Hair Bump Trick

My niece Paige did her mom's hair and makeup for her wedding last week and showed me this very cool trick for making a bump that stays in place - I will try to describe it to you because this is a great tip that I even did on my own short hair and it worked!

My sis had an updo for the wedding but it all started with a bump at the back crown - this first picture is the beginning of the updo - see where the elastic is stretched across? That will hold the bump in place - you can leave like this and just have a bumped up back crown (like me because my hair is too short) which is cool, or you can use this trick as the base of your up-do.

Ok - I'll try to describe how to do this on myself...not easy to hold, pin, and take pics haha. Bear with me:

Thread a tiny clear hair elastic onto 2 hairpins. 

Separate and hold back the hair that you want to bump in the general area of where you want it 

Put one hairpin into one side of the hair you've separated out, pull the hair elastic across and overtop of the bunch you want bumped, and then insert the second hairpin into the other side of the bunch. The pins are inserted in opposite directions, sort of coming towards each other and meeting underneath the bunch of hair.

When you let go you'll see that the elastic is stretched over the section and you can pull up the hair more if you want the bump to be bigger. I left this messy so you can see where the pins are and how the elastic is stretched across the top of the bunch. Tighten up the pins under the bunch so you can't see them - see my sisters elastic in the top picture to see what I mean!

My sister's hair is long so P then took more of the front pieces and wrapped them overtop of the elastic to hide it, my hair isn't long enough to do that so I just let the elastic show. 

I'm sure my description has made it look much harder to do than it actually is! 

Heart Cork Wreath or Trivet

I should probably stop making things out of wine corks - you guys are gonna start worrying about my drinking habits haha! But...this is so cute! I've seen a bunch of ideas for heart shaped wreaths and trivets using corks and since Valentine's Day is coming I thought I'd attempt an ombre colored one and see how it goes. Initially I planned to paint the corks in different shades of red and pink but then realized when picking out the corks that they are already naturally shaded from the different wines - I have everything from deep burgundy to pale pink, cool - that saved me some time and I love how it looks.




I cut out an 8" heart shape from a beige colored piece of cardstock (the closest shade I had to match the natural corks), you could use cardboard or wood but the paper worked just fine since I didn't make a very big one. Sort out the different colors of corks and place on the heart cut out in whatever pattern you like - I started with dark on the bottom since I didn't have as many of the really dark ones and worked my way up with lighter and lighter colors until I finished with natural cork on the top of the heart. I keep losing count when trying to figure out how many I used, it's less than 70. Hot glue in place, then tie a piece of twine or ribbon around the outside to help pull the corks together. Didn't this turn out great?

Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup

I love tomato soup. Love, love. This reminds me a little bit of spaghetti sauce, but not in a bad way - it's really good and worth making. It's an easy recipe (which I always love) and since I've never made tomato soup before (other than Campbells haha!!) I didn't know what to expect - I think roasting the tomatoes first added a much different flavor than traditional tomato soup which is where the spaghetti sauce comparison comes from I think.  The recipe says it serves 8 but no way it made that much - I got probably 4 cups...but it's so low calorie that I can eat all 4 cups if I want with no guilt!

roast the quartered tomatoes tossed with olive oil
and spices for about an hour at 375'

remove the cheese rind before blending

Wedding Day Mimosas

don't worry - Brooke is drinking straight oj!

The morning of my sister's wedding all the girls came to my house so we could get ready together (there was hair product and makeup everywhere haha!). My nieces brought champagne and orange juice to make mimosas and get in the wedding spirit - I don't drink mimosas very often, I kind of forget about them - but they are so easy, light, and yummy that I might drink them more often now :)

One niece poured half and half champagne to orange juice, the other did it 3/4 champagne to 1/4 orange juice - I didn't notice a difference so make them however you want. Raspberries are a more traditional garnish but I only had blueberries on hand - turns out they are really good! Also, you'd normally serve these in pretty champagne glasses but I didn't have time to hand wash all those glasses so we used plastic cups - classy, I know.

took a break from getting ready to have a toast. 

