DIY mug

Looking for something easy/fun to personalize as a gift for a co-worker, neighbor, kids teacher etc? These mugs are super easy and fun to make. You can buy mugs from the dollar store... Make your design with a sharpie permanent marker, and then bake at 250 for 30 minutes.

Gumbo

Out of no where I got this cold...sore throat, achy body.....runny nose. My sister offered to fly from CA to MN to make me chicken noodle soup (which she make the best...) but I ended up making some Gumbo. This recipe is pretty easy to make, and prep time is ~ 30 minutes.

Here's what you need:

1 lb of italian or spicy italian sausage
Andouille Sausage
1 lb of fresh shrimp (uncooked)
1 green bell pepper
1 red or yellow bell pepper
6 cups of chicken broth
2 cans of diced tomato
1 TBSB creole or cajun seasoning
1 yellow onion
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen okra
1/2 cup of uncooked rice

A mini step by step below:


I make this recipe in a dutch oven- I'd love to get one from Le Cruset, but I actually got this one from Ikea for $19.99 and it's been pretty great!





Cook your italian sausage and andouille sausage



Chop your onion (and remember not to chop the "butt of the onion off" or you'll be crying...and add to the sausage as it's cooking. Also chop your 2 bell peppers and add.



Here's what the cooked sausage, onion, and peppers look like.




Add your 2 cans of diced tomato + your 6 cups of Chicken broth and simmer on low




Add your creole or cajun seasoning. If your seasoning has salt in it, go easy on it. I also added 1 TBSP of red pepper flakes to add a little heat.




When the soup has simmered on low for 45 minutes add your uncooked shrimp, 1/2 cup of rice, and your fresh or frozen Okra. cook another 30 minutes.

 ~*~ Kris

5:30 am crockpot beef

I made this half awake on my way out. Let it cook on low for 12 hours. It was really good. I felt bad that poor Koda had to sit at home and smell this cooking all day. He never drools and when I came home he actually was drooling :-)

Total prep time- 10 minutes

Roast

1/2 bag of baby carrots

6-8 baby red potatos washed and halved

1 packet of Lipton's Beefy Onion Soup Mix

Garlic powder/thyme/Sage seasoning

Put the roast on the bottom of your crockpot and season with garlic powder, thyme and sage. Cover your roast with 1 packet of beefy onion soup mix. Surround the roast with your baby red potatoes, and lastly add your carrots to the top. You put the carrots on top because they don't take as long to cook, and if they are near the bottom they'll be too soft. Add about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of water over everything. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

~*~ Kris

Football Chili

Is it fall yet? I keep thinking it's here and then another 80+ degree day sneaks in. Don't get me wrong this California girl loves summer, but I'm so ready for Fall to come. I know I've talked about it before but Fall is the BEST time for soups, and stews, and baking, and crockpot creations. I decided to make some Chili tonight. Normally this is a crockpot dish for me b/c I'm bringing it to a potluck or feeding people on football Sunday. Tonight I just made it on the stove. I'm curious if any of you guys have chili recipes your willing to share?

Here's what I put in mine:

1 lb ground beef
29 oz can tomato sauce
2 cans dark kidney beans
1 can light kidney beans
1 can of garbanzo beans (no reason other than it makes it look different :)
1 jalapeno
combination of chili powder, cayenne pepper, blended seasoning mix, garlic powder

Occasionally I will buy a chili seasoning mix, but I try not to because of the amount of salt in those mixes. Also word of caution on those jalapenos. I don't think it's hot at all, sometimes I'll even throw in 2 especially if I have mouthy guys I'm feeding that claim they like hot food.....BUT in general if kids are eating this chili you may want to keep them out.
 

 

 

 

Now you know why I had to chop the onions in my previous post... :)

~*~ Kristen

Onion without tears

I think I watch too many cooking shows! I'm always in awe how fast they chop things, especially onions. It's not a race, and I don't really want to lose any precious fingers, but I still try. The reason I want to chop them so fast is because my eyes are watering and stinging the second my knife hits the onion. You know how it goes....you start chopping and then you're running to the sink with cold running water hoping it some how will alleviate your burning eyes and it works for like 2 seconds....WELL not anymore. I recently learned the "butt" part of the onion holds a majority of the amino acid sulfoxides (what makes your eyes water). Instead of madly chopping the onion as fast as you can try to keep the butt end together and chop around it. It really works!

