Top 10 Favorite Pinterest Finds of 2013

None of the photos are mine.  The credit goes to the link provided.

10. So, I had to make these 3 times in 1 week, as they kept getting gobbled up by my family, and of course, me.  EASY ~ delicious, and fun!

 (link Peanut Butter Frosted Brownies | Plain Chicken )

9.  My mom used this for the entire year, and asked for another one this year.  I made a few modifications, added a notes side bar, so she could write down appointments etc.   We used card stock, glue sticks and printed photos on photo paper.  Any present that gets used for a whole year is a big WIN!  (link An ounce of creativity ~Tutorial: 2011 Star desktop calendar )

8.  Brilliant.  Just needs no explanation.  Do it. a solution for bottles and travel mugs!  obviously this is not the original post - but, again, needs no tutorial.

This is great - no more searching for water bottles, no more avalanche of bottles from the cabinet.  Best $7 I've spent for a shoe rack (not my photo)

7.  Organizing my kids school work (and other "What do I do with this" stuff) Destination Domestication: Boxes  I store them in my walk in closet, and about once a month take a pile up and put in the boxes.  My best guess at the end of 1st grade we will have to start a new box, or I'll have to sift through and see what I can thin out.  I even started one for my husband and I.

\

6. This idea, from rainbow themed birthday partyDomestic Goddesque I used this for my oldest birthday party, and the kids thought it was AWESOME that they got to take home balloons.  I loved it because I didn't have to deal with all the leftover balloons floating around my house!

5.  Lego's on the GO! : lego travel box we have used this handy trick so often, I bought another set of boxes last time I was at Ikea.  We have even used it for small super heroes, race cars, man I wish I'd thought of it, but SUPER glad someone pinned it!

4.  Cork circles.  Gorgeous way to display kids art, and when not in use, no ugly cork board to stare at.  -- my post Pinterest Again. | My Life on Standby  ~~> original pin Tablón de notas con salvamanteles de ikea | Muy Ingenioso  For mine, I bought fabric squares at JoAnn's then glued them over Ikea cork circles.  About 10 minutes of work for 1 year of use. 

3. NO more begging your kids to eat "just a few more bights"  We've used this trick quite often.

Dice as Vegetable Counter

Decide how many more bites of dinner your child has to eat before being excused. Let your child roll so he’s the one controlling his fate. You'll end up with a more peas-ful family meal.
Collette Mather
Teaneck, New Jersey

2.  Simply the tastiest Mac and Cheese Ever.  Bacon Mac & Cheese Recipe | Savory Sweet Life   I'm not going to lie, this took some effort.  But, hey every now and then a little effort gains big rewards. 

1. Blessing Bags: KWAVs: Blessing Bags How To This simply has changed the way I look at homeless people.  Having a bag ready in both cars at all times, makes it easy to do a good deed.  Giving money to beggars never felt right to me.  It teaches my kids the wrong message; throw money at the problem.  Instead, we all have learned a bigger lesson; be prepared to help others.  Whenever I am at the grocery or target etc., we keep an eye out for travel sized items.. soaps, razors.. for girls or boys, as men aren't the only homeless.  Also, we add a small bottle of water, apple and a pop top soup (obviously you don't want to include something that requires a can opener.)  Anyway... it's been a Blessing to us as well.  HIGHLY recommend this if you have homeless in your town.

From Scratch Empanadas

 For spanish class I did a presentation on Empanadas.

Empanadas are simply a bread pocket with filling.

 I used Apple Cinnamon Empanadas recipe from About.com as my guide.  Along the way I replaced some of the flour with wheat flour and I skipped the corn starch all together, my apple filling gelled fine without it.

They turned out the perfect 3 bite snack.  My classmates hardly listened to my presentation, and my professor gave me a 100% and remarked that I had not referenced my notes.  

Had he not been blinded by the Empanadas he would've noticed I had my iPad propped against his computer and constantly referenced my notes.  Thankfully he was distracted by food :)

I used a biscuit cutter to make the circles.  IT is important to have some sort of round cutter, as it makes it easier to shape them in the end.


Recipe:
Dough - note I used a wine bottle because I don't have a roller, maaay have drank some of the wine along the way.