Brooke makes Fluffy Slime

Brooke and I had a very busy weekend when I was in town for my sister's wedding - I thought it'd be a relaxing few days not cooking or doing dishes but I was wrong. Very wrong hahaha. B spent the night and we made muffins, cupcakes with homemade frosting, chopped salad, (all will be upcoming posts!) and this fluffy slime. I didn't help her with the slime, this is all Brooke...make sure to watch the whole thing - my favorite part of this video is almost at the end when she talks about glitter, check out the look on her face hahaha :)

She wrote out the directions in addition to telling them in the video:

1). In a cup add 1 teaspoon Borax to one cup water. Set aside.
2). In a big bowl combine
     1/2 cup shaving cream
     1/2 cup foaming soap
     1/2 cup white elmers glue
     1 Tablespoon cornstarch
     food coloring and glitter optional
3). Add mixture from the small cup into the big bowl slowly. Knead into a dough that doesn't stick to
     your hands.

Valentine Garland

I had a salon appointment the other day and when I walked in the receptionist had a Valentines kit spread all over the front desk - love that of course, crafting while working is awesome haha...her boss might not think so but I do! So I asked what she's making, her plan is to string these hearts up to hang from the ceiling - which is a cute idea. She was attaching the hearts back to back since you'll see the hanging garland from all sides, but wasn't putting a string or anything in between the two hearts. Not trying to be know-it-all-Nancy or anything but I nicely asked how she was going to string them up? Oops she said, I didn't think about that. Well I like this idea so am sharing with you as a reminder that you don't have to do what the kit says to do, make what you want out of it! She bought a kit of foam heart Valentines and was turning them into something else - these strung on string, twine, ribbon, whatever and hung up will be a cute garland/hanging. I'm inspired to go get myself a package of these - fun!

Kyle's Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash

Kyle sent me this picture and recipe all on his own, I didn't even have to beg him for it! Love that :)
I haven't made this yet but how good does it sound? I can't wait to try it...his directions:


I took garlic and onion and raisins and sautéed them with some salt pepper, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg, and then mixed that into a sausage of your choice then cut the acorn squash in half and butter the inside and out, fill the cavity with the sausage mixture and bake at 375 for about an hour!

a couple things I clarified: (1) yep, raisins (2) he used maple flavored Jimmy Deans sausage but your favorite sausage will work (3) it's a little greasy when it starts baking before the squash absorbs it, he said you can drain it or cook the sausage separate before stuffing the squash but he didn't think it's too greasy doing it this way.

I bet the house smelled great!

Eggs and Avocado on Toast

Mickey told me this is her everyday go to breakfast and it is now my new favorite - I love it! Spread 1/4 avocado on a piece or two of whole grain toast, top with egg of your choice (she likes "dippy" eggs, I like basted - which is basically a dippy egg. click here for how I make basted eggs). Salt and pepper and you're good to go with a filling easy healthy breakfast.

1/20 update: this is even better sprinkled with 'everything bagel' seasoning!

String Art

I love making string art! This is pretty simple, hard to mess up, quick, fairly inexpensive, and a different pretty gift - what's not to love?

Here are two projects that I've done - a Scottie (I made for myself just 'cuz) and a heart for my sister who got married yesterday! On hers I stamped the date, it looked good before I added that but I wanted to make it more personalized.

Supplies:
-piece of wood: for the Scottie I bought an unfinished wood plaque from the craft store and painted it using craft paint; for the heart I bought this wood pallet board with attached hanger at the craft store.
-embroidery floss: for the Scottie I used solid black, for the heart I used 3 different colors (light gray, blush, metallic dark gray)
-small nails: scottie is gold, heart is copper
-hammer
-paper template of the shape you want to make: I found a free Scottie outline on line and adjusted the print size until I got the size I wanted, for the heart I just freehanded a 6" heart and cut it out.
-ruler if you want to measure the spacing between the nails, they don't have to be exact if you want to just eyeball it.

Directions:
-lay out the template where you want it to go on the board. make dots on the paper where you are going to put the nails. for the scottie I didn't measure as carefully, just tried to follow the shape putting the nails where they would create the best outline. for the heart I did about 1/2" spaces between the nails.  how close or far apart you put them will depend on the size and simplicity of your pattern.
-lightly tap in the nails around the outermost edges of the paper shape, try to keep them at a level depth.
-after all the nails are in gently remove the paper. if any of the paper gets stuck around the nails just carefully pick it out with a sharp object.
-tie one end of the string around a nail then just go back and forth, up and down, winding the string around different nails to create whatever pattern (or I should say non-pattern) that you want. If you don't like how it's looking just undo the string and start again! To get a nice finished outline I wound the floss around every nail in a row around the outside edge. You'll want to pull the string taut but not so tight that the nails move, and be careful about letting go before tying off because it unravels easily!
-when you are done stringing the floss between the nails tie off the end on a nail and trim the excess.
-I left a tail on the heart because I liked how it looked! For the Scottie I trimmed the end off close to the final nail.

