Ribbon Mask Leash

Well here I am a year later still making masks and mask leashes! You might not be wearing masks anymore, or maybe in a more limited capacity and won't care to hear anymore about my mask making hahaha, but I still wear mine and it usually has a leash on it to make it a tiny bit less inconvenient. 

I saw this white ribbon with black hearts on it at the craft store and thought it'd make a good leash. Cut a 30" length, hand sew a snap at either end - snaps come in two pieces, I placed one part of the snap at 1/2" from the end, and the other part of the snap at 1.5". Put the end of the leash over the mask strap, fold it and snap the two pieces together. 

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

Tip-sy Tuesday: microwaving baked potatoes

Tesha gave me this tip for making baked potatoes in the microwave and I've done it 3 times this past week because it works so good - and it makes for a quick easy lunch (even tho bake potato lunch 3 times a week might not be the most diet-friendly hahaha!). 

Let me back up a sec - we were talking about what she was having for dinner and she mentioned making microwaved baked potatoes and I said that even tho I do microwave potatoes I don't like how they usually turn out, with the weird shriveled chewy hard ends and the middle usually not soft enough. That's when she told me how she does it:

Clean and poke the potato a couple times, rub it all over with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Wrap completely in a paper towel; microwave 5 minutes; remove from microwave and completely wrap with foil. Let sit on the counter or wherever until the middle is cooked thru (obviously you don't put it back in the microwave with the foil - once you wrap it, leave it out somewhere and the heat of the potato wrapped in foil lets it continue to cook outside of the oven). 

I can't remember if she told me there's a standard time for letting it continue to cook while in the foil, so far I've only had to wait 10-15 minutes and the potato has been perfectly cooked! Yay, good tip 👍

PS: I confirmed with Tesha about how long to keep them in foil until they're done - she said she doesn't really pay attention to how long, just leaves them on the counter for a while and they stay warm for a long time in the foil. 

PSS: I made these in the motorhome and set them on the counter. We then decided to go out to eat instead because it's like 1,000' in Florida and mosquitos were attacking us. Came back an hour and a half later, when I went to put the potatoes in the fridge they were still warm! To make 2 potatoes at once I microwaved for about 9 minutes before wrapping in foil. This also works with sweet potatoes, but don't oil or salt the outside. 

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

Tater Tot Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Jen's M-I-L made this and my sis was nice enough to get the recipe and take pics - it sounds great, doesn't it? I mean hello, she had me at the title - what's not to like about tater tots and sausage haha! 

Only other thing she had to say, after it's delicious, is that they would have liked it with hot sauce (but they like things spicy!), and she might try adding onions and peppers. 

• 2 lb. hot breakfast sausage
• 1 (30-32oz) bag frozen tater tots
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 t. pepper
• 1/4 t. garlic powder
• 1/4 t. onion powder
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350'.

In a large skillet, cook sausage until no longer pink. Drain fat.

In a large bowl, toss together tater tots, cooked sausage, and cheeses. Pour into a lightly greased 9x13" pan.

Whisk together eggs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and milk. Pour over tater tot mixture.

**cover and refrigerate at this point if baking later**

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until eggs are set.

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

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 9)

Dear Campers ~

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

2/20: 🔥 week 8

2/21: mardi gras masks

2/22: TT removing t.p. holder from the wall

2/23: Mexican hot chocolate cookies

2/24: MSIH: olive garden chicken

2/25: Brooke's steak sauce

2/26: oops - I missed a day! 

What's Cooking ~

• meatloaf, steamed green beans, mashed cauliflower
• chicken enchilada suizas, lettuce/tomato/avocado salad
• lasagna casserole (recipe to follow), caesar salad
• grilled steak, air-fryer steak fries, sautéed mushrooms, steamed spinach
• shake and bake pork chops, butternut squash, chopped kale salad
• leftover - fend for yourself night

Quick recap today - we have been busy driving to Florida to camp for a while and I see that I missed scheduling a post while we were traveling. Hopefully once we get settled in I'll pay more attention hahahha. Hope everyone had a great week - stop back often to see more projects, recipes, etc. whatever else I can think of to make at Make My Day Camp - while camping LOL. Bye!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

2.27.21: irish coffee

2.27.20: goldenrod

2.27.19: samoa sheet cake

2.27.18: quinoa salad

2.27.17:  make a beaded bauble ring

2.27.16: tomato pear chutney

Steak Sauce by Brooke

Brooke sent me this recipe for a homemade steak sauce after she and a friend made dinner for the family (the whole dinner - grilled the steak, made potatoes and asparagus too!). Jenny told me that it's so good she dipped everything in it - asparagus, potatoes, you name it hahahha. I will make this in the near future, it sounds great, and I'm super impressed that Brooke made it! Here's what she did, in Brooke-ese hahaha: 

hey guys! today i made steak and a really good steak sauce to dip it in! 

