THINK MAKE LIVE LOVE: October 2011

October 22, 2011

PRINCESS ELMO BIRTHDAY PARTY IDEAS

Today my little one turned 1. We had a party with ELMO food/cake and a purple princess tutu dress. It was fun and very easy to do! Here are the ideas:

Homemade No-Sew Tutu Dress and Homemade Tulle Wand

DIY Tutu Table Skirt~~~ Tutorial from sweetcraftcakes.com ~~~

ELMO 7 Layer Dip

~~~ classic 7 layer mexican dip recipe ~~~

~~~ tomatoes for face, black olives for mouth, carrots for nose ~~~

~~~ cream cheese or sour cream for white of eyes with black olives for pupils ~~~

ELMO Fruit Tray

~~~ strawberries for face, blackberries for mouth ~~~

~~~ clementine for nose, banana slices for eyes ~~~

M&M Jar with Number 1

~~~ peanut M&Ms with number 1 candle ~~~

~~~ just add a few M&Ms to a clean tomato sauce jar ~~~

~~~ then set number on side in middle and fill up the rest of the jar with M&Ms ~~~

Number 1 Brownies

~~~ Make brownies, cut them, and design a number 1 on some aluminum wrapped cardboard ~~~

I also made homemade sausage balls and a generic sandwich tray.

Hope some of these ideas help make a cool party for you too!

October 16, 2011

CHUNKY MILD TURKEY CHILI

My hubby likes to have bread-less suppers as much as possible.

This is one of the things I like to make to satisfy his appetite without the need for bread.

I make it mild so that my 11-month-old can eat it too. ;)

CHUNKY MILD TURKEY CHILI

serves 2

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 strips bacon

2 turkey burger patties (1/2 pound ground turkey)

3/4 cup - 1 cup red wine (I used Chianti)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can pinto beans

salt and pepper

red pepper or chili powder (if desired)

tomato sauce (if desire thinner chili)

Over medium heat, cook he onion and bacon in the olive oil.

When the onion starts to turn clear, add the turkey meat and cook until no longer pink, breaking up the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks.

Add the red wine and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and pinto beans WITH the juices.

Add salt, pepper, and red pepper (if desired) or chili powder (if desired).

Add tomato sauce if desire thinner chili.

Simmer over low heat for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

If you simmer it longer, the flavors will meld together even more.

Serve alone or with bread or crackers or tortilla chips and/or cheese on top.

DIG IN!

CHICKEN VEGGIE TORTILLA CHIP CASSEROLE

I made this recipe the other night adapted from the King Ranch Chicken recipe by plainchicken.com.

Since we don't have cheddar cheese, cheese whiz, or condensed soups over here in Italy, I had to think of creative way to make it yummy. I also decided to add more chicken and veggies. My 11 month old loved it and I got 2 thumbs up from the hubs.

Chicken Veggie Tortilla Chip Casserole

5-6 large chicken breasts

2 packages cream of mushroom soup

2 cups warm chicken broth (reserved from boiling the chicken)

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 medium round tomatoes, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup white wine

1 tablespoon dried parsley

Salt and pepper to taste1 cup grated parmesan cheese + more for the top

Preheat oven to 350F or 170C.

Boil and dice the chicken breasts, place into big mixing bowl.

(I used scissors to cut mine up into bite size pieces.)

In the same big bowl, add the packages of soup with the warm chicken broth, mix well & set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the onion, tomatoes, and yellow pepper.

When the veggies start to turn translucent, add the white wine.

Cook until almost all of the liquid is absorbed.

Dump the veggies in with the chicken and soup.

Add the parsley, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese, mix everything well.

Do a taste test to make sure your seasoning is the way you want it.

Grease a big casserole dish and line the bottom of it with crushed tortilla chips.

Add half of the chicken mixture and spread evenly.

Add another layer of crushed tortilla chips and dump/spread the rest of the chicken mixture.

Add a few more tortilla chips with a little bit more parmesan on top.

Bake for 30-45 minutes, until bubbly.

DIG IN!

October 14, 2011

HOMEMADE CINNAMON ROLLS

Yummy homemade cinnamon rolls!

I wanted the house to smell like fall, so I made cinnamon rolls. When they bake up, the cinnamon smell really escapes into the air. They were really a hit with my hubby - he finished them off this afternoon for a snack - LOL.

I used the Cinnamon 101 recipe by Pioneer Woman, but I cut it down by about 1/4th. Unless you want to make a ton of them and freeze them for later like she does, I recommend doing the same. Since we live in a small place in central Florence right now, there is just no extra room in the freezer for that kind of thing. I am jealous of you who have a big fridge with an ice machine!

Here is how they turned out - you should make them too, right now!!

TULLE WAND

I made a tulle wand today using the tutorial HERE from sweetnsassygirls.com.

I had some leftover tulle from making my little one's TULLE DRESS for her birthday/halloween, so I decided to do this. It took about 30 minutes and was fairly simple to make.

I followed all of the instructions by sweetnsassygirls, except I did not use a wooden dowel for the handle. Instead, I used a rolled up magazine (cut in half lengthwise to decrease bulk) to make it softer.

Try it!

October 13, 2011

TURKEY STUFFED PEPPERS

This was our family supper tonight. I had a slight bit of filling leftover, so my 11-month-old ate that for her meal. I adapted this recipe from skinnytaste.com.

1 cup cooked rice

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced finely

2 boneless/skinless turkey breasts cut into small pieces

1 1/2 teaspoons creole seasoning

salt to taste

1/4 cup white wine

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

2 small tomatoes, diced finely

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 cup parmesan cheese + more for garnish if desired

2 large sweet bell peppers (I used 1 yellow & 1 red)

