Holiday PreK Class Gift - Hot Chocolate Cups

So clearly I underestimated how much time I had available to blog. Between two kids, full time work, and the usual holiday craziness, I have very little free time. But now that Christmas is over and I have a little break from work, I wanted to share these super cute cups for JJ's classmates:

In the past, I have used inspiration from pins I have from here and here to make Snowman and Reindeer cups:

I considered making the Santa belt version this year but decided against it because A) I was trying to steer away from Santa/Christmas specific and B) there are 30 kids in his class and it just seemed like a lot of work. Instead, I remembered some versions of personalized Starbucks cups floating around Pinterest and a facebook group I was apart of when I first got my Silhouette Cameo a couple years ago. Knowing that I already had a ton of red cups left over from past Christmases, I had a new plan.

I followed these instructions and downloaded a blank jpeg file of the logo and added the white text on top of the green. Disclaimer: I used the logo for personal/parody use, not to make money or to be confused with the actual Starbucks brand. I downloaded the Santana Black font to get a close match to the old Starbucks logo (I read that you can use Gibson and Freight Sans too, but I was looking for something free). 

The software that comes with the Silhouette makes it easy to curve the text. I created a whole sheet, then printed it on full sheet shipping labels which are really just a full sheet sticker. Once printed, I sent the sheet through my Silhouette which cut the circles out. JJ helped me put one on each cup and we filled them with a hot chocolate pack and some Hershey kisses. The most time consuming part was finding the right font. The rest was simple, but repetitive. Here's what 30 finished cups looks like!

In the end, they were simple and pretty inexpensive. Next year JJ will be in kindergarten (most likely in public school) and hopefully I can recycle this idea and use the same stickers. I hope the kids liked them and hope you all (if there are any readers left) had a great holiday!

From Placemat to Pillow

Lilly and I were out shopping the other day and made a stop at World Market. While I didn't wind up getting many things (I think I always over-hype WM in my head and when I actually go its sort of a let down...same thing happens with Trader Joes), I saw some really cute placemats and immediately thought back to one of my earliest pins. I remember reading that Bower Power post back before Pinterest existed and I had to save bookmarks to my favorite blog posts. Kids today will never know what that was like!

DIY pillows from Bower Power

I've been wanting some new pillows for my living room for awhile (if you look closely you can see where our dog Mickey has scratched at the square pillows that came with the couch - there are loose threads everywhere), but considering we might be moving, I didn't want to spend a ton of money when we aren't sure what our next living room will look like. These placemats were $4.99 each, and I knew I could make 2 pillows for under $20. A quick stop at Michaels on the way home for some fiberfill and I had two new throw pillows that afternoon.

All you have to do is use a seam ripper or small scissors to open a hole between the two layers of fabric, stuff with fiberfill, and sew it closed.

I used an 8 oz bag of fiberfill for each but probably should have opened a third bag and stuffed them a little more. Also, my stitch work wasn't my best, but its at the bottom and you wouldn't notice unless you looked real close.

When I went to look on the WM website to link the placemats, I couldn't find them but I did see throw pillows in this pattern available for purchase. For $20 that would have been a lot easier, but I was able to make 2 pillows for about $15 ($10 for the mats and $5 for the fiberfill w/coupon).

I am thinking of ordering some new pillow covers for the square came-with-the-couch pillows from etsy, but they would need to be thick to cover the existing pattern. Anyone have any favorite shops for pillow covers? I am thinking of maybe some seasonal covers like this or this and switching them out for Christmas.

I actually have a couple more placemats I bought years ago for the same purpose. Since they were for the office couch (the old army green microfiber monster Joe and I first purchased together probably almost 10 years ago) I just never made it a priority. Now that I have some extra fiberfill maybe I will get those over with this weekend - stay tuned!

Labor Day 2013 Recap

I realize summer is over and everyone has moved on to pumpkin spice lattes and apple picking, but I have a couple posts still to go covering summery things, so please bear with me. Plus, it is supposed to by 90 degrees in NJ today so it definitely still feels like summer here! 

The week before Labor Day Joe and I decided to throw a last minute, impromptu BBQ. We knew a lot of people would probably already have plans, but we wound up with a decent crowd. I decided to give a couple new recipes a spin.

First up was this Loaded Baked Potato Salad I have had pinned for over year:

Source: Dishing With Leslie

I attempted to double Leslie's recipe, but probably did a little more than double with the potatoes. As a result, I am not sure I had the right ratio of potato versus dressing.

Clearly Leslie is also a much better food photographer than me.

