Eating well

For June, Kelsey and I have pledged to lose weight and get healthy (we have some specific goals). I've been doing this since January but have hit a plateau so I need to step it up. As a result, our dinners are not terribly fascinating, but there are still delicious so I thought I would share tonight's healthy dinner:

-Grilled veggies (done on the barbecue)
-salad (always and delicious)
-barbecued chicken with an avocado and tomato salsa on top (avocado, tomato, lemon juice and cilantro)
-my boys also had homemade tzatzki and whole wheat pita (I am abstaining from carbs at dinner)

Delicious, healthy, low calorie and low carb. Perfect.

Why do I enjoy making bags so much!?

Probably cause they're fast and satisfying.

Apple Tree
Jordan's teacher might get this one.

Brown Cord Sac

What next?

Barbecue and Corn

 Another dinner worthy of sharing.

I marinated prawns in lime juice, cilantro and peanuts then barbecued them.

I also roasted veggies again (apparently I'm in love with roasted veggies).

Warning: fried food ahead.

I made corn fritters. So yummy. 3 cups frozen corn, 2 eggs, about 1/3 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of cornmeal, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and salt and pepper. Dropped into some hot oil and perfection.

I always follow directions the first time I make something but next time I'm going to try to cook these without the oil (either bake them or just in a non-stick).

I served it all together with some homemade chipotle mayo for some added spice.

A Birthday Blanket

It was my mother in law's birthday recently. Along with a kid made stepping stone for the garden, I made her this rag blanket. I took the kids to Fabricland with me (I know, crazy...) so they could help pick out some of the fabrics. Can you tell? Some of the patches are from the receiving blankets that she made for my kids. All of my babies have been wrapped in them. The receiving blankets are still big enough to use for another baby! When I'm done swaddling all my little ones, I'll make myself a similar blanket and even incorporate some of their t-shirts. Rag blankets are the best. Super cozy and warm.

Spring Dinner

 Tonight's dinner was roasted veggies - done in a basket on the barbecue. Just lightly tossed in olive oil before roasting them.

Delicious.

 Fresh from the oven foccacia bread. I used this recipe but substituted half the flour with whole wheat flour.

Again, delicious.

I served it all together with some chicken and salad (the chicken was left over, reheated and tossed in barbecue sauce then served on top of the salad).

Perfection and everyone loved it.

Another awesome bag

 I combined the fun felt flowers with a lined tote bag and came up with this. So cute.

 Close up of the flower and applique.

And again, I found bright, obnoxious fabric for the liner.

This is a basic tote bag (see posts below for more info) with the added felt flower (also see post below).

Dress for a little princess

 One of my little princesses turned 1 this month so I made her a little dress.

 I added a little heart applique

And lined it with the best grandma floral fabric I could find.

I used this tutorial to make the dress.

So cute.

Taco Tuesdays

Every Tuesday we have tacos. My boys love them and they're easy and it's one less meal I have to plan or think about. What our tacos look like varies from week to week.

This week was homemade tortillas. I just bought a tortilla press (see the first picture) and so we made corn tortillas and then we stuffed them with chicken, corn and black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole and salsa. My family is off dairy for the moment so we without cheese. But we didn't miss it. It was a perfect meal and the kids ate everything. So delicious.

 (the press is from Epicure, the recipe is masa harina - corn flour - with water. so super easy.)

Headbands and hair clips

I made a couple extra mother's day gifts for some friends. Lovely felt flowers on headbands and hair clips

I stole the idea from two different sites:
Mrs. Priss 
Oh My Handmade Goodness

 I won't even begin to explain how I made them, just check out the awesome tutorials above. I adapted them by using the base layer from Oh My Handmade Goodness and adding a second layer like on Mrs. Priss.

 I glued and sewed to make them durable and then added a lovely button. The blue flower is on a headband.

(this is my youngest son, modeling the hairband for you)

The pink flower is on a hair clip

Shorts

Old jersey bed sheet + scissors, elastic and thread = new shorts.

Diaper Pouch

I needed something to throw a couple of cloth diapers and a pack of wipes into. Something I could just leave in my van. Currently, we're using some ugly, ripped, plastic thing. Not cool. With some of the scraps from the bag of scraps I found at a quilting shop yesterday, I threw this together. Simple, not to big, small Velcro closure on top, loop handle. Perfect. I'm looking forward to doing something else with these scraps in kinda the same way. Maybe an "I Spy" blanket or something. There are lots more prints in my bag of scraps, but I was tired of cutting, so I just started sewing.

Waste not, want not

Kay, I think I've got a few pretty sweet tips here....or maybe everyone already does these and I just think I'm something special? I'm hoping for lots of comments on what you do to save your pennies. I love a deal. I love feeling like I got something for free or cheap. I love using scraps or what could have been tossed in the trash, to make something new and awesome.

