Corn Chowder

 

 

 

 

So the other day my husband made some corn chowder soup...much like something he had eaten on the plane from Japan.  It was simply delicious! It had hominey which added so much earthy depth to the flavor. The squash made it pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas -Plain & Simple

So I am not a fan of Christmas decorations. It is just my personal preference. But I am a mother to little girls who don't share the same view! So this year I got a tree! Simplifying for us means a small home, and not much room for loads of decorations!

So this year we kept it simple in size and budget. One box of tree decor, one 4' tree, one bundle of live garland, 6 small live poinsettias, and a few little things to sit here and there. Oh, and a shower curtain that was just too cute!

                                                       Here is out little tree (it has lights!)

 

 

This is our garland that was strung over our bookcases. I am a big fan of real garland.

 

 

 

 

We had fun decorating! It was a great memory maker with our children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took us just an hour or so and we were all done. It was fun and will be easy to take down too!

 

 

 

White Chicken Chili

 

 

White Chicken Chili is SO good! I love it over mashed potatoes. It is so easy and so yummy on a cold day.

It is:

Chicken Bullion

Onion

Chicken Breasts

Canned Navy Beans (DO NOT DRAIN..add the whole can..the "goopiness" helps to give it texture)

Diced Green Chilies (don't drain)

Dice chicken and onion. Add beans, chillies, chicken bullion and some water. Season to your liking. Cook on high 4ish hours :)

Update to pantry situation...& Couch Drama!

After eating and doing limited shopping, the pantry's were still FULL! I even gave away some stuff! So the moral of that story...I have kept WAY tooo much food on hand for many years!

I think we should keep a well stocked pantry in the event of an emergency, but we don't need a ton of stuff to simply make us feel safe. Don't laugh! I think it does give us an illusion of security.  It's like when you clean out the fridge and feel like you have "nothing"...you actually had too much or you would not have tossed out stuff!

So I'm going to try to do better about eating what we have, and not stockpiling too much!

Onto the couch drama! I bought a new couch about 7ish months ago...it is red and unique! I have never bought a new couch before! It was fun...but it was not enough seating for our large family and especially when our friends come over...so I decided to get a sectional...

I looked and looked at new ones. I found nothing that met all my criteria. So I bought a used one!  After I got it home I realised the prior owners were cat owners (daughter has allergies to cats!) and heavy smokers.

So, I cleaned it and cleaned it and cleaned it....then I knew it would be perfect! I had it all done before my husband got in from a trip to Japan. It was thrilling! It even fit our small living room beautifully!

 

I got it in the home just hours before my husbands plane came in! I was excited. Then off to the airport! When we walked into the house a few hours later...it was awful! The smell was so very unpleasant~ and I had spent so much time cleaning it! Within the hour I had it back on the porch! Lesson learned!

 

The good news ending was that I found another used one! It is beautiful, super cozy and cat and smoker free! The bad news? It is SO big my new red couch does not fit anymore! Live and learn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bundles of Cupcakes!

The day prior to Thanksgiving my Aunt Celia blessed us with bundles of very special cupcakes! If you think all cupcakes are the same and boring, these would most defiantly change your mind!

Who would not be happy to drive home and see this on the porch? It was a thrill when we pulled in and saw it!

Please don't shake what we bake..how cute is that!?!?!

We got 2 dozen yummy cupcakes. They were perfectly packaged!

They are all flavored...not just decorated differently, but also flavored uniquely. So YUMMY!

My favorite was the coconut. It was simply blissful!

Even the reindeer had special red noses! I have a friend who has a 3 year old, and I was able to let him pick out a special treat too after we all devoured ours! ...It just made it so special!

 

One Fast Fall!

Today I realised...it is almost time to celebrate the winter season! Fall went by in a flash!

 

 

The kids had a lot of fun outside when it cooled down!

It is nice to finally have kids that are old enough to know to stay out of the fire pit!

I got these beautiful roses recently..they are just astounding with perfect fall coloring! My photography skills are lacking,but they are a beautiful soft orange-ish color...

 

 

 

And this is one of the VERY BEST meals I have ever had...my long standing date night meal favorite is pasta with sauteed veggies, but this couscous was soooooooooo flavorful. Even the next day leftover, it was splendid to eat.

                                       




And my husband got crafty and made a collage of us over the last year.....then he made it my screen saver! Up to this year, we rarely took pictures of us together. We made up for the lackluster 15 prior years!

 

 

 

Pretty, Pretty! Soup, Soup! Pantry, Pantry!

I am not a huge fan of red roses, but this week I got some really pretty ones. Here they are....they are opening up just beautifully!

 

 

I made soup out of stuff on hand and it was SO good! We had it two days in a row!

 

 

 

This is my "main" pantry. I also took pics of the other three. I'll see how they look after the two weeks of purging!