The Verdict: It was ok. I think I threw off the ratio since I only doubled the wet ingredients. I also undercooked the potatoes a little bit. I am just not that good at making a good potato salad. I would say I would try it again because I think its a great recipe, but I would probably be better off just buying it next time.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad
recipe by Dishing With Leslie
Ingredients:
4 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup freshly chopped chives, divided
8 strips of bacon (6 for the salad and 2 for topping) cooked and crumbled
1 tsp black pepper
salt to taste
Serves 4 - 6 (Simply double list of ingredients if you need a larger serving)

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together your mayonnaise, and sour cream. Make sure the two are completely combined and then add half of the chives, cheese, and pepper. Taste mixture to see if you prefer some salt. (I usually add a dash or two.) Let chill in fridge for a bit. Meanwhile, peel and cube your potatoes in to bite size pieces. Put in a large pot, cover with water, and boil until fork tender. About 20 minutes. *You need to keep an eye on them. If they cook too long you'll end up with more of a mashed potato consistency when you mix them with the sauce.


When potatoes are ready, drain and let cool just a bit. *Let them cool a lot if you plan to serve chilled. Put potatoes in a large bowl or dish and combine with sour cream mixture. Fold in most of your crumbled bacon. Top with remaining half of chives and remaining crumbled bacon.
*See Leslie's post for some helpful notes.



Next up was this delicious looking Caprese Pasta Salad:

Source: Simple Scratch

Laurie grows her own basil, but I just picked some up from the foodstore. I can barely keep my flowers alive - I would hate to see what I could do to herbs! I couldn't find orecchiette pasta, so I settled on small shells.

Again, my food photos are crap, but it was night so it was dark and this is the best I could do.

The Verdict: I thought it was delicious. I am a sucker for anything with balsamic vinegar though so I may be biased.

Things to Consider: I used a whole pound of pasta and just tried to balance out the right amount of everything else. I probably could have used a little more dressing, cut the mozzarella a little smaller and added more tomatoes (I used only one package). Next time I would try just using less pasta as we had more than enough. I will definitely be making this again though - it was so easy and delicious! 

Caprese Pasta Salad
recipe by Simply Scratch

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups dried Orecchiette Pasta, cooked as directed on the package
1 pint Grape Tomatoes, quartered
1 container Fresh Mozzarella Pearls {or 1 ball fresh mozzarella, cubed small}
1 cup Fresh Basil, sliced into ribbons
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
FOR THE BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE:
2 Cloves of Fresh Garlic, squeezed through a garlic press
1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar

3 tablespoons Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS:
In a small bowl squeeze two cloves of garlic through a garlic press. Pour in balsamic vinegar and whisk. Continue to whisk while slowly, pouring in the three tablespoons of olive oil in steady stream.

Cook orecchiette pasta according to package directions. Drain and then rinse with cold water. Add the cold pasta to a bowl along with the quartered tomatoes, fresh mozzarella pearls and basil ribbons.


Season with kosher salt and black pepper and drizzle with desired amount of the balsamic vinaigrette. Taste and adjust seasonings to your taste preference before serving!


I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend and is settling into their fall routines. JJ had his first day of "school" (which is really just mom's day out type program my aunt is taking him to twice a week) this week. He loved it and I am so excited for him to meet some new little friends and work on his social skills.
I promise I will get to some pumpkin recipes soon! 

Travel Keepsake Boxes - Part 2

Oh hey there- remember me? It’s been a few months but I’m back with a new post. Not sure why I took the hiatus. I guess I've just been busy enjoying the summer. As Grace mentioned in her last post, we took a week long trip to Duck, North Carolina. There were 17 of us in one house (14 adults & 3 kids) – I’m surprised we all made it out alive!

This post is a revisit to the Travel Keepsake Boxes I made a few months ago. I had linked up the original post to the Pinterest Challenge hosted by YHL & BowerPower.

I finally got around to fixing up the stencils. I tried a new approach at the suggestion of a comment from Julia.  She suggested using a pencil or pen to outline the stencil and then fill it in with a fine brush.

I did something similar. I found this item at AC Moore that had a pen on one side and a brush on the other.

Using the blank side of the boxes - I tapped the stencils down and used the pen side to draw the outlines.

Then I took the stencils off and used the brush side to fill them in.

Much better right? I think so.

I wish I had thought of this option the first time around! Thanks Julia for the tip!

I did have one snafu. After I finished up the three boxes, I had the genius idea to paint over the original, messed up back side. I wasn't paying attention and on the “Greece” box, I painted over new side with the still wet ink. Whomp Whomp.

