Broccoli Chedddar soup

I love soup and I love broccoli cheddar soup so when i saw this pin I made it almost immediately!!! It was oh so simple and very fast. It really hit the spot on a cold winter night..... oh wait it was probably only 75 because I live in sunny Florida! Anyway I loved this recipe the only thing is it didn't make a lot so you may think about doubling it if you have a crowd bigger than 4 or if you want leftovers. Enjoy and happy pinning!

Bow ties Romano

Calling all pasta lovers! My husband found this great recipe from the back of a pasta box and I was amazed at how great it tasted. PS he tried to pass it off as his own recipe for a while until I found the recipe card lying around. I believed him because he did live in Italy for a while, anyway...(Ha ha, nice try honey! )So this is pretty easy but the mushrooms need to be fresh, the ham was just deli meat but it was so good! So try this one for dinner one night when you feel like a taste of Italy, which in our house is often! Happy Pinning.

Olive Oil & Honey Hair treatment

For several years now my hair has been very unruly and I have tried every deep conditioner under the sun to try and tame the frizz and dry "straw- like" ends. I have been tempted to shave it all because nothing had worked up until this point.... I am so excited and happy that I found this pin on how to get healthy smooth hair and i highly recommend it! What i did was added 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of honey in a bowl and microwaved it for 1 minute. Then I sectioned off my wet hair into four ponytails (looks so sexy btw) and then dipped a comb (use a fine toothed comb) into the  bowl and started at the roots and worked it into my ends. I do this to all four ponytails and then combine them into one and braid it and pin it so its up of my shirt or back. I leave it in for 6-8 hours and then shampoo and condition it. It will feel kind of stiff because of the honey but I promise it washes right out without any fuss! My hair has never been so soft or smooth! I'm so happy I found this one, I truly don't know what my life would be like without Pinterest ! Enjoy. Happy Pinning.

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken

Look what i made last night...

You guessed it, Double crunch honey garlic chicken. It was delicious and easy. The directions called for some fancy spices that I didn't  have so I improvised on a few of them and it turned out great! However, its not the healthiest of meals so  i won't make it regularly. But it was nice to have something different. This was a great comfort food meal. Happy pinning!
Here is the  pin picture, it looks much more appetizing than mine....

Always soft caramel popcorn

Baby shower recipe Part III

I got this one from my mother-in-law, thanks Sandee it was a hit!


Always Soft Caramel Corn
1/2 cup butter
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
18 cups popped corn.

Make it!
Add butter, corn syrup and brown sugar to pan. Bring to a full boil. After full boil is reached, while stirring, boil for a full 2-3 minutes. Must stir continuously or will burn easily. Remove from heat, add milk, return to heat and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and salt. Pour of popped corn and stir.
You can use microwave popcorn you just have to pick out the kernels.

Marcy's Soup ( Vegetable Beef )

Baby shower recipe part II

(This is not from Pinterest..... unless you guys pin it!)


Marcy's Soup (vegetable beef soup)
Ingredients
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans stewed tomatoes
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup carrots
1cup celery
1 medium onion
1/2 lb ground beef
1 cup brown sugar
3-4 Tbls Worcestershire
4 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
31/2-4 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
 Make it!
First brown meat with onion in large pot, add celery, carrots and cabbage and cook on med heat until veggies wilt or become soft. Then add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low heat for about 30-45 min. The longer it simmers the better it tastes and I find that I don't go by the recipe exactly, if it needs more of some flavor I just add it in and test it! I hope you enjoy this one ; )

Corn Chowder

So I hosted a baby shower this past weekend and I got some requests for recipes of the caramel pop corn and soups that I made. So here we go....

Corn Chowder
2 cans whole kernel corn
2 cans cream style corn
2 cans Mexican style corn
1 Qt. half & half
1 Pkg sausage ( I use Jimmy dean's Maple flavor)
or- six-8 slices bacon cooked and crumbled.

Make it!
Brown Sausage then drain excess grease. In a large pot add corn (undrained), sausage, and half & half. Cook on medium until to a  low boil then add 1-2 Tbls cornstarch to thicken. Let  simmer for about 10-13 minutes then dig in!

Oatmeal cookies

I had a craving for cookies a while back,( like I always do) and my husband suggested something with oatmeal in it. Hence..... i made these wonderfully simple an delicious Oatmeal cookies with the brown butter icing. ; ) The ingredients are simple and oh so good.

They really hit the spot as I was pretending it was fall outside in my Southern Florida home. Well maybe one day I can make them in a place that actually has fall weather.... Until then I will have to fake it. Hope you enjoy these. Happy pinning!

