Home-Related Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!!  

 

First off, thank you to all of my dedicated readers who continue to read my home endeavors, despite the fact that I am inconsistent. 

 

I appreciate each and every one of you.

 

I hope you all have a warm, relaxing holiday filled with delicious food and loving family and friends.

 

I made a little video for you!

 

Enjoy!!

 

 

 

Thankful to Have a Thanksgiving Mantel

I knew what my Thanksgiving mantel would look like months ago.  I am a Pinterest addict, as I mentioned before.   I was inspired when I came across this photo on Pinterest and I knew I was going to hijack this idea with the old brown beer bottles.

 

                                                                                          Source: whipperberry.com via Shanon on Pinterest

 

I just thought it was the most adorable Fall mantel.  

 

One Sunday afternoon in the middle of a rain storm, Jason and I decided it would be a good idea to schlep around an OUTSIDE flea market.  We were only there for less than ten minutes because we quickly realized how foolish it was to drag our one year old around in a downpour.

 

But in those ten minutes, I found exactly what I was looking for:  a big box of old brown beer bottles.  I only needed six bottles to pull off the look I found on Pinterest.  The woman who was selling them was just trying to unload her stuff so she cut me a deal:  an enormous box of a variety of bottles for $5. 

 

So this weekend, I pulled out those old bottles, cleaned them off and printed out the word "Thankful" on my Silhouette. 

 

After I put the letters on the bottles, I put a wheat stalk in each bottle.

 

 

 

 

I filled a basket with pinecones and placed it on some world atlas books that were left in our house when we bought it.

 

 

 

 

 

On the other side of the mantel, I used the pumpkin Jason made me for Halloween and put some gourds up there with it to hide the plate we placed beneath it in case it begins to rot

 

SIDENOTE:

(As lovers of all things Fall, we keep pumpkins as long as we possibly can in our house.  Once, when I first met Jason, he bought me an enormous pumpkin and placed it in my living room.  This thing was gigantic - I don't think I could have even moved it if I tried.  I developed a sort of attachment to it because I loved that he bought me a pumpkin! A lot of guys buy their girlfriends flowers or jewelry but this guy bought me a PUMPKIN and I loved every bit of it. 

 

Needless to say, the pumpkin became a permanent decoration in my house . . . well into Spring, until one day Jason picked it up to discover a thick goo leaking out of it!  Ew. That's gross . . . so now we keep plates underneath just in case we keep the pumpkin longer than we should!)

 

 

You wonder why I'm not consistent with blogging?  Maybe because I tell a million stories and my posts always ramble on . .. I just can't help it.

 

Anyway, so I placed a pumpkin and some gourds on the left hand side of the mantel. 

 

 

You might remember, this pumpkin that Jason painted for me for Halloween this year.  I just turned that "31" around to the back so no one would see it. You can also see the plate that is underneath it in case it decides to leak goo.

 

 

 

I put an old window behind everything for a backdrop and there you have it, my Thanksgiving mantel.

 

 

Do you think it's HGTV worthy?  Am I famous yet?

 

 

Butternut Squash Pumpkin Soup Yummo

 

I got a little talkin' to from my sister last week on how she thinks I should blog more.

 

I don't know if I've ever shared how much I look up to my sister with you before but if I haven't, I should have.

 

Here's the most recent photo I have of Dee, me and Noah.  I'll have to get some pictures of me and Dee when she's up for Thanksgiving in just a few short days (I can't wait).  For the record, we're not always all fancied up when we see each other.

 

We're usually all scummed out in our sweatpants lounging around, which is why we never let anyone take our pictures.

 

In this picture, we were going to a wedding.

 

 

 

 

 

My sister Dee (some say Deej but no one who knows her well calls her by her birth-given name, Diane) is four years older than me; she is my only sibling.

 

My whole life she's been right about just about everything.

 

From the boys I used to date whom she said were dorks (they were)

 to the black lacquer furniture I used to decorate my first apartment that she told me had to go

to how my fashion follows hers five years later . . .

 

So when Dee tells me to do something, I listen.

 

So last week she said I should blog more - even if it's about something small, like a recipe.

