Fall Decorating Ideas

I love Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday of all. Maybe it’s because as a kid I was a candy-holic. Maybe I love dressing up. Maybe I love dressing up AND getting candy. That must be it.  Here’s my Skeleton Bundt cake. He’s so scary! but he tasted sooooo good! Check it out HERE at my personal blog.
Here is my kitchen table runner (spiderweb from Pier 1 as well as the cute salt and pepper shakers) and my Halloween cupcakes I made for a work party. They turned out too cute! Check them out HERE.
This is my entry table in my home. My grandkids love the little jars of “gopher guts” and stuff like that. I got them from Michaels.  Check the Witch Warts out HERE at Mockery’s blog.
At Yeringtonflowers they did a cute Fall table decoration grouping.  Just simple mason jars
filled with acorns and candy corn! Easy Peasy!
Elle Interiors  had the idea to use green apples in a glass trifle bowl to decorate.
 I love the  “green apple” colored candle too! 
We were at Pier 1 and their fall tablescapes were sooooooo BEAUTIFUL! 
Front-porch-ideas-and-more had this cute idea! 


Use gold metallic spray paint on real pumpkins for a dash of 
sparkle. I think I’ll try that for my fireplace area this year. 
How cool is THAT look? it’s cool alright….

It’s a blog party did a simple but beautiful fall mantle that looks easy to copy…
I love the leaves, pods and acorns strung along in an easy twine garland. But simple pumpkins outside with a bale of hay or a cornstalk is pretty too. I love this old wagon. I wish I had one! 



Antsi-pants has this FREE printable Fall Subway Art project. SUPER. CUTE!
I made one for my classroom and for my home with a dark brown glossy picture frame. It looks GREAT! What is it about Fall colors that are just so appealing? 
Pure Style Home did another fall fruits in glass idea that I loved.
I’m going to be looking for some of these glass domes.
I think they are cool and you could use them for every season.


Nest Handmade has an easy Christmas Ball Wreath tutorial on how to make this
beautiful and welcoming addition to anybody’s front porch!
And Hobby Lobby has all the Christmas balls stacked in the aisles already! I LOVE this! 
Well, and who could resist just a plain old pile of pumpkins and some straw hay bales or an old cornstalk. And if that’s not enough, how about a cute grandkid in the mix? Yeah….she makes my day. Love her. Happy decorating. Gotta love a little
“punpkin” like this cute one…..:D

Gourmet Glazed Donuts from Beyond Glaze

This delicious looking but evil donut is from a gourmet donut shop in Draper, Utah called “Beyond Glaze”. I had a donut instead of birthday cake this year. It was decadent, to say the least! 
For my birthday this year my daughter took me out for lunch at Zupas. We had some yummo salads, just take a look! And donuts were on the dessert agenda. 
She had this salad from ZUPAS  with black beans and guacamole. 

I had this salad with berries, apples and candied pecans. They both had chicken. 

Zupas has these panini sandwiches I just love too. We had turkey and avocado and bacon, and Tiff had some soup. I just LOVE how they give you a chocolate covered strawberry with every meal too. It is just a nice touch. 
Then we wandered over to the donut shop called Beyond Glaze. (Shouldn’t it be “Beyond Glazed?” The grammar teacher in me is always bugged by these things, you see…..It reminds me of those “Shave Ice” stands where they sell Hawaiian snow cones. It should say “SHAVED ICE”. Mind your grammar people! 
This one just looks mouth watering doesn’t it? It is a caramel apple cheesecake donut. It is very popular as you can just imagine! 

 The carrot cake looked a little too yellow for me. But it matched the cute yellow chevron tablecoverings. 😀

My grandson Dylan was just staring at all the donuts in the window. He liked all of them too! What should we choose Dylan? Help me out here, Dude!! 
I LOVE mango, I thought. Maybe this one could be it. I just didn’t know. I love Raspberry shakes from Bear Lake. Maybe the two would make a divine combo? Hmmmm…….thinking….thinking….

