Painted Pumpkins

Last year my kids entered painted pumpkins into a contest with our local 4-H program.  We decided to pick up some of the orange pumpkin style gourds at the local grocery store - as well as a pie pumpkin. 

First, my daughter decided to make some look like smores! She painted them white, got some cardboard (we had just moved to town so had a ton of boxes) that she drew to look like graham crackers, and cut some brown felt to look like chocolate.  The results looked delicious :) 

 

My son, on the other hand, decided to do a caramel apple project we found on Pinterest.  We took a pie pumpkin, painted it to look like a green apple, and then painted the bottom to look like it had been dipped in caramel!  He even added real sprinkles while the paint was wet!  We also stuck a dowel rod through the top of it for the stick - and added a ribbon on top.

 

 

 

 

Finally, we went over to our local Duncan Donuts and got an extra box.  We took a few pumpkins and painted them to look like donuts! 

 

This was so much fun!

Freeze those Black Cherry Tomatoes before Peeling!

 I know this probably sounds really strange to those of you who have been growing veggies for a really long time, but I'm a 38 year old woman who has never tried to grow tomatoes in my entire life! IKR?! 

Anyways, my tomatoes have really taken off this year -- there are a ton of them!  Most of them are still very green, but some are HUGE!  So, I've started taking them off the vine to make some different things with them.  

This post isn't a green tomato post as much as it is about something I learned from Pinterest!  

Mom brought me a bag of small tomatoes -- called black cherry tomatoes.  They are super small -- and I wanted to do something with them (like salsa, tomato sauce, pasta sauce.... something!) so I turned to good ole' Pinterest to save the day.  

I came across this post that suggested that if I wanted to use them to make any sort of sauce, I should freeze them before peeling them.  AND GUESS WHAT?!?!  It works!!!!!!! 

 

I even got my daughter in on the action.  

Last Saturday -- we started making pasta sauce, that my husband then doctored up and we ate for dinner.  Delicious!

Luau Birthday Party

 

 

Before we left TX, my daughter turned 8.  For her birthday, she asked that we have an island/luau theme (gosh.... y'all remember when we actually had birthday parties?!?!)  What resulted in her being really interested in this theme (I think) was that she had found a box of leis I had in our garage that I bought at Goodwill.  She thought they were so cool and colorful and wanted to give them to everyone. 

So the planning began.

At other birthday parties for my children, I often used a poster board background for the cake table, so I used a blue one and covered it with luau themed bulletin board supplies from the Dollar Tree (most of my decorations came from Dollar Tree).  

Her cake was so colorful and came from HEB (gosh I miss that grocery store).  I ordered a pinata birthday cake -- when you cut into it -- sprinkles fell out :)  Yumm!!

The other food for the day was all "island" themed.  We had a lot of fruit, and island themed drinks.  The kids also had snowcones that we made using flavors we picked up from Buzzles (a local TX snow cone shop).

 

As for party favors - everyone got a lei 😆  

 

I also set up a ring toss game in the backyard with flamingos I picked up at the Dollar Tree -- and our bouncehouse made an appearance (and all of the kids got in it to collapse it - LOL.  

 

It was a great birthday party!

Baked Yellow Squash Parmesan Bites

 

Ok -- before we get started talking about everything that has happened with me and my family over the past three years, I wanted to share this recipe with you that I actually just made an hour ago.  For those of you who have grown yellow squash in your gardens, if you are anything like me - you probably have gone looking for ways to use up the squash you have grown.  I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest and tried it out -- and it turned out really good (and it is super simple -- which is the only type of recipes I appreciate - ha!).  

Also - if you are doing a low-carb diet like Keto, you should try this recipe!

Baked Yellow Squash Parmesan Bites

Items needed: Yellow Squash, Salt/Pepper, Garlic Salt, Parmesan Cheese (ok... yes... that's like 5 ingredients -- but technically you don't have to use the salt/pepper and garlic salt -- I did and loved it).

