More Quinoa

We tried a new recipe last night!

1 3/4 cup water

1 cup uncooked quinoa

chopped tomato

chopped green onion

juice from 1 lemon

fresh parsley

salt and pepper

Boil the water and quinoa and then simmer for 20 minutes. Throw in all the other ingredients in the amounts that you like and serve either chilled or at room temperature. Clearly it is super easy but it still tasted great! Very summery and light.

I am a big fan of Costco and here is yet one more reason. I bought a 4lb bag of organic quinoa for $9.50! At a regular grocery store you can't even get 2lbs at that price. Go. Buy some. Enjoy this super grain that has so many health benefits.

Car Seat Cover

I saw a friend with a car seat cover and thought it was a great idea. My daughter is too big now for this size car seat but another bundle of joy came along two weeks ago to a friend so I thought it was a great reason to give the car seat cover a try!

Sorry I can't figure out how to flip the picture around.

I ended up doing roughly 35in x 35in with the top fabric slightly longer to give room for one more seam. I cut the top panel in half to sew on the loops, put the other panel on the back and went around the edges with the green fabric. I was going to use velcro for the loops, but I bought the one kind that was not recommended for fabrics! Luckily I was already borrowing a friend's pliers and snap assortment, so I just threw some snaps on. I also did stitch in the ditch of the middle seam so the inside fabric wasn't falling into the baby's face. All in all I think it turned out pretty well. Hopefully little Logan will sleep like a baby inside!

Quinoa Experiment

Here is my second experiment with quinoa! I really like the idea of eating quinoa because variety is the spice of life and quinoa is so good for you! The recipe I used was for Double Broccoli Quinoa and it turned out great! I also made a spiced salmon and yogurt biscuits because they are my Love's favorite. Whenever I ask if he wants yogurt biscuits he NEVER says no.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but tweaked it to my liking!
Have I posted yet about my toaster oven being my favorite kitchen appliance? I use it for just about EVERYTHING, even cake! I found this cute little dish ( which is a nice size for many things ) and used it for cake in the toaster oven. It came out perfectly: slightly dense and chewy but sweet and delicious. I rarely frost my cakes because I prefer to eat them warm out of the oven. The sweet hints inside the cake are just enough that it doesn't even need the frosting.
Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp pure vanilla

juice and zest from one lemon

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg, milk, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Put flour and baking powder together in sifter and sift into the batter. Mix until combined and bake in toaster oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

If you live near a costco you should grab a 10 pound bag of organic sugar there because it is only 89 cents a pound. That's a steal!

For the milk I used vanilla flavored almond milk and omitted the vanilla.

And a shout out to Land O Lakes butter for doing the quarter cup butter sticks. LOVE them.

Big Booty Pants

I got the notion to make some pants for my little one that fit over her cloth diaper a little bit better than then normal pant. I traced a pair of pants that already fit her well and made a few adjustments to my liking. I plan to make some out of denim, but I wanted to try out my pattern first before taking a chance on the more expensive fabric.

To make the pants cozier, I lined them with fleece.

What a cute bum!

Next time she wears the pants, I'll make sure everything matches.

I need to get the kinks out before I share the pattern, but hopefully it will be soon!