Hot cocoa kit

The kids and I made these a few months ago. It was quite fun getting everything made up. As with most projects for kids, they used them for a week or two, and now they are languishing away in the bookshelf. You can read about how we did our version here

Let’s start with the desserts, because, let’s be honest, those are the most fun!

Cinnamon sugar pullaparts

Source: joythebaker.com via Judy on Pinterest

These are kind of like cinnamon rolls, but in a loaf form.  The flavor was pretty good.  I think I would tweak the filling a bit, but it was good.  I did have issues getting all of the sliced pieces into the pan in a non-messy fashion.  I’d get one set into the pan, and then they would start sliding down.  Kinda like books that are leaning in a bookshelf.  If there is no support, they slide down.  This bothered me.  It didn’t affect the flavor, but it didn’t look nice.  I’ll be making this bread again.  Maybe next time with some cinnamon chips or chocolate chips.

Cream cheese pudding cookies

Source: themotherhuddle.com via Judy on Pinterest

 
I messed up when I made these. Rather than mixing the pudding in with the eggs and sugar, I mixed it in with the dry ingredients. I’m not sure whether or not that made a difference. So, of course, I’m going to have to try these again! Even with the mistake, they were quite yummy. I modified the recipe a bit, using half shortening and half butter. You should definitely give this recipe a go!

Sweet potato burritos

Source: allrecipes.com via Judy on Pinterest

On a scale of 1 – 10, I’d give this a 5. The flavor was okay, but I wanted a little more punch, or something. It was ALOT of sweet potato. I think if I make this again, I’ll add more beans and less sweet potato, it just seemed like the balance of ingredients was a bit off. Not a total loss, but not a resounding win, either.

Cauliflower pizza

Source: eat-drink-smile.com via Judy on Pinterest

 
I’ve used cauliflower before to make fake mashed potatoes, and it was surprisingly good, so I thought I’d give this a go. I combined this recipe and another one I had for pizza. Basically it was a white sauce (mayo, olive oil, white cheeses), with artichokes, mushrooms and black pepper as the toppings. As with the fake mashed potatoes, I was pleasantly surprised at the flavor. It’s not something I’d do often, but for a change, this was good.

What did you pin and try this week?

Dishwasher detergent

We run our dishwasher daily, sometimes twice a day.  I really wanted a way to save money on dishwasher detergent.  Thinking this was the ticket, I bought the ingredients and gave it a whirl.  Can’t say that I was that impressed.  Our dishes just feel sort of dingy.  They are clean, but the glasses, for example and sort of cloudy looking and the dishes just feel . . . dingy.  I should say that our dishwasher seems to be giving up the ghost.  And I’m sure this is a shock to noone, Mrs. Landlady is trying to blame us rather than getting it fixed.  So to be fair, I should probably try this detergent using a dishwasher that is fully functional.

Oven glass cleaner

This totally did not work for me.  I used it inside the oven as well as on the glass.  The glass got clean, but it wasn’t amazingly so and there was a whitish film left over, even after I rinsed the glass very well.

General cleaning products

Most of these are pretty decent.  I will say that unless you have a co-op nearby where you can get liquid castile soap for cheap, these recipes really are not all that cost effective.  The local co-op (Common Grounds . . . love that store) has about 8 different scents of castile soap, and it’s quite economical.

Spring cleaning the mattress

I did this with all of our mattresses.  I have no idea if it was actually useful, but it was fun doing it and we’ll probably do it again once the winter is over.

Liquid hand soap

I really wanted this recipe to work out.  Having three small children means we go through ridiculous amounts of liquid soap. Alas, the soap turned out pretty watered down, as in, you have to use several pumps to get any lather.  Plus, it’s kinda mucousy looking, which is not exactly confidence inspiring. I’m going to try and run this through a foaming soap dispenser to see if that works any better . . . I’m not holding out much hope, though.

Bathtub cleaner

Here’s another cleaner that I thought would be great . . . but it’s not.  I want something that will really clean the bathtub.  You know, remove the grime that is there.  After using this and scrubbing like crazy, I could still see grime   . .gross!  I’ll definitely be buying bathtub cleaner from now on.

Apple, potato and onion gratin

This was made for a potluck a few months back.  As we were eating, I heard two people in a discussion.

“Did you taste the potatoes?”

“Potatoes?  I thought they were apples?”

