Chili Cornbread Casserole

This was pretty tasty! I made this in a HUGE Paula Deen casserole dish, and it was all eaten... Everyone loved it!

Ingredients:
2 pkgs Jiffy Corn Bread mix (you'll need 2 eggs and 2/3 cps milk for this)
2.5 lbs Ground Beef (or turkey or chicken)
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 can  Diced Tomatoes w/ green chilies (Don't drain)
1 can Black Beans, Rinsed and drained
1 can Corn, Drained
1 can Chili Beans (Don't drain)
1/2 cp Onions, chopped
2 cps Shredded Cheese (cheddar, mexican blend, m. jack, whatever you like)
Sour Cream
Salsa

Directions:
 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (F) while you're gathering up your ingredients. Mix up the corn bread according to package directions. Put it in the oven for about 15 minutes (it's done when a knife poked in the center comes out clean).
 While the cornbread is cooking, start cooking your hamburger and season w/ the garlic powder. When it's all good and browned, drain it. Put it back in the pan, with the onions (about med/hi heat). Cook for about 3 min. Now, add the corn, beans, and tomatoes. Simmer until the corn bread is done.
 When the cornbread is done, spoon the chili all over the top, and cover with cheese. Put it back in the oven until the cheese is melted.
 Serve w/ sour cream and salsa.

Whoa.

I haven't been on here since July? Crazy.... Well, after I moved into that house I was so excited about, I hated it. It was filled with spiders, and I couldn't get rid of them. I kill one, and three more show up in it's place. I had to check my towels before I used them....look in my bed and under the pillows for them... I was a paranoid mess! Oh! And three snakes in two months. This house had a bad vibe and I was not diggin' it. At all. So, I had to haul tail outta there! I found a nice farmhouse out in the county. We can chickens, and I'm considering some of those little goats that faint when they get startled. That is so funny lol.... Haven't seen any spiders since I vaccumed up the ones I did see :) No snakes yet!

 So with all of this, and the insane amount of overtime I've been working, I haven't had much time for being crafty....I did, however, manage to hand sew two aprons from some pretty vintage pillow cases on my breaks at work :) I bought the pillowcases a few years ago...And bought the trim on the pink one from an etsyshop (Alphabug, I believe. I double check that one. She has great vintage sewing items!)

So here's the pink apron

And the 60's mod-orange apron

I bought a men's button-down dress shirt, cut the sleeves, and top part off. Made a loop at the top on the front and back. Stuck a ribbon thru (with the help of a chopstick), and made a shirt (pictures of that later lol). Anyway, I cut the cuff part off of the sleeve, and made this bracelet :)

I cut up some of my son's shirts (makin' curtains from the pictures on them). I saved the sleeves. I made a eyeglass/sunglass case. With a ruffle of coarse!

I was going on a trip, and needed a makeup bag! What's a girl to do? Make one! Here it is :)

I did all of these at my desk (except the shirt, I did that one at the beach : p)

I've done a few more things...so I'll post those later.

 Have a great day!



I Love My Hot Glue Gun

Hello again! I've finally gotten unpacked...*sigh*...Now on to decorating. For the Summer I'm doing a beach theme in the living room and dining room....But I know that the "beachiness" can get crazy and tacky with a quickness.

BUT!

Thanks to one of my favorite blogs, The Shabby Chic Cottage, I have learned that the beach can be done beautifully and tastefully. I love her ideas!! I'll put her button at the end so you can vist her too!

It was difficult to find pretty things for the room I want with either A) Paying out the butt or B)Everything was bold colors and had a lighthouse on it.

So, I was sitting there and remembered I had bought a few wooden plaque type things from Micheal's. Well, now I finally had something to use them for! YAY!

 Here is what I made:

I layered and layered baby blue, kelly green, and white paint a whole bunch of times, and "washed" it down with water (and a paintbrush) to give it that weathered look. I hot glued a huge shell in the center, and added the "Sea" on it with scrapbook lettering stickers. Then I hot glued twine to the back so that I could hang it up.

Anchors Away!!! I love this one...I don't know why...but I've been really feel'n anchors lately...

