Souper Saturday--Made-up Minestrone

I didn't plan ahead for tonight's soup, so I again had to work with what was in the house. After much thought and a recipe search, I came up with minestrone. I didn't really use a single recipe, but just looked at a couple of different ones to get the idea of basic ingredients.

So, here's what I did:

Sauteed chopped onion and garlic in olive oil. Pureed a can of tomatoes and added to pot; then I decided to put it all back in the blender to blend up the onion chunks (kids), but of course I could've just added the onions to the tomatoes in the blender in the first place. Back into the pot, and I added 2 cups of water and 2 packets of Trader Joes beef broth concentrate. Added a can of kidney beans, and a can of green beans (which I only had because the kids are having a can drive at school). In the fridge I had some leftovers from a couple nights ago; it was a simple skillet dinner of ground beef and elbow macaroni in a tomato base. I added that, a little more cooked ground beef that I had in the freezer, and some more cooked macaroni. I seasoned with a little basil, oregano and salt. I topped each serving with parmesan cheese.

I didn't expect the kids to eat the green beans; they all have a strong aversion to this particular vegetable, so I tried not to put any in their bowls. Still, the overall chunkiness of the soup made them suspicious. They did eat most of it, somewhat reluctantly. The boys added Tabasco. Handsome was very impressed on first bite, but I guess it became less impressive over time because he originally gave it a 6-point-something, and then rounded up to 7.

Ratings:
Handsome 7
Me 7
Firstborn 4
Skippy 5
Pinkerbelle 4
Average: 5.4

A Few of My Favorite Things

*My favorite new-to-me Christmas song: Christmas Children by SHeDAISY. I couldn't tell you even one other song that this group of sisters sings. Even though this song was released on their album Brand New Year in 2000, I had never heard it until a couple days ago. You can listen to a clip on iTunes.


*My favorite hot chocolate recipe: Creamy Hot Chocolate from Eagle Brand. I replace some of the water with milk. With whipped cream and sprinkles is all the better!

Photo from flickr.

*My favorite winter comfort: flannel sheets and a down comforter. Heavenly!


*My favorite Christmas movie (other than It's a Wonderful Life, of course): The Bishop's Wife from 1948.


*My new favorite Christmas cookie: Blackberry Sage Thumbprints from Better Homes and Gardens. I'm going to a cookie exchange tomorrow and I wanted to bring something new and unique, so I went out on a limb with these. They are really lovely! The sage adds an interesting, almost floral note that pairs well with the blackberry preserves.


*My favorite family activity: Friday Pizza Movie Night. Virtually every Friday night we have pizza and watch a movie together, and have been doing so for about six years. Usually I make homemade pizza, but sometimes we order (like tonight). We throw a foam mattress on the floor for the kids, turn out the lights, and lounge around together. We do it all year, but it's especially cozy in the winter.

Photo from flickr.

Check out Thrifty Decor Chick for more lists of favorites!

Flannel Sheets--Wohm and Tozy

There's nothing like climbing into bed on a cold winter night to the warm softness of flannel sheets. Every fall I pack away the smooth, cool cotton and switch everybody over to flannel. For some reason, this year I had forgotten all about it until today when Skippy mentioned that he had been cold last night. Well, he should be comfy tonight with his flannel, and a comforter in place of his thin summer quilt.

Even at eight years old, they're sweet when they're sleeping.

Pinkerbelle already had a down comforter, and she sleeps hot anyway and usually kicks all her covers off, so she might be a little too warm. Note the sleeves pushed up. But she wanted her flannel fairy sheets. It also appears that she was playing with a flashlight before she fell asleep.

As for the title of the post: at dinner we were reminiscing about the Christmas season the year Firstborn was two, and still an only child. Many evenings the three of us folded out the couch (we had one of those apartment couches that flip out into a bed), cuddled up in blankets, drank hot chocolate and watched Christmas shows, like Frosty and Rudolph. Firstborn called it getting "all wohm and tozy". Good times.

Garland and Mantel

12/10/08 I'm joining the party today!


I must say, I'm very happy with my festive mantel! Yesterday, I started out with the supplies I had purchased on Monday, and after a little tweaking today, I think I'm done.

Electrical cords are a necessary evil; not much I can do about it.

