Free Halloween Photo Card | Boo From Me to You!

Just a quick post to give you a freebie - a printable Halloween photo card.

Boo From Me to You!

Free Halloween Photo Card - Boo From Me to You!

Only four more days until Halloween!
Download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/?khi15yd0km3c83l

It's "Favorites Friday" | Pumpkin Inferno

We finally made it to Friday... and "Favorites Friday" at that. I'm breaking the rules today and not only picking five of my favorite things at Pumpkin Inferno, I'm showing you the pictures that turned out. Yes, I admit, I suck at taking pictures at night... I still need to learn what setting to use on the camera.

For those of you who don't know what Pumpkin Inferno is, it's a large display of pumpkins that are carved into many different things... And, usually multiple pumpkins put together to create one large scene. It's located at Upper Canada Village (Eastern Ontario) and last night we finally made our way down there. For those of you who do know what it is and are still planning on attending... HERE IS YOUR WARNING: you may not want to look at the rest of this post and save yourself for the surprise. Although I have only captured a few of the displays, I found that all of the posts on Facebook lately had revealed most of the pumpkins we saw. Now that I have made my disclaimer, here are just a few of the amazing displays:

Pumpkin Inferno - Pumpkin Carvings

Pumpkin Inferno - Mermaid

Pumpkin Inferno - Moose

Pumpkin Inferno - Dragonfly

Pumpkin Inferno - Skeleton Hand

Pumpkin Inferno - Cowboy

Pumpkin Inferno - Cowboy

Pumpkin Inferno - Soldier

Pumpkin Inferno - Chinese Lanterns

Pumpkin Inferno - Just Buried

Pumpkin Inferno - Owls

Pumpkin Inferno - Mother Nature

Absolutely amazing. I'm so glad we went and if you haven't - you must! It's incredible, especially knowing that students designed and carved all of the displays. Anyways, I have a busy girls night ahead of me with Magic Mike. I hope you have a great weekend!

What Oh What Color Should I Paint?

I need your help! I have this antique dresser that I used to love, but now in the new place I just don't feel the same about it. I have one last hope at rescuing my love for it before I sell it to a new home - change the color. It looked perfect in the cape cod foyer, the green color, dark woods and then this dresser. It's actually a deep purple outdoor paint that is used on decks and allows the grains to show through... but it usually looks more like brown. Here it is, remember?

Well, in the new place it just doesn't fit in. Although it nestles perfectly in between the wall and closet in the spare room, or should I say our nieces room. Here it is now, you can definitely see more of a purple color:

Now here's where you come in. I have very light grey walls and I want to do something that will add a punch of color to the room. Although, I may have to change the chair you see in the corner of the picture above. Here are the colors I was sort of thinking:

pinterest.

talk of the house.

pinterest.

martha stewart.

So, here you have it. A light creamy white, yellow or pale turquoise? I was also thinking maybe a darker shade of grey, or number 3, 4, 9 or 10. There are  just way too many colors to choose from. I even thought a nice lime green may look good. ERR! I'm helpless. So, do me a favor, write a quick response below and let me know what color I should choose. Please help restore the love I once had for the beautiful antique dresser.

A Pin Attempt or Two - Steak, Crab and Soup!

Welcome back Monday! Last night I begged and pleaded to be a stay at home wife, but for some reason the hubby didn't think that was a great idea. Well, needless to say, I made it through the day today and, I have three posts in one tonight... a pin attempt, or two, and a quick recipe that I haven't made in a while, perfect for a quick dinner when you're not in the mood to cook.

First up....


Pin Attempt - Sweet Potato Cauliflower Soup

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I've really been trying my best to eat healthy and as natural as possible... without getting too bored. So, when I was craving a soup for my lunch this week, I thought this would be the perfect recipe, found on Pinterest and taken from manifest vegan.

manifest vegan.

 
Sweet Potato Cauliflower Soup Recipe

1 Large Head of Cauliflower
Olive Oil for Drizzling
3 Medium to Large Sized Sweet Potatoes, Cut into 1" Cubes
1 Sweet Onion, Diced
2 Cloves of Garlic (I used 5!!)
7 Cups of Water

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Cut the cauliflower into bit sized pieces, lay in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Put in the oven and let them roast until the tops are golden brown, but not mushy, roughly 20 to 30 minutes.

