Wow, what a great afternoon filled with football, friends and food! My good friend the Vermont Debutante and her husband came over to watch the Superbowl and she cooked so much good food! If you haven’t figured it out by now, the reason I love my Crock Pot is because I can’t cook and you really can’t screw up a slow cooker recipe. This was about the extent of what I contributed to the party:
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Rock Dominoes
I pretty much have a love/hate relationship with our backyard.
I love that its such a beautiful open area that backs up to a natural city green space with park trails and a creek. I hate that the trails lead directly to our backyard and we have had issues with teenagers steeling our lawn furniture and doing illegal things (drugs, pipe bombs, sex) in the woods next to our house. Also, I’m not sure whether or not to blame it on the creek, but our lawn is a soupy mess every month of the year except end of August and early September. We attempted to put in a better drainage system complete with underground pipes and small rockery along the perimeter. It didn’t work… but we do have an abundance of really cool rocks.
I saw a really neat article from Martha Stewart featuring rock crafts. Rock Dominoes was one of her brilliant ideas, so I made our own set.
I used black acrylic paint to paint the rocks and then white acrylic paint to make the lines and dots. I covered them with a layer of Mod Podge for a little glossiness. I only collected enough rocks for the game to go up to 4 but you could do combinations up to six if you can find enough small flat rocks. I think they turned out great and you could store them in a mason jar or small felt or crocheted bag for multiple plays.
I have slowly been decorating the kids bathroom in a whale theme so I also made a little family of whales that may have to get a home on a shelf in their bathroom :o)
Crocheted Football Helmets
With Superbowl XLVI on Sunday, it’s all about football this week! I decided to try a new (and FREE!) pattern I found over at Breezybot for crocheted football helmets. It’s a very simple pattern to follow, but there were a lot of loose ends to weave in which was time consuming. But how cute would these be for babies first football game!? Oh, and sorry to all those Patriot and Giants fans, I only like to crochet in my teams colors. The Seattle Seahawks and Washington Huskies :o)
I also had to share this pic of my son in his football beanie again :o)
I hope everyone is still holding tight while I work on getting my Etsy shop open. I am working on hats to sell and a lot of the crochet I post will be for sale as well. Im aiming for the end of March!
Crock Pot Mac and Cheese
I want to start by saying I am VERY excited to share this recipe with you! This was my third attempt at Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese and I seriously nailed it with this one thanks to Paula Deen. My first attempt was probably about a year ago and I ended up with a curdled mess. I decided to give a it a second shot a couple weeks ago at a fans request. Two words: curdle city. Just see for yourself:
I wanted something creamy. I wanted my noodles to stay separated. So after a bit more googling, I landed upon Paula Deen’s Creamy Crock Pot Mac & Cheese. The reviews were good and I thought, ok I’ll give it a go. Here is how it’s done:
Ingredients
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- PLEASE NOTE: You will see on other sites that this recipe calls for 3 eggs. I highly recommend that you DO NOT ADD EGGS!
This is what the cheese should look like after you melt the butter and shredded cheese. It only takes a couple minutes on med/low. I also want to note that I used medium cheddar instead of sharp cheddar.
I’m glad I gave Crock Pot Mac & Cheese one last try…Third time’s a charm!
Homemade Happi Meal
It’s no mystery why kids love Happy Meals. Little bite size nuggets, french fries and of course the toy in each box will keep little ones coming back for more. Even though he’s only been there a couple of times, my son repeatedly asks for “Donald’s.” But I try to keep our trips to Mickey D’s as a fun treat only for special occasions. In the meantime, I figured I could create our own Homemade “Happi” Meal (our version will be happi with an “i”) for him to enjoy until our next trip to the golden arches.
So I set out to make the fry, nugget and meal box. Using a McDonald’s Happy Meal as a template, I re-created all the elements I needed. And because I knew some of you would want to create your own homemade happi meals, I am giving you a downloadable fry and nugget template! You’re welcome :o)
Click HERE to download the fry box template
Click HERE to download the nugget box template
After you have downloaded your templates, print them out on white or colored card stock paper. Cut and fold where I have indicated. I recommend scoring along the dashed lines before attempting to fold. Glue together using the grey spots as a indicator of where to put the glue.
