Thursday, January 26, 2012

Dreamy Crock Pot Oatmeal

300 Recipes in 1 Year Challenge
Recipe # 11


I absolutely love oatmeal!! LOVE IT! Have you tried Quaker Oatmeal Bars? Have you tried them heated up? It's a perfect on the go breakfast. Well, I first saw this on Pinterest and I was taken aback. How come I have never thought about jazzing up my oatmeal before? Why did I feel the need to confine myself to those packets? Although those packets are nothing short of a wonderful breakfast, I am just in love with this fancier way to enjoy my favorite breakfast food!

Recipe found {HERE}, on this VERY cute site!

The recipe said 7-8 hours and it stuck to the sides a lot and it was a little burnt on the edges, so I highly recommend getting the liners and bumping your time down a bit. Next time I make this I'll post on if the lesser time works better. When I reheated mine I just added a bit of milk and warmed it in the microwave. So good! Must make for a cool Saturday morning sometime!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Fruity Fresca Sangria

300 Recipes in 1 Year
Recipe #10

This recipe MAY be cheating....just a bit. I've never made it before, but it's just TOO easy to be called an actual recipe :) 

I love mixed drinks. They are fun, typically fruity and perfect for get togethers! The only thing is that they can get costly & pretty complicated. And I am NO bartender! So this recipe is perfectly cheap and great for a large number of people, and only 3 ingredients! The other thing I love about this recipe is that it includes that beautiful, fizzy, oh so wonderful drink FRESCA. Oh, did you know it has ZERO CALORIES?!?! HOLLA!! :) 

Directions {doubled}:
2 bottles of any white wine
1 liter of fresca
frozen or fresh fruit
oh yeah, THAT'S IT!! 


Sorry for the lack of "fancy" picture. BUT Kortny has the super cute Christmasy drink dispenser that I put it in! So that makes up for it, right?

Another great use for Fresca... a drink called Mango Wango invented by Sandie Graves. She just combines it with mango rum. Amazing!! :) 

Sopapilla Cheesecake

300 Recipes in 1 Year
Recipe #9

Well, apparently I've been living under a rock. I have NEVER had sopapilla cheesecake. It's like the past me knew that the present me would be needing an easy, delicious recipe for the year of 2012! I actually made two of them the night before and kept them in the fridge. After a long Saturday at work, that was just what I needed for my late January Christmas' with Jake's fam & with Bryson, Matt & Kort. {Now that all of my Christmas gifts have FINALLY been given I will be able to share with everyone all my DIY gifts!!....Coming SOON!}

I got the recipe from this website {HERE}.

I only used 2 cans of crescent rolls & I suggest that after it cooks, let it set for a bit, just to let the middle harden a little bit, although the ooey gooey-ness isn't all that bad!

If there is someone around who is really good at Tetris, have them put the crescents on; it took a lot of finagling on my part :)


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Muslin Pillow

This post is long past due. Like, before Thanksgiving past due. But I have a very good reason. I was very mad at this pillow for a long time, and I've finally forgiven it enough to write about it. I got so frustrated during this {super simple} sewing process. Nothing was going right, it was kind of late at night and my mom {who is experienced} kept skipping steps in the tutorial we loosely followed and I would get confused. It turned out well in the end and it is dang cute on our new couch!

Here is my finished product

I got the inspiration {HERE}. We used her basic measurements, but mom kind of had me go on my own...so we just kind of played it by ear. 

I don't know if I was just not in a sewing/crafting mood, {I had just finished my Lamp ReVamp and may have been just tired} but I just was losing patience too easily. 

Right now it is on our brand new couch as decoration only. No one is allowed to use it, regardless of how soft the pillow or how gentle they "promise" to be. I worked too dang hard!! :)

Here is my tutorial...this is not going to be quite step by step, or 100% accurate terminology, but I'll attempt....it has been 3 months after all ;)

Supplies:
18in pillow, pillow form, or pillow stuffing. {I used stuffing}
Hot Glue Gun {for the fabric flowers}
1 yard muslin {this includes the muslin fabric flowers}
At least 20 inches each of 3 other fabrics 
      *If you look at the other tutorial, you will see her measurements done like this:

          So, in MY mind I could of had them cut just 4 inches, 2.5 inches & 5.5 inches....simple and cheap. 
          Well, Thank goodness mom was there because she mentioned that your pattern runs length wise, so 
          you need to cut the 19/20 inches length wise on patterns that matter. All 3 of my patterned fabric ran    
          length wise, whereas really only her green and brown damask one did.


We did the front side of the pillow first. You can use however much of each fabric you want, but with an 18 inch pillow we decided to do about 7 inches muslin and split the rest of the 11 inches between the other 3 fabrics, kind of depending on how big their design is. 
For instance, we wanted all of this heart pattern on the pillow. Make sure you cut at least 1/2 inch extra on each side to make room for your stitch.



This was probably the point where things went crazy....with the kind of technology there is today, you would think sewing machines would become slightly more user friendly!! Once started sewing, I kept going crooked or my thread would mess up....it was disastrous! 

Now you will want to pin together your fabrics, make sure your fabric all folds the same way, so there is no weird bulging. Like this...

This stitch was optional, it is just for decoration and a little extra reinforcement.

I don't have any pictures of the back, but we did an "envelope" closure and sewed on buttons for decoration. You just sew two 9 inch strips to each side and have the extra meet in the middle. Stitch the bottom of each and then stuff. 

I also did 3 muslin fabric flowers and put a pearl in the middle of them. Sorry, I was super irritated at that point and was not in the snapping pictures mood. 

Like I said, this is definitely not the greatest tutorial, but one day when I become an actual *seamstress*, I'll be able to do more step by step instructions. 

Here is the finished product! Super proud, and so not in a hurry to tackle sewing again quite yet :) 





Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Easy Potato Soup

300 Recipes in 1 Year
Recipe #8

I'm obsessed with the crock pot right now. I have actually made this before, but added kielbasa sausage, so I'm counting it as something new :)

I also doubled the recipe because Jake & Mo loved it so much! I set it up before I went to work and when I came home I added the cream cheese and sausage and voila! Dinner!!

The recipe is from this website {HERE}. It is a really cute site, her tag line is "A pinch of June Cleaver, A dash of Martha Stewart and a whole lotta Mommy". I recently started watching {anything & everything} Martha  and I'm more than obsessed!! I love everything she does, and hey who said a little jail time isn't worth it to achieve your dreams? :) haha

This is a perfect cold day recipe and the ingredients are nothing wild. We have some kept in the freezer for some safe keeping :)

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