Recipes

Fall Bucket List 12 Must Do Fall Activities

white kitchen, marble, super white quartzite counter tops

Bath and Body Works Fall candle collection, my favorite is leaves. Costco Fall flowers & candy corn make it feel like fall! My shirt is by Trunk old, similar here & here.

Hello Beautiful’s! You know how much I love Fall (it’s going to be my Birthday month!) and how much I love to do & enjoy all things Fall! So I thought it would be fun to do a Fall bucket list to share with you, since you loved my Winter bucket list last year (If you missed that check it out here!). I hope it inspires you to get in the spirt of the season and check a couple things off the list as well! OX

PUMPKIN PATCH – Well of course, an annual event around year! Even if my kids are big and over it! I still drag them out for a family day (normally it’s bribed with food). I always have a large assortment of pumpkins on our porch, steps and entryway. So this is a great time to have everyone pick a verity and help decorate!
HAUNTED HOUSE– A perfect date with the family, my boys will be really into this! I haven’t been to one since high school, so wish me luck!
A day in front of a fire with a cozy blanket, a cup of tea, a candle burning and a great book!
Go on an OUTDOOR HIKE, where the colors are stunning and the air is crisp!
Go to a COLLAGE FOOTBALL game! We have to go support Auston Tesch #53 for Weber state at least once a year! It’s always fun and last year my mom was here to go support him too!
Take a FALL DRIVE where the leaves are in full glory. I love grabbing a warm drink and taking a drive with my hubby to see the color’s. It’s fun to grab a meal out and make it a date. When we lived in California, we would go with the entire family,(my mom & my sister) to Oak Glen and pick apples, boy do I miss those days.
Make a HOMEMADE PIE, I haven’t made a pie from scratch in a few years. I used to love making apple pies, when we had so many apple trees in California! (I need to plant a couple apple trees)
JUMP INTO A PILE OF LEAVES and get a cute picture! I will wait for my boys to rake all the leaves up! hehe
Make a big POT OF CHILI (my veggie chili recipe is below) and watch Hocus Pocus! I mean what is fall without watching Hocus Pocus at least 10 times!
Create a FALL WARDROBE CAPSULE, these wardrobe capsules have been all the rage, (have you heard of them?) with fall being most peoples favorite time to shop, it’s a great time to create one for you. Help yourself to get inspiration and pick out classic pieces to build your wardrobe for Fall.
Spend the WEEKEND with GIRLFRIENDS in PJ’S watching HALLMARK MOVIES. Of course we’ll do face mask, drink wine and eat all kinds of yummy food! Who’s ready for a sleep over?
Enjoy a FIRE ON THE DECK making s’mores, under cozy blankets enjoying the crisp fall air! I will be decorating my back deck for fall this year! Unfortunately it’s a short season here in Utah, So I have never decorated the back deck for fall. This year we are going too spend more time wrapped in blankets enjoying the crisp air.

Corn Maze Fun: Outfit details- Cardigan old: similar here & here, Black tee Here, Shoes similar here, Camo moto pants, Old: Similar here and here here

Louis Vuitton, fall nails, purchase color here and Starbucks. Three of my favorite things!

My Easy Veggie Chili Recipe: (slow cooker) So easy you’ll make it a ton!

1 large can of chili beans and sauce

1 can each of pinto, kidney, red beans drained and rinsed

1 large can of tomato sauce

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 cup of water

1 each of a red, yellow, green bell peppers, washed and chopped

1 large onion chopped and browned

4 cloves of garlic chopped browned

1 tablespoon of butter (for browning onion and garlic)

1 tablespoon of chili powder

1 tablespoon of onion salt

1 tablespoon of kitchen bouquet (browning seasoning)

1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

crushed red pepper seasoning to taste

shredded cheese (for topping)

Brown the onions and garlic in the butter, then add everything (except cheese) into the crockpot on low in the morning and come home to a yummy meal! You can brown turkey or meat of choice with a chili seasoning packet and add that, but you’ll need another can of tomato sauce. Serve with corn bread, fritos or soda crackers!

