Funky Fashion

Zebra is an ongoing theme in our home.  The G's like zebra.  We have it in on walls and furniture.  We have it covering school books and we have it in scrapbooks.  Zebra is "in" in our home..at least for the G's.  Me, yea, I'm not that bold to wear Zebra.  I like it on other people, it's just not "me".  Recently, on my favorite website, Pinterest, there has been a t-shirt tutorial floating around.  I can't seem to find a blog of any sort that it is on to share with you, but I did find it's source.  Her name is Tara and I'd like to give her credit for this idea.  It's how I came up with my project.

Here is the source of inspiration...and it can be found here (If you need an invite to Pinterest, just let me know)

Awesome T-Shirt Tutorial found on Pinterest.  Photo source: Pinterest

My littlest G is who I decided to make an "awesome" shirt for.  I already made a different one for the oldest G, so it was little ones turn.  You can read about the oldest of G's shirt here.  Needless to say...I have a happy G here at home.

Supplies needed:

Shirt

Contrasting fabric

Chalk

Ruler

Stencil

Cardboard or other sturdy board

sewing machine

thread

pins

scissors or rotary cutter

yea...I think that's it.

This project took approximately 30 minutes to do.  I definitely DO NOT proclaim to be a seamstress of any degree.  My project isn't perfect. 

I basically followed the tutorial that you see above.  I placed a very sturdy piece of cardboard in between the shirt  I made a stencil and I used chalk to outline the hearts onto the shirt.  

 

I then took a ruler and measured the lines horizontally across the hearts.  I then used my Olfa cutter to cut the lines into the heart.  

 

After the lines were cut, I measured the contrasting fabric and pinned it right side to the shirt and began to sew around the heart shape.  I also cut a "V" into the neck of the shirt...just to make it a different for little G.

 

 

After the heart was sewn, I sewed the horizontal lines.  I then trimmed any excess material from the sewn lines and I trimmed all the remaining strings.  

A few things I learned:  

1.  I probably should have sewn the lines first and then the 

     heart shape.

2.  Be sure to backstitch.

3.  Cotton can really grow while you sew.  Be sure to pin 

     everything together.

4.  Mistakes happen

5.  A photographer I am not, but I kinda knew that 

     already...hehe 

            (on the   project list to learn more about)

6.  Little things make my kids happier than anything.  

7.  An original shirt put a smile on my littlest G's face 

     and me too!

As always, I encourage you to try something out of your realm...you never know what you may be really good at or what you may fall in love doing.

'Till next time...

Home Made Chinese

My family enjoys Chinese food.  We like it a LOT, but when you get it as take-out or eat-in for that matter, it's not really healthy stuff.  Because it is SO bad for us, we stay away from getting it except on a few occasions a year.  I guess you could health it up from the restaurant...order brown rice, omit the MSG, ask for steamed instead of fried, but none the less, it's still pretty unhealthy.  

I've been craving Shrimp with Lobster Sauce lately, or as my husband calls it "snot sauce".  (Whatev's...I like it.)  Remember me telling you I'm a picky simple eater?  Well, I am and shrimp isn't on my list.  I always ask for chicken instead of the shrimp in this #99 dish.  You may think that Lobster Sauce sounds a little on the wild side for my simple taste buds, but really, it's a simple sauce with NO lobster in it at ALL!  I was asking a friend of mine about the sauce and he told me how simple it is to make and even gave me a few tips (like omit the cornstarch), so I got to wondering...why can't I just make Shrimp Chicken with Lobster Sauce at home?

Off to search my favorite resource (the web).  There are a plethora of recipes online for any given dish you may be craving, but for me, I go through each ingredient and determine if that is "the" recipe before I decide which recipe to use.  I found this one (shown below) on Chowhound.  It seemed like the exact sauce that I enjoy and that I'm used to.  If you Google Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, many recipes appear, many with things in them that I'm NOT going to eat, so this one seemed closest to my taste-buds.

This is how my SWLS normally looks without the shrimp of course.

This photo was found at http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/nyc-dining-king-yum/....Thank you!

Here's a recipe: (not the same as the photo above) 

Shrimp with Lobster Sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons dry sherry or Shao Xing (or Shao Shing) wine
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/4 pound ground pork
1 cup chicken broth or water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 egg, beaten

In a medium bowl, dissolve 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch in the sherry. Add shrimp to the bowl, and toss to coat.

Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp, and fry until pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove shrimp to a plate with a slotted spoon, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible. Add garlic and ginger to the hot oil, and fry for a few seconds, then add the ground pork. Cook, stirring constantly until pork is no longer pink.

Combine 1 cup broth, soy sauce, sugar and salt; stir into the wok with the pork. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for about 2 minutes. Mix together the remaining 1 1 /2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. Pour into the pan with the pork, and also return shrimp to the pan. Return to a simmer, and quickly stir while drizzling in the beaten egg.

Serve hot over rice.

Servings: 4

OK, so here are my changes.  

I didn't dredge my chicken in cornstarch and sherry.  I didn't dredge it at all.  I just threw it in a saute pan with a swirl of peanut oil and cooked it till it's juices ran clear.  I only used Peanut Oil in this recipe, about 2 Tablespoons, no Vegetable Oil.  I also didn't use the cornstarch.  I thickened the sauce with a little bit of flour mixed in some cold water (slurry) and it worked/tasted perfect.