My very favorite donuts are USUALLY maple bars. I bet this one was maple madness overload! Yummy. That one is for our next visit for sure! But I want something even MORE special and over the top decadent. 

These babies are pretty pricey though. Each one is about $2 bucks! Woop! Let’s just get one each and share with Dylan. 

 But GOOD LUCK choosing! Every one of them looks so yummy. What to do?

So I asked the owner of Beyond Glaze if he had a favorite. He said the “S’mores” donut is very popular. But I have never liked S’mores. So I went back to hunting through the window. I’m sure I was getting annoying by now. 😀 I am so decisive! 
Wanna Donut don’t ya? Lookie, the S’mores donut has a bite taken out of it….tee hee…(bottom left corner donut). I guess it is popular if peeps are taking bites out of it already!
I finally decided on one. I have heard all this talk about “salted caramel” and how good it is. So I’ve been on the hunt to try anything and everything with salted caramel in it. 
And, well…..just look at it. It is to DIE for good. I loved it. I wish I could make donuts like this. They were so Yummy. Think of the best glazed donut and the best piece of cake mixed together. Yup. There you have it. Glorious and a gazillion  and a half calories. On my birthday. So it is subtracted…….right? That just make for good Karma! 
Go see the little man at Beyond Glaze Donuts in Draper. He is very nice. And the shop is real cute too. 
But not as cute as my little man Dylan is. He just trumps it all. Gimme a kiss you dollface. 😀 

Breadsticks and Pizza Dough

It’s one of those kinds of days, it’s rainy and cold. And I want to have some hot, homemade bread baking in the house. I want to walk around in my jammies and socks and read a book or watch Netflix! Yeah. That sounds divine! 
Cheesy Parmesan Breadsticks from Pizza Dough…..
But alas, we have a bridal shower in the family. So I am wrapping gifts and getting my makeup on and hair blown out. I NEED to redo my toe polish but I probably won’t. I just am too lazy. But I was looking through this old post and now I want to make some of these yummies today. The hubs would love it! 
Homemade Pizza and breadsticks…..a great Monday night quickie dinner! 

 I had some leftover Parmesan cheese from making chicken alfredo the other night. It is great on breadsticks too. So I used half of the recipe for a medium sized pizza for the hubs and I, and the other half I made some mini breadsticks that will will go great with some cream of broccoli soup tomorrow. (that’s not sayin they will last till tomorrow!) tee hee….

Gather your ingredients, start with WARM water to sprinkle the packet of yeast into.  

These are the things I put on top of my cheesy-garlic Parmesan breadsticks! I keep Parmesan in the freezer in the baggie it comes in. I bring it out when needed and that way it is always fresh. It is GREAT on Italian green salads and also in pasta dishes of any sort! 

I just LOVE these little Skookie cast-iron pans I got for my birthday a few years back from my son Jeff and daughter-in-law Wendy. They are perfect for individual pan pizzas!  WOOT! Here is a link for the pans HERE.
Added the sauce and then topped with cheese…..easy peasy…..

Homemade Pizzas and breadsticks ……make it tonight! 
The Weekday Chef loves breads. It’s sadly, my downfall. And Pizza and buttery breadsticks are kind of the devil. (stupid buttery morsels of delight….stupid things….) sounds of sniffing….

Here is the recipe. It is from Jamie Cooks it UP! (I love her!)
30 MINUTE PIZZA DOUGH 

1 C warm water
1 T sugar
1 T yeast (I use Active Dry Yeast)
1 t salt
3 T vegetable or canola oil
2 1/2 – 3 C flour

I just pour a cup of warm water in my mixer and then dump in the yeast and then sugar and leave them to bubble up for 5 minutes while I gathered the pizza ingredients. Then I added the teaspoon salt and 3 Tablespoons of oil. (Olive oil works great too) and added 2 cups of flour slowly and then about 2 3/4 when it was about done. Just add enough so it isn’t sticky anymore and pulls away from the pan. 