Other tips I've heard of- refridgerate the onion prior to cutting. I just cut this purple onion tonight and no tears...not a single one!

Cut lengthwise keeping the butt end of the onion intact

Once you've cut through lengthwise, chop away!

I've kind of been off the grid the past couple of weeks, life has been busier then normal + there was a 3 day holiday weekend thrown in the mix. I have a couple of posts I plan to do this coming weekend.

Stay tuned- good things to come I promise :)

On a side note here are some things to keep you entertained until then (got this in an email today):

Your favourite virtue ::
Integrity

Your favourite qualities in a person::
Being funny, open minded, respectful, and love life.

Your favorite occupation :: 
Healthcare/Medical Field but of course!

Your idea of happiness ::
loving and being loved

Your idea of misery ::
Constantly worrying and hating everything about life.

If not yourself, who would you be ::
A chef--- seriously--- I LOVE to cook and every time I watch top Chef I get goosebumps :)

Where would you like to live ::
Back in the sunshine state


Your favorite color and flower ::
Blue and any flowers that are colorful! 

Your favourite heroes in fiction ::
Game of Thrones-- Kahl Drogo 

Your favourite heroines in fiction :: Game of Thrones--   Daenerys Targaryen (ok I feel like a dork but the TV series was so good)
 

Your favorite heroes in real life ::
Our troops fighting for our country, the police and firemen who go out there day in and day out without ever thinking twice about saving your life/helping you. Also teachers because they are amazingly patient with little kids :)
 
Your favorite food and drink ::
Sunflower seeds, Chicken Pesto, and Riesling

Your favourite names ::
eh? I have no idea

Your pet peeve ::
When you ask for my opinion and then argue with me....

The change you most anticipate :: 
I try not to anticipate change/future and try to live in the right now and take it a day at a time.

A gift of nature which I would like to have ::
patience

How I would like to die ::
emotionally and physically ready (Ego integrity vs Ego despair)

What is your present state of mind ::
Tired really tired BUT happy :)

Of what fault are you most tolerant ::
People who try to be perfect and are extremely Type A--

Your favourite motto(s) ::
What you want is often at odds with what is right.


 

DIY Fall Wreath

It's still August, but Fall is just around the corner. It's been a hot/humid MN summer and I can't wait for fall. It's the perfect time for good casserole's (aka hot dish as they call it in the Midwest), soups, cookies, and nice crisp weather.

I was at Michael's and they have all their fall foliage out already along with Halloween stuff. I picked up a grapevine wreath for $4.99, a pumpkin berry garland for $5.59, (4) fall berry sprouts for $1.39 each, and (2) maple leaf sprouts for $0.90 each. Total was $17.94 before tax; not bad!

The best thing about this wreath is that all you need are your hands! No glue... no glitter... no paint.

 

 

 

18" Grapevine Wreath ($4.99 @ Michaels)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Berry Garland (bottom right), Fall berry sprouts (bottom left)

Step 1-- Unwind your Pumpkin berry garland so that it looks like the picture above. The garland should be approximately 5 ft in length so that you have enough garland to wrape around the wereath.

Step 2-- Start wrapping your garland around the wreath and use the natural grapevine branches to intertwine the garland and the wreath. In the picture above I would lift up some of the branches within the wreath and run the garland under to hold in place. 

 

Garland wrapped around the entire wreath.

Step 3-- Add the additional berry sprouts around the outer edges of the wreath. You can poke them into the grapevine wreath and secure by twisting the ends. The last step is to add maple leaves (or pumpkins) to the bottom right corner. 

I'm sure I'll have this hanging on my front door some time in September. For now it's tucked away but ready to go. Another cute idea is to paint a wooden letter and then hang the letter from the wreath.
I made one below ($0.99) that I painted all black and then painted the edges with gold paint.

Happy (almost) Fall ~*~

Kristen

Last Summer Recipe

Fall is around the corner but here's one last fun Summer idea...kabobs! Drizzle some olive oil and season- grill ~350 degrees or you'll burn the kabobs if it's hotter.

Remember if you use wooden skewer to soak for 10 minutes prior so that they don't burn or catch on fire.


