Most Awesome Venison Chili

I am not the biggest chili fan, but a couple years ago I tried the chili that my Dad made from a recipe from a friend and it was amazing!  He even won a couple chili contests at work and other functions.  It is something you can make in the crock pot and let simmer all day and your house will smell delicious when you come home :) This recipe calls for venison but you can really use any meat you want, we just happen to have an abundance of venison in the freezer courtesy of Michael!  Michael and I ate this almost every day for a week straight - but it freezes nicely too if you want to make some for future dinners.

Here is the recipe, originally from my Dad's friend Duane.

1 lb ground venison (Michael and I actually cubed ours and browned it only slightly and it came out amazingly tender)
1 lb ground sausage (venison or other)
15 - 24 oz tomato sauce
4 oz tomato paste
14.5 oz diced tomatoes
15 oz chili with beans
16 oz baked beans
15 oz refried Beans
4 oz green chili
1/2 package chili seasoning
4-6 slices of bacon (cut) with grease
¼ cup sugar
2 oz regular Tabasco sauce
1 oz Mexican hot sauce

Brown all the meat and throw it in the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours.

Add cheddar cheese and chips if desired, enjoy!

Hosting Thanksgiving

For this Thanksgiving, Michael and I hosted and I cooked our very first turkey!  We had my family and Michael's family (plus Omar) over for dinner and it was a great success!  I had lots of fun putting together a festive display on the table and mantle, using many items from our wedding decor and a few new creations.  I went for a more traditional but simple yellow, orange, gold, and green.  The flowers were a wonderful addition to the display and provided by my mother-in-law.

The chalkboard was added to hide the ugly gray TV behind it :) and it was the best I could come up with at the last minute.

Beautiful fall colors!  The vase and wood centerpiece were both used in the centerpieces for our wedding.

The banner and vases were a Pinterest creation, however I think I have some better ways to make the vases work better.

Each place setting had a place card made from tree branch slices, which can now be used as ornaments.

The corn kernel vases were a Pinterest idea and I used extra Eucalyptus left over as a sort of table runner.

This is a shot my sister took with Instagram, so sorry for the quality but I really enjoy it :)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had some fun entertaining for those who were hosting!

Erin

IKEA Semi-Hack: Nightstands

Michael and I are slowly working on our bedroom.  Our most recent addition is a nightstand for each of us.  My parents bought me two of these from IKEA for my birthday.  I had seen this post on Pinterest where this woman took these super cheap pine dressers and turned them into really pretty nightstands so I decided to take a stab at it!  I took hurricane sandy as an opportunity to get working on these.  We are going for a gray/blue color scheme in our room with lots of neutral colors and pops of yellow.  Therefore, we opted for Classic Gray from Minwax as our stain of choice.  

Since I am still new to this and do not remember to take before or in process pictures yet, you just get to see the (semi) finished product!  Take a look at IKEA's site if you want to see how plain they were beforehand.

We LOVE them!

Since Michael's side is a little darker, I could not get any natural light pictures of his side, I did not just intentionally leave him out :)

I think the neutral colors of the lights go really great with the gray.

We really like the weathered look that the stain created.

All the knobs are from Hobby Lobby at 50% off!

There are still more improvements to come, one of which is almost finished. Hint: it has to do with the inside of the drawers!  We also plan on adding a finished top and perhaps something to the bottom since it has that weird lip piece.  What do you think?  Our bedroom is slowly coming together, here are some more items on the list:

• Headboard
• 2nd Dresser
• Wall Art
• New Curtains

Thanks for stopping by!

Erin

  

Cold Nights

Is anyone else still holding out to keep their heat off?  Michael and I are both always hot so we don't particularly mind the cold and still have not turned on our heat.  I am thinking we (ok I am) are going to cave soon.  We figured out how to work the gas fireplace but it gives me a headache and it only heats the one floor.  Recently, it has been a race to see how fast we can eat our dinner before it is cold - cold dinner = unhappy Erin!  The only really nice thing (besides the money savings) has been the fact that once we are in bed and have warmed up the covers, neither of us has gotten cold at night - thanks to our amazing down duvet/comforter - and it has gotten down to 58 in our house!  I guess that really isn't that cold, but it feels colder.  Even Sadie has decided that we are worthy enough to cuddle with at night, as long as we are keeping her warm.

