How to Make Hummus

Ok we’re going to completely gloss over the fact that I didn’t do a WIDTW (What I Did This Weekend) post yet again this week. Why? Because I really didn’t do much that I can blog about (since I don’t share pics of the kiddos on here and all that jazz).
Ok moving on. Today I have a photo tutorial for how to make your own homemade hummus!
Making Hummus is actually very easy & I do it about once every two weeks! It saves a lot of money because the size container I fill cost me at least $4 in the store!

Ready to make your own homemade hummus?(Psst: you will also find close ups of my painted countertops in these pictures! Just in case you wanted to see more detail!)

Here is the picture tutorial:
You will need:
1 can of Chick Peas
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil
3-5 cloves of garlic (or some garlic powder if you want)
Red Pepper Flakes (or whatever ingredient you need to make the flavor of your choice.
Food processor or blender or good old fashioned muscle/potato masher (notice I am using the worlds tiniest food processor-its for making baby food actually)
Note: If you have tahini on hand put some in too but if you don’t no big deal! You can also substitute sesame oil for the olive oil if you want.

Ok lets get started:
1. Open, drain & rinse your chick peas. Place in your food processor.

2. Add a little bit of lemon juice. I always eyeball this but its like 1/8 of a cup.

3. Add your cloves of garlic...more if you want a stronger garlic flavor- less if you want less. If you are using garlic powder I don't know the conversions so you'll have to either go for it & see how much you like or Google the conversions lol

4. Run your food processor a little to mix it all and start creaming the chick peas. Add your flavoring.

5. Run your food processor & stream in your olive oil until you get the texture/creaminess you want. I can't stream in while my food processor is running so I add a little, process, add a little, process etc. until I get there. You may have to stop a few times and scrape the sides of the food processor bowl to make sure it’s all getting mixed/creamed evenly.

6. Place your hummus in a container and refrigerate. I washed out an old hummus container and my homemade fits perfectly in it!


That's it for homemade hummus!
Other Flavorings you can add are:

• Roasted Red Peppers
• Feta Cheese
• Jalapeños
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Parsley
• Ground Cumin
• Plain black pepper

Have fun with it and enjoy!
Have a Happy Day,

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None of the brands featured in this post have paid me or provided me with product to review. All opinions are my own and I bought all the ingredients/supplies myself.

I’m Guest Posting over at Top Notch Eats!

Hi all! Today I am guest posting over at Top Notch Eats!
Kaleena is a college friend of mine and boy if I knew the girl could cook when we were in college I would’ve hit her up for her leftovers at lunch! ;)

Please go read the post and check out the yummy recipes she posts!! :)
Have a happy day!

What I Did This Weekend- Tuesday Edition?

 

Hi all! Sorry I’m a day late & a dollar short on this one! I’m trying to get caught up on a few things and purposely put the blog on the bottom of the list so I wouldn’t get sucked into bloggyland and not finish the list.

Although, here I am blogging and the list is only half done….but whatever. My mind is somewhere else anyway. The last weekend of August is approaching and my mind is thinking of my families Cottage. I need to go back for another weekend.

Photo credit: Rick Harris

That isn’t ‘my’ lake but it’s the same feeling. My brain needs me to sit on the dock and breathe deep to clear out all the ifs, buts, I wants, anxieties, etc.

So anyway, What I Did This Weekend was make 6 more burp cloths for my sister who is due in early September with her 2nd girl, and my hubby finally found the ONE rod we needed to make the pack ‘n play into a bassinet so we could give it to my sister to use! Yeah, we cut things close around here. He found it in the back of our closet while she was in the hospital being monitored to see if she was in labor!! (She wasn’t)

So I might be a little scarce the next couple days as I try to clear my head (unfortunately without going to the lake) & also try to sleep a little I am unusually tired. I’ll be back later this week with a great post I promise!!

What Did You Do This Weekend?? Please tell me I want to hear it all!

Have a Happy Day,

Last Summer Project!

