Pasta Tuna Salad – “Pasta Puna Pasta”

May 28th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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This is a big favorite in our family that I found from my friend Michelle @ Made By Michelle. It is perfect for the warmer weather that we have been having here, and is great for summer. Our kids love it enough that they have renamed it to “Pasta Puna Pasta”, and they do a little happy dance when they find out we are having it for dinner.

And yes, that is dill that you see there. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum.

 

Ingredients

1-1/2 c. pasta (shell, farfalle, whatever)

1 pkg. frozen peas, thawed (10 oz.)

1-1/2 c. chopped carrots

1/4 c. onion, finely diced

2/3 c. mayo

2 T. lemon juice

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. dill weed

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 can tuna (or we will use 2 cans for dinner)

 

Cook pasta; drain well and set aside to cool (or run cold water over it to cool it down faster). Combine pasta, peas, carrots, onion and tuna in a large bowl and mix well. In a smaller bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients together (mayo, lemon juice, sugar, dill weed, salt, pepper) and mix well. Pour mayo mixture over pasta mixture and toss lightly to combine.

That is it! It is very easy, and INCREDIBLY yummy. I will probably consider doubling the recipe the next time we make it because we go through it so quickly and wish there was more.

Thanks Michelle! And don’t forget to check out her blog – she is very talented, and makes a lot of cool stuff to sell. You can see her ad on the sidebar as well to get an idea of what she can do, or just go check her site out.

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Happy Summer!!

May 26th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Fun | Kids - (0 Comments)
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The kids are all out of school!! Which means only one thing – IT’S TIME FOR SUMMER! Ready or not. :)

Here is wishing all of you a HAPPY SUMMER! What kinds of fun things do you have planned? What are some of your favorite summer things to do?

One of ours, apparently, is to wear goggles around the house.  Or our brother’s goggles, when he isn’t looking. Whatever the case may be. :)

 

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Great Painting Tips – Hiding your Sample Colors & CRISP Paint Lines

May 24th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Tips - (0 Comments)
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These are a couple of GREAT paint tips from my mom. She is super effective, and is always up to some big project. Her current project (one of them) is trying to find new paint colors for their house. Here are a couple of things to pass on from her – the first is a tip for how to hide paint samples on your wall so you can still see them when you want, but they can “disappear” when you need them to; the second is a tip on how to get crisp paint lines. These are both things I need to learn and take to heart.

How to Hide Your Paint Samples (and still get them on the wall directly):

I think this tip is very clever, and is definitely a subtle solution when you are trying to figure out colors for your room…..

She just took the pictures down in her living room and painted the sample colors UNDERNEATH where the pictures hang. Ha! This allows her to check out the color in several different places in the room, but still lets her cover up her handiwork as needed and everything looks normal.

I love that. It is much better than what I tend to do, which is this:

My way is not so subtle. But it usually comes at a time when I am desperate enough to change the colors that I need a reason to force myself to do it. I’ll have to try the “sample hiding” way next time so it will give me some time to think about things. :)

Another trick that she has done before is to paint the sample on a piece of poster board so she can move it around the room to check the color in different lighting, but I personally like the “hidden, yet permanent” sample idea even better – you can still check different areas out, but have the paint be directly on the wall with the texture and everything.

 

Now, on to the CRISP lines:

Step 1: Use blue tape to get a clean line. Make sure that you press it down well.

Step 2 (this is the extra step that makes it all work): Take the color that is underneath (for example, if you are painting a wall and your ceiling is under the blue tape to keep it protected from the new color – you will want to use the CEILING color) and cut in using that color.

The idea behind doing this is that this will create a seal on the tape with the color that is already underneath it. If any paint leaks through the tape, it is the color you WANT to leak through – one that matches – instead of the new color. She did not use globs of paint here, just enough to seal the tape off. Let this paint dry.

Step 3: Cut in with your new color as you would normally do, and then paint the rest of your wall.

Step 4: Take the tape off as soon as you are done painting and be amazed – CLEAN LINE!! Wahoo! Make sure you take the tape off right when you are done painting. This will keep your new paint color from chipping off like it could if the paint dries before you peel the tape off.

Look at those clean lines – awesome!

Great job Mom! And thank you for the tips. :)

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Easy Manicotti

May 22nd, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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This recipe is easy, delicious and another family winner dinner. It is always nice to have an easy weeknight dinner, and this qualifies. I found it in the Kraft Magazine a few years ago, back when they used to send them out for free. Those were good days. You can still find the recipe online here - along with their other recipes. This recipe introduced me to the joys of pesto – yummmmmm.