The meal box was too large for me to provide a template. If you want the box, you could save the one from McDonald’s the next time you are there and trace it…or you could decorated a brown lunch bag, or come up with another creative style box to house your meal :o)
Here is the recipe I used for homemade chicken nuggets. It’s a simplified version of Wee Nuggets from Weelicious:
Ingredients:
I boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into chunks
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1 egg
Olive oil spray (or PAM)
Directions:
– Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
– Mix bread crumbs, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning together in a bowl.
– Beat egg in a separate bowl.
– Dip chicken breast chunks in the egg first then roll in the bread crumbs.
– Place on lined baking sheet.
– spray nuggets generously with oil spray.
– Bake for 18-20 minutes
Line nugget box (I used Press’n Seal Wrap) and place 4 cooled nuggets inside.
As for the fries, well they aren’t actually fries… I cut an apple into the shape of french fries :o)
I included a Horizon Organic milk box and of course you MUST include a toy! I used a sheet of Disney stickers that came free in the mail and a mini play dough that I purchase in a pack of 5 at the dollar section of Target. You could also throw in a small toy that your child hasn’t seen or played with in a long time.
I loved the surprised look on his face when he saw his lunch :o)
Yarn Words and Shapes
A couple weeks ago, I was searching for projects I could do with yarn (since I have so much laying around!) and came across a post called “Yarn Font” from The Journals of Giddy Giddy. Her pictures and tutorial are much better than what I have done. But I wanted to share how cute this could be sitting on your mantel or bookshelf. Especially with Valentine’s Day upon us.
And the directions couldn’t be easier.
Using pipe cleaners, create a word, letter or shape. Cut strips of yarn (about a foot or so) and wrap around pipe cleaners. You can reshape when you are done.
I love the imperfections of this project. And the possibilities are endless when it comes to color and shape. I am thinking about making little yarn animals in the near future :o)
Crock Pot Fajitas
Taco night is very popular at our house but this week I thought I would change it up and make fajitas. Especially since I was able to to throw the meat in the crock pot! This is a very simple recipe and you can easily add more or less of what you like.
I pretty much followed Crockpot365 again for this one:
Ingredients:
– 2 lbs of thin cut carne asada (or you could use chicken)
– 1 or 2 packets of fajita seasoning mix (I used one but would probably use two the next time)
– 1 onion
– 2 bell peppers (I used 1 orange, 1 yellow)
– 1/2 cup of water
Directions:
1. Put meat in crock pot.
2. Cut the onion and the peppers in strips, and add to the crock pot.
3. Add the fajita seasoning and water.
4. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours, or high for 6. The meat is done when it reaches desired tenderness.
Double-Sided Craft Stick Puzzles
If you are a fellow crafter you have probably seen Craft Stick Puzzles pop up on Pinterest and other crafty blogs. I really liked the way Play Create Explore made hers and quickly decided that I was going to have to make a few of our own! Then I thought, what if I made them double-sided? And what if I made the images correspond?! So I picked out a few different images that are opposites. I tried to keep it simple for my 2-year-old. Sun/Moon = Day/Night, Elephant/Mouse = Big/Small, Fire/Ice = Hot/Cold.
First, I printed out the images on computer paper and cut them out. Using scotch tape, I taped together the back of the craft sticks to keep them from sliding around while I was glueing.
Second, using Mod Podge, I glued the images to the craft sticks then generously applied the Mod Podge over the images. When dry (about an hour) I removed the scotch tape and used a box cutter knife to cut in between the craft sticks. Its easier if you do this from the back of the puzzle.
Repeat process for the backside.
When everything was dry, I numbered the sticks. Be sure to use a different color pen for the front and back numbers.
