Lined Bottoms and Other Chair Tales

 I’m slowly starting to figure out how to work on some crafty projects again. It requires a bit of juggling around nursing sessions, diapers and naptimes, but the reward is huge. When I complete a project (or even cook dinner for that matter!)I feel like I am starting to figure this whole mom-life thing out. So I spend a lot of nursing sessions figuring out how to break projects down into fifteen minute blocks because that’s the length of time Javi can play on his own right now.

The lining on this blue chair has been ripped out since the day we moved in. (the previous owners left it here, and then I serendipitously found its match at a garage sale almost two years later!) When I say ripped out, I mean only tiny amounts left, and those were in shreds.

Considering the velvet was covered in cat hair, I can deduce without much detective work that this chair was a favorite hangout for a former feline resident.
The last little shreds hung down on the sides of the chair as you can see below, and it drove me batty. But obviously not batty enough to do anything about it for about for four years. :-) 

In my purging, cleaning and organizing, I found a length of black fabric left over from making the bed skirt in the guest room. It was the perfect weight to use as a new chair bottom lining. Lined bottoms are always better, wouldn’t you agree? :-)

Fifteen minutes later, after a date with scissors and a staple gun, the chair’s innards were neatly covered up by the lining once again, and I was a happy camper. Lined bottom, project completed, and the baby was still happily swinging away. It was a good day!

The Dancing Flower

 I came across this adorable little plastic flower at the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago. It’s a solar powered dancing flower that brings a smile to my face every time I walk into the kitchen and see it nestled in the corner of the window, happily bobbing side to side. It is such a simple little thing, but it reminds me to smile and soak up the sunshine every chance I get. God has really been teaching me the importance of living each day with joy – a cheerful disposition, an “I can do this” attitude, and gratitude that I am surrounded with so many blessings. It’s quite a lesson to learn from a little plastic flower!

Of course, as I mentioned, it’s solar powered, so there are days when there just isn’t enough sun to power the flower. Which is why, one day when Lover came home from work, I mentioned to him sadly,

“my flower didn’t dance today”

He just looked at me for a minute, a puzzled look on his face. I recognized the look as the one he’s sported quite a bit since I gave birth, something akin to “she’s having a bad day, and I am not sure what to do.” I was quick to assure him that this was not some obscure reference to my fragile emotional state, it was just a factual observation. There was no sun, so my flower did not dance.
So ladies, the next time you are feeling a bit hormonal, be sure to tell your husbands that your flower did not dance. And then have fun watching them try to decode that cryptic saying. You can tell them I made you do it. :-) 

Fort in a Box

 

One of our nephews had a birthday last month and I was inspired to create a fun little gift that would not add more toy clutter to my sister in law’s house, and would require a little imagination to play with as well.
Since having Javi I am even more aware of how easy it is to buy meaningless junk that will quickly fill up our home, and I am more determined than ever to not have this happen. This in turn is also making me a more sensitive gift giver – I am trying to not clutter up other people’s homes as well!

So for this cute little nephew, turning eight in 2012, I decided to give him a fort in a box. My brothers and I had so much fun building forts when we were little. I’ve even been known to create one or two since reaching “adulthood”. Whatever that is. One of my favorite quotes is:

“We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”

So yes, I still make forts. And now Sam can make one too! Included in the kit was a large bedsheet, lots of clothespins, a spool of rope, a flashlight (because what fun is a fort without a flashlight?), glowsticks and an army flag.

The flag really made the whole kit. I found it at a Goodwill for a couple of dollars. It was some kind of commemorative flag from Operation Iraqi Freedom, and had a map and all of the military seals on it. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

I boxed the whole thing up in a photo box, wrapped in fun “happy birthday” paper. Sam loved it, and it made me excited for the days when Javi and I will be making our own forts!

No Bake Nutella Cheesecake

 

I've been challenging myself to try new recipes lately, and pinterest has been a great help with that challenge. I'm only just starting to learn to like cooking, up until I got pregnant it was always just a chore. Then,  once I got pregnant, smells were just so, well, smelly, that I didn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I can count on one hand the number of times I remember cooking while pregnant. Which tells you two things: 1) I didn't cook much and 2) I was in an exhausted daze for many of the 40 long weeks. 

Anyways, I'm back to cooking now, but of course I now have a three month old to juggle cooking and baking around. Which I am actually finding to be super helpful, because it means I need to have a plan at the beginning of my day, and work on a meal throughout the day as I have time. Smaller blocks of time in the kitchen and more planning, along with some new recipes, seem to be a winning combination for me. 

We had friends over for dinner a few weeks ago and I made a nice, simple meal and these Nutella cheesecakes for dessert. And they were yummy enough to tell you about! :-) They were also incredibly simple to whip up - I made them during nap time and still had time to squeeze in a quick nap for myself. Here's the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
For the Crust
12 Oreo Cookies, crushed into crumbs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup Nutella
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed

For the Garnish
whipped topping, optional
chocolate shavings, optional
toasted, chopped hazelnuts, optional

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the Oreo cookie crumbs and melted butter. Evenly divide the crumbs between your individual serving dishes and press into the bottoms of the dishes to form a crust layer.

