A Little of This and That

Happy new Fall week, everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend with some nice Fall weather to enjoy....not that Fallish here, but it's coming.  In my last post I mentioned I had a thing or two to share, so I am finally getting to it.  I have a serious love-affair with my crockpot....please tell me I'm not alone or I might just feel totally weird about the whole love-affair-thing!  Nope, it's true and I don't feel even a little bit weird about it.  I absolutely love popping ingredients into this workhorse and letting it do its thing!

 While I do enjoy using it in the cooler months, it's very much an all-season kitchen appliance.  This particular day, I wanted to make ham and bean soup.  We had cooked a spiral-cut ham a few months ago and tossed the bone with several pieces of the ham in the freezer.

I soaked the beans overnight, then drained, tossed them in the crockpot with the ham bone and other ingredients.

Ham Bone & Bean Soup

Crockpot

Serves: 8 (approx.)

1 lb. dry navy beans

1 ham bone, plus extra ham

8-10 baby carrots, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 med. onion, diced

Garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic) & black pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

6 cups of water

1. Rinse beans, discard any stones or pebbles, cover with water & soak overnight.
2. Remove any coating or surface fat from the ham bone & add to crock.
3. Add drained beans, carrots, celery and onion to the crock, along with seasonings and bay leaf.
4. Add 6 cups of water
5. Cook on high to get everything heated up, then on low for about 8 hrs.
6. Remove ham bone, allow to cool, and remove all meat.
7. Return meat to the crockpot and continue cooking for 1-2 hrs., or until beans are soft.
8. Taste at this point to see if any salt is needed.

The soup can be served at this point, or what I like to do is use my emulsifier just a little to add some creaminess to the soup....don’t overdo, this soup is meant to be chunky.

I serve mine with cornbread!  Enjoy.

You should be able to cut and paste this recipe.

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This next recipe I have to share I found on Pinterest, and it adds a whole new dimension to "Pumpkin Desserts!"  It is Pumpkin Dump Cake and the recipe can be found HERE.

Super easy to mix up!

This smelled so good while it was cooking.  I baked this the evening before we were expecting company, and The Man was so cute.....he kept saying how good it smelled.  Finally, I said we really should taste-test it since it was a new recipe, to which he responded "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

You have to watch it close toward the end of the cooking time so the pecans don't burn...oops!  They were still so good!

I made this because we were having company, and it was a huge success.  I seriously think this is better than pumpkin pie....oh, yes, I just said that!

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Next up is a super-easy craft.  In my last post, I shared my Fall mantel with the two garlands -- one being a leaf garland and the other paper circles.

I had a package similar to these in my stash from a year or so ago.

All I did was paint them on both sides with Folk Art Home Decor Chalk Paint -- White Adirondack, also in my stash.  Any chalk paint would do.  I tried to leave some of the leaf edges bare, 

for the color.

I simply hot glued them to some jute twine.  For the circles garland, I punched a bunch of 

different size circles out of book-page design cardstock.....this is the reason I hoard scrapbook paper! I glued them back-to-back on another piece of jute twine.  I painted a bunch of those leaves and have scattered them around in my Fall vignettes....love the look!

I hope you enjoyed your visit today, because I very much enjoyed your company! 

 Come back any time.

Warm hugs,

Carol

  I often party with these lovely bloggers:

Monday
 Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday

Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Tuesday

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Wednesday

Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Thursday
Jemma at  At Home With Jemma for Thoughts of Home on Thursday
Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home