Today I’m going to share with you my spring/summer wreath that I made 3 years ago while pregnant with Little Man. I thought it would be a good “last hurrah” for Summer project.
It’s a fun little Pinwheel wreath! I didn’t take any ‘how-to’ pictures because I made it pre-blogging days but I did do a little Photoshop action to show you the basics!
First Here’s the wreath:

Cute huh?

Ok here’s the supply list:

• double sided scrapbook paper cut into 5x5 inch squares (or 3x3 or 4x4 or 6x6 etc. whatever size you want!) (or if you can’t find double sided do what I did- glue two pages wrong sides together, let dry then cut into your squares)
• foam wreath (must be the Styrofoam or foam…NOT the straw ones because you need to paint it)
• acrylic paints or spray paint in your color of choice
• brads or other round paper fasteners
• hot glue gun & glue
• sting for hanging
• small hole punch

Directions:

• Paint your wreath form completely. Let dry. (obviously do one side first, let dry then do the other & let dry) You paint it because you will see it from the side since the pinwheels only fit on the front of the form.
• Tie your hanging string around the wreath.
• Take your squares and cut in from each corner towards the center but don’t cut all the way through! Stop short of the center.  Like this:

• Next you will take every other corner and fold it into the center (without creasing it into a triangle…just pull the corner to the center gently) Like this:

• Punch a small hole in each corner that you pulled to the center. Also punch a hold in the center (or just use a pencil to make a small hole) Insert a brad or other paper fastener through each corner that is pulled in & the center and then open it up in the back of the pinwheel to secure.  You could also just hot glue the corners to the center and not use a brad. I just like the ‘finished’ look it gave.
• Next take your painted wreath form, lay it flat on a table and arrange the pinwheels on top in whatever pattern you like. I overlapped mine a little.
• Lift up one pinwheel at a time and hot glue the back of it to the wreath. Repeat until you get all the way around the wreath.
• Find the string you tied around the form earlier and hang your new creation! Fun & Summer-y!

How fun is that? And pretty cheap too! If you used browns/greens/yellows you could make one that is more fall like, same with red/green for Christmas'-y and one with different shades of white/creams would be beautiful for Jan./Feb./March. Although I have to say I love the spring summer ones the best because that’s when you use actual pinwheels :)
I hope you’ll share yours with me if you make one!!
Have a Happy day,



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Project Organization

Hi all! I'm over at Sherbet Blossom today guest posting for Hannah's "Project Organization" series! Please go check it out & read back through the series! (She started on August 2) There have been some really good tips so far!






Have a Happy day,

What I Did This Weekend- Train Edition!

 

Hi All!! Happy Monday to you!! This will be a short edition of What I Did This Weekend because I have to leave soon to go pick up a tool from my parent’s house.

This weekend Military Man & I took both kids to go for a ride on Thomas the train! We did this last year for Little Man’s 2nd Birthday Present & he loved it so much we had to do it again this year!

Thomas the Train “Day Out With Thomas” only comes to one place in Maine: The Boothbay Harbor Train Museum. It is a beautiful place and has great things to see and do even when Thomas isn’t there but add in Thomas and all his activities and the kids are in Train Heaven!

Here’s a picture I took of Thomas as he backed up to hook onto the coaches:

It was a nice warm day and we all had fun doing the hay maze, the “Imagination Station” and listening to Thomas’ songs on the PA system!  We checked out the train museum’s antique vehicle building, train displays and the on-going work in the model train building!

Sunday was a stay at home and do nothing kind of day! Today Military Man has the day off so we’re working on some fun projects that I’ll hopefully share with you later in the week!

Have a Happy Monday,

Guest Post: A Few Short Cuts- a tutorial!

This is a guest post by Amanda Carlisle from A Few Short Cuts. She shows you how to save time and money in the kitchen and at the store with her recipes, coupons and more. She is a stay at home mom of 3, and loves to craft!




Back to School is just around the corner and I wanted to share this craft project with you guys. If you have a sewing machine and can sew a straight line, you can totally make this. I do not pretend to be a seamstress, or know how to sew anything but a straight line. Straight lines can get you pretty far in the world of sewing if you ask me, or my family. So far straight lines have gotten us pillows, curtain panels, and several crafts in between.

