Christmas Countdown

Last year Makenna made a Christmas advent calendar out of blocks and I have been wanting to do the same. So, for Super Saturday this year there was a craft that used blocks so instead of making the craft they were meant for I took them home and made this out of them.

Now we will know that how many days there are left until Christmas. I think that they turned out really well.

Tuesday Treats: Frozen Hot Chocolate

I have been craving Frozen Hot Chocolate from Dairy Queen, and I found this recipe at mels kitchen cafe.com and tried it out. It turned out so good! 

INGREDIENTS:

4 ounces of your favorite chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate)
2 teaspoons store-bought hot chocolate powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
3 cups ice cubes
lightly sweetened whipped cream
chocolate shavings (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Chop chocolate into small pieces and melt in microwave on low heat. Once melted, add hot chocolate mix and sugar, stirring constantly until thoroughly blended. Slowly add 1/2 cup milk, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In blender, place the remaining 1 cup milk, room-temperature chocolate mixture and ice.

Blend on high speed until smooth and the consistency of a frozen daiquiri. Enjoy! (This recipe made a large blender full – I believe I got at least 4 8 oz. servings from one batch.)

I also found this recipe its a little more work but its totally worth it if you have the time and ingredients!

I found this one at Tasty Kitchen

• 3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
• 1 package Hot Cocoa Mix (about 3 Tablespoons)
• 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• ⅓ cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• ⅓ cups White Chocolate Chips
• 12 ounces, fluid Can Evaporated Milk, Divided
• 4-½ cups Ice
• Whipped Cream, To Taste
• Mini Marshmallows, To Taste

Combine sugar, cocoa mix, and butter in the top of a double boiler that is set over gently boiling water. Stir often until melted and a smooth paste forms. Add semi-sweet & white chocolate chips; stir. When chips begin to melt, slowly stir in 1/2 cup of evaporated milk. Stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Combine the chocolate base mixture, the remaining evaporated milk and ice in a blender (you can do this in batches) and cover. Blend until smooth. Pour into frosty glasses. Top each with whipped cream. Sprinkle with additional chopped chocolate chips & mini marshmallows, if desired.


We hope you had a good tuesday!

Kitchen

Last month I posted about a play kitchen that I want to make for my daughters birthday here. Over the past few weeks I have been working on one. My hope was to not spend much more that $50.

Cost:

Wood- Free my dad had some left over wood from another project.

Sink- $11 (Orson Gigi)

Knobs- $5 (Home Depot)

Fridge and oven handles- $7 (Home Depot)

Baskets- $4 (Dollar Tree)

Hinges- $6 (Home Depot)

Plexiglass- $3 (Home Depot) 

Cup hooks- $4 (Home Depot)

Faucet- Free it was being thrown away.    

Total- $40

The wood could have cost around $15 and I decided to use a real sink because I found one that was being thrown away. The sink I got could have cost around $30. If I didn't have the sink I would have made the faucet out of pipe. 

Some of the blogs that I looked at used an Ikea book shelf as the base and then added to that but because I had access to wood and a brother I cut my own wood out of a sheet of plywood. 

I added these knobs for the burners and oven temp. 

The smaller baskets I will add to the door to make it look more like a fridge. 

Inside the oven I added a square cooling rack for her to put baking goods on. 

My brother made this shelf and I added the cup hooks to hang the utensils. 

I also plan on adding some tiles and vinyl lettering above the sink to personalize it for my daughter. 

This is our Kitchen, a big thanks goes out to my Brother and Dad who helped big time with the wood and work to help put it together. 

If anyone wants more detail on how much wood and dimensions just let me know I would be happy to help.

Entertainment Stand

I have been wanting to get a new entertainment center for a while now. After pricing them out, I just couldn't do it. Last week a friend of mine and I went to a salvage yard and we found this beauty for $30.

I bought it knowing that I would paint it and maybe make a few minor adjustments. You cant beat that deal.

To get started on this project I sanded all the surfaces that I was going to paint so that the paint would adhere to the wood. We bought paint that had primer with it so that we wouldn't spend more money than we needed.

I white-washed just the surfaces that would be seen when the drawers were closed or could be easily spotted when they were open.

