Halloween Party

We co-hosted a Halloween party over the weekend.  It was so much fun!  So today, I wanted to post some pictures of it to help give some last minute inspiration for those who may be needing it.

 My friend, Audra, cut out LOTS of bats with a die-cut machine that flocked our dining room.

 We had everyone bring a Halloween treat.  Just look at all of the fun ideas!!

 For a simple photo backdrop, we used streamers and a BANNER.  So simple!

 I found this Halloween BOO MIX  here that has monster scabs (Golden Grahams or Cinnamon Toast Crunch), Ghost Poop (mini marshmallows), Witch Warts (chocolate chips), and Goblin Teeth (candy corn).  How fun is that?!

I used free Halloween printables found HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

And lots of other ideas HERE.

This was my favorite costume from our party.  It makes me laugh every time I look at it!

Have a happy and safe Halloween, everyone!!

Caramel Toffee Brownies

My friend, Reegen, is such a doll!  She's one of the most sweet and genuine people that I know.  Back in August, she gave me this recipe and told me how good it was.  I've adapted it from Six Sisters' Stuff.

I decided to try this out on all of the workers my in-laws had during potato harvest.  (We kept some for us too, of course.)  From what I heard, it was a smashing hit!

But, seriously, how can you go wrong with chocolate, caramel, toffee, and more chocolate?  It's almost guaranteed to be a home run dessert!

What you won't believe is that this dessert is made from a cake mix and that it's pretty simple to make.

I have to apologize for the lack of pictures of the process, but it's just mostly a matter of making layers.  Nothing tricky.  But I did get LOTS of pictures of the finished product.  They looked SO. AMAZING.  And they tasted OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD.

So, thank you, Reegen for introducing me to these incredible brownies.  We love them almost as much as we love you!


Here's what you'll need:

1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
1 (5 oz.) can evaporated milk (a tiny can)
1 (14 oz.) bag caramels (42 caramels)
3/4 C. melted butter
1 (12 oz.) bag milk chocolate chips
1 (8 oz.) bag toffee bits

Mix together the cake mix, melted butter, and 1/3 cup evaporated milk.  Press 1/2 of the mixture into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan and set aside the other 1/2 of the brownie mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.  Remove brownies from the oven and sprinkle on half of the toffee bits.  Melt together the caramels and the rest of the evaporated milk.  (I melted mine in the microwave until the mixture was smooth.)  Pour the caramel over the toffee bits.  Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips on top of the caramel.  Crumble the rest of the brownie mixture over the chocolate chips, then top with the remaining toffee bits and chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Try this out soon and enjoy these mouth-watering pictures...

Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

Fall is in full swing around here!  Today is cold, rainy, and super WINDY!  We're supposed to see wind speeds over 50 MPH.  That's a little nuts, isn't it?

What better thing to do on a day like this than make some nice, warm comfort food.  And since this meal cooks in the crockpot, that means your oven is free to bake some bread or goodies.  Doesn't that sound nice?  It sure does to me!

This recipe is adapted from HERE and we absolutely LOVED it!  I loved the shortcut of using canned biscuit dough for the dumplings.  It was so simple and so delicious!  Brilliant really.

Here's what you'll need:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I doubled the recipe since we were cooking for extras and I only had three chicken breasts.  It worked out great though.)

2 Tbsp. butter

2  (10.5 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup

1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth

1/2 onion, diced OR you can use 2 Tbsp. dried, diced onion

1 Tbsp. dried parsley

4 Grands flaky refrigerator biscuits

Place chicken in crockpot.  Plop the butter on the chicken.

Then scoop the cream of chicken soup on that (since I doubled this recipe, I only had 3 cans of cream of chicken soup, so I added a can of cream of mushroom soup).

Pour the chicken broth over all.

Add the diced onion and dried parsley.

Cover and cook on High for 4-5 hours or Low for 8-9 hours.

After the chicken is cooked, shred it and put it back into the soup.

Cut each biscuit into 9 pieces.

(Remember that I doubled mine, that's why there are more than 4.)

Stir gently into the soup.  Cover and turn the crockpot to High and cook for another hour.

After an hour, stir it up and this is what you'll get.

Serve warm and enjoy!