Vacation

Ahhhh.

So this is what summer is all about....the big girls are playing outside happily,  the littlest one is taking a long nap and I am relaxing in the peace and quiet.

Nothing to worry about, nothing to do, it's perfect.

Hope your summer is just as wonderful!

Best & Easiest "Homemade" Chunky Salsa

Today I'm sharing with you my favorite chunky salsa recipe!  This has got to be the easiest thing to make, but it still appears homemade, so others will think you slaved away all morning cutting up tomatoes and such....but really this took you two minutes. This is just so simple, I don't know why I had never thought of or heard of it before.

Easy "Homemade" Chunky Salsa

Ingredients:
Your favorite jar of salsa
Avocado
Lime juice (to taste)

Put salsa in a bowl.
Slice the avocado lengthwise around and scoop out the goodness into the bowl with the salsa.
Mash with a fork. Add a splash of lime juice.
Eat!

So easy and delicious! You could also try adding black beans or more peppers too, whatever you'd like to make the salsa your own.  Your guests will love it! (if you save them any!)

~ Patricia

Anchors Away!

Have you been seeing all the cute anchor clothing on Pinterest lately? (Check out my board for some ideas!) click here!

Anytime I'm in Target, I always check for cheap plain T-shirts, so that I can embellish them. I decided to do a freezer paper stencil of an anchor on a shirt for my youngest daughter C, who is 18 months.

I found an image of an anchor I liked on the internet, printed it out, blew it up to the size I wanted, then cut it out, traced it on the freezer paper, then cut out the image again, ironed it on, painted over it all, let it dry, ironed over it all again and then voila! A cute anchor t-shirt!

Don't forget to put a piece of freezer paper as a barrier between the front and back of the shirt as well, or your project may not turn out. :) For a more in-depth look at freezer paper stencils, check out this post here.

Have fun and create something!

-patricia

Easter/ spring shirt

Does anyone else do this? It's the day before a holiday, probably at night, when you realize...Hey! There are soooo many cute things on Pinterest that I could've made for my kid to wear/do/eat this holiday...I better get started!

Guess there's no time like the present!!

This is exactly the thought I had last night after the kids went to bed. I happened to have one solid color T-shirt in C's size, so I looked frantically around at my pins to see what I could whip up in an hour or two.

I found this adorable t-shirt on Etsy, and I decided to make just the bird portion of it, mostly because C has a long name, and I didn't feel like being up all night. :)

I had all of these fabrics in my scrap pile, and since I already had the shirt, it cost me nothing! I used an iron-on stabalizer to firm up the shirt, and Heat-n-bond to put the fabrics in place.  I then just sewed around the fabric, instead of doing a true applique; this saved time and will fray the fabric up a bit after washing, hopefully giving it some nice texture.

Scroll down for some photos. I even had time to make some cute hair clips for her (which of course I forgot to put in her hair this morning). I already had the ribbons curled for it, so that was a time-saver too.

Happy Easter and spring to everyone!

Valentine's Day Craft for Kids (Door Hangers)

Any  frugal moms out there?

Will the frugal moms in the audience please raise their hands?

Glad I'm not alone! :)

Today the kids and I did some fun Valentine's crafts, but the best, best part of this door hanger craft is that the whole project came from a kit I bought last Valentine's Day at Target, when it was 75% off.  Score!!  That's right, I've been holding on to this bad boy for a whole year, and I'm not ashamed. You know why?

My kids loved it!  Specifically, my 6 year old loved it.  She spent over an hour making all these door hangers for herself, her sisters, me, my husband, her Grandma and Grandpa, everyone she knows!  It was super cute!

Check out some photos:

Cute, huh?  I also had some stickers and glitter foam paper that she used too. I think I bought a pack of foam stickers like 5 years ago, and we still have them. Use 'em up kids!  

Now are your ready for the tearjerker part?  My 6 year old did this whole project herself. By herself.  She didn't need me to glue anything. She didn't need me to cut anything. She didn't ask me to peel stickers or how to use the paper hole puncher or twist the pipe cleaners.  She did it all herself. (Picture sobbing mommy here--my little baby girl is growing up!)  And really, she was so proud of herself.  She wanted to mail them off to Grandma and Grandpa right away, and she hung everyone's up on their door too. What a sweetheart!  And because she did such a great job by herself, I was able to help my 3 year old as well as keep the 1 year old out of everyone's projects! 

So if you are at Target after Valentine's Day this year....you'd better beat me to the 75% or more off aisle! Because I scoop things up!  I seriously find the best things after Valentine's Day. One year I bought all of the favors for my daughter's birthday on Valentine's clearance. I got some cute necklaces, rings, pencils, tattoos and clear favor bags....all 75% or more off!  This girl loves a deal, can you tell?  Another tip: look for things that aren't specific to Valentine's Day.  Those tattoos I found were jungle animals, so you can use them for birthday favors or in Easter eggs or in July when the kids are bored and looking for something to do. Think of the possibilities!  You just need some space to store the crafts, maybe under a bed or in a closet, they don't require that much room and the cost savings is totally worth it! 

The best part is that you'll spend a super fun time with your kids, creating with them--guaranteed to put everyone in a good mood! What are you waiting for?

~Patricia

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The Egg Experiment

A facebook friend of mine was having trouble making hard boiled eggs, which I have to admit, I've had trouble making too.  (I like to call them "Hard cooked" instead of "hard boiled.")  Then I found this recipe, and they've turned out great every time.

A handy little fridge magnet I got at the MN State Fair, probably 10 years ago!

So I'm pretty sure I almost fell off my chair when I heard that you can actually bake eggs to make them hard-cooked.

What?!?!  You can bake eggs in the oven instead of hard-boiling them on the stove??  Sounds wonderful! Purportedly, the results would be the same, but even better!! I'm not sure how hard-boiled eggs can get better, but I was willing to give it a try. People also said that the shells would just slide off; now that is something I'd love!

I used this recipe: Bake eggs for 30 min at 325 degrees. I put each egg in a muffin tin and then popped it in the oven and waited.

This is how it turned out after peeling:

Ummm. What is that?!  Why are there brown spots on my eggs?  When I cracked them, the shells did not come off as easily as everyone had said and there was like a little wetness in the bottom of the egg, like there was this little space between the egg and the shell and there was "water" in it. It was weird. Very weird.

My 3 year old, who loves to peel hard-cooked eggs wouldn't touch them. At. all.  

So, although they tasted fine and were a lot easier, I think I'll be sticking to my tried and true method of hard boiling them on the stove.

I think I'll go make some right now!

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Mashed Potato Trick

If your kids love mashed potatoes, but you're tired of peeling all of them (like me), check out this video on a quick way to peel your potatoes:

Looks too easy, right? Boil your potatoes through, pop them in ice water for 10 seconds, then twist the peel off. It can't be that easy, can it? Well, guess what? It is! I tried this last night, and it totally worked. And really, you are just getting the potatoes cold enough to handle by putting them in the ice bath, they are definately still hot enough to eat.  Check out my pictures below!

The one caveat that I see is that the video suggests using russet potatoes, and I usually like to make my mashed potatoes with Yukon golds, so I'll have to try this with the Yukons and let you know how it goes. The other thing to remember is that you have to cook them through, which I didn't and then had lumpy potatoes.

The other thing you might be asking is "Why are your potatoes yellow ?" Well, my husband is on a tumeric kick, which is an awesome spice with a ton of health benefits. We put it in everything, which includes the mashed potatoes, and it makes them extra yummy! Try it!

This is all the skins from the 5 potatoes!

Mmmmmm, so good!