50th Birthday Book

Time Needed: 90 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: blank scrapbook, scrapbooking paper, glue stick, stickers, photos, 50 memories, printer, printer paper, shaped edge scissors
Directions: Because this is for a 50th birthday, there are 50 memories. If you are going to do this for another birthday, just adjust your memories accordingly. Have everyone involved in giving this gift split up the 50 memories. Have them typed, put them in cute font, and print them onto the printer paper. Cut the memories with the shaped edge scissors. Set your memories and photos on top of the scrapbook pages to get an idea of how you'd like the layout to be. Then, remove these and back each page as desired with the scrapbooking paper. Glue on the memories and photos and accent with the stickers.
My siblings and I have done this for both of my parents' 50th birthdays, and these books now display prominently in their home. They are some of my parents' most prized possessions. I've included several pictures with this one so you can see more of what the finished product looks like.

Bread Bowls and Pot Pie Stew

Can you tell I've been dying for soup season to get here? Don't worry - I have like 3 more soups I'm posting in the next few days.
I can't take credit for this one. I found it at the King Arthur Flour website. I will, however, share my modifications.

1. Double the chicken stock and triple the milk. Otherwise, it's more like coated meat and veggies. In fact, as it was, I'd probably still like more liquid.
2. I don't have pearl onions nor does my grocery store. So I diced and sauteed a normal one and threw that in.
3. I'm an Idaho girl through and through. I diced a few potatoes, boiled them, and tossed them in as well. Mmm yum!
   

Chicken Noodle Soup

Time Needed: 45 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: 1 large onion, diced, 2 large carrots, diced, 3 ribs of celery, diced, 1 tablespoon garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil (I use garlic infused oil, personally), 8 cups chicken stock, 1 cup water, 1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken, 1 1/2 cups diced potatoes, cooked, 1/2 package egg noodles, cooked, 1 cup instant rice, uncooked, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon dried parsley, salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Heat the oil in a stock pot. Saute onion, carrot, celery, and garlic until they soften. Add the stock and the water, and bring to a boil. Add chicken and rice, cook until chicken is heated through. Add potatoes, noodles, and seasonings. Cook until rice is done or until you feel good about it. In case you are wondering, this takes less than 30 minutes to cook. I added 15 to the total time for chopping and pre-cooking stuff.

*Note - this is also really good if you leave out the potatoes done this way. If you heap the soup over mashed potatoes, that's really good, too (props to Aunt Jill on that one)

BYU Mint Brownies

If you've ever been to BYU and had the privilege of eating their mint brownies, you might be so excited about me posting this recipe that you are giggling and bouncing up and down. Well, hold still so you can read this, okay?

Time Needed: 4 hours (including cooling time)
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed:
Brownies: 1 c margarine, 1/2 c cocoa, 2 T honey, 4 eggs, 2 c sugar, 1 3/4 c flour, 1/2 T baking powder, 1/2 t salt, 1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
Mint icing: 5 T margarine, dash of salt, 3 T milk, 1 T light corn syrup, 2 1/3 c powdered sugar, 1/2 t mint extract, 1-2 drips green food coloring Chocolate icing: 1/2 c cocoa, 1/3 c milk, 1 1/2 t vanilla, 6 t softened butter, 2 2/3 c powdered sugar


Directions: Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool and add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted int he middle comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Prepare the mint icing: soften margarine, add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk while mixing and mix until consistency is just thinner than cake frosting. Spread over cooled brownies. Stick brownies in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to let icing harden.
Prepare the chocolate icing: cream the butter, add sugar and cocoa and mix. Add milk, mixing the whole time. Add vanilla and mix. Take brownies out of the freezer and spread chocolate icing on the top. Allow to harden and serve.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Don't worry, ducklings, I haven't forgotten you. I was merely away from my crafting abode.

Time Needed: 15 minutes prep time, 8 hours in the crock pot
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: 1 lb cooked shredded chicken, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 chopped medium onion, 1 can red enchilada sauce, 1 can diced chiles, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 cups water, 1 can chicken broth, 1 t cumin, 1 t cayenne, 1 t salt, 1/4 t pepper, 1 bay leaf, 1 small pkg frozen corn, 1 can drained black beans, 1 T chopped cilantro, 1/2 c instant white rice, shredded cheese, tortilla chips

Directions: Put everything in the crock pot except the rice, cheese, and tortilla chips. Stew in the crock pot 8 hours. When done, add the rice and let sit for 5 minutes. Then, dish soup and top with cheese and tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Where Credit is Due

My amazing cousin Krystal over at Sassy Sanctuary hooked me up. Look at how amazing she is! Do you love the new layout/design? Because I do! Thanks again, Krystal!

Fall Applique Shirt

Time Needed: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed: t-shirt, brown and orange felt, brown, orange, and green embroidery floss, scissors, needle, pins
Directions: Cut a circle out of the orange felt. Cut a dent in the top and bottom to make it more pumpin-y looking. Then, cut a stem out of the brown fabric. Pin them to place on the shirt and embroider around the outside the same way you would stitch a pattern (like in the "I love you" or the "buon appetito" signs). Make sure you use extra thick thread this time to ensure it stays on the shirt and make sure your knots are tight. Then, make the pumpkin look more like a pumpkin by adding 2 curved lines down the length of it. Take the green floss and make yourself a curved vine. And.. there you go! You can wear it from now clear till Christmastime because it's a plain pumpkin and that means fall. If you wanna make it Halloween-y, take some black felt and make eyes and a mouth and sew them on. I left it as is because I want to be able to wear it longer. Have fun!