Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes!

This year I am so excited to announce that I am participating in a yummy Thanksgiving blog hop!  Are you ready to read some delicious recipes and finalize your meal plan for Thanksgiving?  You are in for a treat with this blog hop as a bunch of cool blog mamas share their favorite Thanksgiving recipes with you!  That's my favorite way to gather new recipes...by having someone share their favorites with you!!  So, if you are looking for something new this year to dazzle your friends and family...keep reading!! 

I wanted to share an amazing soup recipe with you.  We tried this recipe out several years ago for Thanksgiving and it was such a hit! The recipe is a yummy "Carrot Soup with Bacon and Chestnut Cream."  I believe we first found it in a Williams-Sonoma cookbook.  It is the perfect soup to add a warm, festive, and cozy feel to your meal!  And it's the perfect excuse to use those cute pumpkin bowls you have stored away.  (Do you have those too?  I only get to use my once a year and it's with this recipe!)

Carrot Soup with Bacon and Chestnut Cream
4 slices bacon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 lb. carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 russet potato, peeled and diced
6-8 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

Chesnut Cream
1/2 cup vacuum packed chestnuts
1/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup creme fraiche
freshly grated nutmeg
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons finely snipped fresh chives

Fry bacon until crisp, about 6 minutes.  Drain fat and when cool, crumble the bacon and set aside. 

Pour off the bacon fat from the pan and return to medium heat.  Add the butter.  After butter melts, add onion and leek.  Saute until golden, about 10 minutes.  Add the carrots, potato, and 6 cups of the broth.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce to low, cover partially, and simmer until tender, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile make the chestnut cream.  In a saucepan, over low heat, combine chestnuts and broth.  Cover and cook until chestnuts are tender, about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and add to blender.  Add the creme fraiche and a pinch of nutmeg and process until smooth.  Put in small bowl and set aside until serving.  (Can be made up to 24 hours in advance, covered and refrigerated.  Bring to room temperature before serving.)

When veggies are done, remove from heat and process in a blender (in batches) and return soup to saucepan.  If too thick, add broth as needed for a good consistency.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  (You can make the soup up to this point, let cool, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours.  When ready to serve, reheat gently.)

Reheat soup over low heat when ready to serve.  Top each bowl of soup with a swirl of chestnut cream and sprinkle each with chives and bacon.  Enjoy! (This recipe serves 8 to 10.)

Alright are you ready to start blog hopping?  There are more delicious recipes waiting for you ahead!!  If you want to start at the beginning of this blog hop with a yummy appetizer, visit Robin from "Creative 2x Mom" with her appetizer recipe.  And if you want to move ahead and keep hopping, visit Krista from "Lopez Family" to learn about her grandma's broccoli salad recipe!  Have fun visiting some new blogs and above all...have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, and fun!
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Creating the Perfect Playroom!

There's something about this time of year that makes me look around our playroom and do some de-cluttering, organizing, and cleaning.  It must be that the cooler and rainier weather means we will be spending more time inside.  And with the holidays around the corner, we will be receiving some new gifts from Santa...out with the old and in with the new!  I love our playroom, have for the moment we walked through this house.  And my kiddos love their playroom.  It is a place filled with singing, dancing, laughter, coloring, wrestling, tickling, games, trains, and so much more!  I thought it might be fun to take a little tour around our playroom to show you how I organize it, have set it up, and label everything.  So, here goes...

I love cubby furniture for kids.  When there are little cubbies, it just makes it easy to organize toys in baskets and bins.  And these are essential in a playroom.  Find them on clearance, pick them up at garage sales, or make a visit to IKEA. 

You will notice that my bins and baskets also have labels.  When the kiddos are really little, you can make photo labels to encourage putting things away in the right spot.  Or you can just choose a cute font and ribbon and help yourself and older kiddos know where to put things away.

Another thing I love to do in our playroom is display books.  I choose a theme based on holidays, seasons, or subject area.  I prop up the books on easels and change them out periodically.  Love the look of this!

I also love to have "areas" or "nooks" in the playroom.  Creating a reading nook, a game area, a coloring table, an ABC corner.  Look around your playroom and decide the best spot for each area and the areas that your children would love to have in this room!

I am a teacher and so I love books!  Having a book cubby is a great way to organize books.  Eventually these books might become organized by subject area, type, favorite author and so on.  But for now they are more organized by size and collections.  It's the perfect spot to pull out a basket of books and spend some time reading.  Our big stuffed puppy encourages some cuddling while reading too!