“No, I’m pretty sure they are potatoes.”

“Really?  Tastes like potatoes to me!”

I jumped in and let them know that they were both correct!  Apples and potatoes seems like an interesting combination, and it was pretty good.  I’m sure the success of this recipe hinges on the type of apple you use.  I personally wouldn’t want the super sweet variety, so a Granny Smith apple would be perfect here, while a Braeburn would be cloying.  This dish has so many possibilities, what with all of the apple varieties available.

Roasted cabbage wedges

Cabbage is a funny veggie to cook.  Most of the time, it just tastes like dirt to me.  (Except for the time we got an enormous cabbage from the farm.  That one was VERY tasty!)  This recipe was an exception.  Most of my babes like it.  The toddler was less enthused, but I’m pretty sure that’s because he doesn’t have molars, and I can’t imagine that gumming a cabbage is a pleasant experience.  Anyway, the cabbage had a great flavor and it seriously took like 5 minutes to set it up, plus roasting time.  My kind of recipe!

Spinach burgers

Being vegetarian, it can be tricky to find good protein substitutes.  These burgers are really quite good.  My only complaint is that they don’t stick together very well, so it’s a pain to fry them up.  I might add more egg or something to help them hang together a bit better.  Otherwise, the flavor was very yummy.  Couple that with homemade burger buns and some fresh veggies . .. . yummy!

Baked spaghetti in garlic bread

This was ridiculously good, it is now a staple at our house.  I used homemade bread rather than the Rhodes loaf, but use whatever is convenient for you.  Try it, it’s really delish!

Sweet potato quesadillas

Super easy, quick and very good for you.  Plus, the kids loved them.  Win- win!

Salsa verde bakes eggs and hash

This recipe got a resounding “meh” from me.  The rest of the fam thought it was good, but as I recall, it was a bit of work and there wasn’t much to show for it at the end.

Enchiladas

I’ve always made enchiladas a particular way, the way my mom taught me, and I love them.  This recipe comes in at a VERY close second.   They are easy, you make your own sauce and you can fill them with whatever you want and make as much or as little as you want.

Tortilla and black bean pie

I really should make this recipe once a week . . . that’s how good it is, and it’s super easy.  (Are you seeing a theme here?   I have a great appreciation for easy and delicious recipes!)    The use of a springform pan here is genius.  If you don’t have one, don’t worry, you can just use foil paper like I did here:

Sweet and sour tofu stir fry

I’ve made alot of stir fry in my life, this was definitely not the best one.  In fact, it was quite bad.  Maybe the fact that I had to make my own soy sauce (I didn’t have any!) had something to do with it.  Somehow, I don’t really think that real soy sauce would have salvaged this recipe.  It really tasted nothing like sweet and sour, at least not the sweet and sour that you can get at the Chinese restaurants. On the plus side, I got to play with my new KitchenAid attachments.

Pumpkin mac n’ cheese

Here’s another recipe that I didn’t particularly like.  I love me some homemade mac ‘n cheese, but I didn’t particularly care for the pumpkin.  The kids loved it, so I let them gobble it up since it was somewhat healthy.  On second thought, they must not have liked it too much as they haven’t ever requested to have it again.

Apple and sage quesadillas

I liked the premise of this recipe . . . .although DH doesn’t like fruits in his entrees, I don’t mind it.  I didn’t like the big chunks of sage.  I would have preferred to have the flavor from the sage without having to bite into a sage leaf.  Dried, rubbed sage is probably the way I’d go next time.

That’s it for today, folks.  Got any recipe ideas for me?  Leave me a comment, I’m always game to try something new!

Cinnamon and Sugar Pull aparts

I made these for DH’s birthday . . . . delish!  There were sort of a pain to make.  Stacking up the strips without the sugar mixture sliding off was tricky, and then getting them into the bread pan was also tricky and messy.  But, the end result was fabulous!

Cheddar and Bacon Scones

We are vegetarian, so I made these with Morningstar Farms Stripples. Another winning bread recipe.

Cream Scones

Scones made with lots of cream and sugar . . . need I say more?

Southwestern Egg Rolls with Avocado Ranch

These turned out better than I thought they would.  I didn’t particularly care for the Avocado Ranch, but the egg rolls were easy enough to make and they were healthy since they weren’t deep fried.  A different dip and this would have been perfect.

