Magnolia Rain

Hey Everyone!

If you follow my Facebook page you'll know I've had some changes happen in my life in the last few months! Because of those changes I've decided to do a different blog. It still has recipes and will have crafts, but its also a little more of whats going on in my life.

I would love for you to follow me over there. Magnolia Rain is the blogs name. I hope to see you there...

*side note, I will keep this blog up and will be linking back to it from time to time!



Enjoy!

Arm Knitting: Infinity Scarf

Im a little late in posting this week. No real reason, just didn't get it done in time! Which is the story of my life right now can you say PROCRASTINATING!? I'm like an ostrich putting my head in the sand! Seriously this move is 26 days away and I am not even a little ready! I mean yes we've gone through almost the entire house and purged A LOT of stuff, so far we are at 2 dump runs and 2 Goodwill runs. We still have the garage to go through which is probably going to end up being another dump run and another Goodwill run as well!

So in all lol this procrastinating that's been going on ive put off doing the projects that I need to get done for the blog and for our trip! But I finally finished this Infinity Scarf! And I have to tell you I have no idea why I was waiting! It was so easy! It didn't take me 30 min like all the websites said but it did take just under an hour and I'm pretty happy with that, part of that time was me just trying to get it right!

I'm for sure going to be making another one and I may even try the arm knit for a blanket!

If you're interested in trying to Arm Knit an Infinity Scarf I used the tutorial at Flax and Twine!

Because you can't take yourself too seriously right?

                        Enjoy

Chinese New Year: Sweet and Sour Chicken

If you've been following my blog for the last few years you know we LOVE Chinese food and you know that we celebrate Chinese New Year! Its one of our fun little traditions. I use the term celebrate loosly too. We celebrate it by eating Chinese Food and watching a movie like Kung Fu Panda. In case you're new to my blog here are a few of the recipes I've shared in the past!

                                                                    Chinese Noodles

                                                               Fortune Cookies

                                                     Spaghetti Squash Chinese Noodles


Do you have a favorite Homemade Chinese Food Dish? My favorite homemade Chinese is Sweet and Sour Chicken! I'd never even attempted to make it on my own until a few years ago when my Friend Stacey made it for me! I COULD. NOT. BELIEVE. how easy and good it was. honestly I like it better than take out! It's just so good! She found it on Pinterest of course! Its all over the place now. So I thought I would share mine with you!

*note no pictures because I forgot to add the SUGAR!!! I'll update it with pictures next time I make it! But it's still a great recipe and I recommend you try it this Chinese New Year!

Ingredents:

• 3-4 Chicken Breasts, boneless skinless
• 1 cup Cornstarch
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup Canola Oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Sweet and Sour Sauce

• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 4 TBSP Ketchup
• 1/2 cup White Vinegar
• 1 TBSP Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• Directions:
• • Start by preheating your oven to 325° degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into chunks. In a Zip top bag add the salt and pepper and the Cornstarch, add the cut up chicken and close the bag, shake it to cover all the chicken. then dip the pieces of Chicken into the eggs.
  • Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and pan-fry chicken pieces just until slightly browned but not cooked through. Place chicken in a 9×13-inch greased baking dish.
  • Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk. Pour evenly over the chicken. Bake chicken for one hour, uncovered. During the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.
  • Serve immediately.
  • *Tip I always double the Sweet and Sour Sauce!
  •                        Enjoy
  • 
    

Valentines Day in Our House

I had planned on making a Valentine's Day craft to share with you all, but then I decided that I really didn't need to make another thing right now, since we are getting ready to move! That's not to say that I'm not making anything in some upcoming posts but I felt like this project was just me making something to make something. So instead I thought I would let you in on a little of my life and our Valentines Day traditions!

Do you celebrate Valentines Day in your house? We do, but we usually just do something simple! I think its such a rarity for us to actually be together on Valentines Day that we really just want to spend time together. We've never gone all out for it, and usually it ends up being a nice dinner at home! I mean we have had a kiddo at home almost since the begining.

Our Wedding 1999

Our very first Valentines Day, 16 years ago, the Hubster (who wasn't the Hubster just yet) was in Fort Greely on a field problem, of sorts. I drove the 100 miles from Fairbanks to Fort Greely so that we could spend the day together! We went Bowling, which was epic and by epic I mean that I am the worlds WORST bowler, and the Hubster is really really good. But it was fun and cute and he tried helping me in that cute let me show you how to do it way. We ate greasy bowling alley food and just hung out for the day and then I drove home!

