Cloud Bread - WIN

During one of my (many) attempts to eat healthier I came across an interesting item - Cloud Bread. Light, airy, low carb, low on points, etc, etc. Seriously?

Yah.

So I figured "what the heck" it'll only sacrifice a couple of eggs and if it bombs no harm done. 

Well...it didn't bomb. 

It's kind of crazy to think that eggs and cream cheese can become lovely little slices of round bread, but it can!

The process is a little labour intensive and you need to make sure your mixture is right. But I tried and succeeded on the first time, so it's not a very hard recipe. 

I added a little rosemary and salt on the top, an inspiration from another similar pin. They were light and slightly crispy and went perfect with my sandwich. I only made half a batch (incase of disaster) so I didn't get far in experimenting, but they can be used as pizza dough, sandwich bread, the options can be endless!

They however didn't hold up on the long term. I was the only one eating them, and even after proper storage after a few days they started getting gummy. I tried toasting them but it burnt - that could be the fault of my toaster though. 
So if you're looking for an awesome low everything way to replace bread, this could be your answer!

Vegan Crispy Coconut Cauliflower Tacos with Vegan Mayo - WIN

Let me just start by saying that my family is not vegan. Or vegetarian. I think we firmly land in the meat-atarian category, especially my husband. My brother on the other hand, announced a year ago that he had become vegan. It was quite the shocker, him being the guy who would have a bacon sandwich that included a pound of cooked bacon and two merger slices of bread. But, being the awesome people we are, we embraced is new found veganism and supported his decision. But when my dear vegan brother came to visit and asked me to host is birthday dinner for him and our parents, I suddenly became aware that I had NO idea what to make him! I've cooked many vegetarian meals, but thinking of a meal that everyone, including my kids, would enjoy became a consuming task. Until I came across this little gem.

Vegan Crispy Coconut Lime Cauliflower Tacos with Home Made Vegan Mayo

(it's not as daunting as it sounds)

The first major appealing feature of this recipe is that it didn't require any 'odd' ingredients that required an special visit to a local health food store. It was all stuff I could get easily. The Vegan mayo I replaced with a Vegan Mayo I made myself - the recipe was another Pinterest find.

The second was it could easily pass as non-vegan for my kids. I just told them they were crunchy tacos and they ate them all up!!

See how tasty that looks? Amazing that it looks almost exactly like the pics in the link! How rare is that!

For my first completely vegan meal, it came together quite easily. There was the usually dip - dredge - repeat with the cauliflower as you find with any breaded recipe. As I mentioned before, all the ingredients were things that I normally kept in my fridge or pantry so no special shopping trips or expenses were required. Making the mayo was obviously an extra step. I decided I didn't want a large container of mayo since I already had traditional mayo in the fridge and I'm the only one who eats it in my house. I found the link (see above) which clearly went through three separate recipes for home made vegan mayo - I chose the second with soy milk and olive oil. It was a perfect base for the sauce in this taco recipe, and my brother took the rest with him to eat during his visit.

The cauliflower was crispy on the outside and perfectly flavoured. The coleslaw and aloi were a perfect addition and added a lot of flavour. We added a little dash of a favourite hot sauce for the adults, this recipe is a total winner. And even my brother the vegan agreed!

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Broccoli & Cheese Stuffed Chicken - Win (Updated!)

A miracle has happened in our house. Everyone ate their dinner. Everyone. And they LIKED it. 
Seriously, this never happens anymore unless it's grilled cheese or pizza. My son, who hates anything new even if it's the exact same foods served in a new form, ate this dinner. My daughter, who despises meat and anything green, ate this dinner. My hubby, who as much as I love him, is not the healthiest guy, ATE THIS DINNER. 

They liked it.
AND IT'S HEALTHY!

See? Miracle.

I must apologize ahead of time. I knew I'd like this dinner, the chance on my family eating and liking it was 50/50 for the reasons listed above. So there are no pictures at this time. But because it was so well received it will be put into our regular meal rotation, so pics are to follow.
So far, this is the only one.

See? Miracle.

