St. Patrick's Day Celebration!

St. Patrick's Day has never been anything special for me...until I had a toddler! We were on FaceTime with my mom last night and she asked what we were doing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and my answer was something along the lines of "I guess have a normal Monday." And then she threw out the idea of making green play dough....so green play dough it is!

I have tried making play dough in the past and both times (or all three times...can't remember how many times), and this recipe was SO EASY!

According to ODG, this is our house with a garage, Papa's airplane with wings, and Abbey barking

Ingredients:

1 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
food coloring

Directions:

• Pour water in a saucepan. Add oil, flour, salt, and cream of tartar and stir well. Add food coloring.
• Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the dough forms into a ball and is no longer sticky. **TIP** As you're "cooking" the dough, it will go through different stages where it may be smooth, then chunky, then crumbly, but keep stirring and scraping the bottom  and it will eventually form a dough ball and will pull away from the sides (this takes 4-5 minutes or so). 
• Remove dough from pan and place on wax paper to cool. 
• When it is cool enough to touch, kneed the dough until it is completely smooth {if it is cool enough, let the kids help!} 

What fun things did y'all do to celebrate St. Patrick's Day {with our without kids}?

Chicken & Lime Soup

I know we're exiting the cold weather time when soup is the choice of meal for dinner, but I just had to share this! It was DELICIOUS!! My awesome cousin, Brittnee of Journey to Fitness with a Jogging Stroller, shared this recipe with me!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1-2 carrot, peeled & sliced

1-2 stalks of celery, diced

2+ cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp fresh, minced ginger (I would use less if you aren't a ginger fan)

1/4 tsp cumin

salt & pepper to taste

6 cups chicken stock/broth

1-2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded 

2 tbsp cilantro, chipped

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Juice of 6-10 limes

Directions:

1. In a pot, saute onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil for until soft & starting to brown.

2. Add ginger, cumin, salt & pepper and saute for another 1-2 minutes.

3. Add chicken broth and bring to boil. Reduce & simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add chicken, cilantro, vinegar, and lime juice and simmer for 5-10 more minutes

Yummy Rating (1 being the worst & 10 being the best/closest to traditional recipe): 9

Why? The original recipe calls for 1 chopped jalapeño...seeing as how I can't have them, but LOVE spicey things, I can imagine this recipe would be even BETTER with a jalapeño! I also shredded the chicken TOO much and it was just a weird texture. Overall, this is was a PHENOMENAL soup recipe! 

Taco & Avocado Salad

I love me some avocados and apparently, right now, I love me some taco meat, too!

I'm not a huge fan of ground beef...or the taste of beef for that matter...but taco meat, seasoned correctly, lasts a long time for me, and so far, isn't getting old! I make a variation of this salad at least twice a week! Super fast, easy to take to work for lunch, and delicious!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground meat, organic/grass fed, hormone free
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil
Taco Seasoning: 1 1/2 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 2 tsp ground oregano, pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)
Salad mix
Avocado

Directions:

Saute onion in coconut oil. Add ground beef and brown completely. Drain fat from meat. Add taco seasoning and 1/4-1/2 cup water. Simmer for 5ish minutes.

To serve, put salad mix in a bowl, top with half avocado, fill avocado with taco meat. ENJOY!

Yummy Rating (1 being the worst & 10 being the best/closest to traditional recipe): 10

Why? To me, this IS a traditional recipe! I LOVE LOVE LOVE avocado, and the taco meat has so much flavor! This is a great meal! I hope you enjoy it, too!

Gluten/Grain, Soy, Nut, Dairy, Egg free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think a better term for these cookies is "Allergen Free" cookies!

There is 1 tiny little cheat from the RepairVite diet...shhhh, don't tell my doctor!