cut out whatever shape you are making, mark dots where the nails will go

nail all around the edge of the shape to create the outline, then remove the paper

wind the string back and forth around the nails, go in all directions to create an almost cobweb look

this is with one layer in light gray. next I did a layer of blush and then finished with a layer of metallic dark gray. 

                   

Reserved Signs

My sissy is getting married today (!)  and was stewing about how to reserve a few chairs in the front of the room for the kids and family...quite honestly I wasn't paying much attention to her thoughts about this for the past couple weeks figuring whatever, she'd come up with something but then it occurred to me that she was just going around in circles and driving herself crazy with a minor detail that she doesn't have the time to deal with - so I sent her an idea that I liked and she said "oh I hadn't thought of anything like that. I love it" and I said "good, then it's done. Now stop talking about it" hahaha. This didn't take me very long at all to put together - so if you need an idea for reserving seats here ya go :)


I made a very quick template on my computer figuring I could get 4 signs per 8.5"x11" cardstock, played with fonts and sizes until it looked right and printed them off on white cardstock. Using my die cut maker thing I punched out the words with a banner template (but this is such a simple shape you could just use scissors and cut them out) about 4.5" long and then an equal number of gray banner shapes a little bit bigger. Hole punch thru the white and gray and tie a length of pretty ribbon thru - then I slipped a small artificial flower thru the hole in the middle of the ribbon knot. The flowers came from one big hydrangea that I just picked the flowers off of...now I'll just lay these on all the reserved seats before the wedding.

Sissy's Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Hi All, Non Crafty, Non Cooking Sister here.. 

After much searching for “reserved” signs for my upcoming wedding with no luck I conned my sister into making them for me (I’m sure that blog is upcoming).  In return for sign making services I agreed to a blog post.   Having exhausted posting on my extensive drinking and poor organization tricks (see my past blogs) I have now been forced to resort to something cooking.

Knowing that no one is interested in my boxed macaroni and cheese recipe (boil water, pour in noodles, add powdered cheese that’s in the box) I will subject myself to ridicule by talking about my “discovery” of spaghetti squash.  First I would like to say I had no idea this was a thing. My healthy oldest daughter came home over the holiday’s and left me one as a surprise.  I called her immediately and asked what it is and what do I do with it.  Not being one to waste food I decided to give it a try.  Below is my recipe – and yes of course I ruined the health value by adding cheese.

1.       Microwaved squash about 10 minutes until was soft enough to cut.  Then cut squash into 2 halves and baked face down on a foil lined pan at 400 degrees until squash was tender (about 50 minutes)

I then scraped out the inside which looked shockingly like noodles.  This was a positive start.

  

2. I then mixed the “noodles” with 1 cup slightly cooked broccoli, a cup of cheddar cheese, and          a few shakes of garlic powder and added it back to the squash shells and sprinkled a little more cheese on top (You can never have too much cheese)..

Bake 10 minutes until cheese melted.  

It was shockingly delicious and still sorta healthy even with the cheese.  Since then I have to admit I went and bought another one (surprisingly cheap) and dumped the cheese recipe and just used it as “noodles” for my spaghetti.  Equally delicious but that one I couldn’t get the family to go for.  As a side dish they would accept it, but not as the main course.

So there you have it, debt paid.  Now Sister better get cracking on those reserved signs!

Loaded Cauliflower

Ok, this isn't technically a "healthy" dish, but it is a tiny bit better than a loaded potato would be...right? It's definitely lower carb if you care about that sort of thing! This was really easy and made a delish filling lunch - steam some cauliflower florets (I bought a small bag of them in the produce section and steamed right in the bag for 3 minutes then put on a plate), then top with shredded cheese (if the cheese doesn't melt stick back in the micro for a few seconds). I sprinkled on some chopped bacon, season with salt and pepper, and finished with a dollop of sour cream. Fast and yummy!

