Christmas Time's A Coming

Christmas time's a coming. 

It'll be here before we know it!

 

It is hard to believe that this time next week, we will have already had our Thanksgiving meal.  We will be stuffed, tired, and it will be over until next year.  (Ok, I realized later that I must have been thinking today was Thursday instead of Wednesday.  Anyways, you get the point.  Please excuse my poor scattered brain.)

Every year it seems retail companies start putting up Christmas stuff earlier and earlier.  Rocky Ridge Antiques and Collectibles, where I have my booth, has already had their open house two weeks ago. 

That brings back memories.  I remember every year, it was tradition for Mom and I to go around to the different shops for their Christmas open houses.  Some would have hot cider, others had hot chocolate, and they all had cookies or some snack. 
Wow, I miss her!  She always made the holidays extra special!

Well, Christmas time is coming and here are a few things that I made to sell at my booth.

Christmas Wall Hanging

(I don't decorate with Santa Clause, however I bought this kit at a yard sale last year.  Finally got it finished this year.  Hope it sells!  It was very time consuming.  Each piece had to be cut out and then you hand sew it together and stuff it.)

 

 Silver Snowflake Wreath

 

 Country Candy Cane

This picture turned out dark.  It is simply one of the cheap plastic candy canes that people put in their yard, wrapped with green and tan checkered ribbon)

 

Country Wreath

Montana Pasties

Many years ago, as part of a graduation present from my parents, we took a trip out west.  We went to Montana, Wyoming, and up to the Canadian border.  My Aunt and Uncle, and another couple went with us.  We had a wonderful time and saw some absolutely amazing sights.  We visited the beautiful Glacier National Park, Yellowstone Park, and many other sights along the way. 

While we were in Montana, we had one of their specialties....the Pasty.  Pronounced...Passtee.  What is it?  Basically it is a meat pie.  (check under recipes)  It is an English (although some say Irish) recipe that was brought to Butte, Montana and eaten in the copper mines by miners and the residents of Butte.

Served with gravy.  They are very good and very filling. 

The recipe makes 4, so it makes 2 dinners for us.

We had them tonight for dinner and enjoyed them very much!  Plus I have enough left over to serve as another meal later on this week.

 

For a different side, I made Broccoli Slaw. 

I actually made it last night so it also provided for two dinners.

It is coleslaw only made with broccoli instead of cabbage. 

I bought the bag mix on sale for $1 and then just made my regular dressing that I would use for coleslaw.  It was very good and something different.  I would highly recommend you try it,

as I will be making it again.

 

For dessert, I made a pumpkin spice cake.

Now since the whole incident with Ray and chest pains I have been mindful of what we are eating and how I am cooking.  Ray loves his dessert and I know that we will not be living on salads for the rest of our lives.  So basically I have just started tweaking my cooking.

Back to the cake...to make it a little 'healthier' I simply replaced the eggs, butter, and oil with canned pumpkin.  Then made a simple powder sugar glaze. 

 

It is very good and Ray loves it.  The cake is super moist and not one that I could decorate because of that.  However it is wonderful.

Fall Recap and Chocolate!!

Where to begin...
It has been a while and there is so much to share.

Ok, so I started this post last week and didn't get around to posting it for two reasons.  One, my week went differently due to an emergency.  Two, I didn't have all of my pictures ready.  So the following is for last week.

Tuesday morning, we had our first "weather" of the season.  It was little ice snowballs and didn't last long. 

(not a very good picture.  I simply opened the front door and took a picture of the rug that we have on the front steps so that it would show up a little)

Early Thursday morning, we ended up in the ER because Ray was having chest pains.  Thankfully all of the tests have come back normal so far.  He has a follow-up appointment with the Doctor.  (update:  follow-up appointment went well, he has another big test next week, and is still having some twinges; continue to keep him in your prayers, please)

As promised, here are some of the fall decorations that I put around the house...

 

My family always takes a fall trip together to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinsburg, TN.  This year, it worked out for Ray and I to go with them.  Not everyone was able to make it but we still had a group of 22!  I will make a separate posting for that once Ray gets me some of the pictures he took.

I've been working on Christmas things

for my booth...more on that later.

Gearing up for the Thanksgiving feast...that will be another post.  However, I will tell you that I have the menu planned out, the guest invited and it looks like we will be having a feast and lots of fun.  I am really looking forward to it!

To finish on a great note...

Chocolate! 

I was craving some chocolate over the weekend.  So Monday, I made a chocolate cake.  I did not want my regular icing or buttercream on it but rather some type of glaze or sauce.  So I went online for some inspiration.  I ended up using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  It turned out so great!  It was like a layer of fudge on top of my cake.  I have put the recipe for the glaze sauce under "recipes" or you can visit her website.  Speaking of, if you have never checked it out, I strongly recommend it.  Her blog is one of my favorites!
It had my house smelling like wonderful, dreamy, chocolate and it tastes so good!

