Butternut Squash Carbonara and 100 Fans!

ok, we still do Emeals and I still love it. Because I get took cook things like Butternut Squash Carbonara and it's LOW FAT. Yum.

Here's how you make it:

6 slices turkey bacon

2 c diced butternut squash

1/2 box thin spaghetti

(2 egg yolks, 2 T FF milk, ¼ c Parmesan cheese)

(1 t minced garlic, 1 T sage - chopped, pepper)


First, get your water boiling for the pasta and start cooking that. then you can cook the bacon in a big skillet, i use my nice 10" skillet with a little FF cooking spray. Once the bacon is cooked, take it out of the pan and let it dry on some paper towels.
once you take the bacon out, cook your squash in the bacon fat. there won't be much at all since it's turkey bacon but it helps. at this point also add your garlic, sage and pepper to your skillet. you can also return the bacon to the pan too. if you need more cooking spray go ahead. i used quite a bit. 
the squash takes about 10 minutes so plan accordingly with your pasta because the rest of it goes fast. once your squash is done, take it off the heat. 
take your egg yolks, milk and parm cheese and mix it in a small bowl. then add your pasta (with a little water) to the pan, mix everything up.
add the egg/cheese mixture to the pan, let it coat everything nicely.
Done.

Delish, and I'm not much of a squash person. but, seriously yummy.

And....we've reached 100 fans on facebook!! YAY!

I'm so excited to have more readers!

Chocolate Chip S'more Cookie Cups

Seriously, all I'm going to say about these is YUM.

So easy to make. All you need is:

Package of ready to bake chocolate chip cookie squares
Mini Marshmallows
Chocolate bar
Mini muffin tin


press the cookie squares into the muffin tin cups
sprinkle on the marshmallows
put a piece of chocolate in the middle

bake at 350 for about 12 minutes

seriously, that's it.
oh and EAT THEM ALL

Dixie Cup Dispenser revamp

I bought a dixie cup dispenser a while ago and it wasn't horrible looking, just plain. So I decided I'd try my hand at using mod podge (but it was the martha stewart version, kind of eh about it) and some scrapbook paper.

Honestly, one of the easiest things I've ever done.

Materials:

Scrapbook paper
Scissors
Mod Podge (or any other decoupage medium)
Dixie cup dispenser
Ruler/tape measure

1. Measure around your dixie cup dispenser, and mark lines on your scrapbook paper
2. Cut the scrapbook paper to size, being sure check your measurements. What's the saying "measure twice, cut once"? yeah, do it that way.
3. First layer of mod podge is to glue your paper to the dispenser. let this dry for a few hours.
4. Now you can add a coat to the top, make sure you do an even layer.
5. You can do an additional coat if you want, this will help keep it waterproof.
and Voila!!

Isn't that pretty?!

If you don't have scrapbook paper you could also use comic book pages or even a picture!

Pink and Zebra TuTu

This one's also no-sew. But it was made with ribbon, and in a nod to my daughter's big girl room theme (Hot Pink and Zebra!)
Here's the TuTu:

Same basic principle as before only instead of the cotton loops i used one large piece of satin ribbon, and a lot of tulle. (60 pieces) it wrapped tighter than on the cotton so there was room for more, which just means more poof!

So, I wrapped all the tulle, then I cut lengths (about 17" long) of grosgrain ribbon (be sure to use Fray Check or a lighter/match to secure your ends!) and tied a knot between the other knots above. nothing too techinical.

Another advantage of having it on the ribbon is that the length can be adjusted as your little girl grows!

*Idea for this method is from Treasures for Tots*

No-Sew T-shirt Scrap TuTu

I don't sew, I love to knit, I can even get away with some basic crochet stitches, but I can't sew. Someday soon I'd love to learn but for now I avoid it like the plague.
I've also avoided making any TuTus for my soon to be 3 (yikes!) year old daughter. I know there are some no-sew versions out there (and I haven't tried them) but I had some old scrap t-shirt fabric lying around (cotton loops) they are 30" long scraps of t-shirt. you can make scarves or headbands or bracelets with them but I figured why not give the TuTu idea a shot.

Materials:

~40 strips of tulle cut into 6"x18" strips. (it came out a little short so i'd probably make the strips longer next time, these strips were bought as a Snow White TuTu kit, but my daughter loves Spiderman,same colors so I improvised.)

Cotton loops
--I got mine on clearance at Michael's so I'm not sure if these are even sold anymore, however you could always cut a band off of a child's shirt and use that!
Ribbon (optional, i'm going to add some as soon as I get my hands on Spiderman ribbon)

Finishing touch, in this case a foam Spiderman magnet that i hotglued to the finished TuTu

Hot glue gun (duh!)

This doesn't take long once your tulle is cut to size and they are a blast to make!
Naturally if you want a bigger TuTu, don't wrap it 3 times, only do twice. The loops stretch as you wrap the tulle! So keep that in mind when you start. You can see from my photos how the TuTu grows in size from start to finish.