Crock Pot Candy
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to test out this recipe I found for Crock Pot Candy. The instructions were very specific that the ingredients and process be followed exactly as written, but after looking at 3 different stores, I couldn’t find almond bark and ended up using Candiquik as a replacement (Google said I could!) And guess what, that candy turned out great!!
Here is what you do:
Ingredients:
1 16oz jar roasted, unsalted peanuts
1 16oz jar roasted, salted peanuts
1 12oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bar (4ozs.) sweetened german chocolate (green packaging), broken into pieces
3 lbs. (two 24oz pkgs.) white almond bark, broken into pieces. (I used Candiquik)
Directions:
1. Put ingredients into a 4 or 5-quart crockpot in EXACT order as listed. Cover and cook on LOWEST setting for 3 hours. DO NOT remove lid! Turn off and allow to cool slightly. Mixture will not be melted but will be soft.
2. Mix thoroughly and drop by teaspoon size cookie dropper or a teaspoon onto wax paper (I used Reynolds Non-stick foil.)
3. Let cool thoroughly. Makes approximately 150 – 170 pieces.
Sesame Street Nesting Dolls
We have a set of nesting dolls that my Brother-in-law brought back from Russia a couple years ago and big brother has recently discovered them. He has always liked puzzles so it made sense that he was really intrigued by how the nesting dolls fit together.
One day when I shopping on Amazon.com I came across Unpainted Blank Russian Nesting Doll 5pc./6″. I quickly added them to my cart and was excited at the painting possibilities. I settled on Sesame Street themed dolls because they are such classic, timeless characters and little brother has taken a new liking to Elmo this past month.
Perfect Pairs (Sock Game)
This morning I posted a picture on my Facebook Page of what my Laundry Room/Craft Room looked like. I referred to it as something you would see on an episode of Hoarders…
So I made a deal with myself that I wasn’t going to do any more crafting until I got this room cleaned up! I liked organizing my craft space. I even found some supplies I had bought for specific projects that apparently I had forgot about. But then came time to wash and fold the laundry. I got through most of it ok, until the socks. Isn’t that the worst part of the laundry? You can never find a match. Then I remembered something my son has been watching on Sesame Street.
Bert plays a computer game called “Perfect Pairs” which involves matching of socks.
So I decided to create our own real life “Perfect Pairs” game!
I strung yarn from one door knob to another and used clothespins to pin up socks to our makeshift clothesline. The other socks we laid out on the floor. I asked my son to find socks from the floor that matched the socks hanging on the clothesline. And guided him by asking if he could first match the blue socks, then red socks, long socks, striped socks, small socks, ski socks, etc. So there you have it, I tricked my son into folding laundry 🙂 Am I evil?
Are you curious to see what the laundry room/craft room looks like now? Drum roll please…..
Crock Pot Play Dough
Oh how I love the Crock Pot. Did you know you can use it to make things other than food? Like, Play Dough! This was our fun little project for the day. Something about making and playing with your own play dough is much more fun than just scooping it out of a plastic can from the store.
Here is the recipe I used from Crockpot365.blogspot.com:
Ingredients:
– 2 cups flour (or you can use rice flour to make it gluten free)
1. Plug in your crockpot and turn to low to warm up slowly.
4. Set a timer and check your play dough every 30 minutes, stirring well each time. Mine was done after a half hour! But others could take up to 2. I think it was because I used a larger Crock Pot.
Nutella Filled Heart Pancakes
Good Morning! Remember how much I talked about our love for Nutella in my Crock Pot Nutella Hot Chocolate post? I wasn’t kidding! Here I combined the chocolaty gooey goodness of Nutella with fluffy warm pancakes. DROOOOL :o) Big brother didn’t have preschool yesterday (MLK Day) so I thought I would make this as a special breakfast. These would also make a great Valentines Day Breakfast.
Here’s what you do:
1. Prepare pancake batter. From scratch or from a mix, whatever you prefer. I took the easy route
and used Biquick.