 

 

 

New Food Goal & Exercise

Today is crazy busy...but I thought 5 min spent on here would be fun!

We began a new goal for 2 weeks in keeping with simplifying. To try to eat up most of what we have in our home. I usually have kept a really large stock pile of food. We have gotten that wayyyy down, but now are going to see if we can try to get the freezer and pantry almost emptied. That will cause me to have to be creative!

I'm going to attempt to shop just for milk, fresh veggies, fresh fruits mainly. We will see how it goes!

And, today we had so much fun exercising. We began with a goal of 3 times a week walking a while back. My kids go outside and play, and we have a wonderful yard space,  but this is more cardio focused. Then today I found out they will be doing a toys for tots race again (my husband and son did it last year) so we are all planning to participate! It is so fun to see the kids run! And we found a great place to use fantastic exercise equipment, outside!

Have a happy day!

Rainbow Pasta

So, I remember fun colored pasta from when I was little. My husband did not! **GASP!** It is SUCH a fun craft, I decided to use it in a Children's Class this week. I just finished making it. It goes REALLY fast, and despite most online advice saying to use rubbing alcohol, I used vinegar (found that on another ladies blog!) and it worked really well for my purposes! I dyed a whole 2 lb box of pasta and have it out all drying now in well under 45 min. (Probably like 20 min, really!)

I think the smaller children especially will enjoy this craft. And if they happen to pop one in their mouth, then it's all non-toxic!

                  I did mine in handy dandy glass jars vice zippy bags

 

I added about 20 drops of color and a little vinegar...then about a cup-ish of pasta

 



This was literally after only a few min of being the the dye jar....shake, shake, shake!

They are pretty in person. And they are drying F-A-S-T!




Simple, Fun, Inexpensive, and Cheery!

 

Sad Hearts, Simple Love

Simple Love for Sad Hearts

I currently have some friends with sad hearts. Sometimes life deals us a hard hand, things well beyond our choices can take over our lives.  I know, I was there.

For about 7 years I deeply struggled with depression. It was not the "feeling blue" or "feeling down" some associate with the word depression. It was much deeper and very hard to walk through. I did not understand it for about 8 years. I did not need to understand the "why" after a while...I knew God could heal, and in time, He did!

At a ladies group recently, I brought up that we need to help other Sisters. See, for many years I had a happy face on the outside. Inside I was suffering. I know that is not exclusive to my situation. There are so many who try to "hold it all together". That is a good thing in some ways, but they need to have Sisters they can lean on in any situation when they need it. No judgement, just encouragement. We, beloved, can be that to a hurting, sad heart. We are the hands and feet of Jesus on this earth. Are we walking beside those who have sad, hurting hearts? Are we holding, are we comforting with our 'hands'?

Stepping out to do that can be so hard. I've dropped notes of encouragement in the mail to ladies I barely know. At this point in my life, after all the glorious things God has done (He has done so very, very, very much) I figure, what have I to loose? My pride? That went out the door a while back! If they think I'm a nut, that is okay! I've at least tried!!! I can live with people thinking I'm "out of it" or "off my rocker". I don't want to step into eternity and realise I could have helped a Sister in need. I don't want to find out that a Sister felt lonely & isolated when all she needed was a listening ear, a kind word, or a word of hope. I hope that goes for you as well, dear one.

We are here but a moment. Within our reach are things we can do in the physical to demonstrate the Love of God towards others...the possibilities are endless. Notes,cards, words, time, a batch of freshly baked cookies, a text,  fellowship over coffee, etc, etc, etc.....

Be encouraged to reach out beyond what is "normal" or routtine and lets live for Him. When we seek Him, our lives will be so full of so much more than we could ever think or imagine.

In closing, I leave you with this challenge & hope filled statement...

"All His Ways for All My Days"

Camera Found!

Here are the photos of the potato soup thing (last post). A simple way to make light dinners for friends.

I made about 4 gallons soup. That took about 20 lbs of potatoes. About a gallon of milk, about 5 lbs onions, and about 5-6 stalks of celery. Two packages bullion and lots of spices. I hope people liked it!

Apple Cinnamon Mini Loaves

I bet the chickens like my cooking the best! They get the scraps!

BEST bullion EVER!

I leave part of the peel on the potatoes. Makes it more rustic and adds some nutritional value.



I make big sized pieces since they tend to fall apart when cooking and stiring.

New-to-me jars. Half Gallon, pint and a half..beside a regular sized pint jar.

Green Chilies and Tomato Rice. YUM!

Baggies of Cornbread Muffins

Food...Camera is missing...Trip...God's Awesomeness

So, I was taking pics yesterday and now it (the camera)  has apparently vanished. I am really hoping I laid it somewhere and that I do not have to rummage through the trash to find it.