Fall Inital Wreath tutorial

I have a fetish for Initial home decor and I was in desperate need of a fall wreath since all I have to signify the fall season are decorations! Seriously, its still so hot here ;( Anyway, I found inspiration for this from a pin I saw a while back. So this post is not exactly from Pinterest, however....if one of you put it on Pinterest then it will be! Ok so here is the Pin that gave me my idea.
 Let me start out by saying I did this wreath for around $10!!! I did have burlap leftover so I didn't have to buy that, but cheap non the less. So first I went to Joanns and got:
                        
                                                      1. Wood letter $2 (On sale)

2.Fake leaves $1

3.Berries and acorns $1 each

4. Grape vine wreath $2.99

 5.Burlap (free) leftovers

 So from the beginning: I placed berries and acorns inside the grape vine wreath and then strategically hot glued the leaves around them. Next I cut a strip of burlap and wrapped it around the wreath at the top and cut a small slit like in the burlap picture above. I put the other end of the burlap strip through the slit and that created the part I hung on the hook. Then I cut small strips of burlap and created a bow effect by individually gluing burlap loops on top of each other. ( I had a hard time figuring out this part but I finally got it after a few tries ; ). Then i glued more leaves!

 For the "W" I painted with craft paint I also had left over and made it a cream color. Then I used the "dirty cowboy" technique I learned from my stencil table tutorial at Domestic Imperfection. After the W was dry I sanded it and then applied a little bit of the dark stain I had from my table project. Right after applying I wiped of what I could with a rag and whats left over creates a great weathered effect.

Well I hope this gives you some inspiration for your fall decorating. Happy Pinning.

Cheesy Chicken and Wild RIce Casserole

So who here doesn't want/need another great casserole in their recipe book? I know i do and this one is great. I love the simple ingredients in it and they all taste so good together. I really like the wild rice, its a nice change from regular white rice. When I made this I boiled the chicken in water with a bullion cube to add flavor that way, and also added some garlic salt and Nature's seasons because those are my go-to seasonings. You can add whatever you like! Serve this dish with a great spinach salad and baked sweet potato for a perfect home cooked meal. Hope you enjoy this one :) Happy Pinning.

Chilis Copycat Salsa

I had to bring a snack to a church activity last night and I didn't want to do a lot of work so I made salsa ! It is so easy and everyone loved it so I guess it was a success. I use my Ninja blender for this salsa and it comes out perfect every time.(P.S I LOVE MY NINJA !) I recommend putting it in the fridge to chill for a few hours, for some reason it makes the flavors blend a little more. And I do add cilantro and of course....and way more jalapenos for SPICE! Cause I love it so much : ) So in summation, I use this as a quick snack when going to a party or event and  don't have a lot of time to make something grand. Happy Pinning.

Carmelitas

Oh. My. Gosh! I just made the best dessert! They are called Carmelitas and they are to DIE FOR. And the best part is there is no mixing, just stirring with a spoon, how easy it that! If you need a dessert in a pinch, you may already have most of the ingredients right now so all you need to do is get the caramels! These are so gooey and delicious I just can't express enough how good these are. *Note- Make sure you let them cool for about an hour before cutting them into squares.So try them for your next get together! Happy Pinning.

Bistro Chicken

I pinned this gem from Kraftrecipes.com again but I just love, love, love this dinner! And its so healthy because instead of bacon I substitute for green peppers which I saute in the beginning with the onions. Chicken Bistro is so quick and easy for real and its a real crowd-pleaser. This has become a regular in my house and I crave it so much and never feel guilty about it! You could totally add any kind of pasta to it if you feel the need to. I don't because I feel like I eat a lot of pasta already. Anyway hope you enjoy this one. Happy Pinning;)

Stacked Photo frames

Ok so I have had my wedding/engagement pictures on a foam core board for a while without a frame and thought I might try a pin a found a while back. This tutorial from Six Sisters Stuff was very informative and looked pretty easy so I thought I would give it a try!!! WELL it was not as easy as I  had first thought but after  a lot of paint and frustration..... I did it! For the stripes I used tape like in the tutorial but the stencil I found at Michael's. It was a Martha Stewart pack of geometrical stencils. ( I used the same pack of stencil for the Stenciled table I did) They took for ever but it was fun! Well hope you enjoy this. Happy Pinning.

