Tasty Tuesday/Quesadilla

    I'm going to be honest right off the bat...I almost canceled Tasty Tuesday this week.  Which I hated but until today I had not cooked anything worth writing about.  What I did come up with is nothing fancy but that is nothing new right!?  I have a friend who has been talking about how she has been making quesadillas a lot in a skillet....we have seen those quesadilla makers and considered buying one but never did and definitely never thought to make them on the stove.  So I questioned my friend for details and did some online research and pretty much what I heard all around is that a quesadilla is a tortilla with melted cheese on it....filled with whatever you want.  Yeah...leaves for a pretty open window.  So I thought and thought and tried 3 different mixes today...all of which were fine and good but one stood out for sure.....

Ingredients that "I" used!
Wheat Tortillas
Shredded Cheese (Mexican mix)
Canned Chicken (10oz can) (I really do buy real chicken I promise!)
Chopped onions
Garlic powder
Pepper
Olive Oil (I'm sure you could use vegetable oil but I was trying to be healthier today!)
Salsa

Canned chicken is good in a crunch and since I didn't really have any specific plans, that worked best for today....and to be honest I think in this case it worked just as well as the real deal.  I combined 1 can of chicken, chopped onions, garlic powder, pepper and enough olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of a skillet) in a skillet.  I sauted it for a little bit....It started sticking to the bottom of the skillet so I stopped! 

I set this mixture aside as I covered the bottom of a skillet with olive oil, placed a tortilla in the skillet and covered it w/ cheese, a layer of the chicken mixture and then a layer of salse (I drained some of the salsa so it wouldn't be too juicy).  Fold the tortilla in half and brown each side.

I also made plain cheese and a couple of just cheese and chicken but the cheese, chicken and salsa quesadillas were awesome! 

It should look all melty like this


Gregory (the 22 month old) received a cheese and chicken quesadilla that he loved and once allowed to dip it in salsa juice he was over the moon!  He loves sauces!
The hubby and I very much loved the quesadillas that had cheese, chicken and salsa and I will be making these again!


Inspired by Tasty Tuesday



Parties I'm Attending:

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

More the Merrier Monday


Manic Monday

Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Potty Prizes

    I think it's high time that I share with you our potty prize jar.  This was mentioned October 24 here.  Why in the world did it take me this long to share this with you?  I have no excuses, it's been done and in use for months now, I just simply was busy sharing other projects with you.  I have tons of new projects to share but figured I really needed to share this one with you all.  We still are not full blown potty training.  Gregory peepees on the potty and sometimes poopoos on the potty....totally randomly.  He has a speech delay and I haven't felt that he is ready but when he does go he should get rewarded so he knows it's a good thing!

The kid LOVES MMs....I mean really..don't we all!?  In the post from October I was trying to figure out the best phrase to put on the jar and I decided on Gregory's Potty Prizes....I have decided that it's important for Gregory to see his full name as much as possible, maybe it will help him to recognize it, read it and write it one day.


Lets get started

First I painted the lid to my jar white

Put green polka dots on it w/ round sponges

Blue stars w/ a stencil
Then I clear coated the lid

I used foam letters which I glued b/c the sticker adhesive wasn't cutting it.  I put googly eye balls on a few of the letters to make it more fun.  I wrapped a striped pipe cleaner around the neck of the jar...a few dots of glue to hold it into place.

I painted some polka dots and stars around it to match the lid.  On the ends of the pipe cleaner I glued a couple of blue painted puffs.

                                                                            Front

Filled the jar up w/ MMs and it's a super fun prize jar!

                                                                              back



Inspired by Peeing in the Potty



Parties I'm Attending:

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

More the Merrier Monday


Manic Monday

Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Applique Pillowcase

So as stated before I have been super busy with Gregory's birthday coming up in just over 2 months now.  Today I'm going to show you birthday gift #1 that I have completed.  I'm so excited to share with you a pillowcase I made to go with the bedroom linens I'm making for Gregory.  I'm still not sure at what point he is supposed to move up to a toddler bed but hey...the crib is the same size so he can start useing them whenever!  I showed you where I made Gregory a pillow and pillowcase with matching fleece blanket for Gregory for Christmas here.  Well this pillowcase will fit that pillow.  I had not done an Applique before this Applique Pillowcase but I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was....I made it into a scarey monster in my head!!!