• Pastry:
• 1 cup butter, chilled 2 sticks 
• 8 ounces cream cheese, chilled
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4-5 firm green apples (like Granny Smith)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• Pinch of salt (to taste)
• 1 egg yolk
• Sugar for sprinkling

Mix the dry ingredients - then cube cut the butter and add it mix with food processor - turn it out onto plastic make into disks then fridge.
chill for a bit while you make the filling.

heat filling until just soft

 chill.

Drink some wine.

Drink another glass.

Get dough out, roll it out with wine bottle.

Add small teaspoon of filling, wipe some of the filling juice around the edge so it will seal, use a fork or fancy roller to close.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

This says best served right away.  I found they were MUCH better after being in the fridge overnight.

But I did wake up that morning and bake them after they'd been in the fridge overnight, and served them still warm to my class.

Half HamBurger / Half VegBurger

 Be Sneaky!

I was craving a black bean burger, but there is NO way my husband and kids would go for that.

At first I thought I'd sneak in some finely chopped veggies.  Then it became a full on Veggie Burger Invasion.

I chopped up some mini peppers (orange, yellow and red)
Then I added 2 tablespoons of Taco Seasoning.
I used the food processor to chop up half a can of black beans (after I rinsed them)

add it all to half a pound of super lean ground beef.
make into sliders.
Cook in olive oil over medium high heat until crisp (see above)

Then ~ oh then ~ 

wrap them up in a nice little package of Crescent Rolls.

It's such a nice package.

**It is so exciting when a recipe is perfection.**

Bake according to the crescent roll package.

Enjoy a tasty tasty treat. Everyone in my family gobbled these down!

Recipe

1/2 Pound Ground Beef

1/2 Can black beans (rinsed)

3-4 mini peppers

2 tbsp taco seasoning

use food processor to mince peppers, move to bowl, add seasoning. use food processor again for black beans - 2-3 pulses only. Mix with ground beef and peppers and form into palm size or slider size burgers pinch centers to prevent puffing.

2 tablespoons olive oil for cooking burgers

cook burgers 2 - 3 minutes on each side until slightly crisp.  Try one, but stop at one!  :)

1 can of Crescent Rolls

Wrap cooked burgers in crescent rolls in desired shape.  Bake according to package directions.

Serve.  

Have for breakfast the next day.

Then for lunch.

Then wish you had made many many more.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Sweet Potato Pancakes - ways to use sweet potatoes

Put a medium sweet potato in the microwave 4 minutes (or until soft)

Get the rest ready while it cooks then cools a bit

Dry Ingredients

1 Cup flour (any kind, whole wheat, all purpose, pastry)

1/2 cup quick oats

4 tbsp Flaxseed meal

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp cardamon (or cinnamon)

couple dashes cloves

couple dashes nutmeg

1 tbsp sugar (yes that is all you need)

Whisk together

Wet Ingredients

1 1/2 cup skim milk

1 egg (large or 2 small)

about 2 tsp vanilla

Whisk together

Pour into dry ingredients

combine until all wet then STOP - if you mix too much you'll have tough pancakes

Mash sweet potato with about 1/4 cup milk (want it slightly damp) Mash it good.

Dump into pancake mix (which has now had time to activate all the baking soda/powder) mix in

use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour pancakes on to 350 degree griddle or cook on stove top on a flat ish pan.

2 - 3 minutes per side. (when the bubbles are immense and the edges look dryish FLIP!)

drizzle a little teensy bit of syrup  on top and enjoy one of the healthiest breakfasts you can.

Flaxseed meal REPLACES oil - adds fiber and a bag will last forever - sugar is not necessary because you'll be putting syrup in top

Freeze them or refrigerate 

You're getting protein, fiber, omegas, beta carateen, etc..

My kids love these and also enjoy helping me make them.

Toes for October

  Pinterest always saves my pedicures.

Not sure if they like me bringing pictures or not. 

I know for SURE they had a blast doing these.

