Happy Halloween!

My Whovian family went all out for Halloween this year. I made my oldest a Dalek costume, which I was exactly pleased by, but it worked. My little was the TARDIS and I decided on the 11th Doctor. Our candy collection was very minimum, but we still had a lot of fun.

It was also story book character day at school for C. Our original plan, Peter Pan, went out the window when the store didn't have the green fleece I needed in stock. Instead, we hit up the costume section, on the night before Halloween, to scavenge what was left. There wasn't much, and absolutely NOTHING in his size, so we ended up with a size L in boys (big boys, not toddlers) and a need for getting crafty. Determination and a night of hand sewing ended with a pretty neat Bilbo Baggins outfit!

I've also got one more awesome announcement - the winner of the amber bracelet giveaway! Only three people commented the post, so random.org chose number 3.. Michelle! Congratulations and thanks so much for reading our blog. :)

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

I can't tell you how many times I have attempted a broccoli and cheese soup recipe that ended as an epic failure. Either it tasted terrible or it clumped and wasn't a soup, but instead the garbage can's dinner. My favorite thing in the world to eat is Panera's broccoli and cheese soup in a bread bowl. It is SO good! No other place I've eaten broccoli and cheese soup at has come close. I found a few "copycat" recipes on Pinterest.. and those were my epic failures. I started playing around with my own recipe and finally have one I think is good enough to keep! It's definitely not Panera quality, but close enough for me to enjoy and share!

Ingredients:

broccoli florets (about 1 head will do)

1 large carrot, diced

1 small onion, diced

4 Tablespoons of butter

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

3 cups of chicken broth

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon of each)

8 oz velveeta cheese, cubed (yes, I opted for processed cheese. sue me)

In a large pot, melt the butter. Add in flour and mix well. Add in the heavy whipping cream slowly, whisking until smooth. Add in the chicken broth, nutmeg, salt, pepper and garlic. Bring to a slight boil and then reduce heat to medium low. Simmer like this for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the broccoli, onion and carrots. Cook for an additional 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Using a ladle, scoop out the vegetables and put them in a blender with just a little bit of the soup. Puree the vegetables. It'll be a nice green color. Add back to the soup in the pot. Add in your cheese and stir until melted. Serve with an extra garnish of parsley and bread on the side. Delicious! 

Chicken Salad Stuffed Deviled Eggs

I'm back again with another deviled egg recipe! This time I was already making deviled eggs and was tired of the normal chicken salad sandwiches, so I decided to combine the two. This would be a great dish to bring to a party! My picky 4 year old didn't care much for it (though he will eat chicken salad and deviled eggs separately) but my 1 year old devoured it. Simple thing to make, delicious to eat.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

6 eggs

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 stalk of celery, sliced in .5" pieces

bacon, cooked and shredded 

To boil the eggs, place the eggs in a pan and pour in water until just covered. Bring to a rapid boil. Turn off heat and cover for 10 minutes. Once time is up, place eggs into a bowl of ice water. Shell should be easy to remove after tapping on counter to start a crack. Slice eggs in half length-wise and scoop out the yolk. Put the cooked yolks in a large bowl and break them up. Break out your food processor (I have mentioned I have a mini one from WalMart that was $10). First put your celery pieces in and pulse until minced. Pour the celery into the bowl with yolk. Next, put chicken into the processor and pulse until minced. Place chicken into the yolk and celery. Add your bacon and mayo to the bowl and stir well. Scoop mix into the egg whites. You can also cut a hole into the corner of a ziplock bag, add the mix and then squeeze it into the egg whites for a cleaner look.

Memory Shadow Boxes

Hey everyone! We've not been posting much the past week because we've been working nonstop on a HUGE project. I can't wait to share it with all of you! We are just waiting on some last minute things to come in the mail to finishing making the items.

I figured I would share an old DIY project to make up for it. These memory shadow boxes went up on my "Best of Times" wall that I made for my boys. Super simple to make and a lovely way to memorialize the moment that you became a parent!

You will need:

Shadow box

Scrapbook paper

Momentos from the hospital/birth

Tape

Scissors

The easiest way to get the paper the size you need is to the the back of the frame and trace it onto the paper. From there you can trim it down to size and tape to the frame back. I used a roll on tape that can be found in the craft sections. If you put the hospital bracelet like I did, you will need to secure it with glue (or tape if you may want to take it out later on). Place the items into the box how you would like them to be and put the back on. Now hang those adorable boxes up to show off to future guests! Here is our completed wall. I made some subway art with their birth stats and clocks set on their birth times.

We have gotten so many compliments on this wall when people visit. I find myself looking at the wall once in a while reflecting on those moments when my life completely changed. 

Bacon Wrapped Roasted Asparagus

Asparagus came in my Bountiful Baskets this past week. I have a confession - I have never had asparagus. I've been offered, but never took the leap of trying it. This comes from not having a large offering of food choices as a child. With these baskets, I've been forced out of my comfort zone in order to use some of the items we receive. I adore roasted vegetables, so I decided to just do that to our asparagus. With bacon, of course. Because bacon.

Ingredients:

a bunch of asparagus

bacon slices

1/4 cup melted butter

a tablespoon of brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400F. Wrap a baking sheet in aluminum foil. Cut the ends off of the asparagus (not the tips, you want those). Make smaller bundles, about 10 pieces in each. Wrap the bacon around the asparagus, leaving about an inch free on top and bottom. You can secure with a toothpick, but mine wrapped just perfectly so I could place the seam side down. Pour melted butter evenly over the bundles. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 30 minutes. The asparagus should be starting to wilt. Serve with chicken or whatever you desire! We also roasted some potatoes at the same time drizzled with garlic infused oil.

Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings - Clean Eating

I've made chicken & dumplings a million times before, but never found my "perfect" mess of ingredients. I think I have discovered what works best for our family. The best part? It's all clean. No cream of whatevers, just good, wholesome food. Perfect for the changing weather.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

32 oz chicken broth (use your own or organic boxed)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon parsley

2 large carrots

3 stalks of celery

(for dumplings)

2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup of milk 

Place all stew ingredients into the crock pot. Turn on low. Mix dry ingredients for dumplings in a large bowl. Add in wet ingredients and mix until combined well. Ball the dough mix and drop softly onto the top of the stew. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Check the chicken and dumplings to be sure it is cooked thoroughly before serving. Shred your chicken with 2 forks (should be super easy to do if done) and then serve.

DIY: Autumn Door Wreath

My favorite season is autumn. It could be autumn all year long and I would be completely okay with that. The leaves are turning, the weather is cooling down. Sweaters and boots come out of the closet. Fleece pullovers and bonfires. And then there is the decorating. That's the best part! Okay, maybe dressing up for Halloween and cooking Thanksgiving dinner ranks higher, but you know what I mean.

Supplies:

14" Foam wreath form

1 roll of brown ribbon

1 roll of orange ribbon

leaves and berries from a fall garland

tacky glue

Use tacky glue to secure a small section of ribbon. Begin wrapping ribbon around diagonally, like a candy cane, leaving just enough space for the second color ribbon. When you get to the end, cut and secure with more tacky glue. Repeat with second ribbon color. With the remaining ribbon, wrap around bottom (or top) or wreath and secure by tying a bow. Glue your accents on. Be sure to leave the wreath laying flat for at least an hour so that everything dries in place, or else you'll get some sliding around. You can use a hot glue gun for faster drying time, but I seem to have some bad luck burning myself and try to avoid them. Haha. I also found this cute little harvest pilgrim decoration that a friend gave to me years ago that I tied to it.

You can pretty much add whatever little tidbits you'd like to make it yours. Try adding a wooden letter to represent your last name. Some pinecones would also look cute! The possibilities are endless.

Chicken Salad Stuffed Avocados and Pomegranate Chocolates

I have never had an avocado in my life until tonight. I also never had a pomegranate until a few days ago. Since we are just now getting back into the groove of things, you get a two-for-one deal. Dinner and dessert. The dinner inspiration came from a photo a friend posted on Facebook from a restaurant she was at. 

Dinner Ingredients:

Avocados

Chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

1 stalk of celery

2 teaspoons of mayonnaise

1 teaspoon of pickle relish

salt and pepper to taste

For my family, we used 3 avocados and 2 large chicken breasts. Preheat oven to 350F and cook chicken breasts until done. Cube the breasts small enough to fit into your food processor. Cut the celery stalk into half inch size pieces and put into food processor to blend with chicken. Cut, pit and peel skin off of the avocados. In a large bowl, mix your chicken and celery (after it has been through the processor), mayo, pickle relish, salt and pepper together. I also add a few dashes of hot sauce for more flavor. Scoop chicken salad into the centers of the avocados. Goes nicely with a fresh salad!

Dessert Ingredients:

Pomegranate

Dark chocolate

Retrieve seeds from the pomegranate. There are all kinds of how-to's out there, but the easiest way I have seen from them all (and was successful with myself) is this. Cut ends off of both sides of pomegranate. Cut a .25" slit in quarters around the pomegranate. Break open. Hit the skin side with a wooden spoon and out come the seeds. Now you need to melt down the chocolate. You can do this in the microwave in 15 second intervals or use the double broiler method. Line a mini muffin tin with mini cupcake liners. Spoon in a little chocolate, spoon in some pomegranate seeds, spoon more chocolate over the seeds. Add a couple more seeds on top to make it pretty. Put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to set the chocolate. It's messy, but delicious. I didn't use any set measurements, just eyeballed it. Some people will want more chocolate, some more pomegranate. Either way, it's delicious!  

Revamp & 12k views Giveaway!

Hey! I decided for the millionth time that I need to keep up with the blog more. I love it, so why do I keep neglecting it? Not enough content. Here's the deal - Surprising enough for me, others seem to like my blog, too. So I will be starting back up with more of a schedule to things. 

A few notes:

• We are now located at this URL http://fandomscoexist.blogspot.com aka Fandom Mama.
• Our old URL is http://writinglovediscoveringme.blogspot.com, which will now say removed.
• Comments are OPEN, even on Anonymous feature. Use with caution, as I can still find you if you abuse it.
• We have reached 12k+ views! 

With that last little tidbit, to celebrate getting back into the groove of things and the 12k views, we are doing our first ever giveaway! This time we have an 8.5" genuine polished baltic amber bracelet from Inspired by Finn. Baltic amber is fossilized tree resin that has been used for centuries in Europe as a natural remedy for many ailments and discomforts. It has high concentrations of succinic acids that are beneficial to you. When worn on the body, your natural body heat draws in the oils and are absorbed by the skin. These are worn to help with this from teething pain in babies to migraines in adults. For full information, visit Inspired by Finn. 

The giveaway rules are very simple:

*Comment with you favorite thing about the autumn season on THIS post.
*Share the blog post, please. Buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and Google+ are located at the bottom of this post.
*Follow us is you'd like, but it's not necessary. The follow button is located to the right of this post.

The giveaway will end on October 31st at 8pm EST. Good luck!