Same paint technique for this one. I also bought the anchor at Micheals. I think it was .59 or .79 cents. They're all the way in the back of the store. And they're plain so you (I) have to paint it.

 I like to call the color I ended up with "Mermaid Green" lol

And here they are hanging up together:

I love this seahorse! When I thought up the beach theme I knew I wanted to put a little seahorse somewhere...and so I did :)

Same painting technique for this little crab too:

Flower Hair Clips

Woohoo! I got my little Esty shop up and running!

 So far I have these pretty flower hair clips, but today (sunshine willing) I'll have a vintage serving tray from the  70's, a 70's sewing dress pattern, and a vintage scarf :)

I'm figuring things out as I go...like shipping...that confuses me. How much is it for each item?

I'd like to put a link to my Etsy shop on my blog..how the heck do I do that?

Help :(

So here are a few of the flowers I made:

The big purple and brown ones are my FAVORITE!



It's Been A While

Oh my gosh it seems like it's been forever! I am finally moved in to my house *happy dance*, except I haven't really decorated yet...So it still doesn't really feel like home yet... I plan on decorating as soon as I get the downstairs painted. It's a horrible color camel-y tan. Yuck.

Anyway,  I got a sewing machine!! After asking for one for Christimas for the last 15 years, I just went out and bought one. I tried to make a purse...but it ended up a pillow LOL...

I've been cooking still, and crafting here and there.

Two nights ago, my son and I were grillin'. Now when I have the grill going, I try to cook any and everything I can! My boy, suggested grilling bananas....then I remembered seeing somewhere (either a blog or a magazine) about grilled banana splits. Holy crap they were good!

Leave the peels on them, and just slice down the middle going about half way through.

These have butterscotch chips and coconut in them.

We also grilled a couple of necterines, and put some butterscotch chips in those too!

Before we ate them, we topped them off with Cool Whip :)

Next time we're going to make a S'mores version with Crushed graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. We're also thinkin' of a peanutbutter/chocolate version too...*drool*

Please...don't be jealous of my fancy plates lol

Enjoy!

I couldn't take it anymore!

 I HAD to reunite with my beloved gluegun :) I love this thing!! I haven't used it in around a month, and I gotta tell ya....I kinda missed my burned little fingers....

I whipped these barrettes up this morning:

I bought a stem (which has 6 flowers on it) of fake flowers for .94 cents at Walmart of each color. The white is White Sweet Rose and the yellow is Dahlias. Anyway, I'm sure you've seen these on other blogs. You take the flowers apart and hotglue them back together without all the plastic pieces in between. Add a cute button in the middle, and there ya go! I'm wearing a white one now :)

 I also made these cute little earrings:

These I LUUUURVE!!! I bought these cobolt blue medicine type bottles at the thrift store yesterday for .50 cents each. They're about 6" tall. I wrapped twine around about 2" wide...and then wrapped a seashell in there too! I LOVE how they turned out!! They're going to look fantabulous on my mantle in my new living room!

I am SO close to finally being completly unpacked!! Then I can start decorating!! Yay! Which is the best part of moving anyway :)

 Have a good weekend!!!

-Candi



My life was drama free for so long...

 Geeez......what a crazy couple of weeks this has been. Well, I had two weeks to pack up, move, and clean two houses. That in itself is a challenge. Chris and I broke up. There are various reasons to that, one of which is he doesn't want more kids, I do. It's non-negotiable.
  My new house is full of spiders, earwigs, and a snake here and there....I am desperate to have this place unpacked and cleaned....!
 This past Saturday, my best friend and I went out to this tavern that's walking distance from home. It was the first time I had been out to let loose in a year and a half. So clearly, it didn't take much to get me a little saucy, and I had been out of the loop for a while so I had forgotten how to hang. Anyway, I thought I was being smart by NOT taking my purse and just putting what I needed in my pocket...Long story short, my debit/credit card fell out of my pocket, and this sleezeball who'd been chatting us up all night, picked it and took it to Walmart to buy himself an XBox 360. I immediatly noticed the missing $338.91 from my checking....anyway, Woodstock's finest arressted him yesterday :) So thank you to them!!
 On a happier note (!) I've been painting some furniture, and coming up with some crafty things for my new living room (beachy-keen for summer!). I'm also trying to come up with ways to re-do the bedframe that was left to me...It's iron, and dark green...and for some reason it has to eagles eating out of a fruit basket....wierd....so that needs to be changed.

