A few Crafts

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I made these bird feeders (below) the other day. I got the idea off of Pinterest. Visit www.eighteen25.blogspot.com for the tutorial! I haven't seen any birds pecking at them yet but there are THOUSANDS of birds across the street in the nature preserve and I know for sure there is a bird living in our bushes. It scared Jimmy when it flew out of the bush when he was putting up Christmas lights in the dark.
 

And then, I took some wrapping paper, placed a piece of wax paper over it and traced out some birds with black puff paint. I let it dry overnight, peeled it off carefully and put it in a new frame I got at IKEA (the frame will be repainted eventually). This frame had two pieces of thin plastic you sandwich your photo between.

Total Cost: $1 (I had the puff paint and wax paper on hand)

I also discovered that these puff paint designs will stick to glass, the wall, paper, etc. without leaving marks when you peel it off. I've already traced a big elephant from a coloring book to put on the wall in Ryan's room. Think: vinyl wall decals but more delecate.

Goal #11: Try 75 new recipes (36 & 37/75)

Last night I made Greek Style Quinoa Burgers. Quinoa is a grain-like crop (actually a seed)closely related to beets, spinach and tumbleweeds (according to Wikipedia). More info here! Great source of protein.


As far as meat-free burgers go, these were pretty tasty! I'm on the fence with the yogurt sauce though. Greek yogurt is a little too tangy for my taste. I think it's more tangy than sour cream. But Greek yogurt is more healthy than sour cream!

Here's the recipe!

Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers 

• 1/2 cup rinsed quinoa
• 1 medium carrot, cut in large chunks
• 6 scallions, thinly sliced
• 15 ounces great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• Coarse salt
• Ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 pitas (each 6 inches)
• 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced diagonally

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring 3/4 cup water to a boil; add quinoa cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook until liquid is absorbed, 12 to 14 minutes; set aside.
2. In a food processor, pulse carrot until finely chopped. Add cooked quinoa, half the scallions, beans, breadcrumbs, egg, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; pulse until combined but still slightly chunky.
3. Form mixture into four 3/4-inch-thick patties (dip hands in water to prevent sticking). If too soft, refrigerate 10 minutes to firm. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium; cook burgers until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes per side.
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, and the remaining scallions; season with salt and pepper. Serve burgers in pita topped with cucumber and yogurt sauce.

 *Notes: I used FAGE Greek Yogurt. It is very thick! I over mixed the mixture after adding the beans. I only have a food chopper so I chopped the carrot, scallion, and quinoa then I chopped the rest separately. I should've done everything but the beans and just mash those with a fork. I also added garlic salt and onion salt and dill weed to the yogurt to give it a little more flavor.

Ryan ate half of his burger, all of his cukes, tomato and pita bread. I have to deconstruct things for him to get him to eat it. I think he likes to know what all he's eating.

 --------------------------------------------------------------

Tonight I made Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Roll Ups that I found on Pinterest. These were a big hit with Jimmy. Ryan ate about half of a roll up. Super easy!

My computer's acting up now so I'll just give the link.

Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Roll Ups

*Notes: I added Italian Seasoning to the filling. Cooked the chicken in water seasoned with a chicken bouillon cube, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper. Then I cooked the noodles in the same water to give them more flavor. I also added some Italian Blend shredded cheese on top.

Goal #11: Try 75 new recipes (34 & 35/75)

I tried two new recipes today.

This morning I made these little gems. Mini cinnamon rolls! They are called 8 Minute Mini Cinnamon Rolls but they take longer than 8 minutes. Especially when you have a 2 year old helping. Ryan loves helping out in the kitchen. He got to sprinkle on the brown sugar.

I added a little bit of vanilla to my icing. Also, you can get crescent dough sheets so you don't have to pinch the seams together. I just rolled it out a little bit.

I can't say these are as good as the Cinnabon cinnamon rolls you get in a can but they are definitely good and easy to make.

Tonight I made pork chops. Ryan calls them chop chops. I recently got a cast iron griddle/grill to use on the gas stove. The grill makes wonderful pork chops!

Normally I make a marinade for the pork chops with mustard (spicy or yellow), red wine vinegar, garlic, olive oil, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.

But tonight I used this recipe.

Even though I didn't marinate for 2 hours (more like 30 minutes), the pork chops came out juicy and delicious.

Goal #11: Try 75 new recipes (32 & 33/75)

Goal #11: Try 75 new recipes (32/75)

I forgot about two recipes I tried recently. One was not edible - salt dough for ornaments. My sister got Ryan a toddler art book for his birthday that had a recipe for salt dough.

4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 3/4 cup warm water. Mix together and knead for 5-10 minutes. Roll out and cut your shape and let air dry or bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes per 1/4".

