Leftover Holiday Stew!

Well, if you're like me and always wind up with wayyy too many left overs after the holiday, this soup is a great delicious way to get rid of some of those potatoes that never got mashed, apples that didn't make it into the pie or cooked ham that no one ate! It's easy, full of flavor and only takes about 30-45 mins to prepare. Here's what you'll need for about 4-5 servings:

1. 5 peeled potatoes, cut into bite size chunks.

2. 3 apples, also peeled and cut into bite size chunks.

3. 6 cups of chicken broth

4. 1 1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

5. 1 tsp. of pepper

6. 2 Tbs. brown sugar

7. 1 tsp. cinnamon

8. 2 Cups grated cheddar cheese

9. 1 Cup of leftover ham and/or turkey, cut into bite size pieces (I used both & feel free to add more than a cup if you have a lot leftover!)

10. Flour/water mixture (about 2 parts flour to 1 part water) to thicken soup base

Bring the chicken broth to a boil, add the ginger, pepper, brown sugar, cinnamon, potatoes and apples. Let it simmer for about 10-15mins until the potatoes are tender (just poke 'em with a fork to check!). Then, to the boiling soup add the flour/water mixture - you'll need to whisk the mixture in just a little at a time (if you add too much flour/water too fast, it will form clumps, so you have to whisk fast and add slow!) until it's thickened to a consistency you like. Then add the cheddar cheese a small handful at a time so it melts in your stew. Finally add your ham/turkey leftovers and serve!

Lovely Origami Window Hangings

I've always loved origami. Usually I make it and just leave the little objects lying around the house until they disappear or one of my cats decide it's their new play toy. About a month ago, I was on an origami folding kick! For a few weeks, every morning with my coffee I would fold a crane or box, or some other little thing up. They really only take a few minutes. Anyway, my origami pile kept getting larger and larger and I didn't know what to do with them all!

Finally, one day I came across some little yellow glass beads I had from an old necklace and I came up with this idea to string all the origami I made up with the glass beads and put them in the window so the sunlight can hit them.

I'm really happy with the way these turned out and they were so easy to make. Here are the steps:

1. Fold your origami shapes - you can find simple origami patterns online and you can use any square sheets of paper you have to make the origami. For mine, I made three strands and they each had seven origami objects hanging from them.

2. String your origami with thread and glass beads - I tied a knot in my thread, poked a needle through the origami piece, pulled the origami down thread to the knot & tied another knot above the origami. Then I tied a new knot about 2-3inches from the origami and strung my glass beads onto the thread, pulled the beads down to the knot and tied a new knot above the beads. About 2-3 inches from the beads I then tied another knot for a second piece of origami and repeated this step until all 7 pieces of origami and beads were strung on the strand.

3. Hang them up! - I tied a small hoop in the top of the thread and hung it above my window with a tack.

Here are a couple of closer shots of them, they look really nice when the sun is coming through the window. I often leave the top window pulled down just a crack, the air moves into my apartment from outside and the little oragami strands come to life and are constantly spinning around They are really too cutesy!