 I hope everyone is enjoying life, and hopefully the drama is on a hiatus for me :)
    Truely, Candi

Ooops! I messed up the Cheeseburger Ring!

My croissant dough was too warm to fold properly.... But it's cool, because what I ended up with was really freakin' good too!!!!

 I present to you....Cheeseburger Pizza Awesomeness:

PRE-HEAT YOUR OVEN TO 375!

What You'll Need:
1.5 lbs of Lean Hamburger (Had to cut those calories somewhere, right!?)
Velveeta Cheese Block ( I used maybe a 1/3 of a small block), cubed
2 pkgs croissant dough (For this and the Velveeta, I used the cheaper Great Value vesions ala Walmart)
Red Onion, Chopped
Green Pepper, Chopped
Mayo
Ketchup
Cutting Board, Sharp Knife, Cookie Sheet/Pizza Pan, Skillet, 2 things to stir with
 *NOTE: You can put pretty much anything you want in this! I used what I had already. Next time though, I'm going to add sauteed mushrooms, and bacon!!! And use however much of the additions as you want!


What You Have to Do:
~Cook your hamburger on Med-Hi heat in a skillet, after it starts to brown, throw in your veggies.
~While that's cookin, unroll the croissant dough (1pkg), and lay on the pizza pan to make a crust. It doesn't have to look perfect.
~ Well, when your hamburger is done (all brown), spread it all over the dough. Put the cheese cubes down.
~Now, you unroll the other pkg of croissant dough and lay it all over the top of that! (Isn't that how Chicago pizza is?)

~Put in the oven on the middle rack, and cook for about 13-14 minutes (according to the croissant directions).

~ When you eat it, put your toppings ons! I smeared Mayo and ketchup on ours. This would be when you'd add the lettuce, tomato, and pickles too!!
 Happy Eating!!!

The CHEESEBURGER RING I intended to make came from here:
 http://www.jamhands.net/2009/02/featured-recipe-from-archives.html

Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove her recipes!!!!!

Ugh....Moving.

   Good morning, World. I have been moving two houses over the last two weeks!! The house I moved into over the weekend was fully furnished. The owner said to save some, use some, sell the rest. So that's what I've been doing..on top of packing my own house, and moving it. Once we started moving things around in the new house, I realized how nasty and dirty it is. Mouse poop, SPIDERS, webs, dust, dirt, a damn black snake in the basement (another {or same one} outside of the fence, pinchy waterbug things, wasps....a VERY chatty neighbor.... It seems like this is never going to end...I can't fully unpack my own stuff until the other ladies stuff is out (couch, piano, dining room table). I'm so tired...I want to cry sometimes because it's all overwelming, and I would really love to actually cook a real meal for my kid. I haven't cooked in two weeks! I can't find my plates....I just found my silverware yesterday. On a brighter note (think postive Candi!), this new house is FABULOUS! I can't wait to have a cookout!!! It's a sturdy brick house built in 1900...3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, love the kitchen! Love the porches (Got 3 of em!) Pictures will come as soon as I get everything cleaned and pretty!!
 I believe I'll be heading to HHGregg either today or tomorrow to get a new laptop!!! My comutor tower was blown up in a storm :(
 Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well! :)

So sorry...

 It feels like I haven't been on her in forever! I've got a lot going on right now, and haven't really had the chance to make anything... For about the last month I've been working 6 days a week, 10 hour days, on top of a two hour (1 each way) drive....so no time for a thing. Oh, plus I'm moving. Two houses...my landlord offered me another/bigger house when I told her I was looking at a bigger house from someone else. So she needs me to move all of the stuff out of her house for her...PLUS hold a yardsale that very same weekend that I'm moving both houses....Stressed much? Why, yes I am. Anyway, so I reckin' I'll be bloggin about that yard sale and the moves....and taking pics w/ my phone, since I still haven't replaced my computor.... Oh that burns me.... I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend so far. I have one day off :) Yay!

-Candi