Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:
2-3 large chicken breasts - cooked & chopped
12 oz package of spaghetti - cooked
1/3 cup of cheez whiz sauce in a jar (or 3 oz of velveeta/mexican velveeta cheese block)
1 can of cream of chicken OR cream of mushroom soup
1/2 onion finely chopped
1/2 green pepper finely chopped
8 oz package (2 cup package) of shredded cheese (I like mexican blend)

Optional: add chopped broccoli, chopped mushrooms, or chopped red bell pepper

Instructions:

Cook chicken by boiling water. Keep leftover broth.

Cook spaghetti by boiling water. Don't overcook it because it will get mushy in the oven. Drop 1-2 min off the package directions and you should be fine.

In a large mixing bowl mix cheez whiz, cream of chicken soup, diced onion, diced green peppers, cooked diced chicken, & 1/2 pack of shredded cheese. Add 1/2 cup of reserved chicken broth (or water) and stir. Add any other optional ingredients. Add cooked spaghetti and stir. Pour everything into large baking dish (9x12) and top with remaining package of cheese.

Bake for 350 for 20-30 minutes until everything is heated and cheese is melted.

** ** The cheez whiz in a jar is kind of pricey, but it is cheaper than the velveeta block stuff. Get the smallest jar you can find. You don't need a ton of it. If you can't find it, get the larger 16 oz (4 cup) package of shredded cheese in it's place. Just use 2 cups of shredded cheese to mix, and 1 cup of shredded cheese on top. You should have about 1 cup leftover. You can add up to 1/2 cup more chicken broth if it seems to thick.

Golden Potato Chowder

This recipe is from the clean eating magazine. You can make this healthiest by using skim milk & light cream cheese. So good!

Ingredients:
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch slices
8 oz white mushrooms, cut into quarters
3 cups of chicken broth
1 lb. spaghetti squash, skin & seeds removed, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
3 redskin/new potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1 inch cubes
6 oz ham cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/4 cup milk
2 oz cream cheese

Instructions:
Heat oil in a large pot on medium for 1 minute. Add onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes.

Stir in broth, squash, potatoes. Bring soup to a boil on high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in ham and heat through.

Meanwhile, in a small pot on low heat, add milk and cream cheese. Cook, whisking constantly for 1 minute or until mixture is smooth.

Ladle 1 cup soup mixture into milk mixture and mix. Pour milk mixture back into pot and stir to combine. Serve immediately. Use a fork to break up any spaghetti squash that is still in chunks. It should resemble shredded cheese when you are finished.

** I have the deli counter cut a slab of honey ham at thickness "11" One slab is usually enough, unless it is near the ends of the ham. I add 2 tsp of Italian seasonings while it is cooking.

The Teacher's Apron

Adam's teachers wear these aprons around school. How great are these? Now they have a place to stick a nurse's pass, band aids, pens, or whatever kids may give them throughout the day. Make one for your kid's teacher, they'll love it!
Materials:
1/2 yard of fabric
1 leg of a pair of adult jeans (avoid skinny leg & excessively flared jeans. Straight leg & men's work best)
denim sewing needle
denim colored thread
thread to coordinate with your fabric

Keep your fabric folded in half
Cut:
-selvage while fabric is folded in half. You'll end up losing a smidge extra of good fabric on one side, but it makes your life easier if you can keep the fold crease.
-two 5" strips to the edge of your fabric
-two pockets 6 3/4" (h) x 6" (w)
One one 5" strip cut at the crease to separate into two pieces. Keep on strip together. You should end up with 2 pockets, 2 strips about 5" x 21" (approx) and one strip 5" x 42" (approx) (Don't worry if you strips are a few inches shorter or longer -- it won't make a difference)
Jeans -
-Cut one leg of jeans below the knee, or below any hole in the knee. Mine is 14"
- Seam rip the interior seam open carefully, and you'll be able to use the factory serged seams on the sides.
- This is where I learned flare jeans are not the best, it's workable, just not as tidy at the end. There is extra fabric on one side, I just folded it under at the crease on the right side, and have a little extra fabric on the back of one side. Whatever you choose, fold under raw edges 1/4" ish, and sew in place. You can cut & square up the sides so they are even all the way down. Then fold under the raw edges and sew. It's really forgiving, so just do what works for you.
- Note -- Be extra careful anywhere you have multiple layers of jeans folded. It's a nightmare for your needle. I stopped sewing just before I got to the bottom of the jeans because I didn't want to sew through the factory hem.

