chicken and dumpling soup

Well I didn't accomplish much today! I did finish my reserved sign frames for the wedding and Jon and I rearranged our bedroom, but other than that, not much! Hey it was a vacation day!!! I did manage to make a new recipe! Jon and I both liked this one!

Chicken Dumpling Soup

2 quarts chicken stock

2 cups frozen mixed veggies

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

1/2 onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups flour

3 tbsp shortening

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup milk

Fry mushrooms and onions in some butter in the bottom of a big soup pot. Once tender, add chicken stock and frozen veggies. Simmer for 30 minutes. Mix flour, salt, baking powder. Cut in shortening until lumpy. Slowly stir in milk. Increase heat on soup pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, drop in spoonfuls of the dumpling mix. Simmer for 20 minutes, 10 uncovered, then 10 covered. Eat!

here's lookin' at you, four day weekend

Wowee!!!! I am officially off work for 4 days! Woooooop!!!! I'm so very happy! This weekend should be fun. I'm finishing up wedding stuff and making a few new recipes! Jon is having his bachelor party on Saturday during the day (they're going kayaking) so I'm going to tackle those last minute wedding tasks and maybe watch Clueless!! All in all I suppose it will be productive and fun!! Oh! I'm also going to sort through Jon's pictures! They have been sitting in a big rubber tub in the garage (I dread to think what the heat has done to them!) and I can't wait to get into them and start organizing! Sorry for the short post, but I'm gonna go start that 4 days of freedom!

Well Hello There September

I'm officially in my wedding month! Now when people ask when I'm getting hitched, I can say, this month! I'm really starting to get excited about our honeymoon. I'm suddenly picturing Jon and I lazing about in a bed (which strangely has all white bedding, even though ours is black and white) giggling and being all husband and wifey. Oh we're going to be doing stuff on our honeymoon, but I plan to spend at least one morning lazing in bed! I have also started obsessively checking the weather in the hopes that I will somehow become psychic and know what the weather will be like on our wedding day. Of course it's impossible to get a reliable forecast that far out, but I'm just hoping hurricane Earl doesn't blow in on my wedding day! It should be gone by then right? I mean, I know that hurricanes have caused us issues here in IN, but surely not 18 days later...right? RIGHT?!?!?

This weekend, I have quite a to do list!

1. finish reserved signs and frames

2. finish lace covered candle holders

3. put Jon's photos in photo albums

4. scrapbook my bachelorette party and showers

5. finish printing our programs

6. go over final paking chek list for wedding stuff

7. rearrange bedroom

8. run around like a mad woman trying to get all the stuff on the list that I don't already have

And so my September begins!

monday shopping haul

Well today I had to say goodbye to my favorite pair of leggings. They ripped right down the leg. Sigh. So since Jon and I recently came into a bit of funny money and I was all sad about my leggings (they were my favorite pair after all!) I cheered myself up with a bit of shopping at Target! First off, I got a ruffle front basic black cardigan. I had been needing a new black cardigan and this fit the bill. Next is this adorable sweater! I love the militaryesque feel of it! Next, I got these cowboy boots! I have been wanting a pair for a while and they were on sale, so I decided to go for it!
Also, The Best of Martha Stewart Halloween Handbook is out! I love all things Halloween and I love Martha's crafts. Squee!!!

Sausage Potato Casserole

I don't have a picture of this one, but all three of us really liked this recipe!!!! A note: I doubled this recipe and used one can of cream of mushroom soup and one of cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic. It was really tasty!

Sausage Potato Casserole

1 lb breakfast sausage

3 cups sliced potatoes

1 can cream of mushroom soup

3/4 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 onion, chopped

Brown the sausage. Mix the soup, milk, onion, and spices. Slice potatoes. In a 9x13 pan layer 1/2 the potatoes, 1/2 the sausage, 1/2 the soup mix. Do a second layer. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. After an hour, uncover and top with cheese. Bake another 15 minutes. Done!

