Crock Pot {Olive Garden Inspired} Pasta Soup

I hope you all are having a wonderful last day of 2012! A few days ago, a friend texted me and asked me if I wanted to do the Red Mountain Resolution Run this morning. Inspired by the challenge, I said YES! (I will be posting about the HIKE later this week.) 

Having an "accountability partner" (an over-used term I've grown to hate) is a great thing, and it was fun to have someone to talk during the 5 miles. If I hadn't met up with her, I would have probably sat at my computer drinking coffee and looking at Pinterest!

And... look at what my friend brought to me:

A super cute apron!

She didn't know that one of my resolutions for 2013 is NOT to eat out unless its a special occasion. This apron is perfect!

And, speaking of cooking, I just had to share another easy and delicious crock pot soup recipe with you! 

You can find the recipe HERE, at the Favorite Family Recipes Blog.

It makes a HUGE amount, so after the soup cooked and cooled, I divided it evenly into two separate freezer bags. Since the recipe calls for the pasta to be cooked and added at the end, I also created 2 sandwich bags of 4 oz. of pasta each.

Here's the two meals in my freezer:

Now, when we have a busy day ahead of us, we can easily pull one out, warm it up, cook and add the pasta, and serve with a salad. Easy peasy! And... it will help me keep my resolution of not eating out! 

Do any of your 2013 resolutions have to do with food?

I hope all of you have a terrific last day of 2012!

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1 Christmas Gift + Free Printables = A Happy New Year!

We have a wonderful Christmas tradition in our family. Many years ago, I told my mom that I wanted a "Garage Sale Box" as one of my Christmas presents. Why? She's got a great eye and finds lots of cool things at garage sales, auctions, flea  markets, and thrift stores. So.... I told her I wanted her to find stuff for me and save it up and put it in a box for me at Christmas. It kind of makes me feel like she was thinking of me throughout the year as she put the box together. Every year, it's my favorite gift to open!

This year, this was one of my gifts:

Do you know what it is?

How about now? Does that picture give it away?

If you guessed cupcake stand, you got it!

I had just been eyeballing these babies, but I wouldn't splurge on one. I'm so excited to have this. Yippee!

AND, with New Year's coming up as well as that little football game, you know what you have to have with cupcakes..... cute toppers! So... I found some free printable toppers as well as a cute idea that's not a printable. 

Here's an entire New Year's kit, along with cupcake toppers. 

I'm so in love with chalkboard prints... isn't this one terrific? Click HERE.

This next idea isn't a printable, but is so stinkin' cute!

Use yarn to match your color theme, or just use silver, white, and gold yarn to create mini-poms and attach to toothpicks. Click HERE for the blog post.

This next printable is for the year 2011, but you can still use the ones without the year on them! 

Click HERE to get the free download from the Anna and Blue Paperie blog.

Remember that "little football game" that's coming up soon? I thought it would be fun to make cupcakes for game day and use some really cute toppers. I didn't find any cupcake toppers specific to the game, but I found some that would be great to use. (There were tons of generic football toppers on Pinterest, but I wanted some that reflected our teams.)

                                                                    Source: greenowlcrafts.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

The cupcake tree holds 18 cupcakes, so I can have 9 with these toppers, and 9 with the ones below. 

These are actually St. Patrick's Day toppers and there are 4 designs to download. Only 1 of the designs refers to St. Patty's day... the other 3 designs would be perfect for the game! Click HERE to see the other designs and download.

Until then, maybe I'll serve the girls' breakfast muffins with the stand! 

Happy Saturday,

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Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

Mmmmm. Creamy chicken and noodle soup. Perfect for cold weather and so easy to make in the crock pot.

I sooo wish I had a stainless crockpot! I should have put that on my Christmas list. It's something I want but won't buy myself because my trusty crockpot that I've had for about 15 years works great. 

I found this easy recipe over at Creatively Domestic and made a few changes. Hope you try and enjoy!

{the recipe}

 
5 cups of chicken broth 
One 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup celery, chopped fine
1/2 cup carrots, chopped fine
One 15 oz can of whole kernel corn, drained
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup Egg noodles
2 cups cooked chicken chopped or 2 cans canned cooked chicken

Put everything but the noodles and chicken in the crockpot on low for 5-6 hours. During the last hour, turn on high, add noodles and chicken.

Stay warm!

Pinterest-Inspired Winter Wine-Cork Centerpiece

Pinterest-Inspired Winter Wine-Cork Centerpiece. 

Can you say that 5 times fast??

It's that time of the year that the Christmas decor comes down, the resolutions are written, the house gets a good cleaning, and new decor gives the promise of a new day. While one of my resolutions is to change out the wreath on the door each month (I've still got a few days before January's wreath must be hung!), I was on the search for a new centerpiece for my dining table and/or my coffee table.

Here's my inspiration:

Source: twotwenty-one.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I've been in loooove with this since this summer, and thought that when the weather gets cold it would be a nice change of pace for my decor (it would also give me time to round up some wine corks!)

Here's my finished centerpiece... it found a home on my painted coffee table. 

I just used a glass vase that had previously been in the guest bath, inserted a glass cylinder purchased from Dollar Tree, then inserted a white candle. The corks are used as filler between the vase and the cylinder. 

Does it make you want to curl up with a glass of wine and a good book?

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Five Dips for the National Championship Game

Gosh, it's been since Thanksgiving since I last posted! While it seems like a  long time ago, it also seems like a short time ago, too. I've had lots of thoughts about posting, and when things have happened I've thought, "I should post about that!"  So what's kept me from posting? I think it's that self-doubt that creeps into our thoughts every now and then. The thoughts like... "No one's reading anyway" or "It won't make a difference" or "Why would you think anyone would want to hear what you have to say?"

Do you ever have thoughts of self-doubt?

Without going into to much detail (this is a post about dips, afterall!), the doubts I've been hearing in my head have come as a result of being injured (knee) and limited on what I can do physically. Instead of focusing on what I CAN do, I have been focusing on what I can't do. 

And now...it's time to flip the script. 

Along with that, I'm going to get back to blogging. Today's back-to-reality post is about dips. Why? I live in Alabama, and there's a football game coming up in a couple of weeks that's important to a lot of people in this state. Maybe you've heard?

On the window at Dick's Sporting Goods store.

Hubs was raised as a Notre Dame fan, and I was raised as a Bama fan, so you can imagine the fun we've had at our house with the upcoming game! We're headed to friends' home for the game on January 7th, so I've been scouring Pinterest for a couple of dips to take and share. I've also got some great recipes, so I may make an old fave and a new find. I've got 5 of them to share with you today.

1. {My version of the Pioneer Woman's} Black-Eye Pea Dip

Only 6 ingredients. So tasty!

2. The Easiest {and yummiest} 4-Ingredient Artichoke Dip

Not my picture, but this is about what it will look like. Yum!      Image Source

3. 5-Layer Greek Dip

Source: thelovelycupboard.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

4. Guacamole Bean Dip

Source: thekindlife.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

5. Layered Mexican Dip

Source: zaikazabardast.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

                               

Which one would you take?

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