Dinner Rolls and Hassleback Potato

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915022545900/
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/big-batch-quick-dinner-rolls-recipe

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 2 cups warm milk ( 100 - 110°F)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 1/2 tablespoons yeast, instant preferred
• 6 to 7 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Directions:

Mix water, milk, butter, sugar, salt and yeast into mixer- turn on for a few minutes and then let rise until yeast has foamed a little.

Next add 3  cups of flour, mix thoroughly. 

Add 1/2 a cup of flour at a time until the dough is slightly firm- but not a lot. Plavcec it in a greased bowl for 20 minutes until it rises.

After the dough as risen, roll it out into a rectangle. Cut the dough into 12 pieces, then form into a ball.

You can either place them on a sheet, like I did or other pans (see original post)

let them rise again for 20 minutes. After that bake at 250 for about 20 minutes.

Verdict: I think they kinda taste like pretzels... not bad though :/

POTATOES

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023309946/
seasaltwithfood.com

So I started by washing my potatoes. Then I sliced them thinly (not cutting all the way through). I added some garlic slivers  into each opening of the potato, drizzled some olive oil and butter over them and finished with some salt and cracked pepper

Bake at 425 for about 40 minutes or until golden:

Verdict: Not bad; I added a little too much pepper. I loved the garlic flavor and the slight crispiness of the top of the potato- however, I feel like my centers weren't soft enough like a baked potato.

Chocolate covered chips...and other tasty things

So we were getting a little bored today after school and we decided we needed a small dessert- nothing fancy. Just enough to make things fun.  We had some chocolate and some potato chips and I had vaguely remembered pinning chocolate covered potato chips (and I had also seen it on unwrapped) and thought: Let's do it.

First we melted dark chocolate candy melts  in a microwave bowl, because double broiling takes forever. Then we let the dipping begin:

POTATO CHIPS
 indulgy.com
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023241945/

Since I already had all of these fruits in my fridge we thought we'd take this opportunity to try some more chocolate covered things:


BLUEBERRIES
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023347477/
http://chewingthefad.tumblr.com/

CHERRIES
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023347479/
pieofthetiger.com

And for kicks and giggles:

Grapes

Doritos

Verdict: Strange, but good! hahaha

Pillsbury Donuts

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023224060/
http://www.pixbnb.com/images/28312.html

My sister in law (go Candon!) told me that her mom use to make these all the time. 


What you need:
Cinnamon sugar in a bowl
Oil for frying
Grands biscuits- homestyle
melted butter for dunking



I really hate when I go to make something and there is not directions. Yes, I know there are pictures, but still.Anyway I opened and separated my Pillsury grands dinner biscuits. I used my fondant circle cutters  and cut out the centers to make the biscuits look more like donuts. We decided to use our shaped fondant cutters too!

As I was doing that I heated some oil in a frying pan on medium (about 6). Cooked both sides of the donuts

(don't forget the holes!)

Then we let them cool.  dipped them in some melted butter and then into the cinnamon and sugar mix..

 We also made a just sugar mix- because well that's also a classic.

Verdict: I guess I just don't have the stomach for these. They tasted good (mainly of butter and sugar)- but I could only eat about 3/4 of one.

American Girl Doll Hula Hoop

http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2011/06/soulful-mothering-with-elizabeth-mitchel.html
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915022452077/

Alright, so as I've already mentioned my daughters really want McKenna's gym accessories . We already have a leotard from American Girl and we really don't need to get another one. A couple of days ago I made the  ribbon dancer. Today we're making the Hula hoop.

First I went to Lowe's (because during one of the Lowes Build and Grow workshops I got a free $5 gift card!) and the nice people there cut 2 sets of polyethylene pipe measuring 32inches each (about  22 cents a foot) . I also bought the connector pieces for 88 cents each. The most expensive part of this was the duct tape (about $5 each). Still I'm spending way less on two than I would on one at the actual store.

First I had to  take the tubing and heat the end up in hot water.