I made a couple minor modifications to the recipe from Quick & Easy Recipes. First was I bought thin cut chicken breasts. It made the work easier, but the pieces were small and the wraps didn't stay together well when cooking. Next time I'd buy butterflied chicken breasts, or just do it myself. That way I'd have larger pieces of chicken to get more stuff in.
I also used my own all purpose spice rub from Martha Stewart instead of the seasoning listed in the recipe. The stuff is seriously fantastic and I'm never one to promote someone/something, but I put this on everything and I give it to my family every year for Christmas. 
You definitely want to get all your stuff prepped before because once you start rolling chicken it gets messy. And toothpicks are key.
I also skipped the sauce as mentioned in the recipe. I felt it didn't need it at the time, and really the flavour was fantastic without it.

Paired with a side of cauliflower/potato mash (1/2 a cauliflower head and 1 lrg potato, boiled and mashed as regular mashed potatoes) and this dinner was a healthy hit all around.

And a bonus? I'm going to pre-make the stuffed chicken for my hubby to cook on a night that I work, making it a super quick meal for him and the kids until I get home.

Overall? A slightly surprising win, especially since it was such a hit with the kids.

Definitely give this one a try!

UPDATE - I've made this a few times and it's still a hit. However I do find that some times if my chicken is too thick, it's undercooked when I just cook it in the pan. Most recently I cooked it in the oven at 350 for about 15-20 min and they came out perfect without any undercooked parts. I think from now on oven cooking will be our method for this recipe

Nail Polish Watercolour Mug - Win & UPDATE

I saw this one a while ago and never got around to trying it until Superstore had huge mugs on sale for $1.50. I need a lot of coffee in my life, so huge mugs are essential. Bonus points if they fit into my Nespresso, which this lovely item did.

Double win

I decided to experiment on it and try the nail polish watercolour decoration method. I figured that if I botched it, no one would notice and it's not like it was an expensive mug.

So, how'd it go?

I used this tutorial here and this one too. Both methods are pretty much the same.

I got all my stuff ready to go. I don't paint my nails much (not allowed at work, blah blah blah) so my colour options were limited. 

First thing I learned? Use new(er) nail polish. Or warm it up a bit. First round all the drops just sank to the bottom of the tin. Luckily it's easy to clean up, just swirl a tooth pick around and it'll pick up the polish on the top.

Second thing I learned? Use a bright DEEP colour. The paler aqua colour needed a lot to even show up on the white mug. So expect to use more polish if you want to use a paler/lighter colour.

Third? Keep that water warm. As soon as it started to cool, the nail polish would harden up on the surface before I even had a second to pick up my mug. 

What happens if you don't work fast enough

And finally? Keep a LARGE bottle of nail polish remover around, unless you're super confident at this kind of thing. It took me a LOT of dips and trials to get a look I liked. The good thing is if you work fast, you can wipe it off with a paper towel and nail polish remover if you make a mistake.

Overall opinion?

I kind of really like it. I ended up doing two colours and it gives the mug a really neat look. The mug MUST be hand washed, and I try to avoid the outside as much as possible. I've been using it for about 2 months now (which is why I took so long in posting this) and it's holding up beautifully. 

So whether you'd be making these for yourself or for a friend, it's a definite win.  It's a really inexpensive gift or project, especially if you have lots of nail polish sitting around. Just give yourself some time to play with it, and be prepared to make a mess.

**UPDATE**
So I just wanted to update on how this mug has held up. After approximately 10 months of almost daily use it has held up very well. There are only a couple of tiny spots where the polish has come off but the colours have held up. I wash it by hand, focusing on the inside and a light rinse on the outside when needed. This is a definite win of a project!

Apple Crisp - Win

Apple Season!

I always liked apple picking as a kid and I missed it when we moved away. And now we're back and live in fruit country. AND my family has apple trees in their yard. How cool is that! So one night we all went over and picked apples.

Another favourite of mine growing up was apple crisp. It was always a staple dessert for holidays in our house. So when Thanksgiving rolled around I volunteered to make dessert and Apple Crisp was on the menu!

There are SO many versions and ways to make apple crisp. Or crumble if you prefer. The Apple part is mostly the same, but the topping is the part that differs. Small chunks vs large, oats or no oats. It's a little daunting. I wanted a recipe that would be tasty, easy, and portable since we were traveling for our turkey dinner. Then I came across this recipe from Rock Recipes and really liked the way she laid out all the tips to make the perfect apple crisp.

