Keep a-Busy Cinderelly

Black Bean & Avocado Quinoa Salad

2013-01-04T00:58:00.001-07:00

With the start of the new year I decided to post a delicious and healthy dish. I was going for an Indian flavor with less-traditional Indian ingredients, like quinoa, when creating this recipe because we LOVE Indian food in our house. My 19 month old loved every bite -- except the avocados, crazy girl. It was loved so much by my husband that when I asked him what I should call this he said "Quinoawesome!" He makes me laugh. Obviously I went the traditional route with the name. This dish is good for a light lunch for two people or as a side to grilled fish or chicken.

Black Bean & Avocado Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 T. coconut oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
pinch or two of sea salt
1 1/2 t. garam masala
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 Roma tomato, chopped
2 avocados, chopped
lime, cut into wedges
alfalfa sprouts (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan or rice cooker, combine the quinoa and broth and cook according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat coconut oil in a frying pan and add onions with a pinch or two of salt. Once onions are almost soft and transparent, add the garam masala and red pepper flakes. Cook for about a minute, stirring constantly. Add the black beans and garlic powder and stir until heated through. Remove from heat and stir in cooked quinoa and tomatoes. Can be served warm or cold. When serving, top with avocado and alfalfa sprouts, and sprinkle with lime juice.

Home-Made Powdered Laundry Detergent

2012-12-15T02:02:00.001-07:00

Making laundry detergent is something I've been interested in since we made our move in August. Money is tight and this is a good way to cut costs. I also like the idea of making my own cleaning products because I can avoid fillers and, in some cases, leave the nasty chemicals out. Originally, I made a liquid version I found a recipe for made of blue dawn, borax, and washing soda because it was a small batch recipe. I don't have the space for the usual huge batch and I generally prefer liquid soap. The recipe was highly recommended but it wasn't working for me. The borax and washing soda also began to crystal-ize within a day or two. Reluctantly I began to search for a small-batch DRY detergent. I ended up combining a few recipes and this stuff is awesome! I have never been so excited about laundry detergent. My whites, which have been getting dingier and dingier in our sad, community, quarter-operated washer with our sad laundry detergent, came out of their first wash bright white! Seriously, this stuff is working miracles for me so I want to share it!

Home-Made Powdered Laundry Detergent:

1 bar Fels Napth soap, grated finely (this soap is pretty soft and easy to grate)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
1/2 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Oxyclean
2 capfuls Purex Scented Laundry Crystals (this is optional, but it really adds great scent)

Combine all ingredients well. Use 2-3 tablespoons in a load of wash. (I just use the cap that came with the Purex bottle.)

I found all of these products in the laundry isle of my supermarket. The detergent took about 10 minutes to make, including grating the Fels Naptha. It's quick, it's easy and smells great!

Gratitude

2012-11-20T02:02:00.001-07:00

So I realize that I haven't posted anything since June and have probably lost interest in most, if not all, of my few followers. I guess I better explain why.

As I stated in previous posts, we spent most of the summer in Arkansas and Louisiana. We did our time out there then headed home in the beginning of July, only to move a month later. It was such a huge move for us that we pretty much started over from scratch, selling, lending out/storing, or giving away most of what we had. The baby's crib plus two boxes were shipped to our new address. The only other belongings we brought were our 2 pieces of luggage each plus carry-on. Saying we were overwhelmed when we arrived would be a definite understatement. Although everything that could go wrong did, we had so many answers to prayers. Since it is November I will go ahead and list them as my "Daily November Gratitudes" and add more things I feel blessed about.

1. Finally getting an apartment 5 days before moving out here.

2. James and Jamal, who are other students in the PhD program, for going to apartment showings for us, having never met us before.

3. Jamal for picking us up from the airport.

4. Jamal for driving us to the rental car place once we picked up the apartment keys from the landlord.

5. For Darren making an accidental phone call to James, when he meant to call Jamal, who got us in touch with a couple in his ward who had a futon to give away.

6. Brett and Heidi, who were on vacation, letting us go into their house to get the futon while they weren't there.

7. Their friend who met us there to convince the landlord to let us in.

8. For this futon that we hate so much and slept on for two weeks and are still using as our couch. No matter how much we hate you, you were a life saver because we would have been sleeping on the hard, laminate floor without any blankets our first night here without you.

9. Finding a good running car for the right price.

10. Finally getting everything taken care of at the DMV after about 5 visits.

11. Judge for excusing the ticket Darren received because our tags weren't up to date because of DMV issues.

12. Brother-in-law Chad for going online and setting up our car insurance because our internet wasn't hooked up yet.

13. Finding free dining chairs and an inexpensive table on craigslist.

14. Our first friends out here Heidi and Greg

15. All the friends we've made since. We have an awesome social life and haven't been this cool since we got married :)

16. Getting to pick out a perfect mattress and finding it for a great price at Costco.

17. My calling Young Womens. I love the women I get to hang out with dearly and am really enjoying working with the girls on their person progress.

18. Rarely having a weekend with no plans with friends.

19. Going to my Tuesday night sewing class with Haley. She is one of the greatest people I have met and am so glad she liked me enough to invite me to go with her.

20. Baby girl has many cute friends in the ward that she loves to play with.

21. She gets to go to nursery now and loves it!

22. Darren works so hard at school and does everything he can to make sure we have a wonderful life to enjoy now and even more to look forward too.

23. Living in such a beautiful place.

24. Getting to go to the beach almost as much as we want.

25. Little miss 18 month old takes naps and goes to bed for the night so easily, usually with no crying at all.

26. Getting any sleep at all with sharing our room with our 18 month old because we only have one bedroom.

27. Desire and willpower to exercise consistently for the first time in my life. Usually I get excited for about a week then quit. My husband is my inspiration because the stronger he gets, I want my body to match.

