Tip-sy Tuesday: steamer basket hack

This isn't a great picture, but it is a very clever solution to how to steam without a steamer basket! This is from Mary - she wanted to make steamed artichokes and improvised by putting a metal colander in a large pan of water (make sure the colander fits inside the pan so the steam doesn't escape from around the colander) and topping with a lid that fits over the veggies. Smart, right? So if you are steaming cabbage tomorrow for your St. Patrick's corned beef and cabbage dinner and don't have a steamer - give this a try!

3.16.19: St. Paddy's 2019 Plan
3.16.18: felt shamrocks
3.16.17: green tassel earrings

3.16.16: leprechaun coloring page 

Leprechaun Veggie Tray

 My sis sent me this picture and says she's making it for St. Patrick's Day dinner - I cannot wait to see how this goes hahahha. Yes I'm making fun of her, but she pulled off the cute Santa cheese plate so I bet she can handle this! I'll show you a picture of how hers turns out, but wanted you to also have the idea ahead of Wednesday in case you are equally inspired to copy it! 

3.15.20: 🔥week 11

3.15.19: stuffed zucchini

3.15.18: corned beef dinner

3.15.17: caramel chocolate chip cookies

3.15.16: Irish creme delights

🔥Around the Campfire (week 11)

Dear Campers ~

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

Posts ~

3/7: 🔥week 10

3/8: foam shamrock indoor wreath

3/9: TT: shamrock plant

3/10: crock pot corned beef dinner

3/11: shamrock pretzels

3/12: paper leprechaun by Brooke

3/13: pet poison prevention week

What's Cooking ~

• panko crusted butterflied shrimp, couscous, steamed green beans 
• grilled chicken, cauliflower gnocchi, caesar salad
• pork chops, butternut squash, roasted asparagus
• grilled chicken sausages, orzo salad, wilted spinach
• beef stew, green salad
• burger salad
• chicken green enchiladas, salad

Miscellaneous stuff keeping me busy ~

• started a tiny indoor planter to grow basil, it has a little light overtop to encourage growth. We'll see. 
• read 'Winter Street" by Elin Hilderbrandm #1 in the series. A somewhat dysfunctional family together at Christmas in Nantucket and most of them are having some sort of crisis or issue - but other than maybe 1 or 2 characters they are all pretty likable and you do root for them, there's not much closure by the end of this first one but it's still a satisfying ending point. It left me wanting to read the next book, which I guess is the point of having a series haha. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Have a great week - hope you'll stop back often to see more of what happens at camp next week!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

3.14.20: bloody mary rim salt

3.14.19: Jen's Hello Fresh review

3.14.18: irish cream bundt cake

3.14.17: rope covered curtain rod (poll)

3.14.16: ribbon bracelet

Pet Poison Prevention Week 3/15- 3/21

I posted this last year and it's important to know how to keep our animals safe so I'm doing a repeat! If you're a pet owner, or just love furry friends, this is good info to have. 

3/16/20:

March 15-21 is pet poison prevention week. So today I'm sharing some info I got from the AKC regarding potential springtime poisons you might want to keep in mind. Click here to see a list of things you might not realize are dangerous for our furry friends. Among the hazards are:

• mulch, fertilizer, and compost
• insecticides, pesticides, snail bait
• spring flowers including tulips, daffodils, crocus, and shamrocks
• household cleaning products

Good to know! Gotta keep the Sarge safe (and Lucy the bird may be more sensitive to some aerosol cleaners - didn't realize that).

3.13.20: copycat shamrock shake

3.13.19: island cupcakes

3.13.18: shamrock sun catcher
3.13.17: shamrock butterflies and paper garland (why did I post two that day? hmmm...)
3.13.16: crock pot corned beef 

Paper Leprechaun by Brooke

Hey guys! Today my friend made a Leprechaun for St. Patrick’s day! She used paper, scissors, glue, and Googlie eyes! First she traced and cut out her hand for the leprechauns beard/ hair and cut out a head, mouth, eyebrows, nose, and a hat. She glued it all together.  First she glued his face and hat all together. Then she glued the face on top of the hand cut out (or his beard) then glued his hat on top! So easy and so cute!

3.12.20:  TBT: St. Patrick's day luncheon and Green Pea Soup recipe

3.12.19: TT: single cupcake container

3.12.18: make a layered paper shamrock using decorative patterned paper
3.12.17: blueberry chutney (delish with pork tenderloin!)
3.12.16: copycat shamrock shake

Shamrock Pretzels

My sis sent me this idea last year but I didn't get around to making them , and of course forgot all about it. I found it again while going thru photos the other day, so made a mental note to get the ingredients (you know my 'mental notes' are pretty pointless, I really need to write it down!).  Seeing pretzels today at the grocery store reminded me that I wanted to make them, grabbed the 3 things I needed, came home and put them together in just a few minutes. How cute! I'm going to individually bag them and take to tap class (along with eating one. or two. we'll see hahaha). 

You'll need small pretzel twists, pretzel sticks, unwrapped rolos, and green m&m's. 

Preheat oven to 250'. Put a piece of parchment paper or a silpat on a cookie sheet. Lay out 3 pretzel twists and 1 pretzel stick to form the shamrock. Place a rolo in the center; bake for 3 minutes. Remove from oven, top with a green m&m and gently press it into the rolo. You'll want the rolo to spread a little bit so it'll stick the pretzels together and keep the shamrock shape. I used the end of a big skewer to press them down and not get chocolate all over my fingers - the chocolate stays melty for quite a while, after pushing the m&m's down go back thru and adjust the pretzels tighter together to help them hold their shape. Pop the tray into the fridge until the chocolate is set. That's it!

