Time To Fall Back, Again

Happy Halloween to all! I have dressed my doggies up for the holiday and the treats are waiting for trick-or-treaters in a bowl by the door. I also have chili cooking in the slow cooker so I think I am really into Fall. No pumpkin spice for me tho’. It just isn’t my thing. I like all other things pumpkin; pumpking pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin candles, etc.

Hope you find something of interest to you in this post. I have been trying some new things and just generally enjoying the transition into the Fall season.

Recipes

Cool Whip and Pudding Frosting (dessertsonadime.com)

• 1 box Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix 3.4 oz box
• 8 oz Cool Whip thawed
• 1/4 cup Confectioners Sugar
• 3/4 cup Cold Whole Milk

• n a medium size mixing bowl, mix together the pudding mix, confectioner’s sugar and milk with a hand held mixer until combined (30 seconds to 1 minute).
• Let the mixture sit for a few minutes until the pudding mixture thickens (3-5 minutes).
• Then gently fold in the Cool Whip until combined.
• Refrigerate until ready to use and enjoy!

*I used the store brand pudding and whipped topping and it was delish! I also used 1% milk and it was still delicious!

Homemade Croutons (platingsandpairings.com)

• 4 cups bread (cut into ¾ inch cubes)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Black pepper (to taste)

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Add bread cubes to a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat. Sprinkle in Italian seasoning, garlic power, salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
• Spread the bread cubes out in a single layer on a baking sheet.
• Bake until golden, tossing halfway through, about 15-20 minutes, keeping an eye on them so they don’t burn.
• Remove from oven, and let cool.

*I used rye bread and also added parmesan cheese to the mixture.

Crockpot Chicken and Stuffing (recipesthatcrock.com)

• 11 Chicken Tenderloin Pieces
• 1 Tablespoon Poultry Seasoning or to taste, see note
• 10.75 oz Can Cream of Celery Soup
• 6 oz Box Stove Top Stuffing
• 2 Cups Chicken Broth

• In a bowl mix stuffing and broth together and set aside.
• Place tenderloin pieces in the bottom of your 6 qt slow cooker (I usedthis one.)
• Sprinkle poultry seasoning over tenderloins.
• Pour soup over chicken and spread evenly.
• Once stuffing has absorbed all of the chicken broth pour evenly on top.
• Cover with lid and cook on low for 4-6 hours

Mason Jar Soup

I took a quart Mason jar and added vegetable bouillon (actually Better Than Bouillon), soy sauce, sesame seeds, finely chopped green peppers, chives, shredded carrots, salt and pepper, vermicilli, and minced garlic. Then I boiled water in my tea kettle. I then added the water to the jar and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I did kind of shake the jar a couple of times and turned it upside down at one point to mix the ingredients. The boiling water cooked the pasta and the veggies and it was a great dinner! You can use any bouillon, any veggie, any spice you like. Spinach would be great. As would edamane or peas. Just create!

Crockpot Applesauce

I used an apple slicer/corer to cut the apples after I washed them. I then made sure all the seeds were off each slice. I put them all in the crockpot, added the other ingredients and gave them a little toss. I put the crockpot on low and cooked the mixture for 4 hours. At this point you have a choice to make. You can have smoother, darker applesauce by using an immersion blender and not removing the peels. You can also put them through a food mill and remove the peels for a slightly chunky consistency and lighter color. I tried both ways and they were both good. I think that I prefer the food mill prep though. Don’t know what a food mill is?

Crafts

Stacked Pumpkins

I used 3 Dollar Tree foam pumpkins. I had to remove the stems from 2 of them. I painted one a burnt orange, one a green and one a grey. I used hot glue to stack them and used sunflowers and leaves (also from the Dollar Tree) to wrap the pumpkins. Finally I glued them to a Dollar Tree sunburst mirror as a base. I will use it on one of the Thanksgiving tables.

Dog Painting

I had to small canvases which I put blobs of different color paints on. I then carefully put each canvas inside a gallon food storage bag that I had spread peanut butter on. Finally, I put them down for my dogs to lick. When they were done licking I removed the canvases and let the paintings dry. The last touch was to sign each painting.

Sunflower Wreath

My friend, Shelly, and I got together to make a sunflower wreath. Of course, we each had our own little twists and the picture above is mine.

I used a wooden hoop similar to an embroidery hoop as the base for the center of the flower. I hot glued burlap to the hoop and painted it a dark brown. When it was dry I added some black little dots to indicate the seeds. Shelly had some little bees from another project and shared with me. I attached them with hot glue to the burlap center. Now for the petals. I purchased 16 bandanas in a gold color and cut them into fourths. Before attaching them to a wire wreath frame, (I used a 12 inch frame), I folded the fourth of a bandana into a triangle making sure the finished edges of the cloth formed the top two sides of the triangle and then scrunched the bottom together and attached that with small zip ties to the frame. The finishing touch was to glue the center of the flower over the center of the wreath form and hiding where the petals were attached to the frame. You can fashion a hanger with jute or some other material but I just hung mine by the wreath form itself.

Although I used slightly different materials the video below shows the petal folding process well.

Book Folding Pumpkin

Hacking the Life

For this project I used a 300 to 400 page paperback book to form the pumpkin, orange paint, a green pipe cleaner, a piece of driftwood and felt to make a leaf.

To start you fold all the book pages in half by folding them toward the spine. Next you fold the top of each of those pages in at a 90 degree angle toward the spine to form the top slope of the pumpkin. The bottom of each page is folded at a 90 degree angle as well but just not as deep as to go to the spine. This is so there is a base for the pumpkin to stand upright. Once your folding is done you can then cut the front and back covers down so they are not visible beyond the pages. You can glue the remainder of the covers together but due to the all the folding and how thick the book has become they will naturally be hidden just by trimming them down. You paint the pumpkin using the dry brush technique. This is when you dip your brush in the paint and then on a paper towel or paper you brush most of the liquid from the brush. When you brush the ends of the pages you just add some color but your pages do not become wet. To complete your pumpkin you can make a vine with the pipe cleaner and hot glue one end to the top of the pumpkin. I used driftwood but you could use a stick, a cork, a piece of a branch, almost anything to make the stem. Just hot glue your item on and cut a leaf out of felt or any other material you like and glue that as well. For the Jack-O-Lantern I used black felt and hot glued the face on.

Hacking Your Life

• If you like soft cookies try baking them in a muffin tin. They will stay soft and fluffy and not spread out so thin.
• Have you ever added to much salt to a soup of spaghetti sauce? Put a few wedges of raw apple or potato in and let it simmer for 10 minutes. The apple or potato will absorb the salt.
• Are your plastic food containers a little stinky? Put some crumpled up newspaper inside them overnight. The paper will absorb the odor.
• Did you know that when traveling with your dog, some states (New Jersey, Rhode Island and more) require you to haer your dog wear a seat belt or be in a crate. You could be fined upto $1,000.
• Confused by a Wikipedia article? Click “Simple English” on the left-hand list of languages. It will whisk you right to a simplified version without all the technical or subject matter jargon.
• You can use a paper towel holder to hold your roll of garbage bags. Genius!

Hope you are enjoying the season with the great colors, smells, baking and coziness! See you next time!