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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day - Share yours with Starbucks!

Happy Valentine's Day!  To start your morning on the right foot, here is a pretty spectacular offer from Starbucks!!

"Share Drinks with Someone You Love"




This offer is valid TODAY ONLY (2/14/2013)
Just print the coupon, present, and you and your sweetheart (or stranger!) can enjoy a Hot Chocolate, Vanilla Spice Latte, or Caffè Mocha.  

SWEET!


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Bacon Rose Bouquet

Let me start off by saying that I wasn't originally going to post this.
I found the idea on Pinterest, BUT, after posting my final creation on my personal Facebook page, I received so many responses with compliments, questions, and "Will I make them one?"

As you can see, they were all welcomed responses, so I figured this is a service you all NEEDED to be provided with!

Now...apparently, I didn't read through the whole PIN on my pinterest board.  I just thought they were cute and did them.

After having several people ask me if I ruined a muffin pan creating them, I was like "Huh?"
The original PIN says you need to drill holes in a muffin pan.
While that's creative, there is certainly no need to do that.


Now...I do not have step by step pictures, because like I said, I was not planning on doing a blog post on this.  However, I will try my best to provide you all with as much information as I can since tomorrow is V-day and this would be absolutely presh to give your man!

I did go back through and try to take some snap shots of dissecting your flower pieces. That and how to build the roses were by far the most popular questions.  Again, I will do my best to explain, but feel free to comment or ask questions.

Let's start.

You'll need:
1 package of bacon - Whatever flavor you like.  (Note - I have not used turkey bacon.  Let me know if you try!)
1 faux flower bouquet
toothpicks
cookie sheet with lip - I used a jelly roll pan
foil


To start; begin by taking off your faux flower heads off the stems.
Most come off with a gentle tug, but the reenactment, which will hopefully benefit some. FYI: I did not do a reenactment of the roses.

Gentle Tug

Flower Detaches from steam

Pull Plastic Nub Piece Out, Remove Flower

Reattach the Nub to the Greenary

And there you have it.




Alright - Time for bacon!
Preheat your oven to 350.
Line your cookie sheet with foil.
Lay your bacon out flat. (I worked right on the cookie sheet)
Roll bacon into a spiral, keeping it nice and tight. Fat side of bacon will be on the bottom.
Tip: One thing I wished I would have done was focus more on the bottom of the "rose"  make sure it stays nice and tight.  I found that they're not easily transported if the bottom (the fatty side) doesn't have a nice "seal" (I guess we'll call it) on the flower steam.  Mine stayed fine for presentation purposes, but I wouldn't have wanted them to ride solo in the passenger seat of my car.
Fat side (bottom) you will secure with toothpicks in a criss-cross fashion.  I put one closer to the bottom and one right through the middle.
Continue same steps with the remaining pieces of bacon.
Tip:  If you plan to use just the amount of bacon you need - I highly recommend doing a couple extra's in case some look better than the others.
Cook bacon for 20-25 mins or until cooked through.
Let the bacon cool before handling.  About 5 min's.
While you're waiting for the bacon to cool, grab your vase and your stems.
Tip: If you're doing a small bacon bouquet, like I did, I couldn't find a vase small enough to hold them upright, so choice to use a decanter.  Worked fabulously!
Once bacon is cool, attached the individual pieces it to the tops of the stems, and Present.

I gave this to my husband for our 10 year.
His reaction?  At 1st he thought they were real flowers!  He had to do a triple look!!
A week later, he is still talking about these and even told the girls at work, they  needed to do one for their husbands.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he liked it ;)

I know the men in your life will too!

Enjoy,


Monday, February 4, 2013

I love you because...Valentine's Day Special

My husband and I have a sign in our room that says "I Love You Because..."

It's fun.  We've been together almost 10 years (this THURSDAY!) and it's nice to see, hear, read, and pass love notes to each other after so many years.

For Valentine's this year - I'm taking a spin on that for for my daughter.
She loves, loves, LOVES getting mail, so it's been a fun little game these last several days.

It all started with this cute little mailbox I found at Target in their $1 bins.  Yep $1!  I added to the mailbox the word "Mail", and each day when she wakes up and sees the red flag raised, she knows she's got mail.

It's all very exciting.  She'll open her mailbox up each morning, to find something special about her each day!


To apply the sayings/mail, we simply use scotch tape.  I place the tape at the top and she applies it to the wall.

Today, was Day 4, so her wall isn't full just yet, but it will be soon enough.

With that said - There will never be enough wall space on this earth, to show how much I love this little girl! *Muah*



Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Queso Smothered Chicken!