Yesterday, I was making Potato Soup (with chives, bacon, and cheese to top it). I made several gallons (I think like 4 gallons) along with banana bread, corn muffins, & apple cinnamon bread.

Today I made something new!

Slightly Spicy Chicken with slightly spicy rice! I am meeting with the Seniors Group today and I was kind of lost as what to cook. I found chicken on sale, so I knew chicken something. This am I took my standard spices plus Mrs Dash spicy seasoning and boiled my chicken breasts (boneless..they were frozen despite the night in the fridge, so they got boiled!). I added the spices to the water while they were boiling.

Then I took a cup of the broth from the cooked chicken and used it in my rice (I used one part broth to 4 parts water). I added bullion, more seasonings, canned diced tomatoes and green chilies. Then I cooked the rice as "normal" (the directions on the bag).  YUMMY. I have corn and green beans as my side dishes cooking in my crock pots as I type.

Off to the day. Tomorrow we are planning to go to Virgina for a quick trip & a tour of a museum we missed last trip, followed by a "home improvement" work day. Even in a small home, there are always projects to do!!

And I have to share the awesomeness of God! My van was acting up. I just decided there was nothing I could do about it right now. We had to many other financial "commitments." So I drove my husbands car as needed and tried to not drive the van too much. Well, we needed the van for an upcoming Singles Sunday School race thing the guys are doing, so I decided to not panic over the money and just take it in. I was pretty sure it was the same thing as last year I had repaired. About $350 -700 ...depending if they needed to replace one or two of the thingies.

Well, I woke up the other day and decided to trust God on it. I really did too. I had a peace about it. I did not even stress in my tummy! I took it and and waited. {Note: my kids were FANTASTIC waiting!} Then the guy told me it was the same thing, and even though the warranty expired a few months back, the parts store was going to just give me a new one anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, that was just the mercy of God. The total cost $77. For labor. Now, if the cost had been  $700, it still would have been the mercy of God. I had something priceless... The knowledge that the Lord would take care of our needs. And the reminder of the absolute truth...is not life worth more that what you eat, or what you drink, or the clothes you wear (or the car needing fixed).? Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. Oh, how we get caught up in so many temporal things, but with Jesus, we can fully trust Him to provide if we seek Him first!

Ladies Night Out

So I tried to take pics before anyone got there.The pics are not fantastic!  My husband pointed out I did not take any with the ladies there! lol! It went really, really well and we had tons of leftovers. There were some giggles and I hope each lady was reminded of the Love of God towards them!

This is a tutu skirt that I made for a table, but used it for the tv stand. It was super cute I think! The tv was a big focal point because we watched a dvd presentation.

There were "funnies" on the tables and there were funny sayings in the flowers for some chuckles.

A crockpot that MATCHED the theme! Gotta love that!

Yummy! My friend, Karen, made the cookies and brownies!!

I used a black cloth under the to ole....It really looked nice in person, in my view. I also elevated the platters are different heights to give some visual eye candy.

Little paper baskets held chocolates (pic is sideways!)

Ladies Night Out Planning

So, I have the wonderful opportunity to help do a Ladies Night Out thing at Church tomorrow. The theme is "Giggles and Grace" ....just a time for fun fellowship and a dvd presentation called Embrace Grace.

After doing many events, I have learned that I tend to go overboard on the variety of foods and quantity. So this time I really tried to keep it simple. And after making it through the grocery store today, I feel like I actually did it this time!

Our Menu:
Chicken Salad on Hawaiian Rolls
Turkey and Provolone Spirals
BBQ Smokies
Fresh Salsa, Queso Dip (in crock pot,)  and White corn chips
Veggie Tray w/ Ranch Dip
Fruit Tray

Punch

LOTS of desserts (One of my friends, Karen was So kind to make cookies and brownies!)

CHOCOLATE!

First off...I found a crock pot that MATCHES my theme!!!! Actually, I had bought it as a gift, but ended up with it in the trunk of my car! Pics to come of that in the future I hope!

Here are the invitations:

 

Goodie Bag Contents...I decided to not go with the zebra theme for everything...So there are polka dots and more! 

So the theme in our presentation I had put onto...Organic Custom Lip balms! I was so excited to find these! The lady did a fantastic job and I got them VERY fast.

 

I had some photo paper that came free with something, so I made these cute little prayer reminder cards.

 

Found the basket on clearance!!

 

I got the goodie bags in the primary colors of the event...I also got matching paper straws I ordered!

Plates. I love the square thing! 

 

 

Flowers: I was sooooo happy to find these roses today. They are so beautiful. And 24 roses for $22...it was a deal!

 

Make shift vases...Made out of Crystal Light plastic containers! I found the wraping paper at Target for $1 a roll.