Cute as a Button

My students are learning about all the different types of figurative language, including puns, idioms, metaphors, personification, alliteration, etc. They would be thrilled to know that I used a simile in my title! But that's life in the fifth grade for you.

I found a cute idea for a quick and easy button bracelet. They come out pretty adorable, 

but I think this looks a little more appropriate on younger girls than on an adult. 

However, I wanted to share because they are a simple way to add some interest!

 Lay out the pattern you want; I played around with mine for a while before I found one that I liked. After doing this first one, I found that smaller buttons work better.

 Create a loop in your yarn (I used plastic coated but anything durable would work) and knot it off. Begin to "sew" the buttons on to the strands, criss-crossing as you go.

 Ta-da! I made two different ones, but honestly, the possibilities are endless and 

this only took about five minutes to finish. Not to shabby!

Hardest part: Cats wanting to "help"... thanks Ellie.

February Food

No, we didn't go hungry in February (far from it... the workouts start TODAY!) but we weren't quite as creative as in the past. Our "sprinkling" of failures became more of a downpour, so we stuck to simplicity, for the most part. Below are the smattering of successful, and delicious meals we were able to concoct, and weren't too time consuming either.

First up, we have something my husband is very proud of, and it is his favorite food... breakfast! Yes all breakfast foods make him happy, but he made a really delicious cinnamon orange french toast with cheesy scrambled eggs. Yum.

The trick is using really thick, crusty bread to soak up all the custard. The orange zest makes this really delectable, and compliments the cinnamon well. And nobody makes better scrambled eggs then my husband. Sorry, he wins!

Next up we started to have more failures in the kitchen, but something I found on Pinterest that was easy and quite yummy was White Cheddar Mac and Cheese with Broccoli. It was a basic mac and cheese beschamel sauce with broccoli thrown in. I know that everyone says that recipes like this are a "good way to sneak veggies into kids" but get real. Kids aren't stupid. They can see the vegetables and will know that it's broccoli. Who cares if it is Macaroni and Cheese, there are green trees in my food! But, if your child LIKES broccoli, then this is definitely a winner! (Please excuse the gladware container on the counter... kitchen photo-bomb.

Finally, we got ambitious again this week and tried Ricotta Spinach Stuffed Chicken, recipe courtesy of Pinterest (where else?) and it was delicious! A little more labor intensive, but still not too hard, and it comes out really great. The recipe calls for panko bread crumbs, and being the rule followers that we are, willing obliged to this part. However, I think regular bread crumbs, or Italian style ones would work even better.

That looks like it for now. Hopefully more to come soon... and more "light" option will be in our future... like I said, the workout starts today!

For any of the recipes that sound good to you, check out my Pinterest page by clicking the link on the right menu bar.

I'm Back!

I know it's been over  month since I posted anything, but life got quite busy for a while, and basically my creative side was stunted. In the month of February, we didn't do too much, and most of our food consisted of pastas or something equally simple to make. As far as my crafting goes, that was hit or miss on any given weekend, with more misses than hits. I've begun two large sewing projects, which I can't show on my blog yet because one is a gift, and one is still in the beginning stages. I'm not sure if anyone still even checks here, or really how many people checked to begin with, but I will be better about posting now that the depressing "winter" (or what we here in Texas like to pretend is cold) has cleared out, and spring is around the corner.

Tortellini Casserole

Okay. Yum. One simple word, and yet it can create this mass euphoria, by way of food. Well, tortellini casserole is just... yum. Made this last night with the husband and was thoroughly impressed. The quantity of ingredients was a bit higher than most recipes, and it seemed as though there were a lot of steps to manage, but the ending result was amazingly delectable. There were too many things going on at once in our kitchen, so I wasn't able to fully photograph everything that is in the mixture, but you get the idea... Recipe can be found here.

 Cook carrots and sugar snap peas with the tortellini. 

Yeah, I thought this step was weird too.

 Create the sauce.

Then add cream cheese to the sauce. Yup, just got even better.

 Mix, mix, mix. This is a culmination of the sauce, tortellini, cubed chicken, 

carrots, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, and red bell peppers. 

Plus it's an "action" shot as an added bonus...grr. I need a better camera.

Bake in a casserole dish for about 30 minutes, top with Parmesan cheese. I know it doesn't 

look like much and it isn't a fancy, composed restaurant plate, but wow. So good.

Farewell Taco Soup?

Taco Soup will forever live long and prosper in the homes of many across America. Don't know what I'm talking about? Move to the South. And not South Carolina or Tennessee. I know they think they are "Southerners" but come on, really? Not the South. It snows there. If you're still not sure...Go to Texas. After all, it IS the best state in the country.

Anyway, when the few of us out there, who got sick of the infamous soup (gasp!), was looking for something new, we fell upon a recipe for a chicken and black bean chili. Now, don't get me wrong, I live in South Texas, and realize that real chili DOES NOT HAVE BEANS. However, I'm willing to call this a chili despite the plentiful amount of black beans that really make this dish delicious. Mainly because, well...it is too thick to be a soup, and to me, stew shouldn't be spicy. Rachael Ray made up the term "Stoup" for something of this consistency, but I think that's too dumb of a word to use. Stop with the made up culinary terms, Rachael, you're confusing the masses of people who can't really cook, but watch you and think they can. Thus, "chili" it is christened.
You can find the recipe here.