Our next Valentines Day he was gone and that was the last one without a kiddo around. We have gotten a baby sitter and gone out to dinner in the past, but honestly its always so crowded that we kind of just don't do that anymore.

Date Night

This year I have something planned that I can't share cause he might read this and then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore!

We also do stuff with Drew, like I shared last year we always have WAFFLES because we have a heart shaped waffle maker! We've also always gotten him a small box of candy and a stuffed animal. That we give him at breakfast! We even always get to eat a piece of candy in the morning! I used to get the same thing as a kid and it's just a tradition we've carried over!

What are your Valentines Day Plans? Share in the comments below!

                           Enjoy

Mini Nutella Rolls

I can't believe that the movers came today to do a pre-inspection?! Its super early right, but I'm ok with that! Having other people look at my stuff makes me feel like I have too much stuff! Which is good right before a move! It means I will be purging a lot!! It's probably one of the things I like the most about moving, the chance to get rid of stuff! It's like a forced Hoarders intervention!

In the midst of all the purging I of course am stalking facebook cause well it's what I do and my Mom had shared a video showing someone making Nutella rolls, that's all it was, a short video clip no instructions or anything but honestly it looked so simple I knew I had to try it! That and because it had Nutella in it which pretty much is a staple in our house! I don't know about you but I could eat Nutella anytime and on almost anything!

Ok these are SOOO good! You might will want to make more of these! I suggest making a double batch at least!

Ingredients:

1 Crescent Roll Sheet

1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Unroll the Crescent Roll Dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Spread the Nutella over the Dough, then roll up dough. Cut into 12 pieces. Place each piece into a muffin cup. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm

                          Enjoy

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Now that the Hubster is home and we are watching Nebraska Football every chance we get I've been asked to make the Hubster and Man-Child's favorite dip. Buffalo Chicken Dip. It's such an easy recipe and every time I've made it and taken it anywhere it is always the first dip to run out! I've even made double batches and they'd still get devoured! Man-Child said when he took his first bite of dip today "This tastes like Football"

*Update: We make this every year now for the Super Bowl and also whatever Bowl Game Nebraska happens to play in! It's totally a family favorite!

Ingredients:

1 can of Chicken

1 8oz block of Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Buffalo Hot Sauce

1/2 cup Ranch dressing

1 cup Shredded cheese (I used Colby Jack)

Directions:

In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients and mix until everything is combined. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spoon the Chicken mixture into a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes until everything is golden and bubbly on top. Let cool for a few minutes then serve. 

I used beer bread for this dip! We usually use some type of bread, French, sourdough, whatever you like best!

What's your favorite Game Day food?? Share in the Comments!


                                                                    Enjoy

Spice Tin Magnet

We had such a busy weekend of cleaning and purging stuff from our house for our upcoming PCS! The good thing about moving every few years is that it prevents you from being a Hoarder! I think I have a few hoarder tendencies, especially where books are concerned! We did manage to get rid of a few things this weekend including the rocking chair we got when Drew was a baby! That was hard to let go! It's broken though and not salvageable so it has to go!

I think sometimes its hard to let things go because you think well I could use that for something one day! The problem is that "one day" often doesn't happen for years and years or maybe ever!

My Fridge is a little crazy

In an effort to not be hoarder ;) and to reuse something that I had, I decided to make an empty spice tin into a pen holder for my fridge!

Materials:

Spice Tin/ Tea Tin, empty and clean

2 colors of paint

Stencil

Magnet

E6000 glue

Directions:

Paint the tin in the color you want the saying or design to show up in (in my case black). Let dry completely. Place stencil on top of the tin. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out my saying that I bought from the Silhouette Online Store. I rubbed my nails over the letters to make sure they were really stuck on there well. I then sprayed the Red paint over top of everything. (my paint bubbled up a little but I left it I kind of liked how it made it distressed) Let dry again completely. Very carefully peel the design off. On the back of the tin apply a strip of magnet with E6000. Let dry and you are ready to hang it on the fridge!

*I reused my magnet as well, You know how you get all those advertising magnets well I've saved (not hoarded) mine over the years and I knew that I would use them one day ;)


                                                                     Enjoy

Chili Cheese Rice

Wow so much stuff is going ON! I can't believe that we are PCSing in gulp 69 days!!! That means we are trying to plan every last detail, when will the movers come, whens the last day in our house, what route will we be taking, what do we need to take with us and on and on and on! So meal planning isn't really on my list, even though it should be, and lets not mention how I need use up everything in our freezer and pantry. I may be posting some "interesting" recipes in the weeks to come!

