The Best Bread You’ll EVER Make & A Story

Seriously.

This is one of my very favorite comfort foods. 

Reminds me of home.

Cold winters.

Snow.

Snuggling in blankets with the family while watching a good movie.

It’s the smile on your face when you walk into the house and smell something delicious.

Even just thinking about this bread makes me smile.

It really is the best bread ever!

So soft.

So delicious.

Melt-in-your-mouth good.

And I have to thank my grandma for it.

She says she doesn’t remember if someone gave her the recipe or if she adapted it, but either way it’s a family favorite.

I just love stories about my ancestors so I thought it would be fun to share a little story from my grandma about this recipe.

My Grandma her senior year and my grandparents on their weddings day

From the mouth (or from the text messages, yes my grandma is awesome and can text) of my grandma:
“I started making bread for our family when I was 10, using a booklet put out by the Home Extension service of the State of Idaho – very scientific and thorough. I made 6 large loaves every Saturday. When I first tried, my dad told me it was as good as his mother’s (My great-great Grandma). When he said that I was totally hooked. When I went to BYU, I continued to make bread every Saturday, but always made one loaf into cinnamon rolls. That is what attracted Grandpa (my Grandpa). Him and his roommates would come over Sunday evenings because they knew we had homemade cinnamon rolls.”

Anyway on to the bread! It’s so good!
…….
………..

White Bread 
          yield: 2 loafs

1 2/3 cups lukewarm water

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup non-fat dry milk

1 /34 tsp salt

4 cups flour

In a small bowl, combine yeast and water. Leave for about 5 minutes to soften. In another bowl combine oil, sugar, dry milk, and salt. Mix well. Add yeast mixture once it has softened. Add flour, mix and knead. Dough should be slightly sticky to the touch.

Cover dough and let rise until it has doubled in size. Knead.

Pinch in half and form two loafs. Place in lightly greased bread pans and let rise until they have doubled in size. Bake at 320 degrees F. for about 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

………..
……

Combine 1 2/3 cups lukewarm water and 2 1/2 tsp yeast in a bowl, or a measuring cup.

Let the yeast soften for about 5 minutes. Softening happens when the yeast is in lukewarm water, so it is really important it is just lukewarm. Not too hot and not too cold, but just right Goldilocks.

Meanwhile in another bowl combine the salt, sugar…

oil…

and powdered milk. Mix. Then add in the yeast and water mixture when it is softened enough and mix.

Add the 4 cups flour. 

I usually add about 3 cups and let it mix well. Then I add the last cup gradually making sure that the dough doesn’t get too dry. Usually I end up adding about 1/4 cup more though. It all depends on your altitude. So add just enough to make the dough slightly sticky.

Once the dough is mixed well, cover.

Wait until the dough has about doubled in size, which is usually about an hour or so.
That also depends on how warm your kitchen is. The warmer it is the faster it’ll rise.

Then take out the dough and knead. Knead until all the bubbles and air pockets are out.

Then it’ll be a nice ball of dough!

Since this recipe makes two loafs, pinch the dough in half. Don’t try and pull the dough apart, pinching is much easier.

Then form the two dough balls into a loaf shape.

Place into lightly greased bread pans.

Cover, and set aside to rise again.

Then once it has about doubled in size again. Pop in the oven.

Then bake until they are golden brown which is usually 30-40 minutes in my oven. I’ve learned that every oven is different, so you might have to cook it slightly more depending on you oven.
Then cut, butter and ENJOY, or put on some Nutella, or jam or nothing at all. And I mean ENJOY! This bread is amazing. And my family usually ends up eating it all just with a little bit of butter before we can use it for a sandwich or something. 

(I actually cut one of these open and realized it wasn’t all the way done, so I put them back in the over for another 10 minutes, about 40 minutes total. So they ended up being a little more golden brown than in the picture.)

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Story Time Stones

aka the best game ever

As a part time nanny I’ve gotten used to playing a LOT of different games. I love a good board game every now and then…I rock at Chutes and Ladders like nobody’s business. But climbing up all those ladders day after day gets a little tiring. 

So I brought a new game over to the Kiddos house to mix it up a bit. 

This is not a new game, I’ve seen versions of this all over the Internet…but the best part about this is that you can make whatever you want and totally personalize it to you and your family.

