A Sewing Organizer Pictorial

I stumbled upon a pictorial for a sewing organizer project on Pinterest where the link led to a site that had been red flagged and Pinterest wouldn't allow me to repost it. What to do? What to do? Alas I decided to host the pictorial from here. Note, this is not my creation. I am only hosting it out of reposting frustration.

I hope you can make good use of it :)

Toast in the Microwave?

Ok, not really toast, but french toast. (I know, I really should have come up with a better title, so sue me) Ooh la la.

I stumbled upon this recipe, 2-minute-french-toast-in-a-cup yesterday and had to try it. I was not disappointed. That said, I have to admit I added my own little twist.

I used my sons big "Homer" mug. I cut up 2 pieces of bread and added it to the mug. In a separate container I blended 1 egg, 2T milk (I used almond), a dash each of cinnamon and nutmeg and a splash of vanilla. I've always added both cinnamon and nutmeg when making french toast. It's just my thing.

Like the recipe said I melted a little butter in the bottom of the mug before adding my bread. And I slowly added the egg mixture on top of the bread so that the top pieces get some loveliness and not just the bottom. Then I stirred it a bit to further ensure that the egg is well distributed. Into the microwave it went for 1 minute.

And for the pièce de résistance I added a sliced strawberry on top, microwaved for an additional 20 seconds and topped with maple syrup. Manoman ... it was so tasty I forgot to take a picture because I dove right in and ate it all up. Maybe next time. A big thank you to Jaime of Prudent Baby for posting this easy morning (or anytime) treat.

It's a Miracle

I saw this recipe on Zonya's Health Bites on my local PBS station. And I totally loved the idea behind eating a food that is considered a negative calorie food. Zonya's Miracle Soup is just that food. Then I made it and loved it even more. Although I have to say I didn't quite follow her recipe, but there ya have it.

Here's my version.
 
Vegetables:
2 onions, chopped
1 green pepper, 1 orange pepper and 1 red pepper, chopped
5-10 mushrooms, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
5 carrots, chopped
5 celery stalks, chopped
Any vegetables found in the refrigerator can be cut up and added to the pot.
Shred 1 head of cabbage.  

Liquids:
6 C Water or stock (vegetable or chicken)
4 C V-8 or Tomato Juice  

Prepared Food:
2 Cans of diced tomatoes or 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 jar of salsa
1 T coconut oil (or Olive oil)

 Seasonings:
couple of Bay Leaves
¼ c fresh parsley chopped
cracked pepper

First we want to gather our vegetables and cut them into pieces no bigger than 1 inch. Next we’ll want to heat 1 Tbs of olive oil, or coconut oil into a large pot. Then simply start adding your cut vegetables to the pot and stir so they don’t burn.. As the onions become translucent we will want to add the liquids and bring the heat up to medium high. Now you can add the cabbage, and canned tomatoes. Continue to stir and bring just to a boil. Add the herbs, and cover reducing heat to med-low, allowing the soup to simmer until vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes.

The final step is to salt to taste, but not too much, just before serving. I like to ladle soup into a mug and heat in the microwave for lunch and/or as a first course for dinner.

Additional: I also am inclined to add black beans to the soup for added protein.

Creme de la Creme

We are not big coffee drinkers, well, my daughter would be if I let her, but basically we're occasional connoisseurs. Still one day several months ago I bought 3 coffee creamer flavors to use in our occasional cup o Joe's. Finally finished one and thought there must be a way to recycle this thing without sending it to the recycle center...upcycle, if you will.

So onto the search to see what the internet has to offer. First I stumbled upon a re-use, but I had the powdered creamer, not the liquid, so the bottle isn't clear. I found a lot of ideas for what could go inside the creamer bottle, from crackers, to game pieces, to letters or word groups as a learning tool in the classroom.

Found a few recipes for making your own creamer. This one looked pretty good, actually:

Cappuccino Creamer

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
Mix and keep in airtight container.

But this would require a 2 week commitment of coffee drinking, that I'm not sure I'm ready to make, so I found this one made from dry ingredients.

Cappuccino Creamer

1 cup Hot Chocolate Mix
1 cup non-dairy coffee creamer
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
In a jar with a screw-top lid, combine all ingredients and shake well to blend.

Then I stumbled upon this page with a wealth of ideas from picnic containers to piggy bank to ... a great list. http://www.ehow.com/info_8370389_recycling-ideas-coffee-mate-containers.html One thing I would add, though about their list, is that if you use your container to store laundry soap, never use it for snacks. Best to be safe than sorry. Use one for food, one for non food, ne'er the twain shall meet.

And then there are the craft ideas:  Like the Coffee Mate Snowman, Santa and the Easter Bunny But they seem a little out of season.


When I came to this page, I thought perhaps that is what I would do with the first of my empties. We also don't use a whole lot of sugar at our house, so having a container that holds a small quantity would do just the trick. Lots of other great ideas in the comment section of that page, too.


But in the end I decided to use a suggestion I read for repurposing a Clorox wipes container...go figure.

Frittata Frenzy

About a month ago I saw a cute little fry pan, the perfect size for frying an egg. Since then I have been on a huge frittata frenzy. I will simply fry up leftover anything, pour an egg mixed with milk over it and sprinkle some cheese in or on to guild the lily.

Today's frittata consisted of:

Frying the veggies in my little egg pan

1/2 a portabella mushroom thinly sliced
2 strips of zucchini cut into 1/2-1" pieces (to cut strips I used a potato peeler to make a long thin strip of zucchini)
2 slices of pre-cooked potato (I cooked it in the microwave, stopping a minute before completion) diced
1 Tbls of diced cornbeef

Once the potatoes start to brown a little I add about 1T of shredded Italian cheese. And top with 1 egg and 1 T milk (I used almond milk) a dash of  salt and pepper, scramble together and pour over the vegetables.

I gently lift the sides and tilt the uncooked eggs to cover, until most of the egg is cooked through. Then I get out my trusty salad plate to cover the pan and flip.  I slide the frittata back into the pan to cook the uncooked side and sprinkle a little more cheese on top and wallah!

The best thing about my little frittata's are that I don't think I've made the same one twice. I use whatever happens to be in the fridge, or needs to be used.