Extra toppings optional: sour cream, green onions, hot sauce I hope you try it and let me know what you think. It’s a family favorite around here!

As promised I shared ALL the weekend sales on my instagram stories under Shopping!

I picked some of my favorite things and shared the deals, so go check them out!

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time out of your day to spend a little bit of time with me. If you have any question, please remember to leave a comment. I love helping my friends out! OX, D’Arcy

Best Homemade Salsa Recipe

All the ingredients for a big batch of home made salsa. Makes 3 quarts

Fresh Veggies from the garden.

chopping all the veggies, I cut everything in this size.

Green chilies, Green salsa, garlic, oregano, onion salt

Everything is cut up and all ingredients in the pot, before cooking!

salsa as it is cooking down.

After cooled pour into blender and blend for a minute, or to the consistency you want.

chips served with the salsa. Add cheese to one for a variation.

Finished salsa without cheese

Salsa with cheese

Homemade Salsa recipe:

12 fresh tomatoes

Or 3 cups tomatoes

1 bunch cilantro chopped

2 7oz cans Green chili peppers chopped

1 12oz green chili salsa

1 large yellow onion chopped

1 bunch of green onion chopped

2 or 3 jalapeños chopped

2 large tablespoons Oregano

2 Large Tble spoons of Onion Salt

2 lrg Tble spoons of chopped Garlic

Add All ingredients into large pan and bring to boil on stove top, stir and then let simmer on low for about 1 hour. Let cool, this takes a couple hours. Then pour into blender and blend until consistency you like. Pour into containers and chill.

I like to serve 1 bowl with cheese and 1 bowl without, with your favorite chips!

Perfect for Large crowds & football season!

We’ve been making this recipe since I was a kid. My mom got this recipe from a dear family friend and we’ve enjoyed making it ever since!

I hope you will enjoy it as much as we have! OX, D’Arcy

Happy tee, I showed you how I cut the neck out of my tees to make an off the shoulder tee, in my instastories. These cute Happy tee’s are made local here in Utah. I was wearing this tee when I was sharing recipe on instastories and got a ton of questions on it, so I wanted to give you the link to purchase these cute tees HERE. Go check them out, it’s a woman owned company and she makes darling tee’s.

Check out my Fiesta bar cart styling perfect for serving that chips and salsa! View Bar cart in more detail HERE.

How to make the BEST Banana Bread!

Something you may not know about me? I love to bake, and after sharing some of the things i’d been making on my instastories, I got an overwhelming response to please share recipes. I love to give you what you want, so I made a new category here on my blog to share Recipes. It’s under Lifestyle in the drop down and I hope you’ll try the recipes I share. I will be sharing family recipes and ones I have created. Bare with me as I promise my food photography will get better!

I love to entertain as you know, and I’ve been cooking and baking since I was so young! I won the BEST apple pie in the 3rd grade and would have been one of those kids vying to be on today’s Baking kids championships, had we had those then! My time it was country fair and school baking competition, Boy times have changed! Not that I am a fancy baker (I am not) I just love to bake good basic’s!

Once Upon a time, years ago I put on scrapbooking retreats and I cooked all the meals, 3 meals a day plus snacks. The ladies always raved about my food and wanted me to create a cookbook and while I said I would, I collected mine and my families recipes, but I never put that book together! Maybe one day I will, but until then i’ll be sharing my favorites here! My plan if all goes well, is to share a recipe with you every Monday. So here’s goes my first Monday Recipe, My Grandma’s Banana bread or muffins recipe, with a couple of improvement’s! My grandma Mercer made this bread every Christmas and sometimes we’d get lucky and get it for a family gathering throughout the year. I started making this bread when I got married and giving out to our neighbor’s, Ups, mailman and friends for Christmas. I’d make 24 loaves! I’d save every brown spotted banana and threw it in the freezer. At first my hubby would question all the bananas taking up all the freezer space, but now nobody say’s a thing! They get really excited if they see them defrosting in the sink!

My Boy’s are terrible… They’ll each eat a loaf in a day if i’d let them! When I make a batch I alway’s make multiple batches. If making for my family i’ll do 4 batches, and make two trays of muffins and 4 medium loaves, then i’ll freeze 1/2. When I make at Christmas i’ll make 8 to 12 batches and make some medium loaves and the rest mini loaves to give as gift’s.

