Happy Halloween!!

I hope you're all having fun tonight! Go out gets lots of candy {save the chocolate for me, especially the Twix} have fun and be safe!!



These pumpkins were made using the wonderful tutorial from Living with Lindsay.

Pumkin Curly Q's

Remember the fabric pumpkins I made? I did eventually get around to adding some copper curly-q's. I didn't want to spend money, sooo I went to the shed and found some wire that we had lying around. I took it and stripped it and then formed them into curly-q's with some needle nose pliers. Easy and Free!

What's for Dinner? BBQ Chicken Pizza, Roast Beef, Sandwiches, Chiles Rellenos, Apple Pie

I've been slackin' on my "What's for Dinner" posts. I've been cooking {honest!} and I've been pretty darned good about taking pictures, just not so good about posting about it! So here is a mash-up post of a few of our past dinners.

First up is homemade Pizza. Yum! {I love Pizza, who doesn't?} It's really super easy if you keep those little packets of pizza dough mix on hand (they're like $0.50 a packet and can be found near the spaghetti sauce, all you do is add water.) I like to use 2 packets for my smallest pizza pan (I think it's a 12-incher) otherwise it's really thin.


I hate to brag {ok not really, I like to brag... sometimes} but I make a good BBQ chicken pizza. Or so I've been told by a wonderful couple that used to own a restaurant {I'm talking about the Hawks, for my TN peeps.} Ok so you use some KC Masterpiece Original BBQ sauce {accept no substitutions!!!} then top with some cooked chicken, add some chopped onion (white or red, I'd say about a 1/4 cup) , and top with cheese (I like the Mexican blend) - Yum! Then bake as directed on the pizza crust package. I think I added mushrooms this time, just cause I had them lying around.

About cooked chicken
Anytime a recipe calls for cooked chicken I cook it this way: boil in a pot of water, add 1/4 to a 1/2 small onion (no need to chop it so you can easily scoop it out later) and add salt to taste. When your chicken is cooked remove the chicken and wither chop or gently pull apart with your fingers to use in your recipe. I like to use my fingers to pull it apart because you tend to get more volume this way and therefore need less chicken per recipe. Throw away the onion from the broth and store the broth in the fridge or you can even freeze it for use in your recipes.


Up next is Roast Beef Sandwiches with a spicy Horseradish sauce, oh and tomatoes too!
This is your typical roast beef sandwich but it is taken to the next level with a horseradish sauce and fresh tomatoes. My husband mixes it up but it is similar to this recipe here.


Next we go to Mexico for some awesome Chiles Rellenos. I make mine using Chiles Poblanos and stuff them with Queso Fresco.
I found these 2 recipes if you want to give it a try (recipe 1, recipe 2). I don't use a recipe I just make them the way my mami taught me! The sauce is processed in the blender and consist of tomatoes, garlic, onion, and seasoned with salt, cumin, oregano, and pepper.

An easy way to peel the peppers is to put them under the broiler and turn them every couple of minutes until the start popping and fizzing, then turn them every 30 seconds until they are uniformly blistered. Pull them out and peel the skin with your fingers. Then make a slit down one side and (using gloves) under running water pull out the seeds and veins so they aren't so spicy!


Lastly we have Apple Pie {no we didn't actually have Apple pie for dinner, very very tempting, and one day we might make Apple pie for dinner, we did have cake for dinner one night though!} So I know nothing about making pie, I think this was only the 2nd time I've ever made Apple pie. Honestly it wasn't that hard! I did use the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust to save some time and that made it a breeze.


I hit a roadblock before I even started making my pie! I was at the store and they had like 10 varieties of Apple on sale. Not knowing a thing about apple pie {I know better now} I chose Gala Apples! Once I came home and looked on the internet I learned that Gala apples aren't considered very good for apple pies. Doh! They tend to be too juicy once you cook them so your pie doesn't set up and the bottom crust doesn't hold up. Or so I read, but look at this beautiful Gala Apple Apple Pie!!!


The fix? {cause I was too lazy to go back to the store for 'better apples"} I used cornstarch instead of flour in the filling recipe and doubled the amount called for (I dissolved it in a tiny amount of water.) It came out perfect! And look at that flaky crust. The secret? Brush the crust with milk before baking, cover the edges of your pie with aluminum foil strips and remove the aluminum 15 minutes prior to the end of baking. this will keep your edges from burning to a crisp (or use one of those handy dandy pie crust shields.) This pie wasn't as sweet as other pies I've had which was a plus for me, not as sweet but still sweet though.

Look I even made little cute-sie hearts!

So, you hungry yet? What have you been cookin' up lately?

P.I.F (Pay it forward)

I've seen this going around several times on blogs that I frequent often. I have been hesitant to join because I've felt to busy. I finally decided that with a whole year to complete the task it really shouldn't be that tough. Besides, 99% of the projects I actually complete are those meant for others!

{hmm... I think that means I should make something for me, myself, and I this year!}

So the other day I popped on over to Allison's blog "Strandz" and saw that she had posted a PIF and she still had room for one more player so I bit the bullet and joined the PIF movement. {You've got to pay her a visit and see all her lovely quilts.}

It pretty much works like this: the first three people to comment on this post and say they want to play along will get something handmade by me. I then have 365 days to make good. {I promise hope not to take that long.}

Anyone with a blog can join, it doesn't need to be something quilty, just something handmade for the next person.

To receive something from me, you need to play along too. You will need to post about it with the logo just as I have as soon as you sign up!

Please leave a comment if you would like to receive a little something from me! {Be sure to have an email address for me to contact you.}

Food Safe Paint?

I recently got a question from a reader {hi Val!}

She said:

"Oh, one quick question... when you are going to use something for food, do you use a different paint on it? Thanks!"

The truth is I have yet to paint something that I was going to be using for food. Her question was referring to the Cloche's I had found and repainted from the thrift store. I guess the pictures make them seem larger than they are because Val thought they were cake stands. If I were going to be using these for displaying food {maybe a pretty cupcake?} I would either line the bottom with paper doilies, parchment paper or something similar so that the food would not come in contact with the paint. The other thing you could do is to apply a protective finish to the piece that would be "food safe." Here is a good article from "Popular Woodworking" that describes the FDA's regulations/definitions for "food safe" so you can make up your own mind whether to use these products or not.

I know that there are paints out there marketed as "food safe," a google search might bring those up. Good Luck Val!