I got a bunch of rocks that were mostly smooth, washed them off, and painted little pictures on them.

I sewed together a little bag to hold them in (which will be a tutorial later next week, so be on the look out!). Every person gets a turn pulling a stone out of the bag, and you make up a story to go along with that picture. Then every stone that gets pulled out, that person has to add on to the story. 

I played with the Kiddos after school today and we came up with some amazing stories:

Henry the Sheep
BOOM! There was an explosion! It came from the fireworks. Henry the Sheep put on his glasses and started to run away because he was afraid. He climbed up over the mountains because he was a mountain sheep. He hopped into the blue car and drove into the forest. It got really dark out and Henry looked at all the beautiful starts twinkling in the sky. The space monsters came and took him up into space to get a closer look at all the stars. But lightning struck and sent them all falling back down to earth. Hootsy the Owl flew over to where Henry landed and said “Welcome Home!”
The End

Hungry Monster
Once upon a time there was a dad and a mom and they had a baby. The lived under the oak tree. One day a hungry monster came and knocked on their house. “Rawr, I’m HUNGRY!” He growled. He opened the roof and ate all the baby’s food! Their friend Hootsy drove in the blue car. He brought the monster more food so he’d be happy and leave his friends alone. The monster ate the food and was full. And the were all happy.
The End

Our friend Hootsy the Owl quickly became a recurring character  in all our stories. 

This is a great game, and I can’t wait to paint on a few more rocks to expand the collection and bring new ideas for our stories.

{I was also thinking that I could make a set for church. I teach the CTR 7 / Valiant 8 class in Primary and I find they pay attention more when I tell them the stories out of the scriptures, like the story of Ammon the Arm Chopper. 

If you guys play this game, totally share your stories down in the comments. It’s fun to see where kids’ imaginations take them.} 

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Make your own boot socks

First off let me introduce you to one of my very best friends.

Jess.

This is Jess, in Iceland, in front of a glacier. Amazing.

Simply she is amazing, and even though it isn’t 100% true, she likes to claim she was the matchmaker for my husband and I.

She is funny, brilliant, and we’ve been best friends since 7th grade when we met in German class and were in our ridiculously awkward middle school age state together thus instantly become friends. We were even roommates in college for a few semesters and then I had to go and get married.

Well she has been working over in Afghanistan for the past two years in an Education center for the troops.

AND now she is back in the states! 

Now put your hands in the air and shout hooray!

I’m very excited she is back, AND visiting me for the weekend, AND she got to FINALLY meet my baby girl.

They are now best friends.

Anyway Jess wanted to get some cute new clothes now that she is home and we decided that some cute boot socks were in order.

And so we made her some.

You’ll Need:

Knee high socks

Lace

4, 5/8 inch buttons
black and white sewing thread

 First you’ll want to start with the lace and socks. I got some regular black socks from the store, making sure they are “knee high”.

I wanted some really thin lace so that it wouldn’t make it too bulky on the socks. 

Have you seen the lace that comes in the small plastic sphere type things, usually on the very bottom shelf at Walmart that is like a $1? Well thats what I use.

The lace looks something like this. This lace is perfect because it is so thin that it can be folded in half when sewn to add a little more lace but still without the bulk.

For the thread use white for the spool and black for the bobbin. This makes it so that the black tread will blend in with the socks, since the sock will be on bottom when sewing and then put white on the top so that it’ll blend in with the lace.

If you purchased the same lace I did, fold the lace in half.

Now for the socks. The socks should already have been folded so that there is a front seam and a back seam. The lace will go all the way around the top and then down one side of the sick about 1/4 of the way from the back/heel side of the sock.

For the first sock put the lace on the inside of the sock about 1/4 of the way from the back/heel side.

Put it underneath the presser foot, straight stitch, and for the width I did about a 2.5.

Sew a couple stitches and then leave the needle down, this will make sure the socks stays in the same place for the next step.

While the needle and presser foot is down, stretch the front of the sock letting the lace lay gently on top. Then lift up the sock behind the presser foot and stretch that back as well.

You should have a long that portion of the sock stretched as far as it will allow.

While the sock is stretch begin sewing the lace, making sure to let the sewing machine put the fabric through itself, do NOT pull the fabric through. If the fabric is pulled through it’ll create uneven stitches and make it look less professional.

