Mystery Dinner Date Night

Dating while in school is often nonexistent, especially once your married.  A few months ago Nathan and I realized that we needed to get back to dating each other, and make it a habit before we bring kids into this crazy life.  We took turns planning dates and it lasted a few month, until last semester. My final semester was crazy and I was caught up in a whirlwind of "to dos' before I could get that silly piece of paper that tells employers they should hire me.  We would occasionally find a night where we could go out to eat, but nothing creative just dinner.  Nathan started school last week and I decided to brave my incredibly hot kitchen and make him a nice dinner.  Then I decided to get crazy and turn it into a mystery dinner.  

Here's the menu:

I let Nathan choose my dinner as well, so that I couldn't cheat. 

Appetizer Course 

Nathan got Pucker's Power (Brazilian Lemonade), I Don't Wanna be a Duck (Ranch Chicken), and Two Paths One Choice (Fork)

I got Pucker's Power (Brazilian Lemonade), Fluffy Pillows (Roll), and Slippery When Wet (Ice Cream)

Main Course

Nathan got Indians Delight (Corn on the Cob), Buccaneer's Pal (Knife), Mini Digger (Spoon) and Shoemaker's Temptation (Nectarine Cobbler)

I got Don't Wanna Be a Duck (Ranch Chicken), Buccaneer's Pal (Knife), Two Paths One Choice (Fork), and Shoemaker's Temptation (Nectarine Cobbler)

 Dessert

Nathan chose well and got Fluffy Pillows (Roll), Sleepy Relative (Napkin) and Slippery When Wet (Ice Cream)

I got Indian's Delight (Corn), Mini Digger (Spoon) and Sleepy Relative (Napkin)

It was so much fun seeing what we each got and trying to eat without the correct utensils. We both had to eat ice cream with our hands and I was very grateful I received a napkin with my corn.

It was a silly simple date night, but we both had fun and it was different from anything we've ever done before :)

~Bobbi

Link Up Parties

Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z

No-Sew Fabric Flower Tutorial

I'm a procrastinator- wow it feels better to have admitted that!  Sunday's are usually my day to hurry up and finish homework that I should have been working on all weekend.  I mean why would I want to ruin a perfectly good Saturday with writing a paper, when I could do it late Sunday night?   So as always Sunday night rolled around and I had a surge of energy and I was all ready to do something.  The problem is with graduation comes no homework-now I'm not complaining but I didn't want to let this energy go to waste (because who knows when it will come again) so I dug through my unfinished projects and got to work. 

I'm currently working on a sewing project that I'm excited to share, mainly because I feel like I'm finally facing my sewing machine fears.  Come to find out the dreaded seam-ripper isn't as terrifying as I thought and it looks like it might be the beginning of a long friendship.  I'm almost finished and I'm visiting my sister's on Tuesday so I'll have a little model to try it on.  Look for that post on Wednesday!  In the meantime I wanted to make a cute flower headband to go with it.  I'm still in love with all the fun flower designs in blog world and I've tried several varieties.  I may be a little late to this party but I figured I'd share this tutorial more for my sake than anyone elses.  The flower I chose to do is one I found on the House of Smiths- if you have some free time make sure you stop by her fabulous blog. 

Here's the completed flower with a sneak peak of the project I'll be revealing on Wednesday!

Here's how I created the flower.  It is REALLY simple all you need is some fabric, button, small piece of felt or fleece, alligator clip and a hot glue gun.   (Yep - no sewing - the seam ripper and I needed some time apart)

1. Cut out 12 circles, 6 of one size and then 6 a little smaller.  The size you make your circles all depends on how big you want your flower.  My large circles were about 2 inches in diameter and my smaller ones 1 inch in diameter.  The flower ended up being just bigger than 2 inches in diameter.  Don't stress about the exactness of the circles-it really doesn't matter (one more reason I LOVE this design-it's SO hard to mess it up).

  
      2.  Fold each circle in half.

    3.  Then place a small amount of hot glue in the center of the folded circle along the bottom of the
         fold (right where my finger is).

