Holiday Scents

I had a birthday coupon from  World Market and used it tonight - and discovered these three new scents for the holiday season - and they all smelled absolutely wonderful!  $9.99 each! Housed in a cute jar with a retro lid...

Perfect Bites

These were certainly a fave at our pumpkin party - they are super tasty and very easy to make.  I found the recipe online.  Check it out here.

Perfect bites, and perfectly leftover for breakfast....and perfectly pretty for the holiday season.

Stuffed Pepper Pumpkins

These turned out cute and delicious.

Cut and remove seeds from orange peppers, cut out the jack o lantern face, then boil them about 5 minutes. Stuff with your favorite mixture.  I put in Mexican seasoned chicken, rice, black beans and cheese, with diced tomatoes.  Set the tops back on the peppers. Bake them in the oven about 30 minutes.

They just look like fall...they're little pumpkins full of tastiness.

Pumpkin Fruit Bowl

This is so easy to make:

Just cut up oranges into slices - a lot of them.  Use these to outline your pumpkin fruit bowl.

Use red grapes for eyes and nose, outlining with orange slices.

Use apple slices for the mouth (sprinkle lemon juice on top to keep from browning)

Place three apple slices on the top for the stem!

Arrange until you have it looking like a jack-o-lantern!

Pretzels Pretties

These pretzel rods are so fun and tasty for any party, because they can be decorated for any holiday or season.  So why not Halloween?

you'll need:

1 pkg pretzel rods
chocolate or vanilla candy melting wafers (I used Ghirardelli)
sprinkles
parchment paper

line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
melt the wafers according to directions
dip the pretzels, one at a time, coating them about 2/3 up
over a plate (so chocolate can drip) pour sprinkles on the pretzels
lay out on baking sheet
chill

after they set and are hard again, place in your serving container ( i used a large vase)

Spooky Breakfast

A fun idea for breakfast for him, for the kiddos, or for you all!

Slice a thick piece of multi-grain bread, and using a pumpkin cookie cutter, take out the middle, keeping the pumpkin shape too.

Melt butter in a skillet and place the slice of bread, and crack an egg in the hole that you made with the cutter.  Also place the pumpkin shape in the skillet.  Toast until browned and egg sets, then carefully flip.  Season the egg with S&P.

Meanwhile, using a marker, make a face on a cutie.

Serve it all up on a plate!

2 for 3

Two for $3 at Target - so cute - for dessert or a candle or just for reading and decoration - as a reminder.  They're white with a copper/orange colored text.  I love them.

HOME

There's a new store at mall here, and the store is called Kittsona.  There are lots of cute tops and home gifts, but this one is cute - with Texas on the front.  If you're not from Texas, pardon me while I indulge in where I call home :)  Kittsona has a lot of cute things other than this shirt, though...Check it out here.

Beautiful Bag

Today I received a beautiful bag from my family, it's from a wonderful company called Fashion & Compassion.  It's pricey, but absolutely a classic.  And all purchases go to a wonderful cause...

Light bulb vase

A really sweet friend brought me back a gift from her trip, a tubular vase that has a side opening, as well as one at the top.  It hangs from a rope-like string and it's called a bulb vase because it looks like a light bulb - elongated.

I like to clip blooms from my yard, and now I have another cute place to hang them!  You can find one here.

Loaded Sweet Potato

This sweet potato, topped with all of these goodies, is seriously delicious.

Prick sweet potatoes and microwave until tender.

In a skillet, brown chopped zucchini with yellow onions and a dash of cayenne pepper, until tender.  Add drained and rinsed black beans and stir until warmed.  Season.

Grate white cheddar cheese.

Split open the potatoes and top with the mixture and cheese, top with cilantro and a squeeze of lime.

SO GOOD!

Fried Spaghetti Pie

What a fun and interesting recipe I found, and I tweaked it just a bit.

Combine 3 cups cooked spaghetti with 2 beaten eggs and 1 cup grated Parmesan, and 1/4 cup shaved brussel sprouts, season with S&P.

Cook it in olive oil in a 10 inch skillet until browned and crisp - about 4 minutes per side.

Cut into wedges and serve with marinara.

That's it!  And it was super delicious!

Babies in a Basket

A friend of mine just had two grandbabies born a week apart, and she received this cute gift - Each little "baby" is a rolled diaper, with a washcloth wrapped around it and tied, a baby sock on the "head" and little eyes put into place with a marker.  Then the "babies" were stacked in a basket to make the fun gift.

For the Kiddos

I've seen the coloring pencils and books for adults - very intricate designs - but just found these for kids!

The pencils are in a cute flat tin box, and the color books have kid-friendly art designs for coloring with the pencils.

The pencils were in the back of Marshalls in the journals/pads section, and the books were in the kids' section.

