Pinterest Style Adorable Pumpkin Fall Cheese Ball



Hello, everybody!!  I know most of you (it seemed like the ENTIRE WORLD) were off playing at the ACFW conference but I've been home.... writing and cooking and writing and cooking.

 

 

 

OK, that's not really accurate. I've been writing and eating and writing and eating. Either way, there's been a lot of writing. But in between those times of writing (and eating) I've been hanging with the fam.

My husband made an awesome fire pit. We saw a few for sale. We saw some nice ideas on Pinterest. But in the end, he broke apart an old BBQ grill and dropped it into a hole. (The hole was prepared with rocks, like we saw on a tutorial) And then he placed slabs of broken concrete around it that were leftover from when he tore up the old patio when we were building on to the house. I don't always love everything hubby does in the yard. (Oh, the stories I could tell!!) But this just tickled me. All repurposed and it was so rustic! We've had a fire almost every night since and we're using up all the old storm debris from last spring. Bonus!

 Well, we ate about 3/4 of a box of apples and they started to get bruised. So... time for some apple cider!

 Choppity, chop, chop, chop.

 

 Hi there, juicer!! How I love thee!!!

 When I started juicing, the kids were watching this and I could HEAR them thinking, "No WAY am I drinking that."

 It looked even worse in one of my gorgeous blue vintage Ball jars!

 

 In the ATLAS gallon jars, it was sooooo pretty! A hundred year old jar holding cold pressed cider just like they used to make in the olden days! (Fine, except for the fancy juicer...)

 My husband's parents and his brother have come to visit. There's been a lot of cactus around. (It's already been defanged here and is ready to grill.) They're used to cooking on an open flame so good thing it's summer. We just eat everything that way and everybody's happy.

                                                                 NOM NOM NOM

 

 Funny, I always think hubby is SO Mexican. And then his family comes to visit and I start thinking, "Dude, you are SO American." I mean, all you have to do is check out the hats. Point made.

 

OK, so on to the recipe! I saw this on facebook. Have I mentioned how much I love facebook?? I just do. So many friends, so much FOOD.

 You'll need:
-two bell peppers
-two packs of cream cheese
-3 TBS green onions
-two cups shredded cheddar cheese
-2 TBS paprika
-1/4 tsp cumin
-1 cup crushed Dorito chips or some other unnaturally orange-colored chip

 Add green onions to the cream cheese.

 

 Kids love cooking. Kids love learning how to make something delicious. But mostly kids love cooking when there is crushing and mashing involved.

 Adding the shredded cheese. (I know, I probably don't need to show every step. But we all love pictures, right? Skip to the end if you're bored.)

 Add the seasoning. (*prods readers awake*) Don't skip this next step or you'll have an interesting mess on your hands. Chill the cheese blobs for about 20 minutes.

 Wake UP! It's the really exciting part! Sprinkling on the Dorito crumbs!!

 We pressed in the tops of the green bell pepper (use the rest for a salad or something) and then sprinkled on a bit more. Serve immediately. Oh, aren't they adorable??? Ready for a Fall party!

Have a wonderful Wednesday wherever you are!
And now...
Back to writing...
And eating...
And writing...

Under $10 Table Topper Pinterest Style!

Hello everybody! Mary Jane here with an easy peasy Christmas table top tutorial for UNDER TEN DOLLARS, a recipe for delicious Christmas cookies, a giveaway AND winners!! *whew* That's a mouthful! Good thing I'm typing...

                               

First of all, we have a kitty ornament thief!! We saw him stealing ornaments off the tree and found his stash! Rude.

                                               

We have had the most AMAZING snowfall the last week. It's so beautiful!

                                          

Oh, teens...

 Just walking to the neighbor's house is so beautiful.
                                          
My daughter went out to cut greenery. She looks like something out of a fairy tale.

"Your sword, my liege!"

                               
But of course, with teens, it devolved into this.

 We went sledding on the property where I grew up. It was sunset-- well, it was three o'clock but it was basically sunset.

So, first of all, the table topper. I don't know about you but I LOVE fresh greenery around the house. It's absolutely a must at Christmas. We always have an Advent wreath but at Christmas, we like to have a display during our big family dinner.

                                   

This is so, so, so easy. All you need is a pair of scissors, some evergreen bushes, five white pillar candles from the dollar store, a few fake poinsettia blooms (also from dollar store) and some ribbon (ALSO from dollar store- see how cheap an easy that is?) All in all, it cost about ten dollars! Look at this gorgeousness!

 Ha! Love my little guy's expression here. "Mom, stop taking my picture!"

                                

The paper punch snowflakes are a wonderful touch but if you don't have the paper punch (I got it at Walmart, Martha Stewart brand), then you can cut some little snowflakes out of paper... or skip that part. 

                                      

Lay out the candles first. I set them on upside down ramekins or bowls to make sure they were higher than the greenery. Then I gently placed the greenery around it. I put a few folded towels down on the table to keep the branches from scratching the finish because it's a very old family table from the early 1900s.

                                                  

I put in a silver snowflake ribbon and had another ready, but it just didn't look right to me.

                                                            

 You're welcome to put the ribbon on and it might look perfect just like that, but I decided to take it off.

                                              

 Here it is, all finished. Total cost? $10 of Dollar Store materials! I love Pinterest. It made it really so easy to find a look I wanted for the table. I just browsed through the pictures until I found one that I liked. And now you can see how to make your own!

                               

Thrift store candle holders for .50 and that awesome paper punch plus some mod podge = some pretty votives for my kitchen! I'm all about the teal right now.These keep me company when I set up to work at the counter in the middle of the night. 

                          

Have you ever put out luminaria? We use paper bags, votive candles inside, and line our walkway. It's a delightful way to welcome people to the house! (I turned off the outside light for this picture. Otherwise they really WOULD need the luminaria.)

So, on to the stained glass cookie recipe!!

                                                 

What you see there is 15 cups of flour, 12 eggs, 4 1/2 cups of butter, 6 cups of sugar, 3 tsp vanilla, 3 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder. 

Edna was watching with bated breath. She had never seen so many ingredients put in one bowl. 

Boris handled it like a champ.... except for one small incident. Apparently, he is ticklish. I had just put in the 12 eggs, the 4 1/2 cups melted butter and the 6 cups of sugar. I started him up, and thought it was a bit too high so I felt around his ribs for the little lever... He started to twitch and giggle, and I somehow pushed it all the way to the right.

Eggs, butter, sugar.... EVERYWHERE. Boris has power, no doubt about it. It took us 20 minutes to clean it all up. My daughter and I were laughing at how far we found globs of goo. A whole egg yolk was on the opposite side of the kitchen! Ok, once we changed, we started on the cookies...

 Stained glass window cookies are made by cutting out a regular cookie, then making another cut out inside of the first. Break hard candy like Life Savers or Jolly Ranchers and fill the hole. Bake as normal at 350F for 8-10 minutes, on a cookie sheet with tin foil.

When you take them from the oven, let cool on the counter for a few minutes. Then put them either in the freezer or leave them on the counter for ten minutes. Since we only have two cookies sheets, I put them in the freezer for 3 minutes or so to save time.