2. Grease griddle and inside of heart shaped cookie cutters. Fill the cookie cutters with a thin layer of batter.
3. Drop a dollop of nutella in the center and immediately cover it with more batter.
4. Let cook on med-low for a couple minutes until top of pancake starts to look less runny.
5. Take cookie cutter off and flip pancake over.
6. Cook until golden brown on both sides.
Valentine’s GIVEAWAY!
Hello friends! I want to thank you for all the support so far in my new journey as a blogger by having a Valentine’s GIVEAWAY! If I can reach 100 Facebook “likes” by February 1st, I will give away this Crocheted Valentine’s Hat. And I will ship it for FREE!
Fruit Creations
Wish you could get your kids to eat healthier snacks? Try making them into into fun shapes! I am a new follower of Bent On Better Lunches blog and I just love all of her creative lunch ideas. I use a Laptop Lunch box for my sons preschool lunches and I am in serious need of new meal ideas. I wonder what his teachers thought of me when they opened his lunch on Friday and saw another cream cheese sandwich and granola bar. Oy.
When I saw BOBL post a picture of her grape and apple cars, I jumped on the bandwagon and made some today as an afternoon snack! So simple and so fun. Cut the apples into slices, cut 2 grapes in half for the wheels, and use a toothpick to put together.
Love Bugs
I brought out the pipe cleaners, pom poms and goggle eyes for some afternoon crafty fun. With Valentines Day in mind, we created Love Bugs by using pom poms for the body, heart shaped felt stickers for the feet, goggle eyes, and pipe cleaners for antennae!
The best part of these little critters is that the feet are stickers so you can stick them wherever you want…
Superhero Brothers
Less than 2 months ago I “pinned” a photo I took of my boys this past Halloween to Pinterest. Big brother was Batman and little brother was Robin. I know I am biased but they are the cutest little superhero team I have ever seen :o) I added the quote “Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero” to the picture because it fit so perfectly!
Fishtail Braid
Aloha! We started off the New Year right by spending the first 11 days of January in beautiful Hawaii! The sun and 80 degree weather made me forget that it is actually winter back here in the Pacific Northwest. Although, I am glad to be home and looking forward to getting the boys back on a routine.
I am not sure how this happened but somehow Hubs and I have become addicted to the Bachelor. We are quite possibly losing brain cells just watching this show. Regardless and even though we were in Hawaii, we were sure to watch the first two episodes of the season! As a blogger I was excited to see that one of the girls contending for Ben is also a blogger (can that actually be an occupation?). Her name is Jenna Burke and she writes a blog called the Over-Analyst. I took a little looksy at her site, and wasn’t overly impressed. Looks like her blog may be under construction right now. I like to think she put it on hold for filming of the show but rumors are swarming that this was ABC’s ploy to get bloggers talking. In any case, I did come across this neat post on her blog about how to make a fishtail braid. This post came a perfect time because my hair was a complete disaster after one day in Hawaii and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. My hair is naturally curly but the curls quickly turned into a big frizz ball. I made sure to bring my Chi flat iron, but between the beach, pool and slight humidity, my hair ended up like this…
I combed it out and quickly ran the flat iron over it, just to tame a little of the frizz (not to straighten it). Then followed these instructions as posted on Jenna’s blog:
or knot, leave it.
If you watch the Bachelor (please tell me there are others out there?), you know that Jenna didn’t get a rose from Ben at Monday nights rose ceremony. Maybe now, she can go back to blogging :o)
Finger Puppet Theatre
I’ve been bookmarking ideas for projects I could do with my surplus of empty wrapping paper rolls and cardboard boxes leftover from the holidays. When I came across this little box theatre from Cakies I knew we would have to create our own. And of course the felt finger puppets needed a stage!
Let the show begin!
Felt Finger Puppets
I first laid eyes on these cute little creatures over at The Idea Room. There you will find a great step by step tutorial on how to easily make your own felt finger puppets.
There is really nothing to it. I didn’t even use a pattern or template. I just started cutting felt in different animal shapes and used goggle eyes.
It’s really that simple!
I can’t decide which one I like best…
It might be a 3-way tie between the lion, hippo and owl :o)
Check back tomorrow to see our finger puppet theater!!