Roll out the pizza dough onto a pizza stone brushed with oil. 
Breadsticks from Pizza Dough…I let them rise a little before baking…..then I painted melted butter on them with a silicone soft brush and topped them with Parmesan Cheese and Johnny’s Garlic Salt Mixture.

 I used a little more than half of the dough on my pizza stone and rolled it out and then let it set while I grated the cheese. Then I used the other half, rolled it out in a short rectangle about 1/3 of an inch thick. Then I cut rectangles, twisted them and layed them in my little mini pizza pans. They rise while the pizza is cooking. 
I add PREGO spaghetti sauce for my pizzas and top with Mozzarella cheese and pineapple bits, bacon, tomato slices and green peppers and purple onion. Sometimes I add mushrooms and olives too if we have them on hand. It’s yummyrific! 

Homemade Pizza  and Parmesan Breadsticks made from a really EASY PEASY Pizza Dough! 


Add favorite toppings to pizza and cook at 475 for 8 to 12 minutes depending on your oven. 

This is one of the easiest and quickest dinners around….homemade pizzas and breadsticks! 
Homemade Pizza dough breadsticks topped with butter and Parmesan cheese!

Maybe we’ll start having pizza nights every Monday! mmmhmmm….

Crispy Cheddar Cheese Chicken

We have company coming to stay with us for a few days from Germany. And I knew I wanted to try a new chicken dinner recipe. This one was really great. It was most requested on a Utah blogger’s website 2 years in a row. It is called Crispy Cheddar Chicken. It is from one of my favorite cooking blogs Jamie Cooks It Up. And it is really delish! I love it!

Elder Kline and Elder Moss – Hamburg Germany Mission 1977. 

It has very few ingredients; just milk, seasonings, shredded cheese, and crushed Ritz Crackers. Dip the chicken in the milk and then the cheese and then the crushed Ritz crackers. Then bake for 35 minutes at 350 covered in foil. Then remove foil and bake 10 minutes more till golden brown.

There is a gravy topping you can make from 1 can Cream of Chicken soup, 2 T. sour cream and 2 T. butter, but I liked it fine without it and so did everybody else. The hubs loved the gravy. So whateva. I made salad and baked potatoes and Razzleberry Pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Dip chicken in milk, then shredded cheese (I mixed cheddar and parmesan) and then Ritz Crackers crushed. 
I pounded my chicken so they would all be even. 

Then bake for 35 minutes at 350 covered. Uncover for 10 more minutes to get it crispy and golden. 

We are all stuffed around here.This one is really a keeper. Everybody wanted the recipe. Yum.

This is the BEFORE picture. I just used a 9 x 13 pan. 
And here is the AFTER picture. Yummy and crispy Cheddar Cheese Chicken! 

 Here is the gravy to put over the chicken. I thought it was better without, but the hubs loved it.

I loved having the whole family over to meet Elder Kline and I loved the razzleberry pie and ice cream dessert. The grandkids told me they’d rather have popsicles. lol. (So I ate their pie. Bad Pattie).

First of Fall Crockpot Chicken Tacos

These tacos only have 4 easy ingredients, and they are easy to make in the crock pot, or in the oven in only a few hours. Dump everything in and let them simmer all afternoon. Then fry up some tortillas, and dinner is served!


I have always loved Tacos. Even as a very picky child, I would always eat my mom’s homemade tacos. But it wasn’t until I was married that I really got a few good recipes from friends for a good taco filling. 

Sherry was my favorite newlywed friend. We both had only 2 kids and we hung out as stay-at-home moms together, going to the park or shopping at the mall. She has since moved to Northern California and I to Utah, but once upon a time we were very good buds. 

