Love Hearts

It has been a closet cleaning, picture hanging, finish painting kind of week...well, the last couple weeks.  I have some good projects to show you (really, I just want to brag because I think they look pretty good...humor me...isn't that part of why we all blog anyway?).

So for the first one!

I was watching Emily Henderson on HGTV.  She is amazing!  She has a fun sense of style and I love how she defines every couple's unique style.  In her "style diagnosis" she has little tiny chairs, belts, vases, cups, you name it.  The clients have to choose their style and then she reveals to them their unique combined style name.

I was watching the "Eclectic Artsy Odyssey" episode.  On her personal blog she breaks down the episode and tells you where she found her decor and any other little secrets about the episode.

In this episode she had some cute little hearts with personalized names all framed and so cool!  I wanted some.

image via Emily Henderson

After looking at her blog I found that she purchased the picture from an etsy store Sarah & Bendrix.  They have some very fun things and I would have bought something from them, but I happened to have a good shadow box on hand.  The call of the wild came and I began punching hearts.

I did have to make a quick trip to Joann Fabrics with my most recent coupons and grab a small heart punch.  Then I folded them all in half, decided the area I wanted the hearts in, where to place all our names, and got to work with some glue and steady hands.

And now I have this on my new gallery wall in the office!  I have yet to fill some of the other frames (like the sideways picture you see to the right), but we're getting there.  Have a fabulous Halloween!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Why haven't I ever thought of this before!?

I had some leftover pumpkin in the fridge.  That, with a desire to make something interesting, became pumpkin pancakes!

I added chocolate chips to some and they are good to eat all by themselves.  Think flat pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

For those children in my family who don't like chocolate chips in their pancakes (what?), I made them clean.  But then that child topped it with nutella anyway.  I don't get it?  But both ways are fantastic.

These are the ingredients I used.  I made enough pancakes for 4 of us, put in about 1/2 - 3/4 cup scoop of pumpkin, spiced it up with a little nutmeg and generous cinnamon shakes.  I added a cinnamon and sugar for sweetness.  I wanted them tasty enough to eat without topping with butter (or nutella).  I might have made these yesterday for lunch and this morning for breakfast...  No milk for cereal calls for desperate measures (if you call this desperate).  Enjoy!

S'mores Cookies

These are very addictive...just warning you.  Crackers, chocolate, and marshmallow transformed to cookie shape could never be bad!  You make the cookies with chocolate bar pieces (I used the large Hershey's bar, one large chocolate rectangle per cookie) and then after the cookie is baked, stick the marshmallows on top and broil for a couple minutes.  

I actually burned the marshmallows on the 2nd batch when I was broiling them.  But surprise surprise...it was even better!  I didn't think it was possible, but the just over-browned marshmallows made them taste like they actually saw a campfire.  I will be doing that on purpose next time!

Here's the link for the recipe from Martha Stewart.  Enjoy!

White Bean Chicken Chili

I was wandering Winco one evening (kidless grocery shopping is heavenly!) and meandered past the magazine isle.  I couldn't resist standing there looking through some food recipes.  I found one I had to try, but didn't want to buy the whole magazine.  Enter scrap paper from bottom of my bag.

I stood between the soft tortilla shells and magazines and wrote out the recipe.  Think what you like other shoppers, I'm going to eat some good food!  And it was.

Tonight was a rainy overcast day.  Not totally cold, but perfect to accompany a warm chili soup.  I've had other versions of this using canned green chilies...this was better!  The jalapeno was not too spicy (my 5-year-old liked it) and it tasted fresh with the cilantro and poblanos.  I probably could have added another lime to make it even better.

White Bean Chicken Chili

(from? I totally forgot to write down which magazine it was)

2 Tbsp oil

1 onion, diced

2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

4 garlic, minced

2 tsp cumin

2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

6 cups chicken broth

4 cups chicken (I used a rotisserie), chopped

1/4 cup lime juice, from 2 limes

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

salt and pepper

Add oil to pan, when hot, saute onions and peppers until soft, 6-8 minutes.  Add garlic and cumin for 30 seconds.  Stir in beans and broth.  

Remove 3 cups bean mixture and puree in blender until smooth.  Stir back into pot and heat for 10 minutes.

