March 21st World Down Syndrome Day Treat Project

At dance class the other night I overheard H ask N if she would please get out her Cricut and do a project for her. N said something like no way, I haven't used that Cricut in years and I don't want to do it hahahah. I had no idea what the project was but when I heard 'Cricut' I of course kinda yelled "wait, I have a Cricut! What do you need?" 

What was I thinking volunteering to do a project that I had no idea how big or small it was? I wasn't drunk and it wasn't even that late at night so I have no excuse LOL!!!! Good grief me. 

She showed me her inspiration photo and asked if I could Cricut the words and fish onto cards that she'll attach to small bags of rainbow Goldfish - not sure if this is for school or what and it didn't matter, of course I can Cricut her 30 4x5" cards and I'm happy to help. 

And then I woke up the next morning thinking oh no, Cricuting cards means formatting the words and the fish shapes, cutting them out with the Cricut machine, transferring each thing over to a card and stick all the pieces in place - 30 times! Um...that's a lot of work 🤦‍♀️ hahaha I still would have done it but then did a little research to see if I could maybe find the exact original project and if I was really lucky I'd be able to just use that to make the cards for her. 

I found the document here on wordpress; the creator was nice enough to make the project downloadable and I was even able to make changes to it - like moving the words and fish around, adding the year - and then print it. All I'd have to do at that point would be to cut the pages into 4 square cards each. 

I asked H if she actually wanted them made with the Cricut versus my just printing off this sheet that's already been formatted? She said she isn't crafty and to do whatever is easiest. Printing it is!! 

3.9.25: 🔥 week 10

3.9.24: words

3.9.23: dynamite shrimp rice bowl 

3.9.22: shanghai salmon

3.9.21: TT shamrock plant

3.9.20: shamrock garland

3.9.18: kids travel snack dispenser

3.9.17: crack dip

3.9.16: St. Patrick's table decor (pots of gold)

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 10)

Dear Campers ~ 

Here's a quick recap in case you missed anything at camp last week:

Posts ~

3/1: 🔥 week 9

3/2: organizing iPhone notes 

3/3: TT famous sauces you can make from scratch 

3/4: Easter veggie tray by Jenny

3/5: 5-cup fruit salad (throwback Thursday)

3/6: MFIH country ribs in cranberry sauce 

3/7: words (spring will come)

What's Cooking ~

• pot roast with carrots and potatoes, chopped salad 
• baked bone-in chicken (brush with olive oil, season with poultry blend, cover and bake at 400' until cooked thru. Remove cover and broil for a couple minutes to brown the tops), rice blend, veg
• country ribs in cranberry sauce, see above
• chicken street tacos from Costco, side salad with tomatoes and avocado
• roasted shrimp, buttered pasta, roasted broccoli 

That's it for this week! See you next week for more projects, crafts, recipes, whatever we can think of to make at camp - bye :)

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

3.8.25: thru the years

3.8.24: frozen yogurt drops

3.8.23: oatmeal (breakfast) cake

3.8.22: TT freezing asparagus

3.8.21: foam shamrock wreath

3.8.20: 🔥week 10

3.8.19: sew a fabric wallet 

3.8.18: wire-wrapped ring
3.8.17: Andes mint cookies

3.8.16: easy art for St. Patrick's day decor  

3/7 ~ Words

3.7.25: thru the years

3.7.24: chocolate coconut rum cake

3.7.23: TT-SM: carpet freshener 

3.7.22: peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

3.7.21: 🔥 week 10

3.7.20: St. Patrick's framed art

3.7 .19: braided bird toy 

3.7.18: healthy cauliflower soup

3.7.17: making breadcrumbs

3.7.16: foam shamrock indoor wreath

MFIH: Crockpot Country Ribs with Cranberry Sauce

I posted this recipe in '21 using a pork roast, this time I made it with boneless country ribs for a "My Family Is Hungry" meal. I know that dried onion soup mix is not gluten-free so a couple family members cannot eat it, I left it out of the dish and not sure how much it changed the overall flavor but it's still really good. I could have made my own dried mix (click here for a recipe) but I was in a hurry to get this into the crockpot.

pork roast with sauce

There was a lot of fat from the ribs after cooking it; I refrigerated it overnight and scrapped off as much of the fat as I could. Here's a review from Macey, she's right that it did not look great before re-heating it!

