September Challenge

Hi! It's Maren here and I am going to post our challenges for this month. I can't believe it is September already!!

I am so glad that Celia included LeAnne's Trick or Treat Tote in the challenge last month because that is on my list to do before Halloween. I was scrolling through some of her tutorials and remembered that she also had a cute felt Halloween banner which would be another fun Haloweeny thing to whip up for a decoration this Halloween season.

Since I have girls I am going to post a few links of some girly things that I have been working on or that I have been thinking about working on. They are great for either the little girls in your life or for yourself.

First: Fabric Hair Rollers from Life with Monkey. Have you ever tried those pink foam ones. Well check out this little girl's hair using rollers from this tutorial. WAAAY better results. I think I will be wearing these to bed.

Second: Shirring. I have been hit by the shirring bug. And I have LeAnne to thank for this! She did a tutorial for a cute little summer dress and tipped me off on some patterns that were for sale on etsy. I manged to snag a few patterns before the shop closed forever and I really have enjoyed them. I'll post more about them later. I think that LeAnne did a great job with her dress tutorial and the great thing about shirring is it is so easy and so cute and so versatile. You can add wide hems of coordinating fabric, ruffles, different types of sleeves. wider strips for cap sleeves, ribbons, spaghetti straps etc. You can even make a top for yourself as well!

 LeAnne also did a great tutorial on shirring. I am so glad that she included a picture of what the elastic thread should look like. Months before I started shirring I picked up some elastic thread at JoAnns because I knew at some point I wanted to give it a try. My thread was on a plastic spool. I kept hearing that it has to be on a cardboard one. I went back to JoAnns to find the stuff that I needed and could NOT find it. I even asked someone and they were pretty clueless as to what I was even talking about. The label on the thread I got said it was meant for shirring so I used it. And it worked. However, The first day my daughter wore her dress I noticed that some of the thread broke and now I will have to go back and do it again! Not Fun. So I will be finding another way to get the proper elastic thread. Just a word to the wise.

Third: I have really been wanting to make my oldest daughter some cute flower hairclips/headbands to wear to preschool. I love these kinds of projects because they don't take a lot of time and you can make a whole bunch in one sitting. Here are a few tutorials. These flowers can be used for anything - brooch, clip for a purse or bag, gift topper etc. No sewing machine necessary! (sorry I was not able to get any of the pictures up - but go ahead and click. You won't be sorry)

Felt Peony
Felt Flower - the scalloped roll method
Felt Flower - the glue method (love the button center)
Satin Flowers - the candle method - I soooo want to do this one
Rolled Fabric Flower
Fabric and Paper flower roudup from Little birdie secrets -I love the painted newspaper flowers. It would be a fun one to do with  kids to give away to someone special (Mother's day, Valentines day, birthdays etc)


 Recipe: Triple Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love fall desserts and I love this one. I made this on a couple of different occasions. Once for my son's first birthday and now that I have an October birthday I think I am going to make it for my baby's first birthday next month. It is very yummy. I have done it with three layers, but it would also be yummy as cupcakes or made in a regular old cakepan. Delish!

XO

Maren

August Challenges

Seasonal: Halloween
Sure it's not October, but the time it takes me to finish projects, it's time to start thinking about Halloween!
If you were hoping for back to school ideas, they're doing a whole month's worth over at Sew Mama Sew.

Trick or Treat Totes from our favorite LeAnne at Everyday Celebrations
I am determined to make Dean and Walter these.

Fabric Pumpkins by my good friend Erin at Schlosser Designs
I made a couple of these last year. They're cute.

Self and Child crafts: Finish something you've already started! That's what I'll be doing at least.

Recipe Recommendation: Hummus and Pitas
We just had them tonight (not our first time, by any means) and they're so yummy.

A few tips on the pita recipe:

1. The dough is a really soft dough. Don't roll the pieces out into a circle until seconds before you put it in the oven or it will relax too much and stick to the counter and/or stretch out too much.
   
2. They won't puff correctly if they're too thin, either.
   
3. I've found in my oven they brown quicker on the bottom, so don't wait till the top is browned. 4 min. makes a much softer pita.
   