Using Nester's suggestions, I entwined two garlands as my base. I used a 9ft x 10" and a 9ft x 6", on sale at Old Time Pottery for $2.99 and $1.49, respectively. To fill it out a bit more, I wrapped it with a fluffier garland from Dollar Tree, which was just a single green strand and would have been fairly useless on its own.


It still needed a little more bulk in the middle, so I found the branches that had been trimmed off the Christmas tree and stuck a couple in. (The problem with that is that I don't know how long they will stay fresh. Probably not 4 to 5 weeks.) Then I started working with the rest of the stuff I got at OTP. The grassy things were $1.24 each (fall, 75% off) and the white twisty things were $.74. I gave the white things a light coat of satin nickel spray paint, and though you can't see it here, they already had a little sparkle to them.

I pulled them apart into smaller bunches, and stuck them in the garland here and there. I also used some silver ball picks I got at Dollar Tree a year or two ago, and some pinecones that I got at Salvation Army on Monday ($.49).

I like the twisty things a lot.

I used a Command hook at each end of the mantel, and one in the middle flat on the front. There is a cable tie looped around some of the garland in the middle and hooked onto that Command hook.
On the mantel, I used my beaded trees from DT, a round mirror that I bought several months ago at Goodwill and forgot about until I found it in a closet a few days ago, a smaller square mirror that I got at DT a while ago, and two glass urn-y things (can't think of the real name) filled with silver ornaments from DT. The barn stars, clock, and finial are always there.

I forgot all about the stockings until a couple minutes ago. Since they are very light, I just hooked them onto the garland itself. Actually, I'm not sure which I prefer: with or without stockings. Thoughts?

Don't forget to go to Nesting Place for more garland loveliness!

Sneak Peak

I'm pretty pleased so far...more tomorrow!

Not Christmas

I have been working pretty much all day on Christmas decorating. It does not look like I've been working all day. Nevertheless, I promise to post about it when I'm done. Maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, I wanted to show off another of my Dollar Tree purchases.

I have seen these wall stickers at some, but not all, DTs. We recently put some flower stickers in Pinkerbelle's room (I bought them three years ago, and she finally got me to put them up). They are removeable and repositionable. A fun way to decorate on a temporary basis. Great for renters.

So anyway, yesterday I saw these, which are exactly the color of the shower curtain in the kids' bathroom. This is $1's worth; it took me approximately three minutes to put them up. It will add a little character to the room, at least until we get around to painting. Oh, wait. There aren't any 'rooms' anymore; they're all 'spaces'. Have you noticed that? It will add a little character to the space. Okay, I watch HGTV too much.


Look how well they match. It's like they were made to go together. The shower curtain is from Kohl's, about two years ago.

How cute is that?!

Bargain Christmas Decor: Get Thee to Dollar Tree!

Yesterday was another all day shopping trip with Dixie. Mission: Christmas. First stop was Old Time Pottery, where I got some garland, some faux stuff to stick in the garland, and a set of two little pre-lit trees that I'm going to stick in my urns on the porch. Total: $17.

At Value Village I got the sled (on the far left) for $2.

Then, Dollar Tree. Jackpot! It was the biggest and best one I've ever been to. I'm trying to add silver accents to my decor this year, and oddly, I haven't found a whole lot. There was basically no silver at Old Time Pottery. At Dollar Tree I found quite a few things.

These stockings. In the stocking aisle there was only one and I thought I was going to have to search all the other DTs for more. Then, on the other side of the store, in the kitchen gadgets, there was a bunch more. Wahoo!

These sparkly beaded trees are fun.

I really like the silver glass pinecones (3 boxes), but it's the ones behind that really set my heart a-pitter-patter. I. love. them.

The photo does not do them justice. Really. I love the interesting shapes and the aged silver look. Again, I found one lonely box in the kitchen section. The lady at the checkout had not even seen them and didn't know of any more. After we paid and were leaving, we looked through the bins that were outside (it was soooo cold!) and found several more...yes! I got four boxes total, and let Dixie have two. I'm such a good friend.

This little felt tree is so cute! They also had it in red and in white. I just got one. You could make this pretty easily, but I really don't think you could do it for under a dollar, unless you just had the stuff on hand.

I also got another strand of garland and two boxes of small silver glass balls. My DT total was $22. Now I need to get busy and see if I can do anything with my loot.