Yummy Fall Recipe

I made a yummy, Fall, comfort food last night. It is a twist on chicken pot pie and very easy. It came out of the Kraft Food & Family magazine. Visit their website to sign up for a free subscription. I love getting magazines in the mail and this one is even better because it is FREE!
Chicken and Biscuits
Prep Time:15 min Total Time:50 min Makes:6 servings (I don't think this would feed 6 people! Ty and I ate half of the dish so maybe 4 people. But note to my momsy--the 4 people does not include Derek, my little bro. He ate 3 sandwiches at my house on Saturday. What a fatty! Just kidding--the kid is really skinny!)

INGREDIENTS
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup 3/4 cup Sour Cream, divided 2 cups chopped cooked chicken 1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed 1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese 3 Tbsp. milk 1 cup all-purpose baking mix

DIRECTIONS

HEAT oven to 375ºF. Mix soup and 1/2 cup sour cream in 8-inch square baking dish. Stir in chicken, vegetables and cheese. STIR milk and remaining sour cream into baking mix. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls into 6 mounds on top of chicken mixture. BAKE 35 min. or until biscuit topping is golden brown and chicken mixture is hot and bubbly.

The above directions came straight out of the magazine. I, of course, made some changes. I only added veggies to half of my pan because I am ridiculously picky. I bought a can of biscuits and plopped them on there instead of making my own. I also cooked the mixture for about 8 minutes before adding the biscuits. In my oven it did not need to cook the whole 35 minutes. The dish was in there for maybe 25 minutes. You do have to be careful with the biscuits. They might look done but it takes a while to cook the bottoms of them since they are sitting on top of the mixture.

ENJOY!

Cutie Patootie

I want you all to know that I googled cutie patootie to check on the spelling and this is what came up--just in case you were wondering...
Now, check out my little cutie patootie nephew. He had a football game Saturday morning that was only 30 minutes away from where I live, so I had to go watch him. (He lives about 1.5 hours from me.) My parents, sister and brother came to stay with me Friday night and then we all drove to Gage's game together. His game was at 8 a.m.!! This means those poor little 6 year olds and their parents had to leave Miami around 6:15 in the morning. They have to be there 45 minutes before the game starts. That is SO early!
All the boys looked so cute and tiny in their pads and helmets. It was adorable! After his game, we all headed to a nearby town to an amish bakery. I picked up a loaf of white bread, banana nut bread and some fudge. Yummy, Yummy!

My weekend was full of family events. My parents and siblings were with us Friday night and most of Saturday. My dad, brother and I took Nuts and Daisy (my bro's dog) to the Bark Park Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, Ty's brother Trace and his wife Sarah went to church with us. They were in town, because Sarah is from here and had a baby shower later that afternoon. They had a really nice shower and got some great gifts. It was a good weekend that ended with the return of my t.v. shows!! Yay for National Stay at Home Week!

Oh, I got a promotional e-mail from Sephora for free shipping on $25. You normally have to spend $50 to get the free shipping. I will not be using it because we finally got a Sephora here in T-Town so I no longer have to shop online. The code is COMEBACK. That's right they sent me the code to get me to come back, apparently I was a big customer for a while! hehe!

Check out the GlamLifeHousewife for a great breast cancer awareness giveaway--its all PINK! One of her good friends from college and one of my blog friends has breast cancer. Lindsey is only 25 and just got married this past summer. What a way to start your life as newlyweds. She is having surgery tomorrow so please keep her in your prayers.

Estimation Skills

I have a problem estimating the size of items. If you asked me to hold up my fingers to indicate how big an inch is I probably wouldn't even get close. Let me show you just how bad this problem is....I ordered some envelopes for our office. I needed them to be slightly bigger than the white one pictured below. I looked through the catalog and chose a size that I thought would fit what I was looking for. This is what I ended up with!