 Then push the attachment piece in. Repeat to other side- Careful it's kinda hot!!

You should have a circle now

This is the harder part, because if you're like me you want the wrapping of to look smooth

*Tip start the duck tape at an angle, or you'll end up getting bumps like the Hello Kitty one and if you're like me you'll take it off and start over:

Ta da! The dolls will be ready for their gymnastics competitions very soon!

My other American Girl items:
school supplies
feel better kit  (Just like McKenna's!)
head band
Minnie Mouse ears
sleeping bags
sleeping mask
pillow dress
accessories
pet accessories

**If you found this funny, useful or both, please follow me. I get a little lonely! Thanks :)

Gymnastics Accessories for AG Doll

http://dolltagclothing.yolasite.com/gymnastics-ribbon.php
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023298952/

So I'm starting on Chirstmas a little early. What would my oldest would really really like?  Why McKenna's gym accessories of course! Now, I'm not just talking the hula hoop, the ribbon and the leotard (which she already owns one for her doll anyway). I'm talking the beam as well. As of right now my husband and I plan to make all of this stuff instead of buying a lot of stuff for Christmas- because that is the real meaning of Christmas.

Today I only had enough time to make the ribbon, I still have to go out and buy the materials to make the hula hoops. I took cake rods (you can use kabob sticks) and cut them into a good size (measured it against the dolls hand).

Then I hot glued the ribbon part around the rod (covering the sharp edge). I then wrapped a different color ribbon around  the base once.  Then  added a hair twistie and wrapped the ribbon around and glued it down.

I added a hair twistie so that the girls dolls could hold the ribbon wand by themselves.



My other American Girl items:
school supplies
feel better kit  (Just like McKenna's!)
head band
Minnie Mouse ears
sleeping bags
sleeping mask
pillow dress
accessories
pet accessories

**If you found this funny, useful or both, please follow me. I get a little lonely! Thanks :) ***

The Back to School Fairy

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023244756/
hilaryishappy.blogspot.com


So I wish I had seen this BEFORE dear old mom took the girls back to school shopping. So in the website, the woman gets a brown bag and puts new outfits and school supplies for her children into them. Then the Back to school fairy drops it off at their house. It is a super cute idea and I just loved it.  I had to make a spin on the whole thing since there was no way  I was going out to buy even more clothes. So I decided our  back to school fairy simply set everything up for the first day of school. Much like how our tooth fairy gives them $1 and a book and Jimmy down the street gets $20! Call me cheap- it's cool.

So anyway, I've been putting off pulling out their backpacks and tote bag stating that it's in a box under a lot of stuff and "I'm just not getting it out right now" Finally the girls were asleep and I needed to get into action. During the last couple of days I've been secretly sharpening brand new pencils in another room while they watched a movie or practiced in their workbooks. This afternoon I pulled out the backpacks and hid them behind clothes in the closet. Once they fell asleep I quietly pulled them out and placed them against the couch along with: their lunchboxes (which are packed and in the fridge until morning), first day of school outfit, shoes and a jacket.  With a note  about enjoying their first day of school!

In their lunchboxes I left a little note from me with a Hershey's kiss saying that I loved them and missed them and couldn't wait to give them a real hug and kiss.

The only other part that made me smile was when the back to school fairy left their American Girl Dolls some new stuff. Now, as I've already said I'm not made of money (if you are we'll be best friends). So instead of new clothes the dolls got their own accessories for a new school year!

http://dolldiaries.com/doll-play-day-82-make-doll-folders-and-school-supplies/
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023298945/

I simply printed this page out, cut the yellow and purple copies and glued it all down.  Their dolls already had backpacks that I made. So the supplies just went inside. I fake laminated the  calculator, ruler and ID card by using packaging tape and re-cutting them out.

Self Portrait

http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023104124
http://oodlesofart.blogspot.com/2009/04/falling-back-in-space-portraits-3rd.html

This was a really cute idea. We first had to find paper in the house big enough for us to do the project. We ended up using a giant coloring page back. First we traced the girls hands and feet. Then I sketch a face shape and body. We went over the parts they liked in Sharpie.