Anyways, I wanted a quick easy meal that is a bit of a no brainer. This recipe is stupid easy and it's a childhood favorite of mine. I think it was born out of my Mom's frugality! I mean this meal is CHEAP! And if you're good you planned it out and had the rice cooked already and leftover from another meal!

Ingrediants:

2 cups Cooked Rice
2 cans Chili
3/4cup Shredded Cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pan combine the Chili, Rice and Cheese over medium heat. Stir occasionaly until the cheese is melted. Serve with a dollop of Sour Cream!

                                                            Enjoy

NEW YEAR 2015 RESOLUTIONS

Ok so I didn't do great on my resolutions this last YEAR! But I'm ready to hit the ground running this year! I've made some new resolutions and simplified some of my old ones. 

Health

Eating: At least one fruit or vegetable at every meal

Exercise: Cardio 3x's a week, Weight Training 2x's a week

Family

Sunday Family Dinners

Family Game Night

Home

PURGE and ORGANIZE

Blogging

Be CONSISTENT

These are my resolutions in a nutshell!

Did you make any resolutions this year? Share them in the comments!

                        Enjoy

Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

It has been unseasonably cold here lately! I’m talking in the teens and 20’s in the morning! We even had snow already! What is that about?? I know for those of you in the North and North East this is no big deal, but here in the Pacific Northwest it’s a BIG deal! I think I’m actually looking forward to the rain right now because that means it will warm up a little!

It definitely feels like Christmas though, and I like that! I’m excited for Christmas this year I don’t know why specifically, we don’t have any big plans or anything I’m just in the Spirit this year. Maybe because it’s going to be our last Christmas here, whatever it is I’m ready!

Before all the Christmas Feasting begins though I think we need some comfort food that is warm and yummy and good for you too! I made this Vegetable Beef Soup the other day and it was SOOO Good! Just what we needed to warm up!

Put a pot of this on the stove, and snuggle up on the couch and watch your favorite Christmas movie!

Ingredients:

1lb Ground Beef (you could use stew meat instead)

½ Onion, chopped

3-4 Carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup frozen Peas

1 cup frozen Corn

1 can diced Tomatoes

2 cans Tomato Sauce

6 cups Beef Broth

2 cups water

Ditalini Pasta

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Instructions:

In a large sauce pan brown the ground beef until no longer pink, add in the onions and carrots cook until the onions are translucent, add in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, beef broth and water. Then add in the pasta, stir and bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to medium and add in the Corn and Peas. Let cook for about 10 minutes more.

Serve with a nice piece of bread and if you want top the soup with a little shredded parmesan cheese!

*keep in mind you can add any vegetables you like to this!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Sopapilla Cheesecake

Can you guys believe that it is already almost Thanksgiving? I mean how did that EVEN happen? You know that means that Christmas is just right around the corner too right? And I don't know about you but I haven't started my shopping yet! Every year I say I'm going to start in January and every year I don't!

Since Thanksgiving is a week away have you planned your menu? That's one step I'm done with! I've even bought some of the things I need! Yay Me! If you haven't planned your menu and you still need a dessert you've got to try this Pumpkin Sopapilla Cheesecake! I've made the Sopapilla Cheesecake several times and it's always a big hit! But I knew pumpkin would make it a great fall dessert! And I wasn't the only one if you search for it on Pinterest you will find several recipes for it! I used the recipe I already had and just added pumpkin to it!

Ingredients:

1-8oz pkg Cream Cheese
1 pkg Crescent Rolls
3/4 cup Sugar
1tsp Vanilla
2/3 cup Pumpkin Puree

1/4 cup Butter
1/2 TBSP Cinnamon
Pinch of Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/3 cup Sugar

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a 8in square pan place 1/2 of the crescent roll dough on the bottom. Meanwhile, In a mixing bowl combine the Cream Cheese, Sugar and the Vanilla, mix until combined. Spread the cream cheese mixture to cover the crescent rolls. Top with the other 1/2 of the crescent rolls. Evenly pour the melted butter over the top of the dough. In a small bowl combine the cinnamon and 1/3 cup sugar. Sprinkle over top of the butter cover completely. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is Golden brown. Let cool for 20 minutes and the refrigerate until ready to serve.

Enjoy

Biscuits and Gravy Rolls

Whew ok I missed last week, because my life is CRAZY lol. You would think as a SAHM I would have loads of free time and that I would be creating recipes and crafting and cleaning but the reality is at least lately that none of that happens! I feel like lately I am constantly running around either picking up or dropping Drew off or really WAITING on him to be done with practice or youth group or school. When I'm not doing that I'm going to meetings or events or preparing for those things for our FRG. So I didn't get a post written last week. I did do some PINing though! And I found this great recipe on the Betty Crocker web site!

