Readers Choice: Top 10 Glorious Posts

Happy New Year Friends! It's almost 2014!!! As always, this past year has flown by and I wonder where the time has gone. At this time last year though I told my family that I wanted to start blogging about everything I do for our family. Whether it be cooking, crafts, or just my projects.
On January 4th I posted my first post about Loaded Baked Potato Soup. Boy have I learned A LOT about blogging since that first post. When I look back at some of the first pictures I took I cringe and can't believe I actually thought that the pictures looked good! I still have a lot to learn about photography and am currently saving up to buy a better camera to actually do some of my recipes some justice. ;) One thing I know for sure is that I have found something that I love doing. I look forward to writing as often as I can and absolutely love hearing from my readers. Each comment mean so much to me. As I look into this next year I am hopeful to grow even more as a writer, photographer, and organizer. I also hope to connect with more of my readers and form closer relationships with all of you. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read and grow with me. :)

I thought it would be fun to share with you the Top 10 most read posts of 2013. Just in case you missed one of them. :)

Hope you each have a great start to the New Year!!

Deanna

Top 10 Glorious Posts!

 



Turkey Holiday Chili in the Slow Cooker

The chili is a great change from chili made with ground beef. The flavors all blend really well together. Perfect for left over turkey or to make brand new in the slow cooker. Also great during these cold winter months. Happy Holidays everyone!! :)

Ingredients

3 lb turkey breast

4 cups chicken stock

1 clove garlic, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1 (15-ounce) can white beans, with liquids from beans

1 (15oz) can dark red kidney beans, with liquids from beans

1 (4-ounce) can diced green chilis, with liquids from chilis

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano

Directions

I bought a frozen turkey breast and slow cooked ours for 5 hrs on high. If yours is not frozen I would cut the time in half to 2 1/2 hrs or on low for 5 hrs.
Once your turkey breast is easily shreddable with two forks pull it out of the slow cooker, shred, and put back in.
Add the remaining ingredients to your slow cooker with the shredded turkey. Cook on low for another hour so it will heat thru.
We topped ours with shredded cheese. Delicious!!

Grilled Cheese Roll Ups

My boys loved this spin on a grilled cheese. We ate ours just like you see in the above picture, but these would be delicious dipped in a hot bowl of tomato soup during these cold months. How do you like to eat your grilled cheese? Do you add meat, veggies, or a combination of cheeses? I'd love to hear!

Ingredients:
6 slices of bread (flattened)
1 Tablespoon of butter
american cheese

Directions:
Flattened you bread with a rolling pin so it's easy to roll.
Place a slice of american cheese on the bread and roll it up.
Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat.
Start grilling your rolls in the melted butter with the seam side down to seal.
Grill until the cheese is melted and the bread is slightly toasted.

Enjoy!
Deanna

Orange Bow Knots

What a beautiful morning this morning was here in San Antonio! It was cold and the sun was shining brightly through the trees. We are settling nicely into our new home and really enjoying being here. I made these rolls this morning and they were delicious. So easy to make as well. Instead of making my own dough I used Pillsbury bread sticks. This step made this a really easy recipe!  These would be excellent to make during the holidays for friends and family!

Ingredients:

Pillsbury bread sticks (1 can makes 12)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Open your can of bread sticks and divide into 12 equal parts. Pull each of your dough sections to make them long enough to wrap into a bow/knot.
Bake for 13 minutes or until golden.

Directions for icing:

In a small mixing bowl stir together your powdered sugar, orange juice, and zest. Gradually add your orange juice until you like the consistency of the icing. I only used 2 tablespoons because I liked my icing thicker. Brush it onto your warm rolls. Yum!

Enjoy!!

Salted Caramel Pear Crisp

 

We haven't quite figured out the heat in our new house and I seem to be cold ALL of the time. There is a lot more tile in this house compared to our house in Austin so maybe that's why... I don't know, but I do know that I where slippers all day that I am home because my feet are so cold! Ha! I'm such a wimp though. ;)

Anyway, enough about my cold feet! :) So, the other night when I was cold I wanted a warm dessert. I decided to make this delicious pear crisp and it hit the spot. Notice the picture though, I did have to add me some vanilla ice cream. It's the perfect combination. My taste buds over ruled my cold feet on this one!

Salted Caramel Pear Crisp

• 6 cups sliced pears {10-11 pears}
• 1/4 cup lemon juice {juice of 3 lemons}
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 5 tablespoons cold butter
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place sliced pears in a greased 13×9 baking dish. Pour lemon juice over pears and toss gently.
Mix sugar, oats, flour, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Cut in cold butter until crumbly. Add nuts and combine. Sprinkle crumb topping over pears.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until browned.