Color Coded Keys

Here is a quick easy tip from my niece - I think she might have done this out of boredom but when it was all done she showed me and I thought "what a good idea" and I'm totally blogging it. She said to not name her because it seemed like a 10 year olds craft hahahah (and she's a little older than that) but I say who cares - a cute idea is a cute idea.

She painted the tops of her keys in different colors using fingernail polish (that's why I think this might have been an accidental craft!). She painted one entire key with the polish but then realized that might not be good for sticking into the lock so just did the tops after that. I like it :)

Cinnamon Rolls (Fail!)

Remember when I made crescent rolls recently (click here for that post)? Well in the comment section of that recipe someone said if you freeze the dough after the first rising (the recipe makes a lot of dough) you could then thaw the dough and make more rolls or cinnamon rolls later....so I froze half of the dough with the intent of making cinnamon rolls cuz, yum, cinnamon rolls! I was cooped up this past weekend and looking for something to do that wouldn't take too much energy and thought about the dough taking up space in my very small freezer and figured I'd go ahead and make those cinnamon rolls now. Uh, yeah...they totally didn't work! I have no idea why but I just wanted to warn you to not try this with this thawed dough - or if you do try it and it works then please let me know. They didn't rise and ended up being little blah hockey puck rolls. Gross. So gross I threw them out! I have a great cinnamon roll recipe that I've been making forever (as long as my pumpkin bread, click here for that post) and in the future I'll just stick with that - and if you make this crescent roll recipe I recommend you just make all of the dough into rolls right then (it's a really good crescent roll recipe!).

I didn't even take a picture before I pitched them - but you don't really want to see what failed cinnamon blah hockey puck rolls look like, right? I do have this cute picture instead tho to remind us all that even if you have a baking fail you can still be happy and smile!! :)

Tuna-Egg Salad

I was reading an article about a woman that went on a diet and one of the things she would most miss was her "mom's tuna-egg salad", and that got me thinking...tuna-egg salad? No recipe given of course - especially since it was a diet article about not eating the salad haha - so I wondered how would it taste to mix tuna salad and egg salad together? Well guess what - it's delicious! I thought Dave would think it's too weird but he has asked me to make this so many times in the past month that I'm gonna share it with you - you decide if it's too weird for you! I didn't google to see if tuna-egg salad is a thing, maybe I'm the last to know about this?

hard boiled eggs
drained can of tuna fish
mayo
mustard
something crunchy - I don't have celery on hand very often so I usually use chopped up cole slaw mix.

chop the eggs very fine, mix with the tuna, add mayo to whatever consistency you want, then add some mustard (maybe 1 teaspoon or so, I don't go super heavy with the mustard). Fold in whatever crunchy veggie you have (the cole slaw mix is really good). That's it. Try it and tell me - too odd?

Unfinished Projects

unfinished projects!

I've been sick for a few days and haven't been up to making anything in my newly organized craft space - but today I decided to work on some unfinished projects that took little effort but there's great satisfaction in getting it all done! I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to the little stuff - fixing a broken earring (unlike the list I posted about things you should purge, if the other earring is just broken I will always try to fix it before throwing out the good one! see here for the purge list), mending Sarge's stuffed toys (they go to the "hospital" and it takes a very long time for them to come back out!), finishing craft projects that just have last minute details, or remaking something I own into something better so I might wear it more - so today was a good day to get this little stuff caught up. It doesn't sound like much but it took most of the afternoon for me to get it all done!

Do you have a pile of little things you keep putting off? Getting them out of the way feels so good :)

Mimi's Neighbor's Fish Tacos

Mimi 🍰:

Okay I got a recipe.

So we got asked to Brooks house who is our neighbor, and he made the best fish tacos ever. His were lightly fried but I didn't think that was necessary. Grilled would be just as good. 

So he did corn shells grilled in a pan, then flounder that he caught that was fried, but then he put pico, and Greek plain yogurt, cilantro and thyme in a bowl like sour cream 

He claims that the best part is this:

But I didn't try that part. They were sooooo good without it.

He also said this. Which isn't in English. But that's how he fried the fish:

Soak fish in buttermilk and franks redhot. Breaker is house autry medium hot and add garlic powder.

Jill 🍩:

What's house autry?

Mimi 🍰:

Who knows. 