I halved the recipe (which the book said was ok!) but I had to add more flour. We made Ryan's handprint, Lucas' handprint and a few stars, angels, and a Christmas tree. I baked these but after about 10 minutes they started puffing up. The only thing that turned out was Ryan's hand and I kept two of the stars even though they puffed up. I only baked the items for 30 minutes and then let the ones I kept air dry for several days.

Ryan painted them and hung them on the tree yesterday.

Some of the other recipes I've seen have said to bake them at a lower temp (250 or so) for longer. Maybe they won't puff when baked low and slow. I think next time I'll just air dry them so I don't have to worry about ruining them. I still need to go back and redo Lucas' handprint. I think there might be a recipe for salt dough in my family cookbook.


Goal #11: Try 75 new recipes (33/75)

Super easy recipe I got off the side of a bag of pretzel rods.

Pretzel Rods
Chocolate Chips
Sprinkles

Melt chocolate. Dip pretzels in chocolate and let sit a minute. Roll in sprinkles and stick them in a cup with the "handle" of the pretzel down. Place in refrigerator until completely set.

Ryan and I love eating these!

Several Goals and a cracklin' craft

Goal #40: Watch the sunrise

This morning Lucas decided he was ready to be up at 4:30 and Ryan was up at 5. We've had our front windows open since that is where the Christmas tree is. I noticed this morning as we were sitting in the living room in the dark and the sky started to get this beautiful shade of red. I immediately thought "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning!" The news is calling for snow tonight.

After the sun came up I was messing around with my camera and taking pics of the tree.

I like this one better.

Ryan grabbed the iPod and started taking pictures of me taking pictures of him and the tree...

Goal #70: Repurpose 5 items (2/5)

I found a tutorial on how to crackle paint with glue HERE. Yep, that's right, good old Elmer's Glue. On the tutorial they did the crackle technique on wood. I wanted to try it on glass so I used some baby food jars. My thoughts were that I would get a cool looking jar and put some succulents in it to place on a new shelf we got last weekend for our sunroom.

So here's what I did...

You need at least 2 colors of paint. One for the base layer and one for the top layer. You will see the base layer through the top layer.

I used acrylic paint and it stuck beautifully to the glass.

Next you paint on the glue (not pictured above). I used Elmer's Glue All since that is all I had (you'll see later that this was too thick).

You let that dry for a few minutes until it's tacky. Then you paint your top layer right over it.

Here's what it ended up looking like. I'm going to try again but this time I will thin the glue down with water and thin down the top layer of paint as well. The brown paint was really thick so I thinned it down. Although it didn't crackle like I wanted it the brown cracked the most. I'll let you know how the second set turns out. 

Goal #82: Put up 3 new pieces of art in the house (3/3)

I found this subway art at Home Goods last weekend. I really love it. We put it up by our breakfast table. I think these are some good words to live by for both Jimmy and I and the kids.



Goal #53: Cook 3 things from every cookbook I own (16 & 17/?Haven't counted yet)

My wonderful mom sent me a package with lots of goodies in it the other day. Well, actually she sent me two! I was very excited to get this-

after my post about going to a shooting range. It's my old bow and some arrows. She is very thoughtful and always full of surprises. It's a wee bit cold to shoot outside but I've heard there are some ranges in the area besides the one at Bass Pro Shop.

She also sent me a new cookbook. It is the Southern Living 2011 Annual Cookbook. I've already made two recipes out of it. If she keeps sending me cookbooks I'll never complete this goal. (I do love them though mom!!) I really need to count and see how many I have.

Goal #53: Cook 3 things from every cookbook I own #16

Baked Potato Soup (Link)

This was so easy! Since I didn't have to peel, cut and boil the potatoes it was so much faster than the recipe I usually use. I did add diced carrot and celery and I added cheese (cheddar and some Italian blend) in when I added the milk. I fried up some bacon and crumbled it for a topping along with green onion and a few fresh parsley leaves. Delicious and easy! A winner!

Goal #53: Cook 3 things from every cookbook I own #17

Chicken-and-Tortellini Salad (Link)

I made this last night and although the salad is very pretty, I wasn't a big fan. I guess I realized that I don't like that much fresh parsley. 1/2 cup is a little much for me. Jimmy didn't complain but I could tell he wasn't totally digging it either. Oh well. You never know if you will like something if you don't try it right?

Goal #97: Buy something solar powered

We were at Home Goods the other day and Jimmy saw this cute little dog. It's preatty neat and Ryan loves it too. There is a green light inside that is solar powered. The body of the dog glows at night and then turns off during the day on it's own. He's inside right now but eventually he'll make his way to the front porch.

