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!

An Apron for Inspiration

I have been wanting to try my hand at an apron. I don't need another apron, so I kept talking myself out it. Then I got brilliant and decided I would make one for my sister! She is venturing more into the cooking world, and a cute apron might be just what she needs for inspiration! I started scouring clearance fabrics and found this heavier blend for only $3 a yard. I bought 1.3 yards of the main fabric, and 12 inches of the striped. This project cost me less than $4 to make, as well as cost me a seam ripper because I broke mine. I was using it as a multi-purpose tool and not ripping seams. I have learned my lesson.

I traced an apron I own and cut the pattern out of brown paper bags. It was a very sophisticated procedure. Just make sure you cut your pattern large enough to allow room for seams! I also did a larger fold on the top of the apron, so give yourself a few inches there. I didn't measure anything, just eyeballed. My sewing habits are probably a disgrace to the sewing community, but it gets the job done. And, when you have gingher shears to use, it makes you want to cut fabric all day long! What a lovely gift from my husband a few years ago.
I rolled the ends in to make a nice edge and ironed them down. This fabric really worked out in my favor since I don't like using pins. It held the fold beautifully. After ironing, sew along the edges, including the top fold.

I cut out the piece that holds the strap, making sure I had the curve going the right way for the fabric.

Putting right sides together (I used two needles to secure it just to be safe) I sewed along the curve. Repeat for other side.

Then iron the fold down and roll the unfinished edge to make a nice finished seam. I don't usually give myself very large seam allowances, but if you like to make sure you cut your pieces larger.

I cut strips 2.5 inches wide and totaling 110 inches long. The fabric I was using wasn't long enough for the 110 inches so I sewed the pieces together at an angle. Also, if you need to piece three together like I did, you can make the center piece a nice 33 inches and then your seams will be hidden inside the arm slots.

I folded both edges down and then folded again and ironed it all. This was the part of the project where I realized I really could use some pins. Instead I used bobby pins and paper clip thingys. They did the trick.

To make the pockets I cut out a rectangle (didn't measure though, just made sure it was straight) and then cut out strips to sew around it. The edge you see on the finished one was the seam allowance I gave, and then I just folded the fabric around it and ironed. The top of the pocket got stitched down, but I waited to stitch the rest of it until I was sewing it on the apron, and therefore only had to do it once. Sew the bottom strip first and cut the side strips longer to fold them under the bottom strip as well. I did the top strip last and made that a larger piece with a larger seam allowance.

I did measure the apron to make sure I was getting the pockets centered, because I really did not want to do that twice. I then sewed around the three edges of each pocket and wove the straps through the slots. This project did take me a good four hours, but I wasn't completely dedicated. I had to tend to a little baby as well. It turned out to be very easy, and I am super proud of it. Hope you like it, Sis!

Here is the larger fold at the top of the apron, and how the arm slots turned out. Not bad!

Alfredo Delicious

Tonight we experimented with homemade Alfredo Sauce! Here is the recipe we used:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated romano cheese
• 1 clove fresh garlic, crushed
• fresh pepper to taste
• 
  

The cheapest place we've found cheese is actually Whole Foods, so that is where this lovely cheese is from. For 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese, you will need a block that is roughly a third of a pound.

After melting the butter in our double boiler, we added the cream.

Since my hands swell up from raw shrimp, my DH did the peeling honors.

We didn't have any fettuccine but the next best thing is whole grain rotini! We wisked the cheese in for probably ten minutes so we wouldn't have chunks. It also thickened nicely once it cooled slightly.

The finished product was delicious! Very cheesy, rich and not healthy at all! I was going to add a healthy veggie on the side, but it got vetoed. We'll eat our veggies tomorrow.

And here is my late afternoon treat and I just had to share the recipe with you all. These are my favorite cookies of all time : White Chocolate, Strawberry, and Oatmeal Cookies

In our house, we like to make a full batch of cookie dough, scoop out all the portions and throw them in the freezer. We can have a fresh cookie or two whenever we feel like it and only heat up the toaster oven to do it. I feel like that was one of my best ideas EVER. At least I think it's mine.

Exhausted!

I couldn't hardly sleep last night because I was thinking about all the things I wanted to make. Gifts, home decor, food, you name it. I have lots of plans. Who could sleep at a time like this? I decided I would start a blog to share my adventures, so thanks for reading! Hopefully you get inspired as well.

Much love.