Our Fall Favorites

Are you ready for Halloween?  I always have to psyche myself up for all of the craziness that comes with it.  The candy, the parties, the overly excited kids (because of the candy and parties) and the Halloween mess that comes no matter how prepared I am.  It’s like a whirlwind of a weekend, no matter what.  Ready or not…here it comes!  I am ready though. :)

Actually today is feeling pretty fallish.  It’s really cool outside, almost cold.  There has been some rain here and there and Ady has been dancing around in her swim suit today, of all days!   Tonight we have our annual trunk or treat for church.  This includes a chili cook-off which is always fun to try new recipes.    I thought today would be a great day to share a couple of our fall favorite recipes.  And since we are having chili tonight, here are our two favorite chili recipes.

White Chili  (this is what I am bringing tonight.  This recipe came from one of our friends from Providence.  Thanks for sharing it with us Erica!)

1 – 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts cut into small chunks (I boil and shred mine and usually use 3 large chicken breasts)

1 onion diced

1 cup chicken broth

1 - 4oz. can green chilies

2 tsp. cumin

3 – 15 oz. cans of Great Northern Beans (or any white bean)

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup sour cream

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese

In a large pot fry chicken and onion in cooking oil until well browned.  (This is where I just boil my chicken breasts separately.  I add the diced onion to the soup mix).  Simmer the rest of the ingredients, except the sour cream and cheese, on low heat for 30-35 min.  stirring occasionally.  After that I add my shredded chicken, sour cream and cheese and simmer until heated through and cheese is melted.  Serve and enjoy!

Sweet Chili  (this is a great one when you have company for dinner or you need to take someone a meal.  It is so yummy and serves a lot.  You can freeze the leftovers too, or just enjoy them for days to come).

2 lbs. ground beef

1 onion – diced

2 cloves garlic – minced

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 can 28 oz. diced tomatoes

1 can 28 oz. tomato sauce

1 can 16 oz. kidney beans – drained and rinsed

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 lb. cooked elbow macaroni

Brown beef, onion and garlic until beef is cooked through.  Drain, then add chili powder, salt, cumin, pepper and oregano.  Cook for 2 min. until fragrant.  Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and 1 can of water.  Add beans and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer, uncovered for 30-35 min.  Let stand for 10 min.  Add cooked macaroni.  Top with cheese and sour cream.  Serve and enjoy.

In our house it is not officially fall until we have made Pumpkin Bars.  Casey grew up with these.  They are his favorite and is now a family favorite.  I made these last week.

Pumpkin Bars

Blend:

4 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Add:

1 can 16 oz. pumpkin

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

Pour into a greased 9x13 in. pan and cook at 350 for 45-50 min.  Let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

3 oz (or 1/2  a brick of cream cheese)

1/4 cup of butter

1 tsp. vanilla

After mixing, add 2 cups powder sugar.  Frost Pumpkin Bars and enjoy!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Halloween/Fall Decor. {Part 4}

Today you get a two for one!  How’s that for generous?   Two fire place mantles in one post.  I am a lucky girl who gets to decorate two mantles for the holidays.  That can either be a huge headache or lots of fun.  When it comes together it’s lots of fun.  One is a faux fireplace, but many people think it’s real at first glance.  I guess that is the whole point of a faux fireplace. :)  Back in the day, when Casey and I were living in our first home years ago I was distraught over not having anywhere to hang our stockings for Christmas.  I survived our first Christmas by hanging them from a bookshelf in our family room.  It was fine.  One weekend I went out of town to visit my family, leaving my husband behind for a couple of days.  When I got home, there was a surprise waiting for me.  Any guesses on what it was?

Yep.  It was a mantle.  He had made me my very own fireplace mantle.   Somewhere to hang our stockings.  How sweet!  He made our home feel so cozy and had one happy wife.  This mantle has been moved around in different houses over the years.  It has been in our family room, then in our bedroom and now it is in the office/study.  I still love it. This was the first of many woodworking projects Casey has done for us. 

Here it is ready for Halloween.

It is ready for fall too.

All I plan on doing is taking the cat and mason jar of skeletons down after Halloween.  That will leave me with pumpkins and pinecones.  Perfect.

This is the mantle in our family room.

This room has recently gotten a face lift.  This was one of our summer projects.  I haven’t shared any of yet because it is still in the works.  This room is never ending!  Anyway, the alcove that the clock is sitting in used to be a terracotta red.  I can not believe it has taken me this long to paint over it.  It is so much better!!

Back to the mantle.

The trick or treat banner was from last year.  It was still a keeper.  I added LOTS of spanish moss here to make a fall garland.

When I picked the twigs for my entry table, I used the extra for my mantle.  I added the twigs first and then put spanish moss over the top.  I love the texture it adds.

This is another one of my painted pumpkins.

I printed the owl from the Graphics Fairy and made the BOO frame a couple of years ago.  I just printed BOO on newspaper.  It doesn’t get much easier than that.  Those are my favorite kind of projects.

Happy fall!  It is raining as I type this. :)

Fall Decor. {Part 1}

I have lost track of my days this week.  It’s all been one big blur.  I pulled out my Fall and Halloween decorations earlier this week.  A week later than I had planned.  Oh well.  It has been spread all over the house since then.  I am finally getting it all wrapped up today.  Yesterday was the first day I was able to dedicate to the house, mostly.  There are always other things to do. :)  I spent a lot of my free time outside in the front.  I am finishing the inside today.  And then the cleaning starts!  Ugghhh.  Cleaning after pulling out holiday decorations is such a to-do.  Why does it always have to make such a mess?   Maybe I am just a messy decorator. 

