Taste Test

I stumbled upon this Hungry Girl Flat Out flatbread on my last grocery outing.  There were a few other varieties, but I decided to try the traditional white since I had already purchased our grainy breads earlier in the week.

Actual flatbread on a salad plate

The size is not huge, but it's good for a sandwich or baked pizza.  The taste was good.  The thing that impressed me most was that the texture was smooth and wasn't gritty like some "light" white bread products can be.  These were flat yet somewhat fluffy - like a combination between a flour tortilla and a slice of white bread.  Very good!

I have not been compensated in any way for this review, and I purchased the item myself.

Family Night Pasta Bake

I have seen versions of this dish all over the place, and this is my take on it.


Family Night Pasta Bake

1 pound Italian sausage
1 box penne pasta
1 (15 oz.) jar Alfredo sauce
1 (24 oz.) jar Marinara sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shaved parmesan cheese
Red pepper flakes (optional)

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 Cook sausage until cooked through. Drain and set aside.

 Cook pasta according to directions and drain.

 In a large bowl, mix cooked sausage, both sauces and the mozzarella cheese. Stir to combine. Add red pepper flakes to suit your taste (optional). Add cooked pasta and mix thoroughly.

 Pour mixture into 9 x 13 baking dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

 Remove from oven and top with shaved parmesan cheese.  Bake for an additional 5 minutes.  (Grated parmesan can be substituted, but shaved gives a nice melty texture.)

Serve with garlic bread and a salad, and you're all set.  So simple and tasty!

Easy Quinoa & Mixed Grain Salad

I've only recently discovered quinoa (pronounced "KEEN-wah," by the way).  I had heard about quinoa before, but hadn't tried it until a friend served it at a dinner about a year ago.  I was surprised by how much I liked it.  I'd read all about how good quinoa is for you, but frankly I was a little bit intimidated when it came to actually preparing it myself.

If you're a newcomer to quinoa, never fear!  It is so easy to make.  If you can cook rice, you can cook quinoa!

Here is a recipe I've come up with (tweaked from others I've come across), and it's really good.  There is a secret to this dish...It's great hot, but it's AMAZING cold, after sitting for a few hours in the fridge.

Here's what you need and what you do:

Easy Quinoa & Mixed Grain Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups cooked mixed grains (I used a cup of quinoa and a cup of 5-grain mix of Italian farro, barley, brown rice, kamut wheat & oats).
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced (I used a yellow pepper)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped herbs (I used cilantro, but you can also use dill, parsley, and/or chives)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Juice from 1 lime (I didn't have a fresh lime on hand, so I used about 2 tablespoons prepared lime juice)
• Coarse salt
• Ground pepper
• Garlic powder (optional)
• Season-all (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Prepare mixed grains according to directions.

In medium bowl, toss 2 cups cooked grains with 1/2 red onion, one bell pepper, and 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh herbs.  Add 1-2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil and lime juice, and mix.  

Season with coarse salt and ground pepper, to taste.  I also added a few sprinkles of garlic powder and season-all at the end, to give a little extra flavor.

As I mentioned earlier, this dish can be served warm, right after preparing, BUT the magic is in the waiting.  If you refrigerate this for a few hours or overnight, the flavors will blend into unexpected yumminess!  My family likes this hot or cold.  It works either way!

I served this with pork chops and seasoned green beans for this meal, but it also works as an alternative to rice with Mexican food.  Enjoy!

Easy Chicken Tortilla Bake

I saw a recipe for Easy Chicken Tortilla Bake here and thought it looked pretty easy and tasty, so I tried it.  This was one of the easiest recipes I've ever made, and the entire family (including my picky daughter) all liked it.  You make it in an 8x8 dish, but it goes all the way to the top, so it's a lot of food!

Here's the recipe:

Easy Chicken Tortilla Bake

3 cups cooked chicken, diced 

1 (16 oz) jar Pace Salsa Verde (I couldn't find Pace and just used another brand)
1 cup sour cream plus additional for topping, if desired (could also use reduced-fat)
5 (6-inch) corn tortillas (I used white corn tortillas)
2 cups shredded cheese  (I used a 2% Mexican blend)
Diced jalapeno peppers, optional (I used canned)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8X8 casserole dish with cooking spray.