28. My beautiful, happy, smart, strong-willed, tender, sweet, energetic, loving baby girl that I get to hone, love and protect.

29. Living far from my parents, I feel that I appreciate all they have done and do for me/us more. I only wish I was better at showing my gratitude for them.

30. The sweet songs my girl sings at home, while sitting in the shopping cart, in the car, anywhere and everywhere. She knows Elmo's World, Elmo's got the Moves, "Arthur" theme song, Popcorn Popping, Twinkle Little Star, ABC's, Book of Mormon Stories, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Patty-cake, Hello! Hello!, the Ants Go Marching, and many more.

31. My in-laws for accepting in to their family almost 4 years ago with open arms and for making sure I know that they love me.

32. My amazingly hot husband, who knows how to make me happy in every way. He is so kind and never selfish. I can't imagine my life without him, and I'm so glad we met when we did. I wasn't planning on getting engaged at 19 and married at 20, but baby I'm so glad we did!

33. For the complete strangers who walk up to us in public to talk to little miss and tell me how cute and beautiful and good-natured she is. I know she is but it's always great to know that other people think the same thing.

34. The new camera we were able to get from our reward points when our old one started dying.

35. Staying 100% debt free all through undergrad.

36. Finally getting out of this creative rut! You can definitely expect more from me in the "nearish" future as I have a couple projects planned though not started.

There are many more things that I haven't listed but I can only recall so many things in one sitting. I'm so grateful for the beginning of the holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving!

Skillet Enchiladas

2012-06-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

The majority of my time in Arkansas was dreaming about coming to Louisiana where I was promised a hotel with a kitchen. Seriously, having no kitchen and nothing to do was really wearing on me. While telling my husband how the first thing I wanted to make was enchiladas because it seemed impossible to find good Mexican food in southern Arkansas, he responded that he didn't think the hotels would have ovens. Whaaa? My heart completely sank. Not just for the enchiladas but I was planning on baking to fill up this boring unproductive time in the hotel while he works. Fortunately, I've found ways to adapt and use the stove more than I was planning. Still craving good Mexican food, I created skillet enchiladas, made completely on the stove top. It turned out great and I think it's a great way to make enchiladas for a couple people without having to heat up the oven.

Lucky for me, the night I figured out a way for this to work, I had leftovers from tacos I made the night before. The ingredients don't matter so much with this as it is more about the technique, but I used green enchilada sauce, refried beans, ground beef, Spanish rice, flour tortillas, salsa, and cheese.

I found that the key to doing this was having all the ingredients warm in the first place. Whether you are using leftovers or starting new, make sure all the ingredients going on the inside the enchilada are heated through.

I even warmed the enchiladas up for a few seconds in the microwave.

Put a layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Do not turn on the pan yet or you probably end up burning the bottom of the enchiladas.

Smear more sauce onto a tortilla then add your fillings down the middle.

Roll up the tortilla then place it in the pan, seam-side down.

Once you have filled your pan, evenly poor more sauce over the enchiladas. I ended up having about a half a can left. Cover the pan and turn on the heat to medium. There is no real science to this but you do have to time it right so the whole thing is heated through but the bottom isn't burned. You just want to keep it on until the centered is heated through. This shouldn't take long because everything should be warm before going in. For me, this took about 10 minutes.

At this point I covered with cheese and and salsa. The bottom of my enchiladas were a little brown but far from burned, and my husband thought that was the best part.

I paired up this husband-sized portion with some salad and peas. Yum!

Chicken with Creamy French Onion and Mushroom Gravy

2012-06-21T12:49:00.001-07:00

I developed this recipe by trying to figure out what to do with a box of dry onion soup mix that I bought, for some reason, when we first got into Arkansas. There is really no reason why I should have bought it. I try to avoid using powdered mixes when I feel like I can achieve the flavor on my own using natural ingredients. So for this recipe, if you want to use this mix for your French onion soup that isn't full of artificial ingredients or extremely high in sodium, I strongly encourage it!

The first thing you need to do is dissolve the onion soup mix in 2 cups of hot water. Let it sit until needed. Take 3-4 chicken breast halves and brown the outside in as little oil as you can get away with. At this point, the chicken will not be cooked through but remove it anyway and set aside.

With about another tablespoon of oil and add 1/4 cup of chopped onion and 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms. Cook until the onions have softened and the mushrooms have started to brown and caramelize.

Carefully add the dissolved soup mixture to the pan, holding back some of the dry onions with a spoon. Bring the soup back up to a high simmer. Continue to simmer for 2-3 minutes to reduce a little. Add the chicken and turn down to Medium. Once there is less of a simmer, cover and let the chicken cook for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked, stirring occasionally and turning chicken halfway through.

Remove the chicken once again and add 1/2 cup of milk. Bring the pan back up to a simmer, careful to avoid boiling because that will cause the milk to curdle. Let it simmer and reduce some more for a couple minutes.(Because I have a child who insists on hanging on my legs and whining anytime I'm in the kitchen, my came to a rolling boil before I got to it... Good thing my husband doesn't know the difference!) Remove from heat and stir in 1/4-1/2cup of sour cream. This is needed to mellow out the strong onion soup mix so use as much as you need. Add the chicken back in again and let it rest for about 5 minutes to thicken.

I served my chicken with mashed potatoes and ladled some gravy over both. Rice instead of potatoes would also go well with this dish.

Notes:

Definitely taste the sauce to make sure it isn't too strong for your taste. Add more sour cream if it is too strong.

