Cooking Thursday: Chicken and Dumplings & some Happy October Fall Finds

 

Hello my Peeps~

Happy October!! 👻🍁🎃🧡

The best month of them all in my opinion. Since Autumn is my favorite season - In my humble opinion, I don't think it gets any better than the northwoods in October. Folks come from all over to travel up our north shore along Lake Superior because it's just so beautiful.😍  

I love the beautiful trees, the weather, soft sweaters, cozy hot drinks, long walks, geese honking, the smell of woodsmoke outside, first evenings in front of the fireplace, heartier meals, fun movies, curling up under a fuzzy blanket, and all the magic that October brings. 

Right now it's sunny and in the 60's and the trees and bay are all shimmering in the breeze. A little pile of leaves is already forming under one of the trees. 

And here are a few pics from our walk a few nights ago:

And it's so fun to see kiddos get excited that it's the month of this:

And since we're talking about Autumn cozy I thought I would share this yummy comforting chicken and dumplings I made the other night. 

I found the recipe in a 50+ Best Soups magazine from a few years ago. I have made a few really good soups from it and I always jot down my notes about them after I make them so I know how I want to tweak for next time. 

I followed the recipe except I didn't have dried rosemary - so I used fresh I still had from my garden. And besides salt and pepper...I seasoned everything with a bit of garlic powder and onion powder. I let my slow cook a little longer than 5 hours because I wanted the potatoes even softer (I think I cut them a little too big). So I layered the veggies, then put the seasoned chicken thigh pieces on top. Poured the broth mixture over all and let it cook.

This is how it looked when it was ready for me to add the dumplings and I added in 1/2 c. of frozen peas I had thawed a little:

 I didn't have bisquick mix so I made my own by sifting 1 cup of flour into a bowl and adding in 1&1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt. I then took 1 Tbsp of butter and blended that into the flour mixture with my pastry blender until it was all blended in. I did add some seasoning to the mixture too (some garlic & onion powder and a little Italian seasoning). And then mixed in some milk. 

Then I dropped the dumplings by rounded tablespoons onto the hot broth:

I covered them and let them cook about 1/2 hour until they were soft and pillowy and a toothpick pushed in the center came out clean.

Here is the recipe. Such perfect comforting Fall food!! I definitely recommend it and Matt & I both said we'd definitely have it again. 

I don't have an exciting craft update this week. I have progressed more on my second embroidery project - but I thought I would wait until I have more done before I show an update again. And I have started the cute diamond art coasters (see prior Thursday post) - but again, I want to wait until more are complete. So instead I thought I'd show you a few other fun items I found for Fall at Trader Joe's that I had shipped to our home (through amazon - since our closest TJ's is 3 hours away):

You already saw my absolute favorite - this pumpkin spice bark

But I also got this harvest pasta sauce that came highly rated. It's made with pumpkin and butternut squash. I think I'm going to add meatballs or ground beef or turkey that I saute with onion and zucchini and then have it over pasta. 

And I have to say these little pumpkin spice yogurt covered shortbread cookies are really good too! Counting every calorie when I indulge but they are very worth it. Great with a mug of tea!

How is October beginning where you are? Are there any fun activities or foods you're looking forward to? Or maybe something new you plan to try? 

Love the time we share here together always my Friends. Have a great weekend! 

xoxo

Cooking & Crafting Thursday: Beef Stroganoff & Artsy Update

 

Hi Friends!

It's a gorgeous day here in the northwoods. Low 70's, a little sun and light breeze. It feels like summer hanging on today. However, the last couple of days felt more like this:

The days were in the low 60's with a little chill to the breeze or it was rainy. The nights have been in the 40's. For all of my poor friends in the sweltering warmth - I am sending you cool thoughts from the north winds. We have had some leaf changing happening, butterflies migrating and geese still doing their practice runs over the bay. I hope you get the Autumn vibes soon too!! 🍁🧡

But today, since it definitely feels like summer yet - I made a cucumber salsa/salad situation with fresh cukes, tomatoes, red onion, some cucumber balsamic I have, cilantro, jalapeno, lime etc. It's marinating in the fridge...along with some chicken breasts I put a marinade over this morning and threw in the fridge. Matt will cook them on the grill for dinner and we will top them with this cucumber salsa. Fresh and summery. I will share the full recipe soon. Along with a recipe for a wonderful sheet pan chicken fried rice I made a week or so ago that I have been meaning to share. 

But don't worry, for today I'm bringing the cozy vibes with this recipe to share. This is a beef stroganoff recipe that I grew up on. The recipe card is in my Dad's handwriting. Both of my folks made this different times during my childhood and it was often the dish they made if we had company over. It's so easy, yet rich and comforting. I thought I had shared it long ago here... but I looked back and couldn't find it. So I thought I'd finally share it today! 

My Dad used to go deer hunting when I was a kid - and I even remember he sometimes made it with venison. I definitely recommend it and to make it just as it's written. The key is not to cook the steak too long at the start - just brown it because it slow cooks the rest of the way through in the pot with the gravy. So so good!! Perfect dish for Fall. 

