Dottie F. Bunny

My Pinterest board is filled with patterns for "amigurumi" (Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures. I had to google that!)  but I'm not that great of a crocheter - even though I've been doing it my whole life I tend to stick with squares and rectangles - so I've been intimidated to try making one of the cute little animals. I did manage the bunny egg cozy yesterday tho (and the cactus, not an animal hahahah but still, little stuffed crochet pieces all sewn together) and I'm also inspired by "Dottie F. Bunny" that my BFFE Mary made me for my birthday, so I'm going to try something a little harder now...I'm thinking an owl or a turtle, I'll let you know how it goes.

Anyway, about Dottie. Mary did a class on making this adorable bunny and apparently it wasn't very easy to do - hence the "F." in Dottie's name (you decide what the "F" stands for LOL); then she sent it to me with the nicest note that made me cry (besties know how to do that) - one of my favorite gifts ever! Check out the tail! I love this so much.

I don't knit - Mary tried to teach me, and Tesha had her friend try to teach me, but it's hard! Way harder than crocheting...that's why if I'm going to attempt my own amigurumi then it has to be crocheted not knitted. If you do knit are you now tempted to make a cute animal? I can ask Mary if she still has the pattern if anyone is interested.

One year ago: Mark from Paul's Photo shows hot to museum hinge mat your photos
two years ago: boneless coq au vin (basically a chicken stew)

Bunny Egg Cozy

Have a headache (and not a "drank too much" headache!) so took a lazy day (sort of like a "personal day" or "mental health" day if I was working outside of the house, but since I'm at home I'm calling it "lazy day" haha) ...put away all the shamrock crap and almost got rid of the leftover Irish bread and Irish cream bundt cake (both of which were a big hit btw) - my plan was to throw them both out but couldn't do it, they can stay one more day and then I'm pitching them! Anyway...now that St. Patrick's Day is behind us it's time to start thinking about Easter - can you believe it's almost Easter already?!

I was surfing for Easter ideas and came across this egg cozy project on Joanne.com - and even though I am a grown-up I'm still a sap for cutie little stuffed animals so I gave this a try. And it turned out super cute! It took me about an hour and he makes me so happy I'm planning to make lots more in different colors - either I'll send them to the fam, or use them as table decoration/party favors for Easter dinner.

This crocheted bunny has an opening in the bottom that is big enough to slip a plastic egg in, I'm going to fill the egg with little candies before putting the bunny cozy over top of it. The yarn gives the egg stability and will stand up without rolling over - seriously, this is too cute.

3 crocheted pieces - the body and two ears. you'll also need a couple beads for the eyes and a plastic egg, along with scissors, yarn, and a big needle.

after sewing the ears to the body, make a pompom tail
(I just wound yarn around a credit card about 50 times. carefully pull it off the card
and tie a long piece of yarn around the middle, pull tight and tie in a knot.
cut the loops and then trim to an even ball)and attach it to the back.
then sew the beads on for eyes and a triangle of yarn for the nose. 

bunny tail... obviously. 

This reminds me of the crocheted cactus I made for Kelly a few months ago, click here for that post. Not as cute as the bunny Mary knitted me of course - I just looked and don't think I ever posted her adorable bunny "Dottie"!! I can't believe it - I will show you tomorrow because if you're a knitter you totally should make one!

I saw this project on Joanne.com, get the crochet directions here.

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Now that St. Patty's Day dinner is over, do you have lots of leftovers? Here is an easy, quick way to use them up - make soup!

I don't have a recipe, just wing it based on what your leftovers are...I start with putting a little oil in a big soup pot and sauteing some diced onion until translucent; if you don't have cooked potato and carrot leftovers but want them in the soup I'd dice up some raw and add with the onions until they are softened. Anything else you want to add that isn't pre-cooked (celery, garlic, whatever), add to the onion mixture at this point - when it's all softened add chicken broth (enough to make a pot of soup!), and then once it's hot add chopped up pre-cooked leftover potatoes, carrots, cabbage and corned beef. Let it simmer on the stove for a while so the flavors all meld together. That's it!

PS: don't add salt until you taste the finished product - the corned beef is so salty it might be enough. You can also add other seasonings if you want - thyme, bay leaves (remove when you're ready to eat the soup), parsley, and pepper would all taste good.

Shamrock Plant

I bought little tiny shamrock plants as decorations for our St. Patrick's Day dinner tonight, and then I'll send them home with guests as party favors. I love shamrock plants - I grew my first one from a leaf that our friend Al gave me (he gives them out every year, literally just a leaf with its stem wrapped in wet paper towel), he said to put it in a glass of water and wait for it to grow roots (which it totally did!) and then plant it. Sure enough, a few months later I had my own full shamrock plant! It produces pretty little white flowers that close up at night, and has clover shaped leaves - perfect for St. Patrick's Day of course, but also a pretty houseplant the rest of the year.

