Cooking & CraftingThursday (on a Friday): Apple Cider Chicken Thighs, Autumn Vibes & Craft Updates

 

Hello dear Friends!

Sorry I'm late to this post - I did start it yesterday and then got so busy I never finished it. So getting back to it today. Yesterday I played pickleball with my new pickleball group for 2 hours (so fun!!) and then picked up my Mom and spent the day with her. Then we got busy making dinner and watching our Packers (who are doing SO TERRIBLE this year🙈). I hope our team can get it together or I think we're going to start watching something else. Lol 

Anyways, I thought I would share the apple cider chicken thighs recipe I made last week. I found it at Sallys Baking Addiction website and I made it just as she suggested. I didn't have coriander on hand - so I substituted per her recommendation as well. It turned out so yummy and has all the wonderful Fall flavors. 🍎 😋 We had ours with twice baked potatoes and a garden salad with homemade sourdough croutons. Mmmm!!

The recipe is below. 

Time out from Autumn for just a sec to say that my garden is still producing some green beans - so we will be having one more fresh green bean side dish soon. And today is mid 60's sunny and warmer so I'm wearing my floral jeans and short sleeves - so still a bit of summer hanging on....

And sometimes when you're taking photos anyways, and the lighting is good, especially since you're pushing 55 - you take a quick selfie too. For posterity when I'm 65. Lol

Okay, now back to Autumn vibes. I did a messy manicure on myself but I did grab all my Fallish colors and created this look. Next time I'll take my time and do a better job but I love the colors for this time of year!

And nights have been CHILLY! I have even had to turn on the heat a few times (shhhh....don't tell Matt - he loves it cold). But loving the cozy glow inside....

And the beautiful Fall colors starting to show more out our windows...

And I love the cozy going on in the kitchen. My oven is going strong already this season!  I baked a french onion chicken pasta last night for our dinner and we both loved it! I will share that recipe soon. 

I also made some sweet and spicy nuts this morning as one of the birthday gifts for my brother, Steven. We are celebrating him here this weekend and my Dad and step Mom are heading back to AZ soon - so we are looking forward to hanging out with them too. And my Uncle is coming for the festivities as well. 💗 

I also think I'm going to make one of my GoNanas mixes since I have bananas to use up. I'm going to make an apple cider loaf and brush it with a little melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on it when it comes out of the oven. I love these mixes because I just add protein milk, mashed bananas, coconut oil and some maple syrup - so some healthier ingredients too. And they have been so good so far. The cinnamon roll muffins I made several weeks ago were awesome! 

I know my Bro will love these: mixed nuts with olive oil, brown sugar, chili powder, onion&garlic powder, cumin, & salt and pepper. Baked for 15 mins.

Now for the crafty portion of catching up with you folks. I finished one of my embroidery projects for my fellow Autumn birthday gf. I got a cute frame to put it in just for embroidery projects. 

And I've started the next one for my other fellow Autumn birthday gf. I think they will both love them. :) 🎃🕷🕸🧡

And I'm also going to start these. They are Super Mario coasters that I'm going to do diamond art on. They will be for our downstairs media room. Matt's favorite place! They are going to be a little birthday gift for Matt as he is also a Fall baby. 😊🧡💛

We are going to start adding some more "gamer" touches down there soon - stay tuned! 

Love the cute holder they will go in.

Looking forward to celebrating my baby Brother this weekend. This was on a trip to South Dakota over 40 years ago ::gulp:: 

Where does the time go???

Have a blessed weekend Folks! I will come around and visit when I get a chance. Please know I always love and appreciate your visits here. 

xoxo

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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

Cooking & Crafting Thursday: Puppy Chow & Monster Cookies and some Progress

 

Hello gorgeous Friends!

How are things looking in your area of the world? Here it is sunny and low 70's and so pleasant out. Little breezes and there are bits of plants and trees just starting to turn colors for Fall. I had an appointment this morning and while I was waiting I saw so many monarch butterflies go by the window. And I looked it up and it's prime migration time for them to begin here in the north. So I got an unexpected bit of beauty in this day. God is so cool. 💗

I thought for some recipes today I would share the 2 sweet treats I made for the lake last weekend. They both turned out so yummy and so, if they are something you'd enjoy, I'd definitely recommend them. And they were both nice to have on hand for the long holiday weekend as they lasted the whole time through and are good for grazing. Taking a cookie here and there...or a handful of puppy chow (some call them muddy buddies) whenever the mood or appetite struck. 

And then I also thought I'd show you the quick progress I've been making on my current embroidery project (I'm addicted)...and a sneak peek at some Autumn decorations as I've slowly been cleaning and putting them up around the house. 

First up, I thought I'd share the 2 recipes. The puppy chow recipe is on my pinterest you can find here. And the monster cookies I found on the site www.tastesbetterfromscratch.com They are both straight forward recipes and I will share photos of each and the recipes. The only changes I made was with the monster cookies in that I used chocolate chunks instead of chips, and also added some butterscotch chips...cuz of course I had to be extra. Lol 

I joked to Matt that this cookie even looked like a monster with his green m&m eyes and chocolate chunk teeth.👹

I actually have a whole pinterest board called "mud buds" for muddy buddies because there are so many different flavor profile recipes. This is the O.G. recipe but next time I think I'll try something new for fun.

And then for the crafting portion of this post I thought I'd share that I have started decorating for Fall. Yay! It's my absolute favorite time of the year and the colors fit our home so well that I think I love how our home looks the most in Autumn. 

I saw this adorable tic tac toe with black cats and had to pick it up for this year. Bubba came over to inspect and I think he was asking me to play it with him 🖤

And I got a few new garlands this year: a leafy one and a felted pumpkin one - I love how they look together. 

So cozy 🍁🎃🧡

And here is the progress I have made just since last week on my embroidery project. I think then I had only completed the spider? I'm learning so many stitches: back stitch, satin stitch, leaf stitch, french knots, and the next stitch I'm going to try is the long and short. I enjoy this so much and work on it some nights when we watch a show. I like that there are different stitches so it's not so repetitive, like cross stitch (which I still like too). I got a cute kit with 4 of these Fall/Halloween themes and I picked the 2 cutest ones to do for each of my gf's Fall birthdays. :) Maybe the next time I'm able to share, I'll be done with this one! I also have a pretty diamond art piece that has a Christmas theme I want to do as a gift ...and will share once I begin. 

Have you been working on any crafting projects? Anything on your bucket list? I still want to get better at crochet and need to give that some real time...eventually. 😂 Not enough hours in the day! Lol

And I'm curious do you call that snack puppy chow? or Muddy buddies? 

Blessings on your weekend ahead. And if you make any of the recipes I hope you enjoy! 

xoxo