     4. Next fold one side halfway into the center of the circle (see below) and press into the hot glue.

     5.  Now fold the other side of the half circle into the middle.  Make sure the glue is securing both
          sides.

    6. Cut out a circle approximately 1 inch in diameter.  This is the base of the flower. Cover it in hot
       glue and begin adding the  large flowers. 

     7.  Use the larger petals to create the bottom layer of the flower.  You should have 6 large petals,
          and there will be some overlapping. 

    8.  Once your bottom layer has been created add some hot glue to the center of flower and add the
         smaller 6 petals on top of the first layer.   Again overlapping will occur.

    9.  Add a small dot of hot glue to the center of the flower and add a button or jewel to the center.
         Now your flower is completed and you have a cute flower to add to whatever project you want.  

See wasn't that easy!  Now if you want to be able to add it to a headband follow the last 2 steps.  

    10.  Cut out a small piece of felt or fleece.  I used fleece because that's what I had on hand :)  

   11.  Slide the fleece in between the clip and hot glue the fleece and the bottom of the clip to the
         flower.

 Now you're done.  You can either add it to a headband or just clip in your hair. 

Make sure you come back on Wednesday to see what inspired this project and to see a cute little model modeling the whole ensemble :)

~ Bobbi

Crockpot Sweet & Sour Chicken, Veggies & Noodles

I LOVE cereal-I could live off of cheerios for breakfast, lunch and dinner and without air conditioning we've had cereal more often than not. However my poor husband does not share my love of cereal, so I've been trying to cook him some protein to compliment the cereal. Grilled Chicken and Honey-Nut Chex, mmmm...doesn't that sound good? JK- I really don't make him eat that. I usually love cooking and experimenting in the kitchen, so we're both looking forward to cooler weather.

One way to tackle my air conditionless (is that a word?) kitchen is by using a crockpot. This meal is so simple and could be made on the stovetop as well (air conditioning is recommended). It only has 4 ingredients, 5 if you like a little more spice.


Crockpot Sweet and Sour Chicken, Veggies & Noodles

• Bottle of Sweet & Sour Sauce
• 2 Chicken Breasts, cut up into bite-sized pieces
• 1 12oz bag of mixed vegetables (mine were carrots, broccoli and cauliflower)
• 1 9oz. bag of Japanese Style Noodles
  

Combine the Sweet & Sour Sauce and chicken into the crock-pot and cook on low for about 3.5 hours. Then add the mixed vegetables. Continue to cook together for 1.5 hours. During the final 15-20 minutes boil the Japanese Noodles according to the directions on the bag. Once the noodles are cooked, add them to the crockpot, mix until coated, then serve.

I mentioned above that I love spicey foods; however, Nathan doesn't so I'm going to share my secret - Sweet Chili Sauce. I'm addicted to it and it adds just enough spice to almost any meal. I've even added it to ketchup to spice it up. This way I still get my spice and my husband stays happy!

Thanks for visiting. Have a fabulous weekend!
~Bobbi

'Love Is' Wall Mural

I'm so excited to share today's project. It's been on my to do list for months, but up until now my summer has been consumed with classes, writing papers and my MRP, finishing my internship, and all the other crazy last minute things I had to do before they'd give me my diploma. It's a little ironic that my free time begins when everyone else is preparing for school. Good luck to everyone who is school bound, I'll think of you while I'm eating ice cream and jumping on beds :)

Back to crafting-here's my inspiration

Source: lilluna.com via Bobbi on Pinterest

Here's my version:

I'm in love with my husband (in case you didn't get that from the pictures) but more importantly with this wall in my living room. I could just stare at it. I told my husband I wanted to pull runners off the street to have them glare at this amazing masterpiece!!! Don't worry I haven't done that, yet.

I didn't get pictures of every step but I'll work on that for my next craft post (sorry I'm still new to this). The first step was visiting the Distribution Center (Utah's version of GoodWill). I found 9 frames and I only spent $11.50. Then I visited Walmart and picked up Krylon Spray Paint. I love Krylon! It is seriously the best and so easy to use.

