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

Cooking & Crafting Thursday: Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken & Current Project

 

Hello my Friends!

Happy Friday Eve and officially September. Yay! 

Kids are heading back to school, the nights are cooler, and football starts next week. I can just feel the anticipation of the Fall season ahead. 🍎🍁

If you saw my title, then you see that I thought I'd throw in some crafting on these Thursday posts with you. I always tend to be working on something. So let's begin with the crafting today, shall we? 

I have done lots of cross stitch things through the years...but I never tried my hand at embroidery. I thought it was time I taught myself so, I'm using some friends of mine as guinea pigs. 😂 I found a couple of cute Fall/Halloween kits (they both have Autumn birthdays) and I'm learning as I work on them for gifts. I've just begun on one of them and here it is. I will keep you updated on the progress I make (hopefully). Lol 

Speaking of Halloween, I caught this cute photo of Bubbs this morning. He is such a perfect Halloween kitty, isn't he?? :) 

And I'm SO excited to share this gorgeous gift we recently received in time for our 2nd wedding anniversary. My dear friend Alison made this for us. She lives with her sweet family in England. We met through blogging many years ago and started corresponding here. And then we started sharing letters and packages, and also lots of chatting and sharing photos on messenger too. We share a lot in common as she's about my age, has always been active in Mom life, and she also volunteers in hospice. She has a daughter about Annie's age and for several years they were pen pals too! I treasure Alison and her friendship so much. Matt & I were both touched (and I was so moved 😢) by this sweet and very thoughtful gift that must have taken her hours! We plan to hang it in our bedroom. It matches our wall color in there perfectly! And those sunflowers are stunning aren't they? Just like our wedding day. 🌻💛

I just love this blogland space for that very reason. To feel such a friendship with someone I've never even met in person. I just think it's something so special about blogging. 💗

And I think I may have shared a bit about this - it's a little mixed media piece I made and framed (I used the little black frame you see the edge of at the top). I forgot to take a completed pic of it all put together. But I sent this and a card I painted to a special Aunt for her birthday. That was my most recent completed craft. 

And I have another idea for a little decoration with a cute halloween jack-o-lantern pin I recently found at an antique store. So stay tuned and I will share that on another Thursday. 🎃

Ok, on to the cooking portion now which includes the honey garlic chicken I mentioned earlier in the week. This was such an easy recipe and was so tasty! I found it on social media and I included the person's name in the photo of the recipe below. First I put some boneless skinless chicken thighs in the bottom of the greased slow cooker. Then I made the sauce and put it on top and let it cook. Then towards the end of cooking time, I added a cornstarch slurry to thicken it. We had it with jasmine rice and some green beans from the garden and some broccoli. For the veggies - I just blanched them and then sauteed them in a little oil and with some garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and tiny bit of sesame oil. I then topped them with sesame seeds. 

we had a little sprinkle of peanuts on top for crunch too

The next day I thought it would be fun to make some crispy rice cups for our lunch (Matt works from home) and to have some of the leftover chicken on top of them. So I took the leftover rice and packed it in a sprayed muffin tin and baked them at 400* until they were crispy. About 15 minutes but keep an eye on them. I had jasmine rice which doesn't stick as well as regular rice so I actually added some cheese as a binder. But regular leftover white rice should stick just fine. Just push into the bottom and up the sides of the muffin tin wells.

 Then we put the reheated chicken on top along with some sriracha mayo and chili crunch (our favorite toppings!) They were so tasty and Matt said he loved the crispy rice addition to the leftovers.  

As you can see, I like to experiment and try different things. It's really become a hobby for me to have fun in the kitchen. Do you like to play in the kitchen too? And do you have any crafty projects in the works?? Curious minds want to know 😉

Oh, and last night I made a sheet pan chicken fried rice that was a stellar recipe! We have been on an Asian food kick here as you can see. I will share that recipe soon too! 

If you try - enjoy! 

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

Happy Monday dear Friends 🧡

And....

Can you believe we are getting so close to the end of the year already? Time is whizzing by. 

I think of November as an underrated month. It seems so many like to skip past what this month could be all about and just go straight into Christmas mode. I like to think of November as a time to slow down a bit. A month of gratitude and focusing on blessings. And a month of preparation for all the holiday season to come. 