Ingredients

12 cooked manicotti shells, rinsed in cold water

2 cups spaghetti sauce, divided

1-3/4 c. Ricotta cheese

1-1/2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg, beaten

1/4 c. pesto

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you haven’t done it yet, cook your manicotti shells according to the directions on the box. Rinse in cold water. Set aside.

Step 2: Line the bottom of a 13×9 baking pan with foil. Spread 3/4 c. spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the pan.

Step 3: Mix cheeses, egg and pesto in a bowl. Move your mixture into a resealable bag. Clip one of the corners of the bag off. Our favorite pesto is Classico’s Traditional Basil Pesto. I’m sure any pesto would be great, though.

Step 4: Fill your manicotti shells by squeezing some of the cheese mixture into EACH side of the manicotti shells. Place the shells in a baking dish and cover with the remaining spaghetti sauce. Cover. If some of your shells have split open in the cooking process, just lay them in your dish, squeeze some of the cheese mixture into the shell, fold it closed, and pretend like everything is okay. :)

Step 5: Bake for 40 min. or until heated through.

There ya go! Sorry for the ugly picture….I think we had some ravenous children so I took one quickly and served them up. At any rate, this is very tasty, and actually, kind of fun to do. I normally end up with 8-9 filled manicotti shells – I think I am a little extra generous with my cheese filling. If you want more filled shells at the end, just watch how much you fill – you won’t want to stuff them completely.

Enjoy!! :)

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Clean that Microwave….Painlessly

May 21st, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Cleaning | Tips - (3 Comments)
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Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I had a bit of a bout with a fever and the chills, but am doing much better now. It’s the last week of school here too – so the upcoming summer months should be exciting. On to today’s project: cleaning the microwave. Without much effort at all. A good thing for a Monday morning.

Our sad microwave takes a beating. We are not the most vigilant people at remembering to consistently cover our leftovers when we microwave them, and so we get splatters. And then some more. And then a couple more. Does it bother me? Yes, a bit. BUT, it is very easy to clean.

Here is all that you need:

Yep. Lemon juice and a cup. And a sponge to wipe things down when you are done.

Step 1: Take a look at your dirty, sad microwave. It is telling you to clean it.

Step 2: Take out your lemon juice, and fill a microwave safe container (I use a mug) about a third of the way full. I usually will put some water in there too just because I want to.

Step 3: Put your microwave safe container into your microwave and turn it on high for 2 minutes, or until you see your lemon juice boiling. Turn it off and LEAVE IT ALONE. Do not open the microwave. Do not be tempted to wipe anything off yet because it won’t work. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200. Just leave it alone for at LEAST 5 minutes and let your lemon juice steam do its job. I like to set the sponge in front of the microwave so I remember that the lemon juice is in there, and then I leave it alone for a good 10, 20, 30 minutes. This time I left it for about 30 minutes.

Step 4: Open your microwave, and wipe the walls down. Everything should come off easily. You will probably need to rinse your sponge a time or two in this process, or more depending on how dirty your microwave is. You’ll also want to pull out your microwave plate (if you have one) and give it a scrub.

That is IT! Clean microwave.

Here is the inside of the microwave door, right after I opened it. This is after the lemon juice steam had been hanging out in the microwave, but before I wiped it off:

Here is what it looked like after 3 swipes of the sponge:

Yup. Clean. {Cue chorus.}

Here is the rest of the microwave before:

And after:

Easy, easy. It’s nice when you can start something and have the hard part done for you while you get other things done.

Enjoy! :)

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The Piano Guys

May 19th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Fun - (2 Comments)
The Piano Guys

If you haven’t heard these guys – I promise that listening to them will make your weekend. If you have heard them play, go and enjoy them again. They are so, so good.

John Schmidt (piano) and Steven Sharp Nelson (cello) have teamed up to create The Piano Guys. They take popular songs and put an amazing classical twist on them, or will take classical songs and put an amazing modern twist on them.

I am a little bit obsessed with them right now. To the point that I have had to limit my “Piano Guys” intake. But I still wanted to share their awesomeness with all of you.

 

These are a few of our family’s favorites:

A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) – this is their newest one and is beautiful

 

Peponi (from Coldplay’s “Paradise”) – my 2-year old says this one is her “favite” (favorite) – mine too.

 

Happy Together (we have watched this probably 20 times – it still hasn’t gotten old):

 

Bourne Vivaldi – they are on a TRAIN for part of it

 

You can go to their You Tube channel and watch/listen to all of their videos by clicking here.

