Forest Life Twirly Skirt

I have made a skirt from this pattern before, but had lost my instructions for it.  http://fromanigloo.blogspot.com/2010/06/tea-party-ruffle-skirt.html

Spent about an hour searching the internet to find the tutorial for it yesterday.  I decided I should post it here on my blog so I will be able to find it the next time I decide to make one.  The instructions are great and she tells you exactly how to measure to make it just the right size for your child.

I made Abby's first one from the dimensions she used for her little girl and it fit her from about age 4-6.  It still fits her in the waist now, but is too short to wear without leggins underneath.  Abby is just a little over 4 ft 3" tall now and her waist is about 26".  Here are the dimensions for the one pictured here:

Waistband- 4 3/4" x 36"

Ruffles- 7 1/4" x 72"

Connecting strip- 5 3/4" x 39"

I made myself a new zippered pencil pouch using strips of the selvage.  With the girls getting all these new school supplies, I thought I deserved a little something new for my last year of nursing school. 

Baked Beans

Not that I really think anyone is reading a blog I only post on once a year now, but if I don't put the recipe here, I know I will lose it.  And heaven knows I won't remember it the next time I'm ready to make them even though I can tell myself I will remember and don't need to write it down.

Finally made baked beans that we all liked.  Sorry, no picture....  I realize this is a massive amount of beans, but I started with the huge #10 can of pork and beans from Sam's because that is where I was and honestly, they only cost $3.88 so I would have spent the same amount of money buying several smaller cans somewhere else.

# 10 can pork and beans
2 cups bbq sauce (I used 1 cup Jay's mustard sauce and 1 cup original sauce)
1 onion (diced)
2 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
½ cup brown sugar
6 slices bacon
1 tbsp chili seasoning
1/8 tsp chili powder

Fry and chop up the bacon. Remove from pan. Add 1 tbsp oil (or bacon drippings) to a pan and sauté diced onion and minced garlic over medium heat until onions are soft. Mix together bbq sauce, brown sugar, chili seasoning, and chili powder. Drain most of the juice from the pork and beans. Mix beans, bacon, bbq sauce mixture, onion, and garlic together in a baking dish. Cover and bake @ 300F for 1 hour.

Notes:
* I would have added some diced jalapeno or other pepper if I had any already, but I didn't and didn't want to buy 10 at Sam's when I would only use 1.
* I might try making beans from scratch next time, just because I felt they were kinda mushy and overcooked by the time I cooked them long enough to let all the flavors mingle together.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!

I whipped up a batch of cupcakes this morning and used my buttercream frosting recipe but used a combination of regular milk and lemon juice for the evaporated milk.  Not an overly lemon flavor, but just a himt to make it a little different.  Why, because it's my birthday and I can do whatever I want, that's why.  I love my birthday!

Abby was mad when she walked in the kitchen and asked what I was making and I said cupcakes.  She told me she should be making the cupcakes for me since it was my birthday.

Homemade Yogurt

I love homemade yogurt, especially when it's mixed with fresh fruit or homemade jam and topped with nuts or granola.  I am happy I decided to acutally post and not pretend like I can remember exactly how I did this for the next time I want to make yogurt.  Now, I can come straight to my blog and find it.

I made my best yogurt ever yesterday. I used greek plain yogurt instead of the regular plain yogurt which I have always used before.  I only used it because I really really wanted to make a new batch of homemade yogurt and it was the only kind that the store I was in that day had in a small container that wasn't flavored. I think it was Yoplait brand. I used 6 cups skim milk, 1/2 cup powdered milk, and the whole small container of yogurt. This time, there was no whey left floating on top; it all got absorbed into the yogurt. And the texture was very smooth and creamy like store bought yogurt, not grainy at all.


6 cups skim milk
1/2 cup powdered milk
6 oz plain greek yogurt (Yoplait)

Warm milk in microwave to 175 F. 2 min each time with about 1 min to 30 second break and stirred in between each cycle. Once the milk is warmed, stir in the powdered milk.  Cool milk to 105 F (I put min in the fridge to speed up the process). Add 1 cup of the warm milk to yogurt and gently stir until combined. Add 1 more cup of warm milk to yogurt and gently stir until combined. Pour milk/ yogurt mixture into the rest of the milk. Pour into 3 pint and 1 half pint jars with lids (or whatever combination will fit in your crock pot). Put the jars in the crock pot, fill with warm water to the rim of the pint jar. Alternate crock pot between warm and off for 6-8 hours. I think I did warm for hour then off for hour cycles, but not really regularly just whenever I happened to walk through the kitchen and think about it. 

