Chicky Loves — Domestic Chicky

Prayers for Anissa

November 19, 2009 By Deanna Filed Under Chicky Loves

You can’t help but love Anissa

From the moment I first met her at Blissdom last year, I knew I had met a special person. A mom who has gone through things most of us can’t even imagine, much less ever experience. Lived through with grace, and humor, and wisdom beyond her 33 years.

Now she needs your prayers. Whatever you practice, whomever you believe in, ask them to heal this sweet, sage mother of 3 babies who need her, and sister of a blogosphere who won’t know what to do without her. Send your prayers, good thoughts, wishes, vibes, juju, whatever you call them, send them her way…

You can check on her here

You can read more posts about her here

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New Mantle Reveal

November 10, 2009 By Deanna Filed Under Chicky Loves, Dream House Chicky

For the longest time, I was a decorating dork – I knew I liked certain styles, but didn’t have the ability (or extra money) to recreate the looks I saw in books, magazines and some of my favorite blogs.

But this year I had a plan. I decided I would visit one or two stores a week and get one or two pieces at a time, and only choose things I absolutely LOVE. The first area I tackled was my mantle. It has always looked sad and empty to me and I wanted to cheer it up a bit, especially for the fall.

This is what it looked like before (well, this is what it looks like empty, but you can imagine a few sad pictures and knickknacks, right? Oh, and minus the jumping boys – lol):

And this is after:

I have to say I am in LOVE with these candlesticks (especially the tall one!):

I love that I can put little things for each season in these:

There is still a bit of work to be done – that birdhouse will eventually be black, and I do have some pictures on the sides of this area, but I have a chair project coming up that I want to reveal as well

PS – everything you see here (except for the mirror) either came from ross or joann, and the total cost of all the items was less than $100!

I’m particiapting in Kimba’s DIY day at Soft Place to Land

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Who knew Evaporated milk could be so much fun??

November 10, 2009 By Deanna Filed Under Chicky Loves, Kitchen Chicky

When I was first approached to try Carnation Evaporated Milk, I immediately thought, ok, I can make a pie – easy right? Well, not so fast there missy…One of the requests was that you not only try one of the recipes provided by the company (I have made 2 more of them since – YUM!!!), but that you try one of your OWN recipes and use Carnation Evaporated Milk in place of the milk in YOUR recipe. Huh…I didn’t know you could do that! Turns out evaporated milk is just that. Not the sweetened condensed milk usually associated with baking, but regular whole milk that has been reduced to roughly half of it’s original volume, which means you can always have shelf-stable milk on hand in the off (ok, in my case MORE than off) chance you don’t have fresh milk on hand. Ok, so for the recipe I tried from Carnation, I made the creamy lemon raspberry pie.

Mine looks nowhere as pretty as theirs, but oh mylanta was this a tasty pie! I would have taken a picture of the inside once I had cut it, but it was so yummy I was in a haze…(um, yeah, there is supposed to be whipped cream on there, but it escaped my shopping list)

The next recipe was one of my own – well, from my IRL partner in crime Marnie. It has no official name, but we call it “Junk in the Trunk” because of what you would end up with if you ate this too often. It’s kind of a Shepard’s pie, but quick and adaptable to whatever you have on hand.

Junk in the Trunk

(serves 4 plus lots of leftovers)

1 pound of ground beef (or turkey)
1 can of cream of chicken soup (or mushroom, or celery, etc…)
1 can green beans (or any veggie you like)
Mashed potatoes
Cheese
Milk

Cook your ground beef and drain – season well. Add in the cream soup, veggie, and Milk (I used about 1/2 a cup of Carnation Evaporated Milk in place of regular 2% milk). Stir til mixed and let reduce.

While your ground beef is cooking, prepare your mashed potatoes. I use instant for this recipe just for time’s sake. I prepare according to the directions on the box for 6-7 servings, and make in the microwave. I also substituted Carnation Evaporated Milk for the milk in the mashed potatoes as well. Once the potatoes are cooked, add a small handful of cheese. Mix well.