She used to invite us over for dinner and she was an excellent, gourmet cook. She taught me to put a packet of taco seasoning in with a small jar of green chili salsa to my ground beef. It was so easy but soooo good! 
Crockpot Chicken Tacos….easy and very yummy!
This is the way I like my Crockpot Chicken Tacos…..with corn tortillas and cilantro along with traditional toppings.
Well, now I’ve tried lots of other taco recipes, and this chicken taco recipe is super duper easy and yummy…my kind of cooking.  Here is the recipe…..I hope you like it too! 

 Chicken Tacos using flour tortillas and some avocado, sour cream and peppers for toppings….. My hub’s favorite. 

 Crockpot Chicken Tacos Ingredients 

1 envelope of Taco Seasoning
5 to 6 pieces Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 16-ounce jar Salsa 
1 small can green chiles (diced up)

Directions: 
Dump everything into a crock pot no water needed. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours. When done, the chicken should shred easily when stirred with a fork. It is even better as leftovers the next day. Sometimes when I don’t have all day I just put it in an oven baking dish on 350 for 3 hours in the oven and it’s pretty ready to shred by then. 

Use your favorite taco seasoning packet and salsa brand for these.  I just used generic salsa and it was wonderful. I have heard that Paul Newman’s Own salsa is great for these tacos too. Maybe Mango Salsa if you want to try a sweeter taco mix? 

The main ingredients for Chicken Tacos in a crockpot are 4 simple ones; chicken, salsa, a taco seasoning packet and green chiles. That’s pretty much it! Dump them all in a crockpot and wait for the magic!! 
I try to find the diced green chiles in the can, but these were on sale for 50 cents, so who minds chopping a little to save a lot. These can cost up to $2.00 a can! What a savings I scored! 
2 seconds to chop them up. It’s kind of fun anyway. I feel like a real chef with my chef’s knife! Top it with lettuce, cilantro, tomato, avocado, sour cream and cheese. They are delicious, messy and yummy. 
Here is THE BEFORE  PICTURE  of Crockpot Chicken Tacos.

 Here is the AFTER PICTURES of Crockpot Chicken Tacos topped with avocado and sour cream, cilantro and red peppers, or whatever your favorite toppings are!

The hubs likes flour tortillas and lots of avocado so here is his taco. It’s pretty massive I’d say. He likes them that way. Nice and sloppy. Messy eating means good eating, I always say! 

With the leftovers you can do a Tortilla Soup! You can check out my very favorite recipe HERE or add some rice or black beans and make some EASY PEASY chicken Navajo Tacos or Burritos too! Crockpot Chicken is great for the first day of FALL! So Yummy too! Try it tonight! 

Taco Salad from Leftover Taco Filling

Have you ever wondered what to do with your leftover Taco Meat filling? Here’s a great idea! 
Easy Taco Salad from leftover taco meat. It only has 5 ingredients; lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, kidney beans, Nacho cheese Doritos.  Then add your favorite dressing; mine is Catalina. 

 I got this recipe from a friend of mine long ago. She was a very health conscious person and whenever a recipe called for ground beef, she would use ground turkey. That was the first time I’d ever tried ground turkey. It is great for this recipe because it is leaner, less fat to remove, and you can’t tell the difference too much in taste. 

So here is my recipe:
1 pound ground turkey fried up and drained, then mix with 1 taco seasoning packet, a little water, 
add in 1 small can green chili salsa or regular mild salsa. Simmer till reduced. 


Put together salad made up of…..
1 small head of iceberg or romaine lettuce chopped into bite size pieces
1 can of drained kidney beans
1-2 small cut up tomatoes
3/4 to 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
1 1/2 cups Doritos Nacho Cheese variety crushed into bite size pieces
black olives (optional)


Kraft Catalina Dressing (pour over just before serving to taste, about 1/2 cup) It is just as good with the reduced calorie variety of dressing. 

kidney beans drained….

cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, I ran out of olives….OOPS! 

