Freezing Produce for Smoothies: 11 Tips & Secrets
With the harvest from our garden, and stops at roadside stands and farmers markets, my family ends up with a lot of fruits and vegetables that we want to preserve and enjoy throughout the year, not just while they are in season. While I really enjoy canning now and again, in my case, it’s all about freezing fruits and vegetables for smoothies.
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Big & Small DIY: Painted Spoons
Don’t you just love the look of dipped or striped wooden utensils? Today’s project is an activity that is pretty, functional and something grownups and kids can make side-by-side. You’ll stripe, while your little one dips! How fun is that?
Afterwards, when you are entertaining dinner guests, or simply tossing a salad on an any-old-Tuesday, these colorful utensils will brighten your day.
If you’re anything like me, you’re going to want to make extras. They’re so much fun to make that both children and adults will want to try variation after variation. Plus, you can use all the extras for gifts!
…Living With Kids: AB Chao
You may call Anna Beth Chao AB, ABC, or Anna Beth, but never Anna. Unless, according to AB, you are her mother. She is a witty writer, insanely talented decorator, and interior stylist with a refreshing editing prowess. Before I run out of effusive synonyms for amazing, I’ll tell you one of my favorite things about Anna Beth. If you saw her on the street, you would probably think that she looks like a super stylish teenager. You would be shocked to learn that she is not, but she has a daughter who is! Which is exactly why I reached out to her. We’ve seen how some of us are living with kids – what about those of us living with teenagers? I just know you’ll enjoy this tour!
…A Midsummer Night’s Dream Quote
Shakespeare’s enchanting work of love and dreams and friendship is full of rich language. And this one is a sparkler. It comes during a quarrel between two dear friends, Helena and Hermia. Although they are thick as thieves, Helena exclaims this — both a warning and a delightful compliment!
…Slow Cooker Recipe: Rotisserie-Style Whole Chicken
Ready for one of the easiest meals ever? Seriously. It’s almost as easy as picking up a rotisserie chicken from the store.
A good rotisserie chicken is probably our favorite quick dinner — just grab a baguette, some fruit and cheese, and maybe a few fun drinks, and you’ve got yourself an easy meal. Bonus: it’s also one you can take on the road for a picnic or to eat while you watch your child’s soccer game from the sidelines. And it’s so much better than hitting up the drive-thru.
Something about this meal always feels festive — casual + sophisticated at the same time. And it pleases everyone in the family!
The great thing about slow cooking a chicken this way is that it ends up very juicy and flavorful. True, you don’t get the golden brown skin, but you get just as much flavor as you would with traditional roasting methods. The parchment paper is a little trick that will help keep the chicken from drying out. This same trick can be used for cooking pot roast or pork loin in the slow cooker too, so file that away for later!
No liquid is added to the slow cooker because we don’t want the chicken to get mushy. It will release a lot of liquid as it cooks, and the slow cooker is lined with a sliced onion, which will also provide liquid as it cooks. This is a much shorter cooking time, but makes for a really juicy chicken that isn’t under — or over — cooked. No one likes over-cooked chicken!
The juices are really good, so be sure not to throw those away. Just like with Thanksgiving turkey, you can make a brilliant broth after all the meat has been removed. Just pop it back into the slow cooker and fill it up with water and you’ll have some amazing stock for soup or gravy.
Hungry yet? Let’s get started.
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DIY Wooden Keychain Craft
These easy wooden keychains would make such a pretty “just because” gift for a friend, and they would be perfect to celebrate someone’s new driver’s license as well. This wooden keychain craft project isn’t as detailed as you might think. Using markers instead of paint, there is less fiddling and dry-time is non-existent. Then with a little patience and strength, an ordinary blade can cut through the wood. Simple materials, simple tools, simple project.
Here’s how it’s done.
…Living With Kids: Mary Heffernan
When Mary first contacted me about a possible tour, she was sweetly hesitant and sent along a few photographs to share the space she and her husband are living with their four daughters. As I always do, I asked for a few more and added a lot of exclamation points to my request.
And when she sent me many, many dozens scenes from her daily life, I spent a good afternoon poring over them. I had to beg Mary to edit them down for me because I simply could not! This tour would have included at least 750 photos! Because, Friends, this life of the Heffernans is pretty lovely. And busy. And thoughtful. And supremely well-designed. I love it all, and I hope it just makes your day, too.
…Big & Small DIY: Wrapped Washer Necklaces
This side-by-side project is so simple, but at the same time, creates such a beautiful and meaningful piece for both Bigs and Smalls. Grownups, you can create a Mother’s Day necklace, or a gift for anytime, by wrapping one washer per child in a color/colors of your choosing. The disks can then be bound together to create a beautiful geometric necklace full of meaning.
For you Smalls, create a necklace with a wrapped washer, one for each year of your age, in whatever colors you like, and string them on a chain.
We’ve made these for a Mother’s Day gift, and made another set for ourselves — and we’ve been wearing them all the time!
In addition to Mother’s Day, the Small version would be a wonderful birthday tradition, don’t you think? Create the first necklace together and then, every year bind a new colorful disk and add it to your “small’s” necklace. The necklace would be a perfect gift for a friend too.
Let’s start creating!