Jill 🍩:

Hahahahahaha

Mimi 🍰:

Is that even a word 

Jill 🍩:

I'm totally blogging that 

Mimi 🍰:

Hence I said this isn't English 

Jill 🍩:

Cuz I laughed 

Mimi 🍰:

Lmao 

He seems to think it is. 

The fish was amazing tho 

Jill 🍩:

We'll just go with buttermilk and garlic powder. 

Mimi 🍰:

😂

Seems about right 

I didn't notice any redhot

Jill 🍩:

If you didn't taste then neither will I. I don't like spicy either

Mimi 🍰:

Yah I'm not a huge fan

Jill 🍩 :

I got the rest. Corn tortilla warmed in pan, soaked fish grilled/fried, topped with homemade pico, yogurt mixed with cilantro and thyme. Done and sounds delish. 

Mimi 🍰:

It was so good

This is a pic of how Kyle made grilled fish tacos before getting Brooks recipe above. They are topped with homemade cole slaw and served with a side of black bean, corn, and tomato salad. 

Chicken Soup from Janis

I am blessed to have the nicest friends - I'm feeling so lucky. Dave and I have both been sick this week (he started it!) and last night we got a great unexpected surprise when Janis dropped off a care package for our dinner...I made her chicken soup once when she didn't feel good (click here for that post) but she put me to shame with her delivery! She brought homemade chicken soup (with potatoes, celery, leeks, carrots, and parsley), salad, a loaf of bread, and a bottle of wine! And a very funny card that made me laugh...thanks Janis, we love you!! :)

It's so good I had another bowl for breakfast this morning!

Kids Craft...Brooke makes bath bombs

Brooke and I went to the mall and she bought a bath bomb (which was way too expensive!); we decided to try making them and found out they are really easy and the ingredients aren't costly (so why are they so expensive in the store?!). Watch how cute she is:

I searched online for instructions - this is the one we settled on. Click here for the original post. 

Homemade Bath Bombs, makes two large size or 3-4 "Easter Egg" size depending on your mold (you can easily double or triple)

4 oz. baking soda
2 oz. corn starch
2 oz. citric acid 
2 oz. Epsom salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon essential oil 
1 1/4 teaspoon oil (I like coconut or olive oil here)
1-2 drops food coloring (optional)

In a bowl combine the dry ingredients (the first four listed above). Whisk to remove any clumps, corn starch tends to be clumpy. In a small glass jar stir together the wet ingredients (the last four ingredients listed). If you're using coconut oil, give it a quick melt in the microwave or stove top first so it will more easily combine with the other ingredients. Slowly pour the liquid mixture in with the dry mixture, whisking as you go. If you see the mixture fizz or foam, you may be adding the liquid too quickly. Once all the wet ingredients are combined with the dry, take a small amount in your hand and squeeze it together. It should stick together fairly well in one or two big chunks. If it's still too powdery to hold together, just add a tiny bit more water and mix until it does hold together. 

Fill molds and let them set for a few minutes to harden a little, then carefully remove from the molds and let air dry for a few hours or overnight. 

Note: Brooke and I used a giant ice cube ball mold but after making these I have been seeing instructions everywhere and all kinds of molds are used - I've seen muffin tins, ice cube trays for little ones...look around and see what you have that can be used for a mold if you don't want to purchase actual molds!

Things To Purge!

Saw this list of 116 things to throw away (or recycle, give away, sell...) and think it's a good reminder to pay attention to the little things that accumulate - you don't have to overhaul the closet or pantry to free up space and get rid of clutter. Check it out and see how many things make you go "oh, I totally need to do that" like I did! Wait, except #2 - we all know I'm totally keeping them (click here to see how I keep them organized tho!).