4. I do a wet towel on top of the pitas rather than put them in a bag. I've found it to be easier and more effective.

Jessica's Menu Helps ~ 30 meals

1. crockpot bbq beef sandwiches
2. crockpot angel chicken pasta
3. grilled sandwiches (lots of yummy varieties) and soup
4. oven baked chicken (leftovers make yummy sandwiches, wraps, and then
5. homemade noodles and soup with the bones and leftover leftovers :)
6. a surprising forever favorite seems to be hamburger gravy and rice
7. (hawaiian haystacks, or stroganoff are branches of this too)
8. shephard's pie
9. spaghetti
10. pizza
11. alfredo w/ broccoli
12. chicken parm
13. chicken pot pie
14. lentil soup
15. homemade chilli
16. lasagna
17. manicotti
18. chicken enchiladas
19. tacos (w/ homemade taco bowls-new recipe yum!)
20. blts
21. fried rice and pot stickers (Sam specialty)
22. baked potatoes
23. 2x baked potatoes
24. oven potatoes, carrots and chicken
25. tinfoil dinners (even yummy w/o tinfoil and just in the oven or stove)
26. bbq chicken
27. hamburgers
28. hot dogs, etc.
29. chicken dumplings
30. anything that can be eaten in picnic fashion (esp. pb&j sandwiches w/chips, apples and juice is a SUPER fav here)

and this is what she's trying for dinner tonight: chicken wraps  wish me luck!

Lisa's Menu Helps ~ meals by category

SOUPS

Lentil soup

Chicken noodle soup

(Quinoa lentil soup)

Italian Wedding soup*

Sweet potato navy bean soup*

Split pea soup

Chili



MAIN DISHES

Beans and rice

Mushroom beef stroganoff and potatoes

Stir fry

Lasagna (beef or tofu)

Hawaiian haystacks

Fish tacos*

Fish (with lime juice and cilantro) with cooked greens and fries

Tuna with parsley, lime juice, celery, cous cous and fresh spinach

Tuna noodle casserole

Bach (broccoli, cheese, and ham sauce over cornbread)

Taco biscuit pie

Pizza

Sweet potato burritos (normal burritos with a layer of mashed sweet potatoes- cook sweet potatoes in microwave 7 min. with tips pointing to center like spokes of a wheel)

Chicken quesadillas

Chicken salad wraps

Black bean burgers*

Asparagus, tomato, chicken pasta (olive oil, crushed red pepper, garlic, parmesean)

Mushroom cheese chicken & potatoes

Pasta primavera (alfredo sauce)

Chicken salad sandwiches*

Veggie face (squash hair, cucumber eyes, bell pepper mouth, etc.)

Veggie rainbow (beets, carrots, broccoli, purple swt potato & mashed potato clouds)

Chicken, broccoli, rice and cheese

Pesto

Savory crust chicken bake*

Chili cheese fries

Curried quinoa with peanuts, yogurt, mango, red bell pepper and jalapeno



BREAKFASTS

Eggs and toast

Cracked wheat

Pancakes

Waffles

Muffins

French toast

German pancakes

Crepes

Oatmeal

Grits

Hard boiled eggs

Fruit and yogurt



LUNCHES

Salad

Peanut butter Sandwiches

Pasta and red-sauce

Hummus and veggies

Melted cheeses (grilled cheese sandwiches in waffle maker) and V8 (warmed like tomato soup)

Leftovers

The start of Celia's 30 meals list

I'm hoping that by making up this list I'll somehow get my food mojo back. Right now cooking, eating, and grocery shopping are all "eat to live" sort of chores for me.

1. Ground beef tacos/tostadas/double deckers/soft tacos/ navajo tacos
   
2. Bean and beef/chicken/rice/veggie burritos
3. Scottish meat pies
4. Beef Stew
5. Roast and potatoes
6. Mini meatloaves (take em or leave em)
7. BBQ beef, chicken, pork sandwiches
8. Sesame chicken and rice
9. Classic chicken and veg stirfry over rice or noodles
10. Millionaire chicken and rice
11. Chicken Taco Soup
12. Crockpot Swiss Chicken
13. Monterrey Chicken
14. Chicken Fajitas
15. Café Rio Salads
16. Chicken or ham and broccoli braid
17. Israeli couscous and grilled veggies with chicken satays
18. Regular or White chili
19. Scalloped potatoes and ham
20. Habichuelas
21. Posole
22. Falafal and pitas
23. Artichoke and spinach lasagna (or regular lasagna)/raviolis
24. Mahi Mahi fish tacos
25. hamburgers/hot dogs/black bean burgers
    

We're having major food issues and many of these foods aren't necessarily "once a month" foods. We like them, but not enough to have them that frequently. So I guess I really need a "40-50 meals" list to keep us happy! Matt's pretty burned out on food lately too. Things on his no list: sandwiches (unless on homemade french bread with lots of goodies), chicken (unless it's marinated overnight and grilled), flour tortillas, and salad (unless it's "different" from my normal garden salad).