Put the meat mixture in an 8×11 glass pan (any big casserole will work too), and spread the potaotes on top. Sprinkle with more cheese (optional) and bake in a 350* oven for about 15 minutes, or till bubbly. Let cool, serve with a salad or fruit.

I honestly didn’t think using evaporated milk would make that much of a difference – but I really noticed a richness and creaminess that made an already rich dish over the top – YUM O! I am definitely keeping a few cans on hand from now on when I want to add a bit of richness to casseroles and desserts…

Thanks to Carnation for providing the ingredients for this review – it was a lot of fun and I learned something I didn’t know about your product!

Tagged carnation evaporated milk, casserole, cooking, dessert, Reviews 3 Comments

A night to remember at Yanni Voices

June 22, 2009 By Deanna Filed Under Chick-ventures, Chicky Loves

I mentioned a while back meeting Nathan Pacheco and Ender Thomas at Blissdom and getting a sneak preview of the Yanni Voices concert. What I didn’t expect was that I would be meeting them again in addition to the two lovely ladies they share a stage with Monday night at the Yanni Voices concert in Anaheim. I had seen Yanni years ago and knew I was in for an amazing concert, but I was blown away by how much the vocals added to the experience. In addition to Nathan’s soaring operatic tenor, and Ender’s deep, emotional vocals, Leslie Mills’ warm, rich voice and and Chloe’s versatile, sensual performance brought Yanni’s music to life and took this concert to a whole other level…

The instrumentals are still the heart of Yanni’s performances. Some of these musicians have played with Yanni for more than 20 years – and everyone gets their chance to shine. Dancing brass sections, dueling violins, drum solos, and a man who does things to a paraguayan harp that should be impossible to do only added to the incredible energy and passion that Nathan, Leslie, Ender and Chloe shared with the audience Monday night. This carried on into meeting them after the concert, where I was blown away yet again by Nathan and Ender’s charm, and Leslie and Chloe’s beauty and poise. They were gracious and sweet and had we had more time, would have loved to sit down with them and ask a million questions.

If you get a chance to see Yanni Voices live, it will be an experience you won’t soon forget. If you don’t, keep an eye out for a video – they were taping last night, so there may be a release soon!

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Links for Friday-Blackberry Edition

June 5, 2009 By Deanna Filed Under Chicky Loves

Since I am an official Crackberry addict, I find myself websurfing a bit in the morning, and saving sites for a later look-see on the computer – here are some recent favorites:

I was searching for some ideas to make my son a Mailman kit for his birthday, when I came across this Insanely Creative Etsy seller – how cute are these playhouses that you put over a card table?? She also makes the cutest tents that you can drape over a clothesline!
I found Mel, a dramatic mommy in the latest issue of Redbook – she’s a great writer with a great story to tell…
Um, you know that dreaful thing that keeps happening now when you go to a blogger blog if you’re on Internet explorer? Yeah, you need to switch to Firefox – do not pass go, do not collect $200 – this finally convinced me to STAY on the firefox train – I promise, it won’t hurt! (Stop laughing Karla and Darcy!)
Lindsay at Living with Lindsay has a cuter than cute blog, and and even cuter house…so much inspiration, so little time.
THE most delicious Salmon recipe EVER – made for me a long time ago by a favorite blogger – I would make it now, but CERTAIN people in my household don’t like salmon…or asparagus. But I am ALL over it when I have some girlfriends over for a chickies night out!
If you are a bachelor/bachelorette junkie like me, there is only one blog for you to read – Lincee hates green beans, but she can turn a dreadful group date into a blog ten times as funny!
If you love iced coffees, but hate paying Starbucks prices, or wonder what in the world is in a mcdonalds coffee, here is a great tutorial to make your own from Small Notebook.