If You Carrot All; Carrot Soup

Day 4: Thanksgiving Week

Can you imagine life without our five senses?  I cannot, would life even be worth living?  I am thankful every morning to hear my babies cooing and cries to let me know she is awake.  And seeing her smile up at me when I come in and ask her if she is "awake-y".  I love caressing her soft wonderful skin after her baths, or smelling her sweet little shampooed head.   Now, while I have been tempted to eat her up, I have resisted!  instead I love to eat the wonderful things that the Lord has provided in this beautiful world!

About 10 years ago, my brother, the awesome chef, brought some carrot soup to our thanksgiving feast.  And it became a staple.  It is one of my favorite soups!  Technically, I make it year round, just because I love it so much!  And it freezes really well, so I make a big batch freeze half and get 2 dinners(or more) for the price of one!

The original recipe is a little sinful!  (but I will include my 2 point recipe version below)

CARROT SOUP

In a large 5 qt saucepan saute these ingredients together, until onion are translucent:
2 lbs carrots, peeled and cut into medium sized chunks
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cube butter

Add:
1/2 c Flour, stir in for a few seconds

Whisk in (slowly at first to get all flour lumps out):
1/2 Gallon Chicken stock (or broth)

Bring mixture to a boil and simmer 15 minutes or until carrots are very tender.
Pour mixture into blender and process til smooth.

Return to Saucepan, when ready to serve add:
2 cups Whipping cream (or fat free half and half)
salt and pepper to taste. 

That is it!  I am telling you it. is. SO GOOD. 

Carrot Soup for you fellow Weight watchers...
10-ish servings 2 points each

In a large 5 qt saucepan saute these ingredients together, until onion are translucent:

2 1/2 lbs carrots (I used baby cut carrots and didn't cut them up any more than that)
1 1/2  medium onion, chopped
3 Tbsp butter

Add:
1/2 c Flour, stir in for a few seconds

Whisk in (slowly at first to get all flour lumps out):
1/2 Gallon(8 cups) chicken broth
1 tsp garlic salt (to add flavor lost from cutting the butter)

Bring mixture to a boil and simmer 15 minutes or until carrots are very tender.
Pour mixture into blender and process til smooth.

Return to Saucepan, when ready to serve add:
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp light sour cream

So good.  I portioned mine out into a single serving, in plastic freezer bags.  Then laid them flat in the freezer to freeze now when I want a quick low point meal, I can just grab one little bag, thaw a little in some hot water to remove from bag and reheat in the microwave in a glass bowl.  *p.s.  I usually add salt when I am eating this, so each person can have the amount they like.

A Sign of Gratitude; Thanksgiving decor ideas

 Day 3: Thanksgiving Week

Today I am thankful for a job(well, my husbands job).  When his office all but shut down almost a year and a half ago now, and he got laid off it was a frightening experience.  We were surprisingly able to be cheerful, which saved us I think for utter fear and despair.  I realize that the Lord blessed us by the bucket load, and the hardships were not as hard as it could have been, but we definitely relied on Him daily.  I just would be so ungrateful if I didn't realize what a blessing it is to have a job right now.  I hope that you are as blessed in this time of hardship for our whole country, I guess the world, and if you are going through a job loss, I hope that you too will be blessed. 
Well, it seems to me that thanksgiving decor is almost impossible to find.  Don't get me wrong, I guess there are cornucopias and the like, but the stores go from Halloween candy to Christmas baubles in mid October...  So, by the time I started thinking I wanted some Thanksgiving decor nothing was there. 

Also looking on line, it seems that there are only table setting ideas, or fall ideas.  So, when I stumbled across this idea on Tatertots and Jello I thought, I could do that.

Needs:
6 similar sized, and colored frames (dollar store)
3 sheets of fall colored scrap book paper
The word "thanks" printed out in a large format, with the cool font of your choice for cutting out.
Some fall leaves (I got some at the dollar store/or you could grab some from your yard?)
Hot glue
Glue stick
Scissors

• Purchase frames, and get your supplies together.

