Baked Turkey Tacos

Difficulty Level: Easy Peasy

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs ground turkey [or lean beef...but then I guess they wouldn't be "turkey tacos"]

1 cup shredded cheese

1 taco seasoning packet [I use low sodium]

1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and chilies

1 can refried beans [I use vegetarian]

12-18 hard taco shells [1 box]

Cook meat.  Add beans, seasoning, Rotel, 1/3 cup of cheese.  Arrange shells in a baking dish [which is harder than I thought!]  Spoon in mixture and top with cheese.  Bake in a 400˚ oven for 10 minutes [or until cheese is melted] and ENJOY! Top with whatever you like to have on your tacos [tomatoes, sauce, lettuce, etc.]

They were super easy to eat, without the normal breakage and spilling of hard shell tacos PLUS super delicious!

DIY | Organizing Personal Files

I think that I might be obsessed with Pinterest.  And although most of my pins sit there unclicked, sometimes I go all out and decide to go through with the ideas I find on the site.  The lasagna recipe was one that I found using Pinterest, and I LOVE finding lesson plans on there.  I recently found some organizing inspiration that took me to The Weekend Organizer.   She has some seriously amazing information about personal files, how long to keep them, how to organize them, and what's important or not.  As a newbie to the "real world," I've never had to keep up with important documents like  a lease, contracts, warranties, insurance information, marriage certificate, birth certificates [you get the point].  I have honestly not been very good at keeping these extremely important documents organized...I'm ashamed to admit that they have been tossed in the top drawer of my filing cabinet without a real home.  The Weekend Organizer uses a great color coded filing system using special hanging files that allow you to see your file folders.  It's so much easier to just make a new file folder than a new tab on a hanging folder.  I loved that idea, but I couldn't find the special "top rail" folders in a store, so when I got home I decided to shorten my hanging folders so that I could see my file tabs.  My first step was honestly not making the folders...my first step was going through my entire filing cabinet and organizing my documents by category.  I ended up with an entire trash bag of old and outdated files for shredding.  After that, I created my folders with the tabs labels, and THEN I could start the fun part! [making the new, shorter hanging folders]

First, you need to fold the hanging file inside out, and then use the lines on bottom to help you fold it out.  I folded mine out by 2 lines on each side on the bottom.

I will look like the file on the right.  Then, tape the bottom, and insert your folders!

You're done!

[Ps...my cute file holder is from Target, about 2 years ago!]

Pps...I did a whole "apartment storage ideas" post on my other blog HERE if you want to creep my house :)]

Ppps haha...I know that some of this should be in a safe...and some of it is.  I need a bigger fire-proof safe!

3rd grade is....always good for a laugh

This blog is all about how we are learning to be married, home-keepers, teachers, cooks, and grown ups. I think one of the hardest things about being an adult is being responsible and thoughtful without letting the burden of being responsible and thoughtful weigh you down. And let's face it--no matter what kind of job you have, sometimes (or maybe most of the time) work just feels like work! Who knew? One of the ways I combat my job making me feel like I'm being dragged from a rope tied to a galloping horse is to find some simple thing in it that brings me joy. Lucky for me, I work with kids. And anytime you need to find joy in working with kids, just take a moment to interview a couple of them. The 30 seconds it will take provides some of the most genuine laughter!

I asked my class to complete the following phrases:

Never look a gift horse....
Don't bite the hand...
The grass is always greener...
No news is...

Here are some of the responses:

Don't bite the hand that has a scab on it.

Never look a gift horse in the eye.

Don't bite the hand of a genie.

The grass is always greener than the road.

Don't bite the hand of your friend.

The grass is always greener when there's food coloring on it.

Don't bite the hand in the palm.

The grass is always greener than me.

Never look a gift horse in the face unless it is yours.

Don't bite the hand. It will be nasty.

Grass is always greener when it its taken care of.

Don't bite the hand, it will hurt!

Never look a gift horse in the price tag.

Don't bite the hand, look at the hand.



I feel renewed already! Who doesn't want to work with these comedians?

What do you do to take the edge off a hectic work day?

DIY Radial Weaving

So for tonight's post I'm going to have a little "art teacher moment."  I think I've told several people that I would do a DIY on how I create these radial weavings with my kids, and I never have.  I made some of these for fun in my old apartment and made it into a lesson.

[Disclaimer...I know this isn't really "weaving," but whatevs]

For this DIY you will need...

To start off, you will want to cut a circle out of the chip board [I used a cereal box], and you will need to draw 16 evenly spaced lines on the back and label them clockwise:

After that, you will want to cut the little lines to create notches.