I basically try and make what Matt and I like and not cater to kids. Unfortunately Matt and I don't seem to like much these days. Even my Mexican food seems like it falls short of my expectations recently. Dean (Age 2) refuses to eat any pasta. We don't eat it that often anyway, but it's annoying when I do. He won't even let it touch his mouth unless he HAS to eat it in order to get his night time milk. He also won't eat potatoes in any form other than oven fries. Oh, and a casserole? Forget it. He mainly eats fruit, breads, fresh veggies, steamed broccoli, and occasionally cheese or some other form of protein. He'd live off of Isagenix bars and shakes and milk and fruit if I let him. Luckily Walter (11 mo.) eats just about everything. He seriously eats twice or three times as much solid food as Dean!

June Challenges

Seasonal: Father's day
Dad rocks plaque (a fun craft kids can help with. You don't have to actually make a plaque, but you could paint rocks/make a rock family or rock dad paper weight and have a card that says Dad Rocks)

Oragami shirt card
Retro labels to go on a gift he actually wants

Self: Make it, wear it challenge at Sew Mama Sew

If you make an item of clothing this month and submit a photo of it to Sew Mama Sew's photo pool (follow link above for more details), you have the chance to win a new sewing machine. I've been wanting to make some skirts since my church attire is severely lacking, so here are a few skirt ideas:
5 minute skirt
Bohemian skirt
Jeans refashioned to skirt
Tiered (girls' or womens') skirt

Kids:
Crocheted Amigurumi Critters
The first is not actually a tutorial, but it has pics of the other creatures you can make. Get the free patterns (and a lot of other free crochet patterns) from Lion Brand after signing up for their site.

Recipe recommendation: Flour Tortillas
Per Lisa Wheat Flour Tortillas
Per Celia A better (white) flour tortilla
(The second is an improvement on my old flour tortilla recipe that I used for 8 years. I combined mine with another recipe and the texture is much better than my original. I imagine you can use wheat flour, though I haven't tried it.)

*tip to making tortillas: if your dough is too elastic and keeps shrinking back in, cover it with a cloth and let it rest 5 min. Come back and try again.*

Celia's Recipe Cheat Sheet

Well, I updated my recipe cheat sheet today. After that quilt, it's nice to have a project I can complete in one day!

I actually did a 2 sided document with 3 columns on each side. I'll put it in a page protector to help lengthen it's life. Thanks for that tip LeAnne!

If you're interested in seeing the recipes I have on mine, you can go here.

May Challenges

Seasonal: Mother's Day

See April's challenge for links and ideas for presents.
Free customizable Mother's Day card print outs


Self: Reduce Recipe Clutter
Recipe cheat sheet (another found here)
Essentially puts the ingredients of your "go-to" recipes on one sheet

30 Meal Plan
Step by step directions to finding 30 meals your family loves and getting them all in one place for easier shopping, menu planning, and pantry stocking

Everyday Meals
(you have to register and enter in your recipes online, but once you do that you can easily create menus and it will calculate and create grocery lists for you)

Kid: Prepping for pre-school
Basically the challenge is to find, print out, and organize activities for your preschool aged children. Here are some sites you might find helpful.
Letter of the week
File folder games
ABCTeach
Learning Page
Kidzone
If you're feeling really ambitious, you can build a Kid's Picnic Table or a Bigger Kid's Picnic Table

Recipe Recommendation: Dough-ntcha wanna try some?
Tried and true: Vanilla Pudding Cinnamon Rolls

These are divine. I've made tons of recipes of cinnamon rolls, but this is the best I've made yet. I've also used this recipe for orange rolls and used lemon pudding (since I didn't have vanilla pudding in my cupboard).

Something old: Wheat Bread (good enough for sandwiches)

Something new: Ezekiel Bread
What is Ezekiel Bread? According to info barrel, "The bread itself was said to be a recipe given to Ezekiel from god while his people were under siege and he was forced to live in the desert for two years. The bread is said to be nutritionally complete, containing more protein

than your standard wheat bread."

Their recipe is found here.

