Chicken and Salsa / Super Simple, Super Delicious

January 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment


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I’m about to rave about this meal, and I have countless reasons why.  It’s been a favorite of our family’s for quite some time now.  We all really love it.  When we have a very busy scheduled day, this is most always what I plan for supper, because it’s that easy and fast, to prep any of it.  Like, ridiculous. Especially for the amazingly delicious meal that it is.  It can actually be made and ready in 2 to 2-1/2 hours cooked on high, if you’d like. Or, you can let it slow cook all day. Either way, it’s super quick, easy prep-work, and pretty much ready to eat when you are.  

Here’s a few other reason why I love it:  You don’t have to handle raw chicken at all!  I don’t know about you, but I’m just not particularly fond of touching raw chicken.  I will, and I’m not real freaked out.… Read More

Filed Under: Main Dish, Recipes, Slow Cooker, Vittles Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The House Of Joyful Noise Top 10 Projects of 2012 Countdown!

December 29, 2012 By 1 Comment






The year of 2012 is coming to a close, and my-my-my, what an amazing and unpredictable year it has been for us! It truly taught us to have faith, and hold on for the ride!  We are way excited for the coming new year of 2013, because we have some big (huge!) and exciting projects that we will be doing, documenting, and sharing, with you!  In fact, many. But before we get to all of that, we thought it would be fun to just reflect on this past year, for which we are so grateful for.  Both in regards to the blog, and ‘The Big Picture’ of our day to day family life.  And THEN, have a little countdown of our most popular projects of the past year.… Read More

Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Home Projects, Photography, Re-Purposing, The Big Picture, The Homestead, Vittles Tagged With: ,

A Great Pie Taste-Testing! / $50 to Williams-Sonoma

December 21, 2012 By 35 Comments

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Mrs. Smith’s. All opinions are 100% mine.



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Say “I” if you love pie!  And if you love free money, you can put some whip cream on top of that! This should be a fun post for you.
Recently, Mrs. Smith’s asked us to try their new Mrs. Smith’s Signature Deep Dish pies, and also sent us a sweet prize to give away too.

$50 to spend at Williams-Sonoma!

I’m actually one to bake my pies from scratch. But in a crunch, Mrs. Smith’s is my store-bought pie to fall back on!… Read More

Filed Under: Baking, Desserts, Give Aways, The Big Picture, Vittles Tagged With: , , ,

Pumpkin Shaped Cookies

November 1, 2012 By 10 Comments






It’s the first day of November, and we’re still riding high on the beauty of Autumn all around us! I think we’ve done more baking than ever this year as well.  I had an idea about trying to make some pumpkin shaped cookies, using a dough recipe I already had, and they came out so great!  These are beautiful cookies to have around on Thanksgiving, or anytime during the pumpkin/Autumn season, and they were fun to make, too.  It may seem like a lot of steps, but it is easy, and the dough recipe itself is very useful!

The dough is the same recipe from my God-Mother’s Italian cookies, found here in a post called Cookie Love.  It’s a very I am going to give you the recipe right here as well, but you really can see how it is made at the other post.  *Please note; you can mix the ingredients to make dough with a Kitchen Aid Mixer, but we did not have one at the time of the other post, so we did it by hand.… Read More

Filed Under: Baking, Treats, Vittles Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Recipe for Apple Pie Pops

October 2, 2012 By 17 Comments






 If you only knew the recipes I see in a day, a week, a month – that I have every intention of making!  I get to really making some, but most not, simply because there is really only so much time in a day, and so much food we can eat in it!  Granted some (little) people (my kids and husband), eat way more than others (myself.)  I actually am one of those with big eyes. I can be starving, and then eat 2 crackers, and I’m good. My kids cannot believe how little I eat. I just get full easy.… Read More

Filed Under: Baking, Recipes, Treats, Vittles Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Cherry Tomato and Cucumber Summer Salad

August 12, 2012 By 2 Comments






 When it is summertime, I want meals that are as simple and quick to make as possible. If we don’t have a tight schedule that day, then we’ve spent the day involved in some project or other. Especially on weekends, when Michael is home too. Usually it’s been it’s blazing hot out all day too, being summertime and all. And let’s face it, the heat and humidity really has a way of draining anyone’s energy and ambition that much more. 

That’s exactly how I happened to come up with this simplest of salads. Dinner was not even planned, never mind started!  Michael threw some steaks on the grill, and I just grabbed the vegetables we brought in from the garden that day, off of the counter, and threw together a cold side dish.… Read More

Filed Under: Recipes, Salads, Side Dishes, Vittles Tagged With: , , , , , ,

All Kinds of Sweetness, Going On.

