Mac and Cheese....and Meat!

 

I blame Regan for this recipe.  It's so good.  It's so not calorie friendly.  But....some meals are worth it.  This is worth it, but you should probably make it with a big crowd coming....or don't tell anyone you made it and then ate it, and sit around with your friends over coffee lamenting your inability to lose weight.  Not that I'd EVER do a thing like that....but if I were going to, this is what I'd be eating, with gusto, behind closed doors.  I even halved the recipe and I'm pretty sure it would have served an army....or at least a cub scout troop....or some body of people that eats a lot.   And so if you have a large group, or a hankering for some really devine mac and cheese with yummy meat (pretty much the food pyramid in one dish)....here ya go...

Cheese and Sausage Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:  1 lb Italian sausae, 1 lb dry elbow noodles, 8 T unsalted butter, 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 t. kosher salt, 1/2 t. black pepper, 2 1/2 c. milk, 3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, 1 1/2t. Tabasco sauce, 2 c. shredded Gouda Cheese

Instructions: 

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 inch dish with cooking spray. 

2.  Brown sausage until cooked and crumbled.  Drain extra fat and set aside. 

3.  Cook pasta following pkg instructions, dran, and run under cool water.  Set aside. 

4.  Melt butter in a large pan on medium.  Whisk in flour, salt, and pepper until thick and bubbly.  Slowly whisk in milk.  Keep whisking until milk is thick.  Reduce heat and stir in mozzarella and cheddar cheese until smooth and creamy. 

5.  Stir in sausage and cooked pasta.  Place in baking dish and top with shredded Gouda cheese.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted and hot.  Serve warm. 

Dino Pack

 I recently went to visit my buddy, Donovan, and his new little brother in Florida.  I brought along bribes.  A year or so back I won an adorable Dinosaur gift back from Anji at StarkingCrafty.  She sells party supplies on Etsy. They are super cute.  Her pack came with dinosaur finger puppets, adorable dinosaur shaped crayons, a book, and model, and coloring book pack, paint, and dinosaur print stamp.  I bought How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? and a four pack of dinosaur puzzles (when I asked I was told that he likes books and puzzles right now-a guy after my own heart).  Here is a close up of the crayons.....

Crockpot Coke Chicken

It's summer...this means I don't want the oven to run.  Ever.  The sun heats up this house enough.  I'm always on the hunt for crockpot recipes I like.  Honestly, I'd say most of the ones I try are NOT good.  I should start a blog of recipes you should never try.  Ever.  This recipe would NOT be on that blog because it really was tasty.  The chicken was moist.  The house is still cool.  Yay!  The original recipe is from a website called southernplate.  It's easy.  This is also a good recipe quality.  Tasty.  Easy.  No additional heat added to the atmosphere. 
Slow Cooked Coke Chicken
Ingredients:  Whole chicken, 1 lemon, 1 onion, 1 bottle of your fav. bbq sauce, 1 can coke
Instructions:  Peel and quarter onion.  Quarter lemon.  Place chicken in the bottom of your crockpot.  Toss lemon and onion on top.  Pour entire bottle of bbq sauce and coke over the top.  Cook all day on low, or cook on high 4 hours. 

July 4th Mailing

I'm always looking for fun things to send through the mail in unusual packaging.  I did a group of these for Halloween, but round two is going out this year for the kiddos to play with on July 4th.  They sell these tubes of glowsticks for a buck at Michael's and the dollar stores in the area.  When I was little I remember begging my mom for one 4 dollar glow necklace at amusement parks, so it's like gold.

They are already sealed, I just added a mailing label-stars and the stamp....for under 3 bucks I'm keeping my status as 'cool aunt' not to be confused with postal service status as 'annoying customer.'  You win some.  You lose some.

Firecracker Party Favors

I made these little firecracker table favors this year for July 4th.  

For the pull, I attached a little piece of wrapped candy to a string with tape.  

I taped it inside as well.  

 I covered the bottom of a toilet paper tube with tissue paper, making a small hole to pull the string through with scissors.

I cut little pieces of folded strips of tissue paper so there was a fringe...

...and I glued these to the body of the tube.  

I filled the open end with candy.  

 I punched a little hole on both sides and added a string so they can hang, and then added a little cap.