Ingredients:

3 cups unsweetened coconut (or 1 bar of creamed coconut, melted)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips (because of my restrictions, I buy the Enjoy Life! brand that are dairy, nut, soy free from Whole Foods)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. If you have a bar of creamed coconut, melt in microwave for 30-60 seconds, until warm enough to stir smooth. If you are using unsweetened coconut, pour into foot processor, or heavy duty blender and puree for 5 minutes (time it, make sure your appliance doesn't over heat). Let the appliance cool off for 5 minutes. Puree for another 5 minutes until the coconut is completely liquid -- consistency of milk. 

3. Add maple syrup, vanilla, salt, remaining shredded coconut, and baking soda & baking powder, then stir, or turn appliance until until it becomes dough like. 

4. Stir in chocolate chips. 

5. Drop by tablespoons on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Yummy Rating (1 being the worst & 10 being the best/closest to traditional recipe): 9 

Why? When you haven't had a lot of "real"/traditional recipes for as long as I have, this taste of dessert is absolutely delightful! It has a strong coconut taste (but it's a real coconut flavor, not imitation...BIG difference), so if you don't like coconut, you may want to try these for someone else you love :-)

Water is getting old....

Since the day Brynlee Ann was born, I drank AT LEAST 1 can of Coke a day...I say at least, because there were days I would go to Sonic to get a large vanilla coke...several times a week. It's a nasty habit. As my genius mother-in-love says "Go clean a toilet with it and then you won't drink it...." I still drank it! I didn't drink Coke much during my pregnancy because of the caffeine and the sugar, but I made a deal with myself -- if I delivered Brynlee Ann with NO pain medications, I would reward myself with a Coke...problem was, I didn't put an end to it!

March 20 I stopped drinking Coke COLD TURKEY! And honestly, I haven't even craved it! But, I have been getting tired of ONLY water here recently -- I last 4 weeks before getting tired of JUST water...not bad! So I thought I'd share a few favorite options of mine:

Fruit/Veggie Infused Water -- in a pitcher, add thin slices of: 2 limes, 1 grapefruit, 1 lemon, & 8 strawberries. Top with ice & cold water. Stir and serve.

This was ABSOLUTELY refreshing! Try not to squish or smash the fruits too much, or the water becomes quite sour from the citrus. Also, experiment with cucumbers, peaches, and other great refreshing fruits & veggies! Not only does it taste good, but isn't it pretty??

 Kombucha Tea -- Our favorite brand is from a Fort Worth company - Holy Kombucha. They are available at WholeFoods Markets here in DFW, and you can contact them via their website to find where else it can soon be found! If I need a sweet, refreshing drink, I usually drink about 8 oz. It has GREAT health benefits -- it naturally contains probiotics, antioxidants, enzymes, and amino acids that are so vital to our body functioning properly. We have not tried a flavor in this brand we didn't love!

Low calorie & low in sugar. This has been a HUGE asset to me not craving soda. My one caution (personal opinion) is to avoid the Synergy brand of Kombucha tea -- it is derived from Green Tea extracts and contains high caffeine (they have a larger selection of flavors, but it doesn't taste as fresh/refreshing as Holy Kombucha). I will keep y'all updated if I find other brands I like! 

What is your favorite sugar-free, natural drink? 

Apple Pie...minus the pie...a la mode!

I am venturing to guess we all experience a sweet tooth now and then...am I correct? I sure do! One of the most amazing "creations" I've gone back to over & over again is my Apple Pie a la mode. There is nothing sinful about this amazingly delicious dessert....did I mention it only takes 2 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook...oh, and 4 ingredients?!

Ingredients:
1 Apple, thinly sliced (I use my Pampered Chef mandolin slicer on the thinnest setting)
Ground Cinnamon, to taste
Coconut [palm] sugar, to taste
SO Delicious brand (dairy, soy, gluten free) Vanilla Bean Ice Cream [no sugar added, if available]

Preheat oven to 375-400 degrees. In an oven safe bowl (I use my small, personal size, Corningware bowl), place one layer of apple slices to cover the bottom. Sprinkle cinnamon & coconut sugar. Repeat until you are out of apples. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve into new bowl and top with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream! Serves 2...oh yea, it's also a great date night recipe!!

