Lunch corner

I was so hungry when I left the library today and then I have to drive past all the fast-food joints on my way home. The good news is resisted the urge to stop anywhere.

I really wanted pizza so I came home and made pita pizza! It smells great. It has my homemade marinara, fresh mozzarella cheese, and chopped basil on a whole wheat pita. And for a side I steamed some sprouted lentils. And that's lunch!

Recipe Corner

Eggs with onion, garlic, and kale

I love kale.  Can't get enough of it.  So when I opened the fridge this morning and saw it sitting there I decided to add it to breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups of kale, chopped and thick stems removed
4 medium to large eggs
salt and pepper
olive oil

1.  Heat up a medium sized cast iron skillet to medium low temp.  Add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil till warm.  Add onion and saute until soft add garlic and saute until fragrant.  Add kale to the skillet and a teaspoon of water if your kale is dry.  If you just rinsed it then it has enough water on the leaves already.  Cook until kale is wilted.  About 5 min.
2.  In a small bowl, scramble the eggs. 
3.  Season cooked kale with some salt and pepper to taste.
4.  Add eggs and cook as if cooking scrambled eggs.
5.  At this point they are ready to eat but today I had some whole wheat pita bread on the counter.  I decided to add a dash of Frank's hot pepper sauce and popped my scrambled eggs inside half a pita.  So good!

Makes 3-4 servings

Time saving tips:  You can cook the onions, garlic, and kale the night before and pop them in the fridge.  Then just heat them up a little in your pan before adding the eggs the next morning.  Also,  I put my pita half in my toaster for a few seconds to heat it up before I filled it with scrambled eggs.

Enjoy!

Food for. The week.

It's Monday and I have a lot going on in the kitchen! So I'll share what I'm making today. Well, I really started before bed last night.

I started by soaking some pinto beans over night. Then rinsed them this morning. They will go in my stock pot and cook for an hour or so this morning.

Then there's the bananas begging to be baked into muffins. I'm going to attempt making them without sugar. I think I'll try honey this time around.

Then I soaked red lentils over night. They have been rinsed and will sit in my colander for a couple days to sprout.


Then bread this afternoon and a roast chicken chicken with potatoes and onions for dinner.

I call that a good day!

Headquarters

This binder was my life line last year for homeschooling and life.  I called it headquarters because I kept everything in it.  Instructor's guides, student activity sheet, blog list, 2 week meal plans, grocery lists, to do list, well you get the idea.

 As you can see there wasn't much hope in reusing this pretty binder again for the 2011/2012 school year.  It had been stuffed with too many papers and items one too many times.  So I decided it was time for a change.

 I found a blank white binder on sale a walmart and thought it would do nicely.  But white is just to bland.  So I went home and dug through my scrapbooking stuff.  Here is what I have come up with so far.  I started pulling papers I liked and found some matching stickers in my stash.  So hopefully by tomorrow I will have a cute binder ready to go for the upcoming school year. 

I have big plans for my binder but probably not as big as last year.  More on that in my next post.  I have moved into the modern ages and have realized how many useful things you can do with a laptop and an iPhone!  I'll still need my binder everyday but for school and nothing else!  I'll post pics tomorrow when my binder is complete and talk about how my organization has changed for the up coming year.

Thinking of Christmas

 Here is a sampling of what I have made for Christmas gifts.  The scarves turned out great this year thanks to some new yarn colors!  Still have way to much to make before Christmas gets here though.

 Old but new to me book from my mother and some super cute fabric.  I think I'll make a few things for the boys on my Christmas list.

Linen skirt from a local thrift store soon to be converted into more napkins.  I have found you can never have enough cloth napkins!  I think I can get 8 good sized napkins out of this $2 skirt.  You can't beat that!

Fall/Winter clothes

We have had 3 weeks of beautiful fall weather!  The kids have played outside every afternoon which has left me quit a bit of time to make some fall/winter clothes.  I love the peasant tops you see everywhere but I have made a few over the last year and they all had alittle something I didn't like about them.  So I made my own pattern this year.  I love how it turn out!  Most of the fabric I've been using was given to me.  You can't get a better deal than that.  Thanks Aunt Denise.  I've been putting it to good use. 

