Fruit Salad, Kale Salad, Green Smoothie

These are the two things I made for Thanksgiving.

Kale and Orange Salad with Mustard Dressing
I didn't bother blanching the kale. I washed it, and julienned it, basically, and then let it sit in the dressing for a few hours. I didn't put much salt on it, and it definitely needed it. You can skip salt and let people salt their own, of course.

Winter Fruit Salad
This was just delicious! The only complaint I have is it really takes a long time to segment the fruit and send the peels down the disposal.

We also had a green smoothie for breakfast: 1 banana, 1 avocado, a bunch of curly kale, and some milk. I think there was some ice too.

Super Fun New Bags

This weekend my husband took me to a party that his friend was having. It was a premier party for her fun handmade bags. She's been making things in her spare time and is now starting to sell them. At her party, she had bags of all sizes (totes, purses, iPads, phones, yoga mats, makeup, etc.). She also had fun wine charms, earrings, and pendants. She can and will make almost anything! I'm looking forward to my new yoga mat bag and table runner! Love the fact that they will be one of a kind.

And she's super talented.... a lot of materials she uses are re-purposed from things like clothes and furniture. I'm amazed at how she can take something that isn't wanted any more and make it into something completely different. Such a great idea!

Plus Jan is just a super nice person! I got to meet her and her daughter that day... and spend a little extra time with them after everyone else left. Nothing like a little wine, munchies and some good company to celebrate a new purchase! ;)

Check out the bags I took home with me!

I got this one for a Christmas gift.
It has great pockets in side with fun big button closers. 

This one I bought for myself. Love the colors.
I think it will make a great carry on bag.... maybe even a good laptop bag.

This is the other side of my new bag. It also has some fun pocket inside.

This is a makeup bag I got. Plus it's washable!

If you like these and you're interested in any for yourself her name is Jan Lathum, Oak Rock Hill Designs. Her email is oakrockhilldesigns@yahoo.com. Mention that you saw her bags on this blog. :)

Chicken Pot Pie Stew

I'm always looking for a new slow cooker recipe. I love my slow cooker! Nothing is better than putting the ingredients into a pot and letting it cook itself! Not only does it do all the work for you, but it makes your house smell amazing!

So this week I tried a new soup (or I guess stew) recipe. It's chicken pot pie stew. I did make a few changes.... I used:

• small yellow potatoes instead of red ones
• a can of low sodium chicken broth instead of the bouillon cubes
• a small amount of celery seed instead of the celery salt (I didn't have any)
• garlic powder instead of garlic salt (I didn't have any of this either) 
• some frozen corn, green beans, peas, and carrots

I think with this recipe you can pretty much play with the veggies to suit what you have on hand (or what you like). As you can see I worked with what I had in the house.

Next time I make this I think I will make a couple of changes.

• I'll use reduced fat/salt cream of chicken soup
• Less pepper.... it doesn't sound like a lot in the recipe but it turned out pretty peppery

If you try this recipe let me know if you make any changes. I'd love to hear about them.

Salmon Salad with Cinnamon Toast

Breakfast today was a variety of flavors.

Banana yogurt espresso smoothie - ingredients obvious along with ice.
Salmon salad sandwich on cinnamon raisin toast. Surprisingly good together.

The salmon salad was canned pink salmon from Costco with some diced Granny Smith apple, diced celery, mayo, shredded Parmesan cheese and pepper. The bread was Ezekiel cinnamon raisin. I think it would be just as good with chicken salad, with the apples too. The sweet and savory flavors went well together.

Best part of this meal - I didn't have to make it. Thank you H!

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

I made pumpkin bread for the first time this weekend. In the past I haven't been a big fan of pumpkin, but in the last couple of years I've begun to really like it. In fact I start to crave pumpkin flavored coffee, muffins, etc. when fall comes around. So I decided to take a stab at making my own pumpkin yumminess. :)

I found a pumpkin bread recipe on Allrecipes.com. With a little tweaking based on the reviews it turned out great. I used 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar instead of all the white sugar. I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla. I also substituted half of the oil with applesauce and the cloves with pumpkin pie spice. Oh... one other thing, instead of 3 smaller bread pans I ended up using 2 larger pans and a very small pan. That's all I had to work with and turned out pretty well.

I will definitely keep this bread recipe in my recipe box. It would make a great addition to a Thanksgiving feast or a gift for someone.... not to mention a tasty breakfast or snack.