November 13, 2015 by Krista

There is Always Something to be Grateful for {FREE Gratitude Printable}

I have been on a digital design kick lately. I had gotten so busy that I hadn’t done much lately and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it. So, I’ve been catching up. The good news is that it will be super simple to add some great extras to your Thanksgiving decor and this print would look lovely as part of your Thanksgiving Day dinner. Or really for any time of the year. Because there is always something to be thankful for.

I will be putting this in our living room when I get around to decorating that… Some day. When my kids are running rampant and my house looks like a natural disaster zone, some times I need a gratitude reminder. This gratitude printable will hopefully help me remember what I have, not focus on what I’m lacking. It might be a while before it gets up permanently – I’ve got a whole slew of other projects on my to-do list right now. I might have to give it a temporary home for now.

Okay, want your own copy of this gratitude printable? It will open a new window where you can download the high resolution, watermark-free version of the image and save it to your computer. After that, you can print it on your home computer. Feel free to make as many copies as you like, but please direct friends and family back to this webpage to get their own copies. It helps me analyze what kind of printables are the most popular so I can make sure to create more of them! This image is for personal use only. No variations, edits or changes may be made. Thanks, you are amazing!

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The laurel embellishments on the image are courtesy Oh So Nifty Vintage Graphics.

November 11, 2015 by Krista

Slow Cooker Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

Monday night we got almost six inches of snow – six! That’s a big deal for us desert rats. They delayed school by two hours and we played in the snow last night. It’s also a big deal that the snow was still there to play in eight hours later. We even made snow ice cream for dessert. But for dinner, we had delicious wild rice and chicken soup. Some days are just soup days and this soup is the kind that makes you want to snuggle in with a book or good TV show and then go to bed. It’s amazing, make extra!

WILD RICE AND CHICKEN SOUP

Ingredients:
– 1/2 cup butter
– 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
– 1 onion, finely chopped
– 1/2 cup celery, chopped
– 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
– 8 cups chicken broth
– 2 cups wild rice
– 1 lb chicken breast, cubed
– 1 tsp sea salt
– 1 tsp rosemary
– 1 tsp thyme
– 1/2 tsp white pepper

Directions:
Melt the butter in a small sauce pan and gradually whisk in the flour to make a rue.
Add all ingredients to the slow cooker, including the rue. Mix to incorporate.
Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

We like ours thick and hearty. If you want a thinner soup, add 2-4 more cups of chicken broth until desired thickness is reached. You can also omit the rue, but it will slightly change the flavor.

This is one of our newest additions to our family menu, joining our family-approved last around Christmas last year. We absolutely love it! Even Little J, who gets bored of eating and has a hard time finishing dinner most nights, gobbles this stuff up. And Baby N, who is in his Mr. Independent stage will let me feed him this soup. Boy knows not to let good food go to waste.

Not only is it a hit with the whole family, it freezes fantastically. Which means it’s a great quick and easy menu option too. Pull it out of the freezer and warm it on the stove.

This soup is hearty, filling and full of flavor. Perfect for cold wintry nights and after a day out in the snow. It makes me wish we had a fireplace so I could eat my soup in front of it. The great part about the slow cooker, besides the set it and forget it part, is that I can make a lot, freeze the leftovers and I’ve made three dinners for not much more work than making one. Total mom score during the busy, hectic holidays.

November 9, 2015 by Krista

Thankful for My Many Blessings ABC Printable

I am trying to get Little J to learn his letters. But it’s been… challenging. He has absolutely no interest in letters or numbers or learning, in general. I tried to get him to watch a Leap Frog movie the other (that Big J still loves to watch) and you would have thought I was torturing the poor boy. Like pulling fingernails kind of torture, hard core stuff. So, I’m trying to figure out more ways to engage him in learning without him realizing that’s what I’m doing. It’s Ninja Mom to the rescue…

Since it’s also November and I’m trying to remind my kids that it’s the season of gratitude, we’ve been doing a few activities that focus on what we have instead of what we want. Today, we tried this printable activity. I asked Little J what are some of the things he was thankful for and then we wrote them in the right spot with the letter it started with. Little J will also be helping me teach the rest of the family what it means to be thankful and what some of his blessing are. The rest of the family will then fill out their own ABC printable – kind of like Scattegories, but all the letters will be played at once. We will compare and see if we can get the entire alphabet filled out together.

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If you’d like to try and fill out your own alphabet of blessings, you can print your own high resolution copy of the Thankful for My Many Blessings ABC Printable when you click on the photo above. A download window will open and you can save the file to your computer. After you save it, you can print it on your home printer. And here’s the legal shtuff: Feel free to print as many copies as you like, but please pin the image on this page and give your friends and families this link address – not the download page. This image is free for personal, classroom or group use. No commercial use for profit is allowed. Do not change or modify this image in part or in whole. Use it, don’t abuse it. Thanks!

