Bean & Sausage Soup - A fall favourite!

What kinds of things do you up to on these cool fall or cold winter evenings? 

Maybe the kids have been playing football or hockey in the backyard, maybe you just came in from a long day of running errands or Christmas shopping.

When you come inside out of the cold & it's time for supper, there's not much to beat a bowl of hearty soup. 

It's comfort food at it's best.

Bean & Sausage Soup serves 6-8 

1 ring of kolbassa sausage (or whatever kind of sausage you like), sliced

1 medium onion, diced

2 cups chicken stock

1 can mixed beans, drained & rinsed

1 can tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

½ tsp. celery seed

¼ tsp. ground pepper

2 bay leaves

salt to taste

Combine sausage & onion in a large soup pot. Fry slowly until onion is clear & soft.

Add all remaining ingredients & stir well. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often. A cup or so of water may be added to thin the soup if desired. Add salt to taste. Remove bay leaves & serve hot.

Print recipe

For more comforting, soup recipes, click on these links:

Beef & Barley Soup

Potato Soup

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Fall Decorating - A Belated Tour

Well, it's almost the end of October & we had a bit of snow this weekend.

That means that winter is just around the corner & with that comes the beginning of the Christmas season. Yay! I'm excited!

But wait! I haven't even shown you my fall decor for this year. 

I realize that many of my readers are in the U.S. & you have yet to celebrate Thanksgiving so you may still be interested in fall decorating. 

Come! Let me show you around...

I used my recent purchase of these apple boxes in my living room & the vintage vibe is just right for fall.

I kept my wreath decorated the same way as last year because I just like it that much.

These little woodland creatures followed me home from Target this fall. 

(See the little squirrel in the photo with the apple boxes above? And look at the owl in the photo below.)

The Thanksgiving holiday is over for us here in Canada, but I keep my Thankful banner up until I switch things out for Christmas.

Happy Fall Y'all! I love how versatile that chalkboard is!

On top of the bar top in between our living room/dining room & our kitchen is my pumpkin pie plate with some embellishing....

...Complete with an owl autumn garland.

Our warm & cozy living room has been a wonderful hang out this fall. 

If you'd like to see how I decorated for fall the past couple of years, click HERE & HERE.

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Enjoy Your Day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

It's Craft Fair Season!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Yesterday was our church's annual Fall Festival. An afternoon of carnival type food, entertainment (arm wrestling & our teen band), fun for the kids (face painting, photo booth, bouncy house, & a hay maze), & a mini craft fair!

This was my third year participating & I think it was my most successful yet!

Leading up to this year's festival, I'd been doing a lot of research on sprucing up my craft table display. I'm very happy with how it turned out & I think it looked much more inviting this year.

My main goal was to bring the displays off of the table a bit more. No more flat! I purchased some vintage apple boxes & used them to display things on and in. Dual function is always a good thing!

I strung up some twine in one of the boxes & used mini clothes pins to hang up some of my owl ornaments.

Here, you can see the yellow table cloth. It was actually a duvet cover that I thifted some time ago. I took out the side seams & ta-da! A perfectly cheery tablecloth.

I used one of my milk glass bowls to display place cards (They were a big hit!).

In the other apple box I displayed my hoop art & my tissue paper flowers.

On top of the boxes I displayed my gift card pillow boxes. I had the Christmas ones on the other side.

I also used some pretty vintage doilies / embroidered napkins on the tops of the apple boxes to add a homey touch.

Here you see it all together.

I added washi tape mini bunting to the front of the table along with a "Silver Boxes" banner.

I had someone tell me that it looked like a party... Shopping is fun after all, right? ;)

In the middle of the table, I used an old frame that I had lying around. (Literally. Under my guest bed.)

I bought some chicken wire at Home Depot & my husband kindly helped me out by stapling it into the frame. 

Then I used some clothes pins to pin up some of my handmade cards.

Some polka dot garlands are draped on either side of the frame.

Are you a crafter who has a table or booth at some local craft fairs? 

They're a lot of fun. I've already got another one lined up for November!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy Your Day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

What's Keeping Me From Blogging

I've had such good intentions in terms of getting back into the blogging swing of things this fall. 

Then I signed up for several fall & Christmas craft fairs... that kind of changed everything!

I've been spending every spare moment on crafting - which is fun, but I haven't been able to put any posts together about any one craft.

So today I'm going to show you all the bits that I've been working on these past few weeks!

I've finished stitching 20 little owl Christmas tree decorations for my craft booth. 

Did you know that a group of owls is called a parliament? True story. I googled it. ;)

You can find the owl tutorial HERE.

I also hunted down (with some help from a friend) these vintage crates to use as display props in my craft booth...

Isn't that vintage apple sign the coolest?

...And made some easy washi tape bunting to cutify my craft booth.

I managed to put up my fall decorations last week. I copied some of the things I did last year & came up with a few fresh ideas too.

Now that the weather is cooler & the kids are back in school, I've been doing a bit of baking - some old favourites. 

These Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies are the bomb!

I had hoped to get to all these projects as soon as the kids were back in school, but I'm just now getting to the first one! Ahhh!