1. The other side of a pair of lost earrings
2. Scraps of wrapping paper
3. Cards people have given you with no sentimental value
4. Receipts you don't need
5. Ticket stubs
6. Socks with holes
7. Old t-shirts
8. Leftover change
9. Dried flowers
10. Magazines
11. CDs
12. Hair elastics that have lost stretchiness
13. Hair accessories you don't use
14. Shoes that don't fit or that you don't wear
15. Extra photo prints
16. Little knickknacks (designate a bowl and fill it)
17. Kitchen things you don't use
18. Cooking utensils you have two of
19. Tired bras
20. Scarves you never wear
21. Clothes that don't fit
22. Gifts you don't like
23. Old towels
24. Old makeup
25. Old toiletries
26. Old or unused hangers
27. Expired or sample-sized toiletries
28. Extra buttons
29. Expired sauces
30. Toys your pets don't play with
31. Expired medication
32. Dried-up nail polish
33. Bills you don't need to keep
34. Expired coupons
35. Old paperwork
36. DVDs you don't watch
37. Snacks your pets don't eat
38. Damaged clothing you can't mend
39. Stained clothing you can't clean
40. Old prom dresses
41. Scratched nonstick cookware
42. Old underwear or swimwear that's losing its stretch
43. Outdated electronics
44. Rusty jewelry
45. Stockings with runs
46. Pens that don't work
47. Clothing you've outgrown
48. Necklaces and bracelets with broken clasps
49. Cables and wires you don't use
50. Worn-out sheets and bedding
51. Empty or near-empty bottles of cleaning products 
52. Old mending buttons for clothing you no longer have
53. Worn-out bath mats
54. Broken electronics
55. Purses you never use
56. Flatware, plates, and glasses that don't match the rest of your collection, plus dingy children's plates you no longer use
57. Old pillows
58. Worn-out shoes
59. Wedding invites
60. Save-the-dates
61. Wedding favors you don't use
62. Old wallets that you don't use
63. Broken kitchen equipment
64. Spare furniture parts you don't need
65. Furniture manuals
66. Boxes
67. Unused vases
68. Extra tupperware you don't need
69. Old mail
70. Junk mail
71. Travel brochures
72. Bobby pins
73. Old crayons or art supplies, plus markers that have run out of ink
74. Random containers and jars
75. Unused stationery, stickers, and sticky notes
76. Ripped denim
77. Old artwork or old children's artwork
78. Used and ripped envelopes
79. Broken or old iPhone cases
80. Old unused batteries
81. Extra and unused coffee mugs
82. Old spices
83. Address labels for your old house
84. Wrinkled ribbon and bows for gift wrap
85. Cards or gifts from exes
86. Frequent shopper cards you never use
87. Matchbooks
88. Old shopping bags
89. Old calendars
90. Old folders
91. Magnets
92. Clothes that are outdated or from college
93. Broken Christmas decorations
94. Christmas lights that don't work
95. Frayed towels
96. Expired food
97. Computer cords, firewire cord, etc. that you don't use
98. Old and outdated software
99. CDs for old computer programs
100. Old cell phones
101. Hand-me-downs that you're guilt-tripped into keeping
102. Freebie or promotional t-shirts you never wear
103. Old fortune cookie fortunes
104. Old bank statements
105. Old planners
106. Delete email subscriptions from sites
107. Delete emails you don't need
108. Delete unwanted music from your iTunes
109. Extra buttons that come with newly purchased clothes
110. Games that are missing pieces
111. Old schoolbooks you'll never use again
112. Papers you have backed up on the computer
113. Books you've already read and don't want to display
114. Cell phone covers you're over
115. Old manuals to electronics
116. Cell phone accessories you don't use anymore

I found this list on Pinterest here

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

Made this cake for a birthday party - the request was for vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Well I've done lots of that before and wanted to try something different; came across this old recipe from 2/2008 Better Homes and Gardens in my "to try" file and and decided it was time to see if it's a good variation on chocolate frosting...and it is! This will move to my recipe folder for sure, it's a keeper.

Fudgy Frosting

In large pan over low heat melt and stir one 12-oz pkg. semisweet chocolate pieces and 1/2 cup butter. Cool 10 minutes. Stir in 8-oz carton sour cream. Stir in 4 1/2 cups (1 lb) sifted powdered sugar; stir until smooth. Makes 4 cups.

I frosted a doctored up white cake mix with this frosting and it's really rich, thick, heavy, dense (all those kinds of words - I guess that's why they named it "fudgy"!). It's so rich and dense it almost seems like you could roll it in balls and make truffles out of it. So good...if you like chocolate that is, 'cuz it's super chocolatey haha.

For the cake: add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract to a white cake mix, substitute melted butter for the oil, and use milk instead of water. It makes a difference, you'll see! Oh, and I sprinkled a little sugar on the tops of the cake batter before baking to help them not crown in the middle so much - it works to help keep the layers flat so you don't have to trim them before frosting. This combination of cake and frosting was super easy to frost too, not many crumbs and the frosting spread easily.

served with a side of vanilla and chocolate ice cream - see how even and
 flat the layers are? sprinkling sugar on the batter before baking really helps with that.