Its 1/3 cup mayo

1/4 cup bbq

2 tbsp spicy brown mustard

pinch of paprika

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

tsp tabasco (to taste)

lemon zest

mix it all together. its so delicious. i hope you give it a try and love it!

2.25.21: tater tot casserole (lightened up)

2.25.20: organize curly ribbon

2.25.19: double bed skirt

2.25.18: potato tacos

2.25.17: old fashioned (cocktail)

2.25.16: photo scavenger hunt

MSIH: Olive Garden Chicken

Jen gave me this recipe she saw on FB and I made it for another 'My Sis is Hungry' review, I seriously had my doubts about cooking chicken in olive garden salad dressing along with cream cheese and parmesan but whatever, the recipe sounded good to her so I couldn't/wouldn't be blamed if it turned out gross! Here's her review, in her words, recipe follows. 

I cant believe something that had such “simple ingredients” was so amazing.  Well let me be clear- I’m assuming it was simple ingredients because my sister told me if I wanted extra sauce (the husband likes it “saucy”) to just mix olive garden dressing, cream cheese and parm cheese. I didn’t have Olive Garden dressing but I did have Italian.  Anticipating it would be too dry (it looked dry) I mixed up some extra sauce in advance. I reheated it and we decided to try it first (before adding sauce) and OMG.  It was SO GREAT.  The noodles absorbed the sauce so it didn’t need extra at all.  The flavor was packed into the noodles and chicken.  We LOVED the shredded chicken- I’m assuming my sister didn’t buy rotisserie chicken and shred that but that’s what I will try when I am going to make this myself.  Her chicken was amazing though- great flavor, we liked that she left it in bigger chunks so it made it more filling.  We did try to put extra sauce on a couple bites just to see if we liked it and we didn’t like it as well. The sauce flavor actually over powered the delicious flavor it already had so really didn’t need extra. I also don’t eat a lot of pasta so I went looking for a veggie to mix in.  I was hoping to mix in broccoli to try that and unfortunately didn’t have any so ended up with green beans.  Nope not a good addition at all. HAHAHA.

Lesson learned to perhaps eat the meal as my sister has prepared it, she apparently knows what she’s doing.

 

In summary, we loved this.  The husband gave it an 8 ½ which is high praise from a tough critic.  Yum.

 

OLIVE GARDEN CHICKEN

Spray the crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Lay 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot. Add 2 cups Olive Garden salad dressing. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper all to taste. Top with 1/2 cup shredded parmesan and 1 block (8 oz) cream cheese. Cover and cook on LOW 5-6 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. Once the chicken is done shred it with 2 forks right in the pot with the sauce. Stir in another 1/2 cup shredded parmesan and a box of cooked noodles. 

my notes: I watched the TikTok video and she doesn't give amounts so I winged it. There were probably too many noodles but there was enough sauce to nicely coat them. I feel like Italian dressing would work just as well - the Olive Garden dressing I bought at the grocery store says "Italian" underneath. 

PS: oops - naturally I forgot to take a finished picture!! Picture noodles with shredded chicken in a creamy sauce. 

click here for the recipe found on facebook

2.24.21: jammer cream scones

2.24.20: St. Patrick's day flower wreath

2.24.19: 🔥

2.24.18: fringed lampshade

2.24.17: formula for having short hair

2.24.16: baked salami chips

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

I came across this doctored up cookie mix recipe the other day when I was looking for red velvet cookie recipes; it calls for Abuelita hot chocolate tablets which I'd never heard of so I decided to pass making them. The next time I went to the grocery store I thought I'd just see if they carried it and sure enough they do. So what the heck, even though Dave hasn't eaten all the cookies from last week I thought I'd make them hahha. 

The box contains 6 'tablets' (which seem more like disks to me), individually wrapped. To make hot chocolate the directions say to heat 4 cups of milk with 1 tablet. For my cookies the recipe is to melt butter and 1 tablet together, I thought I should break the tablet apart to make melting easier but nope, that puppy is super hard so I gave up and put the whole thing in the pan and it melted just fine. 

Here is the very easy recipe, give it a try - these cookies turned out great. They are crunchy and chewy at the same time, and the cinnamon-sugar coating puts them over. Terrific!

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tablet Mexican hot chocolate drink mix (from 19 oz package)
• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz.) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
• 1 egg
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and set aside. 

