Randi with an i

Easy slow cooker mac and cheese

November 8, 2013 Randi

I love mac and cheese.

I promise you I’m a 24-year-old.

I swear.

The caveat? I hate boxed mac and cheese. I know Kraft had good intentions, but if it comes in a plastic dish and you cook it in a microwave, I will not eat it. Ever. I like real cheese that doesn’t come in powder form.

So, when I found out you can actually make mac and cheese in a slow cooker, I was floored. I headed straight to Pinterest and typed in “CROCK POT MAC AND CHEESE.” Most of the recipes I found required you to pre-cook your noodles or use Velveeta. 1. If you’re already cooking your noodles on the stovetop, you might as well just make the mac and cheese then and there, rendering the whole slow cooker concept pointless, and 2. I’m trying to avoid fake cheese.

The next day, I asked my coworker if she’d ever made mac and cheese in a slow cooker, and she said, “Yeah, you just dump in a bunch of uncooked noodles and milk and cheese and let it sit there.” Might as well give it a try. I did a bit of Googling because I knew it was probably a little trickier than that, but it really wasn’t hard at all.

It was delicious and only took five minutes of preparation.

My first woodburning attempt

November 4, 2013 Randi

When I was a little kid I was deathly afraid of fire. No joke. I wouldn’t go near candles and the thought of even lighting a match was enough to give me a miniature nervous breakdown.

Seriously- even in high school AP Biology- I made someone else handle the lighter.

It took me quite some time to get over my fear of flames, so you should all be shocked that I made my first attempts at pyrography (yes pyro like fire) aka: woodburning this past weekend. It was surprisingly not as hard (or scary) as I thought it would be! I didn’t burn myself at all.

Slow cooker corn chowder

November 1, 2013 Randi

I promised and I now I deliver. Remember last week’s multigrain bread recipe post? I mentioned how great that bread goes with a hearty slow cooker soup, like this corn chowder recipe. This is such a great fall day recipe my friends and I accidentally stumbled upon during homecoming weekend, taking inspiration from a few blogs and recipe sites. We threw everything together while we were pregaming (read: we had quite a bit of Captain and cider and were a little tipsy) before our alma mater’s football game. We cranked the slow cooker on, left for tailgate and came back after the game to fully prepared dinner. Can’t get much more convenient than this. Here’s the incredibly easy five ingredient recipe.

Fall foliage

October 31, 2013 Randi

Pst.

You guys.

Fall decor is 70 percent off at JoAnn Fabrics right now.

I know, I might have gone a little overboard too… but is it really going overboard when the bottom of your receipt says “Total Savings: $61?” I don’t think so. So, I bought a few things. Namely, three strands of leaf garland, a fall wreath and four bouquets of fall foliage. You know- instead of fake flowers, it’s a bouquet of fake fall leaves, mini plastic pumpkins and a small styrofoam squash or two. I was super excited to find this sale, because I’m old fashioned in that I wait until Thanksgiving is over to decorate for Christmas. So I’ve got another good month out of my 70 percent off decorations. Thanks JoAnn Fabrics! Because yesterday was my weekday off (yay!) since I work this Saturday (boo!), I decided to do what I could to spruce up the bouquets.

My mom’s amazing multigrain bread recipe

October 25, 2013 Randi

One of my favorite things about fall is my slow cooker. In the past week, I’ve made post-tailgate corn chowder and basic mac and cheese for my boyfriend’s work lunches. (Just to keep you reading for the next few weeks!) But today’s recipe compliments all of my fall soups and stews. It’s a dense and hearty multigrain bread, best served warm from the oven. Because this task is a little labor intensive and requires the tools my kitchen doesn’t possess, it’s a recipe I whip up every time I go home to visit my mom.

My 30 closet essentials for being a grown up

October 20, 2013 Randi

Happy Sunday! The first eight weeks of this semester is over, and the second eight weeks is starting on Tuesday. Homecoming weekend and an exciting day at the cider mill is over and now I finally have a little free time to do this post at the request of a few of my friends.

I was probably the worst young professional ever when I started my first big girl job. Standard girl problem: I had nothing to wear. My college wardrobe was comprised of college t-shirts, yoga pants, club dresses and Vans. Not an easy transition to the office.

Lattice crust apple pie

October 18, 2013 Randi

Update: my mom and dad’s backyard is STILL overflowing with apples. So you guys get to witness my first attempt at making apple pie!

This is one of my mom’s go-to recipes for fall and winter dinners. She prepares the apple mix ahead of time, in multiple batches, and freezes it in Ziploc bags. (I get my make-ahead mentality from her.)

Apple chips

October 11, 2013 Randi

Bless my mother, she never seems to run out of recipes for the two Jonathan apple trees and one golden delicious apple tree in our backyard back home. Lately when I’ve come home to visit, I’ve ended up with bags of apples to take back up to my apartment with me.

One of the easiest things to do with an abundance of apples? Apple chips.

Pallet shelves and mason jar organization

October 10, 2013 Randi

Deep exhale.

The 25-page rough draft of my master’s thesis is finished and turned in after five weeks of heavy life consumption. Only two more chapters and a massive expansion of the whole thing to go! Luckily, that won’t happen until next fall. I have the rest of this semester and next semester to catch up with some electives before getting back to the core classes of my MSA program.

So! How to celebrate? Since I know none of you are interested in reading my analysis of factors that push mid-Michigan residents to shop at a cooperative grocery store, how about a pallet board and mason jar storage craft? This one was pretty easy, and cost very little. I actually created this project when I first moved into my apartment, I just hadn’t gotten around to posting it until now.

My grandma’s pumpkin pie recipe

October 4, 2013 Randi

The temperatures just keep dropping and the leaves are falling! It’s still fall and I am still loving it. To follow up last week’s recipe, my “everything fall in a squash” squash, I decided to offer you a dessert using the one ingredient I didn’t have a use for last week: pumpkin. And what better than a traditional pumpkin pie recipe? (Nothing, that’s what.)

I’m the third generation of Shaffer to use this traditional recipe. It’s been passed down from my dad’s mom to my mom, and will most certainly be passed down to my children, should I ever have them.