Cut or tear tortillas into smaller pieces.

Spread half the chicken on the bottom of the casserole dish, top with half of the salsa verde, then half of the sour cream, half of the tortilla strips, then half of the shredded cheese. Repeat layers. 


Cover dish with aluminum foil and baked in preheated oven for 40 minutes. 


Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes, until bubbly. 


Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Top with jalapeños and/or more sour cream if desired. (I desired.)

I served this with a side of zucchini, yellow squash, and onions, topped with black pepper and a little season salt.

So yummy!

Doubling Frosting

I read here that you can whip up your store-bought frosting and it will double in just a short time.

I was skeptical but just had to try it.

I started with a Creamy Supreme Classic White frosting from Pillsbury.

Here it is in the bowl before I whipped it:

And after:

Not sure it quite DOUBLED, but it did increase in volume.  I did notice at the grocery store that the same size can of frosting for the whipped version weighed less than the non-whipped version, though not half as much.  So that tells me that this is a legit tip, in theory.  My only thought is that it isn't doubled, but it is increased (in my experiment anyway).  Obviously if you're adding air to it, it's going to fill it out.  Good tip!

Crawly Experiment for Kids

Photo Source: The Telegraph

I ran across this photo at The Telegraph and was inspired to do a little experiment with my little guy.  Those look like huge colorful globs, but they're really just colored sugar water drops on a paper plate.  (We used red, yellow, green and purple.)

We didn't have this many ants, which was bad for the experiment but good for our backyard.  The original text with this photo said they found the ants preferred yellow and green.  Ours seemed to go for the red, but really they tended to just go for whichever color they came upon first.  We watched for a long time to be sure.

Also, I didn't think the little solid black ants in our yard would look like those in this photo.  However, after they drank for awhile, they did get big ol' bellies that went transparent like in the photo above, and you could easily see the different colors in them depending upon which drop they were drinking from!

While I'm not normally crazy about ants, the little guy and I had a lot of fun with this experiment, and he talked about it a lot.

Journal Gifts

This year I had a total of 15 (yes, 15) teacher gifts to give.  With all those teachers, you might think I have a whole mess of kids.  You'd be right, if you think two kids = a whole mess of kids.  I just didn't want to leave anyone out.  I also didn't want to spend my usual $25-30 per teacher this year, since I'd like to keep my husband's head from exploding when he gets the bank statement.  So I came up with something I thought was pretty cute instead.

First I printed out guided journal pages I found at Grace is Overrated. They're free to print, and they're all so cute and insightful. Since I had so many to make, I took them to be copied at the local office supply store.


You can print them with or without the borders, and with or without the color.  I chose borders with no color so they'd be pretty and the recipient can color them in if they like.

I included this birthday page.

This was followed by a couple of blank pages of card stock for photographs (or whatever).

(I have since found this Day in the Life page and regret that I didn't include it in my gifts, but if I do this project again, this will go in too.)


Each section began with a blank sheet of card stock.

The first batch I made, I had them spiral bound at said office supply store.
The second batch I did, I used the Zutter Bind-it-All and did it myself.

After they were bound, I printed out the words "Journal," "Birthday," and "Photographs."  I cut them out and adhered them to each dividing sheet of card stock.  Then it was time to decorate the covers.  Since I used solid colors for the covers, I just kind of winged it with the decorations.  I cut out a coordinating paper to fit as a stripe along the side.  I inked the edges of the paper, and adhered it to the cover.  Then I added an embellishment or two, wrapped them up, and gave them out!

These would be great for teacher's gifts, a little extra for yourself, stocking stuffers, or just-because gifts for a friend or family member.  Have fun!

Moroccan-Inspired Painted Jar Lantern DIY

Since I had finally tinted a jar (See tinting tutorial here), I needed to do something with it.  I ran across a photo I liked on Pinterest.  This was my inspiration, a lovely moroccan-inspired painted jar lantern for sale on Etsy by Lit Decor.  Since this would be my first time trying this (and since it was an item for sale with no instructions), I knew I'd need to start with a much simpler design.  This one is so lovely though.