The waistband strip. Take your 42" piece in the middle. Sew one 21" strip to the right side, and one 21" strip to the left side. You should end up with a very long strip, approximately 84" minus seam allowances. (You could absolutely skip the step above of cutting the one section in half, and just sew two 42" pieces together. You will see a seam in the middle, front of your apron if you do it that way. In this method seams are more hidden tied behind you.)

On this next part - -I'm sure there is an easier way to get the strap to the denim, but I was copying a friend's apron and this is the way it was done. Use what method works best for you.
Open up your long strip of fabric. Use the factory crease to help you find the midpoint. Then make a mark on the wrong side of fabric (I used pencil) where the edges of the denim end. I stuck pins to show you, but you can barely see them. (You don't really want pins in it.)


With wrong sides together, start at one end and sew 1/4 inch until 1" of your pencil mark. Flip it around and do the other side. You should have an open section in the middle. Now pull the the right sides out of each "tube" until all of your fabric is right side out.

Iron your tube flat. When you get to the open part, sew edges under 1/4". While you've got the iron work on your pockets. Fold under 1/4 inch under all side and iron. Set those aside for later.

Stick your denim into the open hole of your strap. Pin in place and sew closed. Check to make sure you caught both sides of the strap.

Pockets:
-Sew across the tops only to hold down the fold.
- Pin in place (where ever you like them) & sew them down.

Trim your threads, you are done!

Arrrrgg, The dreaded black beard

Yesterday, I was organizing our arts & crafts supplies.

Hadley was being so good, and not bothering us one bit.

Then I hear Jared exclaim, "Oh, Hadley"

I looked up and saw this face.

She found the rubber stamps and stamped herself a beard.

We think she thought she was putting on lipstick.

If so, her technique is thorough and impressive.

(I wonder how effective our parenting was, when we were telling her "no-no" through our giggles.)

The buzz at church

I have an absolute fear of wasps & bees.

When I was 7 I got stung on my arm while eating a bowl of cheerios in the living room. I threw the bowl out of shock. It hit the ceiling, and rained cheerios down on us. I was certain there were other wasps after me, I ran to my closet to hide. My family has a different account that the timing was only a couple of minutes, but I felt for certain it was at least half an hour before anyone came to check on me.

I think it took that long for them to stop laughing.

Bees & wasps seem to follow me. I don't seek them out, I avoid them. I must put out some kind of fear pheromone that attracts them to me.

I avoided stings through high school, but in college, there was a nest under the stairs of my apartments. They were always getting into my apartment. I had wasp spray tucked away in every room.

As I was moving out, I got stung three times by angry wasps, and ended up losing an entire box of breakables as they plummeted down the stairs.

My family could tell stories of how I am always on guard for the bees & wasps, and will jump up and run off if there are any nearby.

A bee got into my parked car at church today.

I did the most logical thing. I shut all the doors to trap it, and went and got Jared to get it out.

My husband opened all the car doors and assured me that the bee was gone. We did see one fly by near one of the open car doors. I was not so sure. He eluded that "even if it was still in there, it wouldn't make it through the remaining 2 hours of church closed up with over 100 degree temperatures. " It sounded logical enough.

I was still nervous that the bee would come out of nowhere while we were driving home.

