Best Macaroni Salad EVER!

 I love macaroni salad. I'll eat it in summer, fall, winter...no matter what the season (I feel the same way about soups and stews). For years I've tried to figure out how to make a flavorful salad. Through trial and error, I've finally come up with an easy, flavorful dressing for mac salad and you won't believe what the secret ingredient is! I'm not telling, you'll have to read the recipe to find out for yourself :)

Basically, you can make your mac salad the way you normally do, with this variation for the dressing:

Dressing Mix

Mayo

Ranch Dressing

Onion powder (because I don't like raw onions)

Knorr Vegetable seasoning mix (the kind you use for spinach dip)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, combine ranch dressing and mayo and stir until it's blended well (I never measure so you'll have to eyeball this a bit).

Pour in the vegetable seasoning mix (for a large bowl you can use all of it--smaller portions only use about half), salt, pepper, and onion powder. 

Mix until it's well blended.

Spoon dressing mix into bowl and mix until everything is covered well.

Chill in the fridge for a couple hours and enjoy!

I Shall Overcome

Have you ever wanted to make something so badly but no matter how hard you tried you just couldn't get it right--be it crafting, cooking, or whatever? Well, last year I encountered that. I wanted to try to make wedding soup from scratch. Now, if you don't know what wedding soup is, well, you're really missing out! It's an Italian soup that has mini meatballs, chicken, spinach, small pasta, carrots, and celery. Well, of course I could figure out those ingredients, but what I couldn't figure out was the broth. This soup has such a totally different tasting broth from any soup I've ever had (and I've had a lot of soups!). Not chicken, not beef, not vegetable--just not sure what it was about that broth--but that was the part I couldn't seem to get.

UNTIL one day, I decided to do a little experimenting. I decided to mix chicken and vegetable broths. So I combined them half and half. And guess what--it turned out right!! MONTHS I spent trying to figure out that darned broth and it was something as simple as combining two broths. Well, isn't that just the way the cookie crumbles?

If you'd like to try making a big crock pot full of this wonderful soup, here's the recipe (and let me know if you've ever had this experience). Oh--and I don't measure things so you'll just have to sort of eyeball the ingredients.

Wedding Soup

Ingredients:

Equal parts chicken and vegetable broth

Frozen mini meatballs (which I usually quarter)

Chicken breast cooked and cut up

Carrots (diced)

Celery

Frozen spinach (or fresh but don't use canned--gross)

Any type of small size pasta

Parsley

Italian seasoning

Garlic

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except pasta in a large pan or crock pot and cook until 

carrots and celery are almost done.

Add pasta and cook until done. 

I also like to take sub rolls, separate the tops from bottoms, sprinkle on some olive oil, Italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese and toast. Dip it in the soup---Mmmm mmm good!

Inexpensive Gift Ideas

Christmas will be here before you know it so you need to start making that list! I decided to post a few tutorials that will help you make fun, practical, and inexpensive gifts. Ready? Here we go!

Manicure Kit

Our first tutorial will show you how to make this cute manicure kit! So easy and would make great gifts! You could even do one in kids' fabrics for little girls! Best part: you can buy the manicure sets anywhere--including the dollar store! You can hop on over to dhbuscher.com to get the complete instructions.

Leg Warmers

Our next tutorial is by Venezie Designs. She'll show you how to make these cute leg warmers from a pair of women's socks! Another great, inexpensive gift idea!

 Composition Book Cover

This would make a great gift for the students on your list! It's made using strips of fabric so you can use up some of those scraps you have! To find out how to make this one, hop on over to V and Co Blog

On-the-Go Activity Book

 This is a great item to make for the little ones on your list! It's made completely out of felt so it's inexpensive and fun! There are three activities in the book to keep the little ones occupied: tic-tac-toe, dress-up, and coloring. You could probably make cars instead of the dress-up doll for boys. To see how to make this cute book, go visit At Second Street blog.

Onesie Dress

We can't leave baby girl out now can we? This cute little dress made with fabric and a onesie only takes 10 minutes to make! You can make baby girl a whole wardrobe in an hour! To see how easy this is, go to Prudent Baby and check it out!

Lined Zipper Pouch

This is a great one for the guys (even though the picture shows feminine fabrics)! I've made Mike a couple of these and he uses them to hold his golf tees and balls. To see how easy these are to make, go see A Pretty Modern Life

Menu Planning Organizer

Our last tutorial is for Moms-on-the-go. It's a menu planning organizer. This is made using fabric and ultra firm stabilizer.  There is a pocket on the left for a legal sized pad where Mom can write down her grocery list and pockets on the right to hold her menus for the week, recipes, and coupons! I think this might be on my to-do Christmas list! To find out how fun and easy this is to make, go visit Little Big Girl Studio