Another chocolate tidbit for you...here is a sign that I bought while we were on vacation with the family.

 

"Every time I hear the dirty word exercise, I wash my mouth out with chocolate"

Chicken Noodle Soup

Cool weather is here and it seems like it is here to stay. 

One of the things I love about cold weather is soup. 

I love soup and Ray will eat it when it is cold out...so win/win. 

One of the most popular soups out there is Chicken Noodle Soup.
 For some it brings back childhood memories. 

It is the go to soup when you have a cold or don't feel good.

Now while this is a very popular soup, I have only made it a couple of times in the many years that I've been married.  The main reason is because I can not stand mushy, overcooked noodles or pasta of any kind.  Pasta needs to be el dente!  It seemed that the longer the noodles would sit in the broth, the more they became over cooked.  Another problem that I noticed recently at an event that had this soup, they had added extra pasta while it was cooking which in turn added so much starch to the water that I thought they had actually put flour in the soup in an attempt to make it cream of noodle soup.  Anyways, I knew there had to be a way around the mushy noodles.  Now maybe you already knew the solution but I didn't.

So last night I decided to conquer this problem.

I started off with my chicken.  I used boneless, skinless chicken and I diced it up as small as I could.  I have found that if the chicken is partially frozen it makes it a lot easier to cut.  Then I put the chicken with a little olive oil in the bottom of my large pot and sautéed it until the chicken was no longer pink. 

To this I added diced up onion, celery, carrots, and lots of garlic.  Sautéing slightly until veggies begin to soften.  Now if you are using a strong onion you want to make sure and cook it pretty good so that it doesn't over power your soup.  I didn't have chicken broth so I used several bouillon cubes and water. 

For seasoning I used black pepper, hot sauce, oregano, a touch of onion powder (my onion was not strong), garlic powder, and a touch of steak seasoning for an extra zing.   I allowed this to simmer for some time.

Instead of adding the uncooked noodles directly to the soup, I cooked them in a separate pot of boiling water with a bouillon cube for about 2 minutes, no longer.  This started the cooking process.  Then immediately drained the pasta and completely rinsed it in cold water...this stops the cooking process.  Right before serving, I put the noodles in the soup and stirred it.   I used the medium Egg Noodles, by the way.

Perfection!!! 

 

The noodles were the perfect consistency and the soup was full of flavor.  We both ate seconds last night.  When I heated the leftovers today for lunch, the noodles were still good and not mushy.  
 

Yes!  I finally found a way to make this work. 

So, I had to share.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today would have been my Mom's 73rd birthday. 

She has been gone almost 4 years come December. 

Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday.

 

Loosing your parents leaves a huge void

in your life that can never be filled. 

I know they are in a better place

but sometimes it hurts so much.

 

Mom was such a precious lady,

as sweet as could be. 

Always taking care of others and

hardly ever taking a second for herself. 

She was always cooking, baking, cleaning,

working in the yard with her flowers, having company,

teaching piano, and of course taking care of her family. 

Just about the only time she would sit down

was to take time to read her Bible. 

 

Sometimes I wonder how she did it all. 

She kept her house spotless,

her yard and flowers looking like

a picture from a magazine.

 

She always had a smile,

a kind word,

and time to listen. 

 

There's no one like mom. 

I miss being able to talk to her so much. 

She could always make everything better.

 

Both of my parents left such big shoes to fill. 

I feel so unworthy to have had such great parents

but I am so glad that I did.

 

Happy Birthday Mom! 

I miss you and love you so much!

My Dad

Dear Dad,
It is so hard to believe that you left us eight years ago today.  There are times when it feels like it was just yesterday.   My life has been so blest by having you as my Dad.  Some might say I am just being partial, however I have to say that you were the best dad a girl could ever have. 
You left us long before your time....leaving a large void in our lives.  You were a very special person and touched so many lives.  You never met a stranger and always cared for others before yourself.
I love you so much and am proud to have had you for my Dad.
Love,
Your Baby Girl

Quote

Hello there.  Sorry I have been slacking the past few days or is it weeks.  Anyways, I came across something on pinterest today that I wanted to share. 

We all know that life has it's ups and downs.  This past week has been one of those down times.  I've been reminding myself that you have to encourage yourself at times which isn't always easy.  That's life.

Anyways I came across this quote and thought 'that was just for me'.

Surrender to what is.

Let go of what was.

Have faith in what will be.

(Sonia Ricotti)

Hope you get something good out of that as I did.

 

 

On another note, I finished my fall decorating a while back but just haven't gotten around to posting pictures.  I will try to work on that this coming week.  So be sure to check back for those. 

Have a great weekend, what is left of it.