Taco Soup

I just love stews, soups, and chilis this time of year! This year, up until now it's still been too warm around our house for hot comfort foods.  But today I actually turned the heat on, so now I'm starting to see some soup in our near future! In the last couple of years I've been turned on to Taco Soup.  If you like chili, you'll love this!  It's not too spicy, not too bland, full of flavor, and perfect for a cool fall day.

Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored byKitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset

Recipe for Taco Soup:


Ingredients:
1 pkg. Taco seasoning
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 can black beans
1  can pinto beans
1 can of chili (kidney) beans
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 can corn

Directions: Brown onion and meat.  Drain.  Place in large pot.  Add taco seasoning and mix well.  Add canned ingredients. Simmer for one hour.  Serve with chips, cheese, and sour cream.

Tip: Drain some or all of the cans, depending on how thick you'd like your soup to be.

I'm linking up at these linky parties.

Friday Favorites - Week 36

Hi everyone! And Happy Friday!  If you stopped by last Friday and didn't find the Favorites post, I'm so sorry!  I had the post ready on Thursday afternoon, and I totally thought it was going to publish around 8 PM on Thursday night, but apparantly I did not hit the Publish button.  Oops!  And then I only came online to check email and stuff on Friday.  I should have noticed that there were no comments for Friday Favorites in my inbox, but it just didn't even occur to me!  Finally on Saturday I realized that the post wasn't up! Eek!

I did finally publish it on Saturday afternoon! (And big thanks to everyone who stopped by over the weekend!) But since it was late and therefore got a lot less traffic, I've decided to re-feature all the posts from last week's event, plus a couple of extra posts from those who got a chance to link up on Saturday.  Hope you enjoy!

By the way, I'm sponsoring my very first giveaway over at Just Sew Sassy!  They're celebrating 6 months of blogging with six great prizes, including a pair of my Petite Earrings!  Please head on over there and check it out! (After linking up here, of course!)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting from Polka Dots and Pizza

Pumpkin Spice Fudge from Aunt Peg's Recipe Box

Potato Apple Cheddar Soup from EKat's Kitchen

Painted Pumpkin Craft from kidswonderart

Caramel Pumpkin Pie from My Sweet and Savory

Twisted Bat Art from Can't Stop Making Things

Silky Cauliflower Soup from The Delshad Duo

I'm excited to see what you've been working on this week. Link up your post urls below!  Also, please link back to my blog or include my Friday Favorites button somewhere on your site.  Thanks!

Simply Sweet Creations Jewelry Giveaway

Since opening my shop this year, I've done very little to promote it, but since the holidays are coming up I've decided to do some blog promotions.  And it just so happened that Staci over at Just Sew Sassy was looking for sponsors to celebrate her half year of blogging, so I'm happy to announce that I'm sponsoring my first jewelry giveaway over at her blog this week!

For the prize, I've giving away a pair of my Petite Earrings.  These are made with surgical steel earwire and findings, which makes them perfect for sensitive ears, and they feature Czech Glass beads with a lovely sparkle.  The winner will get to choose the color of the pair they recieve.  The colors I currently offer are as follows:

• Black
• Clear
• Red
• Green
• Olive Green
• Blue
• Blue-Violet (Purple)
• Cobalt Blue

If you'd like to enter the giveaway, please head on over to Staci's blog.  The giveaway will be open through next Thursday, Nov 4.  And if you are a twitter or facebook follower of mine, you can also get extra giveaway entries!

Thanks so much to Staci for having me over at her blog.  And as I said, I am actually considering doing a couple of promotions for the holiday season, so if you have a blog, and you'd like me to sponsor a giveaway, please send me a email.  My advertising budget is very small right now, so I have to be very selective of the promotions I do, but I'd be willing to give any and all blogs a look, at the very least.

Sweet Thursday: Halloween Edition

Time for this month's edition of Sweet Thursday! If you're new here, this is my monthly dessert round-up, where you're invited to link up a dessert that falls under our current theme.  This month's theme was Halloween/Fall.  Thanks to all you great bloggers for sharing your sweets with us!  I just love Halloween, and seeing all your great ideas makes it all even more fun!

For next month's event, there will be no theme per se, but I will more than likely try to highlight some Family Favorites, Thanksgiving, and Holiday Desserts. So feel free to send in anything that you think would fit in well with that.  You have until November 16 to send in any submissions.  And then the linky event will go up on Wednesday night, November 17, for those who'd like to link something up.  I realize that's not really a whole lot of time, but towards the end of November I'll be working on a lot of Christmas stuff (both on the blog and at home), and I want to make sure I can fit everything in to my schedule.  (Plus, the following Thursday is Thanksgiving, and I know people will be busy with family at that time.)

On a side note, I'm sponsoring my first giveaway over at Just Sew Sassy this week.  The giveaway post is supposed to be up some time on Thursday, so if you have a moment, please go over there and check it out!

Hope you enjoy this month's round-up!

Pumpkin Cupcakes from Mommy Topics

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies from The Domestic Engineer

Jack-O-Lantern S'mores from Recipes for Moms

Halloween Pizza from Singing with Birds

Halloween Suckers from How Does She?

Chocolate Dipped Cookies from Nina's Recipes

Halloween Pops from Lisa's Recipe Cards

Witch Hat from Nap Time Journal

Halloween Tea Cakes from Simply Sweet Home

If you have a Fall or Halloween treat to share with us, please link it up below.  And I ask that you please link up the URL to your actual post, so it will be easy for us to find your submission.  Thanks!

Book Page Initial Wreath

Looking for a personalized Christmas gift?  Or something personalized for your own home?  How about a fun book page intial wreath!