One Taco Ring to Rule Them All

I had seen the taco ring everywhere on the internet and wanted to give it a try. I found a few recipes and didn't like what they said, so I went off on my own tangent to make my own version. I wanted a side dish, so I decided to try a mexican rice. Once again, I had seen several recipes, but none that were really what I wanted, so I made up my own. Jon, Josh and I really like both of these dishes.

Taco Ring

1 lb ground beef/turkey

1/4 onion, chopped

2 packages refrigerated crescent rolls

1/2 pack taco seasoning

1/2 cup water

toppings (lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, etc)

Brown meat and onions. Add taco seasoning and water and mix. Lay first packages of rolls out in a circle, with fat ends in the center. It should look like a sun when you are done. Lay the second pack in between two of the previous rolls, still with the fat end in the center. Spoon meat onto rolls and pull skinny/pointy end over meat and seal the ends. Bake until crescent rolls are golden brown.

Mexican Rice

2 cups minute rice

2 cups water

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup salsa

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Mix all except cheese and bake at 400 degrees fro 35 minutes. Spread cheese on the top and bake until cheese is melted.

peaches and lace

I may have a bit of a problem. A peach problem. I can't stop eating them!!!! They are so yummy! Fresh only though, no canned peaches for this lady!!

So on to something not a total side note, I am super excited about making my new wedding projects! Thanks to www.heygorg.com for the stellar wedding ideas! I so cannot wait to see her wedding!!! It's a week after mine and I know her's is going to be so beautiful! Just check out her site and you will fall in love!

Anywho, I got lace to make the lace covered vases, which I will be putting candles in instead of flowers.

I also got enough lace to make a version of the lace seating chart pictured below. I'm going to put lace strips in black 8x10 picture frames and use them to hold the reserved signs for the family tables. It will look a little like this.

Cute right! And the serve another purpose! After the wedding, I'm going to hang them in my hallway and use them to hold/display pictures! I've been wanting to do a photo wall for a while and I think this is a great way to do it!!! I can't wait to get on these projects!!!! All I need to get is the glass containers and black picture frames.

couples shower

Well this weekend has been a great mix of getting stuff done and lazing about. Yesterday, we went and got ties and shirts for the wedding. While we were out shopping, we found that game over t-shirt with the picture of the bride and groom on the front. I was so excited! Jon said he'll wear it the day of the wedding. After being out and about we came home for lunch and played a game of Sorry!. Josh won of course. He always wins when we play board games. For an 8 year old, he is really quite good at them!! Last night, we went to our couples shower at Jon's mom's house. It was a lot of fun. I may have drunk too much vodka for my own good! Jon's aunt Rachel got us the best cake!!!


Is that not awesome!!! Not to mention that it was way yummy too! Josh was so excited! He kept asking when we were going to cut the cake so he could play with the action figures! He's been playing with them ever since!! Thanks to everyone who planned and came to the shower!

Last minute wedding must have!

If you are planning a wedding, you must visit http://www.heygorg.com !

It is an awesome site with gorgeous images and ideas!!! I know I'm less than a month out, but I just found this lace covered vase idea and now I HAVE to have them in my centerpieces!!!!

Aren't they awesome! Not that I'd mind those Anthropologie cups either, but I'm a realistic kind of girl and I think I'll stick to the vases. I think they'll add that touch that has been missing. Now I just have to make them!

One Month!!!!!

One month from today, I will be a Mrs.!!!!!!! I'm so excited! I can't believe it's so close!!! We are getting the last minute details done at this point. This weekend we are going to buy shirts for Jon and Josh and ties for all the guys. I also want to decide on our programs this weekend, and I need to email the photog the final info. I also started my "final" checklist that I'm going to use when I pack the car to head up the day before. I hope I haven't forgotten anything!!! I'm just in shock that the wedding is so close!!! Where did the last year go?! In honor of the month away mark, here are some gorgeous wedding pictures from weheartit.com