homemade toddler nightgown

 

My Daughter, Miriam, loves to dance. She is a ballet fanatic. The hilight of her week is her ballet class. When we go to the library, we go up to the non-fiction section and pick out a ballet on DVD. That is her favorite thing to watch at home! The above picture is her watching ballet.

Anyway, this girl loves ballet. I got this Angelina Ballerina Fabric for a nightgown and finally have gotten around to it in this super nesty phase I'm going through. I used the tutorial and pattern at gingercake. Hers was a pillowcase nightgown, but I just made a couple of adjustments to make it work for normal fabric. I made the sleeves longer because it's winter and COLD. (I still intend to gather the sleeves at the bottom when I get my hands on some really skinny elastic.)  I also did the back fasten with a tie instead of a button. I just had the bias tape go long in the back on each side.

 As you can tell from the picture above, she's thrilled about her new nightgown... (no, really, I just loved this picture- this is a classic pout from her. Why don't more people post pictures of their kids being grumpy? It's not like mine is the only kid who makes this face...)

 I'm especially glad to have made this for Miriam because her only other nightgown is really a hospital gown that the hospital let her keep when she got stitches this fall. It's kind of drafty.

I love my little girls and was really happy to take a break from baby stuff and sew something for this little princess.

Snow day punch party

All that deep, deep snow. All that snow had to go... Yea, we got a great blast of snow last week. My favorite part was having Alex work from home for 2 1/2 days. This may seem silly because he was still working a full day and we didn't see him while he was working. However, it was really awesome, because we got him to be home during the time he is normally commuting, giving us an extra 2+ hours each day.

 Bad news? Sometimes the kids get a little bored. So, we invited over some girl friends from the neighborhood and had a punch party! It was very fun!

 These are the cookies that they created. They dipped the dough in sprinkles and made the cookies really tiny.

 It was one of those moments when I was grateful for little girls.

Happy world Nutella Day!

Today is World Nutella Day! We celebrated this week by making these amazing chocolate Nutella Thumbprint cookies from cooking light magazine. (but really, can you really call these light?) We made a quadruple batch: half were to be made the original way and half for my children to get creative with (and you'll probably see those later, too). 

 The dough was easily just as delicious as the cookies- like brownie batter, but thicker.

I had helpers rolling them in nuts (we did walnuts instead of hazelnuts- who wants to drive to the grocery store in the middle of a snowstorm?!)

Cute little thumbprints!

Before baking. Mmmm. So good.

And, this is me and my book club friends enjoying them with some fondue.

Of course, you can always celebrate with a nice, big spoonful of Nutella. My favorite way at breakfast is on 12-grain bread.  What's your favorite way to have Nutella?

And, if you're feeling extra spirited, this is still on my amazon wishlist:

Heaven in a jar times five. 

Pie recipes

I promised these recipes to a friend around Thanksgiving. I'm sorry it's so late! I hope you enjoy!

Basic Pie Crust
2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 c butter-flavored shortening
1/2 c butter
ice water

Combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening and butter till mix resembles small peas. Gradually add ice water. Fold gently to make soft dough. Divide into 2 disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wtap and refridgerate at least 10 minutes. Roll it out and bake as instructed in pie recipe.

Food-safe french silk Chocolate pie
My husband has been requesting this for years and I finally got up the courage to try it. It was really easy! And delicious! This recipe is from allrecipes.com and is originally from the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest
1 pie crust
3 (i ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, cut into pieces
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 t vanilla
4 pasteurized eggs or equivalent fat-free cholesterol-free  egg product
1/2 cup sweetened whipped cream
Chocolate curls

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Bake pie crust 9-11 min until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 30 min.
In 1 qt saucepan, melt chocolate over low heat; cool. In small bowl with electric mixer, beat butter on meduim speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in cooled chocolate and vanilla until well blended.
Add eggs one at a time, beating on high speed 2 minutes after each addition; beat until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Pour into cooled baked shell. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls. Store in refrigerator.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Mmmm... this is one of my favorites! the recipe is from the Kraft tapioca box. This is a real American classic!
2 c sliced strawberries
2 c halved, sliced rhubarb
1/4 c tapioca
1 1/4 c sugar

Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Let stand 15 minutes. Line pie pan with crust. Fill with fruit mixture. Dor with 1 Tbsp butter. Cover and seal with top crust. Make slits in the top crust. Bake 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until juices form bubbles that burst slowly.