 

Baby Gift: Box of Bows and Beads

I've seen these ideas around the net of giving baby socks/bows etc in egg cartons, and I've joined the trend.  I'm egg carton obsessed.  It's just how God made me.  I've been felt bow crazy this past year too.  Here are a bunch of tutorials for making these bows.  I usually added elastic bands.  

 This time I added two with clips.  I just glue them on with the felt over the top of the clip to cover up all that glue.

I also added some baby pearls.  What girl doesn't need pearls at 3 months?  Here is that simple tutorial.  

 I boxed them up, and shipped it out.  Changing the world one frivolous babble at a time.  Next up world peace.

Ruffled Petal Bow

I am bow obsessed.  Everyone I know is having girls....and I'm pretty excited because it means I get to bring out my felt and make flowers.  I think this is about my millionth bow post of the year....and I've got so much more felt and silk to work with....and so many more showers to make these for! 
Basically, cut two circles to hold the bow, then four more pieces in a little 'bumpy' pattern...no perfectionist need apply. 

I used the same process I used here (fold each into half, then in half again and use a glue gun to glue them onto the circle (each takes up 1/4 of the circle), glue pearl in the middle.  Add to your collection.  And repeat.  

Individual Whole Peach Pie

 The thing about Texas is there is rarely a lack of great peaches in the summer months.  We have a peach farm not far from the house, and they never disappoint.  I've eaten and baked these little jewels up every which way, and when I ran across this super simple, yet delicious recipe at yummymummy, I had to try it out. 
Basically, cut a peach in half and pull out the pit, and then fill the innards with honey. 

 Put the two pieces back together and wrap 1/4 of a pie crust around the peach.  You can bake these in muffin tins, or ramkins.  Cut a little slit in the top. 

 Brush the top with an egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes (until pie crust is golden and flaky). 
Serve with ice cream.  You can follow this same method with apples, fill the center with brown sugar or something equally as fun, peel the skin from the apple before baking. 

Salty and Sweet Cookies

 I have two philosophies in life:  salty....and sweet.  It's the perfect combination.  Like a band aide to the soul, or at least my taste buds.  There is a cookie at Central Market that I 'visit' so frequently, if it were human, it would need a restraining order.  I finally found a recipe that mimics my little chocolate victim. 
If you need a new addiction, and who doesn't?  Meet, a sweet and salty cookie....or salty and sweet....whatever your poison.  I found this recipe at sugarcooking.  :O) 
Sweet and Salty Cookie
Ingredients:  1 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. baking soda, 1/2 c. butter (room temp), 1/2 c. packed brown sugar, 1/3 c. sugar, 1 egg, 1 t. vanilla, 1 c. milk chocolate chips, 1/2 c. peanut butter chips, 1/2 c. broken pretzel pieces, sea salt
Instructions:
1.  Sift flour, baking soda, and salt. 
2.  In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and add egg and vanilla. 
3.  Add flour.  Once it's combined add chips and pretzels.  Cover and place it fridge for 1 hour. 
4.  Preheat oven 350.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place round balls onto the paper, sprinkle each with a little sea salt and bake for 10 minutes.  This makes at least 2 dozen cookies

DIY Personalized Rubiks Cube

I saw the tutorial to DIY your own Rubik's cube using sports stickers a few years back on sceneofthegrime. I decided to try this idea out using vacation photos.  This would be a super cute idea for a family gift or work gift (thought about giving one of these to my bosses with group shots of my coworkers, but....didn't seem like much of a gift ;o)).

I printed off 6 photos from my recent trip to Hawaii and I snagged this rubik's cube for a buck at the store. I tried to choose photos with different colors on on the back drop (blue/black/tan etc) to help with the color matching later on. I first pealed all the stickers off the rubik's cute...not a problem, I'm practically a pro at this-it's how I solved the puzzle when I was little too...peel and replace.  ;o)  I then traced the size of the whole square and then used the stickers to measure out the inside squares.  I traced the whole thing onto the portion of the photo I planned to use....

  

 If you look closely at the photo of my mine, you can see where I held my squared off square on the top of the photo and drew down the lines to 'engrave' the lines on the photo so I knew where to cut.

I cut it each side into little squares.  

 I then glued them into place using a glue stick, though some (like the the one with the hole) needed a little dab of permanent glue to hold.