Crabby Housewife

Thanksgiving Centerpieces

March 25, 2016 November 4, 2015 By Crabby Housewife Leave a Comment

When I was a little girl, we would always go to my Aunt Dean’s house for the holidays. Oh, how I loved to go there. She was one of those women who made you feel welcome and like she’d been waiting for just you to arrive to start the party (she made everyone feel that way). She always had each person’s favorite dessert ready and her house would be decorated beautifully.

There have been few times in my life that I’ve really felt that loved and wanted in an environment and like I could be completely myself and she would love me anyway. Thanksgiving always makes me think of my Aunt Dean and of the holidays. She always had a beautiful centerpiece on her table and so I thought I’d spend a little time sharing some centerpieces I’ve come across lately and loved.

Make These Gorgeous Thanksgiving Centerpieces

Tiered Dessert Centerpiece

This centerpiece is so simple but looks quite elegant. Simply take a dessert tray with three tiers and arrange some pumpkins and gourds on it. You could also weave in some brightly colored fall leaves.

Golden Pumpkins

Sometimes taking something as simple as a pumpkin and changing it a bit can make the most beautiful centerpiece you’ve ever seen. Better Homes and Gardens offers this image of gold painted pumpkins and candle holders to show you just how easy it can be to achieve a look of elegance for your Thanksgiving table.

Roses in Pumpkin

A pumpkin as a base for a rose floral arrangement? Why not? Jenny Steffens proves on her blog just how simple putting together this centerpiece is. Yet, it is so very elegant and beautiful. The key is to use the right colors to get just that perfect fall fresh look. She uses a mix of orange roses and burnt orange mums. If you stick with yellows, deep reds, oranges, and browns, you shouldhave the perfect look.

Hurricane Vases/Candle Holders

Amanda Jane Brown had a simple idea that also turns out to be a gorgeous centerpiece. She took three hurricane bases, filled them halfway up with corn kernels and then set candles inside. She finished the look with a leaf on the outside tied into place with twine. Gather them all on a tray or arrange them however you’d like.

Keep It Simple

My Aunt Dean knew one thing. She knew to keep the little things simple and to focus on the people. Don’t get so caught up in creating the centerpiece that you lose time with those you love. After all, Thanksgiving is all about time with family and remembering what we should truly be thankful for.

Roundup of Cute Halloween Treats for Parties

December 23, 2016 October 28, 2015 By Crabby Housewife Leave a Comment

If you’re planning to host a Halloween party, or you want to create some treats for a gathering, class party, or other event, these recipes offer some unique takes on taking food decorating to the next level.

Kings Hawaiian Mummy Melts

Hot Dog Mummies

Banana Ghosts and Clementine Pumpkins

Coffin Bread Loaf Dip

bread coffin — Need a container for your dip? This cute coffin is made from a loaf of unsliced bread. Finish the look with a plastic skeleton. You could also spread bits of bread around the base for people to eat with the dip, so you’ll need two loaves.

Halloween Veggie Trays

Frankenstein Halloween Marshmallow Pops

frankenstein pops — Just a Taste has a cute idea for taking plain marshmallows, adding chocolate coating and turning them into mini Frankensteins.

These are a few of our favorites for Halloween treats. They’re creative, delicious and the instructions are simple enough that you can whip these dishes up in a few minutes.

Frugal Dinner Menu for Tonight

March 25, 2016 October 27, 2015 By Crabby Housewife Leave a Comment

Looking for something delicious to cook for dinner, but you’re on a tight budget? Check out these frugal recipes for dinner tonight:

Main Dish

Simple Crock Pot Roast: A pot roast is one of those meals that you can usually serve a couple of days or repurpose the leftovers, so it is more frugal than you think. Buy the roast on sale to save even more.
Chicken Monterey with Crispy Bacon: This ooey, gooey dish is plain delicious. It’s very easy to pull together, but your family will be impressed.

Sides

State Fair Grilled Corn: Corn is a fairly inexpensive dish to serve. Even when corn is out of season, you can pick up frozen ears of corn to recreate this meal. Cook in the oven during extremely cold weather where you don’t wish to be outside manning a grill.
Super Easy Parmesan Garlic Potatoes: These potatoes are so easy to throw together in a pinch. Simply open canned potatoes, or use leftovers, add some things to dress them up and you have the perfect side for almost any meal.
Made from Scratch Cheddar Biscuits: If you’d like some bread with your meal, these biscuits are a little work, but they are so worth. Nothing truly fabulous comes super easy, after all. However, you can whip them up in about 10 minutes and then bake them while the other food is cooking.