My boss says to me the other day that we need to order a new dolly to carry our materials to recruitment events. So, I decide that I need a flat cart and not a dolly. I also have issues with steering and my stuff always falls off of dollies, but that could be a whole other post. I browse through our handy office supply catalog and order a cart with the help of a co-worker. I know that this cart is a little bigger than I want but it is all I could find. It came in Wednesday afternoon and it is about the size that I pictured but it is ridiculously heavy! The wheels are huge and probably the heaviest part of the cart. I am estimating that they weigh about 5 lbs. each, but we all know how trustworthy my estimation skills are! The cart is currently in the trunk of my work car, so I do not have a picture.
Yesterday, I travelled to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville for a career fair. The fair was held in their union which does not have any parking around it. The career services dept. had all the recruiters park in a parking lot about 6 blocks away. They had a really nice shuttle for us to ride in and a van to haul all of our stuff. I finally get to the place where the career fair is being held (it was quite the journey) and I am wheeling my humongous cart in to the room. I can tell other recruiters are jealous of the ease of the way this cart maneuvers. I am getting closer to my table when a wheel pops off!! I was SO embarrassed! It just up and died on me!

I had to go hunt down someone that knew where a wrench was and get them to fix it for me. I lost 2 screws, but the guy said it should be fine with only 2. I was just hoping it would make it back to the car! I left the fair about 30 minutes early. The shuttle was not scheduled to pick any one up until right when the fair ended. I decided that I could make the walk. After all I was used to walking around a college campus and a little exercise couldn't hurt. I start on my walk back to the parking garage pushing my cart. The sidewalks have huge cracks in them and I am just praying that my wheel stays in place! I did not realize how many hills were on this campus--I'm talking huge hills. I start to go down a street and realize that it is straight down hill and there are a bunch of students milling around. I realized that I could NOT go down that street. If I did I would lose control of my cart and there would be a big crash. I decided to go up another block and then back over. I got lucky and the next street was not as steep and was void of people. I finally made it back to the parking garage only after having 2 items fall off of my cart down the hill. It was quite the adventure!

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. A lady in my office was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year. She was out of the office from February until September. It has been great to have her back in the office. She had a double masectomy, chemo and is now going through radiation. She is always so happy and caring. Her office is beside mine so I really missed her when she was out. Our office is partnering with one of our student clubs, The American Medical Women's Association to promote breast cancer awareness during October.
I love Rosanna dishes. She is selling dishes to promote breast cancer awareness and a portion of the proceeds will go to breast cancer research. I. am. in. LOVE. I want them--no, I need them! hehe!

Rosanna held a table setting contest on her blog: http://rosannainc.blogspot.com/2008/09/rosannas-second-annual-tablesetting.html

I, of course, loved them all! Here are some of my favorites. There were several more that I didn't put on here. I wish I could set a table like this every night!

My sister-in-law posted this on her blog yesterday. I thought it was so cute, so I had to share:

As we were driving home from school yesterday, Lillian and I were discussing various vehicles we saw on the road. Out of nowhere she said, "Aunt Lindsey said no minivans for her!" So, Sweet Simplicity, your words made a BIG impression on Lillian!

Fall

Since Monday was the first official day of Fall I decided to decorate. I love all the different shades of reds and oranges. They are so bright and vibrant.

I have seen so many people decorating with white pumpkins. I found these cream ones at Food Pyramid. I just couldn't resist them!

I loved the colors of the berries on these twigs.

Great Fall centerpiece:

I got this from my swap buddy. You can put a tealight in the back to make the pumpkins glow.

I love this little guy!

I can't wait for the trees to start changing colors! I want to visit a pumpkin patch and a corn maze soon. Hopefully, we can go to one next weekend! Happy Fall!

