Burlap Garland Wonderland

 Garlands!

not swag. do not call it swag. we both know it's stupid.

You know how I role. I see awesome ideas on Pinterst and make them slightly or not so slightly, my own. 

Here's what I found:

Burlap Garland

It's as easy as you think. She explains it all. To primp,  twist a lot.  Then twist more.

Here's how I used them to dress up my boring old roman shades in our dining room.

If that doesn't convince you that you can't live without these, this will:

Deco mesh! Can you see this stuff with lights at Christmas time? It's going to be spectacular! You'll get to see it.

Up close and personal.

My shopping tip- at Hobby Lobby, you can find deco mesh in at least two places- Christmas and general floral. Every other week, ribbon goes on sale for 50% off. Deco mesh is floral ribbon. Seasonal is only 40%. You're welcome. (The same goes for burlap ribbon.)

Crocktober Week 1

Finally!!

We have lots to get through, so lets get started! As a review, each week will have 5 recipes and shopping lists. When I make the lists, I'll assume you have the basics so read the recipes so there aren't moments of panic. 

What you'll be enjoying

Amish Lady Noodles (with bonus cream of chicken soup)

Chili Colorado Burritos

Crock Pot Potatoes

Applesauce

The recipes:

Amish Lady Noodles

2 Chicken Breasts

4 cups of broth made with Chicken Soup Base

Cream of Chicken Soup

1 bag of Inn Maid Noodles

First, it's important that you don't sub out anything or this just becomes chicken and noodles. It's far better than JUST chicken and noodles.

Place your crock pot on low and add the chicken and broth. Let that become awesome all day. Or put it on high for 3-4 hours. (You can also add more chicken to have shredded chicken on hand.) When you can poke the chicken and it falls apart, use two forks to shred all of it and take out whatever extra you added. Add the cream of chicken soup and noodles. The noodles will take about an hour to cook. Sometimes I add corn for a more well rounded meal. Either way, it's one of our family's favorites.

Cream of Chicken Soup Base

(adapted from here: http://pinchofyum.com/homemade-cream-of-chicken-soup)

2 cups of broth made with soup base

1 1/2 cups of milk

3/4 cup of flour

more seasonings if you so desire

Bring the broth and 1/2 cup of milk to a boil. While you're waiting on the boiling, whisk the rest of the milk and flour until smooth. After the broth/milk starts to boil, slowly add the milk/flour and the seasonings. I've found you don't need much more than a little garlic salt because the soup base is so flavorful. Also, you're going to want to print this out.

Chili Colorado Burritos

Since the only thing I changed was red sauce to green (family preference), here is the link for this recipe:

http://www.food-pusher.com/2010/08/chile-colorado-burritos.html

CrockPot Potatoes
My only change was less butter and adding 1/2 cup of beef broth and 1 pound of ham and/or cooked bacon.
http://www.quick-and-easy-dinner.com/crock-pot-potatoes.html

Applesauce

http://mommymakesitbetter.blogspot.com/2012/04/crock-pot-applesauce.html

Recipe List:

Meat

2 (or so depending on if you want extra shredded) Chicken Breasts

1-2 lbs Sirloin or whatever stew meat you prefer

1 lb ham and/or bacon

And the rest…

Chicken base

Flour

Milk

Large (19 oz) enchilada sauce

Beef bouillon cubes

Refried beans

Tortillas

Cheddar cheese

Butter (or margarine, depending on your preference)

Onion soup packet

8 medium apples

1 lemon

cinnamon stick

brown sugar

In some cases, like the burritos, it's not a complete meal. So, good luck with that. I hear corn makes a nice side. 

Stay tuned, I'll be showing off my new need for garland in a few days. Add your email to be sure to get all the Crocktober updates! Have a great week!

It's Tree Time!

See what I did there?

Tree time instead of tea time? 

I know. I'm hilarious.

Before we get to the heart of the matter, I'd like to let you know an upcoming month long 'project' called Crock-tober. I saw the phrase in a book, and decided to make my Mom and sister do it with me, which lead to a comment on Facebook, which lead to others wanting to going, and here we are. It's a thing now.

This is not a food blog, but it's the best way to get the recipes, shopping lists and links out. Since I don't hate cooking and I love LOVE my crock pot, it's happening. Despite all the work it will take, I'm excited. My dad is too. He just doesn't know it yet. 

Now, for Arts and Crafts time with Amy.

I found this at Sugar and Charm and it calls for a styrofoam cone covered in paper. Have you ever bought one of those? They are at least $3 and never on sale. My plan was to make several in different sizes and with different covers. And I'm cheap. Instead, I used kraft colored card stock. AKA brown. Rolled one into a cone, glued it and cut the bottom to make it flat and that left me with a stencil for the next one. Glued the second to the first and I was left with a fairly sturdy cone. For less than a buck. (Because the paper was on sale at the Lobby of Hobbies.)





After this worked, I got a pack of 25 of the paper for $3 on sale. Which it is about every other week there.

And then came the gluing of the pinecones. Big and little. Start at the top, but not the tip top, save that for the perfect one later. The first few were slow because I needed to let the glue dry and be secure, but after that, I would glue, hold and keep going at a pretty good pace. The whole project took over an hour, but it could have been faster. That's not my living room, it's my friends. She had a 'bring your own craft' day. A bag of mini pine cones are $3 and I already had the bigger ones. On sale at Target last year for a whopping 90 cents. One bag of minis and a few bigs only covered the front 2/3's. But where it sits, can you tell?

The orange garland was bought at Hobby Lobby too. On sale. That goes without saying. I'm thinking of spray painting one in chalkboard paint? One in red glitter balls. Who knows. While everyone else is all about the snowmen, I'm in love with trees for Fall/Christmas/Winter decorating.