The girls finished by coloring in the clothes and making their faces. Hailey is wearing sunglasses because she is a secret agent.

Lego Man

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clonekiler/4741290364/lightbox/
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023287622/

First I want to point out that I do NOT  own the rights to this lego man drawing. I figured out a way to print the photo- I will not share it with you just to save my own skin. After you figure it out I scaled the size in Paint to print a full page version. Then gave them to my daughters to decorate.

Hannah chose to make her Lego person into Snow White.

Fix Barbie hair

http://pinterest.com/pin/202873158184556355/
http://www.housingaforest.com/happy-birthday-barbie/

It's been a while. I'm starting to slack. Actually, I'm not. See I do a lot of the workout pins, I just can't figure out a good way to prove that I'm actually doing them. Also while I was on vacation I went to Vegas, Cars Land in Disney's CA, and Ariels Grotto. All on my board, but I don't know if that counts for some pins, ya know? So I've been busy the end of July and most of August. I hope to get some ideas for back to school, but nothing :(

Anyway I'll quit boring you and get on with it. Today I decided to try to fix some Barbie hair. Jasmine was looking a little sluggish and since the girls took her in the bathtub and pulled the trubber bands out.

First we brushed her hair, then soaked her hair in VERY hot water for about five minutes. This is when my camera battery died and memory stick became full. Sooo I had to wait and wait and while I was waiting I brushed the hair (underneath as well) Amazingly enough it works great!

DONT add fabric softener to the bowl. I did that to a Moxie girl and her hair is STILL full of softener.

Hello Kitty Bead Pet

http://pinterest.com/pin/180073685071224487/
http://crafts.kaboose.com/beadie-buddies.html
http://www.angelfire.com/pop/jasonBeads/images/hellokitty.gif

Okay First I want to point out that it took more than 46 white beads to make Hello Kitty. More like 56/60.

I made the ears by looping the second one  twice

Then the face. And added a bow and whiskers with hot glue

We think she looks better without the whiskers.

Rebuilding old lego kits

http://service.lego.com/en-US/buildinginstructions/
http://pinterest.com/pin/195765915023242312/

I admit I've been on vacation and since coming back I've grown quite lazy about getting stuff done. This my friends was a big pin.

Okay now, awhile back I rebuilt our Emma lego friends' car. Now I had a bigger problem. We have four Lego kits that don't have the instructions anymore either! Luckily I found out Lego.com has scanned in a lot of the old kits instructions. You go to their site and download them for free.  Since we had nothing much else to do this summer we spent the next couple of hours sorting the lego blocks by colors and then rebuilding.

We found out that we're missing quite a bit of pieces. Lego.com will also send you replacement parts for a small fee. In order to get quite a bit of the pieces  I'm missing it'll cost me $26 (the price I was quoted). I think I said I was missing about 50-60 pieces. All things considered that's not too bad of a price. I might just go to the store and pick them up myself.

Tomato Sauce

http://pinterest.com/pin/102949541451423113/
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/08/fresh-tomato-sauce/

So our eight tomato plants are producing like crazy. I decided to get the courage up to try to make a simple tomato sauce to use to make spaghetti or something else.  Last time I peeled and diced tomatoes I didn't have enough tomatoes to do anything with. It was also taking FOREVER to peel because I had to heat up the water.

This time I put them in  my sink. Weird I know, but the water gets VERY hot. First I made an X on the bottom of the tomato, then let them soak in the sink for about 10 minutes.

Some were easy to peel, others took a little more work. It worked just as good as blanching them.

The lady on the website squeezed her tomatoes and pulled out the center/harder part. So I followed what she did.

Then I stuck my stuff in a blender and pureed it. I didn't have any cheese cloth so I taped a coffee filter to the top of my blender. Which seemed like a good idea at the time until if spilled out!!! Next time

I was almost done and all that hard work went down the drain. Literally.

I was so upset when the coffee filter fell :(  However it was working.