Taco meat…..leave this separated till right before mixing up the dressing or it wilts the lettuce…..

Easy ingredients for a yummy taco salad….

I’ve used both varieties….I can barely tell the difference…so go for the Low Cal! 

Yummy and pretty healthy too! Sometimes I add olives to it for more color, sometimes a diced avocado if I have one. Yummy! 

Perfect with a side of cornbread muffins! Yum! 

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Einstein Bagels has PUMPKIN SHMEAR!

Okay this is the best stuff since sliced bread. I am NOT KIDDING YOU!

This Pumpkin Cream Cheese is to DIE FOR! And it is reduced FAT! Get it at Einsteins Bagels.

I got a pumpkin bagel and tried it out with the pumpkin cream cheese. It was pretty great.  So I taste tested a few more. I also bought one of my favs the Cinnamon-Sugar bagel. YUMMY! It’s the best!


It tastes cinnamony kind of like a pumpkin pie. The pumpkin bagel seems like it is made from whole wheat flour. It is probably much healthier than other bagels too.  

When I ran out of bagels I had some frozen plain ones from the supermarket and John and I loved those as well with this pumpkin cream cheese. The guy at Einsteins Bagels said it always sells out really FAST! So go and get yours NOW! It is such a great Fall treat!!

BYU 9/11 Game “We Will Never Forget”

We got tickets to the BYU Football season opener game on September 11th. We got to be a part of this cool “card section” that wrote out the words “WE WILL NEVER FORGET”. Can you see us in the upper left corner? No? 
These military men and women were holding a giant American flag they walked out on the field and unfurled. It was quite impressive. They were totally at attention holding it before the game. 

They snaked around the building the flag was so big! 

They made a lot of touchdowns in the first quarter. We sang the fight song over and over!!! 

I think this is my first selfie ever. It sucked. But I liked Johnny in his hat. 

This was my brother-in-law Jack’s son’s band Westward the Tide. They did an awesome job of singing the national anthem. 

Jack and Julie’s son Cam is on the far right. He does keyboards in the band.

#BYUfootball is fun to go see once in awhile. John said he’d rather watch it on T.V. with all the people and traffic it is quite an ordeal just to get there and get home.

But these experiences are what make life worth living, dontcha know? Well I think so anyway. Gotta live it up while the sun shines. Cuz you just never know.

I thought the #BYUcheer team were all so darling. I loved their out uniforms and pom poms. And of course their BYU tatoos on their cheeks. I gotta get some of those. 

This cute girl sat in front of us. She had light and dark blue nail polish and some decals on her thumbs that had the Y from BYU. She bought them at Walmart! SO cute! 

Then she shared her Cougar Tail donut all around. We sat all amongst the BYU students. Yeah we are cool like that. Can you see how far up we are? Yeah. Nose bleed seats. Oh well. 

Taped to our seats was a card stunt. It was fun to do with everybody. It made out the words “We Will Never Forget. The peek hole is funny I thought. 😀 snicker……

The halftime show was fun to watch. I used to do a drill team in high school. I was a “Warriorette” for West Torrance High. We did the Rose Parade one year. We rocked as a band and drill team, winning lots of awards.

As we walked out in the 4th quarter….(yes BYU won the game…and it was clear early on) we walked past the Houston team’s trucks and buses. And we got on T.V. that night! Woot. It was a fun experience for 2 former BYU alumni. Woot! Go Fight Win!

Fresh Peach Pie with Peach Jello Glaze

Fresh Peach Pie with Jello Glaze 

My daughter had a gazillion peaches on her tree so we picked a bunch and took them home. Our peach tree harvest, of course, had nothing but about 12 peaches again. What is fair in that? I hate my peach tree even though it is beautiful 90% of the year.

We only got a few peaches this year…..wah…….
Fresh Peach Pie with Peach Jello Glaze

I found this recipe that I liked and tried. It is from Taste of Home. I have a magazine subscription to Taste of Home and it is fun to see the pictures of yummy food each month.