So here we go......

I made this pillowcase at the same time I made the Mickey Mouse fabric pillowcase...which was in like September or something so I wasn't blogging then and made a mistake....  which was making it before I did the Applique I planned to do on it.  Oh well...this story does have a happy ending anyways!

Unlike some of you lucky ducks I do not have any fancy gadgets like cricuts.  I have a computer w/ a printer...so I printed out the letters + some extras that I was going to need to spell out "Gregory" onto cardstock paper.

I pulled out my awesome Xacto knife kit my hubby got me for Christmas and cut the letters out of the cardstock.

Because this was my first Applique I was scared I would mess up the pillowcase if I tried to put the letters directly onto the pillowcase...this fear was a lot in part to the fact that I realized I should have done the Applique before putting the pillowcase together and b/c in my mind Appliques were super scarey anyways!  So I decided to take a piece of the Mickey Mouse fabric and putting the applique onto it and then putting that onto the pillowcase.  In hindsight I made things more difficult by doing this.  I should have just put the Applique directly onto the pillowcase b/c it was so easy but then again...it turns out pretty good in the end!

Anyways...I traced the cardstock letters onto the white fabric I was useing to do the Appliques and then cut those out w/ scissors....I tried to use the xacto knife to do this but scissors worked better w/ the fabric.

I put iron on adhesive on the letters and then ironed them onto the Mickey fabric....

I started sewing w/ a zigzag

After I got all the letter appliques on I then placed the fabric onto the pillowcase

The end result!  I'm so happy with it!  I did run into some issues sewing the square piece onto the pillowcase...couldn't make certain turns.  But I think it all worked out in the end!  It's going to look great!



Inspired by Gregory's 2nd Birthday!


Parties I'm Attending:

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

More the Merrier Monday


Manic Monday

Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Tasty Tuesday/Theresa's Sweet Chili Linguine

    That is a mouth full huh!?  Well it's also delicious!  I used to work in the next city over and drove 45 minutes each way to get there.  It was a good job but when I had Gregory there were more reasons to leave than there were to stay.  Anyways....when I worked there we would every once in a while go to this restaurant called "Bristol".  It was a little pricey so only every once in a while would I even get to go there but they had a very yummy entree called "Theresa's Sweet Chili Linguine".  As a matter of fact my friend Brian brought me this exact meal to the hospital for dinner the day after I had Gregory!  Well I haven't worked that job in about a year and a half and 45 minutes is a long way to travel for a pricey meal.  Recently I've been conjuring up in my mind a way to get to go there or get some take out???  Well as many of you know Mike is now on 2nd shift so I was thinking that maybe for Valentine's Day I could get him to drive that 45 minutes to go get me some and then the 45 minutes back????  Hmmmm....  I voiced my need for some Bristol to a my friend Brian who still works at my old job and he sent me a recipe his girl friend had found.  Well I tried it and I must admit it's missing something....not exact to the restaurant but even my biggest critic (my husband) was amazed.  Amazed at how close it was to the real thing and pretty dern amazed that I made it.  Therefore...it was so easy.  So much easier than I thought it would be even!!  You must try!

Ingredients:
1 pint Heavy Cream
1 (5oz) bottle Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
2 oz (1/4 c) Fresh grated Parmesian Cheese
1 10-12 oz boneless skinless Chicken Breast
2 oz Blackening Mix (they use Chef Prudhomme's Blackening Mixture...I found it at Kroger!)
1ob cooked Linguine
1/2 oz or so grated Parmesian Cheese
Parsley (I didn't use)


Heat the cream and add the Thai Chili Sauce (I found this in the Asian Foods area at Kroger...but only could find a 6oz bottle so I obviously didn't use the whole bottle) and the 2 oz fresh grated Parmesian Cheese, until the cheese has melted.
Reserve and keep warm

Coat Chicken in Blackening Mixture and saute over med-high heat until cooked through, about 3-5 minutes on each side.  Slice the chicken in 1/2 in wide strips.  (I cut mine up while they sauted b/c I was nervous that they weren't cooking all the way through.