Sew in sections. What I mean is, sew, leave the needle in, stretch the sock, sew the lace until you get to the last part that is stretched. Then do it again until the whole top of the sock is sewn with lace.

Once you’ve made it all the way around the sock, lift the presser foot and turn it so lace can be sewn down the side of the sock. Simply fold over the lace while you are moving the foot. You want the lace part to be towards the back or the heel of the sock.

Then sew a straight line down as far as you want the lace to go down. I found I like it to be about 4 inches down.

This step cam be a little tricky since the sock is a smaller tube so take your time and dot a little at a time making sure not to sew the other side of the sock.

Then repeat the same thing to the other side of the sick but making sure the lace that goes down is on the opposite of the sock but still towards the back/heel.

You want the opposite because when you put them on you want the lace to go down on the outsides of both of your legs.

So then you should have something that looks like this.

Next with a needle and thread, sew of two buttons right by the lace what was sewn on the side of the sock.
For a slightly different look, add 3 buttons to each sock.

And FINISHED! Didn’t they turn out great? So cute! Enjoy!

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Mobile

I have a nice little collection of fabric building up now that I’m learning how to sew. I don’t like clutter so I wanted to make something to give away so I could free up some space.

I had a lot of the fabric I used for the travel art pouches I made, and thought they’d be great to use for this mobile.

I realized that I never really use any patterns. They confuse me sometimes, and I’d rather make something in my own style. So if most (or all) of the things I make that require sewing seem haphazard, forgive me.

I wanted something simple for this mobile, and I decided on some clouds. No two clouds are same,

(sounds like a metaphor for something, like…”plenty of fish in the sea” or “you can’t stand in the same river twice” haha) so I cut some random cloud-like shapes. 

Once again, you get a lovely view of my wool carpet!

With these, I folded the fabric in half so I wouldn’t have to sew up the bottom. I figured, the less sewing I have to do, the better. 

I sewed the tops of the cloud shapes together,

(I only had to call my mom to help me fix it three times. Improvement.)

leaving a couple inches open on the side to put the batting in.

I flipped them right side out and started filling them with batting. To make sure I got it all stuffed, I used the end of a pencil to shove the batting into the little corners that I couldn’t reach with my finger. 

Then I hand stitched the opening. 

For them to hang, I used a piece of embroidery thread–knotted one end and threaded it through the top. 

Making sure they are balanced can be tricky…but all I did to find the spot where it would hang evenly was pinch a little fabric on top, held it up and saw if it was balanced or not. 

You can hang these any way you want. I used an embroidery hoop that I spray painted gold. 

I tied the clouds onto it, and used more embroidery thread to hang it from my ceiling. When you’re hanging the mobile, its all a balancing act. You just have to find the right section on the hoop to tie your thread on.

I surprised myself on how well these turned out. I thought that because I had no pattern and really no organization to the shapes that they might come out weird, but I love this mobile!

I might just have to let this hang up in my house for a while before I give it away!

DIY Superbowl T-shirt

Freezer paper is my new best friend. Well I guess an old friend that I recently reconnected with. 

Freezer paper is seriously the coolest thing ever that I have only used once for the purpose it was created for ha!

Anyway here is why it is so awesome!

Also don’t mind the bowl of cereal/treats she was having a rough day teething and this is the only way she would sit and smile for me!

Disclaimer: I honestly don’t really watch football, BUT I love going and watching eating food, and hanging with friends during the superbowl. With that being said, I also feel a little conflicted (ok not really) because I claim Washington as home but I have actually lived in Colorado longer than I have Washington. Anyway I’m taking a side and that side is… The Seahawks if you haven’t figured that one out yet. Sorry all my Bronco fan friends. You can still use this tutorial for a Bronco logo… just sayin.

You’ll need:

Freezer paper (And it MUST be freezer paper, wax paper will NOT work, trust me I’ve tried haha)

T-shirt (or other fabric to transfer the design)

            -I got my t-shirt for my little girl here, 3-Pack Slip-on Baby Shirts (6-9 Months) (They run a little big, she is now wearing 12 month clothes and the 6-9 months fit her perfectly)

Designs cut from the freezer paper

Iron

Fabric paint

Sponge Brush

Paper Towels

Ok here is how it works.