August 6, 2012 By 12 Comments

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of NECTRESSE™Sweetener for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.






 

     Every day, my morning starts off with sweetness, when one of my triplets gets me my coffee, and delivers it right to my sleepy-self, with a kiss and a hug.  A day is bound to be good, when it kicks off with 2 of my favorite things in this world: my kids & my coffee. 

     They know just how I like my coffee too.  A small plop of light cream, and 1 teaspoon of sugar, please.
Three or four years ago, we switched from using white granulated sugar, to sugar in the raw.  If I was going to use sugar in my coffee, the raw form seemed to me, at least in some small way, to be a better choice.  The only time I use sugar at all really, is in my coffee, and while baking.  The baked goods are mostly for my kids and husband.… Read More

Filed Under: Drinks, Reviews & Sponsors, Vittles Tagged With: , , ,

Oven Cooked Corn on the Cob – Perfect!

August 5, 2012 By 8 Comments






 For the 20+ years Michael and I have been together, we have been trying to figure out how to cook corn on the darn cob, so it comes out just right.  Sometimes it has come out really good, but most times it hasn’t.  It’s just a gamble. We have tried cooking it a few different ways; over the fire with wet husks, steamed, and boiled.  The fire method corn came out amazing the first time, and not as much the second.  The steamed method we only did once, because we didn’t like how it came out. More times than not, we have boiled it.  For us, perfectly cooked corn is- when the kernels are popping right off the cob as you eat it.… Read More

Filed Under: Side Dishes, Vittles Tagged With: , , , ,

Farmers’ Markets and Photography

July 29, 2012 By 16 Comments






There is just so very much, that I love about this time of the year.  One of those things for sure, is going to the farmer’s markets!  We have them at a few different locations here in our hometown of Plymouth (MA), and they run from June through October, on Thursdays and Saturdays of every week.  One of the original ones has made a new home starting this year, at the Plimoth Plantation.






To begin with, it matters to our family, to support our local farmers and the small business people in our community.  We are small business people ourselves, and knowing these vendors have families they are trying to support just like we are, makes us truly appreciate all they are trying to do.  Though our specific businesses may be different, we understand the hard work involved in marketing one’s self, producing high quality work, feeling love for what you create, and having little dreams for the success of it all. 

And what’s not to love, about fresh and locally grown organic food, and handmade goods anyway?… Read More

Filed Under: Life In General, Photography, Photography & Lettering, The Big Picture, Vittles Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

A Surprise, That Was a Piece of Cake!

July 25, 2012 By 11 Comments






Our biggest girl, Alexis, had a birthday on July 5th.  She turned 15! There is so much I could tell you, about how special this girl is. Especially given her age. But I’ll save that brag for another time.  For now, I’ll just share 2 things that I want to say about her turning 15:  1) The teen-years horror stories I have been repeatedly been told to expect?  They haven’t hit yet.  2) In many ways, she seems so much older, than just 15. And not just because she is way taller and bigger than her Mama.

Her birthday held one tradition that all of her others have .… Read More

Filed Under: Baking, Celebrations, The Big Picture, Traditions, Vittles Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Fresh Strawberries and Chocolate Nachos

July 13, 2012 By 1 Comment






If you love chocolate covered strawberries, this unique treat might be just for you.  I really do love them, but I also enjoy things that have CrUnCh!   So a few weeks ago, when I just so happened to have picked an abundance of fresh strawberries from our (garden bed) the day before, I stumbled across this very unique recipe treat from Our Best Bites.  The recipe was fresh strawberries, drizzled with dark melted chocolate (chips), over some cinnamon tortilla chips she had previously made.   Now, to me personally, eating cinnamon with chocolate and strawberries did not sound appealing.  But the idea of dessert nachos did!… Read More

Filed Under: Desserts, Treats, Vittles Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Making Homemade Strawberry Jam and Canning, For the First Time

July 10, 2012 By 2 Comments






Just a bit ago, I had shared with you all what a great strawberry season we had this year, and all we have learned in the process of growing them.  Every season from the beginning, it had been my hope and plan, to learn make our own homemade strawberry jam.  The problem was, it never seemed we had quite enough berries ready, at the same time. But then between a bag we froze last year, and some more we froze this year, I was sure it was time to really try making some jam! For the first-time-ever. 

Our usual household jam, has always been Polaner’s All Fruit.  Just reading and comparing ingredients with the other jams and jellies on the grocery store shelves, made the choice clear to me.… Read More

Filed Under: Breakfast, Vittles Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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