Tuscan Chicken Stew Recipe

Happy Sunday! What a beautiful fall weekend it has been in the great state of Minnesota! I have been helping my future sister-in-law celebrate her 30th birthday this weekend along with her family. Sadly, Nate could not join us due to the tortures of medical school... just kidding... but, he did have to study. Anyway, we spent Friday evening at a rooftop restaurant downtown, had a party at her home on Saturday night, and are going to brunch this morning! For busy weekends like these, crock-pot meals are the way to go!
As I mentioned in my first post earlier this week, I made a delicious Tuscan Chicken Stew when visiting Nate last weekend in Iowa. I love recipes where I can just throw everything into the slow cooker and let it be. I found this recipe on Pinterest, as I do most of my recipes. This stew makes a hearty, savory meal that also makes great leftovers!

CROCK-POT TUSCAN CHICKEN STEW RECIPE:

Printable Recipe

Prep Time: 30 minutes (If you are efficient at chopping all the vegetables, you could probably prep in 20 minutes)

Cook Time: 4 - 6 hours

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cleaned and cut into cubes

2 stalks of celery, sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tomatoes, diced

12 baby potatoes, left whole or cut in half

1¾ cup chicken stock

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp white wine

½ tsp fennel seeds

Just before serving:

¼ cup water

1½ tbsp cornstarch

3 tsp balsamic vinegar

½ tsp salt {to taste}

Instructions:

Add chicken, celery, carrots, onion, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, chicken stock, tomato paste, white wine, and fennel seeds to the crock-pot and cook on low for 4 - 6 hours. Just before serving, stir the water and the cornstarch in a separate bowl until there are no more lumps. Add the water/cornstarch mixture, balsamic vinegar, and salt to the crock-pot and mix well. Serve with bread of your choice to 4 - 6 people.

*Note: This makes wonderful leftovers!

Recipe adapted from Sweet Peas & Saffron

Doesn't it just make your mouth water? What are some of your favorite fall recipes?

~Em

Purple Tights and Polka Dots

Happy Hump Day Readers!! Boy is this week just flying by... probably because I am being productive and getting things done. These types of weeks always seem to go faster than lazy ones. One thing I try to do each Sunday to make the week go smoothly is to lay out my work outfits for the week. It frees up more time in my morning to either sleep in, or just to relax while getting ready for my day. A helpful tip if you decide to start doing this is to lay out more than five outfits for the week. That way, if you wake up and are just not in the mood to where, say, a dress or a skirt, you have another outfit to fall back on, without having to scramble. When it comes to dressing for work, I've told my mom that I feel like I dress like Miss Frizzle from The Magic School Bus compared to my co-workers. I'm not saying that I dress absolutely crazy. I just like color and try to combine different articles of clothing to make dressing for work more interesting. I would describe myself as a relatively creative person, but my job doesn't really allow for much of that. Therefore, I like to get creative in my fashion choices. Cue the purple tights and polka dots!

A sophisticated look with a little spunk! See? Not totally crazy! Just adding color, in an unexpected way. I could have paired this dress with my black tights, which I have before, but I thought this was more fun for a sunny fall day at the office! My work-place is business-casual and fairly laid back. If you couldn't tell, I don't have to wear a suit everyday. I understand some people do not have this much freedom to dress as they may please. This is just another reason why I love the company that I work for.

When you grow up living in Minnesota, you know that coats are necessary for cool days in October and for the rest of the year. Isn't it cute! It was a birthday present from my parents. Coats are a bit of a weakness of mine. Anyway, Scroll down to the bottom of this post to get my look!

Now I've been trying to get to know my new camera and practice my modeling skills (ha!) over the past month or so. Since I live on my own, I got a tri-pod and a remote in order to take self-portraits, and photos of my ensembles. I'm going to my second photography class in two weeks, so I'm hoping to really increase my skills and display more quality photography on the blog! Make sure to keep checking in to see my progress... hopefully!