Speaking of my PapaBear, I went out to lunch with him recently to catch up. He and my step Mom have had a busy summer up here. But they head back to AZ next month...as well as Matt's folks too. So it's almost time for the snowbirds to fly - just another sign of Autumn in the air. 🌻🧡

And for the crafting update - here is the progress on the embroidery project I've been doing. I only have a few more small details and then I fill in that hat with black embroidery and it's done! I think it's turning out so sweet and I'm excited to get to work on the next one -which I will share next week. As well as a little side crafty I've decided to work on. 

And I also wanted to share that I found this lovely painting in my closet. My Mom had made it for my last birthday and I forgot to get it framed. She painted it from a kit. It's nice sized and the colors are so beautiful! I just love it and since it's special because she put in all the time for me - I want it framed nicely to preserve it. So I'm bringing it in soon and will share it again when it's all matted and framed. :) 

Blessings to you all for a great weekend ahead! 

xoxo

Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars & Peach Cobbler Overnight Oats

 

Hey my Peeps!

Today I thought I'd share these recipes I mentioned in my previous post. First I'll begin with these apple pie bars that I made for my Dad's birthday celebration. He is like me and LOVES any apple dessert. I found this one at the website sallysbakingaddiction.com and she is often a go-to for me if I'm looking for baking recipes. She always makes the best stuff! 

This one had several lovely layers. Starting with a shortbread crust, then an apple filling layer, followed by a streusel layer and then topped with salted caramel before serving. How could that be bad in any way?? Lol

 It was, in fact, delicious and everyone loved it.

Here is the recipe:

And next is the recipe for the peach overnight oats. I follow Morgan Peterson on social media (under morganpete on instagram) and she always has the best overnight oats recipes. I have made some of her meal dishes too - including the lasagna soup I shared last year. 

I thought these oats were great and I think I may make an apple version for Fall soon. I sauteed the peaches and then put them on the oats I had made and let them set up overnight. Then topped them with some granola and cinnamon the next morning. I sometimes use vanilla protein powder, as she does. And sometimes I don't. I think the key is finding what consistency you like to the oats. Add more liquid or less liquid. Add more creamy yogurt. Through a little trial and error you find your perfect texture you like. But these were definitely tasty!

peaches being sauteed in a tiny bit of butter and maple syrup...then adding cinnamon and nutmeg- mmmmm

topping the oats I made with them

then put on the lid and just throw in the fridge overnight and a yummy, high protein, higher fiber relatively healthy breakfast is waiting 😋

Here is her recipe:

And speaking of tasty things - I have honey garlic chicken thighs currently in the slow cooker making my kitchen smell amazing! I will share that recipe in the future if it's a good one. I'm trying to challenge myself to do a different meal I haven't made before about once a week. Trying to find things I think we would both like and that will be fairly healthy too. Tonight it will be these boneless, skinless asian chicken thighs over jasmine rice with some sauteed broccoli and green beans from our garden. 

What have you got cooking? And have you ever tried overnight oats? 

Cooking Thursday: A Couple of Yummy Quick Breads

 

Hello beautiful Friends!

It's a cozy rainy Thursday here and I've been soaking up the vibes. I got a new blackberry jam candle at bath & body recently and it smells so good! I have that going and a pretty early Fall scene playing on the tv with pretty piano music.

*I love that the lid of the candle looks like the top of a jam jar 

(it's the little things 😊)

 

And one thing I love to do on cozy days is bake. I recently made these 2 breads (about a week apart) also on gray cozier days. The first one I want to share is for an apple cheddar bread I made a few weeks ago before Annie left. She thought it sounded delish so I gave it a go. 

I had found the recipe at gimmesomeoven.com 

It's a pretty straight forward quick bread and I didn't use the sage it called for and used thyme instead and I also added some cinnamon. I just measured with my heart on both and didn't add a specific amount. I also just cubed up the apple and didn't shred it in.

We all thought the flavor was amazing and this would be such a great bread with soup in the Fall. It had a very kind of biscuit texture to it. My notes on this were that I think next time I'd use a little less flour and I would shred some of the apple in and cube the rest. I think it would make the bread a little less biscuit-like and more moist. Either way though we gave it a thumbs up! Of course it helped that I made a cinnamon honey butter to top it with too. 😉

The next bread I made more recently. I had a can of pumpkin in the cabinet and wanted to use it up...so I thought August was close enough for our first loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. 🎃  I found the recipe at sallysbakingaddiction.com (she has the best baking stuff!). It turned out amazing and the only thing I did was add milk instead of orange juice (I didn't have any oranges and that was her suggestion if you didn't). And I did add the chocolate chips (because of course I did 😋) and some chopped pecans I needed to use up. Total 10 out of 10! It tasted so good to have my first taste of something pumpkin!! I brought some to my Mom and step Dad too. Definitely recommend this one for Autumn. 

Have you started any Fall baking yet? Do you have a go-to you like to make on rainy days? 

If you try these I hope you enjoy! 

xoxo