Gotta run - I've got corned beef in the crock pot, make-ahead mashed potatoes on the stove, Irish cream bundt cake in the oven...it's a busy morning! Have a fun day everyone (and good luck with that green beer. Just sayin')!

Felt Shamrocks

I had an idea to make shamrock flowers to decorate my table on Saturday (St. Patrick's Day dinner) so googled for some examples...didn't really find anything I liked but saw a few felt shamrocks and thought they'd be cute at everyone's place setting. I followed the directions I found here, but changed them a bit by tweaking the shape to get them how I wanted them to look, but they still weren't perfect - the centers looked a little rough and I could see the glue...what to put in the middle tho? Aha - how about a shiny lucky penny?

You need 4 leaves, see picture for the shape - they are about 2" square and sort of shaped like a tooth (do they look like teeth to you? or maybe a heart with the bottom notched?) and then a thin strip for the stem.

Pinch the bottom notches together and glue. I started with Elmers but that was taking too long to dry so I ended up getting the hot glue gun out and then they were done pretty much instantly.

 Glue 2 of the leaves together, repeat. Then put the stem in between and glue all pieces together.

 These look fine like this, but I finished them by hot gluing a shiny penny to the middle. These are so quick and easy to make that I'm making a few more so everyone at the table can have one! I'm thinking I'll place one on top of a napkin on everyone's plate before dinner.

one year ago: green tassel earrings
two years ago: leprechaun coloring page

Corned Beef Dinner

This is a repeat - but not because I'm not feeling well or making things this time...it's because this is a tried and true recipe and I make it every year! So in case you missed it in the past and are looking for a very easy dinner for St. Patrick's Day, here ya go!



I love corned beef and cabbage and have been making this crock pot version for years, easy and always delicious. I used to put potatoes and carrots in the crock pot with the corned beef but last year I did some in the crock pot and some in the oven, and everyone preferred the oven roasted ones over the crock pot. So this year for our St. Patty's Day party I will roast them all instead (toss with olive oil and coarse salt and put in a 400' oven until they are done). I'll still add some carrots to the crock pot though in case that helps flavor the meat.  I really really love the cabbage part of this meal so I always buy and cook too much to fit in the crock pot - I steam it by itself on the stovetop.  Here is the original recipe:

CROCK POT CORNED BEEF

4 lb. corned beef with seasoning

1 cup water

1 cup guinness (enough liquid to fill 1/2 way up or so)

2 bay leaves

1 t. extra cloves

cook on low x10 hours.

add carrots last 4-5 hours

add cabbage last 3 hours (if you're adding to the crock pot)

I don't have pictures of this but it just looks like a traditional corned beef and cabbage St. Patrick's Day meal :). 

Irish Cream Bundt Cake

I've made this bundt cake before and it's yummy - so I think I'll make it again for this years St. Patrick's Day dinner we are having on Saturday. Note I leave out the pecans because of Dave's allergies but otherwise just follow the directions:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix (omit if your cake mix already has pudding in it)
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur (like Bailey's)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
•  1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325'. Grease and flour a 10' bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur. Beat for 5 minutes at high speed. Pour batter over nuts in pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish. Prick top and sides of cake. Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake. Allow to absorb glaze, repeat until all glaze is used up.
4. To make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur. 

Note: I prefer to invert the cooled cake onto a different plate or rimmed pan while glazing - the glazing will run off and pool on the plate and you can scoop it up with a spoon or brush and keep glazing with the run-off until it's all absorbed. Then CAREFULLY transfer the cake to your serving plate. That way the serving dish doesn't have glaze all over it...You need a couple wide spatulas to transfer it - it breaks easily. Sorry I don't have a picture, it looks like a bundt cake tho so depending on if your pan is decorative or not will determine what it looks like! 

Shamrock Suncatcher

My kid blog helper (ahem, Brooke) is awol so I made a kid craft by myself! This is very easy and quick, and if you have washi tape on hand it's cheap too ;)

Trace the shape of a shamrock on a piece of thicker plastic - like a sheet protector, see the heart sun catcher I made here for example, I used a heavier plastic envelope that was on my desk because I was too lazy to walk upstairs for a sheet protector! - and cut it out. Layer different washi tape strips across the shamrock shape and then trace around the shamrock to remove the excess tape. Poke a hole in the top, add some twine and hang in the window. Easy!!

one year ago: shamrock butterflies

Layered Paper Shamrock

It's the week before St. Patrick's Day and I just decided to have friends over for corn beef and cabbage to celebrate - so of course I need to make a few decorations (I call making decorations "another reason to have a party" - along with hanging with my friends I also love to have a party just so I can make stuff!). I googled for some ideas and was inspired by this project - as usual I ended up changing a few things and I love how it turned out. I took tons of pictures which might make it seem harder than it is - this isn't hard and didn't take very long.