John and Steve, thank you so much! Your music is incredible.

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Cookie Dough Brownies. Yum.

May 15th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (2 Comments)
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I found this recipe for Cookie Dough Brownies just a couple of months ago and have made it twice since then, and it is delicious. The first time we made them (they are RICH!, by the way) I decided that a lot of them needed to find another good home so they didn’t land straight in my hips, so we gave them to the teachers of my oldest two at their schools. One of the teachers stopped me the next day and told me that she normally doesn’t like brownies (wha?), but she loved these ones and wanted the recipe. I saw her a month or so later at the store and she said that she had just made the brownies for a family function of sorts, and then pronounced some kind of woe on me for giving them to her in the first place because they are so good and, obviously, unhealthy.

And, actually, come to think of it, my sister pronounced some kind of cursing on me for introducing HER to the recipe too. Maybe this one isn’t a good one to share. ;)

I found the recipe from the gals at Six Sisters’ Stuff. It is SO good. I also have tweaked the recipe a bit – I changed the butter to margarine. Feel free to change it back, but it really is almost too rich with the butter. Your call though, and don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Ingredients:

Brownies

1 c. margarine

2 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. cocoa

1 1/3 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream margarine and sugar together. Add the eggs and blend well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until it comes together – don’t overdo it. Pour into greased 9×13 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely (or, throw them in the freezer).

Cookie Dough

1/2 c. margarine

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

2 T. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. flour

1/2 c. mini chocolate chips (or normal ones, if that is what you have on hand)

Cream margarine and sugars together in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour, and then stir in the chocolate chips. Spread over cooled brownies and put it in the freezer until it is firm.

*Note: when you are spreading out the cookie dough, it is VEEEEEEERY sticky. I got my fingers slightly wet and spread out the cookie dough that way (I had to get them slightly wet more than once). Another option is to add just a touch more flour – I’m not sure why I didn’t do that before, other than the fact that the dough was already on my brownies.

And, yes, these did just come out of the freezer – hence the frosty glass.

 

Chocolate Glaze

2 c. chocolate chips

2 T. shortening

3/4 c. walnuts (optional)

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and shortening together in 30 second intervals (cook in microwave, stir, cook in microwave, stir, etc.). Do this until it is smooth. Spread it over your chilled cookie dough. Sprinkle on your walnuts (if you want them on there) and press them into the glaze. Throw it into the freezer again, or wait for the glaze to harden before you eat them.

These are delicious, but very hard to cut. Hence my awesome picture here:

I tried, and that is what counts, right?

These are also delicious with just the brownie & cookie dough layers, minus the glaze. Or you can cut down on the glaze if it seems like a bit much – my sister did that and thought it was perfect for them.

Enjoy! :)

 

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Oh, the Places You’ll Go – Future Graduation Gift Idea

May 14th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Ideas - (0 Comments)
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Since the end of the school year is FAST approaching (hooray!), I wanted to implement and pass this awesome idea along. This one comes from Denise @ A Sprinkle of This. I LOVE it. Seriously, this ranks high up in fun gift ideas in my book.

For a baby shower gift, she gave the Mom-to-be a copy of Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” for the Mom to give to the future baby as a graduation gift. Her idea was to have the Mom sneak the copy of the book to all of the child’s teachers from Pre-K through high school and have them sign a quick note, and then the parents then give this almost as a “teacher yearbook” to the child. That is so cool.

Also, if your kids (or grandkids) are already later in their school years, you could get some of their favorite teachers and some of their friends to sign it. I think that would be an awesome idea too.

I’m taking this idea to use for MY kids right now, but I may use this as a baby gift in the future as well (think nieces/nephews/friends/grandkids/etc.). My oldest is in 2nd grade and we have lived in the same place since he was in pre-K (miraculously enough), so I think I can still backtrack for his teachers. My middle one is in pre-K, so it will be easy to start this with him. And my youngest still hasn’t started school yet, so we should be good to go for her.

I just ordered three hardcover copies of the book (one for each child) from Amazon for $10.79 each (no, I don’t get anything if you buy from the link – I just wanted to make it easy for you to find). This qualified me for the free shipping, which saved me over $26 over buying it at the normal price with tax at the store. Good deal!

Thank you, Denise, for making a graduation gift that much easier for me to figure out. As long as I don’t lose the books along the way…… :)

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BEST Playdoh Ever. Really.