In the meantime, place sweet potatoes, onion, garlic and water in a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Simmer continuously until the sweet potatoes are tender. Add in cauliflower, remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled, divide soup into two parts, blend one half and then add back to the soup. (Makes 9 servings.)

Easy, healthy and quick to do. But, not my favorite. For some reason I can't get past the texture and it keeps reminding me of baby food. Now, it does taste okay, just a little bland, but a little salt and pepper will fix that. And... I must admit, it smells really good. So, how about a six or seven out of ten. Hey, give it a try... it may be the perfect soup for you.


Pin Attempt - How to Cook Steaks on Your Stovetop...

off the (meat) hook.

... that tastes better than any fancy restaurant. Found on Pinterest and taken from off the (meat) hook. This recipe is easy to do and, trust me, makes the most delicious steak you've ever tasted. Okay a little salty, but I absolutely loved it and would trade in the BBQ any day for this recipe.

Best Stovetop Steak Recipe

All you need is a good cut of steak, coarse sea salt and your favorite steak spice.

About an hour before you're ready to cook the steak, remove them from the fridge and sprinkle both sides with coarse sea salt, I ended up using coarse salt (maybe that is why it was so salty?). When you're ready to cook, heat a pan as hot as you can get it on the stove, some people use a cast iron pan, I used a regular old non-stick. While the pan is getting super hot, rinse the steaks off and add the seasoning you want for your steak. Now, get ready to cook.

Take a pair of tongs and hold a steak with the fat strip down on the pan. Let the fat burn to release grease and brown. Then, take your steaks and put them in the pan... cook until the side browns, flip and continue until the other side browns. The trick here is that the steak will continue to cook after you remove it from the heat. Trust me, I only cooked them for about 3 or 4 minutes per side and they were medium-rare. The trick is to stop one temperature before the one your want, i.e. stop at rare if you want medium rare. Let your steak rest for 5 - 10 minutes and then be prepared for the best steak ever. Okay, if I don't make sense... go here, it explains it all! MMM... You can thank me later :o)


Perfect Weekday Menu - Easy Buttery Crab Pasta

This recipe is mine, all mine. I kind of threw this together a few years ago... made it all of the time and forgot all about it. The other day when we were grocery shopping, I saw some crab meat and thought yes, easy buttery crab pasta is easy and perfect for a work night meal. Here's the recipe:

Easy Buttery Crab Pasta Recipe

1 Package of Crab Meat
1/2 Package of No Yolk Whole Wheat Pasta
5 Tsp Buttery Becel (or Butter)
Garlic Salt for Flavor

Boil a pot of water and add pasta. In the meantime, put a teaspoon of Buttery Becel in a frying pan, melt and add crab meat. Warm crab through and cook pasta until desired tenderness. Drain noodles, divide into two dishes, add two teaspoons of butter to each dish and add crab to each. Sprinkle with garlic salt until desired flavor. (Makes 2 Servings)

Easy-peasy! It takes roughly 10 - 15 minutes and it's absolutely delicious. One of my favorite week-night meals.

Okay, enough from me for one night. I think I've made up for my lack of blogging lately. Here's to food, pinterest and a quick rest of the work week. :o) Cheers!

A New Shoppe... How About Some Jewelry?

And we've already made it to Wednesday. That means the end of the work week is in sight and I've been dreaming about anything but working in the corporate world for the past few days. A couple of posts ago (It's "Favorites Friday" | Food and Such), I mentioned that I was interested in venturing into a little online shoppe - other than my Etsy one - which I do have some pieces ready to add to. :o) Anyways, I'm thinking of selling jewelry... but first I wanted to see what you thought. There is a lot to choose from, so I want to start off with costume jewelry and slowly add some silver pieces. Here a few of the pieces I was thinking:

bracelet.

necklaces.

rings.

scarf.

All very affordable - everything I've shown here is under $50! Any thoughts? Let me know below in the comments and hopefully I'll be selling them soon. Anyways, another busy night, trying to wrap up Assignment 1 of my university course and of course, watching Survivor. Talk soon!