Reheat the Linguine in the sauce.

Serve the Linguine topped w/ the Chicken and sprinke w/ Parmesian Cheese and Parsley.

That was it...it really was even easier than it sounds!


Inspired by Brian and Bristol

Parties I'm Attending:

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

More the Merrier Monday

Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Gregory's First Birthday Quilt

     Of course Gregory turned 1 years old last year; April 1, 2011....so this project was done well before my blogging days but b/c I'm currently working on some birthday projects for Gregory's 2nd birthday I wanted to share with you what I did for him last year.  Thanks to blogland this year I have so many ideas flying through my mind that he will be getting a lot more handmade gifts than he did last year.  For his first birthday I only made him this quilt.  He loved and still loves Mickey Mouse.  He had a Mickey Mouse themed birthday last year as a matter of fact.  I also had found him a Mickey Mouse head pillow (shown above) that I just had to buy him...so I decided to make him a blanket...and since I love quilts, I decided I would make him a quilt.  I didn't have the time or the patience to cut up and then sew together a ton of small squares...how horrible am I!?  So I bought a few yards of the best Mickey Mouse fabric I could find; the options were sad last year!  I then bought just plain white for the back of the quilt.

 I ironed straight all of my fabric

 I pinned batting in between the two pieces of fabric

Then started sewing lines to make squares in the fabric.  After I sewed lines back and forth and across...

I folded the sides over and sewed them down so that the white would come around to the front to create a border.  I folded the corners down, sewed them into place and WALLA!! So it didn't quite happen quickly,  it took me FOREVER b/c I was a new Momma and couldn't find the time I needed!  But it came from the heart!

I however LOVE the pattern I did which shows really well on the back...it took me many hours but whats a quilt w/ out an awesome sewing pattern?  I'm really happy I was able to catch it on my not so awesome camera!

Big stuff coming for his 2nd birthday and I cannot wait to share with you.  The first project is already done and I'll be sharing that one next week!!!!



Inspired by Gregory



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Hidden Magazine Holder

So this isn't very "crafty" but I thought it to be kind of clever.  Much like many of you I've spent a lot of time organizing around here lately....in this I'm just trying to make my house more appealing to the eye...not so cluttered! 

You see that pile of stuff next to the end table?  Well there is a rather large magazine holder under there.  Why not just get rid of it you may ask....b/c my granddad made it for me for Christmas a few years back.  It means a lot to me but it is really big!  I piled a boppy and an extra blanket on top...yeah I don't help w/ the cluttered look at all!  It also doesn't help that there is almost ALWAYS a can of soda sitting on that end table thanks to the hubs!

Well I had thoughts in my mind of what to do about this big magazine holder that will still put it to use and not up in the attic.  I had seen these furniture sliders a few times and thought up in my mind that they may be the solution to my problem.  You are supposed to place them under your furniture to help your furniture to slide easily across carpet...keeps it from scratching your floors too.  I think you just put them under your furniture when you need to move it and then you put them away or use them on another piece of furniture.  Well I found a pack shopping the other day...I'm sure I've seen them but just wasn't remembering that I wanted some. 

So I place a furniture slider under the four corners of the magazine holder.....b/c it's large, solid wood and loaded down w/ books and magazines it is rather heavy so it works very well with these furniture sliders!

I slid it under the end table....now if you need something out of it y ou can just slide it out.  I'm keeping the furniture sliders under it all the time....so we can slide it in and out from under the table as needed.

I can now place my little chest of pictures there and besides the ugly cord and the soda can...I think it looks much better!!