Camping

Ty and I haven't seen each other much these past two weeks. I have been travelling for work and he had a HUGE Pathology test yesterday so he has been studying even more than usual. Last night, he actually took the night off! Ok, so he did look over a few things, but I will take what I can get! I have also decided that post-test night is so much better than any date night could ever be. He was actually very relaxed last night.
Our air conditioning went out late Saturday night. Luckily, it has been just cool enough for us to survive. My dad is coming up this weekend and thinks he might be able to fix it, but I don't think we can survive that long. So I will be making some phone calls today to have someone repair it.
Ty is always wanting to go camping. I am not much of a camping kind of girl, but last night I actually suggested that we camp in the back yard. It was much cooler outside than inside.
We laid down a tarp and several quilts. A tarp is absolutely necessary in this part of the state. We accumulate a TON of dew.
It was so much fun! I think we both knew that we weren't really going to be able to sleep out there but it was fun for about 30 minutes!

This is a typical Ty picture. The guy can NOT keep his eyes open for the camera. He says the flash is too bright. What a baby!! I kept making him try again--Not one picture does he have his eyes open. I laughed the whole time we were out there, hence the red face!

Nuts was trying to sneak under the covers.

We had a bet going to see who would go in first. For some reason we bet our cars. I technically lost. He got up to go in the house first, but tricked me into walking through the door first. And since I said whoever went in first, I lost. What a trickster!

Head over to this blog to enter a great giveaway! Kara and I have so much in common. I'm glad I found her blog: http://mrsdirnberger.blogspot.com/

Sleeping Beauty

Ah, vintage pillow cases...I heart them! I stole this pillowcase from my parents house about a month ago. (Really, I literally stole it. My mom wouldn't let me take home this great, green bowl set that belonged to my great grandma, so I stole this pillow case instead. I found it just laying in the laundry room practically begging me to take it home!)
This pillow case belonged to my great grandma. I am sleeping on it right now. Well, not right now but you know what I mean!

My Nanny gave me these gorgeous white pillow cases (2). She received them at her bridal shower over 53 years ago. They have never been used. She said they were too pretty to let my Papa put his head on them! :) I probably won't let Ty sleep on them either. Oh, and they were starched and ironed to the extreme!

This pillow case is the softest piece of fabric I have ever touched. It must have been washed a million times. It is getting a little threadbare and my Nanny was going to throw it away. I saved it from the trash can.

Babies on the Brain

Don't get too excited Momsy! I am attending several baby showers this month so I have been shopping off of registries. My Nanny also showed me several baby things that she has in her cedar chest. She kept a lot of stuff from her baby shower from when she was pregnant with my Dad in 1957.

She had a bar of Dial soap in her cedar chest. I thought that was funny and I had to have a picture of it. This is a baby card from one of her showers.

It was hard to get a good picture of these adorable baby clothes from the late 50s. They were all ironed and pressed to the max. Apparently you ironed everything back then! I wish all the details of these outfits showed up. They were so cute!

My Nanny just knew that my dad was going to be a girl. She made this quilt for him. She told me that she would cover him up with it sometimes!

She embroidered all these squares...so sweet! She told me that whoever had a girl first out of me and my sister could have this for our daughter. (LeAnn and I are the only granddaughters.) Of course I took a picture of the only square with a stain! Oops!

My Nanny also made lots of little girls clothes for my poor dad! This is the most precious gown. It has little pink roses all over it. I took a pic of the back of the gown.

**Has anyone else been on Facebook lately?? I am lucky if I check it once a week. There is a strange hacker/virus going around. I had 2 wall posts from friends from college telling me I had been mentioned on a blog and that someone thought I was cute to find out where/whom click here. Do not click on them! Delete the posts so that no one else clicks on them. I also got paranoid and changed my password--not sure if this helps or not...***

tablecloths and tea towels

My Nanny gave me all these great, vintage tablecloths from the 1950s. I am in LOVE with them all! She was so sweet to give them to me! I think she was very shocked to learn that all of this stuff was back in style and that I had bought a tablecloth at an antique store very similar to the ones that she had sitting in her cedar chest.

This is the tablecloth that I bought at an antique store in Guthrie.

All the rest were given to me by my Nanny. I need to buy a square table for them to fit on! Do you think I can talk the hubbers into that?!?

I think this is my favorite one because it is pink! Don't worry, when I actually use them I will iron out the wrinkles.