For my recipe I used Granny Smith apples. They're my go-to apples for the majority of baking (and eating actually). The tart taste balances out the sweet of most desserts and they hold their shape very well during the baking process.

The recipe came together easily. All I did was cover it well and bake it when it was time for desert. You really want to pat down and smooch the topping into the apples, but don't. Doing as recommended and leaving them in chunks like you see below really makes the topping crispy!

It was so tasty that I didn't get a picture after baking but before eating. So I guess it went over well with the family! This recipe and method was a definite win!

Happy Baking!!

DIY Tutu - Win!

I'm not a girly girl really, but occasionally I like to get my frilly on. And I've tried hard not to pink-wash my daughter as best as I can, making sure she has lots of blues and greens and yellows in her room and wardrobe. It's a hard fight since she's the only girl granddaughter right now. But for her birthday I decided 'what the heck' and made her a tutu.

Yup. A pink full frilly tutu just for her birthday.
It's awesome!

The tutorial found here from The Pinning Momma is fairly simple to follow and is a no sew version. This was the best for me, since a) I can barely sew and b) I don't have a sewing machine. It just required a few stitches to connect the elastic, but you could easily tie them together if you lack needle and thread or like me are prone to poking yourself. A lot.

I picked three colours: white, light pink, and a darker pink. Yah, I know I don't like too much pink, but she only turns one once, right? The best thing about this is you can make it in any colour combo you want. And changing how I layered the tulle changed the colour for each section giving it a really neat effect.

Getting the number of wraps around the cardboard was a tiny bit tricky because I kept loosing count. I found it helpful to make a small pencil mark on the 'top' of the cardboard to help keep track of when I made a full rotation of the tulle. 
Below is a quick video I took to show what a full rotation looks like. From start to finish that's counted as one wrap around.

The whole project maybe took a little over an hour from start to finish because I had to layer all the different colours. If you're doing one colour, it should take less time.

The tutu looked great and had a nice fullness to it and held up well for the party. It can definitely be used again. And I even had someone ask to make them an adult sized one :)





















The project cost about $15 total, the tulle was on sale. You can jazz it up as well by adding ribbon or a bow at the back if you'd want something a little flashier or fun.

Overall, a super simple DIY project!

 
  

Make Buttercream Icing look like Fondant - Win

It's birthday season in our house! Birthday #1 went off without a hitch, but the chalkboard sadly never recovered and will probably need to be repainted.
On to Birthday #2!
My son is turning 5 and had requested a Spiderman birthday. Easy enough! This time instead of cupcakes, I chose a traditional cake since it's a smaller crowd. When it comes to cakes I tend to half-cheat. The cake comes from a box but the icing I make myself from an awesome recipe I got from a cake decorator friend of mine. I've used it for years and it hasn't failed yet.

I searched all over Pinterest for inspiration for the cake. I wanted to do blue instead of red, and would need a very smooth surface for the decorating. Now I could have gone off and used fondant. However a) I've never used fondant before and b) most people I talk to really dislike the taste or texture of fondant. And I really didn't want to venture into an entirely new icing medium without a little practice.

I had come across this method a while ago when looking for icing techniques for my baby girls birthday. I searched around a little more and found that the method was very similar across the board and the effect was lovely. I won't include a link since there are lots of tutorials and videos.
So I thought "what the heck". If it didn't work, I'd have a bumpy spiderman cake!

I baked two 9" round cakes and made a double batch of buttercream icing. I iced between the cakes, lopped off the top to make it flatter, and did a crumb coat. Then I used almost an entire container of blue food colouring to get the right 'Spiderman blue'. Next time I'd use the gels.

When using buttercream you need to make sure it's at the right temperature to manipulate. Too hot and it'll melt, too cold and it won't spread. Keep this in mind.

Sorry - no in progress pics. Between the icing and the food colouring, my hands and kitchen looked like I beat up a Smurf. 

After my crumb coat had set in the fridge, I did a rough icing around the cake. Use more icing then you think you'll need, you can always work it off later. I used a metal icing spatula to get the cake covered.