"I'm not going to lie when I first opened the tub and looked at tonight's meal it looked a little questionable haha. (The color is slightly off-putting!). However, once it was heated up and served over rice, it was thoroughly enjoyable. I enjoyed this meal from its sweet cranberry flavor paired with the savory from the meat made for a really delicious dinner. The texture was great! It was like a thick sauce with chunks of tender pork! I would definitely have this one again."

country ribs with sauce 

• 2.5 lb. frozen pork roast (I buy a 4 pack at Costco - you can adjust the size to suit your needs)
• 1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
• 3/4 cup Russian dressing
• 1/4 cup orange juice or water
• 1 packet dried onion soup mix

Place the roast in a 5 quart crock pot (or whatever size fits your roast); top with remaining ingredients (you can stir them together before adding to the crockpot but I'd save the extra dish to wash, they'll mix together as it cooks). Cook on LOW for 8 hours. 

Great with mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower, rice, or on it's own. 

notes: you can also do this with pork tenderloin; pork chops are also great but won't need to cook as long. If you don't have Russian dressing, apricot preserves also works and is equally delish. The sauce is so good I eat it with a spoon but it isn''t thick - if you want it thicker/more gravy like just make a slurry* of cornstarch and water and whisk into the sauce until it thickens. 

3.6.25: thru the years

3.6.24: honey bbq meatloaf

3.6.23: starch madness: scalloped potato update

3.6.22: 🔥 week 10

3.6.21: double barley posole

3.6.20: paper masks and feathers 

3.6.19: stuffed poblano peppers

3.6.18: arranging daffodils

3.6.17: shamrock wreath

3.6.16: crock pot white chicken chili

Five-Cup Fruit Salad (Throwback Thursday)

I've been going thru old recipes (I still have an old box that I used to use before I changed to a binder system, it hangs out in the top of my cookbook cupboard and I have to get a tall stool out in order to access that high shelf haha, I decided to go thru some of these old ones and share with you even if I don't have a picture!).  

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup pineapple chunks (drained)
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup mandarin orange slices (drained)

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and allow to stand in refrigerator for several hours (overnight is better) before serving. 

3.5.25: thru the years

3.5.24: tt reusable coffee pod filter 

3.5.23: 🔥 week 9

3.5.22: turkey forestiere

3.5.21: green wreath

3.5.20: goldenrod update

3.5.19: TT: prep bowl

3.5.18: Tesha's crockpot potato soup

3.5.17: ahi tuna with 2 sauces

3.5.16: champagne and chambord 

Easter Vegetable Tray by Jenny

Hey there! Jill’s non crafting, non cooking sister here! I can’t believe my social media is already popping up with Easter stuff (We haven’t gotten past the green beer season yet! 🍀).  But when this one came up I thought it was too cute (and easy) not to share with my sister! Love this so much! 

3.4.25: thru the years

3.4.24: pvc toilet paper holder 

3.4.23: Words

3.4.22: blueberry muffins 

3.4.21: tiktok pasta by Brooke

3.4.20: baked mushrooms

3.4.19: DIY car air freshener

3.4.18: Sheryl's chili

3.4.17: cream cheese feta dip

3.4.16: make a kids travel snack dispenser 

 

Tip-sy Tuesday: Sauces you can Make From Scratch

 

My sis sent me this little sauce-making cheat-sheet, thought I'd share! I'm a dipper, so having this means I can make allllll the sauces now hahahah. 