Goal #79: Pay for someone's order behind me at a fast food restaurant. & Goal #50. Listen to every CD I own once all the way through

Goal #79: Pay for someone's order behind me at a fast food restaurant.

I was at McDonald's the other day sneaking in a McFlurry while the kids were sleeping in the car. I noticed this elderly couple behind me in the drive through. The man was driving and he was so cute. I could barely see his little wife over the dashboard. When I pulled up to pay I told the cashier that I wanted to pay for their order too. As I was pulling out of the drive through and around the side road to leave I saw the lady looking way up and out of the car at me. I gave a nice wave and I was off.

I hope someone will take care of my grandparent's like that one day.


Goal #50. Listen to every CD I own once all the way through 

This took me awhile but since we haven't been watching much TV I've been listening to a lot of music. When I first got my iPod I put every CD I own on it. I haven't bought many others since then so they were all on the iPod. I started at A and went all the way through the alphabet in order of artists. I can't say I enjoyed everything I listened to but most of it was good. Some songs Ryan asked to listen to over and over again. Brass Monkey was one and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus was on there but not part of an album - just the song. I don't think I could listen to a whole Miley album...

Now, back to Pandora.

Goal # 59: Go bowling (& take Ryan)

Jimmy went back to NC this past week to be with the movers as they packed up our house. I tried to think of some new things I could do with Ryan so we weren't sitting around the apartment for 4 days. I thought this would be a good time to go bowling.

Now, I haven't bowled since before Ryan was born. It has been at least 3 years and I certainly didn't do it with a 21+ pound 5 month old on my hip either.

We went on a day that was rainy and cold. Perfect indoor activity but actually getting everyone out of the car and inside was a challenge. We all got soaked. Oh well.

We got our shoes.

Mine weren't anything special but they had the cutest little toddler bowling shoes for Ryan. Mini bowling shoes! Adorable!!

We got our bowling balls.

Ryan got a 6lb. ball. The smallest I could find and I think I got a 9 lb. Probably a good thing I got a lighter ball since I couldn't support it with my left hand. That hand was busy...

We got a ramp.

They had a cute little ramp that looked like a dinosaur. It wasn't like these other metal ramps (that are actually kind of tall for a kid). It was hard plastic and had a little lip on the top so Ryan could set his ball there without it rolling down until he was ready.

I got my camera ready. Snapped a pic. BEEP! No flippin' card! What the heck? How did I forget that?

It's ok. Jimmy wants to go again soon. So we'll get pictures then.

I either forget my camera all together or forget the card or the battery is dead! I don't carry my big camera bag around and that has all my extras in it.

Ryan did really well. He was able to carry his own ball to the ramp each time and send her on down the lane. This is a good game that teaches "taking turns". On my turns he had to stand at the end of the ball return and wait until his turn. By the end of the first game he was getting disinterested but ended up bowling in the low 90's (with the bumpers).

I bowled a 98. Got 2 strikes and a few spares. All done with Lucas on my hip. Low score, I know. It's been 3 years though!!! Jimmy laughed at me when I told him the scores.

Just wait Jimmy, I'll beat you next time we go bowling!

Goal #44: Fly a kite

If you can believe it, I have never flown a kite in my life. I've always seen people on the beach flying them and wanted to try. And old neighbor had a parafoil but I never actually got to take control of it.

We got a Toy Story box kite this weekend. Jimmy and I wanted to get this Blue Angels Jet kite that had two handles (stunt kite) but we let Ryan get the one he wanted. Trust me, we tried to talk up the jet kite but he wanted Woody and Buzz....When we brought it home all we heard was "My Kite!" and "Open Dis!" since it was still in the packaging.

After Ryan's nap yesterday we went to a soccer field by the highschool that was open and no power lines close. The Weather Channel said that the wind was blowing 10 miles an hour. This particular kite needs at least 7mph winds so we thought we were good. The wind was not constant. We had to wait, and wait for some gusts and then try.

Ryan liked holding onto the string but he liked holding the kite better. After awhile he said "All Done!" because he just wanted to play with the kite and not let it fly!

When it was my turn, I got the kite up pretty high. Higher than these pics. Jimmy was tending to Lucas...

The pull on the kite string was pretty strong even though the winds weren't. It was really neat.

We were out there pretty close to dusk and I thought the sky was beautiful.

Goal #77: Complete a coloring book

I reverted back to my childhood and finished an entire coloring book. I picked out a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book at the Wal-Marts for $1.00. I love their dollar books. There are quite a few pages in the books. I get these for Ryan once he's destroyed, I mean, artistically scribbled his little brains out on the previous one.