Here we go!  (I know nothing about html coding.  As such, I can’t figure out how to keep the next line of test from bunching up after the pinterest photo.  Any ideas?)

Black bean cupcakes

So these weren’t as gross as they sound, but they definitely weren’t delicious. They needed LOTS more sugar, a problem that was solved by slathering them with chocolate buttercream frosting. I suppose using that much frosting sort of negates the fiber benefits . . I’m okay with that!

Blackberry syrup

Meijer’s had blackberries on megasale, so I bought tons and needed something to do with all of the berries. This syrup is fantastic in smoothies, on ice cream and in soda.

Blackberry cream soda

This was really delicious the first time I made it, less so the subsequent times, but still a keeper!

Pumpkin icecream

Can’t say that I really enjoyed this recipe.  It could have been mediocre pumpkins, or maybe just a mediocre recipe. In any case,  I won’t be making this again.

Blackberry icecream

This was pretty good, not too creamy, but still decent. I have yet to find a to die for homemade icecream recipe!

Piping icing trick

The first time I used a pastry bag, it was a disaster.  Enter this fabulous trick, and my pastry bag is now actually useful!  Try it, it’s a great trick!

Chocolate tangerine bars with clementine buttercream

A really disappointing recipe.  It sounded to delicious, but when it was all said and done, we all agreed. …  ”Meh.”

Pink lady cake

I made this cake for DD’s birthday, it was quite good, but more work than I’m willing to put into cakes.  And besides, it’s pink, enough said!

Double dark chocolate pomegranate cookies

Another disappointing recipe here.  The pomegranate added a nice flavor, but the seeds were unpleasant, and the cookie itself was only mediocre.  Alas.

Frozen hot chocolate

The success of this recipe really lies in the hot chocolate mix.  Mediocre hot chocolate yielded a mediocre frozen drink, while yummy hot chocolate yielded yummy results.  The recipe said it would make 2 large drinks, I ended up with more like 4-5 very large drinks.

Don’t have any idea what Pinterest is? Well, I’m not sure that I’m completely using it in the way it’s intended, but I use is as an online bookmark. I have lots of different categories and when I see something online that I like, I just pin it so that it’s much easier to find later on. The beauty of Pinterest is that you can see what other people have pinned either by following people that you know, or just browsing through a particular category. In this way, you get to see so many more ideas than you might just on your own. I will say that you can wast inordinate amounts of time browsing, but it sure is fun!

If you are already on Pinterest, you can follow me here:  http://pinterest.com/adivamoment/
If you aren’t on Pinterest, join, and then be ready to be inspired=)

The cape and dress from the front. I made the cape from this pattern. It was sort of an afterthought. I had some extra fabric and thought it would be a cute addition.

The front of the dress has an inverted box pleat, which would’ve worked better on different fabric. This fabric was a little stiff, so it hangs kinda funny.

The trickiest part of the entire dress was figuring out how to do the keyhole opening with piping. Mega brain strain, but it couldn’t have turned out better!

I saw these petal sleeves on another dress and thought they were a super easy way to perk up the sleeves without having to add ruffles. (I’m only about 90% opposed to ruffles, but they really wouldn’t have worked with this fabric.)

I don’t have a picture of this, because it’s on the inside, and well, she’s wearing the dress in the pics. But, the bodice is lined with super soft satin. Lining the bodice was another tricky step, but again, it turned out beautifully.

The back of the dress is actually my favorite. I did a faux placket with faux buttons. The placket is a piece of fabric that got folded into thirds and then sewn down. The buttons are a trim that I folded into quarters and sewed on. Honestly, it was probably more work than doing a real placket with buttons, but it was a fun little addition.

And the whole ensemble, including her new tights and Sabbath shoes.

I’ll certainly make her more clothing in the future, but I’m not sure that I’ll make anything this complicated, at least not until she’s a little older and is able to offer input throughout the process=)

This seemed like a perfect project to do with the babes. We happened to have some cardboard laying around. So we grabbed our supplies: ruler, marker, glue gun, box cutter and set to work.

Here are the pieces cut up and ready to be assembled.

And the completed easels.

The cardboard side they use for painting, I just clip a piece of paper to it and off they go. The other side was painted with chalkboard paint. (After doing these easels, I discovered this tute.

So next time I might try a different color!)

I must admit, the easels aren’t as big of a hit as I expected. But, I think that is to be expected with kids.