24 Hours For Hank
Happy New Year! I hope 2011 was good to all of you and 2012 brings much happiness to you and your family. One of the things I am really looking forward to in 2012 is attending a wonderful fundraiser event for our friends son who has a rare genetic disease.
For those who don’t know, I worked professionally as a graphic designer for over 6 years until I became pregnant with #1 and decided to trade it in to stay at home with my baby. But fortunately I am still able to do freelance work occasionally under my own company Rain City Graphics. I frequently do flyers for my sons preschool as well as a couple other fun side projects like rehearsal dinner and bridal shower invitations, a company logo, and this one:
a ski poster for 24 Hours of Schweitzer.
It means a lot to me to be able to work on this poster. Henry (or Hank as his friends call him) was diagnosed with Cystinosis in November 2007. It affects approximately 500 people in the United States (mostly children), and about 2,000 people worldwide. This disease causes the amino acid “cystine” to accumulate in the body’s cells. Over time, cystine buildup slowly destroys various organs including the kidneys, liver, muscles, white blood cells, eyes and central nervous system.
Because Cystinosis is such a rare disease that affects such a small population, research money is scarce to nonexistent. Hank’s friends and family started 24HoursforHank.org to help raise funds for cystinosis research.
This ski poster is for their next fundraiser, 24 Hours of Schweitzer on March, 30 2012 at Schweitzer Mountain Resort. We will be there supporting and skiing for Hank! If you are interested in finding out more about this event visit www.24HoursofSchweitzer.com.
New Year’s Poppers
The holidays are over and I have a huge stack of empty wrapping paper rolls and cardboard boxes just waiting to made into a craft project! My first project: New Year’s Poppers:
Make and Takes has a great tutorial on how to make these. It’s a quick project and I’m excited for the kids to “pop” these open and find a little treat inside on New Year’s Eve.
Here is what you do:
Crock Pot Potato Soup
I made this recipe a month or so ago and haven’t had a chance to post it until now. I actually wasn’t crazy about it when it first came out of the crock pot, but the leftovers were REALLY GOOD! I think this is one of those soups that needs to sit in the refrigerator overnight to thicken up and let the flavors come out.
Here is the recipe from Allrecipes.com:
The ingredients:
Coffee Gift Card Holder
If I haven’t mentioned it enough before, I am obsessed with Pinterest. I could spend hours “pinning” all the great ideas I find on there and then hope to find the time or occasion to do them all. I found a great gift idea a couple months ago and have been waiting for a chance to re-create it. My chance came today.
I sent my husband to the store to specifically get HOLIDAY cards for our sons teachers. You know, something that says “Thank you and Happy Holidays” with a winter theme on the front. It had to be neutral since we don’t know the religion of all the teachers and what they may or may not celebrate this time of year. So what does he come home with? Cards with christmas trees on the front with the message saying “wishing you a bright and shining Christmas.” SMH. I should have known better than to leave this task up to him. But no worries, now was my chance to use this great Pinterest idea.
Here is what it looks like:
Cute, right?! The girls over at Skip To My Lou have directions (and a template!) on how to create this. In my version, I adjusted the template in photoshop and added in “Happy Holidays” as well as simplified some of the directions.
Here is what I did:
– Printed the template out on card stock and cut and glued it to another piece of card stock for extra thickness.
– Took a coffee sleeve (I yanked a couple here and there from different coffee stands) and using double sided tape, taped it in the middle.
– Took a small piece of double sided tape and taped the bottom of the sleeve shut so the Starbucks gift card wouldn’t fall through.
– Used green yarn to tie a fun little bow around it.
That’s it!
Crock Pot Falafel
This recipe looked a little intimidating when I first came across it on Pinterest. There were a lot of ingredients but I was willing to give it a go since we LOVE falafel and I could make it in the crock pot. After a quick trip to the store, I thought I had everything I needed but when I started mixing ingredients, I realized I didn’t have cayenne pepper and I had coriander but not ground coriander. A google search said I could substitute paprika for cayenne pepper and after a pathetic attempt to ground my own coriander, I pretty much just left it out. And as I was finally done putting the ingredients into my mixer, I noticed that the big T in the recipe is for Tablespoon and the little t is for teaspoon…at this point I wasn’t sure how much of what I had put in and figured it was going to take a miracle for this recipe to turn out. I also want to note that I doubled the recipe.