I used ground turkey instead of ground pork.  Instead of two cloves of garlic, I minced four. (We like our garlic)  I used one 14.5 ounce can of College in reduced sodium chicken broth, 1 tsp of sugar, too much soy sauce for my taste buds in this recipe, so I decreased it to just a teaspoon.  We love the egg whites in this dish, so I increased it to 3 egg whites and I added about 4 scallions to the dish, 'cause that's another favorite part for us.  I also used brown rice instead of white.

Needless to say, my husband said he loved this version of "snot sauce" and is actually looking forward to having it again.  Now, to perfect Sesame Chicken and Egg Rolls.

I didn't figure the exact amount of calories, fat or sodium in this dish, but I'm guessing it was in the neighborhood of about 450 calories and about 10-15 grams of fat for a large portion.  The recipe says it makes 4 servings, but with my additions I imagine I increased the serving size to about 6.  We have plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow....yummo!  

I encourage you to try something new in your kitchen....never know, you may surprise yourself!

'Till next time...

Had to Share

As I was perusing Pinterest tonight, I came across a most FABULOUS pin!!  I'm a sucker for all things old, rusty, beat up, paint chipped, basically, I like things worn looking.  For a long time I was trying to figure out what my "style" was.  While I love primitive, I also am of a fan of shabby chic, antiques and folk...I think??  Anyway, I took one look at this particular photo tonight and was WOW-ED!!  In my opinion if fits all things me.  It's worn, folky and primy a bit.  This crate is from Funky Junk Interiors and my gosh I just love it!  Dang it, I'm in love with the whole blog!!  You must check out Donna and get to know her more, you're going to love her!  Her ideas are tremendous and her blog is so inspiring.  Enjoy!!

'Till next time...

Happy Valentines 2012

Happy Valentines Day!! 

Pink Funfetti Heart Shaped Pancakes

  For all of you mushy Valentine followers...I hope this day is bringing you the happiness that you desire.  For all of the rest of us, aren't you glad it's almost over!  Between the heart shaped pancakes, the heart shaped sandwiches, the red milk ice cubes, shaped like none other than hearts...I'm about hearted out today!  I'll say it again, I do this for my kids.  I believe children deserve to be just that children.  Fun, whimsy, enjoyment.  I do my best to make sure it ALL happens.  Everyone wore their pink and red today and handed out Valentine cards, cupids arrow has definitely hit our home!

Hearts for Lunch

Handing out Valentines is a fun tradition for little kids.  My littlest was instructed to either make a "mailbox or mailbag" for the Valentines party in school.  Being my child, the mailbag seemed to dull...we had to go for the mailbox.  Luckily, I have a plethora of boxes to choose from, so we at least had that to start with.  

Littlest G selected a box that opens from the front and doesn't require any extra work to look "pretty".  I'm ok with that!  LG picked out what kind of paper was going to be covering this box and the accoutrements that would also be involved.  LG picked super simple things, this was going to be a LOT easier than I anticipated.  

After we were all said and done, this is how it looked

Front View

Top View with mail slot cut out, a few stickles and a couple of smidges of Glossy Accents

Side after we embossed

Super quick and simple, I'm really starting to like how LG is thinking...maybe simple is better??

'Till next time...

 

Dinner

It has gotten a little cold in our neck of the woods, cold enough that I was craving some soup.  I don't eat too many different soups.  As a matter of fact, I'm a pretty picky eater...simple eater.  I don't like too many ingredients messing up my meals.  I stick to simple condiments, mustard, ketchup, bbq sauce.  I don't add salt to anything after the cooking process.  I normally half the amount of salt required in a recipe unless we're talking Chocolate Chip cookies and well, that's baking, and we're not talking about either of those two things.  Anywho...my point is, that simple is key for me.  I like three soups, Tortilla (if I make it), French Onion (can't be too salty) and Won-Ton (needs lots of scallions).  Tonight I was craving French Onion soup.  French Onion Soup brings back good memories for me.  I used to eat it with my parents when I was a kid.  We would go to different restaurants and try it to see who had the best soup.  I once drove three and a half hours for French Onion Soup.  Well, OK, there's a bit more to that story, but part of the trip was for the soup.  

I could eat caramelized onions by the poundful.  I love the broth, I LOVE the gooey cheese and the French Bread.  So as I set out to make my soup, I couldn't find my recipe....dant, dant, daaaah!!! (that's music in case you couldn't tell)  OK, I pretty much know what goes in this soup (remember, simple?), I've made it a few dozen times, but I still need the recipe.  I always use a guideline for this soup.  I started to scour the web (my favorite resource,) and found a recipe that was pretty similar to my norm.  Click here to view my new FAVORITE French Onion Soup recipe!!!

I did make a few changes to this recipe.  Recipes are a guideline in my eyes, so I always wind up omitting, adding or tweaking the recipe somehow to make it more to my own liking.  I used two cartons of beef stock-all natural-salt free.  I used four (Costco) LARGE Vidalia Onions, I caramelized my onions till they were brown and super syrupy.  YUM!  I omitted the balsamic vinegar and added two tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce.  I didn't have any fresh herbs, so I eyeballed some thyme, parsley and added two baby leaves.  I did add pepper, but no salt.  I also mixed Gruyere cheese with Locatelli, I love that stuff! 

Stock photo from Allrecipes.com

If you are a French Onion Soup fan, (you know you are) then I encourage you to try this recipe.  If you're a salter (I know that's the way you like it) then add the salt, but seriously, this soup was very simple to make and delicious.  I think from start to finish it was done in about an hour and a half.  I hope you and your family enjoy this as much as we have.

'Till next time...