Inspired by De-cluttering



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Tasty Tuesday/Egg Salad

    It's Tuesday again, sorry I've been such a slacker the past few Mondays which makes Tasty Tuesday my first post of the week.  I really have been working on a lot of things and plan to share another project with you tomorrow.  However, today I want to share with you a recipe that I do keep in my recipe box but that I've made quite a few times. 
    It all started one year when I was given the responsiblity of providing Deviled Eggs for Christmas at my mom's Christmas party.  Hmmmm.....I was only like 16 (I lived with my dad so my mom assigned me something to bring to contribute to Christmas dinner) so I didn't know how to make Deviled Eggs and that wasn't a staple food at my dad's Christmas dinner so he nor my stepmom knew how to make them either but advised that I should call my uncle Tim to see if he had a recipe.  Well he did!!!!  For many holidays to come I was always assigned Deviled Eggs....if you've ever made Deviled Eggs you know that they are a time consuming item to make.  Which is kind of not my thing!  Quick and Easy is my preference so eventually I decided not to take Deviled Eggs to every single family get together anymore.  The family was not happy.....they really are that good!  Well I made them for a family function one year and we had left overs?????  Yes you read that correctly....this did not happen often.  Well, what do you do with left over Deviled Eggs?  Squish it all together making Egg Salad!  Yep....and with my brilliant mind I figured out that Egg Salad was just as good as the Deviled Eggs since it has ALL the same ingredients but so much easier because it doesn't matter how mutilated the egg gets when you take the shell off and you don't have to sit and scoop the filling into the Egg White because it's all just going to be squished together in the end anyways...... So here it is...so easy and super yummy!

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
1 Tbsp Mustard
1/4 C Mayo
1/4 C Relish
1/2 Tsp Sugar 

Hard boil the 6 Eggs and peel off the shell

Throw all ingredients in a big bowl and squish it all together. 

I used to use my hands which worked well at makeing sure it was all mixed very well and the eggs were well broken up.  Now I use a potato masher to mash it all up and then stir together with a spoon....I go back and forth between the potato masher and the spoon until it's well mushed together!

We serve it on toasted bread!


Inspired by Uncle Tim



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Let it Snow!

We finally got some snow!  So I wanted to share my mantel shelf!  Our first snow of the year, we had some flurries last week but this is our first to accumulate at all.  Gregory just being 21 months old never really noticed snow last year so this was the first snow he acknowledged.  I was so excited to show it to him but our trip outside only lasted about 5 minutes b/c Momma is a wimp when it comes to cold weather!

             It was a little too cold for him to want it on his hands...this was the only time he touched it!

                                                                           Fascinated!

                                                                          It was cold!!!

Here is our snow for the day and it's still flurrying right now.  I know it's not much and no it hadn't started sticking to the patio yet when this picture was taken.  But we are expecting more and the temperatures are supposed to be so low that the main concern is ice on the ground.  I'm so happy that I work from home and don't have to venture out in it...I get to enjoy it from inside!

On to my mantel shelf.  As stated before I have decided to decorate a shelf on my hutch since I don't have a mantel or anywhere else at this time. 

Yes I know the top two shelves do not "go" but I don't have enough decorations yet to cover the whole thing...I've never decorated for "winter" much less many other things.  Plus I have never been a huge fan of snow until recently....I guess becoming a Momma has led me to appreciate all of the seasons and the joys they bring!  Anyways I never thought much about decorating until I joined blogland, so yeah....I'm a "wannabe"!  I do LOVE what I did with the bottom shelf though...all the decorations are new BUT were super cheap b/c I got most of it at least 50% off as leftover Christmas decorations!

I did try this with fake snow but I don't think it pops well enough for me with the fake snow.  So I left it as shown above!

On this side I have a shimmery tree that I got for $1.49 as part of Christmas leftovers!  I found this beautiful sign for $1.75 as part of 50% off Christmas leftovers at a different store (I am really in love with this sign....how they had any leftover I do not know but I'm very greatful!).  The glass fixture in the background I created here and then one of the exceptions to my Christmas leftover sale items are the blue/silver bulbs that I found before Christmas for $1.  The flowers are all part of one bunch of silk flowers removed from the bouquet that I got for $1.50 before Christmas.