Because I didn't add any thickeners this gravy is pretty thin. If you prefer a thicker gravy you can thicken the same you would thicken any other gravy.

If you choose to make your own dry onion mix, you may need to salt the chicken and other as you go as it will probably be pretty mild.

Recipe:

1 dry French onion soup mix packet (or 2-3 T. of your own mix)
2 cups hot water
3-4 chicken breast halves
oil as needed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup of milk

Dissolve the onion soup mix in 2 cups of hot water. Let it sit until needed.
Take the chicken breast halves and brown the outside in as little oil as you can get away with. Remove it and set aside.
Add more oil to the pan if needed. Add chopped onion and sliced mushrooms. Cook until the onions have softened and the mushrooms have started to brown and caramelize.
Carefully add the dissolved soup mixture to the pan, holding back some of the dry onions with a spoon. Bring the soup back up to a high simmer. Continue to simmer for 2-3 minutes to reduce a little. Add the chicken and turn down to Medium. Cover and let the chicken cook for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked, stirring occasionally and turning chicken halfway through.
Remove the chicken once again and add the milk. Bring the pan back up to a simmer. Let it simmer and reduce for a couple minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4-1/2cup of sour cream. Add the chicken back in again and let it rest for about 5 minutes.
Serve with potatoes or rice.

First Birthday Luau

2012-06-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, we celebrated my daughter's first birthday party a little early so we could have a party with family and friends before coming out here to Arkansas. We decided a luau would be cute and with the help of Pinterest, the party turned out great! Because Pinterest was such a big help, I'll be linking you to the blogs to which these original ideas belong.

Here are a few pictures of the decor:

Balloon Streamers

I really didn't want to give my baby a sugary cake topped off with sugary frosting. This is an applesauce-sweetened cake with whipped up cream cheese with maybe a tablespoon of powdered sugar for the frosting. The flowers are actually made out of fruit rolls!

Apple Spice Cake
Fruit Roll Cake Flowers

Here are some pictures of the party girl:

YUM!

We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and they were delicious!

After dinner we sang to the princess and let her eat the cake. I took the flowers off the cake but some of it glued itself on and wouldn't come off.

After picking at it for a minute she dug right in! She didn't even know the difference without the sugar.

Summer Plans

2012-06-07T14:40:00.001-07:00

It has been way too long since I have posted anything but I have many good excuses. Really, I do! I went through a pretty tough bout of mono... actually still going through it but life goes on. My husband came down with it before I did but was diagnosed with strep throat (no throat culture was done). When I came down with it we rushed to urgent care because it was a Sunday morning. I tested negative for strep but because my husband "had it" the doctor said the test he did was wrong 20% of the time and it looked like strep to him. He wrote me a prescription for some strong antibiotics and sent me home. (I say wrote me a prescription and sent me home like he did it in a timely manner... ha!) My husband at this point was pretty much back to himself after only having it for a week, but for some reason mine wasn't going away. I finally made an appointment with my doctor after about 2 weeks of pain. She asked me a few questions then told me she thought I had mono so she sent me into the lab for a blood test for mono to which I tested positive. At this point I was a little stressed out because of all we had going on (which I will dive into later), and I was worried because we had a 10 month old baby girl. After much googling, I found that the younger you are the less mono affects you. Some children can have it with no symptoms while others will seem a little tired with maybe a runny nose. With that information I decided that our Little Miss most likely had it first and gave it to us because about a week before my husband came down with it she had been a bit cranky and sleeping for a good 12-13 hours at night. She also had a runny nose. So there we have it. I still have no idea why my husband was able to get through the mono so fast and I still am dealing with it.

Not long before this whole mono thing happened, my husband was accepted into graduate school to obtain his PhD in psychology! He was accepted very early in the process, before most students even get interviewed. It is very nice knowing that he is already so valued by the professor he will be working under. He has worked so hard to be qualified to work with this man in his field of study. With this acceptance comes a HUGE move for us. Although I'm not comfortable making our location known on here, I'm talking we can't take very much with us. We have already had three garage sales, sold things off craigslist, and given stuff to family. We still are trying figure out what else we can leave behind.

We are currently in Arkansas where my husband has joined a team doing sales for this summer, hoping to make up for the lack of income we will be experiencing very soon when we move. I am fine giving up this location because it is so short term. By this weekend we should be heading to Louisiana for the team to finish up the summer! We will be leaving early in July so we can tie up loose ends before the big move. But right now I am living it up, exploring this part of the country I have never been, and making good memories with these cuties!

My baby girl turned one out here in Arkansas! I was in a frenzy before we left to get her birthday party planned and done before we came out here. It was a big success and I will be posting about it soon!

A Healthy Snack -- Strawberry and Feta

2012-02-09T15:41:00.003-07:00

Doesn't that look delicious? This is a really easy and quick snack that is healthy and satisfying. Just cut up a few strawberries and crumble some feta cheese on top! It amazes me how something so simple can be so delicious. The strawberries and feta provide a salty/sweet combo that I LOVE.

If you are trying to control your portions, here is the "recipe":

3-8 strawberries, depending on the size (about a 1/2 cup)
1 square inch chunk feta

Do you want to know the best part? That's ONLY about 70 calories! Plus a lots of vitamin C and some protein.

Spicy Strawberry Boneless Wings

2012-02-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had fun watching the big game this weekend! My family got together and we had a TON of food that probably could have fed the neighbors. All of it was good but I must say that my boneless "wings" were a hit.

Disclaimer #1: This recipe is an adaptation of two recipes that I combined and added my own flare to from allrecipes.com.