Anyway, I thought I would dedicate the rest of this week and most of next week to Fall/Halloween decor.  I will share a space each day.  That is the plan…but we all know that plans usually change.  SO, I will post and share when I can.

Here is my front entry.

 

I started out by re-purposing my previous fall wreath.

Here is the wreath I’ve had for a couple of years.

And this is the same wreath this year. 

Such an easy and inexpensive fix.  I wanted to switch it up a bit, but still keep the same general idea.  When I saw this wreath on Pinterest, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

The only thing I bought were the feathers, which is what inspired me when I saw the wreath on Pinterest.  I used my Micheal’s 40% off coupon, so this new wreath cost me $2.00.  I had everything else.

While I had it all pulled apart I spray painted they yellow gourds cream.  It freshened it up so much.  After that was done, I rearranged it all and stuck the picks back in the grapevine wreath.  I added spanish moss, one of my Dollar Tree crows, our monogram and some burlap. 

I cleaned out my planters and added fall color to them. 

I made a glittery 31.  That is my contribution to Halloween on the porch.  My kids would love to carve pumpkins, but I don’t let them.  Mean of me.  I like to save my pumpkins and have them out through Thanksgiving. 

 

Now I feel ready for the fall!

Fall Harvest {Activity Days}

Wow!  It’s been a long time since I’ve done a post.  I’m not going to waste time listing excuses of why I’ve been away from my computer, instead I’m going to get to the point and share with you ONE of the things I have been happily busy with.  I hosted a dinner for the Activity Day girls at my house this past week…all 20 of them.  I am either really brave or really dumb.  Either way, it turned out great and the girls had so much fun!

On the menu was sweet chili, homemade french bread, fruit jell-o, pudding cups with whip cream and peppermint chunks, chocolate oatmeal cookies and chocolate covered pretzels.  It was yummy!  I would say the most popular item was the french bread.  I could not get it on their plates fast enough!  Some of the girls asked to take some on the road with them.  I thought that was funny!

If you are still looking for table setting ideas for Thanksgiving dinner, maybe some of these ideas will get your wheels turning.  Easy and inexpensive. 

I used burlap for my placemats.  I cut them into the size that a placemat would be by measuring one of my old placemats.  I gathered every single dish I had in my house and mismatched them together.  I loved the eclectic look and cozy feel it gave. 

The glasses are just plastic wine glasses I picked up from Dollar Tree.  6 for $1.00. 

I guess for Thanksgiving dinner you would want the real thing, not plastic. :)

Each girl had an assigned seat.  They thought it was fun racing through the tables (all 4 of them) to find out were they were sitting. 

 

I just folded a square piece of cardstalk in half and wrapped ribbon around the one side.  I googled “leaf shapes” on my computer, found some I liked and traced them onto different colored cardstalks.  I ran them trough the computer to put each girls name on one and then glued it onto the card with a glue stick.  Easy, easy.  One of those little tiny things that is so worth the extra effort.

After wrapping the silverware up inside the napkins, I tied a different leaf cutout around that. 

These were used for our Thankful Tree.  I forgot to get a good picture of it, but if you scroll back up to the top you will see twigs as the centerpiece.  That is the beginning of our thankful Tree.  Maybe some of you might remember this post.  Every year around Thanksgiving time, I gather twigs and use them as a centerpiece.  Then we write what we are thankful for on leaves and hang it on the tree.  It is one of our traditions.  I thought the girls might enjoy this, so each table had their own Thankful Tree.   

This was one of my favorites that one of the girls wrote.

So simple and true!  I am thankful for everything too.

I went to the local scrapbook store and bought several different festive papers to use on top of the burlap, but underneath their plates.  It just added a little more color and texture to the burlap.    

 

I loved the bird and the bird cages. 

 

And how could I not get one that says celebrate!?

Of course a pumpkin.

I have had so much fun with these plate stands this fall.

Besides sitting pumpkins on them,

 

I also stacked cookies on them for each of the 4 tables.  Then the girls didn’t even have to get out of their chairs for dessert!

  

I enjoyed putting my mason jars to use too.  For the dinner they held the chocolate covered pretzels, but earlier this fall they held candy corns. 

 

If you are looking for a great french bread recipe, you have to give this one a try.  It is so, so yummy!  In my old neighborhood, some of my really good friends did a recipe exchange.  We scrapbooked together so it was only fitting that we would scrapbook our recipe exchange.  I have this amazing cookbook that is completely adorable with my friends tried and true favorite recipes.  This is still one of my favorite cookbooks and I pull it out all the time. 

French Bread by Tallie Geddes 

This recipe is done completely in a mixing bowl, no kneading.

1/2 cup warm water for yeast

4 tsp. yeast (2 yeast cakes)

2 cups hot water

3 Tbsp. sugar

3 tsp. salt

5 Tbsp. shortening

6 cups flour

Dissolve yeast, mix remaining ingredients, except add only 3 cups flour and beat well.  Add yeast. Beat.  Add balance of flour, stir well.  Leave spoon in batter and let dough rest for 10 minutes.  Stir down batter and let rest again.  Repeat the stirring and 10 minute rest period 3 more times.  Divide dough in half, roll out in rectangle shape (approximately 9x12 inch) and roll up like a jelly roll.  Brush tops with beaten egg whites, sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Cut diagonally about 3 times across loaf and let rise until double in bulk.  Bake two loaves on cookie sheet at 400 for 35 minutes. 

Enjoy!!