Now you will notice some shelves that extend out into the playroom.  This is a great way to split the room in half or in areas.  You dont' want to have toys just lining the walls.  These cubby shelves organize the room and also "hide" some of the bigger toys from being the first thing you notice when you walk in.  On top of the shelves are some cute stuffed toys, container baskets for larger items, and cute canisters for some ABC letters. 

Some of our toys are lined up on the wall, because it's the best way to use the space.  But not the whole room is lined up.  The kitchen set we have in here is a little wooden way I picked up for $10 at a garage sale.  I added some cute fabric to match the walls and hide some cooking toys behind it.  I love "hiding" things when I decorate and organize!

A small table is essential in any playroom.  My kiddos love to use this table for coloring, eating a snack, playing a board game, or just sitting down and relaxing.  And some beautiful photos of my kiddos personlize the room.  They need to know it was created for them!

And a playful looking rug is the perfect place to encourage kiddos to do some wrestling, tickling, and playtime!

Our t.v. and video space is wonderful.  The television is at their level.  They are able to browse through the videos and choose one to watch every once in a while.  And adding some toys and stuffed characters make it playful and fun!  A beanbag chair welcomes your child to sit down and relax.

Don't forget finding a place somewhere in the room for artwork and craft projects.  I hung two magnet boards on one of our walls.  And I love to add new artwork here whenever I can.  It is so much fun to see what they have created and it fills the room with color and personalization again.

My newest favorite find is this darling gumball machine!  Filled with cheerios or goldfish and it's a yummy snack for your kiddos too!

Make the best use of space possible.  Even the back of a door can be a great place to organize toys. 

And don't forget closets or the attic.  Our attic has a full-size door that is accessed right there in the playroom.  The kiddos can open the door and find their dress-up clothes to play with.  Look at how much fun is waiting for them here!  My cutie pies can't resist dressing up and having some pretend time!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our playroom and feel inspired to create a kid-friendly space in your home where a kid can be a kid!  Share any tips or ideas you have for making a fun and organized playroom.

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Dress Up Clothes OR Costumes for Next Halloween!

You all have to stop by Target and take advantage of all of their Halloween items being 75% off!  I finally made it over there today and there were still lots of costumes left.  I was so excited because I wanted to pick up a few for playtime and dress up clothes!  My son picked out Buzz Lightyear and a cowboy.  My daughter chose Elmo, a bunny rabbit, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  I made sure to get a size bigger so that if we decide to use any of these for next year we can.  Now the best part is that two of these costumes were $4.25 and the others were $5.00. How great is that?!  Drive yourself over to Target today and stock up on a few cute costumes.

Later this week I will show you how I store our dress up clothes.  You know me and my love for organization.  Even our dress up area has a system in place! 

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A Trick-Or-Treat Party to Remember!

This year we hosted our 3rd Annual Trick-Or-Treat Party at our home with lots of friends!  It's something we look forward to each year and something we want our kiddos to have wonderful childhood memories of for years to come!  This was our first Halloween in this home and we had the perfect neighborhood for trick-or-treating and enjoying Halloween together.  This is a big family event!

My wonderful husband is in charge of the chili we serve to the adults that evening.  He makes a huge crockpot of chili for about 20 adults.  This year he woke up at 6:00 in the morning to start his yummy recipe.  Yummy!  I love that he does this each year, and so do our friends!

My fun includes planning the kids menu and decorating for our celebration.  This year I even took over the garage for our party and set up lots of tables for the kiddos to eat at and it became a great place for the Halloween games and crafts!  The festive menu included:  spiderweb pizzas, mummy dogs, monster mac n' cheese, junkyard dog chili, appetizers and lots of delicious desserts!  And for crafts and games I had the kiddos create spooky popcorn hands, decorate mini pumpkins, make sticker cards, bobbing for apples, a pumpkin toss, and so much more!

How did you celebrate Halloween?  I would love to hear about some of your favorite parts and memories!  Thanks for sharing!

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A Love for Fall in Your Home!

It's been a while...Halloween has been such a busy time this year!  I have lots to share with you but I will start with some fall fun in this post!  I was talking to a friend the other day about fall decorations and when I put them up and when I take them down.  I don't do as much Halloween decorating but I do bring some "fall flavor" into our home at the beginning of October.  It stays up until the day after Thanksgiving when the Christmas decor begins!

My favorite fall decorating includes leaves, pumpkins, berry sprigs, and warm colors.  I thought it would be fun to give you a fall tour of my family room and dining room and let you see what we did this year.  It's our first fall in our new home and it was lots of fun decorating.  My front porch was the best part.  I love decorating our porch for the new season!  Here's a peek for you of our home in the fall...

What are your favorite ways to decorate for fall?  Would love to hear your ideas or projects you are working on!  Thanks for sharing!

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