Kitchen Tip...date your Spices

When I open a new spice or seasoning jar I leave the little paper/cardboard seal attached on one edge and write the date the jar was opened on the paper with a sharpie. That way I know how long it's been open and if it's time to replace it with a fresh one.

I posted 3/1/16 how I arrange my spices - um, alphabetically of course haha - click here if you're interested.

Housework...organizing my garage craft room

Haven't been able to craft much lately because my little space in the garage has been a disaster since before Christmas! Hard to be inspired and creative when I can't even get to my supplies :(. So I spent all afternoon pulling everything out, cleaning, re-organizing, re-arranging, and just generally getting the space back together so it functions better for me.  I've taken over the area in the garage where there is a work bench, peg board for my tools, and garage cabinets to store most of my stuff - it's smaller than my big ole' Michigan craft room (click here for that post) but it works, and it works even better when I keep it clean and organized - I'm excited to get back to making stuff!

Our garage isn't wide but it's pretty deep so I'm able to work in my
craft area without moving a car. This area is also my exercise room -
under the gray mat (it's a bunch of rubber puzzle piece type squares that lock
together and form this big moveable mat) I laid linoleum squares so I can
practice tap dancing (to the delight of the neighbors I'm sure), when not tapping
the gray mat cushions the floor better for working out, lifting hand weights,
doing exercise dvds, whatever I get up the energy to do...

I bought some plastic food containers at the grocery store
to hold all the miscellaneous craft room bits - inexpensive
and works great. I went to town relabeling everything :)

Sarge loves to come to the craft room, I have no idea why since
he just falls asleep every time!

Chicken Enchilada Suizas

I've been making these for a long time, found the recipe in the LA Times and it's a winner! Even better, it's a quick dinner to put together (especially if you go the shortcut route and use rotisserie chicken!) and aren't high calorie - I usually think of Mexican dishes as being all cheesy and not very healthful so it's nice to have this recipe when you want a Mexican hit for dinner without all the calories!

• 1 (16 oz) jar salsa verde (it's green - I always get the mild version but they do have hotter. Don't worry if you see seeds in the jar, at first I thought that meant it was going to be too much for me but it's not jalapeño seeds!)
• 3-4 cups shredded chicken or turkey
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• salt to taste
• 8 (7") flour tortillas (note: I usually use corn tortillas)
• 1 cup low-fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup fat free shredded mozzarella
• 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro for garnish

Spoon 1/3 cup salsa verde into bottom of a baking dish. 

In a bowl combine meat, 1/3 cup salsa verde, 1/2 cup cilantro, and season with salt to taste. 

Lay out 8 tortillas and divide the meat mixture evenly on top, roll up and arrange on top of the salsa in the baking dish. 

Pour remaining salsa verde overtop evenly, spread with sour cream, sprinkle with cheese.

Bake 400' for 25 minutes until heated thru and top just starts to brown.

Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Each enchilada is 256 calories, 8g fat. 

Notes: you'll want to have sauce and sour cream on all of the tortillas or they get dry when baked. I serve this with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and avocado on the side. My mouth is watering, this is so good I ate left overs for breakfast the next day (and Dave ate the rest for lunch)...wish there was more left!

before baking

25 minutes later.

Style a Grocery Store Flower Bouquet

It's easy to make a generic bouquet of grocery store flowers look special by cutting the stems short and arranging in a short vase - they end up looking lush and full vs. plopping them straight from the bundle into a taller vase. I didn't take a before picture but the flowers were the regular bouquet length and when I put them in a standard vase they fell over to the side because the vase is too wide - cut them short though and crowd into a smaller shorter vase and they become much more "done" looking. Easy! I'd guess this vase is about 7" high and I cut the flowers about 14" tall, arrange the greenery that will fall over the sides in the vase first then add the flowers and straighter greenery. Just play with it until it's even on all sides and you like how it looks!

This was made with only one bundle of flowers and look how full it looks - turned out pretty. It's the perfect size centerpiece on our dining room table.

Tip: the water and flowers will stay fresher longer if you remove all the greenery from the stems that are under water. And if you put them someplace cold at night they will last way longer.