Disclaimer #2: I usually try to cook healthy, nutritious meals... but we all deserve a little indulgence every once in a while right?

The chicken:

1 bag frozen chicken tenderloins (thawed, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces) -- this is a PARTY sized recipe

For the sauce:

3/4 cup strawberry jam (no chunks)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. pepper
2-3 pinches red pepper flakes (could certainly be left out if you don't want them to be spicy)

Put all of the above in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Keep it for a rolling boil for a minute or two until it becomes the consistency of a thin syrup. You can set this aside while you cook the chicken or make it ahead of time and reheat it prior to coating the chicken.

For the batter:

3 cups flour
2 Tbsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. cayenne (optional)
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
1 egg
1 cup milk

Combine all the dry ingredients in a shallow dish. In a separate dish, whisk the egg then stir in the milk.

Fill a large frying pan with vegetable or canola oil about one inch deep. Prepare a baking sheet lined with a couple layers of paper towel. Once the oil is hot, dredge the chicken in the egg mixture then the flour mixture two times. You want the breading to be nice and thick. CAREFULLY place the chicken in the hot oil, flipping after about 3 minutes. Once all sides are golden brown, transfer the the lined baking sheet. Because there is so much chicken you will have to fry it in batches. A deep fryer would work excellently too.

In batches again, fill a gallon sized plastic-zip bag with the chicken and pour in some sauce and gently shake it up until all pieces are coated. Enjoy!

Grocery Sack Holder

2012-01-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago I had a very stinky problem in my daughter's room. I cloth diaper my baby girl, which is great, and I certainly wouldn't do it any other way, but it does cause a slight complication in the poop arena. Luckily, there is a wonderful thing called a diaper liner. This magical invention is placed between the diaper and the cute baby tush to catch the "yuckies". You can either flush the liner and its contents or toss it in the trash. I don't really trust the plumbing in our old house so that leaves to tossing the liner. This is where the stinky problem lies. I always have tons of grocery sacks lying so this provides an opportunity to reuse them, but its certainly not safe to have plastic sacks floating around in a baby's room. This is where my project began. Keep in mind that I didn't really measure anything, I just worked with what I had.

You will need:

A rectangle piece of fabric (whatever size you want--this will depend on how big you would like it)
Ribbon (cut a couple inches longer than the length of the rectangle)
1/4" elastic (cut AFTER sewn in)

Along the length of the rectangle that you want to be the top, lay your ribbon down so you can fold the edge of fabric over and it will extend past the ribbon. This should allow room for the ribbon (which will act as a drawstring) and a decent amount of seam allowance. Mark the fabric so you know where to pull the edge to. Oh and raw edges of fabric don't matter on this one :)

Pull the edge over to the pencil marking and sew, making sure their is enough space for the ribbon.

Once sewn, thread the ribbon through the "sleeve" you created. My ribbon was pretty stiff and easy to pull through. You can also attach a safety pin to the end of the ribbon and guide it through the sleeve. Or you can use the technique I used in the next step.

Do the same on the opposite edge of fabric using the elastic instead of the ribbon (remember to not cut the elastic yet). This time pin the fabric into place with elastic still there.

When sewing, make sure not to sew over the elastic.

This is where the gathering is created. Sew one edge of the elastic in place. Once secure, pull the elastic to the tightness you want, gathering the fabric along with it. Pin and sew that edge of the elastic. Now you can cut the elastic.

Pin the raw edges together. Tuck in the edges around the ribbon. Once that is done, sew the edge but be sure not to sew over the ribbon.

Once that's done you have a grocery sack holder, wasn't that easy?

Just stuff and pull the drawstring shut. I hung mine on the wall above my daughter's changing table.

**Just a safety note: If you are using this in an application like mine, make sure the bag is out of your child's reach.

MIA - Merry Christmas

2011-12-30T23:48:00.003-07:00

Sorry I've been missing lately. I fully intended to do several posts about Christmas but this month completely got away from me. This was by far the busiest Christmas I've had in my married life.

Unfortunately, I don't have any craft or recipe to post about this time either. What I do have is an adorable picture of my Santa-loving baby girl.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Shimmering Pinecones

2011-12-05T22:35:00.001-07:00

Remember when I said that I had another use for pinecones in my Pinecone Owls craft? Well here it is. This is a very easy craft using glitter. Does anyone else get excited over glitter? I have been eyeing this Martha Stewart fine glitter for literally years but it was $30 for a pack of glitter. I've even had it in my shopping cart many times but in the end I have always put it back before going up the register. I just couldn't justify it. Finally last month when I was shopping for my Pinecone Owls I saw that it was on sale for 40% off! I must say that I absolutely love it too!

Supplies:

pinecones
glitter (Like I said, I love the Martha Stewart brand but any will work.)
glitter glue or elmers glue (You need a thin glue with a fine tip bottle.)
paper to catch all the glitter

You should plan to glue and glitter the pinecone in two sections to have a dry spot to lay it down so the glue to dry. Squeeze glue out onto the edges of the cone scales on one side of the pinecone.

Sprinkle glitter onto the glued scales. Be sure to lay out some paper because most of the glitter you pour out wont stick to the pinecone. This way you can pour it back into the bottle. I like using newspaper because it already has a crease to funnel it into the bottle.

Tap out excess glitter, rotating the pinecone to get it all out. Set it aside to dry.

Repeat with the other side.

You can even do more than one glitter color on each pinecone. Just make sure that the first color of glitter is dry before adding the next.

I displayed mine in a gold sleigh by the front door. Other ideas for display include putting them in a tall, wide and clear vase, an apothecary jar, a decorative bowl or even making them into ornaments for the tree. Have lots of fun!

