Happy Thanksgiving!

In my own humble opinion, this pumpkin pie looks good enough to eat – but you might notice the hardware that’d make it a tad hard to swallow! That’s because this isn’t real pumpkin pie….they are charms made of polymer clay!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - anyone who calls my house on TG gets a turkey greeting (I have a mean gobble, thank you very much)!

Anyhoo - I made a bunch of these for some of the ladies in my life that I not only adore, but get to see at Thanksgiving time. I love working with polymer clay – and being the food addict that I am, my favorite thing to make with the clay is…food ;-)

I made the tiny pies then made wire loops and inserted them into the back crust. Once they were baked, I attached a ring and strung the charms onto black cord necklaces.

Because I didn’t want the recipients to wear the necklace only a few days, I also made Christmas charms - not all food…

....and let each wonderful woman...
...pick the one they wanted most.

This first batch of charms were given this past weekend……then I went home and went kinda charm nutty and made……

…all of these! Somehow my hands worked liked the wind and I busted all of them out in a couple of hours.

I’m not sure which one is my fave…the hubs likes the presents the best. I really like the ‘Christmas Pudding’ though and the poinsettia ;-) I think my big sis will snag one of the Christmas Lights charms but what anyone else will pick is…well…anyone’s guess!

I had all the stuff on hand to make all of these charms, but should you choose to do some yourself, it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Watch for coupons to your local Michael’s, Joann’s or other craft store and you can save big!

With that I’ll wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving ;-) Here’s hoping you don’t get too full and that you make warm family memories to take you into this joyous holiday season!

By the way - to all my family and friends...I love all of you! I am so lucky to have you in my life. All of you are what I'm thankful for every day of the year.

World's Best, Loaded, Baked Potato Soup!

I went to Heaven twice this past weekend. The first time was when my sister and I made this most delicious, loaded, baked potato soup. The second time - was when I made the soup again the next day! I'd sent a bunch home with my big sis since we'd cooked it up together - it's so much more fun to share the wealth ;-) But by the time my husband put clams and a handful of bay shrimp in his half of what was left, and my daughter and I had a bowl each - it was gone! And I have to tell you....this soup is SO freaking amazing I had no choice but to make it again.
Not only is this soup PERFECT when made to the letter of the recipe below - but I believe it could very well be the grand base for a million other soups (*note- the original recipe calls for whole milk - the first go-'round we used 2% as I never buy whole milk and it was PLENTY thick. Round two, I used skim as that's what I always buy and it was a thick and velvety as the first batch - trust me). I'd first halve the amount of potatoes in it and I'd probably dice them whereas in the original recipe, you simply put the scooped out chunks tater of any size right into the pot. Depending on what other ingredients I'd add, I also might use my immersion blender to make the soup silky smooth with tates rather than chunky at all. BUT...think of the varieties of soups you could make just by tossing in your favorite ingredients! Like I said, the hubs threw in a can of clams and a small handful of bay shrimp to create Slumgullion - but what I wanna try is a bag of frozen super sweet corn and a can or two of green chilies! But what about leftover ham, or sweet or spicy sausage? Maybe roasted garlic cloves or roasted peppers and onions - Holy Moly the list is endless...ENDLESS I'M TELLING YOU! Besides the fact that I adore this soup 'as is', it may be my my newest fave recipe only because it's SO versatile and I can make it the way I want it when the moods strikes me..whatever my mood might be! If I've ever wanted you to try ANYthing on this site before...this is THE one thing I beg you to cook up. It's super easy, really fast and insanely good!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:
9 baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups skim milk (can use 2% or whole as well)
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup bacon bits
4 green onions, chopped
10 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
1, (8 ounce) container sour cream

Directions:
Prick potatoes with a fork and cook in the microwave until soft baked (you can do this step ahead of time if you choose). Scoop out the baked potato flesh into bowl. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly till mixture bubbles, then cook a minute more to dispel a flat 'flour taste'. Whisk in milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly (will be very thick when first few additions of milk are whisked in - just keep whisking and adding in all milk). Stir until this mixture begins to thicken - about 5 minutes. Add in potatoes, salt, pepper, bacon bits, green onions and the cheese. Stir to incorporate. Add in sour cream and heat through. Serve topped with additional bacon, onions and cheese if desired.

Arriba! Mexican Shredded Beef!