Now it's time for the fun part-getting down with the paint!

Spray Paint Tip-to make sure you get the whole frame use cups to hold it off the ground.

Once the frames were painted and dried, I used my Silhouette (the best birthday present ever) to cut out the vinyl. The next step I would recommend to EVERYONE who is a perfectionist (like me) and hanging multiple pictures.

First trace the frames on paper and cut them out. You now have the exact dimensions of the frame and can place it on the wall where you think it will go. Trace each and every frame and place it on the wall. This will allow you to easily move the paper around and create the PERFECT arrangement. I also taped my vinyl to the wall in order to ensure their correct placement as well.

Once you have your arrangement in place it will look like the picture below...lovely. Wait we're not quite done yet. My sweet husband helped me hang the pictures and gradually the vision in my head was coming to pass.

Now it's the scary part! I have nightmares about putting vinyl up crooked and I had to wait until my Mom could come help me (Thanks Mom). I'm so happy with the final project, and I'm publicly warning runners that pass by my house you may be kidnapped (only for a few minutes) to admire my wall!

Here it is again. Be my guest, go ahead and stare!


~Bobbi

I'm linking up to these great parties:
Metamorphosis Monday
DIY Showoff
Making Monday's Marvelous
Just Something I Whipped Up

Leftover Chicken and Homemade Tortillas

Yesterday was one of those days where I didn't want to put effort into cooking, but I recently made a goal to try to cook one new recipe a week. So I got my lazy behind in gear and opened my fridge to see what we had. As was expected it's pretty much empty-it's been a week since I've been grocery shopping so we're down to the bare bones. The only thing truly edible was grilled chicken from last night, so I turned to the cupboards to get some inspiration. After some searching and a bruised toe from dropping a can of beans, I finally came up with chicken tacos. Since the chicken was cooked I thought I'd be ambitious and try to make homemade tortillas (the recipe said it was easy and it was except for the part where the tortillas are suppose to be round).

First of all I figured I'd start with the rice. While I was preparing the rice cooker I had this great idea to cook the rice and beans together. I didn't have a recipe so I winged it. Here's what I did:

Rice Cooker Rice & Beans
(I'm so creative with names-don't you think?)

• 2 cups White Rice
• Water (I filled to the 2 line-read your rice cooker instructions to determine how much water to rice ratio)
• 2 smashed Bouillon Cubes
• 1/3 C Dried Onions
• 1/4 teaspoon Cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon Coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 TBSP Lemon Juice
• 1 can of Black Beans

Mix all ingredients together and cook according to your Rice Cooker's instructions. Mine took about 30 minutes to cook. Once it rings-fluff and serve!!!

I love rice cookers they are so easy and come in handy. The best part is with mine all I do is push a button and forget. Once it's done it will automatically switch to warming, so it will stay nice and warm until I'm ready for it :)

Flour Tortillas
This recipe came from Our Best Bites and they have an amazing tutorial w/lots of pictures on here. (Side note- if you don't have their cookbook you're missing out)

Here's how mine turned out. The most frustrating part was trying to get them to be circles. If you are a perfectionist I would recommend store bought tortillas :)

The recipe says the dough should be the consistency of play dough- I wasn't allowed to play with it as a kid (result of my mom being a bit of a clean freak-I'm sure I'll be the same way) so I wasn't sure what that consistency was. I just guessed.

I was so happy when I saw them bubbling :) I made Nathan come and look at them.

Here's the final result. I just added the grilled chicken, rice & beans, cheese and some green salsa. Yum!!! The rice & beans were lightly flavored so they didn't overpower the dish and the tortillas were worth the stress of trying to make them circular. Nathan said it was a keeper, however I may trick him by buying the uncooked tortillas from the store.

~Bobbi

Sunday Quiet Books

I have been wanting to make my cute little nephews a quiet book for church, but I've never found one I liked and more importantly I'm scared of the sewing machine (I've actually tried conquering that fear and I'll show you my attempts soon). Anyways I recently came across this fabulous idea from a guest post on the blog I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar and I couldn't wait to try it out. For full details visit the post here.