Now for the smooth finish. 
Keep very hot water and a clean paper towel near by your cake and icing bowl. The method I tried worked mostly like this:

- Run spatula under hot water for about 10 seconds (until metal becomes hot)
- Quickly wipe with clean paper towel to remove water
- Sweep the spatula over the icing. No need to push or dig the icing, your just smoothing it out, not pushing it around.
- Scrape excess icing off the spatula onto the bowl
- Repeat and continue working around your cake

It's a LOT of steps and extra work, and I found I had to reheat my spatula for every pass on the cake (I had to redo the spot on the right in the pic above) or it would mess it up. So keep your hot water tap running. But I think it turned out pretty well for the first time and it definitely worth the extra work if you want a smooth finish on your cake but don't want to use fondant. 

There is an additional step where you use a Viva paper towel and smooth the icing even further which I skipped. Because it HAS to be this specific brand and no other, and I had just bought a bunch of our regular kind, I passed on this step. But if I really wanted the 'fondant finish', I'd plan ahead and get some. 
I'm pretty impressed with myself and this method.

With the amount of work aside, this is a definite win!

Removing Chalkboard Marker - Fail

I haven't had a fail in a while, especially a DIY fail.

My baby girl turned one a little under a month ago, and for her birthday I made one of those chalkboard signs. I searched on Pinterest for inspiration and text examples and freehanded the full thing. And I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Hey look, I'm crafty!

Michaels was having a BOGO on chalkboards to I bought two, plus some regular chalk and chalkboard markers, which I used on the birthday sign. My plan was to reuse the large board and the markers for other events, like my son going to Kindergarten, Christmas, etc.

Now I fully admit this is partially on me. It could have been a) the markers I bought, even though the Michaels employee told me they were erasable b) the type of chalkboard I bought or c) the length of time I left the original art on the chalkboard. Which was almost a month. 
oops

At least I remembered to prime my chalkboard before I started.
With the first day of school around the corner, I wanted to get on my newest art project and redo the chalkboard for my son. This is the point where I realized that this stuff doesn't come off. It did wipe off with a wet cloth when I was making the chalkboard and made an error, but it's pretty set it now. 

So here is the methods I used to try to remove the chalkboard marker in levels of lack-of-success

Water and a damp cloth
Fail. Made no impact. Don't even bother.

Soap and hot water
See above. Just move right on.

Magic Eraser
Ok so these things are a-maze-ing. They'd clean just about everything and a few Pins said this would solve my chalkboard dilemma. On the plus side it did remove the majority of the marker, however it took almost the whole eraser and a LOT of elbow grease, and there is still a shadow left and even some marker.

Magic Eraser with Vinegar
Slight improvement from just the Magic Eraser with water, but not much.

Windex
Well I don't have Windex but I have window cleaner. I tried it and it didn't help.

So after trying ALL of these methods on my chalkboard I'm left with this.


Most of the colour is off, but the shadow is still there. And now it seems that the marker has actually REMOVED the chalkboard paint behind it, exposing the wood board. And it has also puckered in places, probably due to the amount of moisture.

The final product. You can still see a lot of the text, and the most visible parts are where the chalkboard paint has come off

So after a lot of work it looks ok. If I'm mindful of how I use it in future (using regular chalk from now on) I can hopefully cover most of the bad spots. Or I may just go get some chalkboard paint and repaint it. 

I'm glad the chalkboard was cheap.

So learn from me...IF you use Chalkboard Markers, they are NOT for porous surfaces. And if you do use them on standard chalkboard and want to reuse it, wipe off your projects asap or use vinyl chalkboard. Or just use regular chalk.

Blueberry Orange Oatmeal Muffins - Win

I do love my muffins!

Now that I'm back to shift work and the kiddos are in daycare, I actually get a bit of time to do some large batch cooking. This time was some home made granola bars and muffins. Instead of going to my usual apple muffins, I decided to try something new. Plus I had an orange sitting around that needed to be used.

This is yet another solid recipe from Damn Delicious. I only made two variations, - using vanilla greek yogurt instead of plain, and I omitted the vanilla extract (mostly cause I didn't have any) and using just regular sugar instead of Turbinado. Just as described these are a hearty and tasty muffin, and the smell simply delicious. I mean who doesn't love the smell of orange zest?

