Silly Bands

Silly Bands, Silly Bands, Who's Got the Silly Bands???



My kids are obsessed with them. I hope they aren't the only ones. (I doubt they are though since just about every kid i see has them lined up their arms)

My kids just got a few more of them with their own money this weekend.

They decided to be nice and share with their little brother. He didn't seem to care about them either way. (though, he's only 4 months so i wasn't expecting a huge response to it. lol)

But, here they are, posing together showing the camera their bands!!!

Does that mean i'm a part of the "in crowd" since they gave me the "dumb girly ones" to wear????

Stuffed Squash

It's Summer Time!!! Yellow squash from the garden.... I can't wait for the tomatoes and zucchini to be ready. I made this for dinner the other nite... It was fabulous! I thought I would share. Normally I wait and make stuff zucchini, but this worked just as well!

Stuffed Yellow Squash

(the amounts of each item just depends on personal taste and the amount you want to make)
Ground Sausage (Breakfast or Italian)
Onion
Garlic
Green pepper
Tomato
Egg
Croutons
Yellow Squash or zucchini
Cheese
Salt and Pepper

Brown sausage in skillet until cooked through.
Dice onion, garlic, green pepper, tomato, and half of small squash. - approx all the same size
(you can peel the squash a little if you feel you need to.)
Put all together in Large bowl.
Add an Egg, and crushed croutons to the mix.
(i crushed mine pretty small, but you could do just a rough chop to get little pieces or use small croutons. you could also use bread crumbs if you didn't have croutons)
Stir in shredded cheese
(this time i used a combo of Parmesan, mozzarella, and cheddar because that's what i happened to have.... but, play with this. a few different combos could be really good.)
Season the filling with salt and pepper.
(this time i also added a few crushed red pepper flakes and some season salt. play with the seasonings that you like)
Put the bowl aside.
Cut the squash in half lengthwise, and with a spoon hollow out the middle.
(Mainly just getting the seeds out, leaving a bowl shape.)
see pic below:


Sprinkle a little olive oil over them and season with a little salt and pepper.

Take your mixture of veggies and meat and spoon as much as you can into each squash.
(I pack mine as tight as possible cause i really like the filling)


Place in the oven at 375 for about 30 mins.
(keep checking. the smaller ones only took about 25 mins. The larger ones needed a little extra time to get soft enough to eat. You want the squash to be soft enough to put a fork into.)



The last 5 mins I pull it out and sprinkle a little more cheese on the top.


Perfection.
This recipe is great for changing around. I like to add different things in there depending on what is ready in our garden... You could certainly change up some of the seasonings to make it taste a little Italian. Add or take away flavors depending on heat preference and veggie preference.
I think next time i might had a little rice to the mix and make it more like stuffed peppers...
We'll see how that one turns out.
I think i prefer it with the zucchini... but, the yellow squash was great this way.

Father's Day Present

This is my version of this Father's Day present.
I showed that site to Christina, my bro's girlfriend, and we decided to do it our own way.

I actually wanted a round one. (like a small hat box) but i couldn't find one anywhere. (there isn't a craft store around me...) But this one worked fine.



We used sand paper to rough up the outside. Then i modge podged the paper around the container. Christina and I used my cricut to make the letters. One side says Nuts. and the other side says Shells. (this is the part that would've looked better had the container been round.) Then I modge podged over top of it all.

For the lid I used sand paper, then actually spray painted it first before adding the paper. That way the edges would match instead of the green it was.


On the inside i just cut some cardboard to make the separation. Then i modge podged the matching paper on it for good measure...
I just used glue dots to secure it down and keep it in place. That' was totally Christina's idea and it worked great!

it didn't turn out like i wanted, but it works for the purpose it holds...

Good thing my dad isn't too picky!

Eating for Real

Jaison is 4 months. Yes, he is eating. Yes, its real food. Yes, he is a mess...
This is his first time eating out of a spoon.

He's not sure if he likes it yet. sometimes he is okay with it. other times he just wants a bottle!

Pork Tenderloin

I've never cooked Pork tenderloin before. I like pork... but i generally don't like cooking it. I can never get it to cook right, and it ends up dry.

however, my hubby brought home a pork tenderloin to try. so we did.

We found a receipe online at foodnetwork.com however, i can't find it again.

and we changed it a bit anyway...

Can i just tell you how easy it was... and it was so good!

we slathered in tenderloin in garlic, rosemary and tyme. then wrapped the whole thing in prosciutto. I didn't think to take pics until it was already wrapped.


we baked it in the oven for about an hour and a half...

(we used a meat thermometer, so we took it out when it was done.)

It was so juicy and delicious! even the kids liked it.

next time i share a receipe, i'll be sure to actually have the receipe.

coasters

So, I made some coasters. I realized i needed some when i saw rings in the wood of my nightstands. All the humidity in the air makes the cups sweat, which makes a circle in my wood... Hence the reason i needed some coasters. I'm too cheap to buy any. So... this is what i did...

I had a few old tiles from Lowes. They were about 10 cents a piece. I hot glued some felt circles on the back. I had some left over from when we got hardwood floors and I had to put it on all our furniture...if you don't have these, you could always make your own felt pads with some material scraps.

I used some material scraps and traced the tile.

Then I mod podged the tile. Laid the material down, waited for it to dry a little then mod podged over the top. I actually did several coats on the top.

They turned out really well. They work great. and it didn't cost me hardly anything to do. you could take it a step further and make your coasters match your bed covers or curtains... but, like i said ... i'm too cheap and just used whatever scraps i had. I'm sure you could also do some embellishments too, but i'm going with the simple, user friendly coasters. besides. i have to talk the boys in my house into using them. do you think i'd be able to do that if the coasters were covered in bows and flowers??? LOL

chalkboard tags update

What do you think now that it has the chalk on it. I personal love it!

I'm thinking about doing some decorating in the kitchen... maybe i'll use this as my inspiration.

Now if i could only get the chives to grow! lol