3.11.20: grilled scallops with chili-lime cream sauce

3.11.19: carpet freshener

3.11.18: instant pot love (and a creamy chicken pasta recipe) by Jenny

3.11.17: create a baking center

3.11.16: shamrock garland

Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage (and carrots and potatoes too!)

I'm pretty sure I post this identical recipe every year around this time, but it's so good I don't want you guys to have to be googling recipes and wondering how to make this easy dish - you can trust this one, I promise! For the past few years we've bought the corned beef at Costco, I get the kind that has the seasoning packet included and I follow this recipe in addition to the directions they have on the packaging:

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 add potatoes to the crockpot, over the years I've found people prefer either roasted potatoes or mashed potatoes; same with the carrots - I put some in the crockpot but I also roast some in the oven. I can never fit the cabbage in the crockpot so I usually cut it into wedges and steam it in a large pan on the stovetop. Click here for more info on how to prepare the rest of the meal. 

I don't have pictures of this but it just looks like a traditional corned beef and cabbage St. Patrick's Day meal :). But it has great flavor, promise - never too fatty or tough. Mmmmmm. So good! 

3.10.20: TT: hidden bank by Brooke

3.10.19: 🔥week 10

3.10.18: pots of gold

3.10.17: makeup brush holder by Brooke

3.10.16: creative photo class - portraits

Tip-sy Tuesday: Shamrock Plant

I posted about shamrock plants back in 2018, there's a good tip in the post that I'm repeating in case you missed it, or forgot (says the woman with the worst memory!):

You can grow more shamrock plants by taking a leaf from an existing plant, put the stem in a glass of water until it roots, then plant it. For real, it works! A cute idea is to buy a plant for your St. Patrick's day table, then give out single leaves (wrap in wet paper towels) as little St. Pat party favors. 

Here's the original post in it's entirety:

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')!

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)

Foam Shamrock Indoor Wreath

Any plans for St. Patrick's Day? Can we even have plans for St. Patrick's day? I'm not sure what's allowed and what is still off-limits or frowned upon! Whether you're home alone or not, you might want an easy quick decoration to jazz up the day - I came across this indoor wreath I made in 2016 and thought I'd share again. You can whip this up in a matter of minutes (after sawing the foam in half that is!) - I was at the dollar store a couple days ago and they still had lots of these felt shamrocks so it isn't too late to make this!

3/2016:

I found all the supplies to make this cute wreath at a dollar store - check out how simple and inexpensive this is to make:

All you need is a styrofoam wreath, pre-cut foam shamrocks, ribbon for the bow, something to hang it with (I used a zip tie, you can use anything - a chenille stem, ribbon, twine, wire...), and adhesive (I used hot glue). 

I wanted the wreath base to be flat on the side where I was gluing the shamrocks - not rounded,  so I sawed the styrofoam wreath in half with a serrated knife. If you can find one already flat on one side get that, it was kinda messy sawing the styrofoam but it's totally do-able.

Attach whatever you are using to hang it with at the top, and tie on a long piece of ribbon at the bottom before you start gluing on the shamrocks. 

Lay down the first row of foam shamrocks, alternating colors and which way they are facing and glue them down. Add 2 more layers the same way. 

To finish, tie or knot the ribbon however you like. I looped it back and forth 4 times and tied a small piece around the center to hold the loops in place. 

3.8.20: 🔥week 10

3.8.19: sew a fabric wallet (fyi - I still use this all the time, so handy)

3.8.18: wire-wrapped ring
3.8.17: Andes mint cookies
3.8.16: easy art for St. Patrick's day decor

🔥Around the Campfire (week 10)

Dear Campers ~

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

Posts ~

2/28: 🔥week 9 

3/1: ribbon bracelet

3/2: TT: no-stick foil tip

3/3: red and green enchiladas

3/4: Brooke's TikTok Pasta

3/5: pre-spring wreath

3/6: double barley posole

What's Cooking ~

• red and green enchiladas
• lemon-paprika chicken with couscous and garbanzo beans, steamed green beans
• pork chops, greek broccoli gratin (recipe soon), sweet kale salad
• baked walleye, roasted asparagus, coleslaw
• chicken tikka masala (Costco), cilantro lime rice, steamed broccoli
• grilled flat iron steak, baked potatoes, roasted veggies

Miscellaneous stuff keeping me busy ~

• read 'Charlotte Figg takes over Paradise' by Joyce Magnin - her writing style reminds me of Fannie Flagg which I enjoy, about a widow who moves to a trailer park and brings together the community with her band of misfit neighbors. Decent read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• read 'Winter Prey' by John Sandford, #5 in the series (#4 Silent Prey wasn't available yet so I skipped one, I'll get to read #4 Silent Prey this week). This one is seriously twisted and I read it so fast - had to find out what happens. Creepy killer in the middle of the winter trying to control who has knowledge of the child porn and sex ring he's part of might not sound like a good plot but it is very well done, suspenseful, good characters, good action. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Also read 'You Had Me at Hockey' by Kelly Jamieson. I put this one on hold a few weeks ago after it popped up in my 'suggested books I might like' library list, just because I love hockey hahah. I knew this would be a romance novel which I rarely read and even more rarely enjoy, and I was right - it's cute, young NHL player meets social-media influencer who knows nothing about hockey and they hit it off. Let me give you a heads up tho, there are quite a few fairly graphic sex scenes (I forgot to tell you she's a virgin when they meet but that is soon no longer a story point hahah) mixed into the cute story! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• had another order for masks, yay!

That's about it - hope everyone had a great week and will stop by often for more crafts, projects, recipes, whatever else I think of to make at camp next week! Happy Sunday!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

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