You'll need:

-strips of paper in 3 different colors/patterns

• 7 strips cut to 2" x 8" (mine are white)
• 7 strips cut to 2" x 10" (note I used 7 different patterns)
• 7 strips cut to 2" x 12" (mine are green)

-glue stick or other adhesive

-hot glue

-paper circle for support, mine is 2 1/4" diameter

-stapler (unless you have more patience that I do waiting for the glue to dry!)

-length of ribbon to hang it

-optional: letter beads, gold washi tape

Directions:

Stack one long strip, one medium strip, and one short strip of paper - glue the bottom ends together (about 1/2"). Fold the short one back on itself (you can glue it to keep in place or just hold it), then the medium one, then the long one. I stapled the bottom of the loops together instead of waiting for the glue to hold (you won't see the staples). Make a total of 6 loop bundles.

Glue 2 loop bundles together to create a heart shape. Repeat for a total of 3 hearts.

For the stem: fold the remaining long strip at 5" from the left and 5" from the right, so there is a 2" space in the middle. Fold the remaining medium strip at 4.25" from the left and 4.25" from the right so there is a 1.5" space in the center. Fold the remaining short strip at 3.5" from the left and 3.5" from the right so there is a 1" space in the center. Layer them and glue (or staple) the ends together. (See the picture). Oh, and I put the middle piece of paper in upside down! You can't see the pattern so it looks like there are 2 whites and a green in the stem...oh well.

Glue the 3 looped bundles/hearts and the stem together using the paper circle in the center to give the edges something to stick to. I ended up using hot glue to get them to all attach, regular glue didn't cut it.

To finish, I cut another paper circle, stuck a piece of glittery gold washi tape in the center and hot glued the letter beads on top. Then glued the whole thing over the circle that's anchoring the shamrock (you could also glue on the backside, which would then make it the front side).

I didn't think of it at the time and followed the inspiration project directions to attach a ribbon to the back for hanging - but the paper shamrock is too heavy and hung forward awkwardly! So I removed the ribbon and stuck the ribbon ends down into the center of the top and hot glued in place. Now it hangs correctly. If I make this again I'll glue the ribbon in between the top two loops before gluing them together!


one year ago: blueberry chutney
two years ago: shamrock shake recipe

Instant Pot Love (and a creamy chicken pasta recipe)...by Jen

Since I didn't feel good all week I finally sat down to clean off the hundreds of emails I was ignoring - and came across this one from my sissy at the beginning of February! I can't believe I didn't see it before now, I NEVER pass up anyone wanting to guest blog for me :). So even though she references Valentine's Day it's still a good post and I'm totally using it now...hope she didn't notice that I didn't post it weeks ago! I have yet to jump on the Insta Pot craze, but she's making me think about it with how easy and delish this pasta recipe sounds! Here's the post in her words:

Ok.. with Valentine’s day coming I have decided to blog about my newest love.  I am definitely in LOVE.  Yes I love my husband, my kids and my family but this is an all new kind of love.  I am in love with my new Instant Pot.  I heard everyone rave for months and finally gave in.  I have to just say WOW.  Not disappointed.  So not disappointed I decided to write a blog for my sister about it!

With me being the master chef that I am, I decided to start simple.  Hard boiled eggs.  WOW.  Yes I know I anyone can boil water.  The thing is that you have to stand there and wait for it to boil and then time your eggs just right.  With the Instant Pot I put the eggs in, pushed the buttons and BAM.  Perfect eggs.  Oh and I didn’t have to watch them.  I put them in, started it came back and BAM.  Eggs.

With my new found confidence I moved on to steamed veggies.  Ahhh  that was more complicated.  Too long and they were mush, too short too crunchy.  After 3 tries I have it mastered. 2 minutes is perfect for me. (and quick release the pressure to stop the cooking). 

Well, last night I moved on to Pasta.  This was the reason I bought the Instant Pot in the first place.  With the promise of adding sauce and dry uncooked noodles and walking away.  That is basically what I did. 

I perused online recipe’s to find one simple enough for my skill level.  I couldn’t find one so I combined a couple that looked good.  I have to say it was easy and delicious.  Thus my new proclamation of Love. 

Rotisserie Chicken – pre cooked from the deli, cut off bone into cubes

I box of Rotini pasta

I can of enchilada sauce

1 ½ cups water

Half a block of light cream cheese

1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese

Place the can of enchilada sauce in the pot, add dry pasta and water on top.  Water should just cover the noodles.  Put the cubed chicken on top.

Cook on manual in the Instant Pot for 4 minutes.  

When done do “quick release” of pressure for Al Dente noodles and add cubed cream cheese and cheddar cheese and stir until melted.

I put this pasta over the top of previously cooked vegetables (but my kids did not)..  I didn’t cook the vegetables in with the pasta as I was afraid they would be too mushy so I cooked those in the pot previously as noted above.

So if you would like to fall in love this Valentine’s day grab a pot and this recipe.  XOXO