Salted Caramel Glaze:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons white or raw sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1-2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar, sifted

Heat butter, sugars, salt, vanilla and milk over medium heat, stirring constantly. When mixture reaches a boil, boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and continue stirring. Add one tablespoon confectioner’s sugar to thicken.
Drizzle salted caramel over warm pear crisp.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

I hope you love it!

Deanna

Source: My Blessed Life

Apple Turnovers with Cream Cheese Icing

Hello Friends! I hope that everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving and is enjoying this beautiful holiday season. My life has been a bit crazy lately. The weekend immediately following Thanksgiving we moved from Austin to San Antonio Tx. It has been an eventful couple of weeks and I apologize for not sending you all things Glorious. ;) My mind has been consumed with the move and I've put cooking and crafting on the back burner. We are finally feeling a bit settle into our new home though so I'm hoping that I will be back in the kitchen this weekend. We are missing our friends and family a lot but will hopefully get to see them often. San Antonio isn't but a couple of hours away.

Today I am sharing with you a simple and delicious apple pastry. My family loves apple, but you could fill it with pumpkin, cherries, pears, peaches.... whatever your little heart desires. ;) To get this recipe head on over to Memories by the Mile where I did a guest post last week.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Deanna

Gift Exchange at P.F.Chang's

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of P.F. Changs for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
It’s almost Christmas!! Can you believe it?!? Where has the time gone this year? I hope that everyone is doing well and getting most of their Christmas shopping done so that you can relax as it draws closer to Christmas day.
Do you have any holiday traditions with your friends when you exchange Christmas gifts? My best girlfriend and I enjoy meeting at a nice restaurant where we can sit and relax, catch up, eat good food, and exchange presents. This year the restaurant of choice was P.F. Chang’s. Have you been there? It has a unique and modern environment that combines Asian and American cultures through their décor and menu. It serves classic favorites to seasonally inspired food. You can dine on hand crafted dishes, desserts, and cocktails.
This year, because time has gotten away from us and we didn’t have has much time to have a full meal, we decided on meeting for just dessert and coffee. P.F. Chang’s has a new dessert on its menu along with two handcrafted holiday beverages that we really wanted to try. Their new dessert that we tried is this delicious handmade dessert wontons-Chocolate Raspberry and Sweet Vanilla Cheese.
Oh my goodness do these not look delicious!!
We had a difficult time deciding between their two new beverages, the Peppermint Mocha Cappuccino and the Vanilla Bean Milkshake, but because it has been so abnormally cold down here in TX we decided to go with the warm Cappuccino. It was perfect! So delicious!
The evening was wonderful and I highly encourage you to visit P.F. Chang’s and try out their new Holiday menu items. You will not be disappointed. Let me know what you think of your visit.  Be sure to follow P.F. Chang’s on twitter Follow @pfchangs & PInterest Follow P.F. Chang’s on Pinterest.
Which new menu items are you anxious to try? Would you make the same choices that we did?                    
Can’t wait to hear from you!
Deanna

Vino Vinti

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of VinoVinti for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I love red wine! Do you? I enjoy having a glass in the evenings to unwind, to sip while I read, or to sit with my husband and catch up on our day. My husband and I went to Italy on our honeymoon and had wine with every meal (except breakfast of course). J I Love Italian wine!! Red wine paired with prosciutto, cheese, & olives….oh my mouth is watering!! I can just taste it!  I hope we get to go back.  I’ve also had the opportunity to go to California with my husband on a couple of business trips. After his conferences were over we snuck away to Sonoma Valley and had the best time!! Californian wines are delicious as well! Plus the scenery of the vineyards there aren’t too shabby to look at either. Beautiful part of the U.S. for sure. It reminded us a lot of Italy. Very similar to Tuscany.
Well, I recently learned about a new innovative device called the VinoVinti.  I wanted to share it with you today in case any of you enjoy wine like we do. I also think that this is going to be a perfect gift for my husband and my brother this Christmas.  It is also very simple to purchase, which I love! You can do it all from the comfort of your home and don't have to fight all of this crazy holiday traffic. Just click on this link VinoVinti and by clicking on the store button you can puchase as many as you like.  Hopefully after learning about it you will want to place one under the tree for your special someone like I am.
The VinoVinti is a device that removes excess carbon dioxide from the wine, is faster than decanting and even more effective than aeration. It uses a specially engineered ceramic rod and vacuum pump to create a bubble to escape the wine.  When it does this it enriches the flavor, removes the “acidic bite”, and improves the way it feels in your mouth. It’s super easy to use and can be done in all of 20-30 seconds.
Be sure to watch this 2 minute video to learn more about the VinoVinti.

Be sure to like VinoVinti on Facebook so that you can get all of their latest info!
**Please drink responsibly, and always, only drink if you are a least 21 years old or older**