Quinoa Butternut Squash & Spinach Risotto

I found this quinoa risotto recipe this week and gave it a try tonight.  I made a few modifications to the recipe and it still turned out delicious:

• Replaced onions with celery, and peas with frozen spinach.
• Used powdered thyme instead of fresh.
• Skipped on the goat cheese, sage, and walnuts

This was easy and super healthy.  Now I just have to convince the kids to eat it.

PS - I kinda miss my sewing machine.  I think I'll work on a couple projects this week.

Yummy Yummy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie

I LOVE chocolate chocolate chip cookies.  Feeling kinda confident from the Bakelab, I found this super easy recipe on Allrecipes.com.  We reduced the recipe in 1/2 and make 24 cookies.  The Piggie and I whipped it up in no time.  Also, I baked on Pampered Chef stoneware bar pan.  I had to increase the cook time to 14 mins per batch.  Boy oh boy...these were delicious : )

Fun ring and earrings

I made these a couple days ago when my supplies from Snapcrafty arrived.

I used industrial strength adhesive - E-6000 (sold at Home Depot, Joann's or Michael's) to glue the flowers onto the ring and earring posts.

They're just too cute!

I thought these would be a nice compliment to the flower hair pins I made a couple weeks ago.

Free Sample of Valspar Paint

Got my free sample of Valspar Paint today in the mail.  You can get yours too here.  I can't wait to find something to paint.  Actually, I already have something in mind, it a matter of finding it.  Here's a peep at what I want to paint.

Zucchini Soup

With inspiration from Gina's Skinny Recipes, I whipped up a batch of soup totally on the fly for lunch.  I used:

•  1 package of fresh zucchini from Trader Joe's, chopped
• 34 oz box of chicken stock
• 2 carrots chopped
• 1 med onion chopped,
• 2-3 cups of water
• salt & pepper to taste

I haven't been drinking my V8 and thought this would be a great way to get my veggies.  I paired it with a ham & swiss cheese quesadilla for lunch.  Now I have some left overs for a couple more meals.  Nice and warm soup for this wacky cool weather.

Mod Podge Rocks!: $1 Mod Podge pennant art table.

Mod Podge Rocks!: $1 Mod Podge pennant art table.

This is a great idea for a kid's craft table. Now I'm itching to head out to local thrift stores so I can make one too!

French Macaroons at Bakelab

Yesterday in celebration of my friend Tania's birthday, we spent the afternoon at the Bakelab learning how to make french macaroons!

We were partnered up 2 per workstation.  

Here's our ingredients set out for us to measure out.

This is an industrial sized food processor.  We hand to process the almond meal with the powered sugar to get a fine consistency.

 This is the marshmallow-y texture you need to get the meringue whipped to before adding the almond meal and powdered sugar.

 Then you just fold the mixture and pipe onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

 This is Kristin, our teacher and owner of Bakelab.  She was great.  Not only did she teach/show us how to bake, but educated us on the science of how baking works with these little delicate treats.  Besides macaroons, she does classes for a number of different treats.  You can check them out on her website.

 And here's our cookies out of the oven...

 on the rack to cool off.

For the sake of time, Kristin pre-made the chocolate ganache and brought a jar of strawberry preserves for us to sandwich.

I feel very confident that I can turn out a batch at home.  Can't wait to try it : )

Valentine's Day Cookies

I picked up heart shaped cookie cutters this week at Michael's for $1.99.  Using the cream cheese sugar cookie recipe on Blonde Designs (via Homemade by Jill) and store bought frosting, I whipped up a batch of these.  What's great about the recipe is that you can make the dough ahead of time and stick it in the fridge.  The recipe yields more than 24 cookies.  The Piggie had a great time decorating with sprinkles.  The cookies are delicious.  This will be my go to recipe.  Thanks Blonde Designs!

More Desk Blotters

Remember what these looked like when I first got them? You can see it here. Since I knew I was going to use a lighter colored fabric for my sister's blotter, I wanted to make sure the car parts don't show through. I primed the entire thing before adhering the orange and white graphic print.

For the Piggie, I painted it with cheapie Joann's acrylic paint, then coated it with Mod Podge.


I wasn't too concerned about the spreading the Mod Podge evenly since it all dries clear anyways.

The initial intent was to use this for her watercolor painting, but I'd have to varnish it to be water proof. So, for the time being, it will simply be for her to draw and use as an over sized place mat.