Butternut Squash Soup

2011-11-22T15:47:00.001-07:00

Butternut is the ingredient that brings me the greatest feeling of Autumn harvest. I love it in just about any way and it is super nutritious. One of my absolute favorite forms of butternut is in a creamy, velvety soup. Many times I've had butternut soup that was way too sweet. This soup is more savory using the butternut as its own natural and non-overwhelming sweetener.

Ingredients:

3 T butter
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
8 cups water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1-2 pinches cumin
salt and pepper

*You may have to adjust ingredients to taste, depending on the size of your squash. If you have a large squash you will probably need to add more water and spices.

Wash and peel your squash. Peeling can be difficult but it is important to not leave any peel behind.

Cut it into even cubes of about one inch.

Slice or chop (it doesn't matter because it will be pureed anyway) your onion and put it into a large soup pan with the hot melted butter. Add the garlic and cook until the onion has softened. Do not brown or caramelize the onion! Mix in the thyme.

Add the butternut cubes, water, and the chicken bullion cubes. You could use 8 cups of chicken broth instead of the water and bouillon.

Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the squash has softened.

You must remove the pot from the heat source completely at this point. Using a stick blender, puree the soup until no chunks are left. Be very careful not to splatter hot soup out of the pot.

It works best if you tilt it to the side slightly so all the chunks and pieces fit under the blender. If you find it's getting too thick to blend, add a little bit of hot wa

It will look something like this when all the ingredients are pureed. Add the salt, pepper and cumin to taste and blend or stir it through.

This soup is delicious and would be great for a light dinner on Thanksgiving Eve.

Blackberry Blush

2011-11-21T10:32:00.001-07:00

My friend Bekah just started a new etsy shop! She handmakes these beautiful wristlets.

She's also giving one away, so "like" her on facebook and follow her blog!

Pinecone Owls

2011-11-14T21:27:00.001-07:00

So sorry for being MIA recently. We have had a super crazy couple of weeks around here filled with an ear infection, the stomach flu and a cold. Luckily, with the bad times there were some good ones. Like my dad's birthday, two of our niece's baptisms (even though we could only make it to one) and our nephew's first birthday party. AND I have managed to create one Thanksgiving project that I had planned. Wohoo!

Look at these little cuties! These owls are very easy to make and this is a great project for kids to help out with.

I have to admit that I stole this idea from my teachers way, way back in elementary school. My sister Cristina was the first one to do this project at school for Thanksgiving when she was in fourth grade. Her owl is on the left. I, being just one grade younger was extremely excited to get to make my owl the next year. After all that anticipation, they had us make them differently and I ended up making that little number to the right. I didn't even realize how un-cute mine was until I brought it home the last day of school before Thanksgiving break and set it down next to my sister's... Complete disappointment. I have been wanting to redo it for the last couple years and I finally got everything together and did it.

Materials Needed:

pinecones (I bought mine at clearance from a craft store. They are lightly scented but not strong. If you live somewhere that you can easily collect them from under a tree that works too.)
cotton balls (pulled apart into smaller pieces).
felt (I used white, black and a couple shades of orange and tan.)
craft glue
scissors
pencil

The bag of pinecones that I purchased came with two different types. If you run into the same thing just separate them like I did.

The dark brown pinecones that are wide with a good amount of spacing work best for this project. The other ones wont go to waste because I have a Christmas craft underway for them.

Use the felt to create the owl's face and body parts. I started with the eyes, using the cap of my glue to get a good circle. You'll also need ears, wings, a beak, a belly and feet.

Glue the overlapping felt together with craft glue then lay out your owl features.

Dot some glue onto the "petals" of the pinecone then stuff them with cotton pieces.

Now you should have the owl's body and body parts.

Glue all the body parts to the pinecone and you're done! Isn't he cute?

You can even make a family of owls! They are the perfect addition to my Thanksgiving decor.

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

2011-11-01T15:52:00.002-07:00

In honor of cooler (kind of ) weather I'm posting my version of a delicious Italian soup, Chicken and Gnocchi. If you have never had gnocchi, it is a potato pasta. I had always thought gnocchi would be difficult and was intimidated by it but it is actually VERY easy.

Gnocchi:

2 potatoes or one can of whole potatoes (You will need one cup of mashed potatoes, and the canned potatoes generally mash down to just over 1 cup.)
2 cups flour
1 egg

If you are using fresh potatoes, peel and boil them until cooked. For canned potatoes, drain out all the liquid. Put the potatoes in a bowl to mash them.

Mash up the potatoes with a potato masher. Once the potatoes were pretty well mashed I used a fork to get rid of some of the larger lumps. If it's a tiny bit lumpy it will be okay.

Put the potatoes in a bowl with the flour and egg and mix together. (The gnocchi for this soup is meant to be a little bit bland.) Once the ingredients are well mixed the dough will look lumpy. Knead the dough together with your hand until it comes together.

Divide the dough in half. You will only need half of the gnocchi dough for one batch of the soup. Wrap the other half of dough in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for next time.

Roll the dough half into the shape of a long breadstick. I always forget that the dough expands when it's cooked and end up with huge gnocchi pieces that barely fit into my mouth. So, the narrower the better. Divide the dough in half again and roll out two lengths of dough if that makes it easier to thin it out.

Cut the bread into ~~bite-sized~~ smaller than bite-sized pieces (because the dough expands). I like to roll each piece once on the counter or cutting board to soften up the edges.

If you were to make these for a purpose other than soup, like under pasta sauce, you would start off with salted boiling water. Drop the gnocchi in (they should sink to the bottom). Once they make their way back up to the top (3-4minutes) they are done. Remove and cover with pasta sauce.