Well it must be my lucky day, because they turned out great! NO JOKE!
Since I doubled the recipe, I actually made two separate batches in the crock pot. I didn’t want to risk stacking the falafel balls and ruining the whole thing. We ate almost the entire batch #1 for dinner while batch #2 cooked. Now we will have enough for lunch tomorrow and some for my sons school lunches as well.
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 T dried parsley
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 egg
• 1 t kosher salt
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 2 t ground cumin
• 1 t ground coriander
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 2 T olive oil (for the bottom of your crock)
Kid-Friendly Decoration: Felt Menorah
I had a little bit of Christmas envy yesterday when I Can Teach My Child posted the felt christmas tree she made for her kids. The idea is to cut a large piece of green felt into a christmas tree, pin it to your wall and then make felt ornaments that your child can stick to the tree. Click HERE to see her felt tree. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized I could do this just as easily and make it into a Menorah with felt candles for each night!
Decking the Halls for Hanukkah (DIY Style)
The family is coming to our house for Hanukkah this year so I wanted to do a little decorating and thanks to Pinterest, I found a couple of Hanukkah craft projects to make our home festive! For the dinning room table, I made Tissue Kissing Balls from The Idea Room. The idea seemed pretty simple. Using a roll of streamers, cut them into 24 inch strips, crumple, fold the top 1/3 of the way down and roll the paper up so it takes the shape of a rose bud. Then hot glue to styrofoam balls (I used 3 inch styrofoam balls). You could obviously do this in a variety of colors but I stuck with the traditional white and blue for Hanukkah and am really happy with the result!
Next project was some DIY Hanukkah garland made from felt. This idea comes from Creative Jewish Mom. I used dreidel and star shaped cookie cutters to trace the shapes onto felt. Cut them out and hot-glued them to piece of ric-rac ribbon. Simple!
Then I decided to go one step further. I was going to attempt to trace letters onto felt to spell out “Happy Hanukkah”…… then the most awesome gift showed up at my front door (thanks mom!). I am now the proud owner of a Cricut! The Cricut is a personal cutting machine that can cut shapes and letters out of fabric and paper. Although cutting felt on the Cricut was a little tricky. I used stiff felt but the blade isn’t able to cut through the entire piece, so I had to use scissors to finish cutting them out. I hot-glued the letters to a rectangular piece of stiff white felt, put a hole punch in the upper corners of each rectangle and strung it on the rest of my ric-rac. Voilà!
Dear Son, Love Mom
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’m going to save all my digital photos. You know, so when my boys are in their 30’s with families of their own, they can show their children pictures of when they were younger. My oldest isn’t even 3 yet and I already have over 14,000 photos in my iPhoto library and that isn’t including the videos I’ve taken! I printed out a bunch for my older sons baby book but it’s poorly put together and I haven’t even started on baby brothers. And those only cover the first year of life.
Then came this Google Chrome commercial called “Dear Sophie” about a father who opens a g-mail account to communicate with is daughter from birth into the future:
I had seen this commercial before but it wasn’t until mommy blogger Mommy Hates Cooking posted earlier this week that she set up an e-mail account for her son that it dawned on me – this could be part of my solution! So I created a g-mail account* for each of my boys as a way to send them a quick note, memory, moment, picture or video as they grow. When they are older, I will give them access to their inbox. I like to think of it as an online journal and a great way to start and continue a baby book! And just as Kristy from Mommy Hates Cooking did, I e-mailed the grandparents, great-grandma (yes, she has e-mail and knows how to use it!), uncles and aunts and invited them to also send e-mails of memories and moments they have of the boys.