This weekend, my honey & I sanded down the dresser we bought on Kijiji earlier this summer. We also bought some feet that we're going to add to the bottom. It's almost ready to paint. As soon as it's done it will go in our master bedroom. I can't wait! The dresser we have now is falling apart so the sooner we can get this gem finished up, the better!

So that's what I've been working on in between my regular homemaking duties, driving the kids around, & doing some volunteer work. 

It's been a great September so far! Sorry it's taken me so long to share it with you!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

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And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy Your Day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

It's Apple Season - Make some Apple Crunch!

It's Apple Season!

Do you love baking with apples as much as I do?

Muffins, Cakes, Pies, Cookies... there are so many great apple recipes to try!

This is one of my family's all time favourite desserts; really, any time of the year, but especially in the fall. 

I started making this when I was a teen learning how to bake in my mom's kitchen. 

This recipe originally came from a little cookbook from the dollar store. I haven't got a clue who published that cheap little book, but it had some gems in it - this being one of them!

Ever since that first time, we've enjoyed this several times a year. 

I hope it becomes a family favourite for you too. :)

Apple Crunch {Print Recipe}

serves 6

3 medium apples, cored & chopped (you can peel them too if you like. I don't.)

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375º. Spray a 9x9 inch baking dish or small casserole dish with non-stick spray.

Mix apples & brown sugar. Pour into baking dish.

In a separate dish mix flour, granulated sugar, salt, & cinnamon. Add egg & mix again. Mixture will be crumbly & not completely consistent. Spread on top of apples. Pour melted butter over the crumb mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

YUM!

Looking for more fall baking ideas?

Click here for my Apple Streusel Muffin Recipe

Click here for my Chai Loaf Recipe

Click here for my Skinny Pumpkin Spice Muffin Recipe

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy Your Day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

November Photo Challenge

After doing last month's photo challenge & enjoying it so much, I went on the search for a challenge for November.

But... I couldn't find one that I really liked, so I made one of my own!

I'll be using Instagram for my photos if you'd like to follow along (Search the name StephRichy on Instagram). You can leave me a comment with your Instagram name & we can do this challenge together! 

I'll also be posting my daily photo on my Facebook page. Come on over!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Let's rock this November!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

October Wrap-Up

  What a whirl wind this month has been! At the beginning of the month, I joined a photo-a-day challenge with some friends. It was so fun! I used my phone camera & I edited with instagram (follow me at stephrichy if you'd like) to make things easy. If you've been following me on Facebook, you've likely already seen some of them.

  Here's this month's photo-a-day recap:

1. Fall
2. Leaves
3. Bubbles
4. Stairs
5. Mirror
6. Straw
7. Water
8. Peek-a-boo
9. Something Purple
10. A Light In The Dark
11. Laughter
12. Candy
13. #13
14. Hallway
15. Pumpkins
16. Something Black
17. A Stranger
18. Stars
19. Doorway
20. Signs
21. I Ate This
22. I Am Here
23. Shoot From The Hip
24. Decorations
25. Makeup
26. Moon
27. Scar
28. Something That Scares Me
29. Panic
30. Broken
31. Spooky

I really enjoyed getting creative & brushing off some of my old photography skills. 

On to November (which I'll be posting about later today)!

Enjoy your day!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins - Delicious & Low Fat!

  Confession: I like to bake from scratch. I don't like to use mixes unless I have to. I know, I know. Most of you are likely doing a facepalm thinking, "WHAT?!"  But hey, don't judge. ;)

  It's cheaper in the long run & I like knowing what's going into my food & not having all the "extras" that I can't pronounce. Can I get a witness?

  I have two favourite from-scratch pumpkin muffin recipes & this is one of them! It's low fat, has extra veggies snuck in, & is packed with yummy fall flavour!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

makes 12

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat bran

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. allspice or cloves

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup pureed pumpkin (canned or pureed from your baked fall pumpkins)

1/4 cup shredded carrots

1/2 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375º. Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray & set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients - flour, wheat bran, baking powder, spices, & salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients - pumpkin, carrots, buttermilk, honey, butter, egg, & vanilla. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture & stir just until moistened. Batter will be thick.

Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in centre of muffin comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan & let cool on a wire rack. 

What are some of your favourite from-scratch baking recipes? I'd love to hear about them!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy your day!

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This recipe featured at:

Apple Streusel Muffins {Revisited}

Last week, I had a HUGE surprise! My chai loaf went crazy on Pinterest & exploded in views in just one week! Thank you, everyone! 

I figured after updating the photos on that recipe, it took off, so I should do the same with some others. 

My next update:

These tasty, moist muffins have a crumbly brown sugar topping - so delicious! You can also reduce the fat by using a bit of applesauce, but not sacrifice any of the flavour. Enjoy!

APPLE STREUSEL MUFFINS
makes 12

Topping:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

In small bowl, rub together topping ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.

Muffins:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil (or to reduce the fat, use 1/8 cup unsweetened applesauce & 1/8 cup canola oil)
3/4 cup finely chopped or shredded apple

Mix dry ingredients. Set aside. Mix wet ingredients. Combine both until just moistened. Do not over mix. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle with topping. Bake in 400º F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower, 

subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

This recipe featured on: