Finished Projects

A photo quilt for a friend

New jammies for my princessAnd a close-up of the applique I added to her birthday outfit

5 Dollar Dinners

I have always loved the idea of having a meal plan based on the sale items at the grocery store. It's just the taking time to implement it part that always gets me. Just not motivated enough. Well, this website has some (over 200!) great recipes that all total under $5 per meal. They include a protein, a starch, and a vegetable. The author of this site goes through her grocery store ads each week and bases meals on the deals. Awesome. I'm looking forward to trying them out. Hope you enjoy!

Birthday Decorations

In addition to saving our babyfood jars, I had also saved the empty formula canisters. I originally planned to cover them with Christmas-themed scrapbooking paper to deliver all of our Christmas cookies in last year. I underestimated the job with a 7-month-old, however, so I still had them. I decided to use them for the centerpieces for Hannah's party instead. I just peeled off the label, filled them halfway with rocks, cut a circle of styrafoam for the inside top, and wrapped them with tissue paper
then with polka-dotted celophane.
I tied a giant tulle bow around each canister. Then I printed LOTS of black-and-white pictures of Hannah's first year, mounted them to textured cardstock, and glued them to dowel rods. I stuck the dowels into the styrafoam at different heights for a fun, memory-filled centerpiece.

Birthday Party Favors

I had saved the jars of baby food that we've used over the course of the past 6 months or so and really wanted to be able to use them for the party somehow. Each time we would empty a jar, I would run it through the dishwasher after removing the label, so they were all clean. I spray-painted the tops white, glued a label on the top (made in Scrapblog), and filled it with half wildflower seeds and half potting soil (idea courtesy of my sister, Amy). I tied them up with a bow and piled them in a basket with a sign that read,
"Thank you for helping to plant the seeds of love, family, and friendship in Hannah's first year. Please spread these seeds in a sunny spot to remind you of the blessing you have been in our lives."

Easy, unique, and precious, I think.

Open-Faced Sandwich

Need a reason to use your broiler? I've been making this sandwich for days now, and I can't get enough of them. The clean-up is non-existant, and they're quick and easy.

All I did was to cut a thick slice of whole-wheat focaccia bread from Great Harvest Bread Company, drizzle it with olive oil, add a couple of slices of deli turkey, and top with grated mozzarella cheese. I put it on the center rack in the oven set to broil for 5 minutes, and it comes out perfect. I use aluminum foil instead of a pan so I don't have anything to wash. Yum!

Great Resource

A couple days ago I saw a link to this parenting website on a blog I read. I thought I'd share it with you!

For those who are unaware, I taught pre-K for four years before I entered the corporate world then, ultimately became a stay-at-home mom. During my teaching years everything was very structured and planned out, obviously. But sometimes I get caught in a rut and find myself doing the same thing every day with my daughter. This website allows you to enter your child(ren)'s age(s) and e-mails age-appropriate activities you can do together as often as you'd like. I signed up for Monday-Friday. It's free, and the activities are easy and require very little prep. They also talk about which senses and skills the activities promote. Today's activity for Miss Priss is bubble popping. They even included a little song to sing while popping the bubbles. This is right up my alley, and I hope you find it helpful too!

Easy and Delicious Rotisserie-Tasting Chicken

I found this recipe awhile back and got a chance to test it out a few weeks ago. I've already made three chickens using this method because they are simply delicious. It's the kind of recipe that is so incredibly simple and turns out to taste like you slaved away. It takes a long time to cook, but it is well worth the wait. Plus, since it cooks at such a low temperature, you can run a quick errand if need be while it's in the oven.

Rotisserie-Style Oven-Baked Chicken

1 4-5 lb. fresh whole chicken

1 onion

roughly a 1/3 cup total of spices, herbs, and seasonings including at least 4 teaspoons of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Rinse a fresh chicken (make sure to removed the bag of the heart and gizzards if applicable), and pat dry inside and out. Place on the rack of a roasting pan. I have always cooked mine breast-side down, but you can do whatever you prefer. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl combine 4 teaspoons salt with any other spices, herbs, and seasonings you have on hand to total around 1/3 cup. I use dried thyme, seasoning salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, freshly-ground black pepper, and paprika. But you can do whatever sounds good or whatever you have on hand.

Remove the peel from the onion. Then sprinkle the seasoning mixture evenly over the entire outside and inside of the chicken. Rub it in to make sure it covers every nook and crannie. Then stuff the onion into the bird. Place back on the roasting rack, and bake, uncovered for 4-5 hours. You want the inside temperature to be around 170-180. When the chicken is done, take it out of the oven and let it rest for at least 20 minutes before carving to allow the juices to redistribute.

We used to buy the rotisserie chicken from the grocery store all the time - probably once a week. This chicken is so much better. Even though it takes a long time to cook, it is very, very simple to do and requires absolutely no attention once it's in the oven. Easy, easy. If you want, you can baste the chicken starting about 3 hours after it's been in the oven. The last one I made (for Easter) I added 1/4 stick of melted butter 3 hours into cooking. I then basted it every 30 minutes or so until it was done. The butter just makes the chicken golden brown and the skin extra crispy. Hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know if you try it.

Birthday Decorations

Obviously I love making things, and I made almost everything for my daughter's first birthday party. I got some amazing ideas from friends and family, and I had to share. I'll be doing a series of posts sharing some of my favorite things here and there. I hope these are helpful!

We had the party at a pavilion at a local park. I made these tissue paper balls to use as a sort of chandelier to hang in the center of the pavilion from eye hooks.

First step: Cut pieces of tissue paper into squares of any size. These are around 5 inches, but I did 3 inches all the way to 24 inches. I used about 14-20 squares for each ball. The smaller balls require fewer squares to make them look full.
Step Two: Stack all of the cut squares, then accordian-fold them as you would a paper fan.

Step Three: Fasten the center of the folded squares. You can use twisted wire, paper clips, staples, yarn, etc.

Step Four: Cut the ends into any shape you desire. You can round the corners, cut them into points, punch holes with a hole punch, etc.

Step Five: Carefully unfold and separate the layers of squares on either side of the center fastener.Last: Fluff the paper until it forms balls like these. To hang, tie fishing line, tulle, or string to the paper clips, and hang at varying heights.