They're both so cute! A great gift idea.

Lit and Timed

I haven't quite figured out where I want to place this, but I found this lit fall tree with a burlap bottom at Jo Ann's Fabrics for 60% off, which made it about $15.  It's really pretty, and even has a timer so it will come on and go off without having to remember to turn it on/off!

I love fall decor!

Double Decker

One of the articles for this month is called "Serving it up Fun" and it has pointers for finding serving dishes that are unique or whimsical.  One of my favorite stores is Ross - although you do have to go often - because sometimes there's a lot and other times it's all picked over.

This is a find this week for just $6.98 and I can't wait to use it!  A dish that adds height to your table is a great find!

Dark Chocolate & Almond Bark

I've made chocolate bark before, but this one might be my favorite combo.

1 bag 12 oz dark chocolate morsels
48 saltine crackers, approx.
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup toasted almonds

preheat oven to 400.

line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then lay out the saltines in one layer across the bottom.

in a saucepan, melt the butter and sugar, bring to a boil, and boil 3 minutes.  pour over the crackers and bake in the oven for 8 minutes.  sprinkle the chocolate morsels on top and let them melt, then spread.  top with the almonds, and chill.

break apart and eat.

(this melts easily, so store in a bowl in the fridge)

it'd delicious!

Broccolini Olive Pizza

This pizza was one of the best I've tasted at home in a long while.  It was so fresh and the flavors were just perfect.

I used a pre-made  store bought crust and just dusted the round pizza pan with cornmeal before topping.

1 can diced tomatoes, drained
2 tsp sliced garlic
1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp pepper
6 oz mozzarella cheese grated
8 oz fresh broccolini trimmed
1 T olive oil
1/4 cup pitted black olives, halved lengthwise

Preheat oven to 450.

Place the tomatoes and garlic on the crust, and sprinkle with half the S&P.  Top with the cheese.  Toss the broccolini with the olive oil and remaining S&P, arrange over the cheese.  Top with the olives.

Bake according to directions on the pre-made crust.  Let stand a few minutes before slicing.

Enjoy!

On-the-go Puzzles

On our recent trip, we visited The Book Loft in Columbus, OH - a very unique and cool bookstore.  In it, I found this fun to-go puzzle of the U.S.  And looking on the web, I found more that are just as cute that you can order from this bookstore!

Great gift idea for the kiddos...click on link above to order...or to search for more from mudpuppy! I love the drawstring pouch to hold the pieces!

Get the Skinny

Target has several skinny scarves on sale, and I love them all.  In fact, they will be our feature item in the November issue!  Check out these two:

Travel Packs

Traveling requires us to carry certain size packs onto the airplane, so I think these backpacks are awesome!  There are so many cute bags at Target, these days...

Costumes - so cute!

This costume website has really cute costumes at super affordable prices for your kiddos this month!

Girls

Boys

Wrist Cuffs

i LOVE cuff bracelets and have a couple that are my fave.  however, i just found this site on etsy that has some really cute ones, as well.  i'm still looking for more!

Plaid is In!

It's almost time for winter coats and I LOVE these plaid coats from Fashion Junkee - check them out - and check out the other items on their site!

Essentials

I don't know how well these work, but just the names of these oils made me want to try a few, and the website looks really cool...512organics.com

Veggie Nachos

We often roast two big baking sheets of veggies and eat them in different ways during the week.

This week I placed them on top of chips, added a bit of melted cheese and had veggie nachos! They were delish!

Around the Table

When our family gathers for birthday dinners, we now have seven little kids that are part of our big group.  It helps to have something for them to do, while wait for our order and visit...

This past weekend, each kid got a paddle ball (it came with markers) and Pez pumpkin dispensers.  

I  don't see these on line, but they are from Michaels and were on sale...Any little craft and/or treat works!

For Your Fall Picnic

This recipe caught my attention, but I wasn't able to get broccoli slaw at the store - so I improvised. I just used a food processor and coarsely chopped broccoli, carrots, red onion, radishes, and celery.  I used that in place of the slaw in the recipe.

We took this to a fall picnic.  The almonds and noodles really add a great element to the salad!

Here's the original recipe:

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 (3 ounce) packages chicken ramen noodles, broken
• 10 ounces broccoli coleslaw mix

• 3/4 cup sliced almonds
• 3/4 cup golden raisins (optional)
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

Directions

1. Whisk olive oil, vinegar, sugar, and ramen noodle seasoning packets together in a bowl.
2. Combine broccoli coleslaw mix, broken ramen noodles, almonds, raisins, green onions, and green bell pepper together in a bowl; fold in dressing. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. Stir again before serving.

Cuban Sliders

I saw this recipe for Cuban Sliders and tried it - it was delicious - easy to make - and great for sharing!