Wouldn't this be great for a cookout?

Tea Towels

Who Knew?

That my nanny (my dad's mom) had all these great vintage finds tucked away in her cedar chest! I posted a couple of weeks ago about a tablecloth that I fell in love with at an antique store. I talked to my nanny a few days after that post and she told me that she had a bunch of old tablecloths similar to the one that I had bought tucked away in her cedar chest.

I was travelling for work on Tuesday to Springfield, MO. On my way home today I stopped by to see my nanny. She made me scrambled eggs and toast. She makes the best scrambled eggs ever! Seriously, they are amazing! I used to request them all the time.

As we went through her cedar chest she told me stories about every piece. She had tablecloths and pillowcases from her bridal shower, her veil, baby clothes, a vintage clutch, even an old Halloween costume that she had made for my uncle. Just in case you are wondering it was a Robin costume, as in Batman and Robin. She made a shirt, gloves, even a cute little green mask! It was adorable. I will be sharing all the great things that she has accumulated over the years over the next couple of days. I have a lot of pictures to share and I don't want to upload a million at a time. (That's right I said a million even though it is more like 10.)

My grandparents on their wedding day.

I bought these gloveables for her! My parents were still staying with her after my papa's funeral when she received them in the mail. I made my mom take a picture and send it to me so I could see them on her! Aren't they the cutest gloves ever!?!

My nanny is the ultimate Suzy Homemaker and she loves the color pink. I think that she is where all my girliness comes from!

Basil Pesto Rounds

These go great with spaghetti! They are so easy and delish! I used to make these for Chesley when we lived in the apartments. She came over a couple of weeks ago and MADE me make a piece of toast with the basil pesto mixture on top! She is so bossy! Just kidding!



That is the great thing about this--you can make it for a lot of people or for just two. If I am making it for me and the husby I just use a regular spoon and do 2 spoonfuls of mayo to one spoonful of pesto. Then I just sprinkle in some garlic cloves (I buy the bottle of minced garlic from the spice aisle) and more than a few sprinkles of parmesan cheese. I really like the tub of grated parmesan cheese. It looks like thin flakes of cheese, but grocery store only had shredded the last time I was there. I use this stuff on everything, so it is something that I always try to have in my refrigerator.

INGREDIENTS
1 (1 pound) loaf French baguette
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup basil pesto
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven on broiler setting. Arrange bread slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Place under broiler for 5 to 8 minutes, or until lightly toasted on one side. Watch carefully to ensure they don't burn. Remove from oven, and flip bread slices so that the toasted side is on the bottom.

Set the oven temperature for 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, pesto, garlic, Parmesan and salt. Spread evenly over untoasted sides of bread slices.
Bake in the preheated oven for 6 to 8 minutes. Set the oven to broil, and place the rounds under the broiler just until they begin to bubble and turn golden. Let cool slightly before serving.

Confession time--I do not know how to broil anything. I don't know why this confuses me! I have seen my mom do it, but I never paid very much attention to it. I need to just call her and ask her how to do it. Momsy--help me out here!
So instead of broiling the bread I just preheat my oven to 350 degrees and toast one side of the bread. Then I take it out of the oven, flip it over, spread the mixture on it and stick it back in the oven for a few minutes.

ENJOY!

Game Day

I loved college life! I graduated in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in Public Relations. Any chance that I have to go back to my college town I jump on it. I have so many great memories from there: I was president of my sorority, Ty proposed on campus and we got married on campus, and I met my bestest friends there! So you can see what a special place it is!
The past two weekends have been home football games. Ty and I were given tickets two weekends ago from a co-worker. They were great seats--Thanks, Amanda! I work for my college's medical school. (The medical school is located an hour away from my college town.) The medical school has a suite at the football staduim. Each year we are lucky enough to be given tickets to one game to use as a recruiting event. We always take a few medical students and then invite prospective students to attend. It is SO much fun! Ty has gone with me the past two years. They serve you lunch/dinner depending on the game time. We had the options of a mexican bar or prime rib. In addition to the dinner there's concession stand food. I always stuff myself! I had chips and salsa, a pretzel with salt, and shake's icecream. We also had a fruit and veggie tray and a cheese and cracker tray in our suite. I'm so glad we had the suite for this game. It rained on and off all day Saturday due to Hurrican Ike making its way mainland. It was so nice to be dry up in the suite.