Then, measure and cut the yarn.  The amount will depend on how big your circle is.  I used about 4 arm lengths [stretching my arms out while holding the yarn].  If you run out of yarn before you finish, you can just cut more and tie it on.

Here comes the "fun" part! [sarcasm...it's a little confusing unless you're doing it.]

1)  Start by sticking the end of the yarn into the "1" notch.  Leave a little bit hanging to tie it up later.  You will be wrapping the yarn around the board from front to back.
2)  You will go from the 1 to the 8 around whichever side is the front.
3)  This is what the front looks like.
4)  Then go from the 8 to the 16 across the back, then the 16 to the 7 across the front [if you are doing this you will see a pattern]

I always look at the back the whole time because it's easiest.  On the back you will see the left image, and on the front it will look like the right image.  This is one rotation around the circle.  You will do exactly what you just did, starting with 1 to 9, 9 to 16, 16 to 8, etc. [Easier to understand if you're doing it!]  So go around the circle 2 times total.

Tada!  Turn it over and see what you made!

If 9 year olds can do it, you can do it!  Here are some by my students:

Here are some photos from my old apartment with my "rough draft" versions of these weavings [they are a little bit different, but practice makes perfect!]  Happy weaving!

Dinner time!

Hey everyone! I apologize for my delay in posting. Our goal is 2 posts per week and I completely dropped the ball. Maybe the deliciousness of the recipe below will help you forgive me. Please?

Today's easy recipe requires very few ingredients and is very simple. I will say, though, that unlike other simple recipes we post, this is not one where you can pop it in the oven and forget about it until it's done. So maybe this is more of a medium difficulty recipe versus an easy recipe.  I found it on Martha Stewart's webpage. You can click the link to see her original recipe.

Ingredients:

4 Potatoes
1 lb. Asparagus
1 lb. Chicken (I used about 5 chicken tenderlions. You could also use chicken breast, chicken legs, or multiple parts of a whole chicken!)
Butter
1 Lemon
Thyme (fresh sprigs are preferable but I just used my dried kitchen spices.)
Step 1: Preheat oven to 475. Peel and quarter (cut into 4ths) potatoes, cut ends off of asparagus, slice lemon into wedges, thaw chicken.

Step 2: Layer potatoes and a small slice of butter in pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20-25 minutes (until potatoes are golden brown).

Step 3: Remove pan from oven. Add chicken over potatoes.  Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes (until chicken is golden brown).

Step 4: Remove pan from oven. Add asparagus, lemon wedges, and a small slice of butter over the chicken. Season with thyme. Cook for 5 to 15 minutes, or until asparagus is tender. Serve with butter and lemon juices from pan sprinkled on top.

This was delicious and very easy--my only dislike about this recipe is that it's more difficult to make while multi-tasking, since you have stop every 20 minutes to add the next layer of food.

Enjoy!

Fast, easy breakfast | Smoothie and Sandwich

Happy Monday everyone!

In my last post, I shared a smoothie recipe.  I'm going to share another one today AND share a simple tip that I learned from my mom a long time ago for a quick, easy breakfast sandwich.

The Smoothie:

 Choose your cup, and fill with frozen fruit.  Pour in juice to fill in the spaces between.  Pour this into the blender and add a hand full of ice.  I also added about 1/4 cup of water.  Add honey to taste, blend, and enjoy!  This is a very fresh & fruity smoothie! [I like pineapple juice a lot better but didn't have any.]

 This next part is something probably everyone knows, but I'm not sure I'D know unless my mom had told me.  You can cook an egg in the microwave in 1 minute.  Exciting right?  Just spray a microwave safe bowl with Pam, whisk an egg, pop in the microwave for 60 seconds & BOOM you're done!

 Enjoy in a simple breakfast sandwich!  I've been adding microwave Morningstar "sausage" to mine, and it's super fast and filling.  Enjoy!

Easy No Sew Curtains

Good evening, everyone! Tonight I am going to show you how to create curtains with no sewing. I'd rate this project in a couple of ways:
Skill Level-Easy
Time Needed-Moderate
Price-That depends--do you already have a ton of fabric? If yes, it could be free!

Here's what you need:
Scissors
A straight edge
An iron
A tape measure
A hot glue gun
Lots of hot glue gun sticks
Lots and lots of fabric

About a year ago, before I got married, I was inspired by Nate Berkus to "upholster" my walls. The idea is that if you are renting a home and can't paint the walls, you can always cover the walls with fabric. Liquid starch acts like glue, holding the fabric to the wall. When it's time to move, you just wet the fabric and the starch is neutralized. It's supposed to peel right off! As you can tell by the language of that sentence, I don't know if it peels right off. I never did the project. I did, however, START the project by buying lots and lots of fabric ($$$). When Doug and I got married and moved, the never-used fabric needed a project. I decided to make a curtained wall panel behind our bed, like a faux headboard, with matching curtains.  The main problem is---I can't sew. My sewing machine has been broken for about as long as I've had it.