YUM YUM SAUCE

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 4 T. water
• 2 1/2 T. ketchup
• 2 T. granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 T. rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 T. butter
• 2 t. onion powder
• 1 t. sweet Hungarian paprika

CHICK-FIL-A SAUCE

• 2 t. yellow mustard
• 2 T. barbecue sauce
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 T. honey
• 1/8 t. garlic powder

OLIVE GARDEN ALFREDO SAUCE

• 6 T. butter
• 1 T. garlic
• 1 t. garlic. flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 1/3 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 t. salt
• 16 oz. fettuccine
• fresh parsley

CHICKEN FINGER DIPPING SAUCE

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 t. garlic salt
• 1 t. black pepper
• 1 t. hot sauce (Cholula)
• 1/2 t. worcestershire sauce

HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3 T. yellow mustard
• 3 T. honey
• 2 t. apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 t. paprika
• 1/4 t. garlic powder
• 1/4 t. salt

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE

• 6 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 t. soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 T. cornstarch
• 1 T. water
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• red food coloring

3.3.25: march 3rd

3.3.24: 🔥 week 9

3.3.23: starch madness: yogurt bagels

3.3.22: St. Patrick's gnome

3.3.21: red and green enchiladas

3.3.20: TT: copycat Old Bay seasoning 

3.3.19: 🔥week 9

3.3.18: host an Oscar party

3.3.17: Brooke decorates her phone charger

3.3.16: photo class - self portraits

Organizing iPhone Notes

I don't have anything to show you today but I am working on organizing my 200+ notes that I have in the Note app on my phone. I have miscellaneous notes starting in 2013 until now and when I want to find something I have to scroll thru the entire list until I come across it. Which is a pain but not something I thought about organizing until now. I found a helpful video on YouTube (click here to watch it or search for 'how to organize Apple notes' by MinorCo). The idea is to create folders and subfolders to store the notes in categories, and also to tag each note so you can quickly find the note you're looking for. 

Example: I have a folder labeled MMDC, subfolder named 'guest posts' with a tag named #buffy. To find the posts that Buffy has made I can look in the 'guest post' folder or I can just click on the tag down below and it will take me to any post that I've added the #buffy tag. 

I've only done 11 notes so far with another 197 to go, but I'm liking how this is going and the app is going to function so much better for me. 

3.2.25: 🔥week 9

3.2.24: words 

3.2.23: starch madness: french bread pizza

3.2.22: ribbon mask leash

3.2.21: TT no stick foil tip

3.2.20: breaded baked eggplant

3.2.19: arugula with pancetta salad

3.2.18: Gracie's watercolor mermaid

3.2.17: two bean salad with mustard vinaigrette 

3.2.16: framed calendar pictures

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 9)

Dear Campers ~ 

Here's a quick recap in case you missed anything at camp last week:

Posts ~

2/22: 🔥 week 9

2/23: melting bottle wax

2/24: TT cleaning suede 

2/25: Hawaiin roll hot dog bun 

2/26: rueben casserole 

2/27: MFIH: cheesy broccoli chicken and rice casserole 

2/28: words (sunshine on my shoulders)

What's Cooking ~

• baked individual pizzas (we did thin crust with ham and mushrooms), caesar salad 
• crockpot pot roast with baby potatoes and carrots 
• shake and bake pounded chicken breasts, chickpea pasta with marinara and mozzarella balls
• roasted salmon, quinoa with olive oil and parmesan, roasted green beans
• grilled steak, roasted baby potatoes or tater tots (we had a house divided for Sunday supper haha)

That's it for this week! See you next week for more projects, crafts, recipes, whatever we can think of to make at camp - bye :)

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

3.1.25: words (sneak out)

3.1.24: pot pie by P

3.1.23: starch madness: starchy foods

3.1.22: TT microwave baked potatoes

3.1.21: make a bracelet out of pretty ribbon

3.1.20: 🔥week 9

3.1.19: boho sling bag

3.1.18: password keeper

3.1.17: Julie's key lime pie

3.1.16: organize the spice drawer  

2/28 ~ Words

 

It was SO beautiful here yesterday - sunny and 54'...Spring is coming people!!! 

2.28.25: March challenge (limit shopping)

2.28.24: boursin chicken 

2.28.23: TT: snickerdoodle white choc chip cookies

2.28.22: tater tot sausage breakfast casserole

2.28.21: 🔥 week 9

2.28.20: make your own dryer sponges

2.28.19: cucumber 'sushi' appetizer

2.28.18: March step challenge

2.28.17: tip for how to clean the oven window glass

2.28.16: grilled steak and chicken salad