You know when you buy a piece of meat on sale and you maybe cut it in half and freeze one-a the halves for later use? Can’t it be so easy to forget about that frozen hunk-a meat?! When we recently bought a rather large pot roast on sale, I vowed that when placed half in a freezer bag that I would not let it go to waste. And this past Sunday, we cooked up that wonder cut of beef and made it into the most succulent, delicious Mexican, shredded beef I’ve ever had. Shredded beef is a great change-up for tacos and nachos, etc. We use many different proteins in our Mexican, hamburger, ground turkey, chicken…but this was SO dang good and we’d always wanted to try it. Besides…after my daughter announced, the last time we had actual pot roast dinner – that she didn’t like pot roast – I knew we had to try something different with it….and you know what? She liked it! Ha!

All you have to do is make up the rub, poke garlic into the meat and toss it all in a crock pot with onions and peppers and leave it for 7 hours. I’m telling you it could not be any simpler! Totally give this a try – you will be glad you did J Yum, yum, yum!

Start by poking a few slits into the roast and filling each one with a peeled clove of garlic….
Spoon all of the rub ingredients into a bowl and mix’em up good – then rub’m all over the meat. Next, slice up the two jalapenos, onion and green pepper... Massage both sides of the roast with the rub, put it in the crock pot, cover with the peppers ands onions and pour in the liquid. It’ll seem like a very small amount if liquid, but trust me….this pot’ll brew up plenty of wonderful ‘juice’!

Cover the pot and go about your busy day for approx 7 hours for a 3 ½ pound roast.

Once it’s done, slap that chunk-a beauty meat down on a cutting board. Trust me, you’ll only need to use a fork to ‘smash’ through the meat as it be practically falling apart on itself – Note…remove any fat and all other ‘oogeys’ as you go! No one wants to bite into a blobbity! Leave the garlic cloves whole...smash through them or remove them – you’re choice. We left them whole – see – there’s one at about 9 o’clock!
Return meat to flavorful, brothy liquid until ready to serve. Depending on what you’re gonna do with it, you may choose to strain the meat (save the broth!) or simply let it drain of into the pot as you use tongs to remove servings of the tender, beef.
Now that your meat is done, you can use it in any way you choose..but here's what we did. We heated up some pinto beans (not refried beans...the whole ones are better here – and placed a few beans and some of the beef on a warmed small corn or flour tortilla.
Then dressed with a little lettuce, cilantro, tomatoes - (and some cheese if you choose) – all that was left to do then was to dig into juicy, beefy heaven!

Mexican Shredded Beef

Ingredients:
3 ½ to 4 pound pot roast
6 cloves garlic – peeled
1 tablespoon paprika (or smoked paprika)
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 large onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 jalapeno chili peppers, seeded & sliced
4 fluid ounces beer (can sub beef broth or cola)
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoons liquid smoke flavoring
1 can rotelle tomatoes with chilies and cilantro
1 can green salsa verde

Directions:
Poke as many holes in roast as garlic cloves you have, and push a clove into each hole. Combine all spices in a bowl, mix together and rub all over both sides of meat and place roast in crock pot. Slice onion and peppers and scatter over roast in pot. Combine all liquid/wet ingredients (last 5 ingredients) and pour over veggies & meat in pot. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low setting for 7 hours. Remove meat to cutting board or platter and shred with a fork. Return meat to liquid in pot and keep warm until ready to use. If not using right away, you can keep meat in it’s liquid in the fridge. A thin, top layer of fat will form on top once chilled in refrigerator. Once ready to reheat, you may choose to discard this or you can mix it back in as mixture reheats.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Do any of the following weather conditions apply to where you are right now?

Cold
Dreary
Gray
Rainy
Foggy
Nippy
Pleasantly sunny with a fall bite in the air

If so, you NEED to make this creamy white chicken chili! It is one of my all tie favorite dishes and I can hardly believe I’ve never featured it here before. I can also hardy believe I don’t have a better picture of it! Crap! While it looks rather washed out above, this chili if FULL of flavor with green chilies, tender chicken, creamy white beans and silky ‘broth’. It is a winner - especially in the winter – but it’s great ANY day.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into ½ inch pieces
1 medium chopped onion
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 T vegetable oil
3 cans (15 ½ oz each) great northern white beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chicken broth
2 cans (those small cans) chopped green chilies
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp pepper’1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
½ cup whipping cream (can use half-n-half)

Directions:
In large skillet, sauté chicken, onion and garlic in vegetable oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat**. Stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Heat through. Serve immediately.