Melt the butter and chocolate tablet together over low heat until melted, stirring constantly. 

Put the cookie mix in a bowl, stir in the melted butter mix and egg until a soft dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips. Shape into 1" balls, roll in the cinnamon-sugar. Put on parchment paper lined cookie sheets about 2" apart. Bake at 375' for 10-12 minutes or until set (be careful to not overbake). Cool on the pan for 3 minutes, transfer to wire racks. Store at room temperature in sealed container. 

note: I used my medium scoop which is a little bigger than 1" and baked them at 350' for 10 minutes

recipe found here betty crocker 

2.23.21: TT cleaning shrimp hack 

2.23.20: 🔥week 8

2.23.19: turkey tetrazzini 

2.23.18: random acts of crochet

2.23.17: frozen cooked chicken

2.23.16: how to separate eggs

Tip-sy Tuesday: removing a toilet paper holder

Last February I posted about changing up my laundry room (click here for that post), but I forgot to share a tip I learned from LeDonna - how to remove an in-wall toilet paper holder (I was just going to wallpaper around it but she showed me how to remove it and it's easy). Yep, I've been holding onto this gem for a solid year and just now feel like the time is right to share hahaha. 

Remove the roll of t.p. and there are 2 long screws behind where the roll hangs, they are about 4" long. To get the holder out of the wall, unscrew them but not all the way out - loosen them enough to pull the holder away from the wall. There is a metal piece at the top and bottom that holds it in place between the front of the drywall (the part of the holder you want to see) and inside the wall - tip the holder forward and down until the top metal piece comes out, then tip back so the bottom piece comes out. The holder and the back pieces are all one piece - I didn't know that. Well actually,  I've never thought about it but if I had I wouldn't have known - and now you know too! 

a year later and I'm still loving the wallpaper!

2.22.21: unstuffed cordon bleu

2.22.20: bacon-infused vodka

2.22.19: oatmeal face scrub

2.22.18: homemade tortilla chips

2.22.17: white chocolate macadamia cookies

2.22.16: making dreamcatchers

Mardi Gras Masks

I posted this in 3/20 but it's such a cute easy project that I thought I'd revisit it (I know, I know, yes I did a whole month of re-runs in January and shouldn't be doing more re-runs hahahah but I wanted to remind you of this in case you want to make them this year!). After sharing the Shrimp Étoufée recipe last week I remembered making these for decorations at our Fat Tuesday dinner. 

These paper masks are very easy and quick to make - just google a free mask template, cut out of  cardstock and decorate to your hearts content. Fun for Mardi Gras, but this is a super cute craft for any time - and a perfect kid craft! I glued on feathers and sequins, then made other lines and decorating with glue and glitter. So easy. So fun. So silly. What's not to love about this one?

I just used these as table decorations, but if you punched a little hole on either side and added a thin elastic cord you could totally wear these. I'm also thinking for a future party it'd be fun to cut out a bunch of masks and set out a table of decorations and let everyone design their own - wonder if I can get the guys to join in?!

2.21.21: 🔥 week 8

2.21.20: Miss Lori's flower arrangement

2.21.19: yarn wrapped jars

2.21.18: snickerdoodles
2.21.17: cleaning baseboards
2.21.16: three cheese potato gratin

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 8)

Dear Campers ~

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

Posts ~

2/13: 🔥week 7

2/14: red velvet cookies

2/15: tip-sy tuesday:  storing felt

2/16: baked crispy chicken and potatoes

2/17: national random acts of kindness day

2/18: msih: morning glory muffins

2/19: shrimp etoufee

What's Cooking ~

• steak, roasted baby potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, caesar salad
• grilled tuna, greek salad with roasted garbanzo beans (tuna, cukes, feta)
• meatloaf, mashed cauliflower, roasted green beans
• crab legs (cleaning out the freezer!), coleslaw, sourdough bread 
• pork chops, roasted butternut squash, roasted broccoli
• grilled chicken, mixed rice blend, green salad

That's it for this week, I'm still working on the 'In Death' series of books, I'm in the low 20's now - only 30 more to go hahha. Oh, I'm also reading the abridged version of 'The Princess Bride" - I have never read it, loved the movie of course and so far am love, love, loving the book! I've laughed out loud so many times, it's making me want to rewatch the movie to see how close it follows the book! Anyway - hope everyone had a good and creative week; stop back often for more crafts, recipes, whatever I can think of to make at camp! Bye!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor 

2.20.21: grapefruit cocktail

2.20.20: TBT french dressing

2.20.19:  rainy day casserole 

2.20.18: unfinished project day

2.20.17: make a mason jar salt pourer

2.20.16: lucky cat martini