May 12th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Kids - (4 Comments)
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The other day as the kids were playing with Play-doh and I was weeding out the Play-doh that had dried out from the Play-doh that was still good to use, I sighed to myself and wished that I could find a recipe to make playdoh that would yield results like the good, soft, freshly-bought Play-doh from the store.

Then I got my lovely recipe holder from my 5-year old, and the recipe that his pre-K teacher had attached was one for Kool-Aid playdoh. She had very thoughtfully also put a packet of Kool-Aid on the recipe holder as well, so we were set to make some playdoh at home.

A lot of the recipes I have tried before either are really salty and leave your hands dry, or the playdoh ends up dry and flaky – no good. This one was a little different than the ones I had tried, and it was SPOT ON. Wahoo!

Ingredients

1 c. flour

1/4 c. salt

2 T. cream of tartar

1 envelope Kool-Aid

1 c. water

1 T. vegetable oil

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar, Kool-Aid and water in a medium saucepan. Stir in the oil.

Mix over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the mixture forms a ball in the center of the pan. This took me the full 5 minutes, and it takes stirring the whole time or it gets selectively clumpy – just a heads up there.

Remove from pan and knead until soft. I was afraid the dough would be hot, but it was just very warm and I could knead pretty much right away.

There you go! Awesomely perfect homemade playdoh. And the Kool-Aid packet makes very vibrant colors. I love preschool teachers – thank you very much!

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Potted Recipe Holder

May 11th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Ideas - (0 Comments)
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We just had Muffins & Moms at my 5-year old’s pre-K, and this was the sweet gift that each child had made (with a LOT of help from the teacher) for their moms.

It is a recipe holder! I thought it was a fun idea and needed to be shared. And it is definitely an idea that I appreciated and will use for my printed recipes.

Each child painted a little terra cotta pot. You can tell that my 5-year old is pretty meticulous by the fact that the pot is painted in its entirety. And he knows that I love red. Sweet boy.

The teacher then put in a styrofoam ball just the size to fit comfortably into the pot.

She then put a fork in, handle side down, covered the styrofoam ball with spanish moss, and added a bow for a finishing touch. I bent the middle two fork prongs backward a bit so the recipes won’t get bent when I slip them in.

Cute, easy, functional Mother’s Day gift idea – I love it. :)

 

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Pasta with Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoes

May 10th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (2 Comments)
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I was having a conversation with one of my sisters a while back, and the subject of artichokes came up. Normal conversation, right? :) She was talking about how much she loves artichokes, and I was telling her that I had recently realized that I don’t know if I really have consciously eaten an artichoke. So she passed on this recipe for us to try from the Pioneer Woman.

That was delicious. And pretty easy too – artichokes and all. :)

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil

1 lb. pasta (she does thin spaghetti – I prefer something with more texture)

2 T. butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 can artichoke hearts (14.5 oz.), drained

1 can diced tomatoes with juice (14.5 oz.)

1 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. chicken broth

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

salt and pepper, to taste

1 c. Parmesan cheese

 

Step 1: Cook your pasta. Drain, and set aside. (see? easy so far.)

Step 2: Put olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat & melt. Add onions and garlic. Saute for 2-3 min.

Sauteed onions have to be one of my favorite smells. And tastes. So good.

Step 3: Add artichoke hearts (drained) and tomatoes (with juice). Stir and cook for 8-10 min. I also chopped up the artichoke hearts before I threw them in so they wouldn’t be so hugely chunky.

Step 4: Reduce heat to low and add cream and chicken broth. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and keep cooking on low until heated through. Make sure you use enough salt so you have flavor. That means to test your sauce and make sure you can taste it.

Step 5: Place pasta in a large bowl, and pour Parmesan cheese over the top. Then pour the sauce over the top and toss to coat.

Done! That was very delicious, pretty easy and it made a LOT of food. My sister had told me that they usually have it for dinner, then for leftovers at lunch for a couple of days – which I interpreted to mean that my family would finish it off in one night. Nope. We also had it for dinner that night, and then happily had it for leftovers at lunch for a couple of days afterward.

Thanks Jen for passing that one on! And thank you to the Pioneer Woman for sharing this awesomeness in the first place. :)

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Picture Hanging Tip – and DSLR tutorial links

May 8th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Tips - (0 Comments)
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This is a tip for hanging those annoying pictures with the two hooks – the ones where they have a hook on each side to keep things level and distribute the weight evenly. Those ones.

I have a couple of larger pictures like that, and hanging them was a large pain – I measured the distance between the hooks, penciled in two holes that distance apart and hoped they would be level, and then did trial and error until it looked right.