I'm new at this and still looking for super great ideas. (Apparently I only realized recently that...well, um...I'm broke!) Haha! Not really, but I do need to tighten the reigns and be careful. There are a lot of mouths to feed around here!

Tip #1: CRUSTS!!

My kids won't eat 'em. I've tried to force it. It's not worth the battle. My Papa always used to say that it'd put hair on my chest. Not sure how that was supposed to make me actually want to eat them. Anyway, I hate throwing them out and the thought of me having a plate of crusts for lunch isn't too appealing. Yes, you could save them for bread pudding (ew) or croutons, that's good idea....but what if they already have PB&J on them!? I found these totally awesome sandwich cutters. We have dinos and a train one. They cut the sandwich in half, cut the crusts off and make fun shapes which is always helpful for the actual consumption of lunch.

So after preparing 2 or 3 PB&J's, I have a pile of crusts. I chop 'em up into cubes and throw them into a bowl with 2 beaten eggs and a bit of milk.

Mix it up, let it sit for a couple of minutes....

....plomp it into a hot pan, fry it up...flip...Mmmmmm

Peanut Butter and Jam french toast!!

Or, you could just throw all the crusts in the garbage...whatever...But my idea's better, just sayin'.

Tip #2: CEREAL DUST!!

You know what I'm talking about. All the crumbs and dust at the bottom of the cereal bag - or the bottom of the Tupperware modular mate at our house. All that dust used to be perfect little pieces of crunchy cereal! Poor little Cheerios aren't so cheery anymore...helpless little Mini Wheat squares are square no more - or are they rectangle. Anyway, don't throw them out! Give them new life!!

Here's what I do:

Muffins are a daily thing in our house. Seriously, I make a tray of mini muffins almost every afternoon and they're gone by bed time.

My basic recipe is:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups slow cooking oats

4 tsp baking powder (Um..costco!! 2 for the price of 1 at the grocery store)

1 1/4 cups milk (I use powdered milk [to save $!] in most of my baking)

1 egg

1/2 cup not firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

unmeasured amount of cereal dust

If I feel like adding something extra I add:

Chocolate chips or

mushed banana or

cinnamon or

frozen berries or?...

I don't really have much of a method....just throw everything in the mixer and turn it on. (My Grandma is gasping in horror.)

Then I bake at 375F for about 15 mins or till golden and beautiful.

Sometimes, when the kids say, "Mom, can you make a cake?", I throw this same recipe into a 9x13 instead of muffin tins and just bake a little longer.









Tip #3: FREEZE IT

Kay so I guess this one isn't about not wasting...it's about saving.
To save a few bucks (doesn't take long to add up) I buy huge cans at Costco instead of a bunch of little cans from the grocery store and freeze. I can usually get a case of 12 small cans for about $13...or I can get a giant can for $3.49...that works out to be about 6-ish cans. When the tomatoes are frozen, I pop them out of my containers and store in a Ziploc freezer bag. I do this with diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes and pineapple.

More tips to come....Can't wait to read yours!!

Mother's Day gifts

 For mother's day I made my mom, grandma and mother-in-law book tote bags.

Most of the fabric used is vintage/used or found. The appliques are made with fun spring fabrics. And each one has random buttons on it. So cute. So simple.



Flowers.

Songbird

Owl

Mother's Day

I made bags for the moms in my life, just like Sara. Surprised? We found this fun fabric in the clearance section. The outside of these bags are thrift store fabric. A giant piece, maybe 2 meters, for 50 cents. Yup! What a deal. I've got tons left. The handles are that cotton stuff that some belts are made of. 50 cents a meter, I think. So dang easy and looks great. The bags are almost the same. Different pictures and different lining. Very cute. The mom's loved them. Inside I put bright yellow tulips from our garden. Awesome bag tutorial here.

Look! Breakfast in bed! Matthew spread the jam by himself. So cute. After church, all my boys took me for sushi (my fav) for mother's day lunch. Hubby's parents and my mom were there too. After lunch, I spend a lovey 3 hrs downtown with Sara. Just walking around and popping into fun stores that we'd never get to visit with our kids in tow. We visited a quilting shop that I'd never been to and I bought a big bag of novelty fabric scraps for $10. Can't wait to see what I'll create with those.

Happy Mother's Day!

We're trying a "Container Garden" this year

Isn't it miraculous how one tiny little seed can produce enough vegetables to feed your family for several meals!? (~That is if you know what the heck you're doing~)

Our garden last year was sad. Really really sad. I think we ate 2 cucumbers, a bit of broccoli, one night's worth of cauliflower and a whole lot of lettuce. This year, I'm changing things up. I'm going to try a Container Garden on my deck and I'm super excited about it!