Where I found it  ~ via Pinterest ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentbrew/6851755809/ 

Monster House

Monster House

I decided to make our house into a monster house today.  It was something I had seen on pinterest.  We bought 75% of our supplies from Michaels with 20% entire order coupon.  The foam (20" x 30") were 2 for $3, and I had the paint and duct tape we had at home.

 

I taped 2.5 pieces of the foam together with clear packing tape.  Then I drew the outline on with pencil. With an x acto knife to cut out the teeth.  I'm not going to lie, it was a pain in the ass.  I hope to never try doing that again.

In the end, I was decently ok with the result.  It obviously does not look like the perfection of the pin, but hey, I didn't have plywood and someone to hang the stuff up for me.

The kids liked it. That, in the end, is all that counts.

Original pin (web link http://sublime-decor.com/2013/07/30/decorate-your-front-entry-way-as-a-monster-for-halloween/)

No tech or screen for a full week...family style.

We are, as a family "going dark" for one week.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Homemade tortillas. Breakfast style.

So, I'm in my third semester of Spanish, and our professor wants us to do a 10 minute presentation on some Spanish culture item. 

I considered making food, as I could talk about what I was doing and not have to stare at the class (I haaaate the oral presentations!)

My first experiment went well. Homemade tortillas. They were really simple to make, and resulted in a tasty treat.

My modified recipe

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup HOT tap water

3 tbsp (maybe a little extra) olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Stir dry, leave a well, pour wet ingredients in. Knead 10-20 times, cover with damp paper towel, rest for 20 minutes.

While it was resting I had time to mince; a small green pepper, 1/2 small zucchini & small (tiny really) potato, threw that all in a hot pan to cook, and scrambled 4 eggs in a bowl.

After the 20 minutes separate into small balls, and roll out as thin as you can (first one I tried to hand press and it did not work) ... I looked for my rolling pin (lost in the move black hole of boxes) I improvised with a bottle of red wine. Worked dandy.

Floured surface, and as Alton Brown always says, keep your item moving. Don't keep rolling rolling rolling or it will stick, roll, turn, roll, turn, roll, flip. Etc.

I used an electric griddle at 350 degrees, and cooked about 1-2 minutes per side, spraying my favorite non-stick spray -Bak-klene ZT from Williams Sonoma $9 -  between tortillas

 There is that awful first one top left.

My kids gobbled them up. Husband and I topped with the omelette mixture and salsa (I may have snuck a slice of fresh mozzarella on mine) ill be making these again when I find my rolling pin.

Clean up was a snap... Here is a shot of the "mess"

Here is the original pin - not much of a website, just a photo from a iPhone http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6f/a2/e2/6fa2e2a31850e8a68e1c62d7637c7ca7.jpg

Sonoran Desert in the Old Pueblo 2013

Views from my neck of the world

 

I love the desert. We have had some really beautiful days in 2013, from perfect breezes, to snowy days, to heavy monsoons, and amazing sunsets.

    

         

If you use my photos I ask that you link back to me ©JulietteFiechtner all rights reserved.

My big pinterest FAIL.

To be Fair; there were no instructions with this pinterest pin, and I made no effort to find the original info.  I used my cheese grater to shred some potatoes and placed them in my preheated waffle iron. Pictured is 10 minutes in... after 20 minutes there were slightly more crunchy spots.  

Having cooked most of my life, what I would do next time: soak the shredded potatoes in water for 20 minutes or so, drain, place between two dish towels (lined with paper towels) and remove as much excess water as possible (this is the best way to make oven fries - crispy every time) and a small grooved iron - ours is particularly deep.

My husband enjoyed them, I did not.  After looking for the recipe to place in this post, I found a LOT of people have Failed at this recipe.

Here is a post with successful results : http://seasonedwithsarcasm.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/pinterest-idea-waffle-iron-hash-browns/

Pinterest Again.

The link for the project is below.  I found in on Pinterest a while back and finally completed it.

http://www.muyingenioso.com/tablon-de-notas-con-salvamanteles-de-ikea/





I used Tacky Glue & Quilting squares from Joann's.
The cork circles were a 3 pack from Ikea.


    Then I used the command strips to hang them on the side of my cabinet in the kitchen.  Pretty and a convenient place to post the kids art work.

There was some sort of error and the second post was lost. :(