Operation: Eat More Veggies!

I have a two year old... enough said?  He doesn't like his veggies....  or really even food sometimes.  So lately we have been hiding veggies and good calories everywhere we can!

Mini-crust-less-keish! I whipped 6 eggs really well, then added finely grated cheese, small pieces of ham, fresh basil, and onions.  These would be good with anything you might find in an omelet. Then we baked and ate!  So Good!


Home Made Spaghetti Sauce!

I might do a more in-depth post on this later, but this really is a family favorite!
First! Saute garlic, onions, oregano, basil in olive oil until soft/translucent (don't burn!!!)  Add fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes (I like the petite-diced, canned tomatoes) and pretty much just cook until you're ready to eat!  You could puree it down if you'd like, but we generally just leave it chunky!

In an effort to add more veggies to the meal I purred in some zucchini....

Kind of turned the sauce orange.... didn't work as well as I hoped.

However!  The next time I made the sauce I just diced the zucchini super-duper tiny (like 1/8th inch cubes) and added them in.  No one seemed to mind and they didn't change the color or taste of the sauce!  Score one for Mommy!

Finally I made this for my toddler's lunch one day.  Apples sliced cross-way (which he surprisingly didn't eat...)  PB&J roll-ups (smash the bread flat, spread the PB&J then roll, add tooth picks and cut into slices) and the cheese chunks.  I think his favorite part was eating with the tooth picks!  Whatever the reason he ate well this meal! Always a plus!  What are some of your favorite ways to get your kids to eat??

Fajitas!

Fajitas!  We are big fans of Mexican food at this house, and this recipe can't be beat for ease and deliciousness-factor!  I got the recipe from HERE but have my own twist (as I love to do!)

The most important part of this recipe is the seasoning, which is homemade, but seriously takes maybe a minute to make!

1 Tbsp chili powder

½ Tbsp paprika

½ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp cumin

⅛ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

½ Tbsp corn starch

I usually mix up a double or triple or even quadruple batch and store it in a baby food jar with my other spices.  SO DELICIOUS!

Then you just slice up your veggies and protein, toss them with a little olive oil in a pan (you can bake them, but I generally just do it wok-style in my frying pan), then when they are about half cooked sprinkle the seasoning on (to taste, you can always add more but you can't take away!) and finish them off!

I like chicken or beef (cut into strips) bell peppers and onions (also cut into strips) cooked all together and lettuce, tomato, and sour cream wrapped up together in a flour tortilla!

This recipe saves well, if there's any leftover!  Enjoy!

Personalized Picnic Table!

 Something that you will learn about me in a big hurry, is that I really like pintrest.  Some days I get stuck on it, but generally I just find really awesome ideas that I like to try!  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.  And sometimes my ideas are tangents of a pintrest idea.  This is one of those.

I found this great table for just $5 at a garage sale....

 

Sort of forgot to take a completely 'before' picture....

And with some inspiration from here,

A can of spray paint (well two...)

 and some old white paint from our walls, a sponge brush, and one nap time ;)

(oh, and a clear-coat)

I give you our new picnic table in our back yard!  Tada!

(I measured and drew the squares with pencil before I painted)

Valentines Day!

I didn't go all out, but I did have some fun with Valentines day!  It all started with Breakfast

French toast+Heart cookie cutter = Valentines-French toast!  

(we also ate the outside edges, because you loose nearly half the toast... however, if you're careful, you have a heart, and a heart outline... all cute!)

For dinner we had V-day mini-pizzas!  I stacked several pepperoni on top of each other and cut them with a tiny heart cookie cutter.  Then I sliced an entire baguette and put sauce, cheese, and a pepperoni heart on each piece and baked them about 350 until the bread got crusty and the cheese was melted :)  Made two meals for us! (me, my husband, and our 2 yr old)  (the idea came from here)

I also had some fun decorating for V-day this year.... something I hadn't done much of in the past.

I got inspiration from here

 

and here 

Only I did it with construction paper and a stapler... then just threaded the hearts (no balls) on jute/twine.  The string was rough enough that the hearts didn't slide around too much.  

Unfortunately I didn't get photos of either of theses items, but they were super easy and looked great!  I'm saving both for next year!

Another fun thing my son loves is 'glittering'!  Essentially, I cut out construction paper shapes and he squishes dollar store glitter-glue all over them.  When they dry I hang them in our bay window to spiffy up the kitchen.  He LOVES this activity, and it is fairly clean... especially when I lock him in his brother's high chair while he does it to confine the mess to a small area (score one for mommy!)

Enjoy!

T-shirt Refashion - Grey

Here's another one!

This is one of my all time favorite shirts, Sooooooo comfy!  But, not super exciting.  Until I found this Tutorial

So I turned this shirt,

into this

Love it!  The girl in the tutorial used fabric glue and a single strand of sequins.  I used a wide, stretchy sequin trim from the fabric store and sewed it on with my trusty sewing machine in a zig-zag stitch (stretches!).  Just make sure you use a coordinating thread and a strong needle!  I had no problems, but lots of people said that the sequins will break your needle, especially if you sew fast!  So sew slow and watch for flying needles!   Enjoy!

T-Shirt Refashion - Purple

 I am a very logical, comfy kind of girl when it comes to clothes.  If it can't be washed in the washer and dried in the dryer, it probably won't find it's way into my closet!  I mean come on!  I have two little kids.  Hardly a day goes by that I don't end up with cracker-goobers rubbed into my shoulder!  But that means a kind of blah closet full of clothes sometimes... and I'm bored!  So with the help of some lace donated by a couple of ladies in my area and some help from here, I turned this shirt...

Very plain, kind of bluh

into this!  I like it much better!  In fact, I rarely wore this shirt before I added the lace!

I simply used matching thread in a zig-zag on my machine to attach it down the front of the shirt.  Many tutorials use fabric glue, but I want my to last longer than that.  One down, a few more to go!

Why I'm Here!

I'm a mom to two beautiful boys who I love oh, so much!  I grew up with just brothers, I was the oldest and the only girl, so I know many of the ins and outs of boys and am quite frankly, more comfortable with boys than girls!  But every girl dreams of having a little girl to dress all cute in ribbons and bows.  Especially the variety who likes to make things with her hands... like me!  So with boys, I have had to redirect a bit and figure out how to be creative with a house full of boys!  If you have boys, you know this is not always easy!  So follow along with me as I try out all sorts of fun boy games, toys, clothes, new foods, favorite foods, and even milk-free (my mom's allergic to milk, so we try new things sometimes), and still some cutesy things that I make for myself or my nieces or even just friends with little girls :)  You never know what you might find!