One semi-benefit is that coming into a cold house in the afternoon has made me want to work out more because then my body gets warmed up and I am pretty god for an hour or so after.  Here is to holding out for a few more nights, before cold feet and food take take over the money saving side of me!

P.S.  I have been doing fairly good at the whole working out thing, keeping up with it a few times a week and I feel SO much better the next day after having worked out the night before.  Let's hope I can keep it up :)

A little football weekend...

Today we are off to Charlottesville to go to the UVA/Miami game with my family.  My sister was able to get us free tickets since it is Veterans weekend and she is in AF-ROTC at UVA!  So even though I don't particularly like football and UVA has not been doing the greatest, I am excited for tailgate food and hanging out with family on a crisp fall day.  Michael has made pulled BBQ from his first deer of the season and I have made some fun little dessert treats, I will have to post about them later :)

Have a great Saturday!

Erin

Halloween Recap...a week late

This year was the first year since living on my own that I had trick or treaters!  We didn't really get them at my parents house either so I was pretty excited.  Unfortunately, due to the storm, Michael and I's plans to carve pumpkins and decorate a bit was ruined so Halloween afternoon I picked up some spider web, 3 pumpkins (one for Sadie too!), and decorated the bushes outside the house.  I wanted to make sure that kids knew our house was giving out candy since the houses right around us were not.  I even had the awesome idea at the last second to play Pandora out the window from my phone (ghetto style) on the "Halloween Theme" station.  It was actually pretty spooky sounding from what I could hear :)

Since I was by myself (Michael was off hunting) I did not get any pictures of the actual candy giving, but we were quite successful - all my candy was gone and I had to turn my lights out by 8!  I was a bit worried how Sadie would do with the doorbell ringing and the knocking, and as expected she went pretty crazy barking the first few times and I had to lock her in a room while I opened the door.  By the end though, she was over the whole barking thing and did not even get off the couch.

Here she is decked out in her homemade bandana from a Halloween dish towel scored for $1 at Hobby Lobby!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween, I can't believe Thanksgiving is two weeks away!!

Most Awesome Refried Beans

One of my new favorite recipes is actually a crock pot recipe and it is super easy and super delicious.  I have made it multiple times since finding it and it has been a smash hit with everyone and lasts forever!  The recipe comes from Chef In Training, and Michael and I have added a few extra ingredients to doctor it up for our liking.  This is perfect for a get together - thinking tailgates or football viewing parties!

Ingredients:

1 package of pinto beans
1/2 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 stick of butter
Salt, to taste
Cheddar cheese
Salsa

What to do...

Put the pinto beans in a crock pot with water that covers them, add half an onion on top (uncut), and the garlic.
Slow cook on low for 8 hours, you could probably also do this on high for 4 hours or so - just make sure the beans are soft enough to be mashed in the end!
After the beans are ready, drain the beans, saving the liquid.
Mash the beans up and add the butter and salt along with some of the drained liquid.  I usually mash them like you would potatoes until they are pretty well mixed and then I use a hand mixer to get them extra smooth and to add some extra mixing.
Make sure you add enough liquid so that when the beans set up they are not too dry - they absorb the liquid fast!
Add cheddar cheese on top and mix in or leave to melt!

Enjoy!

Note: To reheat, we usually add a little water or salsa to add some moisture back when it is heating up.

Rustic Stand on the Frontier of Craftiness

Who likes my title?  I thought it was pretty clever and thought about it during my most genius-idea producing time...the shower of course!  You may be wondering why it is so clever and lucky for you I am about to tell you.

A few weeks back I was contacted by Charley Cooke of Cooke's Frontier (ah, there is the key to my awesome title) to do a review and giveaway of our cupcake stand from our Etsy shop.  I was super excited because I had always seen bloggers doing giveaways and I always wondered how they teamed up with these people to give away the items, and lo and behold it was happening to me!

Charley did a great review of our cupcake stand and came up with so many cool ideas for alternative ways to use the stand - fairy themed parties anyone??  She also did a really awesome mockup for Halloween, go check it out HERE to see more pictures and some other super cool ideas.  And duh, if any of you out there want to win this stand for free don't miss the super easy opportunity over on her blog when you are visiting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Erin

hello 25, goodbye bad habits

Just dropping in for a quick post while I begin the recovery road back from two weeks of birthday celebrations.  It is amazing how easy it is to get in the habit of eating horribly based off 1 or 2 nights of eating fried and chocolatey awesomeness.  I wish it was only so easy to keep going with healthy habits.  Michael and I were fortunate enough to have multiple celebrations with friends and family for our birthdays including a surprise family dinner, beer tasting, wine tasting, and of course great food.