Apple Pie
The quintessential American classic! I like my apple pie to taste and feel fresh and al dente. I don't really prefer my apples pre-cooked, so I love this recipe! Plus, it's easier. Also, I never really liked making apple pie before I got one of those nifty apple peeler/slicer/corer thingies.
double pastry crust
2 1/4 lb apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 c sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Prepare crust. Sprinkle apples with lemon juice. In Large bowl, stir dry ingredients together. Then, add apples and toss gently. Put in pie shell and top the apples with the other part of the shell. Seal and slit the top crust. Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges with foil. Bake at 375 for 40 min, then remove foil and bake 20 min more. Cool.

Pecan Pie
A personal favorite, being from Georgia. Um... did I mention that I really just like pie?
1 single crust pie shell
3 slightly beaten eggs
1 C corn syrup
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 c butter or margerine, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c pecans

Prepare crust. In a bowl, combine everything but the pecans. Then, add pecans. Place shell on oven rack, then pour mix into shell. Cover edges with foil. Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove foil, then bake additional 20-25 min. Remove foil, then bake additional 20-25 minutes till knife inserted comes out clean. Cover and refrigerate.

Peach Raz pie
Save the best for  last. This is my favorite fruit pie! It has this great balance of sweet and tangy. So yummy!
Double pie shell
2 C frozen or fresh raspberries
3 c frozen or fresh peaches
3/4 c sugar

Mix ingredients in a bowl. Let sit 45 min to thaw if frozen. Transfer to shell and cover. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Cover edges with foil. Bake 375 for 45 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 25-30 minutes more. Cool. Really delicious with vanilla ice cream! 
1/3 cup flour


Now I REALLY want some awesome pie!

Chicken Wild rice soup

I have a good friend here who cooked at least a month's worth of freezer meals in anticipation of her new baby's arrival. She even pre-made her daughter's school lunches. I thought it was awesome! It got me inspired to at least stock up the soup section in my freezer. I love soup, but I really hate almost every canned soup. Plus, when you really need homemade soup is when you probably don't have the energy or time to make it. So, whenever I make soup, I try to make a huge batch, then freeze it flat in quart sized bags in my freezer.

Today was wild rice soup. I started with this recipe. I'll just tell you what I did (or better yet, would do if I hadn't made so many mistakes. Here is the big deal: My husband and kids actually ate and liked the soup!! It doesn't happen very often in my house that either of my kids will touch "adult" food. This one was a winner! (okay, so my older daughter would only eat the carrots and chicken, but that's about as much as I could expect from her.)

Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:
8 carrots, peeled and sliced
5 stalks celery, sliced
1 onion, chopped
6 oz chopped mushrooms
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed small and cooked
8 cups chicken broth
1 cup wild rice, uncooked
salt **
pepper**
curry powder**
bay leaf
rosemary **
thyme**
4 T cornstarch*
2 cups half and half

Instructions: Throw everything except the half and half and cornstarch into the crock pot. Mix up the cornstarch with water, a teeny bit at a time, to make the rue. Dump in the rue. Cook all day on low heat. Stir in the half and half about an hour before serving. Enjoy.
*Um, so I added only about 2T of cornstarch, and I forgot to add it till the end, so mine was pretty thin. This amount is what I will try next time.
**I just sprinkled some in of each without measuring. I didn't really put in that much, though, and the soup is still pretty flavorful.

kids cookie tip: placemats

We were making cookies with 3 little girls. Here was my solution that worked nicely: I got out 3 plastic placemats and rolled out dough onto each of them so that each of the girls had their own piece of dough to work with. No one had to argue over where to put the cookie cutters and it was a lot easier to clean up. Happy Valentines treat making!

Pear salad and squash soup

I'm trying to eat more fruits and veggies with this pregnancy. Beneficial in so many ways. So, I have to give thanks to my friend, Emily, for sharing this recipe with the world. It is an Autumn pear salad and is so divine! It has really gotten me through the past 2 weeks of pregnancy. I get one of my big serving bowls and fill it up with this salad- I just can't get enough! And, if you're interested, I'm pretty sure that every other recipe on her site is really delicious, because she's got great taste.

Another favorite of mine is her Velvety Squash soup. It's the smoothness of regular squash soup, but with this spicy kick of curry. My picky loved ones don't love it, so I make a big batch, then freeze them in yogurt cups to make individual servings for myself. As soon as they're frozen, I roll them up in plastic wrap and foil. Then, when I can't eat one more bowl of macaroni and cheese, I just unwrap a single serving of yummy squash soup and nuke it. Mmmm. Really good with homemade Naan.