Handkerchief Skirt

Rayelle loves to model for me now. 

Isn't she just the cutest little model though?! 

It was a while back now, but I found this super cute tutorialonline for one of the cutest skirts ever!

So I put it on my to-do list that is a mile long in hopes that I would get to it soon.

I got around to finishing one for Rayelle about a year ago.  I got another one sewed together but never got around to sewing the elastic on it.  Until today that is!  

This is the one I made last year.

(too small for her now probably, I should try it on her)

With the pink skirt, I used two bandannas that I found at the dollar store.  They even have two-packs!

The black one I used regular fabric that I cut to the size of a bandanna.

Goes to show that this pattern can be adapted for any size.  Just makes it easier to use a bandanna for little girls.

One of the cool things about this pattern:

If you use two fabrics that show on both sides the skirt can be reversible. 

~Ashley

Perfectly Peel Boiled Eggs

Can you perfectly peel a boiled egg?

You betcha!

I LOVE deviled eggs, but I hate peeling the eggs because it takes forever and they always, always turn out ugly.  Why ugly?  Because there always seems to be chunks missing from the eggs as a result of the peeling process.

Well not anymore!

So here's the way you too can get perfectly peeled boiled eggs.

1. Place the eggs in a pot and cover them completely with COLD water.
2. Put them on the stove to boil.
3. Once the water comes to a rapid boil, set a timer for 20 minutes. (leaving the burner turned on)
4. When finished boiling, turn the stove off and let the water calm down.
5. Pour the water off the eggs and refill the pot with cold water and wait a few seconds.
6. Pour the water off and refill it again with cold water.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes.
7. Pour the water off the eggs.
8. To crack the eggs, tap it on the counter and then using your palm, roll the egg on the counter till the whole egg shell has been cracked.
9. Start to peel the shell off and it should basically fall off.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one who didn't know how to correctly peel an egg or not.  But I sure am glad that I figured it out.  So I'm sharing this for all of you out there who may not already know the precious secret.

Good Luck!

~Ashley

Paper Dolls Turned Magnetic

I found these super cute paper doll kits at Wal-Mart.  They were in the party favor section.  I have wanted to make some for Rayelle for months!  So I finally did it.  I knew I wanted them to be magnetic so the clothes would stick to the doll.  Rayelle is only 2 so the magnets would help her out tons. 

 I also bought a tin from the Dollar Store to store the dolls in and stick them to.

This is the clothes that came with the dolls.  I used both sets so she would have more options.

She wanted me to take a pic of her during the project.  Camera ham ;)

I just glued all the outfits to magnets adds that come on the phone books.  then cut them out.  It was very detail oriented.  But it went pretty quick.  

I'm going to glue the dolls onto bigger magnetic sheets that you can buy from craft stores.  I think Rayelle is going to like it.  I just hope she doesn't lose the pieces right away.  

~Ashley

Chicken Enchilada Pasta Bake

This was a new recipe that I have had the clipping for for about 6 years or something like that.  I went through my recipe binder recently and threw out all the ones I knew I would never get around to using.  I like to find recipes online and see what the reviews say before using them.  So nearly all the magazine clippings went to recycling.  But there were a few I kept that I could would be pretty good.  And this was one of them.

 

This is what it was supposed to look like.  They are always perfect in the magazine.

Recipe found here.

And this is how mine turned out.  It's not as picturesque, but it was still yummy!

A few tips I discovered:

1. It makes a lot!  Maybe freeze part if you don't have a large family.  It was just me, hubby, and 2 yr old.  TONS of leftovers!  We ate it for 4 days and there was still leftovers...we threw it away.
2. I would only put the Doritos on the parts you are going to eat right away.  They get soggy on leftovers and don't taste good at all.  
3. I only had large shells, not jumbo.  So I didn't stuff mine, just mixed them in.  Stuffing them would have been way too much anyways.  I even read that someone used penne and it turned out just fine.

~Ashley

Deceptively Delicious Rice Balls

Tried another new recipe.

Not one of my best endeavoured.

I ordered the cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious"  about a year ago.  And never did anything with it.  My reasoning was that I needed a good food processor to make the purees required.  I finally got a "Magic Bullet" after Christmas.  We found it online for only $25!  And it came with the full-size blender and the juicer.

So now I'm ready to make some new recipes.

Last night I tried to make the "Rice Balls".  They sounded yummy with rice, chicken, cheese, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and bread crumbs.  They were supposed to look like this:

And this is how mine turned out:

I couldn't get my balls to roll in the bread crumbs without them falling apart. After thinking about this, I realized that i had forgotten to add the milk to the breading mixture.

The kids didn't like it, but I did!! Not sure if I will attempt this one again!