I've absolutely loved looking at all the book page projects out in the blogosphere.  While my husband was out of town a few weeks ago, I finally got around to making one of my own.  For this design I was inspired specifically over the summer by someone who created a wreath using an embroidery hoop, except theirs had a fleur de lis in the center.  (If this was you, please comment or email me so that I can include a link to your project!)

Anyway, this was mostly made out of materials I had on hand at home. And it turned out so great that I'm planning a trip to craft store so I can make some more! My husband wants me to make one for his mother for Christmas, and I'm also planning to make something similar for my dad. He's in the process of moving, and I think it would make a great Christmas and housewarming gift. And while I'm at at it, I'll make one for my mom as well.

And I've also added the wreath to my shop and will take custom orders for anyone who'd like one for their home. For more information on this, including size, features, and pricing, just visit my shop.

For those of you who love to craft yourself, I'll also be posting a tutorial for this very shortly. I'll try to post it in the next few weeks when I have more time. It's not a very difficult project to undertake. It was just kind of long and drawn out, and involved a lot of steps.  Till then, I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek!

I'm linking up at these fun craft and decor parties.

Perdue Chicken Review and Giveaway

I'm always looking for quick menu options for lunch and dinner.  Often frozen chicken products are a go-to food for this.  We usually buy buffalo flavored chicken tenders or boneless wings.  But sometimes we get the plain chicken tenders or chicken patties for sandwiches as well.  So I was really excited when I got an email from Shespeaks that allowed me to enroll in a program to try Chicken Nuggets from Perdue.

For those of you not familiar with Perdue, you can find their products in stores from Maine to Florida, and as far west as St. Louis.  The company sells a variety of chicken products, from fresh chicken, to precooked refrigerated chicken, to frozen chicken.  And you can find their nuggets and strips in the freezer section along side your favorite frozen entrees and appetizers.

I was very excited to see the variety of Perdue products available, including nuggets in fun Dinosaur shapes, Buffalo strips, and even whole grain chicken strips.  Clearly they have something for everyone in this product line! 

When shopping for frozen chicken products, I look for something that I can cook up fairly quickly.  And I want something that's going to taste just as good as something I could make from stratch or get at a local restaurant (without the work or added cost).  Perdue definitely satifies these qualities.  And I was happy to find that the chicken was of a great quality and taste.

And as I looked at my package of Chicken Breast Tenders, I noticed that 3 tenders were only 15 grams of carb (or 1 carb serving for those of you familiar with the term).  Since my husband's a diabetic, I love it when I find foods that I can easily measure out the carb servings for.  (Even though hubby often surpasses his limit, I at least try to make an attempt to count the carbs, and this is very helpful for me.)

Overall, I find Perdue to be a great choice for those of you with kids who love chicken nuggets or for those of you without kids that love the occasional quick meal or appetizer of chicken tenders.

Win it!  One Simply Sweet Home reader will win a prize pack which includes the following:

-A coupon for a free sample package of Perdue's Frozen Breaded Chicken Nuggets (up to $7.99 value)

-A handy silicone-baking tray (easy to use and easy to clean!)

-Ten coupons for $2.00 off frozen Perdue products

Giveaway Closed. Congrats to our winner Charlotte!

I'm posting this at my weekly foodie parties

Disclosure: I received a prize pack like the one featured in this giveaway from Perdue through She Speaks.  The opinions expressed here are my own.

Friday Favorites - Week 35 (On Saturday!)

Hey guys!  I apologize for not having this up on Thursday night like I always do.  I had the post scheduled for 8:00 on Thursday night.  Around this time my husband came home from working late.  And so I hung out with him for a while and then went to bed, totally thinking it was posted.  (It helps if you hit the publish button. Oops!)  What's sad is that I did a little bit of work on the computer yesterday, but I never visited the blog (and I failed to notice that there were no comments for Friday Favorites in my inbox).  Oh well!  Since the post is here, I've decided to go ahead and post it up rather than waiting for next week! And I guess if nobody comes by, I'll just repost everything for next week.

Don't forget to check out this week's giveaways, including my blogiversary giveaway with a prize pack featuring a Presto Cool Touch Griddle!  There's also the giveaway from Curtsay Designs  ending in a few days, and a brand new giveaway this week from Febreze and Walmart. 

And if you love giveaways you'll be happy to know that I've got some really great Holiday Gift Giveaways coming in November!  And I'm also currently scheduling giveaways for my big Christmas event coming up in December. (Details to be announced over the next few weeks!) If you would like to sponsor a holiday giveaway, just shoot me an email, and I'll tell you about my upcoming opportunities! 

Potato Apple Cheddar Soup from EKat's Kitchen

Painted Pumpkin Craft from kidswonderart

Caramel Pumpkin Pie from My Sweet and Savory

Twisted Bat Art from Can't Stop Making Things

Silky Cauliflower Soup from The Delshad Duo

I'm excited to see what you've been working on this link. Link up your post urls below!  Also, please link back to my blog or include my Friday Favorites button somewhere on your site.  Thanks!

Halloween Kitchen Decor

This post should prove that you don't have to spend a lot of money or be very crafty to create a super cute table setting.

We have an antique sewing machine, which belonged to my grandmother, in our dining room.  I always keep a cover over it to protect from potential cat jumpers, and every few months, I try to change it up a bit.  This month I decided to make it a little more festive for Halloween.

Just like with the coffee table I posted on a couple of week ago, I simply used a piece of fabric as a table runner, and I created another set of these easy coasters to go alongside the pumpkin. Very simple, yet festive!

Here's a close up picture.  I just love this fabric, featuring a pumpkin, ghosts, purple bats, and little yellow eyes.

And to add a little more pizazz, I just added my little Halloween treat box and this little Halloween snowman figurine. Very fun and festive! (And Easy!)

I'm linking up this week to these crafty linky parties