This time my straight lines made a grocery bag. Not just an ordinary grocery bag. A grocery bag made out of Capri Sun Pouches; empty of course! Did you know that you can not recycle a juice pouch? They just go sit in a landfill somewhere. Since I am trying to teach my crew not to be wasteful, we are re-purposing those pouches into a nifty grocery bag. Now, not only did we save pouches from a landfill, but we won’t need to use the bags from the store! Did I mention that it is super cute too?

What you will need

• 42 Empty Juice Pouches (easier to do than you would think)
• Sewing machine
• Thread (of course)
• 1” - 2" wide ribbon for handles

You are going to want to make sure the pouches have been washed thoroughly. The best way is to make a slit it the bottom and wash with dish soap! Then, Start by sewing 2 pouches together. Overlap them just slightly and do a zig zag stitch the whole way down.

This is how you will sew all of the pouches together. It is super simple. I used this as a lesson to teach my daughter how to use the sewing machine.

 

This is what the seam will look like

Now, to put the bag together you will need to assemble the different pieces. You will need the following...

• A Front 4 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (12 total)
• A back 4 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (12 total)
• 2 Sides 2 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (6 for each) (12 total)
• A Bottom 2 Pouches by 3 Pouches (6 total)

You can see all of the pieces above!

Now, for assembly.



Begin sewing each side to the bottom. Once they are all attached it will look like this.



Now this is the point where I goofed! I will tell you plain as day! I goofed! I should have sewn the handles on now, but did I?? NOPE! I waited until the bag was all finished, and it was a pain in the butt! Don't be like me! Sew your handles on now....You will thank me for my mistake later! :)

All you have to do is pin the 1"-2" wide ribbon to the inside of the front and back panels. Stitch in a square pattern to hold in place securely.

Back to what I did!

After the handles are attached, Sew the sides together! This is really simple.

That is it you should now have a finished grocery bag!

So far I have heard the following perks to making my own bag!

• It looks really cute!
• It smells really good (fruit punch I am guessing)
• It insulates well (added bonus)
• It is really sturdy!

So, start saving those pouches from the lunch boxes and make your own grocery bag!

Isn't that just the cutest idea? I wonder if it has 'insulating' properties (i.e. could be used as your 'meats' or 'frozen' items bag?) 
Thanks so much  Amanda for the awesome tutorial!

Have a happy day,

Real Honesty.

This post has been sitting in drafts for a few days. I’m nervous and scared and relieved all at the same time to be publishing it.
I am writing this post not because I want sympathy or pity. I’m writing it because I want someone….maybe you….to know you are not alone & you are better than you think you are. Really you are. Yes YOU.
This will be long and wordy and full of errors because if I don’t just write it as it comes out I will never publish it.
Ok here goes (big deep breath & pray my entire family isn’t reading this because my mom will call me and give me that concerned voice “Are you ok?” which will make me cry and will make me mad all at the same time for some reason):
House duties:
You know those blog posts that are like “I’m going to show you the real mess my room is” and then it’s a picture like this:

So yeah…that’s my house on a GOOD day. No, that’s my house on a FANTASTIC day.
Here’s my craft room:
And actually that is much better than it looks now. At least you can see some of the guest bed/futon in this one. 
yeah. I know. you don’t have to tell me. it’s the biggest mess ever. It’s so overwhelming I can even begin. I know, I know if I just do 15 minutes at at time it will be done in no time….ugh yeah thanks FlyLady…NOW I have to find an extra 15 minutes to work on it.
Edited to add: After I wrote this I came across this post in my Google Reader. I love it bc it is simple.
Personal:
I laugh when I read “get up an hour earlier than your kids and have ‘me’ time” HA! (actually I cry but that’s a different story) my kids get up at 5am. Consistently. without fail. every. single. day. and actually my Little Miss E wakes up to nurse at 4am- nurses for 20-35minutes and then gets up again when Little Man comes in demanding a cereal bar and to go downstairs. Speaking of little Man he doesn’t want to nap anymore and it’s a whole big struggle to even get him anywhere near a bed after 1pm everyday. IF I can get him there (kinda hard considering he’s 40lbs and very good at flopping around so you can’t pick him up) he *might* fall asleep IF I lay with him (hard to do if Miss E needs to nurse or is crying.) At night he won’t go to sleep until after 8:30pm IF I lay with him in our bed. Trust me I’ve tried the whole put him in his bed and keep putting him back until he stays thing….that’s a fantastic idea IF he would fall asleep-EVER- using that method and if after a long, long LONG night of putting him back he would sleep past 5am. Which he doesn’t. I swear if I put him to bed at 4am he would be back up at 5am- just crankier. And that’s another thing: Why does he wake up cranky no matter what? Even from naps (2+ hours if he falls asleep)? He’s cranky…even when I don’t wake him up.
Anyway so ‘me’ time does. not. happen. at. all. ever.
I would LOVE to have my mom come up and watch them both so I could nap but I’m nursing Miss E and when we try to give her a bottle of pumped milk she chokes on it and just doesn’t ‘get’ it. and if my mom would take Little Man and I would sleep when Miss E does (to avoid the whole bottle issue) I’m never tired then (again WHY is that??) or I feel like I should get stuff done that I can’t do otherwise. Plus my sister lives with my mom right now due to personal issues and has a 2 year old and one due in Sept. so my mom has her hands full already…I’m lucky to get 2 hours out of her when she comes to visit…and usually then she shows up before I’ve really woken up and hit my ‘stride’ for the day so those 2 hours are NOT productive. Ever. haha. But I appreciate her offers to help.
Weight:
This one never used to be an issue for me. Well let me rephrase that- I was always ‘bigger’ than my peers and according to those stupid BMI charts I was always ‘overweight/borderline obese’ which by the way is stupid. I was 5’4” in high school running cross country 145lbs and considered borderline obese? C’mon! Even I know that wasn’t true!
After having Little Man I nursed him and was pre-baby weight (145lbs.) by the time he was 3 months…then continued to lose because of the stress of my husband’s deployment..I still only got to 130lbs. and those stupid BMI things told me to be 115lbs. to be within the ‘healthy’ range. Honesty: even at 130lbs. my jeans size was still a 14. Which apparently shocked my friends when I told them. They all thought I was at least an 8 if not a 6. I’ve never been a 10 let alone a freakin 6! I wish lol.
So anyway right now at Miss E being almost 10 weeks I haven’t lost a pound in almost 2 weeks. I’m at 181lbs. 181. this is uncharted territory for me. I have no time to work out (see above about no me time) and I thought nursing would help again this time at least get me back to 150lbs. 
I don’t want to buy clothes that fit this body because I don’t want this body (read money/budget section below to also know why I can’t buy clothes in all the sizes I am/will be- sorry Stacy & Clinton but I just can’t and if I could they would be those cheap ones you hate!). I know I’m not supposed to say that. I’m supposed to be all “love your body at any size” but I don’t. I don’t love my body at this size. I don’t love seeing 181 on the scale. So I wear yoga skirts and tank tops that I wore when I was pregnant just to get by. Until I get to that place…if I ever get to that place. I am continually amazed that my body made two babies…that it knew where to put the nose and the fingers and all those organs. That they are healthy because of my body. That I fed/feed them with my body. But that doesn’t mean I love what happened to my body. I would not give up my kids to get back to 135lbs but why can’t I have my cake and eat it too?