While I have been known to start these healthy regimes and lose them after awhile, I am trying a new tactic of putting it out here where I can feel accountable to someone (even if there are only a couple people reading) and for all you who have been privy to my phases of getting healthy  cough*ErikKara*cough #newlyengaged and are doubtful of my commitment, well to you I only hope that I can come back in a few months and say BOOM.

Yesterday I started P90X again and I really felt so much better about myself afterwards and this morning so if I can just keep that feeling in mind to reach my end goal (actually finishing!) I should be successful.  On the other hand, I can feel a difference between my body now and my body two years ago when I did P90X the first time - hence 25 = getting old.  I have also started a new meal plan that includes mostly chicken, rice, veggies, and other fresh foods and so far I have been thoroughly enjoying how easy dinner is to make now and how great I feel after dinner.

So bring it on holidays - I will be searching high and low for ways to distract myself from all your awesome baked good-ness.

Actually saw this on Pinterest this morning and thought it was hilarious:

Happy Birthday to Michael!

Today is Michael's birthday, my best friend and new husband!  I was lucky enough to get the day off but he was not :( This morning I made him breakfast in bed, made his lunch, AND gave him his first birthday present before work - I am such an awesome wife! But seriously, I had a great time today surprising him by cleaning out the storage closet like he has wanted and cooking him an awesome meal of imitation Chick-Fil-A nuggets (and sauce!) and homemade potato chips!  The chips were from Paula Dean and were super simple and A-mazing, check out this two step recipe, here.  The nuggets were also great but I had a little too much breading to chicken ratio because I forgot to cut down the recipe for just two chicken breasts, whoops!  I found this recipe over on Table for Two.  The only thing I changed was that I marinated the chicken in pickle juice beforehand, something I had read somewhere else and it really did make them taste more authentic!  For the big finale, aka dessert, I made chocolate peanut butter Reeses cupcakes.  I actually made these yesterday because Michael wanted to bring them in to work, and they were a big hit!  The recipe was adapted from Chef in Training - I just love her recipe index!

The big thing I did differently was that I crushed up some Reeses cups and put them in the cupcake batter before baking - mmm :)

Check out the deliciousness in action!

Only put a little bit of batter in the bottom.

Smash up some Reeses

Add the Reeses to the batter and pour more batter on top.

Now on to my most favorite kitchen gadget!

 Homemade PB frosting = awesomeness.

I don't have a frosting piper so I improvised with some advice from my Mom. 

Messy but it worked! 

Perfect birthday cupcake!

Enjoy!!

IKEA Hack: Storage Bench

I am pretty excited about this hack that we did with a $2 scrap piece from IKEA.  Michael has been using this IKEA shelf/box thing as a nightstand for a few years now.  He found it in the damaged/scrap section.  We decided to turn it into a storage bench.  We really wanted one for the end of our bed, and while this is a bit too small for our king size bed - it will do for now!  And in the future we plan on turning it into a toy box :)

Here is what we started with, basically just a box with no top.

Then Michael created some legs using 2x4 and some legs we found at Home Depot.  He also created a top for the opening out of plywood.  At this point I was pretty impressed already.

Then I did one coat of primer and two coats of paint - Bahama Breeze I believe - but honestly I am too tired to go down and look :)  I also picked out a fabric and did my first ever upholstery project, however we have decided that the fabric isn't really what we want so we are now on the hunt for something with more yellow in it.  I didn't get any photos at these stages, but I did get some from last night when Michael added the crown molding.  This is an in action, right before bed shot.

And finally, we have the finished product!  

Here is the bench in the room - I think the color was a bold choice but I really enjoy it!

This picture is a bit darker for some reason but I thought it was cool with the light literally streaming in the window.

Here is a little closer up picture of the fabric. I really like the fabric but I don't like it next to the bedspread.

Let's do a quick before and after:

Pretty awesome if I do say so myself!  And now we have a storage bench for a room and a future toy box for any kids that come along.  When we get our new fabric I think we will add an extra layer of foam to make it a little thicker on top - I just was not sure how much to buy at first.  

And this turned out so great that when I was at IKEA this weekend, I found another but slightly larger piece of wood EXACTLY the same.  Coffee table here we come!