I just love this little vest.  I purchased the pattern on Ravelry.  I've made these two so far and have started on a third.  My Daughter loves them.  Not pictured yet are my son's PJ's.  He requested some flannel bottoms now that the weather is cooler.  They turned out pretty good.  I used a siplicity pattern and modified it a little.  More to come soon!

Sunday,Sunday,Sunday

Went to church and heard an awesome sermon! Went to walmart and waited in a not so awesome line. Listened to kids whine about being sooo sooo hungry on the ride home. Lucky for me my husband is a problem solver! He pulled along side the road, picked some tiger lilies, and fed them to the kids as soon as we got home. Sounds odd I know but they held there flowers quietly the rest of the way home! I think they were in shock about eating flowers. I tried one too. They are surprisingly good. You can cook with them too. The petals, roots, and bulbs are edible.

Sausage, Potatoes, and Squash

1lb sausage(I used beef kielbasa but anything you like will do)

2 med.-lg. red potatoes quartered and sliced thinly

1 med. yellow onion halved and sliced thinly

1 red bell pepper cut into 1/4 in. chunks

1 zucchini quartered and sliced thinly

1 yellow squash quartered and sliced thinly

2T olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add sliced potatoes and onions and cook for 15min or until potatoes are somewhat crisp.

2. Add red bell pepper and cook for 3-4min. Add zucchini and yellow squash and cook until tender. Takes 5-10min. depending on pan size. Make sure to stir every minute or so and season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Place veggie mixture in a serving bowl and keep warm. Add the sausage to skillet and cook until heated through. If there is grease from the sausage drain it off. Add to veggie mixture and serve.

Notes:

I created this dish last night to use up left over farmers market veggies. You could use many different combination with this.

I cooked the sausage separate from the veggies due to it being a greasy sausage. If you were using a precooked turkey sausage or something you would not have to drain grease off of you could cook the sausage right along with the squash. This would also require a pretty large skillet but could be done.

Enjoy!

Playing in the rain

Last week a box turtle passed through our yard during a rain storm. My kids spotted it and wanted to go out side to look at it. The mothering side of me immediately kicked in and I said no way! It's raining outside. But after a couple seconds of the kids, with there sad face, staring longingly out the window I said well at least put on your rain boots! With giggles and glee they jumped into there boots and headed out the door. They stayed out longer than I thought they would but it was a warm day and they had lots of fun. Plus I got some good pictures for the scrapbook. It's one of those times I'm glad I gave in.

Portobello and Bean burritos

4-8 burrito or flour tortillas

2 c. cooked beans

2 large tomatoes chopped or 4-5 roma tomatoes chopped

2-3 garlic cloves minced or sliced thinly

8 oz. portobello mushrooms( baby bello's or button would do fine) sliced

3-4 scallions(or any kind of onion you have)

3 T. olive oil

1/4-1/2 t. cumin

sea salt

Toppings optional:

Salsa

Sour cream

Pepper jack or cheddar cheese

1. Saute sliced mushrooms and scallions in 1 T. olive oil until mushrooms are soft. About 5 min. on medium heat. Place in a bowl and set aside.

2. In same skillet heat 2 T. olive oil on medium heat then saute garlic for a few seconds. Add beans to skillet with a pinch of salt. Stir and mash them until they are the consistency you like. I mash mine with the back of my cooking spoon until they look like re-fried beans. You could also use a potato masher.

3. Stir together mashed beans, sauteed mushrooms, and the chopped tomatoes. Divide evenly between 4 large burritos or 8 flour tortillas and make a burrito.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake burritos in a casserole dish for 20min.(I line my casserole with unbleached parchment for easy clean up but you could just spray pan w/olive oil instead.) Optional: top with some salsa and cheese and bake 5 min. more or until cheese is melted.

Variations:

I have made these with half the beans and added a cup of rice. I have used several kinds of rice but I like a red bean and long grain brown rice combo the best. It's also very good with black beans.

Also, you can use many different spice. This works will with chili powder instead of the cumin or even in conjunction with the cumin. Play around with it and find what you like!

Don't forget different vegetables. You can add almost anything. I have sauteed bell peppers with the mushroom and it tastes great.