Dessert

Ice Cream Sundaes: Set up a sundae bar for your family. Keep ingredients on hand for this and you can save a bundle by buying toppings while on sale. For example, when Halloween ends, stock up on 50% off candies that would make great ice cream toppings.
Light Glazed Pumpkin Cake: Looking for a dish on the lighter side? This pumpkin cake is moist, yummy, but has a fraction of the calories of regular cake.
Orange Dream Ice Cream Pie: This is a great dessert to serve a large family or crowd. It is much cheaper to make than to buy already made, plus you’ll have better control over the ingredients.

Of course, you can always use stand-by frugal meals such as spaghetti and salad, eggs and toast, or beans and cornbread. Rice is also an inexpensive dish when on a tight budget that you can add nearly anything to, such as chicken you found on sale or fresh veggies.

Low Carb Protein Cookies Will Save Your Diet

February 16, 2018 October 26, 2015 By Crabby Housewife Leave a Comment

I’ve been working hard to eat healthier. While my scale isn’t moving super fast (I’ve lost about 7 pounds in two months), it is moving in the right direction and I feel better about what I’m putting in my body. One of my biggest down falls is my sweet tooth.

I can do well for a while but then those cravings hit. However, I have come up with a recipe that seems to help this tremendously and also puts a bit more protein in my diet. There are a ton of protein cookie recipes out there, but I found them really dry and the cookie would crumble as you tried to eat it. I started experimenting with my own recipe and here it is. It has a wonderful taste to it.

Low Carb Protein Cookies Will Save Your Diet - Mug Cookie

Author: Crabby Housewife

Ingredients

1 pat or about 1/4-1/2 tablespoon butter real butter
1 teaspoon all natural peanut butter ingredients should be peanuts and salt ONLY
1 tablespoon Splenda
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla whey protein powder I like Robb's
5 Atkins candy coated chocolates

Instructions

Melt butter and peanut butter in a small mug (about 20 seconds in microwave)
Stir until smooth.
Add Splenda and protein powder. Stir until smooth.
Microwave on high for about one minute. Check. If it is not starting to firm up around the edges, nuke 20 seconds at a time until it does.
Sprinkle on the candies (they will melt a bit from the heat of the cookie, but not too much).
Let sit for about five minutes and enjoy. I just eat it with a spoon right out of the mug. So yummy and kills that sweet urge in a healthier way than sugar and white flour.

Note: You can also make these with chocolate protein powder. However, I think it gives them a bit of a bitter taste. I much prefer the vanilla. If you are craving chocolate, though, that might be a good solution.

photo credit: Cookie Monster via photopin (license)

Slow Cooker Recipe for Asian Lime Chicken Wings

February 16, 2018 October 23, 2015 By Crabby Housewife Leave a Comment

Now that fall is here, I know my crock pot will be getting a workout. There is just something about having food cooking slow and tender all day and having that warm and comforting meal ready when you are.

My lazy heart loves slow cooker meals. Not only is everything in one pot (or two), but if your family is busy, they can serve themselves as they get home. For example, my husband made chili Wednesday. He is on vacation this week, so he’s been busy with some home improvement projects he hasn’t had time to do. My daughter has school, work, and a million activities going on. I work from home, so my schedule is more flexible.

Everyone was able to come in and eat the food as they were ready for it. My daughter ate early as she had to leave for an event on campus and to check her work schedule. My husband ate when she did. I ate later in the day. We have enough for leftovers, too, btw, which is another bonus.

This recipe is one of those that should please everyone in your family. You can nuke some precooked rice to go with it or serve with a side of salad for a full meal. It is also tasty with some sliced cabbage lightly fried in olive oil or sesame oil with onion, salt and pepper in a skillet. You only want to very quickly and lightly fry the cabbage. It should still be crunchy. However, you could also serve these wings as an appetizer at a party or take them along to an event.

This is an inexpensive dish that tastes expensive and has a slightly eastern flair that will satisfy your Chinese food cravings.

Slow Cooker Recipe for Asian Lime Chicken Wings

Author: Crabby Housewife

Ingredients

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/8 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Honey
3 Minced Garlic Cloves
2 Teaspoons Sriracha
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 Lime
2-3 Pounds Chicken Wings
* Optional - 4 Teaspoons Corn Starch or Other Thickening Agent

Instructions

Place the chicken wings into the slow cooker. I like to use the Reynolds Liners for this for easy cleanup later on.
Cut the lime in half and squeeze both halves over the chicken until no more juice comes out.
In a blender, combine soy sauce, vinegar, honey, minced garlic, ginger, and Sriracha (if you're adding corn starch, do so now along with two tablespoons of water). Blend until mixed and then pour over the wings.
Cook on low for 7 hours.

Personally, I don’t add corn starch. I’d rather have the sauce a bit less thick than to add ingredients that simply aren’t very nutritionally valuable to my family and may even be bad for us. You may want to try this recipe first without the corn starch. If you find the sauce too runny, you can always add it next time you cook this meal.