Happy Halloween

From my sweet Hula Girls!

Yes.  I'm that girl who, not only dresses her dogs up for Halloween, but in coordinating costumes.  Best $10 I've spent at Target all week--go ahead and judge.

Did any of y'all dress up your fur children?!  I'd love to see them--it cracks me up!  Find me on Instagram @amparsons29

Happy Halloween, y'all!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This week has been crazy...and it's only Wednesday!!  I had feeling behind on house work--I've grown pretty accustomed to my "down time!"  Anywho, I'm on a soup kick.  I posted last week how pumped I am to make our Halloween Chicken Tortilla Soup tomorrow, but I was in a soupy mood last weekend and whipped this up to satisfy my craving.

I hate to see leftovers go to waste, but at the same time I don't always want to eat the same thing two nights in a row or for lunch the next day.  I love taking leftovers and turning them into a whole new meal--especially when I have every ingredient in the house!  This one was definitely a winner--so close to my absolute favorite at Panera!

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of flour

1 cup of milk

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

1 cup of chicken stock 

1 cooked, chopped chicken breast {approx 1 cup}

1ish cups of cooked wild rice
Salt & pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Once melted, add in diced onion {if you want to add some diced carrots and celery too, insert here.}  Saute until onions are soft and translucent, about 5ish minutes.  Add in minced garlic, give it a quick stir & then sprinkle flour over onion/garlic/butter mixture.  Mix until combined {no powder flour visible} and cook for about three minutes.

Add in milk, whisking until combined and starts to thicken.  Stir in Cream of Chicken Soup and chicken stock {side note: I didn't have any chicken stock, so I dissolved one chicken bouillon cube in one cup of water, and then added that in.  Pretty much chicken stock}

Add in the chopped chicken breast and cooked wild rice {I used leftover wild rice from Rice-a-Roni that we had the night before.  The seasonings in the pack gave this great flavor.  It's all rice, no roni, and only one dolla!}  Let chicken and rice heat through and serve.

What is your favorite way to give your leftovers a facelift? 

Five on Friday

I can't believe this is the last Friday in October--time is flying!  I shared my favorite Halloween tradition on Wednesday, and it just made me super excited for next week.  We're getting festive with our Friday five today, friends!

{one}  I love these super cute bowls from Coton Colors!  I think they'd be perfect to hold the candy for trick-or-treaters

{two} We have yet to carve or decorate a pumpkin this year!  It's on the list for this weekend, and I'm still trying to come up with something.  Best pumpkin carving award goes to O back in 2008 for this gem.  Go Skins!

{three} Most favorite Halloween candy?  I really think it's a mini snickers or Reese's Pieces!

{four}  For Izzie's first Halloween, which feels like eons ago, she was a little bumble bee!  {Y'all can read about my bee obsession in this post}.  Definitely my favorite dog costume of all time.  Shelby as the hot dog is a close second ;)

{five} My favorite costume as a kid?  My best friend and I dressed up as dice.  Probably the easiest costume ever for our moms.  A box, painted white with black dots.  DONE.  I'd share a picture if they weren't all at my moms in Virginia.  But it was probably something like this.  Cuteness and all.

We've got a busy weekend ahead of us full of birthday parties, weddings and shoppinggggg :)  I'm excited to see what y'all are up to!

Our Halloween Tradition

Halloween is just one week away!  I don't know about you, but I am so excited to see all of the cute costumes, eating the candy handing out candy, and a tradition I started last year--Chicken Tortilla Soup.  I posted about it here last year, but I think it's worth sharing again!  Not only is it a crazy festive orange & black {bean} soup, it's pretty tasty, too!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Black Beans

serves 6ish; adapted from Girlichef

ingredients:

vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

5 small corn tortillas, cut or torn into strips

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. paprika 

1 "shake" red pepper flakes

1 can Rotel Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies

1/2 can of tomato paste

1 box (quart) of chicken stock

2 cooked, chopped chicken breasts

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed

3/4 c. half & half

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

toppings:

sour cream

shredded Monterey Jack cheese

fried tortilla strips

Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a dutch oven, or heavy pot over medium heat; add onion and cook until they are translucent, about 4-5 minutes.  Add garlic, and cook an additional minute.  {at this point, I removed half of the cooked onions, and reserved to add back in after I blended the base, for some extra texture.} Mix in spices and tortilla strips, stirring constantly for a few minutes.  Pour in the can of Rotel {juice and all!}, box of chicken stock and the half can of tomato paste; whisk to incorporate.  Reduce heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  I turned off the heat and used my immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth {you can also do this in batches in the blender.}  Girlichef recommends that you let the soup cool before blending.  I threw caution to the wind--with T-minus 7 minutes until the trick-or-treaters would be beating down the door for the mini Snickers that I already ate, I needed to get dinner on the table.