Oh well. Now that I know the easy way to stencil it, I can just purchase a new box and make another one. 

Disney Dreaming

This week, our extended family is (hopefully) enjoying some beach days and seafood nights in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. By the time you are reading this, Joe and I will have already braved the 8 hour car trip with our 20 month old. I have been doing a lot of googling and prep work for some tips on traveling with toddlers (using mainly this post and this one as inspiration) so I will be sure to do a post on how well (or disastrously) it went once we get back. 

Anyway, although I am on vacation right now, that doesn't stop me from dreaming about and planning my next one! I love to travel and we sort of took a hiatus when JJ came so I am so excited over the idea of taking two vacations in one year. Even more so that the next one will be to the Happiest Place on Earth! This October we will be taking JJ on his first visit to Walt Disney World in Florida. It will be his first time on a plane and our first time going to "the world" with a kid. 

Getting back to the point of my post. Joe has a tendency to leave his pocket change all over the house. Usually it ends up on his nightstand or the kitchen counter, but it pops up in the laundry and sometimes on the bathroom sink as well. It drives me crazy, so a long time ago we designated an old pretzel bin as our change collector:

Definitely not cute, but we tucked it away in a closet so it didn't really bother me:

Once we decided (meaning I finally conned Joe into being on board with) taking JJ in October, I was inspired by this pin to jazz up the jar:

source: Wilbur Road

Of course none of the cabinets or closets in my house are that neat or organized, but I thought the "Disney Fund" jar was adorable and could definitely help my tired looking pretzel jug look a little nicer. I took some Disney scrapbook paper I already had and cut a band to fit around that ugly half-removed label. Then I downloaded the waltograph font and printed out the label. I thought Jay's mouse-ears were cute, so I just cut out a couple from construction paper and backed them with some cardstock to give them some stability. 

Much cuter, right? Before we leave, will bring the bucket to the bank and cash it in and have some extra money for food, snacks, and souvenirs. I am considering getting tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party so I might use the cash towards that. 

Anyone have any tips for travelling to Disney with toddlers? I realize its going to be a much different trip than we were used to (no more drinking around the world in Epcot or multiple trips on the Tower of Terror), but I  know being able to see it all through my son's eyes gives it new meaning. 

Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes

This is another one of those pins that's been around for awhile, I am sure you have seen some version of the Mini Chicken Pot Pie:

Source: Sunny Side Up

I tasted these way back in December at Santa on the Firetruck hosted by my brother and sister in law. They were delicious and I figured it was about time I give them a try.

Once again I used a rotisserie chicken to save myself a step in the preparation. 

Mixing up the filling.

The "crust" - just a Pillsbury biscuit smooshed down.

Spoon in some of the filling and bake!

Here they are fresh out of the oven:

The Verdict: Easy and delicious. Joe seemed a little upset there was no "top" crust when he saw me making them, but he was a huge fan. They were really easy to make (much less time consuming than biscuit topped chicken pot pie) so they are great for mid week. 

Things to Consider: I read through some of the comments before I started and decided to cut the spices in half based on some of the recommendations  I am glad I did, they would have definitely been too spicy with them in there. I also added a little bit more vegetables in the mix as well. Although I tried to smoosh the biscuits down as much as I could, they still sort of poofed up so the ratio of filling to bread was a little off. Still tasty though! 


Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes
from Sunny Side up and adapted from Tablespoon

Ingredients
2 cups of cooked chicken breasts diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup frozen mixed veggies
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tablespoon of  dried thyme (I used 1/4)
1/2 tablespoon of dried basil (I used 1/4)
1 teaspoon onion powder (I used 1/2)
1 teaspoon garlic salt (I used 1/2)
2 (10 oz) cans Pillsbury biscuits

Directions
Preheat your oven to 400.
In a large bowl, combine the cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, frozen veggies, cheese, herbs and spices.
Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin and place the Pillsbury biscuits into each cup, pressing into the bottom and up the sides. (I got 16 cupcakes so I had to use a second tray for the extra 4).
Evenly spoon the pot pie mixture into each biscuit cup. Slide into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Check at the 12 minute mark.
Let rest for about 3 minutes and dig in!

Chicken Parmesan Burgers

If you are in the middle of this ridiculous heat wave like we are in the northeast - stay cool! The air conditioning in the area where I sit at work is broken, and while not unbearable, its pretty uncomfortable. Hopefully the repairman will show today as promised. According to Bill Evans, it should be a stormy break on Saturday (you know I love some local news!). Anyway, onto the real post...