In this case we will leave them and move onto the soup...

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup:

1 T. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 carrots, shredded
1 pound chicken breast, cooked and cubed
4 chicken bouillon cubes
6 cups of water
half recipe of gnocchi
6 ounces baby spinach leaves
1 T. corn starch with 2 T. cold water (optional)
2 cups milk, cream, half & half -- your choice
salt and pepper to taste

Prep your veggies and boil or steam your chicken. Once the chicken is cooked and cooled, cut it into bite-sized pieces.

Heat the oil in a large soup pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic to the hot oil. It is very important that when you cook with oil that it is hot prior to adding ingredients. If you add ingredients before the oil is hot they will end up absorbing a lot of the oil and you'll need to add more to compensate. No need for the extra calories.

Once the veggies are tender, add the water, bouillon and chicken pieces. Bring the soup back up to a simmer.

Drop in the gnocchi, careful to unstick them before they fall into the pot.

When they are done, they will float to the top like this. This should take 3-4 minutes.

Stir in the spinach.

Allow the spinach to cook and wilt for about 3 minutes.

Add the milk and bring it back up to a simmer. If you want a slightly thicker soup, add the corn starch/water mixture with the milk. It doesn't make a huge difference but my husband likes it better thicker. I prefer it brothy so sometimes I don't add it.

Salt and pepper to taste.

This soup is amazing and perfect for Autum!

Home - Made Oreo Cookies

2011-10-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

I went on a hunt for home-made Oreo cookies when I was still pregnant. There are many recipes out there but all of the ones I found had cream cheese in the frosting. Most of you are probably trying to figure out why that would be a problem because it seems that everyone in the world LOVES cream cheese... except me. I don't like the taste, smell, texture or the way it coats your mouth. And I'm sorry but the real Oreos don't have any cream cheese in them either. You can imagine my happiness one day when I found it. "It" being a recipe that didn't require cream cheese for the filling! Hallelujah we have a winner! Since this was months ago I don't remember where I found this recipe, or I would give the author credit...

Mmmm doesn't it look delicious? Two crispy cookies with a creamy center.

INGREDIENTS

Cookies:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 stick softened salted butter (you can use unsalted and add about 1/8 teaspoon of salt to the flour mixture)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:

1/2 stick softened butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

We'll start with the cookies:

In a medium sized bowl, sift the cocoa and flour (and salt if you are using unsalted butter) together. I used a fork rather than an actual sifter.

Cream the softened butter and sugar together in a mixer. Once the mixture is well combined and has started to cream, add the egg. Let it cream together. Add the vanilla and mix a little bit more.

Add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. You'll probably need to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber scrapper. The dough should look slightly thicker than brownies and be really sticky.

Split the dough in half the best you can. Put one half on a floured sheet of wax paper. Flour another sheet of wax paper and lay it on top.

Roll it out so it is about 1/4 inch thick. Do this again with the other half.

See how sticky it is? Without the wax paper the dough would stick to the counter and rolling pin. In order for the dough to be workable, stick the rolled out dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour. The dough should be stiff with a little give.

Once the dough is cold and has stiffened, it should peel of the wax paper pretty freely. Remove just the top piece off wax paper at this point.

Working quickly, use a round cutter to get circles and place two inches apart on a baking sheet. My circles are two inches in diameter. I wouldn't go any larger because they do spread out a bit in the oven. Refrigerate for 20 minutes more before baking for 20 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

Note: If you line your baking sheets with foil, clean up is a lot easier.

When the cookies are removed from the oven and completely cooled on wire racks they should be crispy.

Now for the creamy filling:

Cream the butter and shortening until they become fluffy. Then beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla. I added some orange food coloring for Halloween at this point. It's hard to see the color because I don't like to add a lot. I think too much food coloring makes it taste bitter... does anybody else think this or is it just me?

Put the frosting in a baggie and cut the corner. This will make frosting the cookies much easier.

Line the cookies up on the cooling racks. I play around with them a little bit to match the circle sizes. Some might be a little wider or smaller if the dough was rolled out thicker or thinner than 1/4 inch. Then flip one cookie in each pair over. Squeeze out a blob of frosting on the flipped over cookie. Place the other cookie on top and squish down the frosting.

My dough made about 32 cookies with dough to spare. Because I used 2 cookies per "Oreo" so I ended up with 16 sandwich cookies.

Recipe Text:

Cookie Dough-

Sift the cocoa powder and flour (and 1/8 teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter) in a bowl.

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and cream together. Add the vanilla and continue to cream. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

Divide the dough into two. Place one piece between two floured pieces of wax paper. Roll into 1/4 inch thick. Repeat with the other half of dough and stick both sheets of dough int the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.

Cut the dough into an even number of two inch circles. (Re-roll and refrigerate the scraps to get more cookies.) Place on an ungreased baking sheet two inches apart. Refrigerate for an additional 20 minutes and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Bake the cookies for twenty minutes. The edges should be SLIGHTLY darker than the middle (I could barely tell there was color change, and they were perfect). Let cool completely on wire racks.

Cream Filling-

Using a hand mixer, cream the butter and shortening until fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla (and food coloring if desired).

Flip half of the cookies upside down and top each with a dab of filling (about one tablespoon). Press the other cookies on top.

Cupcake Fairy Costume: Part 4: Fairy Wand

2011-10-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever done a project where you burned yourself on a hot glue gun... twenty times? Well that's how this project went for me. I didn't burn myself on the fairy wings where I was purposefully pressing hot glue between my fingers. I burned myself on the fairy wand... the least complicated and fastest part of the whole costume.