NO SEW CURTAINS IT IS!

So...I started with a chevron print fabric I purchased online. It was a HUGE roll of some canvas-y type fabric. The roll (and fabric on the roll) is naturally 57 inches wide. I did not cut the sides of the fabric--I maintained the width completely so that I wouldn't have to finish the sides. One panel was plenty wide to cover a whole window.

Step 1: I measured our wall from floor to ceiling and decided that a 7 foot length panel would be plenty long. I added about 6 inches so I could fold the top down to create a loop for the curtain rod.

Here's where we are so far: 57 inch wide panels that are cut to be 7.5 feet long. I didn't know how crowded 1 panel would look on a window, so I cut 5 panels. I figured I could put 3 behind our bed and 2 over the window. We really only needed 1 per window, so I ended up with 1 extra panel. I eventually used the extra to create a "nook" in our hallway--more on that in another post!

Step 2: Lay panel on a flat surface backwards--you should be looking at the side that will be facing the window.  Fold top of panel down about 3-6 inches. I did 6 inches, but it wasn't necessary to have that much room for the curtain rod.

Step 3: Iron a crease into the fabric where you have folded the top of your curtain panel. I did this so that I wouldn't end up gluing the fabric in a crooked line.  If you are really good at eye-balling the measurement, you don't have to do this part!

Step 4: Hot glue the flap you've just folded down to the back of the main panel.

Step 5: If you want a really finished look, repeat this step on the bottom of the panel. I didn't, and the fabric I used hasn't frayed or started coming apart. I suppose the necessity of this part depends on the fabric you choose.

All that's left is to hang and enjoy! All in all this project took me about 3 hours. I'm a very slow measure-er and I'm terrible at cutting straight lines. I moved very slowly to ensure minimal mistakes!

The panels behind our bed.

The curtain covering the window--and bonus! The necklace holder from one of our first tutorials!

Chocolate Banana Smoothie | Healthy, Filling Breakfast

I am a smoothie drinker.  I have a smoothie EVERY morning for breakfast.  I find them much more filling than cereal, and talk about convenient!  I will be experimenting with more smoothies over the next few weeks because I ran out of Body by Vi [which tastes awesome!] and it's just not in my budget to get more right now.  I'm looking into other protein powders like Nature's Bounty, that have lots of calcium, but for now I'm fine with just having smoothies without added nutrients. [That was probably too much information for people who are just looking for recipes, but I digress...]

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

This recipe is definitely for banana lovers.  If you don't like bananas though you can try replacing the 1/2 banana with 1 cup of strawberries. [fresh or frozen]

Place ice and milk in the blender, and then all of the other ingredients and blend.

Note: [I like to use soy and almond milk because of the calcium AND that vanilla flavor adds a little bit of sweetness.  The smoothies also turn out so rich and creamy, but feel free to try whatever milk you usually drink.]

 Next time I might try using frozen bananas or frozen strawberries just to get that "slushy" feeling, but this was definitely ice-cold and smooth!  If you have any easy smoothie recipes feel free to share in the comments!  I'm looking for some quick, easy, and filling breakfast ideas! 

Thanks & enjoy!

P.S.
I should probably mention I'm not a big yogurt smoothie person.  I love eating yogurt, I'm just not a huge fan of drinking it, so my recipes will probably not include yogurt.  [Although things may change as I continue to experiment]

No Fail Chicken Parm

Difficulty level: Super Easy

I was running low on ingredients and energy last week and wanted something easy to cook.  I happened to have all of these ingredients around so I decided to make some chicken Parmesan.

 Ingredients:

-3 Chicken Breasts [butterflied]

- 1 cup bread crumbs

- 2/3 cup shredded parmesan

- 1 tsp dried basil

- 1/4 tsp pepper

- 1 tsp minced garlic

- 2 tbsp olive oil

Set oven to 350.

In a bowl mix the garlic and olive oil.  In another bowl mix the bread crumbs, parmesan, basil, and pepper.  Butter a 9x13 baking dish.  Dip each chicken breast into the oil mixture and then into the bread crumb mixture, coating them completely and placing them in the baking dish after.  Spread the remaining bread crumb mixture over the chicken and cook 30-45 minutes. [or until chicken is cooked through]

I served with steamed veggies [from the bag] and spaghetti.  Enjoy!