Fresh Peach Pie with whipped Cream and Buttery Crust

But this peach pie was mouth watering. I loved it! And I’m on a diet. Bad Pattie.
The glaze is so similar to Strawberry Pie Glaze I’ve made a few times. My recipe for Strawberry Pie is here.  Once you have made a pie shell and baked it (I used Paula Deen’s pie crust recipe but it is loaded with butter as you can imagine. I like Crisco (butter flavored) better I think for pie crust. It comes out lighter and not so heavy.

These little “Peaches” are sure a treat for me to play with! We had a Family Reunion last weekend and it was fun to play at the park with all the relatives. 
Pie Crust bake for about 10 minutes on 425.

Then cool the shell and start making your glaze. It is 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup water and 2 Tablespoons of Cornstarch. Boil for 2 minutes. Then take off heat and add 1 small box of peach jello. Whisk it for a minute until dissolved. Then chill for 10 minutes.

Easy Jello Glaze on Fresh Peach Pie 

While it is chilling peel your peaches and slice them up. I did about 10 or 12 peaches. Some were bruised so I only used half of some. And some were small to medium. If you were using larger fruits you could get by with less. Use about 4 cups to make a yummy tall pie.

This pie was soooo SCRUMPTIOUS! Fresh Peaches are now in season so TRY IT! 

Lay them over the cooled pie crust and then pour the glaze over the top. Chill for 1/2 hour. Then serve with whipped cream. This pie is truly divine. I ate 2 pieces. And that wiped out all the good work I did today dieting after dental surgery. Oh well. It was worth it. Yum.

Turkey BLT Paninis using a George Foreman Grill

Turkey BLT Panini with Provolone and Avocado. It has just the right amount of crunch and fresh veggies. It’s my kind of sandwich. 

I was looking at Panini makers the other day since I’m on a Panini sandwich kick. I looked on Amazon and saw a few on a great sale. I also saw some George Forman Grills for sale in the Panini category….hmmm……

“The Mean, Lean, Grilling Machine”  from George Foreman. Let’s try making Paninis!  Fingers Crossed!!


It looks similar to a panini maker, doesn’t it? Yes it does. Why buy one then? I’ll just see how it works on my grilled sandwiches.
So I tried first to just make a grilled cheese panini sandwich. It worked great! Yummy! I just buttered the bread and slapped some cheese inside and laid it in the grill for 3 minutes or so. Both sides get done at the same time! 

So I decided to try it with a Turkey BLT with Avocado …..or Monte Cristo Sandwich it is sometimes called.

I just LOVE this California Sourdough Bread I get from Smith’s Market. It is only $3.49 a bag and is really delicious for any kind of sandwiches or even just for buttered toast. I had some on hand so I used it for my Turkey BLT with Avocado. 
I used turkey, bacon, avocado, provolone and tomato and just buttered the sourdough bread with butter on the outside. So EASY PEASY! 

Ingredients for a Turkey BLT Panini 
2 Pieces of Sourdough Bread, buttered on outside only
2 pieces of deli turkey
1 slice of provolone
1/2 avocado sliced thinly
slices of tomato
2 slices of cooked bacon
salt and pepper

Put sandwich together and place on the grill and close it. Wait 3 minutes and check for golden stripes and melty cheese. You may have to go another few minutes. Mine had a light on top, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to go off or not so I didn’t trust it. 😀 I know, I didn’t have faith in George after all……snicker……

But the grill DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!  Yummy Turkey BLT Panini with Avocado and Provolone cheese. 
Hamilton Beach 25450 Gourmet Panini Press
This Hamilton Beach 25450 model Panini Press was only $29.00. I looked at Target and Walmart for Paninis too.  But I decided that I really don’t need one after all! I’ll just use the George Foreman Grill. It’s been sittin’ around NOT getting a workout for WAY too long anyways! Happy Panini making!