The batch whipped up quickly and the keep very well. The only difference is that the recipe states that it makes 11 muffins but I came out with 14. Maybe I just make mine a bit smaller, but keep that in mind when trying this one out.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast or snacks, and will definitely end up in our lunch bags as a tasty and healthy treat.

Enjoy!

Skinny Sofa Table - Win!

We are slowly turning our new house into a home. It seems like it will take forever, especially now since I'm back to work and 12 hour shifts put a damper on getting stuff done around the house. One week in and it looks like a dust bomb went off in here.

yeesh

Two of our newest acquisitions to our House to Home Project is a fridge and a pull out couch. The fridge was unplanned. The previous one was making horrible banging noises that were so loud my hubby thought someone was breaking into the house, while freezing half my food and rotting the rest. The POS had to go. 
The couch was a necessary purchase. This house is actually a bit of a downsize for us, going from four bedrooms to three, but since we live significantly closer to family now, having an extra bedroom for visits isn't necessary. But having a spare bed where family and friends can crash is always nice.
With the layout of our new living room being smallish and a bit awkward, we needed to get creative with tables and lighting.
Especially with the lighting, since we have no idea what the switch in the living room actually does.

I came across this Pin from Always Never Done while randomly searching for home inspiration. It was the perfect solution for our problem and really cute too! And all for $25!

Uh, yah. Until my hubby got a hold of the project.

He has inherited his father's ability to take a simple and inexpensive project and turn it into a bank breaking monstrosity. Ok, I'm exaggerating. A bit. When the men in his family do this to these previously simple projects, they do turn out well, and maybe better then the original plan.

So I showed this little table to my hubby and said "wouldn't this be great for behind our new couch?" He agreed, and ventured off one day to the local supply store. I'll spare the details, but way too much money later we have an awesome looking table. So this is more of an 'inspired' pin then one we he actually followed to the letter.

Please excuse my horrid walkway and garden. We're getting it replaced next month!

  























So the plan went off the rails in a few ways.
One - we got stair case spindles instead of legs.
Two - he added additional supports between all four legs so the wobbly concerns from the original pin are not a problem here.
Three - my hubby decided to do a double top where he could build the table then mount the finished top onto the table and not leave any holes or filled marks.
More complicated? Yes. Still looks good? Yes.

Painting the legs was an absolute pain. If you can get them pre-painted, do it. Or buy spray paint. Otherwise don't look to close at the table. We didn't worry too much since no one will really see the white parts. We also copped out on the stain and bought stain cloths. Worked like a charm! A quick coat of spray sealant for protection and it was done!

The whole table went together in an afternoon and was relatively easy according to my hubby, even with all his modifications. If you stuck to the original, it should be a breeze. With a few decorations and accessories, it's the perfect addition to our living room and doesn't take up a lot of space.

Oven Bacon - Win!

We have been doing Oven Bacon for so long that I totally forgot it was one of my original pins! I really can't believe it, it was such a good pin that it got integrated into our weekly lives so easily.

We have a tradition in our house that most Sundays my hubby cooks pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. The process used to take a ridiculous amount of time before a) we got a griddle and b) we discovered oven bacon. 

No more cooking in small batches and dealing with splatters or unevenly cooked bacon! Now your bacon can be cooked with minimal mess and ends up perfect every time!

The original pin was from Here. We've adjusted our method to baking at 425 because we like crispy bacon and it cuts on time a bit. Tinfoil is essential to minimize mess. This can easily be done on a standard cookie plan with a small edge, or anything you have that's similar. Cook time is 15-20 minutes depending on your temp, bacon thickness, and desired crispyness. I start checking it after about 10-12 minutes and monitor closely. 

Each piece is flat, crispy, and cooked evenly. 

Why didn't we think of this earlier!

mmm...now I want more bacon.

Enjoy!

Super Easy Pizza Dough - Win!

We had some visitors a few weeks ago and got an amazing housewarming present - a pizza stone!
Now I remember when I was a kid, you used to be able to buy uncooked pizza dough. We loved making pizzas, and the taste never compares to frozen or delivered. Sorry, Panago.
I've told myself for years "I have to make pizza dough" but I've never actually done it. Well, with our new fancy pizza stone, I finally have run out of excuses. PLUS it can go on the BBQ! Seriously, this thing is amazing.

