Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Wednesday Yummies: Decadence

Hi everyone!

Do you have a sweet tooth? I do, and so do my kiddies. There are tons of recipes on Pinterest that look ooey-gooey good and super rich and decadent.  Here are a few of my favs that I want to try! Have you tried any of these? Do you have a recipe like this that you could totally face plant into?

Grand Marnier Chocolate Volcano Cake

(sorry this link won't work so here's the url)



Nutella Meringues

Turtle Hand Pies
We made these ooey-gooey yummies a lot this summer at the cottage.  They kind of became our summer dessert. Delish!!

 - Preheat oven to 350 degrees
 - Spread Pilsbury Cookie Dough on the bottom of a muffin tin
- Place a Reese's Peanut Butter cup on top
- Dollop Brownie Batter over top

- Bake for 18 minutes. Heaven!












 Keep it Beautiful.




Monday, October 28, 2013

No-Carve Pumpkins!

Hi everyone!

Hope you had a great weekend! It was cool and rainy here in Ottawa so it was really nice to hang out with the kiddies inside. Mr. Fix-It and I actually had a NAP! Yup, a NAP! Amazing.

It's Halloween week...are you ready? Do you have your pumpkins? Don't have time to carve them or dig out the pumpkin goup? Here are some "no carve" ideas that caught my eye...

Have leftover paint in the basement? Get creative...

 Got ribbon?
 Have some leftover spray paint hangin' in the basement? Wrap some string around your pumpkin, spray and remove. Instant fab!
 How cute is this little guy? Just raid your first aid kit and add some googlies.


Can't get much easier than this...


What kid doesn't have a Mr. Potato Head? Raid their toy box...


 cool...
 Get your drill out! Drill some holes and your pumpkin will glow!

 Okay so this one you'll have to carve, but what a cute idea!!
Or maybe you love carving pumpkins and yours look like these.....creepy, yet amazing?!

Happy Halloween week!

Keep it Beautiful.




Friday, October 25, 2013

Fabulous Friday: Organizing Chaos!

Happy Friday everyone!

So...we had one of Mr. Fix-It's relatives visit a few weeks ago who is really lovely.  She's fun, chatty and we had a really nice time together.  However, I know from being in her home that she's a neat freak.  The vacuum marks in the carpet are always apparent and there isn't a speck of dust to be found. Knowing with three kids that I can't possibly have such a perfectly clean house, but I do try to keep it relatively tidy. 

I'm totally that girl that will tidy up in 5 minutes and throw things in the cupboard like a mad woman.  Yup, I'm exposed...that's me. So when you come over...don't look in my cupboards! This is EXACTLY what happened the night we had Mr. Fix-It's relative over. SHE OPENED MY SPICE CUPBOARD AND I WANTED TO DIE! The poor woman was only looking for a drinking glass and found this...total disaster.  It's one of those cupboards that I open everyday as I cook dinner and every day I tell myself that I'm going to organize it.  Well, the day after she left, I.DID.IT!

Here it is...here's the chaos. Who could find a particular spice if they wanted to?


So...I picked up these white plastic bins and glass spice holders at the Dollarstore. I heart that store! I also ordered these cute labels from mabelslabels.com  What's great, is that you can customize the spice name before you order.

I pulled everything out of the cupboard. Yikes!



Any old medications that were hanging in there, I put in a bag and dropped them off at my local pharmacy. You don't want to put old pills and meds in the garbage or down the toilet.

All the vitamin bottles have a home in one bin....


I picked up these little daily pill holders.  Now every Sunday I can put all our vitamins (I'm totally on a vitamin kick) in the little compartments and not only are they organized but we remember to take them!


All the spice jars are full and have a home too...



What do you do with all those extra bags of spices once you fill the jars? I put them in a Tupperware and store them in the pantry downstairs.  That way, when the jar needs a fill you know exactly where to find the extra spices.


Don't forget, spices have a shelf life.  According to Readers Digest, they have a shelf life of about 1-3 years but I would go with closer to 1 year because they start to lose their flavor.

Ahh...it literally took 15 minutes to do and now it's done and chaos free.  Who wants to come over and check out my spice cupboard now??


Do you have a cupboard in your house that needs some major organizing? Would you die if your neat freak Aunt Edna opened it?

Have a fab weekend.  We're watching a friend's little one this weekend so there will be 4 little ones running around our house (well three, thank God our baby girl can't run around yet)! Wine required for mama and Mr. Fix-It!

Go organize your spice cupboard...

Keep it Beautiful.




Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Wednesday Yummies: French Onion Soup!

What do you feel like on a cool, crisp Fall day? French onion soup was exactly what I felt like this week, so I whipped up a batch and it was YUM.YUM.YUM. 

I grew up eating French onion soup and have made it for years myself.  Here is my recipe (well it's really mostly my dad's) that you're welcome to try. It's pretty yummy, if I do say so myself ;)

Here's what you need:




- 2 large onions (I use Vidalia)
- Butter...you definitely need butter for this. One stick of buttery goodness
- Beef stock (6 cups)
- Red Vino (about half a cup)
- Baguette
- Cheese (can be whatever you like)
- S&P

1.  Melt the butter in a large pot...

2. Cut your onions into small slices and add them to the pot. Cook them on low heat. LOW! This is a long slow process.  You can add a little bit of sugar to the onions to help the carmelization along if you want. This is the whole key to French onion soup success.  It will take about 45 mins or longer.

Yup, they're not ready yet...

Now they are...see how they're soft and golden brown. Yum!

3.  Add about 6 cups of beef stock to your pot, the vino and S&P.  Bring to a boil, cover and turn the heat down to simmer. Let that baby simmer on the stove for as long as you like. The longer the better so all those flavours can get happy. 


4. Do you like your bread on the bottom of the dish or on top of the soup? It's all personal preference.

5. The cheese!  The first night we had it with Swiss cheese.  Lay a couple of pieces over the top and put the entire dish under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

We had it again the next night and used Jarlsberg cheese. Delish!

This is a fresh.fabulous.sophisticated soup that is super easy and yummy.  It's perfect to have on a cold day or serve as an appie to company.

Keep it Beautiful.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Halloween Mantle

Hi everyone!

Did you have a great weekend? Our big guy is really excited for Halloween so we spent Saturday afternoon decorating the outside of the house for the big night. 

We also "spooked" up the mantle. I love Halloween!

Have you been to the Dollarstore lately? Halloween has exploded in the store and you can find tons of stuff for $3 max! They had these big creepy crows that we decided to bring home...

We got these pumpkins at Michael's....



 Combine them and VOILA! A fresh.fabulous.sophisticated Halloween mantle that doesn't scare the kiddies but, I have to say, those crows are pretty creepy at night!!
9 more days till Halloween!!
 No, that contraption reflecting in the mirror isn't some creepy Halloween torture thing!? It's our baby girl's Jolly Jumper!





You should definitely check out the dollarstore for Halloween décor inspiration. There's lots creepy inspiration for next to nothing that will look fab on your mantle.

Here are a few little extras...


Keep it Beautiful.

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