I did this inside because it was so cold outside. I had a space heater on and the door open to make it tolerable.

Antiquing it was fun and difficult. I had never done this antique technique and never on a project this big. The antique glaze was made combining four parts glaze and one part paint. I used a dark brown, almost black color. Paint the glaze in places that you would see normal wear and tear and wipe it off with a damp cotton rag.

Then we just added a polyurethane coat. I did this outside, oil based paints have crazy fumes. All we need now, besides awesome knobs, is the ENTERTAINMENT.

 The hubby likes this project a bunch. I enjoy it myself. Its also a plus that even with all of the supplies to paint it, it was not as pricey as some I've been looking at.

Little Red Riding Hood

This was my little girls halloween costume this year.

Here is what I did:

I took a yard of material and cut so that it would be a good length for my daughter.  

Then I took the left over material and cut a square to make the hood. 

Once I had it all cut out I surged the side of the cape and left the top and bottom un-surged.

Then I sewed across the top with the large strait stitch. I found the middle and pulled the stitch I just made so that it looked ruffled. pinned this in place and sewed it in place. Then I surged over that.

For the hood I surged the sides of the hood and then added to my cape and surged them together. I then took the top and folded it in half to surge it together.  

I then added ties to the area where I sewed the hood on.  

This is how it turned out. My riding hood can also be used as a cape I just tuck the hood and its a super hero cape.

Costumes!

This year for Halloween my husband and I were Mary Poppins and Bert, the chimney sweep.

For his costume we needed a chimney sweep obviously. Luckily it was easy and FREE!

I started out with two cardboard boxes, and cut three circles out of them.

I taped up the folds so that I would be a bit more stable when I cut into them.

The next step was to cut around the edge to make it look like the bristles of the broom/sweep.

Then I punched a whole in the center with the broom handle that it will go on, so that the whole is about the same size.

The next step was to spray paint it. I happened to have black spray paint at my house. After the paint dries stick all three on a broom handle (that you have previously taken off the broom on.) and fray the edges that have been cut.

Super easy!!

My next project was the shirt for Mary Poppins. I found a Tuxedo shirt at the thrift store for $1.50!! It was a bit masculine so I thought I would work on  it a bit.

It started out looking something like this.

I was able to take in the sides of the shirt to fit and take off the large sleeves and ruffle the shoulders with the bulk of the fabric.

I also customized the detail on the front of the shirt.

I lowered the detail and added a bow as well as a fringed the collar. What you cannot see the bottom of the tuxedo detail is in the shape of a "V" for a more feminine look.

It turned out to be a success. (Not the photograph, the costumes and our Halloween).

Chicken Parmigiana

 

This week for Tuesday Treats I made a delicious quick meal. 

Chicken Parmigiana

My photography is not good,  I promise it looked a lot better than it looks in this photo. It tasted wonderful too.

You'll need:
1     small onion
1     clove garlic
1     tbs butter
1     can of diced tomatoes
1/2  tsp sugar
1/8  tsp salt
       dash of pepper
1/4  cup fresh basil (less if using dried, I never have fresh basil)
4     boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/3  cup seasoned fine dry bread crumbs
4     tbs grated Parmesan cheese
1/2  tsp dried oregano
1     egg beaten
2     tbs milk
3     tbs olive oil
1/4  cup shredded mozzarella cheese

I started with the sauce. cook onion and garlic in hot butter until tender. stir in tomatoes, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes. Stir in basil (if using dried basil add with tomatoes and other spices). set aside and keep warm.

Meanwhile. Pound chicken lightly to about 1/4 inch think in plastic wrap to keep counters clean.

Stir together bread crumbs and 3tbs of Parmesan cheese, and oregano. In another dish stir together egg and milk. Dip chicken in egg mixture then bread crumbs. (I like to dip chicken in flour before dipping it in egg to make it stick better.)

In a skillet cook chicken in hot oil for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until done.

I decided that we needed some noodles too, so I made some fettuccine noodles. A secret I learned from "The Chew" is to cook your noodles 1 minutes less than the directions say on the package and let finish cooking in the sauce. It makes the noodles have a perfect al dente. 

Serve with extra mozzerela and parmesan cheese. 

Its delicious. Try it and tell me how you like it.