How to make stock and yummy soups

I really think that all fall and winter I could live off homemade soup and fresh bread. Since we raise our own grass feed beef we have a freezer full of beef and soup bones, so I love to make my own stock. For beef stock I usually make pretty big batches so I can freeze some. I actually did 10 soup bones in 2 pots this last time. To make my stock I put my bones in a roasting pan with some organic carrots, celery, onions and garlic and roast for about an hour at about 400 degrees. Next I take my roasted bones and all those veggies and dump them into a stock pot then I add about 12 cups of water, some whole peppercorns, a bay leaf, a jar of our own canned diced tomatoes, about 5 diced potatoes and kosher salt to taste bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 5-6hrs, strain through cheesecloth, then let cool and remove the fat layer on the top. True stock will gel- it looks rather unappealing but it is perfect. I prefer to freeze in 2 cup portions before it gels, there is nothing like homemade stock for your soups and gravies. The same can be done with chicken bones as well for fresh chicken stock and it is extremely economical.

A recipe you must try is Zuppa Toscana, I had it for the first time at Olive Garden and it is amazing. So I looked up a recipe and found a great one HERE, the only changes I made were to use our own italian beef sausage that we make and we used Kale instead of spinach then top it off with some fresh parmesean and you have the most wonderful soup.

Next up is a super simple soup, I used some of my freshly made chicken stock and added some spices, organic, celery, carrots, onions, shredded chicken and some egg noodles then I added some Franks red hot and turned plain chicken noodle soup into buffalo chicken soup-yummo. I added fresh grated parmesean to the top which was good but some crumbly blue would have been perfect! I am sure I will be experimenting with lot's more soups this winter and what goes perfect with soup but Artisan bread. That my friends deserves it's own post so maybe tommorrow I will share the best bread book in the world- well at least in my humble opinion!

Two page Valentines day layout

Well looky there I actually posted something related to papercrafting. This is a pretty basic basic two page layout with a"LOVE" theme for my next class. All products are CTMH, if you have any questions let me know!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and happy new year! Thanks for reading my little ole blog, your comments make my day!

A card and a treat

Can you beleive I actually made a card? My brother needed a card for a gift so I whipped this up quick for him. Everything is from CTMH and it's hard to see in the picture but the trees are super glittery irl.
I also made hot cocoa on a stick topped with homemade marshmallows and on some added some crushed peppermint and on some Christmas sprinkles. They make the most awesome creamy hot cocoa, just google it and you can find a recipe!

A little seasonal decor

I just love those projects that are virtually free don't you? My best friend just delivered me a silver frame from the dollar store that she could not use, so I had to put it to good use. I knew I wanted to add it to my Christmas decor in my dining room and I am in love with silhouettes right now so I borrowed my sweet friend Linda's(Hi Linda) A Child's Year Cricut cart and cut out this adorable winter scence out of black cardstock and just attached it to a piece if Colonial white cardstock that I stamped with my Universal backgrounds music note stamp from CTMH. I adore how it turned out and can't wait to make some more that will stay up year round! FREE=AWESOME don'tcha think?

Peppermint Bark popcorn

This stuff is amazing, so eat at your own risk it is addicting, popcorn, almond bark, peppermint extract and crushed candy canes equal=pure yumminess. I packaged up these little treat bags for my wonderful group of girls who come to my card classes every month. Last night was our last for this year so I thought we needed a treat. I just packaged up the popcorn tied it with some baker's twine and added a tag I cut out of the Cricut using the new CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge then I just stamped a small sentiment and that was it! We may of also had some cranberry walnut oatmeal and chocolate peppermint kiss cookies. It was a celebration of a whole year of being crafty!

Vintage Sheet Music

I am in loooove right this minute with vintage sheet music and I bought 100 sheets of vintage hymnal pages from Etsy and have been playing. We recently bought an old beautiful piano for our daughter and so I wanted to make a sheet music wreath. It is not what I had pictured when I started out but it evolved and I kind of like it, there is so much character.  You can find tutorials all over the internet if you are interested, i started and my wreath sort of took on a life of it's own. The picture is really blurry I could not get a good one. I also made a small banner today with it and spelled out JOY in some Martha Stewart Red glitter and all I did was use some negatives of some chipboard letters and filled them in with glue and then the glitter, punched some holes and tied with Jute. I am really happy with how it turned out, it is very simple. I have been missing the old blog here lately, so you just might be seeing me around a bit more in the New Year.

I linked up my banner to: There are some amazing ideas on there!