 

I know this last picture was blurry, but I just thought the background was so pretty! These bushes are in front of my building and continue to get redder and redder everyday. If I remember correctly from last fall, they reached a bright, bright red color. I'm looking forward to that. Anyway, I think the background complimented my outfit quite well!

~ Get My Look ~

Coat: Kuhl Brand | Dress: The Loft | Shoes: Pay Less Shoes | Tights: Target  

Belt: Charlotte Russe | Necklace: Dry Goods (in store only)

Thanks, for checking in! As promised a third post is in store for later this week. I may even get around to a fourth post later in the weekend. Do any of you have any favorite crafts I should try related to Halloween?

~Em

Life, Love... and Sticky Buns

Wow! The last month has been incredibly busy. Between wedding planning, a long distance relationship, and two major deadlines at work, I pretty much had no life, and therefore, no time to blog. If you don't already know, I work at a CPA firm doing taxes for a living. It doesn't sound very glamorous, but I actually enjoy it! We just got through the two extension deadlines which fall on September 15 and October 15. Although I wasn't working crazy hours, it was still a very stressful time. I will definitely have to make sure I make time for blogging during next tax season!

On the bright side, wedding planning is going rather well. We have all of the big pieces of the puzzle put together and are now just working on the little details! My mom and I have been crafting away on different DIY/Pinterest projects that I hope to post about soon! I am in talks with my coordinator about flowers and centerpieces! I can’t wait to share all of the fun plans with you all!

Anyway, while in Iowa visiting my fiance, Nate, I made three different recipes from my Pinterest Boards. The first was a Tuscan Chicken Stew, the second was yummy pulled pork, and the third was some delightful sticky buns!

I have never been a huge breakfast person. In fact, until recently I did not even eat cinnamon rolls. Let’s just say I had a bad reaction to a cinnamon roll in the past and it took me years to get over it. Anyway, now I am making up for lost cinnamon roll-tasting years, which Nate appreciates. I stumbled upon this sticky bun recipe on Pinterest and decided it looked easy enough for me to try! And believe me when I say that they are gooood!

Sticky Bun Breakfast Biscuits

2 small tubes refrigerator buttermilk biscuits OR 1 tube Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits 

3 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional

1/4 cup chopped almonds, optional

Instructions:

Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. In small bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (optional) and put to the side for now. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter and syrup.  Place about half of the syrup mixture on the bottom of the pan and then spread about half of the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture on top of that. Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (pictured above). Spread the remaining syrup and sugar mixtures over the top of the biscuits. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes. Let the biscuits cool for a minute or two before serving!

* I ended up using 1 tube of the Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits and it was more than enough to serve two for breakfast.

** I also ended up only putting 1/4 cup pecans on my biscuits. If I were to do it all over, I would have added more!

Recipe modified from The Jones Way

Hopefully you are all tempted to give these a try! 

~Em

Fall Style: Pop of Orange

Fall is finally here! Who doesn't love Fall? The beautiful colors in the trees, leaves falling to the ground, the crisp, cool air... I love it. Of course, I also love that I get to break out all of my sweaters and my fall wardrobe! Being a Minnesota Girl, I don't think I could ever live in a place that didn't have all four seasons. However, in the dead of winter here, the sunny beaches of Florida sound pretty nice.

I went to visit Nathan this past weekend in Iowa. It was a beautiful weekend! Probably our last week of 80 degree weather for a while! Anyway, I made him brave the great outdoors with me on Sunday morning in order to take a few pictures of this cute fall outfit. I wouldn't normally where a skirt in the fall without tights, but this was a much warmer fall weekend. Photo credit goes to my wonderful future hubby! I think he did a pretty good job!

P.S. Feel free to laugh at my modeling skills (ha!).

~GET MY LOOK~

Sweater: Francesca's | Shirt: Old Navy | Skirt: Francesca's (style discontinued). Find a similar one here. | Necklace: Dry Goods (in store only). Find a similar one here | Boots: Payless (style discontinued). Find a similar ones here.