Heat oven to 400°.

Cook the 1 cup of rice. I cooked it in chicken broth for more flavor added.

In a medium saucepan, pour 2 turns of olive oil over a medium heat.

Add onion to the pan and saute about 2 minutes until it starts to turn translucent.

Add turkey pieces, creole seasoning, and salt. Saute until the outside of the turkey is cooked.

Add the white wine and 3/4 cup of the chicken broth. Cook about 2 minutes.

Add the diced tomatoes and basil and simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed (about 5-10 minutes).

Turn off the heat and stir in the cooked rice and parmesan cheese.

Season with more salt to taste.

Wash and cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise. Remove all seeds.

Place the peppers in a baking dish.

Spoon the meat mixture into each pepper half and fill it with as much as you can.

Pour the remaining 3/4 of the chicken broth on the bottom of the pan.

Cover tight with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 minutes or until the peppers are soft.

Top with extra parmesan cheese (if desired).

DIG IN!

October 12, 2011

GOOEY OATMEAL PUMPKIN BARS WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Today my hubby had a huge exam for his Masters' course, so I decided to bake him something special.
I wanted to make something with the homemade pumpkin puree that I made over the weekend. This is what I decided to do. My bars are gooey because there are not any eggs in the recipe.
Recipe adapted from Lovin from the Oven's Pumpkin Bars.

Gooey Oatmeal Pumpkin Bars

1 cup flour

1 cup oats

1/3 cup sugar in the raw

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

2/3 cup fat free greek yogurt

1/4 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F or 170C.

Spray a medium-size baking pan with nonstick coating.

Combine flour, oats , sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, & salt in a medium bowl.

Stir in pumpkin, yogurt, and water until thoroughly combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan.

Spread frosting on top and DIG IN!

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup 50% fat philly cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar (put more if you want your frosting sweeter)

October 11, 2011

TUTU DRESS TUTORIAL - NO SEWING REQUIRED!

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Today I made my first tutu ever. I decided to make a no-sew tutu dress for my little princess who will turn 1 in 11 days. Since we are temporarily living away from my sewing machine, I needed to think of new ways to do things. I figure she can wear this dress for her birthday and also for Halloween.
I also made a wand to go with it - see it HERE.

Here is my attempt to explain how I made it...

What you need:

Tulle

Ribbon

Scissors

Cardboard (for measuring/cutting the tulle)

Lighter (for burning the ends of the ribbon)

PATIENCE!

Tulle:

96 total pieces for this dress:

- 12 white

- 42 lavender

- 42 purple
The width of each piece was about 3-4 inches - not an exact science.
For the length of each piece:
I measured how long I wanted the dress to be from my little one's armpit.
I added 3 more inches to allow for the knots and drop down gathering.

Ribbon:

8 feet lavender

9 feet purple

Cut the Tulle:

Check out this great tulle cutting tutorial from Treasures for Tots.

Measure the size of your little one's chest.

To mark the ribbon, make 2 knots in the ribbon for the diameter of the chest.

Tie on the tulle between the 2 knots.

I followed this awesome video tutorial for how to use ribbon as the holder instead of elastic

and for how to tie on the tulle to the ribbon for a basic tutu.

I decided to put 2 pieces of tulle together of the same color for each knot that I tied.

I followed this pattern for colors:

2 lavender knots, 2 purple knots, 2 lavender knots, 2 purple knots, 1 white knot,

repeat until reaching the other knot

I ended up with 48 total knots tied on my ribbon.

To make the drop down:

Weave a separate piece of ribbon about 2-3 inches (or whatever you think will work for your little one - be creative) down from the top.

Lay your dress out on a big flat surface or hang it tightly from something.

Pulling the tulle straight down, wrap the ribbon around each knot and continue to connect onto the next knot, make sure to leave extra on the ends for tying the dress together in the back when you put it on your little one.

(sorry for the lack of pictures for this, but I needed both hands)

Decoration:

Decorate the top and drop down by wrapping around more ribbon.

Make sure to leave extra on each end in order to tie the dress together and make a bow.

Tie 4 ribbons on the top for the over the shoulder bows.

Use the lighter to burn the ends of each piece of cut ribbon.

Voila' - you are finished!

Here is the finished dress laid out flat.

Here is the dress hanging on a hanger.

(will post pictures of the dress on my little one after her birthday)

FUDGY MOIST FLOURLESS BROWNIES - YUM!

A friend of mine posted this Gluten Free Brownies recipe from Taste & See on pinterest a couple of days ago. I just had to try them and see! I didn't have any chocolate chips or canola oil in the house, so I did a few substitutions. Here is my recipe...they turned out yummy!
Even the hubby liked them & was surprised when I told him there was ZERO flour.

Fudgy Moist Flourless Brownies

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
1.5 tablespoons water
8 ounces chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Spray a 8 x 8-inch pan with baking spray.
(Use 8 x 4 loaf pan if you want thicker brownies.)

Melt the butter in microwave in large glass bowl.

Stir in cocoa powder and water until smooth.
(I used a fork.)

Add chickpeas and egg whites. Blend until smooth with stick blender.

Add remaining ingredients to glass bowl and mix until smooth.
(I used a rubber spatula.)

Pour the batter into the baking pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Cool in pan. These are easiest to cut if they've had time to sit overnight.
Otherwise, just grab a spoon and DIG IN!