Setting the Thanksgiving Table

Setting a beautiful table is something that I would like to improve on.  Thanksgiving is the perfect time to work on setting a beautiful tablescape for your guests since there aren't a lot of other decorations to compete with it (unless you have already started decorating for Christmas).  

This year we are bucking the traditional turkey and are heading out to eat with some friends for an Indian meal.  I am excited about it but will miss all of the leftovers!

In honor of tomorrow's holiday, here are some beautiful tablescapes that might just inspire you!  They certainly do me.

Links to all images here.

Gobble, gobble.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Green Room Eco - Chic and Green Stationary Products

My neighbor wrote me a thank you note from her daughter's birthday the other day and I loved the design of it.  It was made by Green Room Eco.  The card stock was made from 80% recycled paper and printed on with soy based ink.  Okay, great, so it is environmentally friendly which is very important.  Unfortunately, sometimes that doesn't always translate to chic and cute....except this card did!  So, I checked out their other products - many of which are now sold by Target!

So, if you want to be cute and green, this may be the line of paper products for you!

See all products here.

Skillet Chili Mac

Unfortunately this recipe was another one where I thought I had the memory card in my camera and took all sorts of great pics only to find out that my memory card was sitting in my computer.  I did snap one with my phone but that's all I got.

I do recommend this recipe though - it was perfect for a winter's evening and had great flavor!

What You'll Need:
1 large onion diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 can kidney beans
1 pound lean ground beef
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 can tomato sauce (8 ounces)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can green chiles
1 jalapeno, chopped (remove seeds if you like less heat)
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp cumin
handful of fresh chopped green onions
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups of medium sized pasta (I used shells)
2 cups of water
1 diced bell pepper (can use any color)

What You'll Do:
Heat olive oil in a large skillet and sautee onion and bell pepper until tender.  Add ground beef and garlic and cook until meat is browned.  Drain the excess fat.  Stir in chili powder, cumin and season with salt and pepper.

Add the tomato sauce, green chilis and diced tomatoes.  Stir together.  Then add the water, kidney beans and pasta and 1 cup of the cheese.  Mix together, reduce heat, cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes until pasta is cooked.

Add remaining cup of cheese and top with green onions.  Serve immediately and top with any of your other favorite chili toppings.

Personalized Holiday Card Round Up

I cannot believe Thanksgiving is next week!  Being the Christmas-psycho that I am, I ordered my Christmas cards a few weeks ago but that still hasn't stopped me from looking at lots of other fun options!

If you haven't ordered yours yet, you should check out Etsy for some great options that you can personalize. Here is a round up of some of my favorites that I've come across lately:

Family ornaments

Holiday front door

Personalized Pet

Chalkboard

Zebra

 Stockings

Holly Jolly Photo Card

Cheers

Happy Holidays

Merry Merry!

Chicken and Broccoli Bake with Sherry and Mushroom Sauce

I've posted my recipe for chicken divan on the blog before.  Chicken and broccoli are a great combo to me. This recipe combines those too with a little more of a sauce.

***I am so disappointed because I took some great pics of this dish with my camera and then went to upload three days worth of pictures onto my computer and realized that the memory card was never in my camera and was still sitting in my computer.  Sooo, no pictures for this recipe.  Sorry!  But, trust me, it is worth trying!  When I make it again I will update the post with pics.

My recipe inspiration for this was taken from a recipe I saw on Pinterest for Chicken Gloria.  Instead of broccoli, it called for button mushrooms.  I don't love mushrooms but I do love the flavor they give things.  So, I subbed out broccoli for the 'shrooms and just used the cream of mushroom soup to still give it good flavor.  I also added some sauteed shallots to give some more depth of flavor.  The original recipe also called to serve it over rice.  I'm kinda lazy so I oped to cook the rice, layer it in the bottom of the casserole and then layer the chicken, broccoli and sauce on top so I could cook it all in one dish.  Do not be fooled - the end result is in one dish but I sure did dirty up some dishes getting to the end result.  But, after all was said and done, it was good.

Really good, if you ask my husband.  His quote was "this could become one of your signature dishes."  He's funny.

What You Need:
4-6 thin sliced chicken breasts
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sherry
1/2 cup milk
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 shallots, chopped
4-6 thin slices of muenster cheese
2 cups fresh broccoli, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 cup of fresh parsley
3 cups cooked whole grain rice
salt and pepper to taste

What You Do:
Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat a pan with olive oil.  Dredge each chicken breast into flour and shake off excess.  Place in pan with the oil and brown.  Depending on the size of your pan, you may have to cook 2-3 pieces at a time and then cook another batch.  Remove from heat.

Layer a casserole dish with the cooked rice.  Place the cooked chicken breasts on top of the rice.

In the same pan as you cooked the chicken, melt the butter and sautee the shallots.  After about 3 minutes, add the broccoli and season with salt and pepper.  Add the sherry and let it continue to simmer.  After the sherry cooks down, add the mushroom soup and milk.

Pour the broccoli and sauce mixture over the chicken and rice.  Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove the foil, add a slice of muenster on to the top of each chicken breast.  Return to the oven and broil on high for about 2-3 minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly.

Top with fresh parsley and serve.

Candle Commentary

Nobody loves a yummy smelling candle more than me.  Shoot, they don't even have to smell good - - I love the ambiance a candle gives even if they are scent free.

Anywho, Anthropologie tends to have the best smelling candles around for the price you pay.  My usual year round go-to favorite candle is the Voluspa French Cade one.  If you haven't tried it, go get one stat!

Anthro has recently come out with some new scents (at only $18 bucks a candle, they are a good bargain!). I've tried the fire one and the cedar snow one and they are both wonderful for this sort of pre-holiday mood when you don't want to go full-on Christmas scent yet.

Speaking of Christmas scent, my new bargain find came from Target and it is a Glade spruce scented candle. They have an awesome burn time and they can make a whole room smell fabulous.  The best part?  $2.99 per candle people.  Can we say bargain?!

Akseizer Design Group

Every day when I get home from work, I take my dogs for a walk.  99.9% of the time, we take the same route (I'm exciting that way) which takes us past this:

I have been meaning every day to look it up because I know the sign said "design group" but I couldn't tell from my window stalking if it is commercial or residential or architecture or what.  I finally remembered to look for it today and my curiosity if piqued.

I found their website which has a beautiful picture of an interior and nothing else.

I did a little more searching and found a blog called DC by Design (um, I hide out under a rock, I tell you! How did I miss this?!) who recently did a post on the new office space.

ADG stands for Akseizer Design Group and they do in fact do both commercial and residential design.  The principle designer, Jeff Akseizer, was recently named one of DC's Design Stars by Washington Life Magazine:

This is definitely one design firm I'll be keeping a look out for in the future!

(photo credits here)