…Ten Shortcuts For Better Cooking
As much as I like spending time in the kitchen cooking and baking, I’m always looking for new ways to save time in the process. Anything to hurry dinner along is appreciated by me and my hungry children. Happily, it’s possible to make a healthy, wholesome, quick meal while cooking from scratch at home.
Which brings me to my 10 Shortcuts for Better Cooking. You may already know some of the tips I’m going to share with you, but even if you do, consider this a nice reminder. And it’s pretty great to have them listed in one place!
…Jane Eyre Quote
I confess that it’s been a while since I read Jane Eyre, so the stories’ intricacies are a tad fuzzy. But the big picture, this battle cry of following your gut rather than the norm or expected — well, it makes me grin. Charlotte Brontë wrote this line straight from the heart of her heroine, Jane. Even hundreds of years later and far removed from Jane’s world, the pluck in these words move me. Jane’s independence is a gritty reminder to be unapologetic and satisfied by the pursuit of happiness.
…Living With Kids: Megan Schiller
My favorite part of this home tour is Megan‘s answer to my query “How did this house become your home?” I guarantee chills and a smile. The way life works out so often takes my breath away.
There’s some practical goodness in here, too, especially for those of you who may find yourselves on edge whenever the paints come down off the tip top shelf! Megan runs a design company that specializes in helping people set up kids’ art spaces, and she completely understands that not everyone enjoys a Jackson Pollock-esque living room at the end of a creative session. Enjoy the tour, Friends!
…Cake Decorating for Beginners
I present to you this cake decorating how to for beginners. Think of it as an amateur’s guide to Birthday Cake Decorating.
…DIY: Flower Seed Pockets
Flower pockets are a fun spring project and provide plenty of blooms all summer long. The pockets look sweet, and get buried directly in the soil! Better yet, even the littlest of hands can help make them. You’ll also love giving them to teachers, grandparents, neighbors and friends. They make a great little gift-for-no-reason.
Keep reading for the easy instructions.
…Dyed Easter Eggs With Decoupaged Cutouts
For really eye-catching Easter Eggs, try dyeing, then découpaging.
Find full instructions below.
…How to Grow Wheatgrass
A perfect Spring-time project. Let’s make a wheatgrass centerpiece using some basic things from around the house. This is super easy, even if you’ve never grown wheatgrass before.
Let’s get started!
…Living With Kids: Carla Macklin
Carla sent me the most stunning photos of her home, and I loved every single one. But then she wrote back right away and asked “Did I erase too much of my kids in those photos?” That was something she didn’t want to do, no matter how gorgeous the pictures. I assured her we would understand, especially since there are a lot of good ideas to take from this tour.
Like the large table just behind the couch, perfect for projects and so much more useful with kids than a simple sofa table, right? Or the floor-length tablecloth on the dining table; how many instant forts do you think Evelyn and Wren enjoy on a daily basis? Oh, and the master tub. Yes, I believe living with kids would be so much fun — especially at bath time — in a home like the Macklin’s. You’ll see, I hope! Friends, please enjoy the tour!
…Shamrock Pinwheel Sandwiches & Irish Green Salad for St. Patrick’s Day
What fun to create this kid-friendly St. Patrick’s day meal — perfect for kids.
Feeling lucky? Let’s get to eating.
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DIY: Nail Polish Marbling
I did a bunch of experimenting and found that nail polish and water offer up an extremely easy way to marble just about anything you desire — from glass to wood to metal to cardboard. The options are endless! I used this nail polish marbling technique on glass jars, metal bowls, wooden gift tags, and papier-maché boxes.
It would be a fun technique for bridal shower favors, or making simple jewelry boxes at a birthday party for your kid. Or you could marble a carafe and two glasses as a drinking water set for the guest room. (I could go on and on…)
And with the seemingly limitless color selection in polish now a days, there is sure to be a color scheme to your liking.
Come learn this technique!
…Thai Sweet Potato and Chicken Curry Soup
I thought it would be fun to share a stick-to-your-ribs recipe. Something that is warm and hearty and delicious, but doesn’t feel like the same old, same old. A soup that spoons up like a thick casserole! And it’s packed with tons of interesting flavors.
This soup has all the flavor of a mild Thai curry. It has just the tiniest kick of heat that is perfectly tempered with the sweetness from the sweet potatoes and coconut milk. With the chicken and the additional veggies — broccoli, peas, and bell peppers — this soup has tons of flavor and texture. The rice is conveniently cooked in the soup, making this a fairly low-maintenance meal that yields a large batch of soup that can be enjoyed by many…or hoarded by you to enjoy for days afterwards because it is still that cold outside.
Alrighty. Let’s make this warm and cozy feast!
…Raspberry Milk on Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day! Are you doing anything fun to celebrate?
St. Valentine’s Day isn’t a big thing here in France. I mean, you can see it on the calendar. And there are a few stores with hearts in the windows. But there are no Valentine exchanges at school, and I haven’t seen any restaurants offering a sweetheart’s menu. Though I did see quite a few Valentine-themed flower bouquets in the shops today.
Our family tradition is a Valentine Breakfast with pancakes or waffles, our traditional raspberry milk (notes and recipe below), and a little gift on each child’s plate. Something small — a token really.
Wherever you are, I hope you’re offering an extra dose of love to the people in your life. Happy Valentine’s Day!
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