On this side I have 2 shimmery Christmas trees....I know you only see one but I have them stacked to make this side taller than the other side but I got them for $1.49 a piece as well.  The flowers as stated above were part of a bunch I purchased before Christmas for $1.50 and the bowl with the snowmen and lid was part of Christmas leftovers that I got for $.50.  I'm pretty excited about it.....much improvement to be had but what do you think?

Inspired by Snow!



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Wayward Weekend

Closet Coat Hanger???

Mike and I have a walk in closet in our room and it's always packed full.  Doesn't matter how many clothes or shoes we get rid of.  I have managed to get the top shelf pretty clear and neat, the floor has drawer units along it holding shoes and bed sheets and flip flops and whatever else.  It's ridiculous!  Just as most of everyone else in blogland I have been in hyper-organizing mode with everything.  I'm already an organizer, I feel like that is all I ever do but ever since Christmas and all the new cool stuff we accumulated I have had the need to organize organize organize.  I've done a lot of great things that I'll be sharing!  Today I would like to tell you how I solved the crazy belt hanger issue and all the bags that I have been adding to the clutter in the closet. 

In my home we have a few coat hangers on the walls behind many of our doors.  My dad made them for us and they are awesome!  They keep the coats and jackets picked up with easy access!  Well in all my organizing craziness I had an idea of putting one of these coat hangers in my closet to get some of my bags/purses off the floor and to get Mike's ties off of the belt hanger b/c that thing just was beyond capacity!  So here we go with a scarey peek at our closet!

Here is the coat hanger my dad made us with bags and ties on it!  I'm holding the clothes back so you can see it!  :-)

Here is a view from the doorway with out holding the clothes back

THIS is what it looks like with ALL the clothes in place!  Ridiculous right!?  But I think it's fabulous...you can't see the coat rack but it's there and all you have to do is separate the clothes in the back to grab whatever it is you might want!  The belt hanger is no longer over flowing and there are no more bags collecting on the floor!

Inspired by post Christmas organizing!



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Tasty Tuesday/Potato Soup

Here we are again this week being crazy so this is my first post of the week!  But I am here!  Today I want to tell you about a Potato Soup that I have found to be better when made by someone else  :-)

We tried this Potato Soup for the first time at a bible study we were in.  It was delicious and the hit of the night.  Everyone LOVED it!  So much that I insisted on making it for my uncle and his wife when he had a really bad accident.  So I went to my friend's house and she helped me make this Potato Soup by showing me first hand how to do it.  Again...yummy!  However as I make it for my "Recipe Challenge" it wasn't so good  :-(  Edible but really rich and I'm not that into really rich tastes.....but since it was part of my challenge, I'm going to share it with you.  Maybe you will have better luck than I did!

Ingredients:
1 Bag Frozen Hashbrowns (To be honest I think this was my failing point, all I had was pre-seasoned)
1 Bar Cream Cheese
7 Chicken Boullion Cubes
1 Bag Bacon Pieces
Dill Weed
Onion Flakes
Garlic Powder

Toppings:
Shredded Cheese
Bacon Bits

Boil 7 Cups of water, add Boullion cubes.  Whisk until the boullion cubes have desolved.  Soften the cream cheese by warming in the microwave for about 30 seconds to 1 minutes...wish into the water. 
Add spices, add hashbrowns.

Cook until the hashbrowns are soft

Then put into crockpot to cook for several hours

Serve!

Sounds pretty easy huh!?  Well it was when I had my friend by my side to help me make it but somewhere along the way when making this on my own it wasn't so yum!  I think it was that the only hashbrowns I had here were pre-seasoned....maybe that made all the difference?  I'm not sure but I do know that my husband didn't seem too interested in me giving it another shot.  He says he isn't a huge fan of potato soups anyways....plus as mentioned before he isn't a fan of cream cheese either.  He really isn't a picky eater I swear!!!


Inspired by Erin



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On