• Decide what font you like. 
• Type the word THANKS out on the computer, (I did 350 pnt font at least)
• Print the words out onto white card stock (you could just print them onto the scrapbook paper, but that gives you less options when arranging and finishing it up)

• Cut each individual letter out
• Layout the frames in an order you like, rearranging til it looks good.
• Decide what scrap book paper you in each frame.
• Cut the scrapbook paper to fit frame.
• Lay out the paper and letters on top to see how it all looks






• Add leaves where ever you like them






• Glue in place ( I used hot glue for the leaves, because the glue stick wasn't working.  But I just used the glue stick for the letters)

Display somewhere that you will be reminded to give thanks!

 
"The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies;
but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and,
 as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find,
in every hour, some heavenly blessings!"

-Henry Ward Beecher

Thanksgiving Garland; Holiday Decor Ideas

Really exciting title huh?!?

I know I thought long and hard about that one, for all of about 2 seconds.  You can thank me for inspiring you with the title later.... Anyway.

Day 2: Thanksgiving Week

I am so thankful for my home.  What a wonderful gift and blessing to have a comfortable place to safely live.  I have a roof over my head that keeps me dry.  Walls that protect me from the crazy Texas wind!  Cats that run around my feet begging to be fed (all. day. long.)  I get to hear Cock-a-doodeling randomly throughout the day from my redneck farmy backyard and see my cute little chickens run to the back door for treats.   House plants that lose leaves and petals all over but, that cheer me up with a fresh sense of spring. A huge bathtub, that is like my own private spa. A refrigerator, freezer and pantry full of food, with a variety that most kings would have been jealous of.  I have great books to read, that teach me and take me all over the world in the comfort of my p.j.'s.  My own place to create.  Tons of music to rock out to, or relax with.   A dishwasher that actually cleans dishes, and a washer and dryer that cleans my clothes, so I don't have to do it all by hand, all. day. long.  And, a bed stocked high with a million pillows and soft sheets, that every night I thank heaven for.  What richness surrounds us daily that we don't even see.  I hope toady you take a second to reflect on the wonder it is to have a home to live in. 

On to the thanksgiving inspiration. 

Within my home I have two banisters.  It is fun to have them decked out for the holidays.  I had all sorts of spooky stuff for Halloween and when I took it down, it felt bare.

I wanted a fall inspired garland, but couldn't afford to buy one so I started to look around. 

Here is what I found, and how I used it

2 Bleach stained towels

2 Strands of white Christmas lights

Several scraps of fabric in different fall colors (about 1/2 a yard of about 6 colors, slightly more of some)

Masking tape

Fall leaf sprays (optional)

Scissors

A bit of time (and a lot of hulu shows later)

The inspiration for this idea is a window treatment my friend Kim did in her daughter's room.  The hard part was coming up with a bendable "bar" type string.  That is where the towel came in.  I cut some old towels into 1/3's length wise.  Then sewed them end to end, (although I realize now that I could have just masking taped them together for those of you without a sewing machine.) 

Step 1. I measured the banister and cut the (now sewn/taped together) towel piece to length.

Step 2 Then I rolled it up width wise, and secured the roll with masking tape.  See picture below:

Step 3.  Wrap lights around towel roll.  Make sure the lights work!!! Then divide the roll and string in half to help you get an even distribution of lights.  Secure with masking tape when necessary.

Step 4.  If you choose to have a leaf spray at the end tape that in place at both ends of garland now.

Step 5.  Take your fabric of choice and cut them into strips.  I cut mine into strips approximately 1/2" -1" wide and 10" to 15" inches long .

Then begin tying the fabric strips randomly onto the towel roll.  Until the towel is completely covered

Hang up where ever you would like.  And plug it in.  It is so festive and fun at night!  I love it!

Thanks for your blog friendship!

Well, I just wanted y'all to know how much I love hearing from you!  It is so fun to write theses blogs, and also a whole lotta work, but it makes it worth it when I get your comments and feed back so thank you!

I am going to continue the Holiday week posts that I started in October.  It is now Thanksgiving Week!  I hope you get some fun ideas, I've scoured the web for and wasted half my time making!! 

Also, I really hope that you all have something to be thankful for and not only spread that thankfulness but send those prayers of thanks to heaven.  We have a very loving Father in Heaven who I am sure would love to hear from each of us!

