DIY Wedding Canvas

A few weeks ago my mom visited and we worked on this amazing craft project. 

My mom had several pictures from my wedding and wanted to make a diy canvas using a blank white canvas and modge podge. We first painted the white canvas using black craft paint and then arranged all of the pictures around the invitation in the center. Then you add a few coats of modge podge and you have a homemade canvas that look amazing! I plan on making another one of these in a few weeks using family pictures that were taken this summer. Check out this great picture of the project!

Fall Recipes - Outstanding Reviews!

The relaxing weekend at the lodge was perfect and the recipes I made were a huge hit with everyone and received outstanding reviews!

The chicken tortilla soup was the perfect fall recipe and was nice and filling and great with all the fixins. 

The pear crisp was so delicious that words cannot even begin to describe, but I will try... warm and gooey, toasted pecans, loads of brown sugar, and delicious sweet pears. The reviews from the family on both of these recipes was outstanding and I will definitely be making these again!

The weekends always seem to go by way too fast but we loved getting out of town and enjoying the beautiful scenery up at the lodge!

Brunch Recipes - Make it Special!

There is nothing better than an amazing brunch on a lazy Sunday morning. I love the feeling of sleeping in, staying in your pajamas till at least noon, and putting together a delicious brunch menu to savor with my husband. We love sleeping in together on the weekends and plan on savoring this luxury as long as we can before having children. I have found a few new recipes online to try on our brunch menu in the coming months, and I can't wait to taste these!

• Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cream Cheese Drizzle - what could be better than a pancake that tastes like a cupcake?
• Berry Strata - the perfect mix of berries and bread and baked to perfection!
• Vanilla Spice Oatmeal - a new twist on a healthy breakfast and makes great leftovers...

Hope you and your family can savor a lazy Sunday morning with one of these delicious recipes. Enjoy!

Fall Weekend at the Lodge

We are leaving this morning to head up on the Grand Mesa for a short stay at a beautiful lodge with my husband's family. We will be enjoying the breathtaking fall colors, taking long walks on the property, relaxing by the fire, cooking new recipes (see the list here), and enjoying the scenery. 

This picture reminds me of everything I love about fall and I am looking forward to the next 24 hours of peace and relaxation!

Book Club Recap

Last night was another great book club night with great friends, good food, and an excellent book to discuss. I finished the book 'Those Who Save Us' about an hour before book club (always leaving it down to the wire) and absolutely loved this book. This story encompassed both the past and present of a mother-daughter relationship that made it through the holocaust and their current life in America. This story brought up several memories for me from when my grandparents would share stories about their lives in Holland during the war. This book definitely deserves an A+ and I would recommend it to just about everyone!

My favorite recipe from last night was this Seven Layer Greek Dip from the blog Our Best Bites. It was super easy to put together and a huge hit with everyone!

Of course we chose the next book club selection and I am excited to get started on 'Room' by Emma Donoghue. I have heard great things about this book and can't wait to download it on my iPad and start reading. Stay tuned for updates on the book and have a great Friday!

iPad2 - AMAZING!

A few days ago I bought an iPad2 and it is one of the most amazing things I have ever had! The technology of this almost paper thin device is just incredible to me and so much fun to play with! I have been busy downloading apps, reading an iBook, and browsing the web on the comfort of my couch. I have been thinking about buying one for awhile and I finally decided it was time to do something nice for myself and spend the money on something I would truly enjoy. I also bought the adorable pink cover to protect my iPad and the pink is so me! I am officially addicted to my iPad, which has made fitting everything into my schedule a bit of a challenge the last few days. I can't wait to post about my favorite apps in the months to come... love love love it!

Cooking with My Dad

This weekend my Dad is visiting from Salt Lake and we always have a tradition of cooking dinner together. With the fall weather here, we wanted to try a new chili recipe and ended up making White Bean Chicken Chili from the Taste of Home website. It was delicious and so easy! Of course we couldn't have dinner without dessert, so I just finished making us Pumpkin Whoopie Pies from Rachael Ray's magazine... oh my, they were amazing!

I love spending time with my dad as we cook together, watch football, and just enjoy each others' company. The perfect way to spend a Saturday!

Pumpkin Favorites

Fall is by far the best time of year for baking and decorating, and pumpkin is the perfect common denominator for both! The flavor of canned pumpkin puree in any recipe is just about perfect and pumpkin can also make adorable decorations for the home and for parties. Here are a few of my fall favorites when it comes to pumpkin:

• Pumpkin Pound Cake - from "Sing for Your Supper" blog

• Pumpkin Treat Bags - adorable favor bags for parties

• Pumpkin Spice Pancakes - from "Dashing Dish" blog

• Pumpkin Party Cooler - perfect drink display for parties

One Week Till Book Club

One week from tonight I will be hosting book club and I can't wait! This month's book, "Those Who Save Us" has been an incredible read and incredibly interesting. We have a few new ladies joining our group this month and I can't wait to introduce them to everyone next week. I can already tell that this current book club selection is going to inspire discussion and insight for all of us. I am also looking forward to preparing a delicious menu for all of us... check out my list of recipes to make here! I still have a few chapters to finish in the book and lots of shopping to do for the menu next week... but I am sure the next week will fly by and next Thursday will be here before I blink! Stay tuned for my post once I finish the book and I will be sure to let you all know how the new recipes turn out!

Dinner and Dessert

My mom is visiting for the weekend and tonight was the perfect night to make a new recipe for dinner and a dessert! We made Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups and they turned out great, with one exception... they needed spinach to be added to the recipe. After each new recipe I try, I always ask my husband or family if it is a do-over... and they said yes, as long as I added something green! For dessert (and for breakfast for the new few days) we made White Chocolate Walnut Zucchini Bread and it was pretty darn good. We adapted the recipe to make muffins instead of bread and I love how the zucchini makes the muffins so moist! This recipe calls for a few expensive ingredients though, like mascarpone cheese and white chocolate... so based on that, I probably will not make the recipe again. I have plenty of muffins to last us for the next few days and I can mark the lasagna roll-ups off my list of italian recipes to try (see previous post here). Hope you try a few recipes that you have seen featured here on my blog and be sure to post a comment if you do!