 

I could get into all of the excuses on why I don't blog more frequently

 

like how I have two kids who suck up a lot of my time

 

or how I have a stay at home husband who needs a break from all of the home-related stuff

 

or how my company went through a round of job cuts last week and I was stressed out (I kept my job)

 

or how my computer is ancient and makes blogging a giant pain in the tush.

 

 

 

But the truth is, I LOVE to write

 

I love to blog

 

and I love to share my life with all of you

 

(and I hate when my sister proves me wrong).

 

Oh and this little blog was just featured on HGTV's website! 

 

Yup, you read that right.  My winter mantel was featured last week.  If you head over to HGTV (But don't leave this web page until you see what I've got for you)  and click on their winter mantels, my mantel was on slide 16. 

 

Imani wants to know if that means I'm famous . . .

 

 

Anyway, I decided to ease back into this blog thing by giving you a little recipe for Thanksgiving.

 

But first, I need to let you know we didn't dress up this year for Halloween!!  Can you believe it?  It's the first year we haven't dressed up in a long time.

 

Imani choose to be Darth Vader this year simply so that she could dress her little brother as Yoda. I think it was the first time EVER that I purchased costumes and didn't make them myself.

 

Although I was a little sad about these costumes, I gotta say, those moms who drive to Tarjay and swipe their credit cards to get their kid's costumes are onto something good.  This was the easiest Halloween 'evah! 

 

 

Imani had fun as Darth Vader and Noah did make a cute little Yoda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now onto that recipe.  This weekend, I made one of my favorite things to make, SOUP.

 

I love soup so much - I could live on it.  My family . . . not so much.  They all like to have more of a "main course" so I usually end up serving it before dinner.

 

I love soup so much that my sister Dee bought me and Jason a Cuisinart Soup maker for Christmas last year.

 

I'm not really into kitchen gadgets but that soup cooker is one of the best things going.

 

It heats up so you can sautee in it before adding other ingredients. Once all of the ingredients are added, you can turn on the blender portion of the machine and blend everything together to make soup.  Then you just set the timer for how long you want it to cook.

 

It's a little piece of amazing.

 

Here it is if you want to get it for some soup lover like me for Christmas. 

 

 

 

 

It's a bit pricey though - listed as $270 online. I found one on Amazon for $122.36 if you are interested click here.

(I am not receiving anything for this post - this is truly just a gadget I love!)

 

 

 

I only wish it were bigger because I like to make BIG pots of soup.

 

 

Anyway - on to the recipe.

 

Since it's Fall, I've been trying to eat as much squash as possible. I love it and both of my children hate it.  While most moms might be upset that their kids don't like a vegetable, I'm secretly happy because that means more squash for me.

 

shhh. . . don't tell them because I'm forever ACTING like I want them to eat it.

 

Naturally, since I love squash and I love soup, I figured I'd experiment with a butternut squash soup recipe.

 

This one's a keeper. 

 

First off, it's super healthy because there isn't any cream in this soup.

 

It has a rich Fall flavor of butternut squash with a hint of pumpkin.

 

 

 

Butternut Squash Pumpkin Yummo

 

 

 

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into one inch cubes (I started with a 2-3 pound squash)

 

2 tablespoons of butter

 

1 medium onion, chopped

 

1 clove of garlic - chopped

 

4 cups of chicken stock

 

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

 

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

 

salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

 

1. Heat butter in a large pot

2.  Sautee onions until translucent

3. Add the chopped garlic and sautee for a minute more

4. Add the squash cubes and chicken stock

5. Bring to a boil

6. When squash becomes soft, dump into a blender

7. Add pumpkin puree, nutmeg and salt and pepper

8. Puree soup

 

9. Serve with a large salad and warm bread (the bread in the picture is homemade . . . I am OBSESSED with this recipe for homemade bread. It's super EASY and delicious.   I discovered it a few weeks ago.  No need to knead this bread - you make the dough on the weekends, throw it in the fridge and make fresh bread in less than five minutes whenever you want it over the course of the next TWO weeks. )

 

I told you it was easy.

 

Apparently, there are additional books out on different versions of this bread.  You can bet those books are going on my Christmas list.

 

If you try the soup, let me know what you think.  I was thinking it might be good to put applesauce in it too!

 

Enjoy!