A New Tasty Dinner: Spinach Manicotti

I try really hard to cook homemade, healthy meals for my little family as regularly as I can (except on Friday nights - I generally have a strict policy of not cooking on Friday nights.  Even mom gets a break on Fridays!).  I'm always on the look-out for new recipes and ideas for dinners.  There are only a handful of recipes that I cook over and over and over.  Usually we're trying new things and very few of them make it in to our regular list of meals we love.  This one made it in with flying colors!

I saw this Spinach Manicotti recipe over at 71toes not too long ago.  It looked like a good one to try.  She makes it without meat/vegetarian so I decided that it might be slightly more well received at my house by browning up a pound of ground turkey with the onions and then following her recipe along from there.  What a hit!  It was truly delicious! 

Everyone, including the boys, gave it a big thumbs up.  I was craving it by the second night - we made enough for a second night's meal.  Here is a close up of all the cheesy, tomatoey yumminess!

I love a great recipe!  Mmmm, mmmm, good!

Candy Corn Cookies

Well this is what happens when you only have boys in your house!  My boys have become lovers of "arts and crafts" (that sounds more masculine than "crafting") and cooking.  They mostly love the tasting part of cooking, but they indulge me still the same. 

I saw a great idea over at The Crafting Chicks for "Candy Corn Cookies" and we decided to try the recipe out this weekend.  The boys give it two thumbs up, especially for the frosting in the middle.  I'll add that the cookies are pretty darn tasty too. 

No candy corns were harmed or used in the making of these cookies.  It is simply the color scheme that makes them "candy corn" cookies.  We had a fun time mixing and rolling and baking and frosting.  Our neighbors are happy too because we gave almost all of the cookies away.  Happy Halloween!

Girly Tool Belt - Aprons

I happen to work with a national organization that holds a big education conference every two years - and our next conference is coming up in a couple of weeks.  One of the fun activities we do at the conference is have a big raffle for items attendees donate along with some big technology items and all of the money raised goes to student scholarships.  When we are out in the crowds selling tickets, we like to wear aprons with lots of pockets to stuff money and ticket stubs in.  We usually just run to Home Depot and buy a handful of aprons - they work and they're easy.  But I knew I could do cuter - if I just sat down and made it happen. 

During a quick run to one of my trusty local fabric stores, I happened upon this great pattern by Vanilla House Designs for "Girly Tool Belts".  I've been on the hunt for fabric and finally just decided to visit another of my favorite local fabric shops and bought up a bunch of coordinating fabric - I love it when they just have it all stacked up in coordinating bolts and fat quarters so I don't have to think about it.  In fact, I just assumed it was all from the same line, but when I got everything home and starting cutting into it I realized they had lots of different fabric lines all put together.  Love it when stores make it easy for me!

There were three different variations on the aprons and I have lots of people to help, so I just kept cutting until I had used up pretty much all of the fabric I bought.

 I ended up with six aprons - three of each variation.  Look at those lovely gray, blue, and yellow fabrics.  I seem to have a thing for gray mixed with various colors lately. 

And here they are:

Each one has three pockets in the front - perfect for holding lots of stuff.  And I think I have to say that this one is my most favorite.  Love the mix of fabrics!  They were soooooooo easy to make - quick and easy to follow instructions.

Baby Blankets . . . . They Never Stop

The one thing you can always count on is more babies being born - and every baby deserves a new soft, cuddly blanket and a new outfit.  At least I believe that.  We have two new cousin baby boys being born this month (one is already here and I'm slow).  For this one, it had to be cowboys!  I searched and searched for this very Riley Blake fabric and could only find it in a super soft minky fabric.  So I paired it with a dark brown minky and sewed it together.  It will be a very soft and very warm blanket!  I was sweating just trying to get it top stitched.  

 The fabric is sure cute.  I should have grabbed a few more yards of this - it is very hard to find now days.

I did have enough of the cotton line to whip up these cute burp cloths to go with it.

Next up is another flannel Peak Hour blanket with large green ric rac.  Love these so much!  And I really really love the Peak Hour line. 

I have stocked up my stash of this fabric line (flannel, laminated, and cotton) - it really is one of my all time favorites.  Anyway - this blanket is so easy yet it looks so fun with the ric rac hanging out.  Off it goes to Idaho.

Note - one tip for myself.  Take the time to carefully pin the top and bottom of these blankets together after you sew the ric rac on.  The last couple that I made ended up with a pretty big pucker in them because I was just hurrying through.  But with this one I decided to take the time and it worked up beautifully.

And off I go for more crafting fun.

At The Zoo - Quiet Book

I love a good quiet book . . . . always have, always will.  I have quite a few patterns stashed away and try to make one or two as I have time.  Or I add pages to my large quiet book that my boys love.  By the time I get around to making all the books I want, I will be the only one "playing" with them - maybe my old-age, senile self will think that's pretty fun. 

 

Anyway - I've had the pieces for this book cut out and ready to go for awhile now.  I finally sat down and got it put together.  This is a pattern from Shelley Wallace on Etsy.  I've made a few of her books before - and in checking her store this morning I see she's added a few new patterns and kits that I might have to add to my collection. 

 

This book is about the animals in the zoo.  Very cute, if I do say so myself.

 

Each page has a little burlap flap that hides the animal underneath and the clue helps you to guess what animal is hiding.



 

We have monkeys and lions.

 And elephants and bears.

 And koalas and zebras.

 

And giraffes and hippos.

A cute little turtle is on the back cover.

 And what could be better than a finished quiet book?  How about two of them?  I figured since I was cutting and sewing one, why not churn out two of them. 

 

And I'm feeling pretty proud that I actually got these finished and off my table.  Now I'm on to more baby blankets that have to be sent off this week and then . . . more fun things up my sleeves!

Red Coral and Black Agate Jewelry

I seem to be on a jewelry making kick lately - so enjoy another new necklace/bracelet set.

 

This one is made with red coral rounds and rondels and gray/black agate oval beads.  Love the color combination!

 For the bracelet, I went with three strands - one gray/black agate, one red coral linked with chain, and the third just a simple silver chain. 

 

I'm loving the agate trend - I have a couple of new types of agate beads on order so you'll be seeing more in the next few weeks.  In the meantime - I have been working on a brand new sewing project - it's been cut out and sitting on my sewing table waiting for attention for a few months.  I've been dreading it for some reason, but it is actually turning out to be more fun that I anticipated.  Hopefully next weekend I'll have pictures.

Making Necklaces

I got on a jewelry making kick the other day - some came out the way the picture in my brain looked.  A couple didn't quite turn out the way I imagined.  But that's the great thing about jewelry - you can recycle it and try again.  Here are the ones that made the cut.

This one is long and you can't really tell from the picture, but the beads are a beautiful coral color.

Then I made a slightly shorter one with turquoise beads.  I love it - made a matching bracelet for it too.

Then I found another really cute crystal pendant.  I've made a couple of necklaces like this before, but this one will be sent off as a gift.  Again, bad picture but imagine a clear crystal - the flash makes it look yellow but it really is pretty.

And here is a close up with the charms I added.