This recipe from Urban Simplicity looks superior, but it's more involved and takes longer than the other recipe.

April Challenges

Seasonal Crafts: Mother's Day

This blog is all about homemade bath products and is a great place for ideas. She has a cool tutorial for whipped shea butter and a new post on lip gloss. She also lists places you can buy things like essential oil and all that stuff.

This is a cool site for the the advantages of handmade lipbalms with some recipes. It is a project that is easy enough to do with kids

Vanilla lip balm, hand/feet scrub, facial mask

Bath salts

A few more fun bath recipes



Self (and possibly child) Craft: Refashioning and Publish Something

Here are almost 30 posts on the Make it and Love it blog on repurposing. She has dresses, skirts, shirts, leggings, pants and stuffed animals for boys and girls

The ever popular men's shirt-to-little-girl-dress
button up the back with ruffle (seriously cute!)
Made did two versions here and here
Two super cute jumpers, love the first one especially here and here

This girls shirt is so darling and it is made from an old men's t-shirt

I can't wait to make this cute ruffle skirt from an old tee.

And for the boys a sweater vest and boxer shorts!

Sorry, most of these are for kids! There are lot of ideas online for refashioning or embelishing clothes and blogs that are dedicated to refashioning alone. If you want to make clothes last longer, tweak them to your liking etc etc, give refashioning a try. It really is pretty fun and the possibilities are endless. I have started looking at our wardrobes in a new light. I think twice before I throw anything out or give it away.
------------------------------------------------

Blurb books and Lulu.com are great places to self publish. They produce high quality books of all sorts (photos, cookbooks, family history, journals, you think it up and you can print it up!) for a reasonable price. I've done two books through blurb so far and am in the middle of my third!


Child Craft: Quilts
I love myself some Crazy Mom Quilts.
She no longer blogs (so sad!), but her blog is still up and she has some wonderful ideas and tutorials for modern quilts. If you need ideas for the actual quilt, head to her site.

Straight line quilting tutorial


Free motion quilting tutorial video

Binding tutorial


Doll quilt tutorial

Grid quilting tutorial


Recipe Recommendations:
Resurrection Rolls (Easy Easter cooking with Kids)

Crash hot potatoes

These are delicious. I also made them with sweet potatoes, and I almost think I liked the sweet potatoes better (though the red were quite delicious too!). Oh, and I used crushed dried rosemary because I didn't have fresh handy. To make sweet potatoes I just peeled them, chunked them into big pieces (about the size of the red potatoes, maybe a little larger since the tend to cook faster than regular potatoes) and boiled them with the red potatoes till they were fork tender. Then I followed her directions after that. YUM! It was a nice, new way to have potatoes.

March Challenges

Seasonal craft
Easter/spring day baskets and/or eggs: Tutorials and inspiration

Square basket
Bunny Basket
Another Bunny Basket
Patchwork basket
Fabric covered eggs

Self Craft
Reversible Head band

Child Craft

Embellished onsies for girls
Tie onesies or shirts for boys

Recipe Recommendation

Oatmeal Pancake Mix
This came from one of my favorite food blogs. I made this up this week for the first time and it was great. Makes pancakes a piece of cake...hehe...on a busy morning. I stored the mix in my fridge. It makes a lot, so I suggest if you're not sure you'll like them, cut the recipe in half. I do think they're better with buttermilk as opposed to the half yogurt/half milk combo. I tried it both ways. Since I always forget to buy buttermilk I did as she suggested and bought a large thing of buttermilk and am freezing it in one cup freezer cups.

Clumpy Granola Celia Style

This is my third or fourth time making this granola. Every time I do something a little different, but try and keep the proportions the same (i.e. substitute 1 cup of walnuts for 1 cup of pecans).

This time my final recipe ended up with a walnut substitution for pecans since I didn't have any pecans on hand. I had whole almonds that I did a rough chop on . I added a little splash of coconut extract (but still used vanilla) and OH YUM!! I also substituted wheat germ for the sunflower seeds. In one batch I put in some dried fruit the last 15 min. of cooking. It's good, but definitely not necessary. You can always add it after, too. It didn't really get incorporated into the clump during baking. I put it in a gallon bag so you could see about how much it makes. The bag is open in the picture because I kept on snacking...

This is a little on the sweet side, so you can reduce the brown sugar a little. I did that the second time I made it. Still turned out yummy, but not clumpy since the sugar helps bind it all.