil, (dried)
- ▢1/2 tablespoon Sugar
- ▢1/2 teaspoon Salt
- ▢1/4 teaspoon Pepper
- ▢2 cups Vegetable broth
- ▢4 tablespoons Butter
- ▢1 cup Half & half
- Add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Give it a mix then cover with the lid. Allow to cook for 4-5 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.
- Use an immersion blender to blend soup until smooth and creamy. Serve warm and enjoy!
This came out so good! I highly recommend this soup!
Mom’s Pizza Cracker Treat
My Mom used to make these for my brother and I on Friday nights for when we watched TV. There’s nothing complicated or gourmet about these but they are tasty and bring back good memories for me.
You lightly butter one side of saltine crackers. First you add some pizza sauce (don’t over do it) and then add your mozzerella chees and finally a slice of pepperoni. Put on a tray in the oven. Use the broiler setting for 3 to 5 minutes.
I remembered to take a picture when I prepared them but not when they were done. I was having company and the crackers went from baking tray to serving plate asap!
TikTok Ramen (mommymouseclubhouse.com)
I recently tried this after seeing it online so often. It was easy and tasty.
- 1 Package Ramen Noodles (3.5 ounce)
- 1 Tablespoon Butter
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic, minced
- 1/4-1/2 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 Teaspoon Brown Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1/4 Cup Reserved Broth
- 1 Egg, lightly beaten
- 1-2 Teaspoons Everything Bagel Seasoning
- Sliced Green Onions, optional
- Start by cooking a package of ramen noodles al dente according to package directions. Add the seasoning packet if desired and mix with the noodles. Drain the liquid, reserving 1/4 cup of the broth before draining.
- In a separate pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add minced garlic and red chile flakes to the melted butter and cook for about one minute.
- Stir in brown sugar, soy sauce, and reserved broth. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about two minutes. Add the cooked noodles to the sauce and toss to combine.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg lightly with a fork. Slide the noodles to the side of the skillet and slowly pour in the beaten egg. When it starts to set up, stir to create ribbons of cooked egg throughout the Ramen noodle mixture.
- Transfer the cooked ramen noodles to a serving bowl and top with a few sprinkles of bagel spice, sliced green onions, and some sriracha sauce for more flavor!
Crafts
Man In The Moon
For some reason the man in the moon face is a big deal lately. Of course, I wanted one but wanted to make it myself. I found a free downloadable to print. I printed that out and on the back of it I rubbed pencil lead on the paper where the features of the face were. I painted a wooden disk white and when it was dry I lightly sanded it. I put the paper on the disk with the face up and the back side where the pencil rubbing was down. Then I used a pencil to trace the outline of all the features. This transferred the pencil rubbing to the disk. When I removed the paper you could clearly see the outline of the face. Using a paint marker I traced over my pencil transfer and then filled in all the features. I am really happy with how it came out!
Halloween Eyeball Plant
Seeing this on Pinterest a lot and just decided to do it! For the planter I used a black skull that I use to hold a liquid handsoap and put a small block or floral foam inside. I used bbq skewers I had kicking around and deco mesh tubing from the dollar tree to make the stems. The eyeballs were from the Dollar and a Quarter tree also. My handy hot glue gun was used to secure the eyeballs to the “stem”. Once all the eyeballs had stems I pushed them into the floral foam. As you can see in the picture, some of the eyeballs were droopy. That was by design. I used moss t hide the floral foam.
Mop Head Witchy Ghost
This is so simple and cute! All the supplies are from Dollar Tree except the hat which I made from black construction paper. You pick a vase from DT’s that is tall enough to let the mop head hang nicely. First you turn the vase upside down and open up the mophead so that it lays flat on the bottom of the vase and glue in place. This means that the black base of the mophead is sticking up. Don’t worry, the hat hides that part. Using black felt, material or construction paper cut out and glue your eyes on the mop head. (There are many tutorials online as to how to make a witch’s hat or you can just buy one. ) I glued down my hat on top of the ghost, adorned it with some ribbon and a sunflower. Finally, I put an LED tealight under the ghost and there you have it!
Pool Noodle Spooky Candles
You will need a pool noodle, black paint, hot glue, Halloween tealights and any adornments you would like. I used a miter box and a bread knife to cut the pool noodles. The miter box to keep the cuts straight so my candles took nicely. You could make a batch of 5 candles too. I only made 3. It is always more pleasing to the eye to have an odd number in any grouping. After cutting the pool noodles I used the handy glue gun again to form drips on one end of each piece. When you cover the glue and the pool noodle with black paint the glue looks like dripping wax. Before you paint you should hollow out the center if the pool noodle a bit to accommodate the tealight. Once you have done that and painted all 3 pieces (and it is dry, of course) you can glue the three candles together and put something around all 3 to bundle them.
Little Bit ‘O Life Hacks
*Before shopping day, inventory your freezer to see what has been shoved lost to the back/bottom of your freezer.
*Plan one or two meals a week using up what has been in your freezer or on your pantry shelf the longest. (Waste not, want not)
*Flipp is an app that gathers up sales flyers in your area and allows you to see them all together on your phone. You can then pick the best deals.
*Scan freebie websites like FreeStuffFinder, ILFT or FreeFlys. These sites offer samples of name brands that are promoting consumer products. You will have to enter your name, email and street address to get the samples.
*Every year check that the top of your washing machine is still perfectly parallel to the floor. Even off a little bit can tilt the basket and cause the motor and bearings to work harder.
*Clean the drain trap in your dishwasher periodically. It will lengthen the life of your machine and you will have cleaner dishes.
*Don’t open your oven door when baking if you can avoid it. Each time you open the door the oven temperature will lower by 25 degrees. This means using more energy to heat it back up. Use your oven light instead.
*One more appliance thing – cover your sewing machine when not in use. The oil that lubricates the parts can get all gunked up from dust. This cause wear.
Hope that your enjoyed this post. Let’s dive into November and have some fun!