1. Cut your squash in slices (take off top and bottom -- discard).

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (this will help with the baking process).  Turn on your oven to 350.

3. Lay your squash slices on the baking sheet (on the parchment paper)

4. Dust each slice with some salt, pepper, garlic salt (this is the step you could skip -- but I think this really adds to the recipe)

5. Place a spoonfull of parmesan cheese on top of each slice.

6. Bake until brown.

 

(and yes - that's my son's favorite pizza baking above the squash!)

7. EAT! (the most important step)

I'm Back!!!!!!

 

Oh my goodness.... it's been over three years since I last posted here!  For those of you who have followed me for years on here (and on other blogs -- like the Clearance Chick), thanks for sticking around 😉

We have much to discuss!  

In terms of the content of this page - the last few posts here were from my daughter's 6th birthday party (she's now 9!) and from when I started my weight-loss journey on Keto. Since that time, I've continued on a Keto diet (and maintained my weight), sold my first home, moved across the country to start a new job (from Texas to VA -- where I grew up), bought a new-to-me home, and celebrated multiple birthdays.  I can't wait to tell you all about everything!  

Grab a Diet Coke and pull up a chair -- let's talk about how life has been, and check out the projects I've tried and succeeded (failed) at over the past three years.   

Taco Bout a Party - Samantha Turns 6!

When Samantha turned 6, I asked her what type of birthday party she would like.  My kids both love tacos, so it wasn't very surprising when she said she wanted a taco party.  Below are some of the images of the party decorations and food.  We had her party outside at a pavilion in the Woodlands TX.

Like every birthday party I've organized for my kids, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.

1. The Taco Bar Sign -- My daughter helped decorate this one with stars ;)

2. The Party Favors -- from Amazon.  You can order them here. 

I created the tags myself using Word and clip art.  

3. I found some super cute printables off Pinterest for such an occasion. 

This is from The 36th Avenue.  

4.  Let's not forget the TACOS!  (napkins from Walmart)

5. Some people on Pinterest had also used cans for utensil holders -- and I thought, what a cute idea :)

6. Cookies -- These are sombrero cookies, inspired from Pinterest.  All this is is a sugar cookie with icing piped around the outer ring and the middle, dipped in sprinkles, and then topped with a Dot candy.  My husband thought these looked like nipples. Ha! 

The idea came from Birthday Party Ideas for Kids.

7. And now for the biggest pains in the ass.  Taco Cookies!  Cute, right?  They take FOREVER to make!  First, what the blog at The Hackster doesn't tell you is that cutting Oreos is no easy task.  I can't tell you how many Oreos I went through while doing this little project.  Furthermore, even after you cut them, they can still crumble when you try to make the Oreos.  They are adorable - but that's a couple hours of my life I'd like back.

8.  The birthday cakes were purchased from Rao's Bakery in Spring TX.  The cake toppers were purchased from Target.

9. My little girl had a wonderful time.  We even had a Taco piñata!  

Taco Soup -- Keto Approved

It might sound strange this time of the year but I was really in the mood for a hearty soup the other day.  So after looking around on Pinterest, I stumbled upon a Taco Soup recipe that is Keto approved -- and it looked delicious.  I decided to give it a try -- and it turned out wonderfully.  This recipe comes to us from Beyer Beware.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of ground pork

1 tbsp. cilantro

4 cups of chicken broth (one box)

2 tbsp. taco seasoning

1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

2 packages of cream cheese

2 10 oz cans of Rotel

All you have to do in this recipe is:

1. brown your meat

2. hook up your crock pot and put it on high

3. put your cream cheese, Rotel, and taco seasoning in your crock

4. drain your meat -- put it in the crock and stir with other ingredients

5. pour chicken broth over all of it

6. leave it alone and let it cook on high for 2 hours

7. before serving, stir in your cilantro

8. garnish with cheese when you put it in your bowl to eat it

DELISH!  I would definitely make this one again!