Jared did his best to lovingly tell me I was crazy. We made it home without incident, and I completely forgot it.

Just so you know, bees can make it in a closed car, with exceeding temperatures for over 6 hours.

I found this out as I was dropping things off at friend's house. Thankfully, I was at a stop light when the bee decided to greet me by flying into my face.

I did not handle it well.

Jared is starting to believe that they are after me.

Mario/Luigi Hats

Can you tell what Adam wants to be for Halloween?

"It's Luigi time!"

I know it's early for Halloween, with back to school and all, but I wasn't sure I could make these hats. Luckily, my friend Natassia sent me this awesome tutorial on the Groovy Kids blog. (Thanks Tassia!)

Go check it out now, I'll wait. These were quick & easy. I was able to make two during nap time.

I'm not going to retype up everything she did. However, I made a few changes that made it work better for us.

For the hat: For the kid hat, I went smaller and used a 10 inch dinner plate for the circle of the hat. I used a 12 inch bowl for the grown-up hat. Stick with the 4 1/2 interior circle -- seriously, the fleece stretches like crazy.

I wanted the brim a little larger than the tutorial. I traced the brim of a hat onto a cereal box and cut it out for the foundation inside the brim. I also used this as my template on the fleece fabric. I cut the cardboard about a quarter inch smaller than the fleece all the way around.

Then I gently curved by bending it through my fingers.

For the circle: (I just just used the inexpensive white felt rectangle, instead of buying white fleece. It was a bit see-through, so I used wonder under to double the layer.) I cut a rectangle of white felt. I traced a cup that was about 3 1/2 inches diameter. Then iron on a square of double sided fusible webbing/wonder under to the back side behind the circle I traced.

Have you noticed wonder under can be a beast to remove?! Open your scissors and score an X into the paper backing. It should come off easier for you. Don't go too hard or you'll go through your fabric. Fold over your white felt, and iron so the wonder under seals in place. You should have a double thickness now. Cut out the circle.

Use some of your scraps to make the letter. Iron a piece of wonder under on the back side. Draw your letter. Remember since this is the back, you'll want to draw the letter backwards for Luigi's "L." Luckily, Mario's "M" is the same both ways. Go ahead and cut out the letter. Remove the paper backing, and center it on the white circle. Iron it in place. This should hold it long enough for you to sew.

Sew around the M as close to the edge as you can get.

Okay, moving on to the rest of the hat. I'm going to assume you read the tutorial from above, and you have cut out and sewed everything else like she said. Go ahead and stick your curved cardboard into the brim of the hat. Trim the cardboard if it sticks out anywhere.

Sew the back of your brim closed.

Now for the M: Line up the bottom of your circle with the bottom of the line of the hole of the hat. Pin in place. Make sure not to catch both layers of hat. You should be able to put your hand in between the two layers of hat.

Switch to white top thread. Move the rest of the top of your hat aside, so you aren't sewing your hat together. Sew around the edge of your circle.

Now, put center the brim of your hat with the circle. Pin in place. Sew around the edge of the brim to secure it to the hat.

Supplies:
1/2 yard of green or red fleece
1 white rectangle of felt
1/4 yard of wonder under/double sided fusible webbing - medium weight
thin cardboard (cereal box)

1/2 yard & 1 white felt will make two hats. I think I could have folded the fleece differently to use 1/4 yard...but I couldn't do the math in my head with two busy kids at the store.

Making Fake-Up

Hadley loves my make-up. She is ruining it, as I find her sneaking if it is anywhere in her reach.

I found this great tutorial for pretend make up on the Playing House blog.

I got some cheap make up at the dollar store,
cleaned out the cases, and put glitter foam in the holes.

Since I'm inpatient, I used hot glue because
I knew I wouldn't have to wait for it to dry.

Hobby Lobby has a 5 pack of glitter foam that I loved!

You can make a lot of make up with this pack!
In fact, I have a ton left...anyone need some?!?