Sept. 6th Game Day

New part of the stadium...it looks so good! (Sept. 6th game)

Ty and I in the suite! (I had to lighten the picture so you could see us. It was really bright outside, which made us really dark.)

Ty and his first year (medical student) mentee, Phillip. All first year medical students are assigned a 2nd year medical student mentor. (Ty likes to make all the pictures I take look really akward. Why do boys do that!?!)

Singing the alma mater after the big win!

It was a great weekend! I spent Sunday cooking up a storm. I made a billion chocolate chip cookies for Ty to enjoy this week. (I will be travelling all week, so he needs some snacks.) I had a baby shower to go to Sunday evening. I made a fruit tray for it so I really was in the kitchen all day Sunday in between all of that plus lunch and dinner! I didn't mind too much! I hadn't been able to cook any last week because of my travel schedule. Have I mentioned how I can't wait for September to be over?!? Too much travelling! I can't complain too much though, I do have a great job. It is just going to be a busy month!

Nephews are the Bestest!

My sis-in-law just found out that she is having another boy! I am so excited! I have had so much fun with my nephew, Gage, so I am looking forward to another one! Gage is 6 years old. He is playing football and showing a calf. I can't wait to go to one of his games. I bet it is the cutest thing ever! My parents went to one a couple of weeks ago and had all kinds of stories about it. I don't have any current pictures of Gage on my work computer. The only reason I have these is because I have an old flash drive up here.

We were playing hide and go seek and I found him. He was 2.

Please ignore my squinty eyes! Isn't he the cutest little boy ever!?! Check out his bubble gum!

He loves dressing up in Halloween costumes. This picture was taken in September. I took him to Wal-Mart to pick out a toy and he picked out a costume instead--a ninja costume. We went down to the park later that afternoon. I tried to get him to change out of his costume, but no! In my state it is still really, really hot in September. So he wore his all black ninja costume with a hood to the park! We were at my grandma's house that weekend. When we were little my grandpa would get out these scary masks and jump out and scare us. My mom went searching for them to scare Gage. He was terrified of them! He didn't mind putting one on but he did not want to get close to me if I had one on. I had to hold him in place to get him to stand close enough to take a picture with me.

We have the best times together! And I can't wait for his baby brother to join us! Melinda isn't due until February so I have a long wait!

Have you all noticed the newest blogger option from google? You can choose to be a "follower" of someone's blog and your profile pic will appear on their blog. I have added it in my sidebar, so if you read my blog click to become a "follower". Does that sound kind of cult like?? Hmm, maybe I need to change it from the default name to something else....

Busy Little Bee

I am a busy little bee this week! I have/will be travelling every day this week except for Friday. But I will also be travelling on Saturday. (Although Saturday's trip is to host a football suite at my alumni's football game to recruit students to come to medical school. Did I mention that I have a great job?!?)

I am feeling very worn out from all this travelling and it is only September 10. My whole month of September will be like this. Crazy, Crazy!

The weather here is amazing--it is all nice and cool. Its never this way in early September. It is making me want to decorate for Fall. Have you already decorated for the Fall?

I love seeing pictures of other people's decor. I ran across this post yesterday and I love how she is displaying her pumpkins. Send me a link to your Fall decor post! I would love to see your ideas!

If the cool(er) weather hasn't put you in the mood to decorate for the Fall maybe this giveaway on Restyled Home will help. She is giving away 10 hardcover copies of this magazine. Visit Matthew's website for some great ideas:http://www.matthewmeadstyle.com/index.php?option=com_flippingbook&Itemid=142 You can purchase this magazine at newstands across the U.S. and Canada if you do not win.