The recipe from Mom's Need to Know was super easy to put together (hence the name) and makes four decent sized thin crust pizzas. If you want thicker crust or larger, split the dough in half instead of in four. Right off the bat I made 3 different pizzas using my stone on the BBQ, and froze the fourth bit of dough. I was cooking for 6 people so there are no pics. Sorry!
My second time was whipping up a pizza in the oven (it was raining) before soccer using the extra dough I had frozen before.

Yes, apparently there is still soccer games when you sink ankle deep into the field because it's so wet.
Good thing tomorrow is laundry day.

The dough comes together easily and is really tasty. It makes a perfect crust, not doughy or chewy, or over cooked. It's a really solid recipe. The recipe suggests flour on the pizza stone / pan which is highly recommended so it doesn't stick. Next time I may get cornmeal which may be a nice touch. I've even doubled this batch and it still worked great. It will be more work if you don't have a stand up mixer, and it'll need more time in the mixer if you do. It was also stickier then the first batch, but it worked out perfectly.

 

Making a well, as seen above, is the method used to mix the wet ingredients and the yeast. There are other methods around, but this worked fine for me.

Before and after rising of the double batch

Homemade pizza is awesome since you can pick and choose and make what ever you want. This is easily a recipe you can make, then bake a pizza for one or two people. We really enjoy it on the pizza stone, but any baking pan would do! Try and make your own pizza dough, you'll never go back to take out again!

Enjoy!

Easy Strawberry Shortcake - Win

It's Father's Day!

And what better gift to give the father of your kids then baked goods. A way to a man is through his stomach, right?
We're heading off to dinner with the inlaws this afternoon and each of the dad's got to pick a course. My husband got to pick desert (yippie!). And one of his all time favs is Strawberry Shortcake.

The timing is perfect for this recipe. Ontario strawberries are coming out and look fantastic, plus this gave me an excuse to pull out my big stand up mixer. I seriously debated pulling out my old recipe using bisquick and cool whip, but decided that a) an entire cake isn't that portable and b) after a recent family health scare, a slightly healthier version might be in order.

A quick search of Pinterest lead to this recipe from Just a Taste. Simple and easy, but looking tasty. Now for the waist-watchers, this recipe does call for heavy cream for the cakes. This could probably be replaces with milk, but I'm not too sure how it would turn out. Also this recipe is egg free, and can easily be made sugar free as well.

The dough is super simple, but REALLY sticky. I have no pictures of the pre-baked dough because it was everywhere! I tried not to over work it, but ended up having to put it all back in the bowl and re-flour my work board and rolling pin. And my rolling pin did jack all. It just kept sticking to the dough. SO learn from my mistakes! Be generous with the flour on your working surface, and butter your hands. I also just used my hands to flatten out the dough instead of my rolling pin, it was much faster. 
After baking the cakes for 15 minutes they came out light and brown and lovely.

I eliminated most of the sugar in the entire recipe, opting for a tiny bit of regular on the scones, in the strawberries, and in the whipped cream. You could really do this to taste, but for health reasons I decided to heavily reduce it. 

One of the best things is I could pre-make everything and assemble it later. It's really easy to transport this way as well.

Don't they look lovely??

Now because I eliminated the sugar they were not sweet at all, which is something that might not be everyones taste. The shortcakes were a bit heavy, but it worked perfectly with a lot of strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

Overall, a perfectly easy summer desert!

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta - Win!

Yet another winner from Damn Delicious! Seriously, this girl has a lot of solid recipes.

As the move-in-chaos settles down I'm slowly getting back into cooking. But I'm also very quickly getting uninspired and bored of my recipes. Maybe it's because I have a really bad desire to reno my kitchen, I'm not sure. So once again Pinterest came to save the dinner!

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta.

Seriously some of my favourite words in this recipe, one pot, garlic, and pasta. Can't go wrong here! And when I asked my hubby after a few bites what he thought, and the response was "Can't talk - Devouring", I figured this is a good one. The recipe is super easy and involves your every day ingredients. And as advertised, it's an under 30 minute dinner.

