It is Fall

The leaves are starting to turn colors.  I love the mix of red, yellow, and green.


Of course it also means that we need to start raking.


In the spirit of fall I made some fun pumpkin rice crispy treats for the kids when Michael had a friend come over for a play date.  Just added some red and yellow food coloring to the melted marshmallows and then used frosting and a candy on the top for the leaves.  Oh, and what the kids liked best is that I hid a peanut butter cup candy in the middle of each pumpkin.  We called them Pumpkin Surprise.

Gingerbread houses

We got back from Florida on Saturday but as you can see it has taken me a few days to settle back in and get back to my normal routine which includes posting here. When I sat down at the computer to type this tonight, I was greeted by new posts on both Michele's and Emily's blogs, so I see that it must be the day for finally getting back to blogging. I'm going to go back a little before we even left for Florida and share with you some Christmas posts.

The first is that we made gingerbread houses this year with the kids which was so much fun! I used the instructions from this web site and it all worked really well.

Step 1: Make the gingerbread
We did this on Monday night. The kids loved helping to measure and pour things into the bowl and then try and stir it all together.




The boys left after a while, but Becca stayed around to help me hand mix the dough. She loved getting her fingers all gooey!





Step 2: Bake the gingerbread.
The instructions said to let the dough sit over night in the fridge, so that is what we did. Tuesday morning we rolled out the dough and cut our house pieces. The dough was a bit hard to roll for the kids but they had fun putting the shapes on and helping to mash the dough. Becca also had a blast trying to sneak bites to eat while we worked. When we were done we had made a mess, but we had enough pieces to make two houses.









Step 3: Assemble the houses
We did this Tuesday afternoon and I timed it perfectly because Tim's siblings all came out for a visit and they arrived Tuesday around noon. I had anticipated that extra adult hands would be extremely useful for assembly.





Step 4: Decoration!
Now onto the part we have all been waiting for - the candy! Michael had helped me to pick out just the right candy a few days before, so on Wednesday with the houses solidly glued together we decorated them. I think the aunts and uncle had just as much fun as the kids with this part. The houses were brightly ornamented and everyone had plenty of candy in their bellies.





The finished products:

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Tim and I both love potatoes and I've always loved eating scalloped potatoes, but I've only ever made them myself from a box. Recently I went to look for a more homemade version and found this yummy crock pot version. Here is the recipe with (my notes).

Ingredients:
*8 potatoes, thinly sliced. (OK, I always laugh when I see something like 8 potatoes. Depending on the kind and even on the specific bag I buy 8 small potatoes are like half the amount of potatoes as 8 large potatoes. The first time I made this I used 8 potatoes on the larger side and they cooked well and there was plenty of sauce, so I'd say think 6-10 potatoes depending on size.)
*1 onion, chopped
*1 lb fully cooked ham, cubed
*1-oz pkg dry country-style gravy mix (The only "country-style" gravy mix I could find was in a 2.75 oz package. So I used half of it the first time we made this and saved the other half for the second time. I'm always up for a little extra creamy flavor.)
*1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup. I used cream of celery since a certain member of my household if very against mushrooms.
*2 cups water
*2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (Yum)

1. Combine potatoes, onion, and ham in lightly greased slow cooker. (It was super yummy with the ham, but this week I made it without and just served the potatoes with chicken. That was good too.)
2. Comvine gravy mix, soup, and water. Whisk until combined. Pour over potatoes.
3. Cover. Cook on low 7-9 hours or high 3-4. (I've tried both and they both worked out great!
4. Top with cheese during last 30 minutes of cooking. (Yum, Yum)

Our Stuffing

Here is the recipe I made - I need to get in writing because we will want to use it again sometime. This is mainly based off a recipe from Pioneer Woman.

Fill one cookie sheet with bread cubes - half homemade white bread, half corn bread. Set this aside to dry out for at least 24 hours.

In a frying ban melt 3/4 stick of butter. Add 1 small onion and some celery and heat them for about 5 minutes. Then add 2.5 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp thyme, and 1 tsp rosemary. (I was suppose to add some fresh parsley too but I didn't have any so I just skipped it.) Cut up 1 apple and add it and about 1 cup of dried cranberries to the mixture. Let simmer for a couple of minutes.

Put the bread crumbs in a bowl and pour the broth mixture over it. Mix it up and add some more broth if necessary.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cover for the first half of the baking time.

Soup Day

Perfect end to the cold week have been having. We have members of Tim's old band, Silent Bark coming over for dinner before they play a gig in Holland and I'm going to make soup.

First up is a very classic chicken noodle.
Bake and then cut up some chicken - season as desired.
Mix half chicken broth half water in a large pot and put on high. (sometimes more water if need be)
Add cut up carrots, celery, and seasonings (for me usually Mrs. Dash and some salt/pepper)
Add chicken pieces at some time.
When it is boiling throw in uncooked egg noodles.
Cook for about 10 minutes until noodles are soft.

Second is the easiest crock pot chili I have ever seen. The recipe was given to me by my Aunt Jane probably for my wedding shower and I just found it recently and we loved it!
chicken breasts cut up
1 jar salsa
1 brick monterey jack cheese
some onion
1 jar northern beans
Put everything in a crock pot on high for 3-4 hours.

Now the other half of the warm soup meal is some buttered bread with cheese (usually colby jack) to dip in the soup.

Oooh I can't wait to eat tonight!