You just have to dump everything in and let them simmer together, melding flavors and getting all tasty. Quite delicious! It is fairly cheap, freezes well too, and makes fabulously filling lunches. Getting protein is often a struggle for me, so the beans and chicken in this really help out a lot. While Taco Soup purists will be clinging to that age-old recipe for decades, I will be trying out new ones, and finding something that, I think, is even better than the original!

Mexican Memories

The first Valentine's Day my husband and I spent together found us going out to a really romantic Italian restaurant in Austin... on the 13th (because, seriously, who can get a reservation on V-Day anymore? Plus they hike up the price so it's almost not worth it!). So, on actual Valentine's Day, we decided to cook, even if it was in my husband's TEENY-TINY apartment kitchen he had in college (I don't think both of us fit at the same time!). I think this is one of the first meals we ever made together, thus embarking on a lifetime of culinary endeavors! We even re-created this meal a year later, once we had both graduated and were working. It will always be a special dinner in our home, despite the simplicity of the actual meal itself.

We made enchiladas. Now, these aren't really authentic, dripping in sauce, enchiladas (but give me a break, I'm originally a New Yorker). But they are delicious, and very simple to make.
You can find the recipe here.

Rotisserie chicken (shredded), onion, bell pepper, salsa, cream cheese... 

how can you go wrong with that combination?

 Fill tortillas...

 Top with salsa...

 and don't forget the best part! I LOVE cheese!

Ta-Da! Not much too it, but makes a lot, and now I've

got something to look forward to in my lunch this week!

Sew Handy!

Okay... excuse the bad pun in the title. However, remember when I got my new sewing machine two months ago and was so excited? And notice how none of my posts have been about sewing? Well, I can finally post my first sewing endeavor because I made something as gifts for my mom and Mother-In-Law, and I wanted it to be a surprise. Now that Christmas is over, I can show my first feeble attempt at sewing. No, I didn't make a great masterpiece, the next new Couture dress for the Runway, or something spectacular for the home. But I did manage to bust out two coffee cozies. You know, the little sleeve that goes over a coffee cup to protect your hand. Well... ta da! Now my mothers can be eco-friendly when going to Starbucks!

 Cut out pieces from your fabrics and fusible fleece. I traced a Starbucks sleeve as a template to create a pattern for these. I also wanted to inside to be a different fabric so had two choices.

 Iron the fleece to the wrong side of one piece of fabric. Sew wrong sides together with a 1/2" seam allowance, leave a small opening so it can be flipped. Clip corners and flip right side out.

 Iron the seams so they lay flat, then sew a top stitch all the way around the 

edge, including closing the small part left open.

 Almost finished!

 Once I got the hang of it, I was able to make my second one with a more decorative top stitch. 

Next, sew a hair band onto one end, making a small loop that will fit over a button. 

Sew the button on in place, and slip the hair band over to close the cozy.

 Voila! Not really hard, but it was a good first project to try with my machine.

The finished projects! Next time, I'm going to make them reversible.

Whoopie!

 For Christmas we were given a Whoopie Pie Pan, a Whoopie Pie Recipe Book, and a box of Red Velvet Mix to go along with. The pan is basically a really really shallow muffin tin, and I bet would make great "muffies" too (muffin tops...which is the best part anyway). Our first go at the pan wasn't quite what I expected. My husband got a little over zealous with filling the tiny pan, and we ended up with Whoopie Bricks instead, but they still tasted really delectable!

 Daniel took the lead on this one, pictures and all! 

He even got all the prep supplies out and ready for use!

 Mixing the batter... Red Velvet looks a bit ominous before it is baked...

 This is where the pan got over-filled. Note to self:  Don't over-fill next time.

 I made the frosting... Cream Cheese, Butter, Powdered Sugar. 

Note to Self: Make sure butter is room temperature next time. 

We used cold butter and it didn't quite come out how I was expecting.

See? Whoopie Bricks. But they were very good, if not a little big!

Here's to a Quiet New Year

As we welcomed in 2012, my husband and I decided to have a quiet night at home with a yummy dinner and a movie. Yes we watched the ball drop, but you can bet I was in bed right after! It was a nice way to end a very busy year. On our New Year's Eve menu was Parmesan-Italian Chicken, Quinoa Primavera, and biscuits. Yum. You can find the quinoa recipe here.

 The chicken was SUPER simple: Lightly wet the chicken with water, coat in grated Parmesan cheese mixed with Good Seasonings Italian Dressing mix, bake until cooked through. Turn the broiler on the last 5 minutes to get a golden brown crust.... it was delicious!

 We've never tried Quinoa before, but it was really tasty and pretty simple. It cooks like rice, and then we added some mixed vegetables, parsley and a touch of cream cheese (it is NYE after all!)...

 Really good! Plus I had leftovers for lunch which made going back to work on January 2 

(yes that's right, we had school on the 2nd...) much better.

Biscuits came from a can, I'm not up to making my own quite yet. Add some wine and a

cozy blanket on the couch... This was a super delicious meal!