Money/Budget:
I love reading blogs-especially thrifty ones. I love a good thrifty find or dollar store re-do. Love ‘em. But I can’t participate all the time. My husband and I have written out our budget and are trying to follow Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover but we get stuck on step 1 then when we get that done we get stuck on step 2 so long that we use up the emergency fund and have to go back to step 1. This means that I don’t even have $1 to go to the dollar store and buy something to spray paint. If I DO have a little extra for some reason I either want to spend it on stuff my kids need or I can’t seem to GET to the store or yard sales (see above with no time for me) and I can’t take Little Man because he asks for everything and throws a tantrum if I say no and now that I have Miss E I can’t carry him out of a store kicking and screaming while holding her or her car seat. So I don’t go to the store. (Hubs grocery shops when he gets out of work) So I’m trying to somehow make this blog maybe possibly make me $10-$25 a month to help off set our budget (since it covers all the necessities) so I can have a crafty endeavor once in awhile still. But this blog is about those crafty endeavors and if I can’t afford to keep doing them I won’t have loyal readers so I won’t  be able to get advertising so I won’t be able to do the crafty endeavors….vicious cycle I tell ya. Vicious. lol (Also the lack of ‘me’ time makes it hard to blog let alone craft! whew!)
Hubs:
My husband is in the military (deployed twice already) and I hate it. I’m proud of him but I just want it to be over with already. That is hard to say for many reasons a few being: it’s his job and it’s how I am able to stay at home with my kids and how we survive, it is also very un-American to say I wish my husband didn’t serve. But I get a nervous/throw up feeling when I think of him deploying again- I felt that way every single day of the year he was gone last time and I am so scared I’ll have to raise my kids on my own for the rest of my life if something happens to him-that they won’t know their daddy. I am not made out to handle that. I sometimes wish someone else would serve so he wouldn’t have to and then I feel sick/guilty that someone else would have to feel nervous/throw up just so I didn’t have to and so I feel like it’s my duty to feel that way so that maybe you don’t ever have to know that feeling.
Having it all together:
I get “you have it all together” or “you are so much more domestic than me” or something similar- a LOT. I’m here to tell you that most days I don’t shower, I wear the same thing that I slept in and brushing my teeth is probably an after thought not a priority. If I do shower it’s at 3pm and shaving just doesn’t happen anymore. I haven’t baked bread since Miss E was born (except for once and I was rushing and it came out bad). Yes I cloth diaper but it’s because I can’t afford to buy that many diapers all the time.
On this blog, on twitter and on facebook you see what I want you to see. You see what I think YOU want to see. No matter how many times someone says they want to know the real you- they really dont. I mean I have so many issues I’m trying to deal with I don’t want to feel bad after listening to your problems that I can’t find the 5 minutes to help you too…I don’t need more guilt on my plate haha.
So because I have so much to worry/stress/throw up about I’m worn out and I’m a bad friend. I forget to get gifts or can’t afford to. I forget to call you and when you call me I’m too tired to form complete sentences so you get “uh-huh” “oh really”  “that’s nice” etc. and you feel like I’m ignoring you. I’m not. really I’m not. I’m trying so hard but nothing is seeming to match up.
My son eats cereal bars (organic brand), chicken nuggets (Tyson because we can’t afford the organic kind anymore-there’s only like 10 in a $8 box and he eats 5 at a time! yikes!), peanut butter toast, hummus & crackers, ice cream and chocolate. I can’t get him to touch a veggie or fruit (TRUST me I’ve been offering it to him since he stopped at 18 months….he’s THREE so that 10-15 times exposure thing is CRAP-OLA)  and we even planted a garden this year trying to A) save some money and B) get him involved in the process to try and get him to eat some veggies…so far we have ONE cucumber to show for our efforts and he wouldn’t even touch that. UGH. Yes I know if he is hungry enough he’ll eat it. But with little sleep, no nap, waking up cranky, etc…wouldn’t you go the easy way too? at least the ice cream and chocolate is only after he poops on the potty.