Ideally, you want the water temperature to stay consistent between 100-110 F, so you can put your thermometer in the water and use it to help you know when to cycle the crock pot on and off.

Subway Art

My classes are over until Fall, so lets get down to some serious crafting!  First up, some cool subway art I made today. 

I'm not exactly sure what I will do with it yet, but it was fun to sit down and create it this morning.  I will probably get it printed out and then put it in a thrift store frame when I find one the right size.  Here is what the girls were up to this morning while I got creative.  They went outside and built this awesome fort from some big boxes we had.  Abby was not in the mood for me to take her picture because it meant I interrupted her play time.

Abby's Haircut

Today- after the new short haircut.  I pinned her bangs to the side with a bobby pin.  She loves her new haircut and apparently there was a whole new attitude that came with it.  She loves how it looks, and I love that it is short and will have less tangles because the girl's head is super tender. 

Last Monday- the before hairstyle; basically, nonexistant.  Just straight with bangs she wants to grow out.  We were ready for a change because she is playing t-ball now and I make her put it in a ponytail, which she hates.  But, if we just leave it loose, it ends up blowing in her face and she can't see to catch the ball.

Notice the shirt?  It is her favorite, covered with owls and not "floppy" on her.  She wears it over and over again as soon as I get it clean.

FYI it is REALLY hard to find pictures on the internet of cute little girl's haircuts that are short.  This time I actually took some pics with me of things we didn't want and a couple that were sort of what we wanted.  I have figured out showing them what I don't want helps a lot, so that even if it isn't exactly what we had in mind, we will still be happy with the result.

Brazilian Lemonade

I saw this recipe the other day and decided it would be a great afternoon treat for a warm sunny spring day like we are having today. Despite its name, it's actually made with limes not lemons.  I followed the exact recipe from Our Best Bites, but I will copy and paste it here for you.

Brazilian Lemonade

4 juicy limes (try and find ones with thin, smooth skins; they’re the juiciest and the thin skin cuts down on the chance of your drink being bitter)

1 c. sugar

6 c. cold water

6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk

Wash limes thoroughly with soap; you need the soap to get the wax and pesticides off of the limes because you’re using the WHOLE lime, baby. Cut the ends off the limes and then cut each lime into 8ths.  You might need to do this next part in 2 batches depending on the size of your blender.  Place the limes, water, and sugar in your blender, and pulse 5 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher (the one you’ll serve the lemonade in) and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press the rest of the liquid into the pitcher. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix it in with a wisk. You may want to taste test it at this point.  If it’s bitter, just add some more sugar and maybe a little more sweetened condensed milk.

Serve immediately over lots of ice.  The longer you let it sit, the more bitter it will taste, so don't mix it up long before you plan to serve it.

The girls and I bought the ingredients this morning at the grocery store.  We went to the produce department where I asked Abby to find me 4 limes.  She is 6 years old and the girl didn't have a clue what a lime was.  So, I did what any good mother would do, I told her I wasn't going to help her find them, and asked her how she could figure out what one was.  I'm so mean.

We were standing right next to the very nice produce man so he overheard our entire conversation.  Finally, she got up the nerve to ask him what one looked like and he was very happy to help her.  He told her they were green  and shaped like a lemon, and then pointed her in the general direction.  Hello, that's what he's there for child!  They have been learning about community helpers at school and whether they provide goods or services, so I thought this was a great lesson for her to learn today.

And, just because this recipe lacks pictures, here are some limes in case someone else doesn't know what they are either.  Aren't they pretty?

To read the ingredients, it might sound kind of gross at first with the sweetened condensed milk and limes instead of lemons, but trust me, don't knock it until you've tried it.  At the store, Aly swore she was NOT drinking that nasty milk stuff in a can, yet when I held up a cup and yelled into the backyard "Girls come taste this!" she came willingly.  Abby got a small sip and said "yummy", Aly took a sip, snatched the cup away and took off running so she could have the whole thing to herself.