Creamy Chicken, Veggies and Noodles

This recipe I absolutely love!!!!! It is easily one of my families top ten dinners. I found this on Kraft.com and pinned it myself. The best thing about this dish is that it has a lot of healthy veggies but the cheese flavor is so yummy you can trick the pickiest eater  into eating it! ( I know, I tested this on my sister and it worked) The directions are very simple and its fairly quick. *Instead of microwaving the Velveeta cheese i cut it into cubes and put it in a saucepan on med low heat stirring frequently so it doesn't burn. There is an option for red pepper chili flakes so OF COURSE I add them, cause it makes it so good! Well hope you enjoy this wonderful dish and maybe it will become one of your top ten too! Happy Pinning.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Ok I love this idea because its fast and easy and you can make so many different things with it! The mini chicken pot pies recipe I pinned is not really a recipe but more of a suggestion so I will just tell you what I do.

First boil 4 large chicken breast for 20-25min and then shred. Next mix a bag of veggies (carrots, peas, corn, green, beans, etc) with a can of cream of chicken soup. Add seasonings ( salt, pepper, garlic pepper, or whatever else you want) You can add minced onion or saute 1/2 onion and put it in the mix. I like to put in a fresh onion. Mix in some shredded cheese. Now mix Bisquick like you would for a biscuit with about 1 1/2-2 cup of the mix an egg and 1cup milk.  Then grease muffin tin and pour 1/3 full of batter, add  chicken/veggie mix and then some more batter on the top. Make sure not to put to much in cause it might overflow. Bake according to the Bisquick directions or until it is golden brown. They should be able to pop out of the tins when you are done. That's it and I love how basic the ingredients are and how good it is!

But that is just the beginning. You can add different ingredients to make Shepherds pie or add fruit and make it a desert! The options are nearly endless. Try this I know you will like it. Happy Pinning.

Stenciled Table

I needed a knew Kitchen table but did not want to spend a lot of money, like most people, so I went on Craigslist and stalked furniture adds for weeks! While at the same time i was surfing Pinterest for fun crafts and came upon this little gem from Domestic Imperfection that caught my eye.

 Finally I found one that was the perfect size and most important... PRICE. I gathered all the materials at Home depot and Michael's.
First I did a light sand just to get the glossy finish off which didn't take much. Then i started with the stencil, which let me tell you can be a real pain, but i got it on there! Then i put the Stain of the top of the stencil and started to freak out.....! Everything went dark including the stencil. On the tutorial from Pinterest she sanded between the stencil step and the stain step. I choose to skip over that part because I don't own a sander and I thought it would take the paint off. So I waited in anticipation and found that the stain did lighten after a while and then after I put on the polyurethane coat it actually took off the satin a bit allowing the stencil to show through! (Few!!!) I know mine doesn't look exactly like hers but I still love it! Here is my before and after shots. Happy Pinning.

Fiesta Crockpot Chicken

I was looking for something quick to make one day and so I made a list of basic ingredients I had on hand and found this recipe that worked out fabulously! It was right there in the title, "Easiest Dinner Ever". I was sold and she was not lying, it was easy, and so good! There is an option of serving it on rice or a tortilla, we did both because there were plenty of leftovers. However, for those that want or need a carb-free option, I think it would be great on top of lettuce.
DISCLAIMER: Because i like to keep things spicy I added to this recipe, a little of Cumin, chili powder and jalapenos. Ole´! You can choose to add this if you dare... : ) Happy Pinning.

Cake Batter Pudding Cookies

Ok I'm going to give you my husbands all time favorite cookie recipe.... Are you ready? Cake batter pudding cookies! So moist and just the right amount of sweet. I get request to make theses all the time. My husband doesn't like a lot of frosting or really sweet stuff so these are perfect for him. Here is the recipe and i hope you love them as much as we do!

Honey Sesame Chicken

More like Honey, (give it to me )chicken!! So i give this on a huge thumbs up obviously. This is one of my favorite recipes from Pinterest that I have found, Honey Sesame Chicken. So easy and delicious that it has become a regular part of our meals at home. I add a little more red pepper than what is recommended because you know i like to keep things spicy : ). Between bites we have to wipe our nose, its gross but I love the kick it gives! Enjoy
                                        

Here We Go!

You know how everyone complains about people wasting time on the internet. I hear a lot of people talking about how guilty they feel for spending hours Facebook? Well I am one of those people to do find Facebook very pointless and counter productive but there is one time draining site I can get behind and that is Pinterest! I love it and I have to be on there daily, and what have i got from it? I Not much really just a better wife, sister, Mom to be, Friend, employee, gym-go-er, amateur baker, chef, organizer, crafter, chef, go to person for quick easy tips on how to remove a stain, church go-er, furniture refurbisher, and flat out a better person in general! But that is just my opinion. In my blog I will be taking what I find from Pinterest and putting it to the test with pictures and tutorials so you know what recipes work, which craft projects are truly "quick and easy to make" and any other thing I find on there. (Yikes)....Enjoy! Happy Pinning.