Stir in chicken, lime, cilantro, salt, and pepper.  Heat through and serve.  Garnish with sour cream and grated cheese.

Cold Cucumber Soup

Mommy lunch parties are so fun!  I need to start this at my own place.  So here's how it goes: you invite other moms, with their kids, to lunch.  Easy, right?  Then you make some really good food for the moms and something easy for the kids to eat.  It feels slightly fancy and like you are letting yourself indulge in something worthwhile.  

I was invited to a lunch party and was served cold cucumber soup, caprese sandwich (with mayo and balsamic vinegar mixed together for a dressing...yum!), and pavlova for dessert.  Holy heaven!  

I had never had a cold soup and I think it might be wrong to call it a soup.  Soup makes me think of something warm and chunky.  So when you make it, think maybe chunky yogurt (that sounds gross)...okay, maybe...I don't know.  

I do think it's best in a small bowl and served with a sandwich.  It's the type of thing that you could eat several bites alone and then it tastes better almost as a sauce on something.  Totally worth trying.  I love the fresh herbs and crispness of the flavor. 

Cold Cucumber Soup
From Alisha

1 cup yogurt, can add a little sour cream too
Fresh Basil, chopped (add more of this than mint)
Fresh Mint, chopped
Green onion, chopped
2 Tbsp - 1/4 cup Lemon juice
Salt
1/2 - 1 cup Water
2 cucumbers, seeded and rough chopped
Sour cream or cucumber to garnish

Using a blender, mix all your ingredients together.  Add less herbs at first and then add more to taste, same with the lemon juice.  Blend so there are still chunks of little cucumbers in the soup.  Garnish and enjoy in a small bowl as a side.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

Chicken, I grilled mine myself (favorite seasonings: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder)

Grapes, sliced in half

Celery

Green onions

Apples, diced

Red Pepper, diced (any sweet peppers)

Salted Cashews

Cucumber, diced

Mayo

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix these together in the amounts that suit your fancy.  Croissants make everything better!  This is one of my favorite sandwiches.

And this is proof that I really have been up to some home decor projects...I'll be excited to do a reveal!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

My husband doesn't cook.  He makes a mean mac and cheese, but that's about it.  I'm all the happier because that means my experimenting has free range!  

When I think a recipe looks good and attempt to tell him about the ingredients, his eyes glaze over and he says something like, "sounds good?"  It's about the same way when he tells me about work with computer chips.  So we have our own niches, it's a good thing.

ANYWAY, he was actually the one who saw these and sent me a message that we had to make them.  Correction, I had to make them.  They've graced our kitchen twice now, one of those times was last night.  

Thanks to book club (we read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - I loved it) that I hosted, I now have a pan full of these.  There may be some unsuspecting people that might get a little treat today...I know I shouldn't have these sitting around!

Go to Sweet Pea's Kitchen for the recipe.  She has some amazing recipes, including more unique brownie recipes.  

P.S. I promise I'll be doing a give-away...I decided to paint my whole house, my oldest started Kindergarten, and my baby decided he wanted to be held all the time.  We're going through adjustments here.  I'm attempting running this morning, as soon as baby wakes up, and I might try my first zumba class tomorrow.  I've heard it's a blast!  Have a fabulous weekend and I hope you get to work-out too!

Pudding Biscuits: Camping Food

What's better than a campfire in the woods in Montana?  Eating a biscuit with pudding and whip topping inside!

We took a little drive to Montana (okay, more like an 11 hour drive) to go camping with my family (parents, siblings and their spouses, kids' cousins) a couple weeks ago.  The whole time I was taking pictures and the phrase, "Bonnie has a blog," came up constantly.  So camping food, you were not forgotten.  And no matter how serious or humorously it was said, here you go.  

My dad made two rounded wooden pegs to stretch the dough over.  Sorry I can't direct you to any store-bought wonder.  He's pretty crafty.

Pudding Biscuits

Oil

1 can Philsbury buiscuts

Snack pack vanilla pudding

Whip Topping

Oil the stick.  Take one buiscut out of the can and place top and work down, making sure you don't break the dough.  Bake over the fire/coals rotating slowly.  You want to cook it slow so the inside gets cooked along with the outside.  When it's browned and baked, slide off the stick and fill with pudding and whip.  Delish!