Sausage & Vegetable Stew

This is hands down my favorite soup (at least right now). Last time I made it we didn't have any leftovers and it was so sad. I even posted my lament on facebook.

Click here for the printable version.

 You'll need: 3TBSP extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar, parsley, 2 tsp minced garlic, 8 baby red potatoes, 2 parsnips, 4 medium carrots, 1 large red onion, 1 lb kielbasa, 2 TBSP paprika, and 3 T flour. (not pictured 4 C water and sour cream for garnish)

 Dice the onion.

 Heat oil, onion, and garlic in a heavy pot over medium heat until softened. This will take about 5 minutes.

 Stir in the paprika and 1 tsp salt. Then stir in the flour,

 and immediately stir in the water until there are no flour lumps.

 Chop up the carrots and parsnip to bite size pieces,

 quarter the potatoes,

 and slice the kielbasa.

 Add the carrots, parsnip, potatoes, and sausage to the pot. Add some salt, turn up the heat, and bring to a boil.

 Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

 Uncover the soup and stir in the vinegar. This just helps to brighten the flavor, so if you don't have any, it's not completely required.

Serve garnished with sour cream and parsley and some crusty bread on the side (a baguette works well) Then enjoy every last bite!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

What's your favorite soup?

Sweet Potato Chili

This is probably my favorite chili recipe and I'm pretty sure it's Wyatt's too. I can pretty much always count on him to ask for seconds and thirds when I make this yummy goodness. This is also one of the two ways I can get David to happily eat sweet potato and this version is certainly healthier than the sweet potato casserole I make .

 This recipe is perfect for those days you will be gone all day and want a hot and tasty meal ready as soon as you get home. I usually cook this 8-10 hours, but it could cook for 12 without getting overcooked.
Serves about 10 with roughly 302 Calories and 11 g dietary fiber per serving.
Printer friendly version

 You'll need: 2 tsp chili powder, 2-3 TBSP baking cocoa, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 2 cans chili style tomatoes, 1 can chili beans, 1 can black beans, 1 can dark red kidney beans, 1 can cannellini beans, 1 lb sweet potato, 1 onion, 1 tsp oregano, 1.25 lb stewing beef

 Turn slow cooker on low. Peel and dice the sweet potato and onion. Place in the slow cooker with the beef chunks.

 Add the chili beans and tomatoes with their juices.

 Drain and rinse the cannelini, black, and kidney beans before adding them to the slow cooker.

 Add the spices...

 ...and stir together. It won't look like it has enough liquid, but it has plenty. Cover the slow cooker and leave it alone for at least 8 hours

 When it's ready, the sweet potato will be tender, the meat will be cooked, and the liquid will have more of a brown color than red.

Printer friendly version

What's your favorite way to eat sweet potatoes?

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

I love this time of year. The weather allows me to wear pretty much whatever I want, the changing of the leaves is gorgeous, and pumpkin rules the kitchen.

These are easy, delicious, and mostly nutritious, so I like to make these at least once a week for all of October and November.

For a printer friendly version, click here.

 Begin by whisking your dry ingredients together. (2C flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp soda, 1 T cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp salt)

 Mix your wet ingredients in a separate bowl (1 & 1/3 C pumpkin, 3 T brown sugar, 2 C milk, 1 egg, and 2 T oil). A note on the milk: I've used several varieties of dairy and dairy free milks in this recipe and they all taste great.

 Fold wet and dry ingredients together and allow to rest while you preheat the skillet to 350 F, medium, or whatever setting works best for pancakes at your house.

 Place a scoop of batter on your skillet and allow to cook until edges are set and air bubbles appear on the surface, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and allow to finish cooking another 2-3 minutes.

Enjoy!

Printer Friendly Version

Variation: sprinkle some mini chocolate chips into the batter and top with some chocolate sauce  and whipped cream for a yummy desert.

When do you prefer to eat pumpkin pancakes?

How to Make a Cutesy Halloween Spider: A Beginner Sewing Craft

I've got a fun little treat for you today. How cute is this little spider?

Most people that know me in real life also know that I have an extremely talented mother. She can sew as well as any professional seamstress. I, on the other hand, did not gain her talent with thread and fabric. I can do basic to intermediate projects, but I still have a long way to go.

This project is great for a beginner sewer. My mom started at age 5, but I think 7 or 8 is a more common age to start these days.

 You'll need: 1 sheet of felt, ribbon, needle, thread, stuffing, scissors tacky glue, and googly eyes. Optional extras include pom poms and additional colors of felt. Assuming you have the scissors already, this project should cost less than $10 and will have extra of most items for future projects.

 To start: fold the sheet of felt over and cut out and oval. This will give you two ovals.

 Cut 8 equal pieces of ribbon.

 Fold the ribbon in half and secure together with tacky glue. While you're at it, space out the legs to your liking then flip them so the folded side is pointed toward the center. Secure with a small dot of glue if necessary.

 Place the second piece of felt on top to sandwich the ribbon and sew around the edges, leaving a gap in the stitching to turn it right side out and stuff it. You can use any type of stitch you want.

Turn the spider right side out and stuff with stuffing to desired plushness.

 Use a whip or ladder stitch to close the the hole in the stuffing and you're ready to decorate. For a video tutorial of a ladder stitch, click here. And for the whip stitch, click here.

 Have fun decorating. Add eyes, fangs, spots, and/or stripes. Tacky glue will easily attach just about anything to your spider.

This craft is part of a bigger party put together by Felt With Love Designs, so please feel free to check out the others:

Bugs and Fishes // Family Living on a Budget // Felt With Love Designs

Good Critters // GYCT Designs // House Full of Boys

Hugs Are Fun // Knot Sew Normal // Mommy in Sports

My Pinterventures // The Nesting Spot // Woods of Bell Trees // Year of Sarah

Meal Plan Monday: Transitioning to Fall

I start back to school today!! Woohoo! Actually, I'm kind of nervous. I looked over my course loads and it looks like I'm going to be busy. One of my classes wants me to log my sleep hours. That's a joke, right?

Dinner at our house this week will include:

• Pizza (made with whole wheat pizza dough)
• Easy Chicken Pot Pie
• Broccoli Cheese Soup in Bread Bowls
• No-Boil Pasta Bake
• Black Bean Quesadillas
• Chili
• At Home Salad Bar

What's for dinner at your house?

Seasonal Hand Trees -kid art

The change in seasons is not getting along with my sinuses, so I'm a little under under the weather. No pun intended, that's just how I talk. As a result, it completely slipped my mind that I needed to finish working on my homesteading post last night. Oops. Sleep made it much worse, so I just don't have the clarity of thought to write a new quality post. I decided to pull a post from the archives of my old blog to share today instead. I hope you enjoy.

We had an early snowfall at the beginning of the week. The leaves hadn't all changed colors and fallen from the trees! I was planning to do the autumn version of this project anyway, so we ran with it and talked about all the seasons. The little hands are all Quinn's (3) projects and the larger hands are all  Zeke's (4). For this set, I did most of the prep work, but simply handed them the supplies to decorate the trees (one season at a time) and watched to see what they did.

We made an almost special trip to the craft store to search for things to decorate our spring and summer trees. I lucked out and found these and other supplies on sale and clearance.

If you have any questions pertaining to the projects shown, please ask in the comment section or send me an email and I'll get back to you within a few days.