~Kristen

Flower Tutorial Part 1 & 2

Hey guys- I said a few weeks ago I'd post a tutorial for the paper flowers. There are 3 types of flowers that I made. Tutorial #1 is how to make a tissue paper flower, Tutorial #2 is how to make a coffee filter flower and next week I'll post how to make the complicated coffee filter flower. I never do video tutorials but I did this for Laura :) She needs to make these soon and taking 20 million pictures for each step was too complicated.

~Kris

Lazy cooking

My life like every other person I know, is insanely busy. It's nice to have a home cooked meal, but sometimes you get home late or have odd hours and don't feel like cooking. Crock pots are fun for soups, but you can't make every meal in a crock pot. Making food in advance is easy because all you have to do is put in the oven or heat up.


I tried a variation of my dad's "stuffaroni" recipe (aka stuffed manicotti) and prepared it a day before I planned to bake it. I browned some ground beef and onion and seasoned. Once the ground beef cooled I added an egg, bread crumbs, spinach and Parmesan, and salt & pepper.

The egg and bread crumbs hold everything together. I stuffed manicotti shells with my meat mixture and lined them in a 9 x 13 bake pan.

I had some left over ground beef mixture so I mixed it with 1 large jar of marinara sauce and seasoned the sauce up with garlic, basil, and oregano. I let the sauce cool slightly and stored it in a tupperware container.

Easy dinner: Cover the stuffed manicotti noodles with the marinara sauce, sprinkle with fresh Parmesan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, followed by another 10 minutes uncovered.
It makes a lot- it's AMAZING left overs and it's DELISH :)

Napkin Decoupage

I bought this wooden cut out that says SHORE from Michael's for $2.99.  The center part of the "O" is a picture frame which is kind of neat. I bought it because it reminded me of being back home in California and of my parents house. My mom has this cool beach theme going on in the house and I knew she'd love it (probably will end up with a pic of the spoiled granddaughter).  :o)

 My younger brother was in town for a wedding he was in on Friday (in the Midwest of all places) so I got to see him for a couple days and it worked out perfectly because he can bring this back home to my mom.

I started out by painting the wooden cut out using a gradient theme. I mixed some acrylic paint to make a turquoise color and painted the top third of the cut out in teal/turquoise. The middle 1/3 was painted with a deeper blue, and the bottom 1/3 was painted with a purple/teal mix.

Blue, green, Sapphire blue, and white

First 1/3 of the cut out

Painted cut out

After I painted the wood cut out I looked at a couple of napkins to decoupage onto the wooden cut out. I had 2 sets of napkins from when I was at Ikea and decided to use the blue napkin. The first thing I did was remove the paper backing from the napkin. This napkin actually had two layers of paper backing. In order to decoupage the napkin design and have the background be transparent you have to remove both paper backings.

Napkins from Ikea

Paper backing (layer #1 of napkin)

Both layers removed

There are many types of decoupage glue: thick, thin, glitter, matte, shiny etc.  You can purchase decoupage from local craft stores like Michael's or Archiver's. Since this napkin is essentially designed tissue paper, I decided to use the thinner decoupage glue (Anita's) because it's very runny it's easier to apply without tearing the napkin. There are two ways you can decoupage a napkin onto a project:

1. You can decoupage the entire napkin onto a project. This requires putting your decoupage glue on all of your craft piece and gently laying the entire napkin over it and then covering with glue. Once the glue dries you pull the tissue paper away from the areas not glued (this will make more sense in a second...)

2. The second option is you can cut out patterns from the napkin and individually decoupage bits and pieces onto your project. This is the option I went with for this project. Do not worry about overhang or pieces of the napkin that are not perfect. The glue dries clear and the design dries with the a transparent background. 

Once the glue dries you can gently remove the outer edges. You can use an emery board or sand paper. You barely need to sand because the paper that's not glued easily tears away. Once you've removed the edges of the napkin overhang, cover the ENTIRE craft with a layer of decoupage glue. For this part of the project I used the Modge Podge brand. It's thicker and also dries clear and has a matte finish. I like using a matte finish because it doesn't show as many flaws as a glossy finish. 

Filing away the remaining overhang

Entire project covered with a coat of decoupage

Once the project is completely dry (1-2 hours) you can decorate with embellishments. I added some glitter to the bottom part of the stand and then after the decoupage glue started to dry I covered with another layer to seal the glitter into the project and prevent it from flaking.

Here's the final project after it dried (2 hrs).

 Happy Summer :)