Halloween Fabric Rag Wreath

I made my first wreath and I think it turned out pretty cute. I'll include a brief tutorial but it is easy to make. Just a little time consuming.


You can use as many fabric choices as you want, I used 4 that I already had. I chose not to use the black minky fabric that is pictured. It makes a big mess when cutting it so I left it out.



Cut some fabric into about 1" strips. I didn't measure, just kind of eyeballed it. You can either run your scissors down the fabric or rip the strips. They do not need to be even and the frayed look is what we're going after. I then cut these strips in half.


I just used a clothes hanger that I bent into a somewhat circle. I had a wreath that I bought, but it was too thick and I would have needed to cut more fabric.


These are my strips all cut up ready to go onto the clothes hanger.


I then just double knotted each piece of fabric on then added a bow to the top.


Turned out pretty cute, didn't it?

Salsa Chicken and Rice

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 Cups uncooked white rice
3 Cups water
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 Cups shredded Montery Jack Cheese
2 Cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 cans Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cans Rotel (drained) or 1 1/2 cups Mild Salsa

Added Ingredients....
Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
A few Tablespoons of butter


I was preparing this for 3 families at once, so I had quiet the production line.


Cook 1 1/2 cups rice in the 3 cups of water. While the rice is cooking I add a few Tablespoons of butter and a Tablespoon or two of Tastefully Simple Onion Onion. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish and add rice.


Rinse your chicken then cut up into thin strips or bite size pieces. Add Olive oil or cooking oil to a large pan and cook your chicken. I add Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt to my chicken while it is cooking. After the chicken is finished cooking put on top of the rice.


I then added the cream of chicken soup. Normally I would combine the cream of chicken soup and Rotel together but my bowl wasn't large enough since I was preparing 3 dishes.


Add the Rotel and Salsa. Since I was making more then one dish I bought one of those large cans of Rotel plus a small one. When I got home I realized that wasn't enough, so I just added a little bit of salsa to it as well.


I forgot to take a picture of it topped with cheese before going into the oven. I like to shred my cheese from the blocks. It doesn't add that much time to the preparation and you don't have that powdery stuff on the cheese either. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly.

Enjoy!

Candy Apple Cupcakes

I saw this idea for these Candy Apple Cupcakes over at Cute as a Fox Creations. These were just the cutest things and they looked so easy, so I had to take a shot at it.

I wasn't able to find the cute red ramekins like she had, so I had to settle for red cupcake liners. I was looking for any type of small red bowl with no luck.

I looked for the red candies in Wal-Mart and found red M&M's packaged together. I purchased one pack of them thinking that should be enough for 4 small cupcakes. I also found the bamboo skewers and the cupcake liners at Wal-mart. The sour straws came from Dollar Tree. I had the other items on hand.


I did the first two similar to how she had done it. With the sour candy straw as part of the stem and ribbon as the leaf. I had a difficult time getting the straw onto the skewer even with using the pointed edge.


With the other two I got very short on M&M's, so I made do with what I had left. I was going to color the part of the skewer that shows with a brown Sharpie or marker. I didn't get lucky enough to find one when I needed one though. So, they just stayed natural color. I also decided to cut out a leaf shape on a piece of construction paper.


They didn't hold up well on their own since they were in a cupcake liner. So, I decided to wrap them again with some plastic wrap and put a tag and bow around them. I cut off any remaining saran wrap so it would look a little better. I found the cute apple tags from Lee Hansen Graphics.

Tyler was supposed to meet with his teachers this evening but he was running a fever so I didn't want to bring him around everyone and spread his germs. I called his teacher and she told us it would be ok to meet with her in the morning. So, Tyler will get to give his teachers their candy cupcake apple in the morning. We have already met my daughters teachers, so she will probably give them their cupcakes on the first day of school.

Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Chicken

Tonight for dinner I cooked Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Chicken, Broccoli with cheese and oven baked french fries.

The recipe for the Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Chicken is as follows:

Amazing Zesty Peppercorn Chicken Nuggets
Submitted by Jami Jann (SC)

Ingredients
3 Tbsp. melted butter
5 Tbsp. Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Sauce
1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 sleeves butter-flavored crackers, crushed
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Combine first 2 ingredients in small bowl; mix well. Coat chicken in this mixture. Combine crackers and cheese in a large resealable bag. Place 4-6 chicken nuggets in resealable bag and shake in bag until well coated. Place chicken on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400° for 7-9 minutes or until cooked through. Makes 6-8 servings.

I decided to use some Garlic & Herb crackers and liked how it turned out.


This is the ingredients that you need. Since I didn't use the plain butter-flavored crackers, they didn't come in sleeves. So, I just eyeballed it and I had plenty.


I like to use a meat mallet to crush the crackers with.


That looks pretty good now.


Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Sauce with the melted butter. Love the smell of this stuff!


The chicken hanging out in the sauce/butter mixture.


All ready to go in the oven


Nice and golden brown and ready to be eaten. :) This was my first time making these and they were very tasty!

What a wonderful week!

What have I been up to this week?.........

To start it off with, on Sunday I asked Christ to come into my heart and forgive me for my sins and save my soul. I'm now a Child of God. Can't start the week off any better then that! :)

I thought I had accepted Christ into my heart at the young age of 11. I went to my Mom and had my Mom pray the sinner's prayer with me.

"The Sinners Prayer"..........................

Heavenly Father:..........................................................................
I come to you in prayer asking for the forgiveness of
my Sins. I confess with my mouth and believe with my
heart that Jesus is your Son, And that he died on the
Cross at Calvary that I might be forgiven and have
Eternal Life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Father, I believe
that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you right now
to come in to my life and be my personal Lord and
Savior. I repent of my Sins and will Worship you all the
day's of my Life!. Because your word is truth, I confess
with my mouth that I am Born Again and Cleansed
by the Blood of Jesus! In Jesus Name, Amen.

I never really had a personal relationship with God though. I was brought up in Church and been pretty faithful until around College. I then would go on occasion. After I was married we would go on occasion also, but not faithfully. After we had our first child I started to attend a little more often. Then after we had our second child I was going more often. I always knew that I wanted my children to grow up attending church as I had. The past year I have really got more faithful with attending church usually on Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evenings. Even though I was in church that much I still had a lost soul. On Sunday I was in Church and our Pastor was preaching on the Rapture and Revelation. I first started thinking of others that were lost and needed salvation. I then immediately started getting convicted. My heart felt as if it was going to pound out of my chest. I knew that I was being convicted and needed to get it settled immediately. I'm so thankful that God didn't give up on me. I know there are others out there like me who have grown up in Church and may have thought you were saved as a child. If you were and had that change that you have when Jesus comes into your heart, that is awesome. If you never really experienced that change though, I urge you to get it settled right away. You never know when your last day on this earth will be and my prayer is that you know without doubt that he is your Savior.

There is also the ABC's of Salvation that you can check out.

A) ADMIT YOU ARE A SINNER

B) BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED FOR YOUR SINS, ROSE FROM THE
DEAD AND THAT YOU TRUST HIM ALONE 100% FOR YOUR
SALVATION.

C) CONFESS YOUR BELIEF TO OTHERS.


I was going to also share some other things I've been up to, but I think this will do it for tonight's post. No topping it! :)

Cheeseburger Soup

I know it's pretty hot out to be thinking about soup but I tried this and needed to share. I will share it again when it gets colder out if I can remember to.

I got this recipe from a friend of mine recently and decided I would try it myself. I was a little skeptical to start with because I'm not a huge hamburger person. I thought well if I didn't like it, my husband would still probably eat it. He likes hearty foods, meat and potatoes kind of guy. I was very surprised though. It was delicious! It was more of a cheesy potato soup. You couldn't even taste the hamburger that much. I think I will double the recipe next time. So, here is the recipe...

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 chopped onion
3 stalks chopped celery
3 Cups chicken broth
3 cups diced, peeled potatoes
2 cups chopped carrots
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
8 oz Velveeta or your favorite cheese
Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste.


Brown 1/2 lb ground beef (I added some Tastefully Simple Everyday Grillin Seasoning to the beef)
with 1/2 chopped onion and 3 stalks chopped celery. (I omitted the celery)
Drain and set aside. (I didn't have to drain because I used 90/10 meat and there was very little grease)



Boil 3 cups chicken broth (I use the bouillon cubes)
and add 3 cups diced, peeled potatoes
and 2 cups chopped carrots (I omitted the carrots also).
Boil until tender.


Place beef back on heat and melt 1/2 stick butter into the beef. Mix 1/4 cup flour into beef and then add to potatoes and carrots.

Add 1 1/2 cups milk and 8 oz Velveeta. I used an 8oz block of cheddar cheese and shredded it.
Stir until cheese melts. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste. I used Tastefully Simple's Sweet Bell Pepper Dip Mix in place of the red pepper. I would probably add a dash or two of Fiesta Party Dip Mix next time just to spice it up a tad.

Fishing with the kiddos

Today my Dad and I took the kids fishing.









Some beautiful butterflies hanging out in the mud






Yes, I wanted some pictures with me and the kids, so self shot with big head, lol!





Reeling it in


Tyler catches the first fish with the help of Poppie.


The patience thing was hard for both of them




Tyler looks very serious here. I think he was watching the end of the rod to see if he was getting a bite.




Another fish.

I think Tyler caught 3 with the help of Poppie and I on his rod, Tatiana caught one and Dad and I caught a few. They were all very small fish and went back into the river.