This lovely tip from Aimee @ It’s Overflowing came to me right on time – my mom had sent a picture for our boys that happened to have the two hooks, so I could try it out while I still remembered it.

Hooray for timely tips – this was VERY easy.

You take blue tape (or scotch tape – just something that won’t ruin the backing) and cut a piece that fits from the center of one hook to the center of the other, like so:

Then you take the blue tape of wonder, stick it on your wall at the spot that you would like your picture, and hammer some nails into place (I ended up cutting my tape a little short, so I hammered one of the nails slightly outside of the tape):

Voila! Level, easily hung picture.

The great thing about this is you can actually check the tape visually (or with a level, if you prefer) to see if it looks level. AND you have the nails perfectly spaced. I loved that.

Thank you Aimee!

By the way, Aimee has a bunch of VERY helpful tutorials on how to use a DSLR camera in manual instead of auto. Start at the link I posted, and work your way through. I learned a lot! :)

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Cloud Dough (Homemade Moon Sand)

May 7th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Kids - (0 Comments)
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For those of you who have wanted to try Moon Sand, but maybe have wondered about the mess and have sat on the fence about it, this is a great way to try it out at home. I got this idea from Juggling with Kids.

Here is all you need:

4 cups of flour

1/2 cup of baby oil

That is IT, my friend. It makes a pretty good-sized batch, so you could even halve it if you don’t have a big container for your kids to play in.

Just mix them together in a large bowl, and you are good to go!

I was really impressed at how well this held up – when it was formed together, it stayed together really well, but it still held a good “powder” form when it was broken apart. My 5-year old actually wanted to make it all into balls at the very end when we went to store it in a gallon ziploc, and none of them broke on the way into the cabinet OR on the way out when he wanted to play again, until he was ready to break them apart.

Super fun! I will warn you, though, it can make a bit of a mess, so either have a sufficiently large container (mine was not deep enough t0 contain some of the overspill) OR just be ready to sweep up a bit at the end. To me, the idea of an “indoor dry sand” is totally worth having a bit of a mess at the end – my kids will play for a long time and love it, and that is awesome.

Enjoy!

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Finger Paint in a BAG

May 4th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Kids - (0 Comments)
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I decided that I wanted to try to find a good fingerpaint recipe. I was only able to find essentially two recipes (here and here), and I was not terribly impressed with either of them. They were both waaaaaaaay too sticky. The kids tried playing with the finger paint and ended up washing their hands within a minute of getting it on their papers. So, I am still in the search for a good recipe – when I find it, I will happily share it. If you have tried either of these with success, I’m happy to try them again because there is a chance that there was some human error. OR, if you have a different recipe, I would love to have it to try! :)

BUT, in the meantime I remembered seeing this idea from Amy @ Let’s Explore. She took finger paint and put it in a gallon-sized baggie so her toddler could work on writing letters. I love that it also means NO MESS. Best idea ever. I took the finger paint from the first recipe (the one with corn starch) and plopped it all in the bag and this is what I got:

Pretty good! I think it would be even easier to use with better finger paint in the bag – or tempura paint, as Amy suggested as an alternative. I think either way, my 2-year old definitely likes to not have gloppy fingers, so this is a good solution for her. The older boys are easily entertained either way.

**Note: I hot glued the top shut too. After the bag was zipped, I just glued the very top pieces together. It has stayed put nicely, even when kids were chucking it around the house and using it as a hat.

 

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My Cookie Sheet is CLEAN :)

May 1st, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Cleaning | Tips - (1 Comments)
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Yes. It is finally clean. (Cue heavenly chorus.)

When I was cleaning the drip pans from my stove, I remembered that I had read a comment somewhere in the middle of my many cookie sheet cleaning tips that had mentioned using ammonia to clean out her oven. My oven, oddly enough, is not very dirty. I gave it a wipe down with a wet sponge (no other chemicals) and it got most of what was in there cleaned out. I couldn’t remember if the commenter decided to stick her cookie sheet in her oven with ammonia, but decided it was worth a go.

I put my cookie sheet in the cold oven on the bottom rack, put some ammonia in a bowl on the top rack, and let it sit overnight.

Here is what it looked like before (after my 11 different ways to try and get it clean):

And here is what it looks like now:

Clean! Hooray! That used some steel wool and elbow grease too after I took it from the oven, but I had tried steel wool over and over again with many different products and I couldn’t get it all off. The ammonia worked great. It also took off some of the oil splatters on the glass on the inside of the oven that I couldn’t get off earlier with just the wet sponge.

Hooray! :)

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