After you puree the soup, add in the chopped chicken, black beans, half & half, shredded cheese and reserved onions.  Season to taste with salt & pepper.  Let everything warm through, and then you're ready to serve!

I took a few extra corn tortillas, sliced 'em up, and fried them in vegetable oil until golden & crispy.  We also topped our soup with sour cream, fried tortilla strips & {lots} of shredded cheese!

We will most definitely be eating this next Thursday.  Followed by mass amounts of mini Snickers and Reece's Cups.  Do you have any Halloween traditions?!

Peel and Stick Tile Floor

I totally wanted to share the details of this project with y'all back when we updated the bathroom over Labor Day weekend--better late than never!  I wasn't the one who actually installed the new flooring, O was.  So I had to really ask him a lot of questions to get enough information to actually write a post!

From what I've been told, it really was an easy project.  Just a little time consuming.  For all of $35 we were able to cover up our old, ugly linoleum floor

With much more attractive resilient tile, with grout!  $35!!  You can't beat that in my book!

We started out by cleaning the existing floor really well and allowing it to dry.  O measured the room, and found the center to start with.  Peel the backing off the tile and stick it down and put spacers on each corner. Work your way out.  The only tricky part comes in when its time to cut the tile.

Measure & score on the back side of the tile before removing the paper backing.  Continue to score the back with a utility knife, and then snap it!

Continue peeling and sticking, cutting and snapping until you have covered all of the old flooring.  Then comes the grouting...

Which happened while I was at work one day and someone failed to take pictures of the progress!  Oh well {I failed to get a lot of details as a whole}  Remodelaholic had a great tutorial that explains the process start to finish!

This is the second bathroom where we've used the peel and stick tile with grout & both have held up great!  It really was a great option for updating the bathroom flooring without spending a fortune!

Do you have a favorite inexpensive update?!

Five on Friday!

I wish Friday came as fast as Mondays seem to...but I won't complain!  Because it's finallyyyyyy the weekend!

{1} Thank the Lord, good television is back.  I've been watching every Modern Family rerun faster than I can DVR them.  Another new favorite in our house?  The Goldbergs.  Thanks, ABC, for creating all of my favorite shows.  I seriously love all things 80's, and this show reminds us of all the amazing things that decade brought us.

{2} I love fun jewelry!  I also love finding great sites with inexpensive fun jewelry!  Like this one from A Modern Boutique!  If there are others I should know about, PLEASE tell me!  This one is now on my birthday wish list {ahem, O!}

{3}  This goes along with numero dos above, but a t-shirt with a built in necklace?  Yes, please!  Oh wait....holler when that's on clearance, J. Crew.

{4}  Maybe it's because Halloween is right around the corner, but there is a whole lotta black chevron running around my house.  And I'm ok with it.  {I still need a picture for my new frame!}

{5}  I went into my favorite little store in town and they were burning this amazing candle, Sweet Summer Tea, and it comes in wax melts for my warmer!  My house smells delicious.

Do y'all have any big plans for the weekend?!  It is supposed to be pretty chilly here, so I see a lot of snuggling with the dog children in our future!

Homemade Pesto

I get on these kicks from time-to-time where I go to buy something and as I reach to put it in my cart I think "I could make that."  So, I decided to make pesto from scratch during our low key weekend.  I had all of the ingredients at home, minus the basil--so I bought that and went home to make pesto. It was crazy easy, and so yummy!  Plus I love to use these little mason jars for everything!

We've been eating pesto everything around here.  On pasta {obviously}, on grilled chicken, mixed in with Alfredo sauce {so good}, as a spread on sandwiches, and mixed with olive oil for bread dipping.

Homemade Pesto

Adapted from Whats Cooking with Ruthie

ingredients:

1 2/3 cup basil leaves, loosely packed

5 tbsp. toasted pine nuts*

2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp. lemon juice

Place basil leaves, garlic, salt, pepper, and pine nuts into food processor; pulse until finely chopped.  {I had to scrape down the sides a few times to get everything to the bottom of my mini chopper}  Add in lemon juice & gradually add in olive oil through the top opening--scrape again and add in parm.  Pulse to blend.

*to toast your pine nuts, put them in a dry pain over medium heat, stirring constantly until golden.  Don't walk away--these suckers burn in no time flat!