What are you thankful for?

November 7, 2015 by Krista

Happiness is Homemade Link Party

Hey, so you know what’s embarrassing… When you type in the wrong date and your post goes live before it’s supposed to. Yeah… Whoops. Sometimes I’m really glad I’m my own boss… Or I’d totally be fired! So, feel free to laugh at my massive blogger fail. And then link up below…

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Welcome back to another great week with us ladies! We had a great turn out last week and it is so fun to watch, how our link parties go with holidays and the weather..I feel inspired and now hungry!!!

Don’t forget since its a new month we have new co-host’s so make sure you take the time to visit and say hello!

[Read more…]

November 5, 2015 by Krista

3 Generation Goulash

My family is all about a good casserole, especially when it gets cold outside. Well, it’s been snowing here for almost 24 hours and my thin desert-climate blood had left me chilled and with a hankering for some good comfort food. Goulash is something I ate growing up and I remember more than one family dinner gathered around the dinner table, discussing our days over a plate full of my mom’s goulash. However, this is three generation goulash and my mom and I are only two generations. I love that the third generation is my grandma, my dad’s mom. This recipe takes the best of my mom and the best of my grandma and a few things I love and combines them all together. Two amazing women helped shape this recipe and make it the scrumptious dish that it is. It’s pure comfort in a bowl. And you probably have the ingredients in your cupboard and refrigerator RIGHT NOW. Some veggies, ground beef, pasta and Ragu Pasta Sauce, that’s it. Let’s get cookin’!

3 GENERATION GOULASH

Print This Recipe

3 Generation Goulash

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: Serves 6-8

A hearty casserole-style dish with lots of flavor. Pasta covered in flavorful tomato sauce with vegetables and hamburger make this a wonderful family favorite.

Ingredients

16 oz uncooked Pasta
12 oz bottle Ragu Pasta Sauce
5-6 medium Portabello Mushrooms
1 Red Pepper
14 oz canned Corn
14 oz canned cut Green Beans
1 lb Ground Beef
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp dried Minced Onions
Shredded Cheese

Instructions

Boil water for the pasta as directed on the box. When water boils, cook the pasta as directed.
Brown the ground beef in a skillet on the stove.
Add the garlic powder and the minced onion.
Slice the pepper and mushrooms. Add to the ground beef. Saute until the mushrooms and peppers are tender.
Add the green beans and the corn. Combine until well mixed.
Stir in the Ragu pasta sauce and mix until the sauce coats the meat and veggies evenly.
Simmer on low on the stove while the pasta cooks.
Drain the pasta and rinse, if desired.
Add the pasta to the sauce and mix until the pasta is evenly coated.
Serve topped with shredded cheese.

My kids eat this up every time I make it. They love it! I love that it’s easy to make, it’s a delicious crowd-pleaser and it totally nostalgic for me. I always get flashbacks to family dinners and trips to Grandma’s when we have this. I hope it’s something that my kids will pass onto their families when they get older – share with their wives and kids. Every lady loves a man that can cook.

My grandma always makes her own tomato pasta sauces, but my mom always used Ragu pasta sauce. I love the option, because with my busy life and busy boys, I don’t always have the time or energy to make my own sauce. I love that Ragu pasta sauce is a part of this tradition and that it is a sauce that I can count on to deliver quality flavor.

While working on this post, I was able to learn more about the origin of Ragu and the woman who started it all. Assunta Cantisano was a woman with a dream. Assunta came to America from Italy and brought her family’s recipe for tomato sauce with her. Her neighbors loved it. And so did her neighbor’s neighbors. Before too long, people were grabbing it off of store shelves in Iowa and the Ragu tradition was off and running. Great success story, right? But it wasn’t easy fame and fortune for Assunta. She grew up during the Great Depression and she struggled as a single mom. Her hard work and perseverance clearly paid off. When people didn’t have much of anything, she gave her all to share her sauce with others. Since Ragu was born hundreds of pasta sauces have graced the shelves over the past 80 years, and has even gone on to become America’s number one pasta sauce.

Do you like to experiment in the kitchen? Right now, food.com has a contest running called Ready. Set. Cook! and they have issued the challenge to create new and unique recipes featuring Ragu sauce plus a set list of other ingredients. Think you’re up to the challenge? Check out the Ready. Set. Cook! contest over on food.com.

I love traditions and sharing them with my kids, especially this time of year. What are some of your favorite family traditions?

WILD RICE AND CHICKEN SOUP

3 GENERATION GOULASH

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