At this time of hardship for many, I feel we should be thankful for everything that we have been so blessed with.  (and if you can't think of anything to be thankful for, do as it says in The Secret, and say over and over, what you would like to be thankful for) 

 

So, today on this the first day of Thanksgiving week, I am thankful for my friends, neighbors, commenters, safe drivers, and those that smile or say nice things about my child to me in the grocery store.  You all make life so worth while.  I love it when I see strangers treat their children kindly and say nice things to them, it is so great to see that.  I love it when I get the chance to talk to a stranger about their adorable dog, whatever it is.  I think that people are generally good, and for that I am thankful and so in honor of the great people of the world here is a fun video, that I borrowed from my very wonderfully witty friend's blog, thanks Andrea:

Cover me lovely.

Are you ready for fabric overload??

Here are some of the fabric samples I have found.  I went to Joann's online and my new favorite fabric store online Warehouse Fabrics Inc.  (why new favorite? They both had a Robert Allen fabric that I like, Joann's price $49.99 a yard, gulp, Warehouse $10.98 a yard!!!! Uh, SCORE!)

Me looking through fabrics is like a kid in a candy shop with no parents in sight!  Luckily it didn't hurt my waistline, and hasn't yet made it to the pocketbook.

I haven't really begun to narrow them down.  Sorry there are so many, but it is fun to look anyway, right?

Joann's fabrics:

abc

def

Warehouse Fabrics Inc.

g.h.

i.j.

k.l.

m.n.

o.p.

q.r.

s.t.

u.v.

Okay, so I know there are a million. 

But if there are any that speak to you in particular, let me know!  Thanks

Wingback to me...

Justin and I found 2 wing back chairs last spring on craigslist for a great deal. 

We really like them, they are in good shape and very comfortable. 

But, I believe it is time to reupholster them. 

I searched for images of different ideas and I would love to hear which ones you like.

I would like something, funky and fun.  Justin wants it a little less ostentatious.

A.

B.

So, I would never do this (below) to a chair.

 But I like the cushion fabric or the back fabric.

C.

D. 

E. 

I like the prints on these three chairs, if you like, specify which one.

F. (which one?)

G.

H.

I.

J.

K.

L.

M.

O.

P.

Q.

Tell me your favorites, use the letter so we know which one you are talking about!  Thanks

Craftacious

Well, I think y'all know I like projects.  Did you know that I really like them?  I do, I do... It's true, so true.  No more rhymes I mean it!  (Anybody want a peanut?)

Well, for us crazy crafters, we need a space to work in, that can be closed amid the chaos of creation.  Luckily, for us we have an extra room that has become our crafting/sewing/exercise room.  I guess, it is our "basically anything I wanted to be able to lock away from young child invaders" room. 

More than that, I wanted to use what stuff I have.  I was so tired of buying more and not using what I have.  I decided I needed to see what I have in order to use it.  Then one day, I was flipping through a Scrap booking magazine, (sorry can't remember the month) and they had a great article about crafters spaces.  And it got my mind reeling with excitement.  And the organizing began.

I am not done.... STORY OF MY (design) LIFE.  But, I want to show you my very own crafting "store", in my very own house. 

We reused some old base boards for the frame, and the pegboard was only about 15.00.  I used the last of some paint from my old house and extra pegs from Justin's garage supply.  All together the project was $15.00, not bad.

What do you think?  (I am already excited about the new plans hatching in my head for our next house....) 

It is such a luxury to have this space, and I should be thankful, we are truly blessed!  Here is the sketch of the plan, and some of the other elements to come!

Before:  (tonight the part of Vanna White will be played by Justin!)

The only trick to this, if you want to do something like it,

 *REMEMBER* to put spacers under the peg board. 

We have a 1x2 around the outside edge, of the sheet and one or two in the middle. 

(under the peg board, so you can put the hooks in!!). 

Then we hung the peg board to the 1 x 2's, finally the frame was nailed on top.

 (you could put it together in the garage and then install it too!)

The creative junk treasures....

Beginning to hang it up!

We'll show you more as we finish. 

For now, I am totally happy with the way it has turned out! 