Found this recipe for Queso Smothered Chicken on ziplist.  Ever heard of it?
Neither had I, but hoping to find some more tried & true recipes from this site!


While I pretty much made everything to a "T"...I dismissed the oil and used some of the leftover marinade to cook the chicken.  Worked great.
I was also unable to find the marinade this recipe called for, so used a bottle of Santa Fe Chili Lime, which was really great too.

My Ingredients:
1 bottle Lawry's Santa Fe Chili Lime 30 minute marinade
6 chicken tenders

1 cup orzo
2 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp chili powder
8 oz Velveeta, diced
1 can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes and green chilies

Directions are from Plain Chicken:

Pour Baja Chipotle Marinade over chicken and let marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight. When ready, grill chicken until done (165 degrees).

While the chicken is grilling prepare the orzo.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add orzo. Cook, stirring constantly, until lightly browned.  Stir in Southwestern Seasoning or chili powder, tomato paste and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Combine Ro-tel and Velveeta in a medium bowl.  Heat on HIGH in the microwave in 30 second intervals until cheese is melted.

To assemble the Queso Smothered Chicken - place 1/4 of the orzo on a plate, top with grilled chicken. Pour 3-4 Tbsp cheese dip over chicken and orzo. 

Muy Delicioso


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Holiday's Homemade

The time has come to say Good Bye.  Not forever, but until the next Christmas season arrives!

I personally wanted to thank all of you who who shared with us your stories and traditions on Holiday's Homemade Facebook page, and lead us through our 1st Christmas season with flying colors!

If there is any particular projects, recipes, or traditional aspects you'd like us to share with you this coming season, please feel free to post below or visit us anytime of the year, as we'll be making our list, and checking it twice ;)

We're all looking forward to sharing more ideas with you next Christmas season, but until then, enjoy the New Year! It's going to be a great one!!




Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Kids Valentine's Day - Art work

Our newest project was a lot of fun.  I was able to use my new cricut that I got for Christmas (Woot!) and Charlotte was able to use the big kid markers, she has desperately wanted to use and her all time favorite - glue!  All around 2 very happy girls!!

We started off with a big piece of poster board.  I drew on there several hearts for her to (or not to) color in, gave her some markers, crayons, and set her free on a coloring spree.



When she was done coloring, I cut out each each heart (along with my saying) we glued them on, and viola! Entry artwork at it's finest!


Monday, January 7, 2013

Cool People Care

I saw this message floating around and I thought it was quite appropriate for all of those trying to make themselves anew for the new year. 


So, what resolutions did you make for yourself this year?  Did you take the plunge?

I personally used to never make resolutions.  That is until my daughter came along.  
Since then, I seem to always make some type of resolution that has to do with self improvement.  They're mostly along the lines of...
 - Don't be so hard on yourself.  You're doing the best you can! Don't take others 2 cents to heart.  YOUR opinion and beliefs matter most!!
- Organize, Organize, Organize!  It is absolutely insane how much beautiful chaos (especially Toys and Clothes!) enters the household once you have a child.  I feel I'm always swiping out clothes sizes and trying to find a new spot for the grand toy item of the week.

This year, I'm going to continue my 1st two resolutions, as I have for the past 2 years.  

I still battle with the "Don't be so hard on yourself"  I think every Mother comes across this at some point in time.  We all only want what's best for our children and sometimes it can be an inner battle with yourself.  Am I doing the right thing?  What would my Mom have done? Was I too hard on her/him/them?

Organize!  Good grief.  I think this *might* be the year I let go.  My daughter is 2.5 and I still have EVERYTHING from her baby years.  Clothes, sippy cups, bottles, shoes, bibs, blankets, toys, you name it.  Instead of hoarding these things in my basement, why not give them away to someone who can really use them.  Again, this is an inner battle with myself, but I'm going to try.  I always go back n' forth on "Well what if we have another...then I have to start all over" but ya know...if and when we do have another, they will get a fresh start.  Besides, if we have a boy next go round, he wouldn't exactly look like the hunky bubby he should in a frilly pink dress.  Just sayin'. 

This years resolution is to print more pictures and put them in photo albums.  I have a MASSIVE photo storage outlet, thanks to Shutterfly, but sometimes it's nice to flip through a book to see and feel those memories again.  Part 2, is to keep recreating memories.  I feel I have done a very good job with this, thus far, but I want to instil the importance of travel, the earth, and culture into my daughters veins.  The world is a beautiful thing.  Why not start with our own city?!  Yep.

So go ahead and share with me your tips, tricks, and resolutions.  2013 is going to be a great year! 

All aboard!