Plus I was so excited to use these...

Washable Dry-Erase Crayons- How cool are those? Kinda makes me wish I was a kid again :)

Here's what you need:

• 1" Binder (which are on sale pretty much everywhere since it's back to school)
• 1 pack of Dry-Erase Crayons
• Clear sheet protectors (they have to be clear)
• Coloring pages- you can print activities from the Friend by clicking here, or pull from coloring books
  
• Pictures (only if you want to turn them into coloring pages Tutorial here)
• Little munchkins that like to color

and that's it...well now you have to put it all together, but then that's it. Here's the final result!!!

Love the coloring page on the right- it's my dad and Tyse. It was a lot of fun doing these pages, I've always wondered what I'd look like in a coloring book :) Here's my tip-pick a picture that has a clear view of their faces and has little in the background. I'm not perfect at it, but I'd be happy to help. I also quickly came up with a title page that I can easier change and send to anyone who is interested.

Well that's about it for these books. Sorry my pictures weren't the best, I'm still learning how to take photos for blogs, plus I was so excited to give them to the boys that I took the pictures late the night I finished them.

Make sure you visit I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar for the full tutorial, and tons of other great projects and ideas!!!

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog! I've posted a few older posts from my personal blog so if anyone comes across this blog you'll have something to look at. I'm currently working on several craft projects that I will be posting in the next few days. Until then please look around and feel free to leave me any tips!

Thanks~Bobbi

Chicken Noodle Soup

I'm pretty sure this soup is the reason my husband wanted to marry me. I grew up on this soup and I never realized how easy it was. I'm pretty sure the recipe came from the Lion House Cookbook and it's so easy to make.


Lion House Chicken Noodle Soup

• 2 tsp chicken soup base, or 2 bouillon cubes
• 3 cups canned chicken stock (broth) -I usually just make 3 cups of broth from bouillon cubes
• 2 Cups chopped carrots
• 3/4 Cup Chopped Onion
• 2 cans (10.5 oz each) Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1/4 C evaporated milk or 1/2 C Whole Milk -I use skim milk
• 2 Cups cooked diced chicken
• 2.5 oz (about 4 Cups) cooked noodles -egg noodles are great

Heat chicken soup base (or bouillon cubes ) and stock together. Add carrots, celery, and onion, and simmer until vegetables are tender. Add cream of chicken soup and milk. Then add cooked chicken and noodles. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 2.5 quarts or 10 one cup servings.

Love this recipe. It's so good on a cool night or when you're not feeling well.

Bobbi

Baked Lemon Pasta & Chicken

This dish was really good... and it was even better as leftovers. I've been a fan of the pioneer woman for a long time, but I've never been daring enough to make any of her dishes. I finally decided I'd try one. I found a Lemon Pasta dish that I knew (if I could make it right) Nathan would love it.

Baked Lemon Pasta

Added by Ree on June 19, 2009 in Main Courses, Pasta

Prep Time 15 Minutes Cook Time 30 Minutes

Servings 6

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

• 1 pound Thin Spaghetti
• 4 Tablespoons Salted Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole Lemon, Juiced And Zested
• 2 cups Sour Cream
• ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, Or More To Taste
• Plenty Of Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Flat-leaf Parsley, Chopped
• Extra Lemon Juice

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.

In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over

LOW HEAT. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.

Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Pour mixture over drained sp

aghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.

Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)

When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.

I figured in order to pass this as a full mea l, I better add some chicken to it. So I went to Smith's and bought the pre-seasoned lemon pepper chicken breasts. I cut them into smaller pieces and cooked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes (until done). I added the chicken to the pasta and sauce and then dumped them all into a square baking dish. After it was baked I was a little nervous about the parsley, but it was my favorite part so don't skip it. :-)

Here's how mine looked. Nathan said it tasted a lot like Alfredo but with a lighter lemony flavor :-)

Bobbi