2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and Nutella until smooth. Add vanilla and mix to combine. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped topping until well blended and no streaks remain.

3. Evenly pipe or spoon the filling into individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

4. If desired, garnish with additional whipped topping, chocolate shavings, and/or toasted, chopped hazelnuts.

Makes 4- 6 servings. 

~~~

My thoughts: These are really sweet, but taste less sweet after they've chilled a bit. I divided the batch into 4 servings, and they came out as huge servings. So I would definitely do at least 6 servings, maybe even 8. We also make a lot of mini desserts in shot glasses, and I think these would look darling as minis. All in all, a very yummy dessert!

Original recipe here

Tarpon Springs and Bugs on the Pier

 While we were in Florida, we had a long weekend and a chance to get out and explore the area a little bit. We were in Tampa two years ago, and spent a lot of time at the beach, including Sanibel Island which is a little south of Tampa. Which, by the way, is the most amazing beach for shelling I have ever seen. So, since we had already explored south of Tampa, we decided to head north this time, specifically to Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs was also closer, which was an added benefit since we had a curious two month old along with us this time who absolutely hated the monstrous SUV we got stuck with for a rental car. But that's a story for another day. So. Tarpon Springs. :-) 

Tarpon Springs is famous for its natural sponge beds - apparently it used to be a huge industry in this area of Florida - so much so that they invited Greeks to come over and teach them about harvesting the sponges, something the Greeks had been doing for ages. As you might imagine, there are is quite a "greek" flavor to the area because of this. There were several "sponge factories" that were just blatant cleverly disguised souvenir shops, but it was still a fun little place to explore.

Plus, the day we were there, they were having a special exhibit - Bugs on the Pier! Maybe it was because I grew up with three brothers, but I instantly imagined a bunch of specimen boxes of bugs and was instantly bored at the thought. Imagine my surprise when it was a completely different sort of bug!

It was neat to see all of the different restored (or not!) VW beetles. Very creative.  

It was a beautiful day, and we still couldn't believe we were walking around, outside, in short sleeves! Thanks for being so summery Florida!

S'Mores Cookies

 Are you ready for spring? Are you already thinking about summer? (I am, if only because of our weeks in Tampa, oh 80 degrees - how I miss you!) If so, you may be thinking about campfires and warm nights too, and the very best part of campfires - s'mores! Well here's a way you can have your s'mores and eat them too - even if there is still snow on the ground. (Like there is at my house right now)

S'Mores Cookies! :-) They have graham cracker crumbs in the cookie, and marshmallows and chocolate pieces on top! Yummy! Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 dash of cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 Hershey bars, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. In a second larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of hershey bar into each cookies. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

~~~

I found the addition of chocolate chips to be excessive. I mean seriously, these things are already suuuper sweet. But if chocolate chips are your thing, by all means add them. Also, my batch made 2 dozen cookies, not 4. Come to think of it, my batches never make as many as the recipe says. Does that mean my portion sizes are off? :-) Surely not. 

Anyways, these were yummy and tasted like cozy comfort food in a cookie. Which I suppose cookies are always comforting, so that is kind of an irrelevant statement. Oh well. Make them and let me know what you think. :-) 

Original recipe found here. 

Pan Seared Salmon with Roasted Asparagus

 

Lover and I have been trying out some new recipes. I've grown tired of our normal rotation of chicken, beef, more chicken, more beef, the occasional soup, and more chicken. :-) So we've been trying out some fish - slowly and cautiously dipping our toes into the overwhelming world of seafood. Did I mention that Lover has a slight seafood allergy? Yeah, so we are taking it slow and seeing what is ok and what is definitely not A-ok. I thought salmon was a good place to start, as I'd heard it is like the steak of fish - cook it simply, add a few spices and you are good to go. The verdict? Yummy!

We cooked the salmon in a frying pan on medium heat, letting the olive oil heat up till warm before we put the salmon fillets in. They were thick fillets, so we let them cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes. Then, just before we pulled them out of the pan, we spread some "finishing butter" on each fillet and let them cook for another 30 seconds or so. The finishing butter was just some butter mixed up with garlic, salt and onion powder, very simple but oh so yummy. We let the cooked fillets sit for another 3 or 4 minutes before eating them - and I think this made them a lot juicier.

Whilst cooking the salmon, we were also roasting up some fresh asparagus in the oven that we had brushed with some olive oil and spices. We also threw a few rings of fresh pineapple in on a separate pan, and when everything was done we sat down to a table that looked like this:

 

The salmon was delicious, and the asparagus/pineapple combination was AWESOME. Like, may be my new favorite side dish awesome. Scrum-diddly-umptious kind of awesome. :-) Anyways. Make this meal, I dare you. And enjoy a yummy dish that contains neither chicken nor beef nor soup. :-)