My Grandma’s recipe called for 3 overripe banana’s, I do 4 and I make sure the bananas have been frozen and then thawed. This makes for the most moist banana bread you’ve ever have. I also added chocolate chips or nuts, my grandmothers was just plain banana bread. You can leave out the Chocolate chips or the nuts if you wish, the main recipe won’t change.

Recipe: Best Banana Bread with Chocolate chips

2cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 overripe bananas

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For a variation add chocolate chips ( 2 cups) walnuts or pecans (1 cup)!

powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease your muffin or loaf pan’s. Mash the bananas with a fork in a small bowl and then whip them, set aside. in large bowl add butter, eggs, vanilla beat well. Mix dry ingredients, fold in the banana’s and chocolate chips or nuts or both. Pour batter into loaf or muffin pans. Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get rid of air bubbles! Place in oven, oven’s all range in heat temperatures so time could vary, so I say start checking in 45 min but could go as long as 1 hour. Test by sticking a toothpick in center, if comes out clean, it’s done! Makes 1 large loaf or 2 small loaves.

I hope you enjoy one of my families favorite treats! Ox

Remember I am not trained in baking or cooking in anyway, I am just a wife and mom cooking for family & friends. Please let me know if you tried the recipe and how they turned out! OX, D’Arcy

3 Way’s to entertain with ease!

{Dress} here and similar Here, here here. {Shoe} here and similar here {bar cart} Vintage but Similar Here and here {glasses} Here and Similar here {home} target $3 bin Sold out Similar here {ring} sold out, similar here and here

Hello Beautiful’s,

I want to share with you 3 easy way’s to entertain with easy! You know how much I love to entertain and I love quick impromptu small gatherings. I found some easy way’s to make for a “pop over visit”for a girl’s night or a Couple’s date night!

#1 Make it simple, you can have a great night without having to slave in the kitchen. I love having people over for drinks and a simple appetizer or one of my favorite’s is, Dessert and drinks after having dinner out! This allows you to keep it simple and not have to take a lot of time to prepare.

#2 Being Prepared! Having a few entertaining piece’s you love. Pretty glasses, a great serving tray or bowl. Even having a bar cart (even if you don’t drink) It makes serving easy, yet keeps your theme in check! View some of my favorite past bar cart tips Here, here and here!

#3 Keep the drink and food easy! Paring a great champagne or Prosecco with a fruit patter or my favorite Strawberries and homemade fruit dip! (my family’s favorite & it’s quick!) Recipe below! If you want to serve a cocktail, I alway’s suggest a specially cocktail ( find out what your guest alcohol choice is) create a drink around that! Say it’s vodka, you can make a Moscow mule and serve with a cheese and cracker platter or a great crudite’s platter. Serving 1 kind of drink helps you to enjoy your company and not having to act as a bartender! I love drinks I can make in a pitcher! Sangria, Rum punch, Vodka lemonade, Mojitos.

Entertaining doesn’t have to be expensive or hours of time! Some of my most favorite get together’s happened spur of the moment! This is why being prepared is key! I can have friends drop over at any time and I can easily throw something together. Here is a list of some of the things I like to alway’s have in my pantry and fridge, this helps you entertain quick and with ease.

Assortment of cheeses (even cream cheese or boursin, these make a great veggie dip)

Assortment of crackers and nuts

Fresh fruit and veggies

A bottle of wine, vodka, Rum

Club soda or La croix

Having these items on hand, really helps for throwing a quick and yummy platter together fast! Who doesn’t love to snack on these! As for the drink’s I found if you have these staples you can create something, even if it’s a wine spritzer with fresh fruit!

Strawberry dip recipe:

A jar of Marshmallow fluff

A Block of Cream cheese

A teaspoon of vanilla

mix all ingredients together, serve in pretty bowl with strawberries. Yum! (it’s great to dip strawberry in champagne first, then in dip!)

I hope you throw a fun and easy get together soon! OX, D’Arcy

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