Whew. So there it’s all off my chest and if you’ve read this far…I’m sorry for putting my stuff on you. I’m sorry for wasting 10? 20? minutes of your life lol
So if you feel the same way as me on even only ONE of these things: I don’t have any advice and I don’t have a solution…I can’t even say “It will get better- it’s only a season in your life” because so far it’s the only season I know. But just know that I’m there with you. No matter how it seems on this blog…I know and I’m there. We can be there together- not solving anything but just knowing the other is there with us.

ok, I am prepared to lose some subscribers on here and have some friends on facebook avoid me because of all my ‘issues’ but I got sick of reading other “honesty” blog posts and thinking that it would be a great day if my life was their “messy/bad/ unorganized” life! lol!
So I’m hoping some of you feel that way too. Thanks for reading Miss E needs to nurse and Little Man is begging for nuggets…so REAL life calls!
Love,

P.S. I just want to state that I LOVE my kids and my husband and I KNOW we could have it much worse and I am thankful we don’t. Really I am very thankful and VERY aware it could be different. I just needed to vent and let someone else know that it’s ok she/he feels this way too. Because I wish someone would’ve written this post to make ME feel better too.

OpenSky Shop Grand Opening!

Good Morning! I am so excited that the time has finally come to open my OpenSky shop! I have found some interesting, valuable, and terrific products to start with and I can’t wait for you to have a look around!
The first product I want to share is the Klean Kanteen 12 oz. Sippy ($20)! I own this product and use it for my son a lot! We especially take it when we go to the playground or Grandma’s house.

This sippy is great because it is food grade stainless steel (no more plastic sippys!), it is dishwasher safe (and super simple to take apart and put back together), and it is designed to work with Advent’s BPA free sippy spout. (You can also get a ‘loop’ top from the company to replace the sippy part when the kiddos get older and can drink from a regular cup)
My son loves this cup because it looks like Daddy’s stainless steel water bottle and it has the slimmer neck so he can grasp it with his smaller hands.
Another product I wanted to highlight in my “Grand Opening” post was the square glass jar with glass lid- 32oz ($12).

This product will be perfect as is for storage & organization but I wanted to sell it because it is perfect for glass etching for a wedding gift or any gift!
Because I bake a lot of bread I know the value of good loaf pans and I also make it two loaves at a time so I love that this next product ($12) comes as a set of two:

They have a non-stick coating and are made of heavy gauge steel that provides even heating! These will make feeding your family frugally so much easier!
Last I wanted to highlight a product to pretty up your home:

These green porcelain dinner plates (set of 4) are only $60 and can be used as your plate or your charger! They are a lovely square shape which is something a little different to add a unique touch to your table setting. They come in a cute little gift box too!


Well that's it for my Grand Opening Highlights post! I have more products in my shop and you can shop directly from here- just look over at the right hand sidebar ---> and you’ll see my shop & can purchase from right here!
Here is a little coupon for you to use while you shop too:
From now thru August 16th, 2010 if you use coupon code FREESHIPPING you will get free shipping on any OpenSky purchase!

Have a happy day,

What I Did This Weekend- 35, 2, 50 Edition!

No the title does not refer to football ;)
This weekend (well starting Thursday really) I made 4 trips to my hometown & my husband’s hometown. One each day!
Thursday brought some first cousins once removed & their son to visit for the first time in 3 years! They met both my kids for the first time!
Friday brought my FIL & Step-MIL and their 3 young kiddos!
Saturday was my Aunt & Uncle’s 35th Wedding anniversary and they renewed their vows in a lovely little backyard ceremony/bbq!
Sunday morning we had my niece's 2nd birthday party which was Curious George themed! I made her a monkey cake:

Finally Sunday afternoon was my husband’s grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! Everyone met Miss E for the first time…including her Great Great Grandfather (yes that’s TWO greats! How amazing is that?!)
We had busy travel filled days and Little Man-who is potty training- did great! Only one accident and for not getting home until after bedtime every day he didn’t have temper tantrums or anything! Both he and Miss E did wonderfully and we are so glad this weekend, while super busy, was filled with the family we love! :)
Now tell me: What Did You Do This Weekend?
Have a happy day,

Tomorrow my OpenSky shop opens! I will leave it in my sidebar for the week then it will get it’s own tab up there on the menu bar!
If you want to follow me & leave a comment on the Pirate Birthday Party post to enter into the Pirate Party Decorations giveaway you can enter here.
If you like what you see please consider subscribing by e-mail or following with Google Friend Connect. Both are over in the right sidebar --->

I'm Guest posting today!

Hey all! I'm over at Saving The Family Money guest posting today! Frugal Summer Family Fun ideas! Go check it out! Btw- this is one of my first guest posts so I'm a little nervous about it so leave me nice comments mmmkay? :)

Have a happy day,