Yummy Rating (1 being the worst & 10 being the best/closest to traditional recipe): 10

Why? Who needs crust when you've got something this delicious?!?! Enough said.

What is your favorite type of pie? I may attempt to make other crustless desserts! 

Pillowcase Dresses

The other day I was looking through Etsy for several girly things for Brynlee Ann. A while ago, I dreamed of making clothes for our little one but thought that by the time I bought a pattern, fabric, thread, and accessories it would cost as much to make the clothes as it would to buy on clearance/resale. Back to looking on Etsy...I kept seeing the cutest dresses (on Zulily, too) and found myself staring out them seeing if I could figure out how to make them and if I had good enough eye to pick out fabrics & add-ons and if I could make a straight line when sewing, and on, and on...
I finally bit the bullet and tried...

and succeeded! 

I loved making this dress so much that I decided to try another...

 and succeeded again (this time better)!

Ya'll...I am LOVING this! It is something to keep me busy when Brynlee is taking naps and I have fun doing it! My favorite part is going to the store to pick out the fabrics, ribbons, and trims!

Hubby is going back to school full time for his masters in January and I would love to be able to help our little family in any way I can. Here's where you come in -- I would love to start making these for others and selling them at an affordable cost! I'm not sure how I feel about going through an online website like Etsy or PayPal just yet, so I need your help to spread the news around! If you or anyone you know would like a dress made, please send them my contact information: brian(dot)sarah(dot)langhoff@gmail(dot)com or find me on Facebook (Sarah Langhoff).

Can't wait to be able to share my love of these dresses with others!

-Sarah

Burp Cloths

I have gotten so pumped up about sprucing up plain old burp cloths! I'm not the best seamstress in the world, but I'd really like to improve. I have several sewing projects I'd like to work on, but I felt that the easiest way to start was with straight-lined projects...thus, the burp cloth projects!

I learned that this thick, minky material is REALLY hard to sew to a thick burp cloth...maybe I'll learn some techniques of how to handle that, because I really like the soft material. Can't you just imagine having your face up against something that soft?? :-)

This fabric came from an old skirt that I've outgrown. I kept it in my craft box because I just loved the fabric. I think this fabric might be good for some other sewing projects, but I think it was way too thin for this burp cloth and it was REALLY hard to cut in a straight line, and therefore fold in a straight line.

I really like this fabric - it is just a plain old cotton fabric. It cut well, folded well, and sewed well. I think I lined it up a little off centered, but I'm pleased overall with my improvement.

I would LOVE some more practice -- if you would like to provide the burp cloth and fabric, I will make one (without embroidery) for free! I have burp cloths that I can provide for $2 and then we can talk about prices for fabric and embroidery :-) Leave a comment, facebook message me, or email me (512smellme@gmail.com) if you're interested in helping me out :-D

Easy Bow Holder Tutorial

The supplies you'll need:

• ribbon
• tulle
• hot glue gun & glue sticks
• scissors
• hanger
• Fray Check or Fray Block (not pictured)
• yard stick

Start by cutting six, 2 yard strands of tulle. You are going to fold each strand in half and loop it around the hanger.

Set the hanger aside for now. Measure each of your ribbons to be 39 inches. Before you cut, apply Fray Check or Fray Block and let dry to prevent the ribbon from fraying.

After you've cut all the ribbons, plug in your hot glue gun and prepare the ribbons to be layered, if desired.

Measure 3 inches of ribbon and make a crease. Turn the hanger the opposite direction that you want it to be hanging. Glue the center ribbon first - glue down the 3 inches in the back. Next slide one tulle strand on either side. Repeat the gluing process for two more ribbons (one on each side). Then slide two strands of tulle on each side over and glue the final ribbons.

Turn it over to make sure everything is placed where you'd like.

The finished product:

In Brynlee Ann's new room she will have a shelf with pegs and this will likely hang from that. I have a few more projects to do, so stick around :-)