broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl

With temperatures cooling down I've been in the mood for soup, and the first recipe that came to mind was this one for broccoli cheese soup. I got it from my friend Sara a few years ago and I have no idea where she got it... so sorry, no source.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

1/2 onion, chopped

16 oz package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

2 cans chicken broth

1 lb Velveeta, cubed

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup water

Directions

Melt butter in a big pot. Add onion and cook until softened. Stir in broccoli and cover with broth. Simmer until broccoli is tender, about 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat and stir in cheese cubes until melted. Add milk and garlic powder. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and water and stir until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Pour into soup and stir constantly until thick.

This soup is creamy and delicious, and served in a bread bowl it is just heavenly. I think Velveeta is nasty stuff, but in this recipe it works and you don't get that gross fake cheese flavor. Enjoy!

fall yarn wreath

I made this fall yarn wreath with felt flowers last year but never got around to posting it here, probably because it's pretty basic and you have probably already seen a bunch like it all over Pinterest and blogland. And because I didn't take pictures of the process, so it's just the finished product instead of a tutorial. But I love it, so when I got my fall decorations out last week I decided to post it.

For the flowers, I cut circles in different sizes out of felt, cut a spiral into the circles, and rolled them up. There are tons of tutorials out there for various types of flowers if you want something different. You can find a few ideas on my Pinterest boards here.

To hang the wreath, I used the pop top from a soda can. I just tied it on with the end of the yard after I was done wrapping it around the wreath and then used some hot glue to really secure it. It's a great solution for hanging a wreath (or anything), and the wreath is very light so I don't worry about it coming loose. 

Can you tell I'm a little bit OCD when it comes to wrapping the yarn around the wreath? I wanted it to be even so it took a little bit longer than if you just wrapped it however, but I know myself and messy yarn would drive me crazy. Every time I walked by.

I have thought about using orange in my decor all year because I love it, but I'm afraid fall would be a lot less fun to decorate for if I was used to having it around all the time. I think it adds a very warm and cozy feeling to my living room in the fall and makes me want to sit by the fire.

Here's my fall mantel from last year. I loved it, and I'm not one to completely change everything every year so it's pretty much the same again this year. And I still love it :)