Materials Needed:

scrap of soft fabric
wooden dowel (mine is 1/4" diameter)
ribbon
tulle scraps (optional)
scraps of fabric with fusible interfacing from Appliqued Onsie

Using a small hand saw (I have NO idea what the real name for it is) trim the dowel down to wanted size. Mine is about 8 inches.

Cut a piece of fabric so it is wide enough to wrap around the dowel and overlap itself 1/4-1/2". The length should be about 2 inches longer than the dowel. I'm covering the dowel with fabric instead of painting it to make it soft for my *will be* 5 month old; don't want her whacking herself in the face with something that would hurt.

Glue one end of fabric over the dowel and repeat on the other side.

Then place a line of glue on the dowel and roll one side over. Then repeat on the other side.

Your wand should look like this now.

It's really up to you to decorate the wand how you want it. I cut two scraps about the same size from the fabric with the fusible interfacing and made a bow to match the one on the tutu.

I wrapped the fabric pieces and glued them around the top and bottom. Then I glued a couple of strips of tulle down and glued the bow on top.

I meant to keep all the seams along the same side, but it was late so that didn't really happen. Whoops.

It turned out great!

In my last post I promised pictures of baby since her costume is complete! I have to warn you she's pretty cute. It's also really hard to take pictures of a baby who is wearing wings and doesn't sit up yet... so please just pay attention to the costume and absolute squishiness of my adorable Cupcake Fairy.

See! She is just full of ooey-gooey cuteness! Thanks to my sweet husband and awesome sister for helping me take these pictures (yes it was a three person job). We can't wait for Halloween!

Tell me about you're working on! What are your kids going to be for Halloween?

Cupcake Fairy Costume: Part 3: Fairy Wings

2011-10-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

This next part of the Cupcake Fairy Costume is my favorite... wings! I was worried that this wouldn't work but it turned out great and was actually pretty easy.

Materials Needed:

tulle
hot glue gun
fabric scraps from the appliqued onsie
two strips of 1/4" elastic cut to fit around you child's shoulders
floral wire

Floral wire is a thick wire like barbed-wire but it cuts and bends easily. It come in silver, gold, copper and green. I liked the green and it happened to cost the least.

Start off by cutting two pieces of wire at the same length. Length will depend on the size you want the wings to be. Then cut two more pieces of wire, also the same length but a couple inches shorter than the other set of wire.

Take one piece of wire and wrap one of the ends around the other. Do the same with the other wire of the same length.

Mold one wire loop to the shape you want then use that as a template to mold the other wire. You need them to be as close to the same shape as possible. Repeat these steps with the other two wires.

When you put the wings together they should mirror each other. These loops are for the top part of the wings.

Lay down a square piece of tulle. It is better to have excess because you can trim it away later. Arrange the wire loop so the tip of the wing is in the center of the square of tulle. Dot as little hot glue as you can on the tip of the wing and stick it to the center of the tulle square.

Pull the tulle down over the wire and bring together where the wire is twisted together. Secure with a rubber band.

Repeat with all the loops. Your should have 4 pieces of wings that look something like this.

Scoot the rubber band down a little and glue around the base of the wing. Once the glue cools a little but is still soft, squish the glue into the tulle and wires with your fingers. Trim the tulle to make it less bulky. Repeat with all the wings.

Arrange the wings with the two larger wings on the top. Glue one top wing to the base of the bottom wing so the top wing laps over the top of the bottom wing. Repeat with the other set.

Glue the two sides together. Don't worry if it looks messy at this point.

Glue the elastic to the wings so the loops are on the side that will be against your child's back. Make a small square of the fabric scraps that has the fusible interfacing on it (this will help prevent fraying) to the wings where the elastic ends are to help keep them attached.

Then cut another scrap of fabric with the interfacing and wrap it around the center of the wings. Glue down with the seam on the side that will go against your child's back.

Now you have a beautiful pair of fairy wings!

There is one more part to the Cupcake Fairy costume coming soon (hopefully tomorrow)! This will include pictures of a very cute Cupcake Fairy.

Cupcake Fairy Costume: Part 2: Tutu

2011-10-15T22:36:00.000-07:00

The next part of the Cupcake Fairy costume is a tutu. What could be cuter than a tutu on a little girl?

I didn't want this tutu to be too poofy because my baby is only 4 months old and we will be holding her all night. The more "stuff" a baby has on the more difficult it is to hold her.

Materials Needed:

1/2 elastic
tulle (amount depends on how full and how many layers you want it to be)
ribbon

Measure the waist of one cute baby (or child)! My little girl is about 17 inches.

Cut a piece of elastic about 1 inch longer than your your baby's waist, in my case I needed about 18 inches.

Then cut tulle to your desired length. I like the end of the skirt to hit just above the knee. The width of the tulle should be the same length as the elastic when it is stretched out as far as it will go.

To cut tulle: roll it up then just cut with fabric scissors. I cut 4 pieces of tulle, 2 in light pink and 2 in bright pink.

Layer all the pieces of tulle together. Tulle can be very hard to work with so I pinned it down to a towel (you can also use an ironing board). Pin down one layer at a time, building on top of each other.

A helper is needed for this next part. This lucky winner is my sister Tiffany. One of you should stretch the elastic across to the pinned tulle while the other pins the elastic to the tulle. Start at the center and pin the elastic to the tulle. Unpin the tulle from the towel everywhere but the very ends. Once all the tulle and elastic are pinned, completely unpin the tulle from the towel.

Sew the elastic to the tulle by stretching the elastic while sewing. Stretching the elastic allows for the waistband to stretch. If you don't stretch the elastic during sewing, the thread will be to tight and snap when you stretch the band.

