I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, crafter, and blogger living in rural New England. As seen in Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, and more! | Tutorials, DIY, crafts, parenting tips, recipes, money saving tips, product reviews, local product features, New England living, intentional living, and more! |
This is one of my favorite hearty side dishes for anytime of year, though it probably is best suited for Fall. Very quick and easy to put together too! | This post contains affiliate links |
I call it my Harvest Side Dish because it's basis is Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend. I'm a huge fan of this mix, even on it's own. It makes a great side to dinner any night of the week and adding some of my favorite fall foods in there just makes it even more harvest-y (that's a word, right?).
Harvest Side Dish
Prep time 10 mins | Cook time 25 mins | Serves up to 8
Ingredients
1/2 a package of Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend (if not available you can substitute a mix of Israeli couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa, totaling 1 1/4 cups)
1 small onion
1 apple
1 package of apple chicken sausage
1/2 tsp sage
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Cook Harvest Grains Blend (or your substitution) according to package directions.
While that's cooking, cut up sausage and onion and saute in pan until cooked through, seasoning with sage, salt, and pepper. Add in chopped apples towards the end (I like them soft but not mushy).
Once all your cooked ingredients are finished, mix together in a large bowl and serve hot.
I've just listed these adorable gold-painted acorns in my Etsy Shop! These fallen New England acorns have been washed and oven dried before being painted a luxe gold. They come as a set of a dozen and the possibilities are endless with what you can do with them - vase fillers, adding finishing touches to centerpieces, place settings, crafts, and more!
I think they will look perfect on our Thanksgiving table! What would you use them for?
It's been awhile since I've had arrow ornaments available but I thought I'd bring them back because they're so fun and, well, arrows are big right now! I have them listed in the Etsy shop in both birch and maple with your choice of ribbon.
I'm giving away a unique set of my Hand-Etched Birch Snowflake Ornaments! A photo of some of my hand-etched ornaments was featured this year in Martha Stewart Living Magazine.
Find this post on my Instagram (@birchlandinghome) for details and to enter. Good luck!
Today I thought I'd share what we'll be putting in our little one's Easter Basket. My goal was to spend less than $20 and fill it with practical and fun items. | This post contains affiliate links |
Our little girl is only 15 months old, has more than enough toys, and doesn't eat candy yet so I was a little stumped as to what to put in her Easter basket at first. After some thought I decided to fill it with some items she needed anyway and a few things to use outside once the warmer weather comes (someday soon, I hope).
I started with the Easter basket I made for her last year (you can read my post on making her Button Easter Basket here). First I filled the bottom with paper Easter grass - having a toddler and a dog, it's so important to use the paper Easter grass over plastic just in case any gets eaten. The paper grass is also a lot more eco-friendly.
I love what I found to put in her basket!
In her basket:
Owl Lunchbox by SkipHop. She desperately needed a new lunchbox (hers broke) and this owl one from Amazon was just the cutest. There are many other animal styles to choose from too if owls aren't your thing.
Purée pouches by Plum Organics. What toddler doesn't love snacks? We picked these up last time we were at Target but they can be found at just about any grocery store or purchased by the case from Amazon.
Baby Farm Animals board book by Golden Books. We actually got this book for free from the local library (they were clearing out duplicates) but you can usually find inexpensive board books on Amazon or on sale at your local book store.
Child's Watering Can. We got this from the Dollar Store, but these can also be found at your local pharmacy. (Similar one here.)
Egg-Shaped Chalk. These came from the dollar bins at Target, and I love them because they're easy for little hands to hold. (Similar ones here.)
Since I got the board book for free I spent right around $15 for everything - wahoo!
Other basket ideas for a one-year old or young toddler:
All of these items can be done for a girl or a boy, and are easy to tweak if you wanted to tailor it more to your own child. I hope I've given you some ideas of what to put in your little one's Easter basket - Happy Easter!
Looking for more Easter ideas? Check out our other Easter posts:
Perusing Pinterest the other day I came across a pin for these Apple Rose Tarts from Martha Stewart and thought they'd be perfect to make for Valentine's Day!
Since this adorable idea was from Martha Stewart, I'll lead you there to see the full directions. However, my one complaint about the article was that it didn't give a lot of specifics, so please read on for my tips and lessons learned.
Apple Rose Tarts: Tips + Tricks
The article suggests buttering and flouring your muffin tin first, which I did, but I can't stress how important it is to really thoroughly do it. I thought I had done a good job coating the pan but when it came time to take the tarts out they didn't come out easy and quite a few had some damage.
For the pie crust I went the easy route and used a box of classic Jiffy Pie Crust mix and had enough dough to line a 12-cup muffin tin.
For the apples I used 3 Gala apples. I didn't have a mandolin and had to hand-cut them.. I definitely think a mandolin would have been a lot easier.
Using 3 apples I ended up with enough thin slices to make 6 roses, and enough left over apple pieces to fill the other 6 muffin cups. (*In summary, 1 apple with make 2 apple roses.. so If you wanted to make 12 apple rose tarts you would need 6 apples)
There wasn't any hint at how much sugar and cinnamon to use, so I filled a cereal bowl about halfway with white sugar (brown sugar would have probably tasted better but it would have browned the apple roses) and probably a teaspoon of cinnamon. When it came time to sprinkle the mixture on the apple slices I was very generous.
The apple slices need to be really soft and pliable in order to roll them well. I had to microwave them until they were soft and steaming in order to roll them without breaking.
Once you start rolling the apple slices, don't stop! Roll them tightly and place right into the prepared muffin pan - make sure it's close by.
Let the tarts cool completely before trying to take them out of the tin.
The Apple Rose Tarts were a big hit! Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!