Time to make my own lantern.  Here's what I did.

First, gather the supplies.
- Tinted jar
- Metallic puffy paint
- Transparent tape (optional)
- Dry-erase marker (optional)
- Pencil and paper (optional)

At this point I skipped ahead and wired the jar for hanging.  If I do this again, I'll do this step AFTER I finish decorating the jar.

If you want to draw out a pattern beforehand, do that at this point.

You can use the tape to guide you in making straight lines.  I used the dry-erase marker to draw along the edges of the tape for straight lines.  Next time I'd probably not use the marker, but it's up to you.  It comes off easily, so if you do it and don't like it, no big deal.

I also added some large dots to places where the design would peak, so I could keep them somewhat even.

Then I got started with the painting.  Just gently squeeze the bottle and lift away to form little dots with peaks.  Follow the lines if you have them.  Any mistakes can be cleared away with a Q-tip as you go along.

As the design starts to fill the surface of the jar, it gets easier and easier to smear.  Occasionally through the process I dried it with a hairdryer set on low/cool, just to help with that problem a little.

After I finished the painting, I finished off the wiring for hanging, and let it dry.  All done, and pop a votive candle in, and enjoy!

Here's the finished project.

No-Streak Dark Tint for Jars

Streak-free / dark tint

This was my very first attempt at tinting jars, and it was easy and fun!

Here's what I wanted to achieve:
- No streaks
- Easy
- Inexpensive
- Dark tint

From what I'd been reading, to get a really dark tint you might have to go with a glass paint, but it can be expensive and complicated.  Not for my first try, thank you.  I also read that if you use a food coloring method, the darker you go, the streakier it gets.  Not pretty.  So I tweaked what I found and came up with this.

Step 1: Protect your work surface.  I found these disposable changing pads in my son's room while I was cleaning it out over the weekend.  Since he's five now, I think I'm safe using them for crafting now.

Step 2:  Gather supplies.
- A dry, clean, clear jar (this is a spaghetti jar with label removed.)
- ModPodge Gloss
- Food coloring (I used the least expensive food coloring I could find since it was for crafting and not consuming.)  You could probably use gel or liquid coloring.  I used liquid.
- Plastic cup or bowl
- Spoon
- Ignore the paint brush in this photo.  Didn't need it; didn't use it.

Step 3:  Mix it up.  I DID NOT add any water to the mixture.  This was one way my version differed from others I'd seen.  I just poured about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of Mod Podge into a plastic cup and added a lot of food coloring.  For this project I used green with a little blue.  Stir and and add coloring until you get the desired depth and hue.

Here's the color I got.  Remember it will get quite a bit darker after it's heated.

Step 4: Pour the mixture into the glass.  Don't use a paintbrush.  That could cause streaks.  I just dumped it into the jar, but next time I'd kind of drizzle it down the sides and use a spoon to cover the entire inside.

Step 5:  Swirl the jar around until it's all covered, allowing excess to fall back into the cup.

Step 6:  Set the jar upside-down on paper towels or waxed paper to dry.

This part is key. Everything I read just suggested putting it into the oven at this point.  Don't do it.  Let it dry for 24 hours.  I know it seems like a long time, but I think this is part of the key to avoiding streaks.  Know why?  LOTS of the mixture will drain out, even if you think you have a thin layer inside.  You don't want that running around in there while you're trying to set it.

Step 7:  Heat oven to 175 degrees.  Place jar in the oven for 20 minutes.

This is when it will start to become transparent and dark.

Check on it after 20 minutes.  Mine looked good at this point except for a couple of still light opaque spots near the bottom.  So I flipped it over and let it go about five more minutes, which cleared it right up.  Don't worry about the green on the rack in this photo.  It's just a reflection from the glass, not a stain from the process.

Step 8:  Remove jar from oven.  USE POTHOLDERS, because it will be hot at this point!
Now you're all done.  Not too bad for my first try, I think.  I got the dark color and streak-free finish I hoped for, and it was super-cheap to do!