And I have been using what I have! Yeah!

You like?

Retro Remodel: part 1

I was thinking a while back that I wanted to show you a little of our remodel projects from our first house.  It was our little cottage of love!  Our realtor tried to talk us out of buying it cuz he thought it was too far gone.  Nevertheless, we moved in on our first anniversary, and then the sweat equity truly began.    It was a hundred year old house with great bones, and a lot of scary layers, but peeling them off was a fun exhausting, exasperating, dirty, project. 

Now, please don't judge me on our furniture, because technically we still have most of our college free furniture and the truth is I like most of it!   But also, I just wasn't focused on decorating, we were focused on building, and getting our bachelors degrees...

Also, with the retro remodel posts, you won't have too wait long between projects, (since we remodel at a snails pace 'round here!)

Without further adieu I have a few pics to get y'all excited and I promise the journey is just as fun as the final outcome.  I will try to get at least one Retro Remodel post up a week, so stay tuned!  (and while they are posting we will work on some new projects in our home to show you!)

p.s.  I am a little sad looking through these pics I miss our little house! 

p.s.s. (or is it p.p.s. either way)  We sold the house when we graduated, and got a job across the country, so a few projects weren't fully complete, I will point them out!

Before:

After:

I hope you stay tuned! 

Become a follower, if you want to see the rest (not to mention make me feel so cool!)

 I promise you will love the transformations!

Coconut Pecan Chicken Paillard

For those of you veteran Remodelaholic readers, you may remember our anniversary date to Simply Fondue. Four courses of heaven in a fondue pot!  One of the meats that we picked for the main course was a honey pecan chicken, people,- it. was. SOO. good.  Excuse me while I wipe the drool.  But the price tag is just not a thing I am willing to pay again.   So, a while back we tried to recreate it, but it just was not quite there.

Enter last night's dinner.  We had some friends over and thought we would try to recreate a pecan encrusted chicken.  When it hit me, like a bolt of lightening from Zeus, there should be coconut as well, and the heavens thundered and I knew it must be!   It was the perfect mix of richness and sweetness, with the roasted pecans and the slightly sweet coconut... Oh, la la!

I decided to make a paillard chicken, which sounds all cool and stuff be it really just means you pound the plucky out of the chicken til it is an equal thickness throughout, this both tenderizes the chicken and speeds up cooking time. 

Then you just dip the chicken in a few things and fry it up.  Yeah,.. I said fry, weekends really make my diet suffer.   But people it was worth it!  I am not kidding it is delish!  Also super easy and fast,...

Let me just warn you, don't heat up the oil before you are ready, I smoked up the whole house just in time for our friends to enjoy it!  We had to open all the windows and doors and lock up the cats!  But we lived and dinner was worth it.  Here you go!

(This is also a great fast week night recipe. You can make it in about 15 minutes flat.)

Coconut Pecan Crusted Chicken Paillard

Serves 4-6

Canola oil (for frying) .
1/2 c cornstarch .
approx.4 -5 chicken breasts, beaten to 3/8" thickness, cut into 3"x3" pieces .
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 c shredded sweetened finely chopped coconut .
2 large eggs, beaten ( you could just do egg whites, but I didn't really want to waste the yolks again...)

Directions

• Beat chicken to even thickness, (I place the breast in a freezer bag and seal it shut to while I am pounding it to keep it clean) Cut pounded breasts into smaller pieces, about 3"x 3"
• Pour cornstarch, shallow bowl; set aside.
• Beat eggs in medium sized mixing bowl; set aside
• Place coconut and pecans in bowl, mix thoroughly
• Dredge chicken in cornstarch mixture;
• Dip chicken in eggs,
• Then press chicken into coconut/pecan mixture on both sides, set aside on plate.
• Repeat dredging process with remaining chicken.
• Heat oil in heavy skillet (oil should be about 11/8" to 1/4" inch deep - add more oil if needed)
• Add chicken to the hot oil in batches.
• Fry until cooked through, about 2 to 3 mins per side.
• Place on paper towel covered plate to drain serve immediately

Being Watched...

Do you ever get that feeling, like you are being watched? 

Strange enough, we feel that way all the time!