I personally had a few hiccups, but that could be because I'm still working out the kinks in my new stove (medium heat is hot, and high heat is 'better call the pizza guy, Mommy just burnt dinner'). Mainly my pot ran out of liquid and I ended up adding about one additional cup of milk while cooking. This could be because a) too much heat or b) too much pasta. SO next time I'll start with a bit more liquid and go from there.

Also, when it says stir...STIR! I had to whip out my wooden spatula and scrape the bottom a few times to keep the pasta from sticking.

I used 1% milk, spaghetti instead of fettuccine, and added a pinch of thyme, and the recipe was amazing. 

Now the pasta alone is obviously vegetarian. It can be served as a side, or you could amp it up with some meat and or veggies and make it a full meal. This time I used grilled chicken and broccoli and it was perfect. Even my son, who has been refusing any dinner that isn't PB&J for about a week, devoured it. The possibilities are endless! Broccoli, asparagus, peas, bean, or even wilt some spinach in there and it would be a lovely addition. And chicken, shrimp, salmon, or lobster if you want to go decadent, for proteins. This can easily go from one pot side to a full balanced meal with a couple additions and still remain an easy week night meal. 

My hubby wanted to lick the bowl. Really. Not kidding. 

This recipe will definitely be in our regular rotation. Check it out for something a little different!

Enjoy!

No Egg Cookie Dough - Win

Oh yet another dessert post. But come on, who doesn't love cookie dough? And here you have the perfect chance to enjoy your raw cookie dough without that pesky salmonella!
Cookie dough without eggs. And yes, it does work. It's really quick to put together and is all from stuff most people have in their pantry.

This tasty treat from Family Fresh Meals is super simple. It's suppose to be for two, but *ahem* you might not want to share. My only note is I found it a tad flour-y, but a touch more vanilla to moisten the mixture and a really good stir should do the trick. 

You could use any type of chocolate chip you want. I used regular and white chocolate, but a peanut butter or butterscotch would be awesome too. Get creative!

Command Center - Pinterest Inspired Win!

WE MOVED!

Oh how I hate moving. 
Really REALLY hate moving.

So we're finally settled into our new home and are slowly making it our own. It's difficult, especially because before we took possession we had never been inside our new home. A risk of moving across the country is buying a house sight unseen, and well...that was us. But we have lucked out and landed a lovely home. Sadly, this one as a much smaller kitchen and no desk space. As I type I'm using a small couch table as my desk and typing on my lap while sitting on a stool. This also means that all of our mail, cellphones, and other stuff end up in the already packed kitchen. 
Luckily Pinterest is FULL of organization inspiration. I decided on going for a 'command centre' style area since it was the best option for what we needed and it was something I could throw together quickly. It seriously took me 2 days of crafting and shopping and it's done. And the whole thing cost about $100 total!

How to make a command centre?

Pick an area - We chose the hallway leading to the kitchen. It was preferable over the front door since we don't have much of an entry way and it's accessible by all three doors into the house. 

Get an idea - figure out what you need. I needed a space for my son's homework, our mail and other papers, plus a calendar, and a spot for notes and random papers. Figure out your basics and go from there

Get crafty - I enjoyed this part! I got a large letter from Michaels and painted it. I was originally thinking chevrons, but I found stencils in my scrapbook box and used those instead. I also used the scrapbook paper I had stashed away too. 
I dug into my online stash of printables and framed up some of my kid's art work to add a personal touch. 

In addition to my mail slots, I have my calendar which I can fill in every month using dry erase markers, my weekly menu planner, our cleaning schedule, a magnet board, and buckets for the markers, phones and sunglasses, and hooks for backpacks and jackets.

Most of my inspiration for the heart of my command centre came from here at Girl Loves Glam. There are some great ideas and it's very simple. 
The calendar is a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper with a calendar drawn directly on it with sharpie. I then placed it in a cheap glass picture frame from Michaels. This allows me to change it each month and keep things up to date. The cleaning schedule and menu were also taken from Girl Loves Glam, but I modified them for our own needs. Again, both are on scrapbook paper. Note to self - don't put glitter paper through the printer.
Live and learn.
This is just an early draft. As we update our new home and paint, or as our needs change, I can change out the scrapbook sheets easily. It only took me a few hours to make up everything.

I hope this helps give you some ideas for your own command centre and help you realize it's not as hard as you may think!

Happy Crafting!