I want to grow our food for a few reasons.

I want to:

1. feed my family healthy organic produce
2. start a new hobby
3. teach my children how God makes things grow
4. burn 150-250 calories per hour while gardening - lol
5. have the satisfying feeling of, "I made this!"
and
6. $ave money!!

Because one of my reasons for growing food is to save money, I'd like to put as little out in the first place to get started. Of course I'll need to buy seeds and good soil, but I also need pots...and lots of them! I rummaged through my house to see what I could find.

Here they are - just waiting to be filled with nutrient rich soil and FOOD!
That'd be a kids water table in the corner, a few old Rubbermaid's from the garage and yup! a baby bathtub!
I drilled holes in the bottom of everything for drainage. I have a few more pots in the front of the house that I'm going to move to the back and a couple more big Rubbermaid's to add.
I'll post a new pic when everything is filled with dirt and looking pretty.
Hopefully, in a couple months, I'll have an awesome pic to post of everything overflowing with big bushy leaves and brightly coloured veggies! Mmmm!

I'm attempting to grow:
-cucumbers
-tomatoes
-broccoli
-cauliflower
-green peppers
-zucchini
-carrots
-spinach
-lettuce

A bit ambitious? Maybe....Wish me luck!

Spanish Rice

So...while on the phone with Sara this afternoon, I said, "What should I make for dinner?" As per usual, whatever she says next, provides me with the inspiration I need. She told me about the chicken enchiladas she was making and I decided to do the same! (shocker...)

I don't know about you, but often, I start cooking one thing and it ends up different than planned. Tonight's dinner wasn't too much different, but I did change my mind part way through cooking. I went with Spanish Rice. I do this a lot. It's easy, fast, yummy, filling, healthy, cheap and BIG!

Spanish Rice
(Huge - for the many eaters in my home and/or leftovers)

-2 cups uncooked brown rice (I have a rice cooker and couldn't live without it)
-2-3 large chicken breasts
-1 large onion, chopped small
-1 green pepper, chopped small
-2 stalks celery, chopped small
-1.5 cups mushrooms, halved then sliced
-1 large tomato, chopped small (or canned diced tomatoes)
-1 cup canned crushed tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
-1 cup corn
-1.5 cups grated cheddar cheese
-olive oil for frying
-taco seasoning (Epicure's my fav - have you looked at the sodium content in grocery store seasoning? ew)

1. Put your rice on - in rice cooker or stove

2. Cook chicken in a bit of hot olive oil in fry pan - I put breasts in pan still partially frozen, fry for a bit, remove, chop into bite size pieces, return to pan, fry till done. - I like to kinda mush up (that sounds gross) break up the bite sized pieces into more of a "ground" chicken, for my Spanish rice.

3. fry onion, mush, green pep and celery (separate from chicken) in hot olive oil till soft

4. add corn, all tomato and taco seasoning

5. when rice and chicken are cooked, add them to the veggies

6. add cheese, mix it all up - Serve!

Enchiladas - Cinqo de mayo

So in celebration of cinqo de mayo in a couple of days and because my family loves Mexican food, we had enchiladas tonight. I was making dinner for another family as well so it was a great dinner to make a double batch of to deliver to our friends.

Mexican is often our favourite meal around here because you can pretty much throw anything in and tonight was no exception.

 I put a ton of veggies in so there is corn, red and orange peppers, onions, black beans. I also sometimes add mushrooms, tomatoes, really anything that I've got.

I cooked up some diced chicken first. Then added all the veggies and sauteed them until just soft. I added taco seasoning (Epicure is my favourite).

 I also cooked up some brown rice using salsa and water to cook it in for some extra flavour. (I usually use about half a cup of salsa, 1 1/2 cups of water to 1 cup of brown rice).

 I added the rice to the meat and veggies in the pan and cooked for another minute till all the flavours were all yummy together.

I used whole wheat tortilla shells and put some of the chicken, veggie, rice mixture in a tortilla with some fresh chopped cilantro and cheese and then rolled them and laid them in a baking pan.

After all the enchiladas were rolled I put some diced tomatoes with a little taco seasoning added on top with some more cheese and then baked, uncovered, at 350 for about 25 minutes or till just browning up.

 I served them with sour cream, peach salsa and homemade guacamole.

For some extra veggies I served the enchiladas with a simple salad.

Such a delicious dinner. My kids even ate it with minimal complaining. They like it best when the tortillas are crispy on the edges, then it feels like they're eating chips. I made it earlier in the day and then reheated it in the oven for 10 minutes before serving.