Pin the edges of the tulle together with right sides facing. Sew one inch in.

Do an extra zig-zag stitch over the elastic band to reinforce it. Then trim the excess material to about a half an inch and sew open the seam.

The next step is to make a bow. Now the length of ribbon that you need will depend on how big a bow you want. Loop the ribbon around back and forth until you get two loops and hanging ribbon on each side. Clamp slightly off center with an alligator clip then adjust the bow loops.

Take a piece of heavy string or yarn and tie a not around the center of the bow.

This is what the right side looks like so far.

Take a smaller piece of ribbon and tie a simple not.

Trim up the knotted ribbon and twist the ends around so the right side of the ribbon is out.

Using a glue gun, dot some glue on the front of the bow and place the knot on top. Turn it over.

Put some glue on this side of the bow and glue down one side of the ribbon. Trim it up and glue down the other side and trip that end up. You don't want the ribbon to show through onto the other side.

Now you have a beautiful bow! Mine matches the cupcake on the onsie.

Hand stitch the bow to the skirt on whichever side you want.

So cute and a perfect combination with her Cupcake Appliqued Onsie!

Part 3 of the Cupcake Fairy Costume is my favorite... Fairy Wings! I will be posting about it within the next couple of days.

Cupcake Fairy Costume: Part 1: Appliqued Onsie

2011-10-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

Coming up with a costume for your precious baby girl is so difficult! One day I saw the most adorable cupcake costume when I was at Old Navy with my best friend. Seriously, I was in love with the idea of carrying around a puffy cupcake. Cupcakes have kind of been my thing lately. They are so cute and colorful!

Anyway, I decided that it was important to me to make her costume. While at the fabric store with my sister Tiffany one day, looking for costume inspiration for our kids, I finally came up with the idea of a fairy. I don't remember why or how it came to mind but it sounded adorable. Her fairy costume needed some sort of theme...cupcakes! It was perfect; I would make her a Cupcake Fairy. Brilliant!

Part 1: Appliqued Onsie

Materials:

onsie
fabric scraps
fusible interfacing
matching (or contrasting) thread
scrap paper

Start off with a clean pressed onsie. I chose to use a long sleeved onsie because it will be chilly on Halloween.

Sketch out the design you would like to apply to the onsie. I tend to do things way too big, so I compared my sketch size to the onsie. Perfect. Nothing is sadder when you spend hours applying a fabric flower you made to a onsie to bring your newborn home in just to find when you put it on her and the flower is WAY too big.

Use a couple scraps of fabric. Make sure the fabric piece is big enough for the design and then some. Iron on fusible interfacing to the wrong of the fabric. This will help prevent it from wrinkling during the sewing.
To iron on the fusible interfacing: cut the interfacing just smaller than the piece of fabric. Lay the interfacing down, bumpy side up. Put the fabric on top with the wrong side against the interfacing. Iron on high heat for a few seconds.

Cut the sketch out, then cut again to separate the pieces that will require different fabrics.

Sketch onto the wrong side (or the interfacing side) of the fabric and cut out the pieces.

Place the pieces onto the fabric to figure out positioning and placement. Then pin the applique pieces together. (After placing the two cupcake pieces onto the onsie, I decided it needed the cherry.)

Do quick a quick stitch across the pieces to hold in place. The stitches will be covered by the next step.

Now here is where I wish I would have done something a little different. Notice how the onsie is a bit wrinkled around the cupcake? Well, I should have put interfacing on the inside of the onsie to help keep this finicky knit material in place. Live and learn!

Position and pin the applique to the onsie. Using a sewing machine, do a zig-zag stitch around all of the applique pieces.

And the appliqued onsie (Step 1) is complete! Step 2 will follow soon.

Tissue Paper Ghosts

2011-10-11T21:24:00.001-07:00

Halloween season kicks off the best three months of the year! Isn't this little guy the cutest? I have been making these since my first Halloween as a married person.

You'll need:

white tissue paper (2 sheets per ghost)
scissors
Sharpe marker
twist ties
yarn, ribbon, or raffia
note pad

Take one sheet of paper and scrunch it into a ball.

Take another sheet of tissue paper and wrap it around the wad. If your tissue paper has a rough side and a shiny side, put the shiny side out. This makes it easier to draw a face because the ink spreads less.

Wrap a twist tie around the neck to secure the wad of paper in place. Be sure to wrap the ends of the twist tie around the neck after you twist it to make it easier to hide.

Tie the yarn in a bow around the neck of the ghost. Try to hide the twist tie.

I make the strand of yarn too long. This way I don't have to worry too much about making the ends even. Just trim off the excess.

You can also use raffia. I've even used Halloween ribbon before.

I made half of my ghosts with yarn and half with raffia. They look like boy and girl ghosts :)

Sketch out ghost mouths and eyes to figure out what effect you want. Once you figure out what you want, apply to the ghost.

Use thread or fishing wire to tie them up wherever you want them. I tied mine outside. I know what your thinking, "What if it rains?" Well, that crossed my mind, but I also thought, "It never rains here so it will be fine." Guess what? It rained the next day. Now all my ghosts look like they have been hanged on a noose. Long story short - if you decide to hang them outside, make them out of a white disposable tablecloth or something.

Pretty cool while they lasted!

Fun Tip: See those hooks the ghosts are hanging from? They are there to hang Christmas lights on. It is a lot faster, easier, and safer to put them up now.

Now you try!

Welcome!

2011-10-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my craft blog! I am so excited to share my projects and recipes with all of you. We are just in time for my favorite season, Autumn. Expect to see lots of fun crafts and delicious food.