I do not intend to e-mail them on a daily basis, but maybe a couple times month and when they reach milestones. I don’t even need to be at my computer, I can send a message from my iPhone. How fun will it be to be able to e-mail my baby a video of himself walking the minute he does it?!
Lets just hope that e-mail will still be around in 30+ years.
*You cannot actually set up a g-mail account for anyone who is not over thirteen years old. So when you are creating the account don’t put their actual age and you are good to go.
Crockpot Nutella Hot Chocolate
If you love Nutella, then this is for you! I originally saw this recipe on the Crock Pot Recipe Exchange but have since seen it pop up all over Facebook and Pinterest. I just new it was something I had to try because over here in the Zimmerman house, we are Nutella fanatics! And let me tell you, it was just as amazing as I thought it would be. I topped mine with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles and my son had his with a heaping mound of marshmallows. YUMMMM!
- 2 cups of milk (whole, skim, soy, almond, lactose free… any kind will work)
- a heaping 1/4 cup of Nutella
- whipped topping or marshmallows (optional)
Simple Chunky Crochet Scarf
I wanted to crochet something for myself, but it had to be quick and easy since I really don’t have much time to take on a big project. I found this chunky scarf pattern from Prudent Baby and it couldn’t have been more simple! I didn’t have a size N hook so I used a K hook (6.5MM) which made the scarf a little smaller and tighter but it still fits nicely without being too bulky. I used almost one whole ball of Cozy Wool Loops and Threads yarn in charcoal. Here is the pattern:
Chain it to the length you want (I chained 135). Slip stitch to join into the first stitch.
Row 1: *Ch 3, dc into fourth chain from the hook, dc 134 (or each additional stitch in your length), slip stitch into first stitch to join
Row 2&3: Repeat from *
Weave in ends
Done!
I couldn’t have a scarf without matching gloves. And I noticed that fingerless gloves have been pretty popular this year. I saw my friend Heather over the Thanksgiving holiday and she had a super cute pair of crocheted fingerless gloves from H&M. They looked like something I could easily make! Well, These aren’t exactly what she had, but this pattern from Craftbits.com was too easy not to try. I used the same chunky charcoal yarn. These gloves were done in a matter of minutes. Someday when I have more quiet time I will crochet some real gloves. Its very difficult to count and stitch with a 2 year old and 8 month old by your side.
Thanksgiving Centerpieces
My sons Preschool is having a Pre-Thanksgiving dinner and I volunteered to help coordinate. When it came time to divvy up jobs, I immediately raised my hand for the craftier portion: Centerpieces!
I found this idea on Parents.com and loved that the kids would be able to write what they are thankful for. It will be fun for the parents to read their child’s “leaf.”
This next idea is a modification of a chalkboard turkey place card I found on Pinterest via I Can Teach My Child. I loved the idea of having little chalkboard turkeys for the kids to draw and scribble on at the table. If they hadn’t already written what they were thankful for on the centerpiece above, this would be a perfect way to do it.
Dig Pit (Sensory Tub)
Now that it is officially too cold and rainy to be playing outside (at least for me), I needed some fun things we could do indoors to keep my 2-year-old occupied. I have been wanting to make him a sensory tub for awhile and finally got the supplies to put it all together.
Here is what I used:
– 27 quart clear latch lid bin from Target
– 16 lbs dry pinto beans (I’ve been buying them when I see them on sale at Fred Meyer and Albertsons)
– toys from around the house including plastic shovel, rack, sifter and cup
I took a picture of the toys I hid in the dig pit, labeled them and printed them out on a sheet of paper. Now its a treasure hunt!
Tips for keeping the beans from spilling:
– use a deep bin (the deeper and wider the better)
– place a towel under the bin to keep spilled bean from rolling around the floor. Its also an easy way to clean up – just gather up the towel and dump beans back in.
Have Fun!
Creamy Crock Pot Salsa Chicken
Unless I have just gone to the store, I rarely have defrosted, fresh meat sitting in my fridge. I am ultra paranoid about food born illness so I will either buy meat and cook it the same day or will freeze it. So when I saw this recipe from Food.com for Creamy Salsa Chicken that used frozen chicken breasts, I was excited. And even better, I had all the ingredients on hand. This recipe is hands down one of my favorites and I’ve had many friends and blog followers make this recipe and compliment it as well!