Biscuits and Gravy Rolls, sounds good right? I love biscuits and gravy growing up it was one of my favorite breakfasts, and really it still is. I haven't ever messed with my recipe, but I thought it would be fun to try something new. And it was a great recipe! The entire family loved it too! This would be a great breakfast on Thanksgiving Morning as you sit and watch the Parade!

Ingrediants:

Rolls:

1lb Sausage

2 1/2 cups Bisquick

2/3 cup Milk

1tsp Sugar

Gravy:

Sausage drippings

2-3 TBSP Flour

1 can Evaporated Milk

1/2 cup Milk

Directions:

In a skillet, cook the sausage over medium heat, until browned and no longer pink. Spoon the sauasge onto a plate with a paper towel to absorb the grease. Keeping about 2 TBSP of the drippings in the pan.  Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 13x9-inch pan.(I used and 11x7 inch pan) In a mixing bowl, stir Bisquick, milk and sugar until dough forms. Place dough on surface lightly sprinkled with Bisquick mix; knead until smooth, about 10 turns. Roll out dough to 15x9-inch rectangle. Spread crumbled sausage on rectangle. Roll up dough tightly from one long side; pinch seam to seal. Cut roll into 12 equal slices(I only got 8 rolls). Place cut side down in pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. While the biscuits are cooking get started on the gravy. Reheat the drippings over medium heat,  Add flour, stirring until the flour is absorbed. Slowly add canned milk, and then the regular milk stirring constantly. Cook about 5 minutes or until thickened. Spoon gravy over tops of the rolls add salt and pepper to taste.

                     Enjoy

Halloween Round Up

I thought it would be fun to share a few different posts about Halloween. It's a busy time of year for us right now and I knew I wasn't going to have time to do any new Halloween projects before Halloween.

 I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Halloween

Here's a few of my top viewed Halloween Posts

1.Halloween Snack Mix

2.Slimy Worms

3. Trashy Spider Webs

I may have to make these again this year! 

Enjoy

Apple Cider Cocktail

Every year that we’ve lived here we’ve gone to the Apple Squeeze. It’s a local festival where you can use an apple press to squeeze your own apple juice! It’s really really good! And always a lot of fun. I was trying to think of new drink to make with some of the juice. Last year I shared this Pumpkin Spiced Hot Apple Cider. The Hubster ended up going to a school last minute and I completely forgot about going. I was so disappointed too. Because I had this great drink I wanted to share with you.

I decided I could still share it, I would just have to buy the juice. Which is ok and still produced a really great drink.

The original recipe that I had found on Pinterest called for a few things I couldn’t find so I improvised, and I loved it! It’s a really refreshing drink and you can make it alcoholic or not depending on who you are serving it to. I think this would be a fun drink to serve at Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

1 quart Apple Juice/Cider

4 Pears Juiced

24oz Ginger Ale

Applejack (optional)

Apples for garnish

Directions:

Combine all the Juices and Ginger Ale into a pitcher. Fill each glass with Ice. If making the alcoholic version add 1.5oz of Applejack to each glass. Pour the Juice over the ice and stir. Add a few slices of apple as a garnish.

Enjoy

Fall Burlap Wreath

Have you all settled into your school routines? I’m still struggling with the getting up so much earlier! It’s tough! I’m even a morning person and I’m having a hard time with it! I’ve never been one to drink coffee on a daily basis and it has become an every morning thing! Some mornings it takes two cups to make me feel like I’m ready to go!

I am enjoying all the alone time though, at first I was like WHAT AM I GONNA DO ALL DAY? But now (6 weeks into the school year) I’m getting into my groove! We have about 4 more weeks of football and then Drew will be home earlier and I will have to figure out a new routine! In the meantime I plan on getting a bunch of stuff done!

This week I finally finished a wreath that I’ve been working on for the last month! It’s a bubble wreath using burlap. I’d seen them on Pinterest a million times and I really wanted to try to make one! I had to look at a few different tutorials and then I just kind of did it the way that worked best for me! I’m really happy with the results too.

Materials Used:

Wire Wreath Frame

4 rolls of burlap

Floral wire

Flowers

Directions:

I folded the burlap in half and attached it to the wreath frame using floral wire. I attached it on a different level of the frame each time. I varied the length of the burlap as well. When it was finished I attached the flowers using the floral wire. I also attached a few of the leaves from the flower stem using the wire in the leaves to secure it to the frame.

Enjoy