We even have some chances of snowflakes in our forecast! So I'm thinking of hibernation time. We need to put more things away in the shed. Do some final buttoning up the house chores to get ready for the weather that may come our way sooner than we'd like. So that's next on the agenda this week. 

But it was a lovely weekend here. Early on Friday we got a delivery that my Dad and step Mom had sent for our October bdays but Halloween was the earliest day they could ship it. My Dad & Mary had gone to New England for a Fall trip and it included Maine. They had the best lobster there and shipped us LIVE lobsters! It was crazy and kind of hilarious how Matt & I had to deal with these live lobsters. But we were able to boil them up successfully and they were amazing! We had a little of them with melted butter right away. Then chilled the rest and I made us lobster roll sliders over the weekend. Then Halloween evening we went to Mr. C's Aunt's home for Halloween and they do a big gathering of family and friends. They put on a giant pot of chili and everyone potlucks all kinds of sides and treats. We hung out there and visited and it was a lot of fun🎃 The C's daughter even popped in with their granddaughter Thea and we got to see her in her costume. She was a dragonfly and was SO adorable! I forgot to get a pic though. She's very much in the "stranger danger" phase of things so she would only stick with her parents or her Grandma (my bestie Mrs. C). Then the C's came back to our house and we stayed up til the wee hours playing cards and gabbing away. Such a fun night!

Saturday Hubby and I ran errands, went to evening mass, and went out for dinner. And yesterday we lounged, watched football (darn Packers lost - boo), and then I went out with a couple girlfriends for our Fall birthdays that we do every year. It was a really fun and relaxing weekend and now it's time to dive into this new week....

 

 

 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

protein coffee, a piece of the pumpkin cream cheese bread I baked over the weekend

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands we need to run, house chores to get done before snow, my Mom & step Dad over for dinner, my hair appt, my face surgery for the little skin cancer spot, home projects, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

The chores to get done outside this week. I'm going to tackle cleaning out the pantry cabinets in the kitchen today (tomorrow is garbage day) and give them a good cleaning and I plan to clean my oven this week too. I also got items to put together more blessing bags to keep in my car and need to get them completed. 

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

Putting on the fireplace this time of year in the evening sometimes. We will do a no tv night and just be cozy in front of the fire in the living room for the evening - chatting, reading, and relaxing. It makes life feel such a slower pace. 

CURRENTLY READING

Some new holiday magazines and an old book I hadn't finished before. 

ON THE TV TODAY:

 Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother and the office, Great British Baking Show (need to catch up), Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Shark Tank, Shifting Gears, Ghosts, might start diving into Hallmark movies for fun ;) 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY -  clean out the fridge of leftovers & a salad kit to use up

TUESDAY -  (my Mom & step Dad over) slow cooker pot roast (includes potatoes and carrots), I make a gravy from the juices, biscuits with homemade honey cinnamon butter, spiced peach pie with vanilla bean ice cream

WEDNESDAY -  protein waffle breakfast sammy's (think scrambled eggs, sausage and cheese in between), veggies & dip, fruit

THURSDAY - tacos

FRIDAY - slow cooker ham & scalloped potatoes, salad

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

sketch and paint, crochet, work on what I want to bake ahead for the season and freeze

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

When we were dealing with all of Bubba's health issues recently I found out that essential oils are toxic to pets. When I was doing my diffuser the mist could have been getting on Bubba and when he would lick and clean his fur it could make him sick. So I got rid of my old oils and bought all new pet friendly ones. 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Matt's face shows perfectly what we thought about dealing with live lobsters for our bday gift...we both kept joking that at least Halloween was a perfect time to commit murder. Lol 😂🙈 I did apologize to the lobsters and blessed them first. It made me feel a little better. And they were delish 😋

Halloween night I wore my spider web shirt and spider earrings to the party we went to. Bubbs was fully in the Halloween spirit too. I brought sweet and salty munchie mix (bake cheesy spiced nuts and mix with golden grahams cereal), and Halloween bark you chill and then break into pieces. I also baked pumpkin cream cheese bread (so yummy!). You can find all of these recipes fully under my recipes tab.

the moon put on a perfect Halloween show:

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For the government shutdown to end. For my upcoming surgery.

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way to loving our neighbors as ourselves. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

So thankful for all of you Friends and send you wishes for a slow and gratitude filled November. 🍁🧡

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.