Ingredients:
4 -5 boneless chicken breasts
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can black beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) jar salsa, any kind
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
Washington Huskies Beanie
When we moved to Portland I knew I was going to be surrounded by Duck and Beaver fans, but I underestimated how much school pride they actually have. Every other house on my block is waiving either an Oregon or Oregon State flag, not to mention the millions of bumper sticks, window decals, signs, and apparel. One house even has an Oregon Duck face carved into the tree in their front yard. I miss my fellow Husky fans and was desperate to see some purple and gold! I crocheted this little Washington Huskies beanie yesterday. The “W” is made of felt.
I’ve also been working hard on a bunch of holiday hats. I hope to show you pictures soon and possibly open an Etsy shop!
Crockpot Pot Roast and Cinnamon Swirl Cake
I had both of my crockpots cooking yesterday and boy oh boy did my house smell yummy! I made a very simple pot roast that turned out delicious! I have used this recipe many times before. You can’t screw it up and the meat always turns out so tender and tasty. (If you are wondering, on the left side of the plate are potato bourekas, found in your kosher freezer section)
Pizza Numbers and Shapes
Here is a fun activity to do with your little one and you can make dinner (or lunch) at the same time! I bought some pre-made pizza dough, sauce, shredded mozzarella and sliced cheddar cheese. You can use any kind of cookie cutters but I thought it would be fun to use the “numbers” cutters that came with my sons play-doh set (be sure to wash them well) to cut into the cheddar cheese slices. He is really interested in counting and learning his numbers, so this was a good activity for him. He also had fun squeezing and spreading the sauce and sprinkling the cheese on top.
Going Bananas
I feel like I am about to go bananas this week with the lack of sleep we’re getting in this house. My 7 month old is up every hour all night long and my 2 year old seems to think the day starts at 5 am. Sleep training advice is more than welcome!
I’m not sure how I found the energy to crochet or cook today, but somehow I did. I found a free banana cozy pattern and since the apples got a cozy, I figured the bananas needed a sweater as well.
Now it’s time to eat the bananas! One of my favorite recipes are the banana bites from Weelicious. They are little bite size pancakes with a slice of banana in the middle. Perfect for tiny hands and moms and dads will love them too! I often make these for breakfast. You can find the recipe here.
I’ve also got something cooking in the crock pot today. Check back tomorrow to see what it is!
Playing with Magnets
After all that cooking with canned pumpkin, I had to do something with the empty tin cans….
Say hello to these fun little magnetic robots!
Crockin’ the Pumpkin
I love this time of year. I get to wear my comfy UGG boots and I quickly said goodbye to my summer clothes and hello to my fall wardrobe. Full coverage clothing looks much better on this 6 month postpartum body. But you know what I like best about fall? PUMPKIN! You know fall is here when Starbucks starts serving their pumpkin spice lattes. This year I’ve been getting my pumpkin spice lattes iced. I don’t care if its chilly outside, they are so delicious this way. Try it, you’ll like it! Another yummy discovery this year: Jamba Juice’s Pumpkin Smash smoothie. The Jamba Juice at my local mall is always serving little samples of this tasty drink. You won’t be disappointed. So with all this craze over pumpkin, I just had to try this Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal recipe I saw on the Crock Pot Recipe Exchange.
Just throw in the ingredients the night before and by morning you have a hot breakfast waiting for you. This recipe is also vegan. You can find it here.
I also decided to bake some pumpkin mini muffins for our 3.5 hour drive to Seattle tomorrow. This recipe is so easy and I had all the ingredients on hand.
Easy Pumpkin Mini Muffins:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. oil
3 eggs
1 lb. can pumpkin
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
Measure all ingredients in a big mixing bowl. Beat together well for 5 minutes. Pour into mini lined cupcake pans (fill more than 1/2 full). Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.