Sunflowers!

This time of year I love having sunflowers in my home.  I seem to find them this time of year at all the local grocery stores, and at a great price.  I like to put them in a bisque pitcher. After decorating my kitchen for Fall (see previous post), I had a piece of brown burlap left over.  It really added some flair to the sunflowers with the brown bringing out their centers.

Notice I'm using the Chicken Wire Sunflower Frog from a previous post.

Decorating my kitchen for Fall.

This is one of my mantles that I have in my home that I love to decorate for the seasons.

These mini "pumpkins", thought they're not really pumpkins, make a great filler for the vase with branches.  I lightly sprayed the branches with gold paint so they would show up against the dark wood.

Just added a new bow to the burlap wreath that is always there and I'm ready for Fall. 

it looks a little red here, but this is an orange plaid.  Enjoy!

Chicken with Hot Turkey Sausage and Hot Cherry Peppers!

This is a simple dish to literally throw together and tastes great!  You've got to be able to handle the heat though.  

I use about one package of two chicken breasts, bone in and skin on and one package of hot turkey Italian sausage.

Chop about 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of onion and 2-4 tablespoons of fresh parsley.  I use about 1/2 jar of sliced hot cherry peppers, these are so good!!

Mix all of the ingredients together and add about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Line a baking dish (always saves time in cleanup) with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour.  I usually cover the dish with foil for about 20-30 minutes to make sure the chicken get completely cooked.  This is a great spicy meal!  Enjoy.

Here's the recipe.

Chicken with Hot Turkey Sausage and Hot Cherry Peppers

2 chicken breasts, bone in and skin on

1 package of hot turkey Italian Sausage

2 chopped cloves of garlic

2-4 tablespoons of chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1/2 jar of sliced hot cherry peppers

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and place in a pan lined with aluminum foil.  Place into a pre-heated 350 degree oven.  Cook for one hour and cover with another piece of foil for the first 20-30 minutes. 

First Day of Fall!

To celebrate the first day of Fall, I'm showcasing a few of my wreaths that I sell at my other blog. 

 Check out Created Twists to see more for Fall. 

Here's a few more.

Lanterns!

I bought these matching lanterns a couple of years ago and have loved them in my kitchen.  Just last week I was asked to make a flower arrangement and decided to use them as my vase.  I had a vase that fit inside the smaller one perfectly, so I filled it with water and sunflowers.  It was beautiful! Sorry no pictures, you'll have to imagine. Think how great it would be filled with Holly berries and ribbon for Christmas, Orange Mums for Fall and Hydrangeas for Spring!  I'm going to make use of these a lot more in the future and I'll be adding the pictures as I do.  In the meantime, head out to Home Goods, T. J. Maxx or Marshalls to get some of these before the holiday season gets here.  Happy Shopping!

Chicken Wire Sunflower Frog

I love having sunflowers in my home.  You will find a pitcher full of them from August through September in my kitchen-thank you Costco!  Sometimes the flowers don't fill my container, so I decided to use this great frog I had bought a few years ago.  

The only problem was that the openings of this frog were not big enough for my sunflower stems and some of them were stripped when I arranged them.

Poor flower.

The design is great, but I had a roll of chicken wire around (trying to rid my yard of rabbits) and decided to make one using the chicken wire which would have openings large enough for most sunflower stems.

I used a plate as a pattern and marked the wire with a marker.

I then cut out the shape using needle nose pliers/wire cutters.

 Chicken wire is very sharp!! I made sure to turn back the loose edges using the needle nose pliers.

Perfect fit on my pitcher!

And it worked great for my sunflower stems!

Aren't they so beautiful--sunshine on the inside of my home! These will be great for hydrangeas too, so I made sure I made a couple of them in a larger size to use for my hurricane lanterns. Good luck and be careful with the sharp edges!

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

There is comfort food, and then there is comfort soup.  What is more prescribed for feeling under the weather or just plain down in the dumps than chicken soup.  How can you make it healthier, add lemon juice.  This soup really hits the spot if you are not 100% and it's really pretty easy to make.  Use the shredded chicken from my earlier post here, and it's a snap. The original recipe comes from The Stuff I Love blog and the recipe is one you will always want to keep on hand. 

Combine the chicken, celery, onion and parsley together and cover with water.  Cook until the chicken is done, about 10 minutes.  Drain and reserve the broth, shred the chicken and discard the vegetables.

Add the chicken base back to the broth and cook until well blended.  Remove from heat.  Slowly, temper the beaten eggs by adding a few tablespoons of the broth to the eggs and mixing well.  Do this about 5 times.  Mix the tempered eggs into the broth and then add the rice and chicken. Stir in the lemon juice and bring back to medium heat until ready to serve. 

Tarragon Chicken Salad.

I know tarragon can be considered exotic, but this is a great flavor combination to try. I love using the fresh tarragon I still have in my garden.  I keep it healthy by using fat free yogurt and add crunch with slivered almonds. This recipe has a lot of protein!

 Add 2 tablespoons of chopped sweet onion and 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh tarragon to about 3 cups of shredded cooked chicken (see previous post).

Mix in the onions and tarragon.  Add to than about 1/2 cup of fat free greek yogurt, 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons of slivered onions.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

A low fat, crunchy and tasty chicken salad. 

Great Way to Shred Chicken!

My next two posts will be using shredded chicken, so I thought I'd have this post show you the best way to do it.  

First you boil the chicken in enough water to cover the chicken.  Don't overcook.  I cooked 4 breasts at a boil for about 10 minutes.  They will continue to cook as they drain.

Drain well.  Add the chicken to a stand mixer (Love my KitchenAid!) with the paddle attachment. Don't let the chicken cool too much, it needs to be still warm when you do this. 

I start on medium for about 1 minute and then up the speed until you get the desired consistency.  This makes chicken that is great for soups, chicken salad, salad, enchiladas, casseroles, etc. 

Coming up next, Tarragon Chicken Salad and Greek Chicken Lemon Soup with Rice (or Avgolemono).

Great Gadget for Iced Tea!

 

Those displays they have set up in the checkout line at Homegoods, Marshalls and T.J. Maxx are so fun.  I recently found this great new tool for my kitchen there and I love it!  A lemon sprayer, twisted directly into the lemon.

It's made by Lekue, and you just cut off the end of your lemon and twist in the spray top. I found mine at Marshall's for $6.99 but you can buy it online too. So easy!

It even comes with a base to set the lemon in.  The juice continues to collect between uses and I use one lemon for about a week.  Great idea!