Homemade Vegetable Chicken Soup

We had a sudden shift of cool rainy weather come in, making it a wonderful time for some hearty soup.

As usual, I wasn’t quite sure what was going to go into the soup or how it would end up tasting, but I just went along with what we had and added a couple of things from the grocery store to pad it out.

The end result? One of the nicest soups I’ve had in years!

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken thighs (with bone and skin)

1 ½-2 chicken bouillon cubes

4 small potatoes (cubed)

1 large carrot (cubed)

4 large mushrooms (cubed)

1 small chopped onion

4-6  chopped cloves of garlic

1 can red kidney beans (rinsed)

3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon dried basil

1-2 dried bay leaves

1 pinch of cumin powder

1 pinch of seasoning salt

1 pinch of shichimi (You can find shichimi on Amazon)

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Place 1 L of water in a medium to large pot over high heat.

Add chicken thighs, potatoes and carrots.

Add 1 ½-2 chicken bouillon cubes, followed by salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, cumin, basil, shichimi  and bay leaves.

Once the water begins to boil, reduce to medium heat.

On a small pan, lightly fry chopped onions with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.

After 2 minutes or so, add garlic to the onions and fry for an additional minute.

Remove from heat and add the onions and garlic to the boiling pot.

Add mushrooms and kidney beans to the pot then boil for a few more minutes.

Add chives and parsley to the boiling pot and allow to cook for 1 minute before removing the soup from the heat.

Enjoy with garlic bread or herb crackers!

*The soup tastes even better the day after!*

 

 

How to: Recycle Old Packaging for Ice Cubes

For those of you who may have a lot of product packages around the home and would like to find some use for them, consider turning some into fun ice cube trays.

A while ago, I bought myself these adorable ninja-shaped cookie cutters and kept the package for a craft that I still have to think up.  In the meantime, I can use the little plastic insert to make ninja-shaped ice cubes!

I washed the package insert and filled it with iced tea.

I then gently placed it on a flat surface in the freezer and left it there for about an hour.

They turned out great!

You can then add them to drinks for have them “fight” while whirling in a bowl of cold water.

Try this out with different packages like plastic egg cartons, electronics packages and more to see what comes out when you add a little water or juice to them!

***If you would like to get your own ninja cutters, you can click here to find them on Amazon***

Quick Craft Tip – Homemade Confetti

Most crafters will have several different paper punches that they use for a wide variety of crafts and decorations.

Whenever I fill up a hole punch, I always keep the small bits when cleaning them out since they make wonderful instant confetti. In this case, I combined two different sizes for “confetti depth” which is simply a way to make it a little more interesting to look at.

You can pretty much use this homemade confetti the traditional sense, sprinkled on table tops for parties, or you can use them for many other crafts and decorations.  Here are a few more ideas that you can use for homemade confetti:

1 –  Glue them down on greeting cards

2 – Fill clear glass bowls and vases with water and throw in some confetti -some will sink to the bottom and others will float for fun confetti centerpiece decorations.  You can then add  flowers (real, faux , paper) or floating candles for a more romantic feel.

3 – If you have more decorative hole punches, you can glue them on tea light holders…

4 – …or glue them on plastic party cutlery.

5 – Add confetti to your existing nail polish to make your very own confetti nail polish for added sparkle -and save money rather than spending extra on “specially made” confetti nail polish.

There are so many uses for homemade confetti, I can list them all day, but I’d like to know what you use confetti for?  
Please comment below to share your fun ideas!

How to: Dryer Sheet Bows

I sometimes use dryer sheets to fluff up clothing or towels and always feel bad for just tossing them away after one load.  I wondered if I could use them for something besides laundry or cleaning, so I tried to make decorations from them.

First, I cut each sheet in half.

Then I pinched the sheets in the middle and secured them with string. I made it look a little neater by cutting the ends close to the knot.

This bow can be used as is, but I wanted something a little rounder…

so I simply trimmed the corners a little.

I then used the same string to decorate this little gift and thought it looked great.  The bonus for scented dryer sheets is that the gift will smell lovely too 😀

Try them for gifts, greeting cards, notebook decorations or even as pencil toppers (all you need is a dab of glue)!

 

How to: Adorable Bunting from Wallpaper Scraps

Here’s a very simple how to craft that pretty much anyone can do.  Whether it’s for a party or for fun, this craft is a fun way to recycle scraps of decorative paper and doesn’t have to cost much -it can actually be free if you happen to have the following items just laying around the home:

• Paper scraps
• Thick cardboard
• Ribbons or string
• Sewing thread and needle OR double-sided tape
• Scissors

Start off by drawing and cutting out an acute triangle with the cardboard to make the main template.

*Print or Save this shape for your crafts: bunting

 

Next, sort through paper scraps and group colours and patterns that work nicely together.

Use the template to draw the bunting shape on the back of the paper and cut them out.

I managed to find some pretty lace for the top of the bunting, so I arranged and spaced the pieces until I was happy, then sewed the pieces onto the lace.

 

In the end, this is how it turned out:

Sadly, I was too busy at the party to even get a few photos to show you how they looked around the room 🙁

Perhaps I’ll have to make another event to get some good photos 😉

 

 

 

 

How to: Tissue Box “Mystery Holiday” Bank

I spent the day cleaning out all of the “I can use it for crafts!” items that I have been collecting for a while and finally decided to take a little time out to get some things done. One of the first things I had to make was a “mystery holiday” bank from an empty tissue box and scraps of paper left over from this gift wrapping ideas post.

Basically, wrap the box with scraps of paper from the bottom up.  If your scraps don’t completely cover one side, simply tape down some more paper to cover it up -this will also give it a more “worn down” look.

Before taping or gluing down the paper at the top where the box opening is, fold two of the sides so they form a narrow slit at the opening.  This will allow you to put your coins or paper money inside without being able to reach in and get it out (during those more desperate times when we’re in need of some quick cash).

To complete the bank, I added some simple string around it to look like a cute travel package and it’s done!

Since I’ve been feeling the travel itch a lot lately, I’ve decided we’ll put away $5.00 bills only in this box 😀

Why is it a “mystery holiday”?

Once we’ve filled the box, we’ll open it up and see what we have saved up. From there, we’re going to research different destinations that fit the final budget and pack our bags!

I just can’t wait to see where we’ll end up going!