Creative Chicks: The Best Refried Beans EVER (according to me!)

Creative Chicks: The Best Refried Beans EVER (according to me!) I love beans and so does the rest of my family but I never thought of canning my own! I think I'll get a pressure cooker and try it!

New Swimsuit

I have found that KWIK SEW patterns are way better than the other brands! So simple and easy to use. I'm going find more of these patterns. This is the second swimsuit I have made. This one turned out so much better than the one I made last year. Made it using straight stitch and zigzaged the seams. I use clear swimsuit elastic for the first time. I was so easy to use. All in all I am happy with this one.

It might even fit her next year too. It's a little big every where but not to big to notice.

Here's some more fabric finds. Not sure what I'll make with it but I liked the colors. The pink plaid fabric is a heavy weight cotton almost feels like canvas. I think it would make a great tote bag.

Bargain Shopping

It only cost me $10.00 to give my kitchen a whole new look! I don't understand why people go to walmart when you can just go to a second hand store! Convenience I guess but I love picking up a bag of things for a few dollars even when I don't know what I'll do with it. Just like the shower curtain. Yup that's what's on my table. Looks good huh! The little perpetual calendar is my favorite. We had a little argument over who would change the numbers every day but we fine got that all worked out. And I couldn't pass up the glass milk jar even if it's not an antique. It has a cute cow on one side. hmmm wonder what I'll find next time.

Where Does Your Food Come From? - by Christina Pirello

Where Does Your Food Come From? - by Christina Pirello

Diet Coke and Women’s Heart Health, a Deadly Combination

Diet Coke and Women’s Heart Health, a Deadly Combination

Baby Chicks

Four more baby chicks just in time for Easter. We have six hens already but decide to get a few more. We have five buff orpingtons and one rhode island red. So we decided to go with two more of the reds as they are consistant producers and tow bared rocks just to have some variety. They are soooo cute. Kinda like kittens and puppys where you wish they could just stay this size for ever.

Bathroom remodel

Here's some pics of what we have done in the basement so far. My hubby installed an electrical box and an out let. Ya my freezer is down in the basement and not in my washroom. Unfortunately I have already filled the empty space! New hot water heater. The old one was in our bedroom closet and had started leaking out the bottom. We wanted it in the basement and just hadn't gotten around to moving but at this point we had no choice. This leaves us with yet another project though. The old hot water heater has to be removed and then we will have to start tearing the closet apart to fix the water damage.

We decided to remove the wall between the hallway that will lead into the bathroom and our bedroom. We plan to use this space as an office area and felt it would feel more open with the wall gone.

Easter dress

Here's my daughter's Easter dress. The true miracle here is that Easter is 3 days away and here dress is done. I think this is the first holiday dress I have completed preholiday. I'm usually late to the days events because I'm putting in a zipper, sewing on buttons, or have been up since the crack of done sewing the whole thing! So this is a big deal for me. I hope I can continue getting things done ahead of time. It makes for a lot less stress.

This is the pattern I used. I love these patterns. They are so simple. I made this dress from start to finish in one afternoon. I had it done and diner on the table at 5:30pm. You can't beat that. I did make some modifications. Well one was a mistake but it turned out fine. The pattern tells you to measure down 18" and over 3" to make the bottom of the dress but I only measured over 2". It looks fine to me though. I also decided the waist was a little to high for the look I was going for. I placed the waist 2.5" from the armpit. Still thinking about making a fabric flower to go at the waist hmm or the neck line. I haven't decided yet.

Creative Chicks: Sew Your Own Swimsuit

Creative Chicks: Sew Your Own Swimsuit This looks like so much fun! I tried making a swim suit last year for my daughter(3 yrs) and I wasn't real happy with it. I still have lots of fabric left and I think I will try again. I think I'll do a long tank top with seperate bottoms instead of a one piece and see how that goes. I guess I'd better go try and find the fabric since I haven't seen it in a year!

I feel like baking

Some days I just feel like baking. This is a pastry recipe from a Rachel Ray magazine. Just one look at the picture and I had to make them! They are sooooo good. I'm making these to take to my brother house for Easter. Not really to share them but for a good excuse to make them again.