Baby girls room!

We went very pink! Lots if shades! Repurposed dressers, side tables, and rocking chair! Fun tulle left over from her baby shower.  The picture frames were from Goodwill and filled with paper, fabric and a pillow case! Loved every minute of putting it together! 

Painted the inside of the closet door!

Restaurant Good Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I have tried and failed Broccoli Cheddar Soup before...too watery....too oniony...too unhealthy...but I now have the perfect soup!  The recipe came from allrecipes.com but I tweaked it:)

Serves 8

1 small yellow onion (diced)

1/4 cup butter

2 16-oz packages of frozen broccoli (thawed)

About 3 cups chicken broth

1 pound Velvetta (small block)

2 cups milk

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup cornstarch

3/4 cup water

In a Dutch oven or large stalk pan melt butter.  Add diced onions to melted butter and cook on medium until onions are soft. 

Roughly chop broccoli.  Add chopped broccoli to butter mixtures.  Pour chicken stock over until the broccoli and onions are covered.  Let cook on low to medium  heat until broccoli is soft (about 10-15 minutes).

Dice cheese into medium cubes.  Add cheese and stir until melted.  Add milk, garlic, salt and pepper flakes and stir in. 

In a small bowl mix cornstarch and water.  Stir into soup until thick.  Let simmer until ready to serve. 

If its too thick after simmering add a little more milk.

 

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Great recipe to clean out your pantry and to use up the rest of those tortillas from taco night.

2 cups shredded chicken (2-3 breasts)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp taco seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp fresh cilantro

1 (15 oz) can black beans (rinsed and drained)

1 (4.5 oz) can diced green chilies (drained)

1 (10 oz) can red enchilada sauce

4 (8 inch) tortillas

2 cup shredded Mexican blends cheese (or cheddar with a little taco seasoning mixed in)

4 oz soft cream cheese

Sour cream and salsa 

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.

Boil chicken (about 20 minutes til no longer pink), drain water and cool.  Once it is cool enough to touch shred it.   Add spices, cilantro, black beans and peppers. Mix and set aside.

In a 11x7 baking pan grease and spread out half of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan.  Lay two tortillas in sauce and lay half of the chicken mixture over it. Dollop the cream cheeseon    mixture. Then sprinkle half of the cheese on top of that.  

Repeat with a layer of sauce followed by tortillas then chicken and cheeses. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes until cheese is melty and casserole is bubbling. 

Serve with a side of sour cream and salsa! Enjoy! 

 

 

Mini peanut butter Nutella blossoms

We always make peanut butter blossoms at our annual cookie exchange and while over 700 cookies are made we never seem to have enough blossoms.  They are my husbands favorite so I know if I make them I will have a happy hubby! I had purchased mini Hershey kisses from the baking aisle and thought mini blossoms would not only be so cute they would make Billy very happy! 

1 egg

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup Nutella

1 cup sugar

1 bag mini Hershey kisses 

Preheat 350. 

Mix egg, peanut butter, Nutella and sugar.  Once mixed roll into balls the size of a dime.  (You are going to want to make them bigger but keep them tiny)

Bake for 6 minutes.  While still warm press one mini kiss on each cookie.

Make sure you let set before you transfer.

Enjoy!

Deconstructed Stuffed Peppers

A friend had a baby and before I chose what to bring I decided to check her Pinterest!  I found a picture of Stuffed Green Pepper Casserole but the link didn't work so I searched a few recipes and came up with this! So yummy, easy and perfect to bring to someone who needs a meal (but make sure you make yourself one too!).  

Ingredients 

1-1.5 pound ground beef (or turkey)

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 small onion diced small

1-2 green peppers diced medium

1 jar of pasta sauce (I'd get one with lots of flavor)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Italian seasoning 

1/8 tsp pepper 

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (save 1/2 cup to sprinkle on top) 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Brown beef in a large skillet.  At the same time cook your rice.  Once meat is mostly brown add onions and peppers along with salt, pepper and seasoning.  

Once rice is cooked, peppers are softened and meat is cooked mix it all together a large bowl.  Add 1 cup cheese and pasta sauce to mixture.  

Pour mixture to a deep casserole pan. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake about 20 minutes until cheese is melted.

Thanksgiving aprons...can't wait to cook!

Our girls like any excuse to get together so each holiday we pick a craft or two and get together for a girls night!  With Thanksgiving around the corner we decided to take simple orange aprons from Amazon and make them our own!  

Each girl brought fabric, ribbon, decals and anything else to make them pop! We sit around, eat yummy food, drink wine and get ideas from each other! This time there was even some bartering going on:)

I chose to cut my square apron to round out the bottom and the scoop the top.  Then I took basic off white silk ribbon and bunched and glued it around the bottom and a skinnier version around the top.  This gave texture and cleaned up the ends.  

Then I hand sewed a pocket in the middle using a corduroy zig zag.  Also used that fabric to cover the ties in the back.  Lastly I added a flower to finish it off.

All of the girl'saprons looked great and our photo shoot on Jen's really awesome pallet coat rack was perfect!

Such a fun night with fun and wonderful friends!  Next time, Christmas craft night!

Grandma's Peanut Clusters

The holidays bring back such great childhood memories!  Like many Americans, food is at the center of some of them!   I remember my Grandma handing out tins of Peanut Clusters.  With the weather changing my craving for these simple candies emerged. 

I bag of chocolate chips (milk chocolate is best but I had semi sweet minis so that is what I used! I like working with the minis because they melt easy)

1-2 cups salted peanuts

1 tlb butter 

Simply melt the chocolate and butter in a large glass bowl.  I do one minute, stir, 30 sec, stir, 30 sec stir until melted.

Once chocolate is creamy add peanuts.  The amount of nuts depends on your preference.  

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Drop clusters of the peanut/chocolate mixture onto the wax paper.  Refrigerate.  Once set you can take out for short periods of time but best to store in fridge so the chocolate doesn't melt.