My friend, Mary Claire, started a blog chronicling her dinner adventures with her newlywed husband KK. She been blogging since the beginning of the year, but for some reason I haven't gotten around to trying out any of her recipes until recently. The first one I tried: Chicken Parmesan Burgers

Source: 3D Dinners

They are pretty simple to make so they work well for a weeknight meal. Just mix up the ingredients, pop in the fridge for a bit, then grill them up. Top with some sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese and enjoy!

All the ingredients ready to be mixed.

It was a little wet once everything was mixed, but firmed up well after being in the fridge.

It makes 4 patties, I just didn't want them to stick together so I added a piece of wax paper on top of these before I put the last one in there.

I actually did all the mixing the night before so after work all I would need to do is cook them. Of course mother nature ruining my plans to have Joe grill them outside....

It is hard to tell, but it was pouring.

...and I don't have a nice grill pan, so I had to settle for just cooking them in a regular frying pan.

I served them up with a salad and some penne with more sauce (and cheese!). 

The Verdict: Pretty tasty. They were a little greasy but I think that just comes from frying them the way I did. They were also a little dense so I would probably make them a little thinner next time. We really enjoyed them though so I am sure they will make it into the regular rotation (especially during grilling season - I can't wait to try them that way!).

Things to Consider: I think they worked well making them a day in advance...since they have to chill anyway, whats a few (or maybe 23 more hours in the fridge), right? My patties were really really wet when I first formed them and I was afraid I was missing something, but they really firmed up once they were cold. 

I have another 3D Dinners recipe to type up - and it was a great one! If you follow us on Instagram (@pinstersisters) - you can get a delicious preview from a couple weeks ago.


Chicken Parmesan Burgers:
Adapted from 3D Dinners who adapted from Sweet Tooth Sweet LifeServes 4

Ingredients1lb. ground chicken1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese1/4 cup breadcrumbs1/4 cup marinara sauce1/4 cup chopped onion2 cloves garlic2 tablespoons dried parsley2 teaspoons Italian seasoning1 teaspoon dried basilMozzarella cheeseHamburger bunsButter spread or margarineGarlic powderExtra marinara sauce

Directions1. Combine first nine ingredients (through dried basil) and mix well. Form into four patties, creating a slight dent in the center of the patty; refrigerate about 30 minutes.
2. Grill over medium-high heat, 6-8 minutes on each side. Top cooked chicken burgers with mozzarella cheese.
3. Coat insides of hamburger buns with a little butter and a sprinkle of garlic powder and place on the grill 1-2 minutes (or in the toaster oven), until lightly toasted. Spread marinara sauce on toasted buns and top with cooked chicken burgers.

Red, White, & Blue Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4^th! I spent the day at a friend’s house for a little BBQ. It was oppressively hot, but I had a great time.

My contribution to the gathering was of course dessert. I brought some red, white, & blue cupcakes.

Why I thought baking in the middle of a heat wave was a good idea, is beyond me! The original inspiration came from something Grace had pinned.

Source

I thought the bundt cake (originally from Betty Crocker) was super cute. I don’t have a bundt cake pan, so I decided to try it in cupcake form. 

I gathered up my supplies - not much needed for this recipe!

I whipped up the cake batter and separated it into three bowls. In one bowl I added blue food coloring. In the second bowl I added (a lot) of red food coloring and the third bowl I left as is.

Next it was time to layer the batter. Red went in first. I put about 1 ½ tablespoons in each cupcake liner.

I did the same with the white batter.

I finished up with the blue batter.

As you can see not every cupcake was perfect, but that’s okay!

I baked them according to the directions. Here’s how they looked out of the oven:

Once they were cooled, I placed them on a wax paper lined baking sheet.

Aren't they so cute?

I scooped a little bit of icing into a bowl and microwaved it for about 10 seconds. That allowed me to just drizzle the icing onto the cupcakes.

Then I scooped a bit more icing out, microwaved it, added some blue food coloring, and drizzled that as well. I finished up by doing the same thing again, this time with red food coloring.

Unfortunately, my red icing was more on the pink side, but you get the idea.

I think they are adorable!

The Verdict: These were a hit! The cake itself was fluffy and light. They made a big impression but were pretty easy to make. I would definitely make these again.

Things to Note/Consider: I wouldn't really change a thing with this recipe. Honestly it was very easy to do. I did use many bowls –making clean up a pain in the rear. Also, prepare to use A LOT of red food coloring. I must have put at least 15-20 drops in the white icing and it still came out pink. 

I'm glad I used plain white cupcake liners. I would suggest doing the same. It was nice to be able to see the layers through the liners.