I colored this book in my spare time when the kids were napping or sleeping. Ryan likes Mickey and I knew there would be a fight if he saw me coloring in MY book, because afterall, it's really HIS (in his mind).

I thought this activity would be more relaxing than in was. I just ended up stressing over what colors the characters' clothes were supposed to be and worked out my hand cramps after each page....

Here's some of what I did.

Goal #48: Go to a shooting range

This afternoon we were at Outdoor World Bass Pro Shop just down the road. I brought the camera knowing there was an archery range but it didn't make it into the stroller.

After we looked at the aquarium, animals, hats and coats we headed upstairs to the archery range.

I grew up shooting a bow. I think I started shooting around 3 years old with a little plastic recurve in our backyard in Colorado Springs. Is it crazy that I still remember my address there and we moved when I was 5?

In middle school, I joined the archery team for one year and had fun doing that. I haven't shot a bow since then.

I asked the guy in the archery department if I could try it out again and he got me set up with a compound bow. I remember my mom's bow being a 40lb. pull but I wasn't sure I could pull that so he set it up to 35lbs. and I could barely pull it. I'm glad the compounds have a little give once you pull it back a certain amount. Recurves don't, so you are holding back however many pounds until you release.

I got the bow, set up the arrow, took my stance, drew back the string, aimed and released. OUCH!!!! I thought I remembered having to keep my left elbow locked and the guy assured me I didn't need a guard. Uh, yeah right! I popped the mess out of my left arm. Luckily I had on a long sleeved shirt so it wasn't as bad as it could've been. The guy told me I need to keep my elbow bent a little to keep it out of the way of the string. Well, when I did that, I couldn't keep the string pulled back. I'm weak. I tried again and got it. I released without pain that time.

So the lesson was, elbow bent with a compound, elbow straight (use a guard) with a recurve.

This experience brought back fond memories of target shooting with my dad and sister in our backyard in Colorado Springs and in Fruita, CO.

All the while, Ryan thought he was going to get to shoot a bow too and was throwing a fit for Jimmy. I asked the guy if he had a child's recurve that we could try. And he did.

Ryan was so excited! I told him he had to follow my directions or he wouldn't get to do it. He listened very well. He didn't quite understand that you had to look where you are shooting. I stood behind him and held my hand over his on the bow and helped draw the string back. I tried to get him to lock his thumb on his jaw but he kept backing away. I asked if he was scared and he said "Uh huh!" 

We counted 1 - 2 - 3 go! The bow wasn't strong enough to even make the arrows go into the target. They just bounced off and Ryan would yell "POP!"

On his last arrow, however, we did get it to go into the target. We thanked the man and were on our way. Ryan kept saying "Bow" and "POP" on the way home.

I hope that when Ryan's at least old enough to string his own recurve that we can share this activity.

Fall Activities and Goal #73: Milk a cow

We took the kids to Bengtson's Pumpkin Farm today. When we drove up there were hundreds of at least a thousand cars in the parking lot(s) surrounding the farm. We went ahead on in because I told Jimmy the closer it got to Halloween the busier these places would be and if we didn't go because it was busy then we'd never go.


The little gourd farm we went to last year was super low key and not busy at all. This place was a mad house! There was a lot to do and see and don't get me wrong, it was really fun! Just crazy busy. That place must make a KILLING! It was like going to the fair!


There were piles of pumpkins everywhere!

And a giant rocking chair.

Ryan loved all the tractors. 

I thought this was a really cute idea. Hopefully we can go back next year. The measurement is wrong (about 2" under) though because the ground was a little dug out under the sign from the traffic.

We went on a hayride. It wasn't near as fun as the one at the gourd farm. It didn't even go into the woods. We did get to see the "Punkin Chucker" though. It shot pumpkins about 200 yards.

The hayride stopped by one of the pumpkin fields and we got out to take pictures.

There was a "Bengtsonville" set up with a firehouse, school and jail.

Ryan was scared of the fake fireman.

So he would run by him to the (ahem) fireman's pole.

The kid jail was cute!

And the guillotine.

Ryan wanted to go on the "bee side" translation: big slide. It was 90 feet long.

Wheeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

They had a simulated milking cow.

We all took a turn. And this fulfills goal #73 of milking a cow. I'm pretty sure I would not make it on a farm. If milking a cow was really as hard as milking this one, we would never drink milk. The udders were this rubbery stuff and I can't imagine a real cow's udders being that hard. Unless it's cold out...

They had a petty zoo too. Jimmy bought some carrots for Ryan to feed to the animals. I didn't get to go in but the pictures were cute!

Ryan picked out a pumpkin to bring home. He calls them puckins. And since he's 2, in the dawn of self centeredness.....MY PUCKIN!!!