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

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday Friends!

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted last. 

It got a bit busy last week packing Annie up and spending time with her before she left for FL. (she has since arrived there). And I had some other busy things going on last week.

And today I needed to take Ruby for a vet appointment and I have been busy catching up around the house too. So I'm getting to this post a little late too. We went to the lake for the weekend but during that visit I threw my back out a bit. (ugh!) Makes me feel like an old lady. Lol It's feeling a bit better but probably going to take a few days to fully be ok. Thank goodness for good pain meds and muscle relaxants. They have sure been helping! 

Matt, of course, has been wonderful and so helpful. And thankfully I am functional. I had a little trauma flashback to when I herniated my disc a few years back...and how awful that was. So, when I tweak my back I go into panic mode. 🙈 But it's definitely not like that and I am fine. 

Anyways, enough old lady talk. It's a beautiful sunny day and it's sure feeling like summer yet. So we have been soaking up time out in the yard and on the deck. As well as soaking up lake time this past weekend with Matt's folks. It rained all day Saturday so we never got out on the water, but it was nice to just get chill time there. 

How was your weekend? I think some of you are still dealing with horrible hot temps. I'm grateful that even though we have warm days the nights have been cooling off nicely. I hope wherever you are that you are able to soak up these fleeting summer days. ☀️💛

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

 

iced protein coffee and a piece of pumpkin chocolate chip bread (yep, I had a can of pumpkin and I wasn't afraid to use it! Lol) 

*I had also made a loaf of apple cheddar bread when Annie was still here and I will share that recipe in the future.

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Ruby vet appt, errands, groceries later in the week (planning a BBQ for my Dad & my son's birthdays), shopping and helping my Mom, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

when Matt grabs my hand to hold when we're just out running errands ❤️

CURRENTLY READING

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower volumes 1&2 (I've continued to be terrible about reading - other than a Fall cookbook 😂 - and that I need to get back to regular reading time)

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

We have been all over the place with shows and have mainly been watching old and new episodes of Big Brother. Ted Lasso. I did watch Seeking Persephone and thought it was sweet. We need to finish House of Dragons too. We just haven't been watching as many shows - we often like to sit outside in the evenings and visit, or play cards.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - papperdelle pasta with grilled chicken and tomatoes (easy Costco dish we picked up), and I'm going to roast veggies that I will then add to fresh greens for a salad (partly from our garden) with a balsamic vinaigrette, feta cheese, and pistachios 

TUESDAY - soup dumplings, veggie spring rolls

WEDNESDAY - leftovers/clean out the fridge

THURSDAY -  garlic & herb pork loin roast, roasted red potatoes, green beans

FRIDAY - maybe out for dinner?

*Need to work on a grocery list yet for later this week. I'm thinking for celebrating my Dad & Aaron's bday's we will grill steak (Dad fave) but also have sub fixings (Aaron doesn't care for beef), veggie pasta salad, corn on the cob, melon & berries, brownies (with ice cream) for Aaron and I may make apple bars for my Dad - so we will have a few options for dessert. Lol But I want to bake what both of the fellas each love.

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

paint, catch up with my Girl on the phone, read

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Scenes from the lake (the sky was putting on a show the night before it rained all day) And a loaf of yummy pumpkin chocolate chip bread. I will share recipe for that in the future too. 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear, especially everything going on in the middle east right now. 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 Lord's love and peace to fill all ❤️'s.

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:

Blessings to you dear Friends!

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

Pumpkin muffins

Hello and happy Thursday Friends!

The sun has been in and out around here today. Kind of hazy at times due to the continued fires north of us that cause air alert issues. But it's supposed to be in the 70's and pleasant and still lots of summer vibing around here. ☀️ 

But as you know, I'm anticipating Autumn right around the corner. It is my favorite season after all. 😊 🍂 🧡 And I recently made these pumpkin muffins to give me kind of a pre-Fall moment. However, I really do think pumpkin is yummy any time of the year. Are you just an Autumn pumpkin person? Or do you like it all the year through? 

Well anyway, the muffins turned out great so I thought I'd share the recipe here. I found it at foodal.com They were soft and fluffy and the cinnamon/sugar topping made them extra delish! You could definitely add nuts, chocolate chips...whatever you'd like with pumpkin flavor. 

The only thing I changed is that I didn't have pumpkin pie spice. So I added cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg, and Chinese 5 spice to the dry mixture. I use Chinese 5 spice in my pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and it definitely adds a little "something, something" that everyone loves and asks what is that yummy flavor? I highly recommend giving it a try. 

Add the dry mix to your wet mixture and then pour into muffin tins. Make sure you don't forget the cinnamon/sugar topping before you bake! 😋 

Here's the recipe:

They turned out great and this recipe is a keeper! If you give it a try

Enjoy! xo

 

Five on Friday: Fall

 Hello Friends~ 

I hope you've had a wonderful week and you're gearing up for a fun weekend ahead. I'm still enjoying every last drop of summer. I promise I am.  Although, I'm glad the recent heat wave has stopped and it's cooler today. However, even though I'm still loving many things about summer... August always seems to bring a shift around here. It becomes pre-Fall, as well as summer. Preseason football. Cooler temps. Annie starts school this month. Geese start doing some practice runs over my bay. Autumn begins to spice the air a bit - especially living as far north as I do. So here are 5 ways I know Fall is on my mind...

1. I'm getting all of the Autumn feels and start really anticipating it's return. 

🍂 🧡

2. I have a can a pumpkin and I'm not afraid to use it! Lol I found this in my cabinet and I'm thinking of baking some pumpkin bread or muffins. Just to get a little pre-taste of Autumn. 🎃 

3. I'm learning new vocabulary. 🍁 

4. I'm having fun looking at Fall crafts - especially different ways to decorate pumpkins. And I'm loving all things black cats, that's partly in honor to Bubba who is a part of our family now.  🐱 🖤

5. Photos like these makes my heart go pitter pat 🧡🧡🧡

How's about you? Are you only team summer right now? Or do you let a few thoughts of Autumn anticipation creep in? 

**All photo honors are thanks to pinterest