Designer Bookshelf

Okay, so I am definitely the first one to admit that I am really not very good with matching, creativeness, or design, but I really enjoy what we did with the bookshelf Michael's mom gave us in exchange for cleaning out things from his childhood room.  We have a wall in our living room between the two windows that was just dying for a tall bookshelf and now we have one less wall to hang things on (side note: we have almost nothing on our walls and we have been in our house for 5 months now).  This bookshelf worked perfectly and just one year ago I would have stacked it full of every book that could fit and call it a day, but now after a year of some intense design blog reading I have been getting more inspired and Michael and I created some pretty cool displays on the shelves with things we already had!  There are still lots of books, but only those that made the cut after much scrutiny. Also, please excuse the picture quality - I need to a) charge the battery on my nice camera and b) take some time to learn all the awesome things I can do with said nice camera.

Full view, still need something on the top.

 Top two shelves, with our wedding wine in the back.

The bottom two shelves have some classics aka those books you read for school and hated it but maybe someday you will read them again and appreciate.  We also have some LOTR and C.S. Lewis in there.

Harry Potter is of course on top, complete with nerdy 3-D glasses from the movie :) and yes we DO know that we are missing some books - those are to come!

Currently reading section with the engagement present from my sisters and our ring box from our wedding.

Michael's beloved Game of Thrones (I just watch the show).

And finally, the history section since Michael is a history buff, and people might think we are intellectual.

So there you have it, not exactly designer quality but much better than anything I have had before! I think it needs a bit more color but I think that is a project for down the road and it definitely needs something on top, but we can't decide what that is yet - any suggestions??  

Feature Craft: Earring Hanger

A few months ago right around the wedding, I read a post over on I Heart Organizing about a fun and crafty earring hanger.  About a month ago I showed it to Michael and of course his response was, "I can make that".  And make it he did!

It was pretty simple to make with some decorative radiator grating, some wood, and some dark stain that we had from a previous spice rack project.  I think that I might change the color of the frame eventually but for now it works well for what we have in our room.  He also used a 5 x 7 frame to make me a smaller one from the leftover grating to put next to my bed.

How genius is that?? Now when I take off my earrings at night, I don't have to worry about them falling off my night stand.  After he made me one, we had a few friends and family members show interest so we decided to add it to our Etsy shop.  Head over and check it out!  

We've Been Published!

Or at least our wedding photos have :) Our wonderful photographers, who own Living Story Photography, submitted our wedding to a wedding blog, Savvy Deets Bridal, and we were published yesterday!  Go here to see the post featuring Michael and I and the awesome handmade decor that Michael (and I) made.  As an avid blog reader who got started when I was planning my wedding, I was so excited to see our wedding out there in the blog world!  I always wondered how those weddings were chosen to be featured.  Yay us!  Thank you to SDB for allowing us to have our small moment of fame and for having such an awesome site to help out future brides - if you are planning a wedding or looking to in the future, be sure to check out what they have to offer!

Grilling...Pizza!

Grilled pizza is a new favorite of Michael and I's.  I started making homemade pizza last year when I lived in Richmond and a few friends and I had "family" dinner nights - oh how I miss those dinners!  I started experimenting with toppings since I am usually just a pepperoni pizza eater.  Michael and I made homemade pizza a couple times this summer and then realized we had a pizza pan that could go on the grill from one of his aunts - score!  If you haven't tried grilled pizza before, you must try it as it tastes just delicious and the crust is nice and crispy.

Grilled Pizza:

Roll out your dough (we use our bread machine, but we have also bought dough from a restaurant and used pizza crusts from the grocery store) and place it on the grill pan.

Once the grill heats up (medium heat), place the pan on the grill and let cook until the bottom is a golden brown or to your liking. Usually about 5 mins.
Flip the crust over and spread olive oil on the cooked side.

Then immediately add all your toppings (it is a good idea to have all these prepped and ready to go before you start grilling).  Our toppings of choice are sauce, fresh garlic, onion, zucchini, yellow squash, pepperoni, and mushrooms and green peppers for Michael.

Oh and don't forget the cheese - we usually mix some fresh mozzarella in with the shredded kind :)

Close the grill and let cook until the cheese is melted and toppings are to your preferred done-ness - but also check the crust every once in awhile to ensure nothing is burning. Usually about 5-10 mins.

Enjoy!