I got these designs from off of Silhouette’s website. For Christmas I got a Silhouette Cameo and I stinking love it! But you can cut out any image you want using freezer paper. Before I got my Silhouette I would print off a design, trace it on some freezer paper and then use an exact-o knife to cut it out. Either way works great.
(Its kinda hard to see but that is the Seahawks Logo cut out in freezer paper.)

Then iron the area where the design will go. Creases, fold, and bumps don’t work so well when adding the freezer paper.) This is an old shirt that had a couple little stains on it so it worked perfect, too bad they weren’t going to be right where the design would be.

Next set up the design where you want it go on your shirt or fabric.

Now there are two sides to freezer paper. One side is super smooth and shiny, the other side feels like, well paper, and it isn’t shiny. Before ironing make sure the shiny side is down. (If you put the shiny side up it will stick to your iron and that is no fun.)

Then simply iron each design on. My shirt was 100% cotton so my iron was on high heat. Whatever your material is, make sure that the iron setting is set to go with your fabric. You need just enough heat to fuse that wax on the shiny side of the paper to the shirt.

I did mine piece by piece to make sure everything would line up correctly.

Then you should have something like this when all the designs ironed on.

Now I’m going to use the fabric paint but I don’t want the paint to soak through to the back so I added a couple paper towels inside the shirt, under the pattern.

Now with a sponge brush and fabric paint, and a bowl if you want to mix colors. (I was going to and then decided I like just the red.) 

Then just dab on the color all over the designs. Be careful where the colors go if the design has more than one color.

Then when the design is all painted wait until it is dry then peel off the freezer paper.

(Or if you are impatient like me you can peel it off when it is wet BUT you have to be a little more careful when you are trying to pull up the sides of each shape to peel it off. Good Luck!)

Finished! I also took a blow dryer to mine to get it to dry faster.

Next I wanted to show from another design I did what NOT to do vs. what to DO.
The picture on the left is another design where the sponge brush was a little wet when I put on the paint and then dabbed it on. In the middle of the design see where it looks like the paint bled? Well thats because it did because of the excess water on my brush.
The Seahawks design on the right i made sure my brush was completely dry before I used it and when I washed it out to switch colors.

Add it to all sorts of things shirts, bags, pillow cases… So many possibilities!

Enjoy!!

Travel Art Pouch

I’ve needed a little carrier for all my pencils and pens for some time now. I have a wooden pencil box that I keep at home, but its pretty difficult to transport to different places. I couldn’t find any pouches that I liked. Either the fabric wasn’t appealing to me or it didn’t function the way I wanted it to, so I decided to make my own. Yes, it requires sewing…and yes, I am getting better! 

I used vinyl and flannel fabrics — I really like the texture combination.

I cut a 9 x 5 inch rectangle out of each of the fabrics. 

I took the grey flannel and hemmed one of 5 inch sides to make the opening prettier. Then, with the right side of the vinyl facing up I sewed the two rectangles together, leaving the top open. 

Then I flipped it right side out so the blue part of the vinyl faced out.

The mistake I made on this particular pouch was that I didn’t lay the grey flannel with the inside of the hem facing down when I sewed it together, so when I flipped it right side out, you can see the hem. 

I’m okay with it…it gives it a touch of character.

Vinyl, as it turns out, is hard to fold and you can’t iron it to make a nice crease….the heat melts it. 

Learned that the hard way. 

So I sewed down the vinyl that I left sticking out of the top.

I cut out an extra piece of vinyl the same width as the pouch and rounded the corners. 

(Notice the different fabric? Magic…..)

Lastly, I sewed the flap on, and trimmed any excess fabric.

Not bad if I do say so myself! I’m pretty excited at how these turned out. They fit my pens and pencils perfectly! It’s just the right size for me to take anywhere I want. 

I’m definitely going to be making more in different sizes. 

Because I don’t ever sew anything, I wanted to share my first two pouches that I made. As you can see….they’re pretty terrible. One you can’t even close the flap, it’s totally off center and crooked. And the other one, I laid the fabric the wrong way when I sewed them together so it looked inside out when I was finished. I also tried a little pocket on the front. Good idea, if you’re able to. I certainly, am not.

I just see so many perfect photos online of projects people have completed and think “I can’t do that, mine won’t turn out like that.” And while my finished product is far from perfect, I wouldn’t want someone to think they weren’t able to make something like that. 

I’m a big believer in practice. Practice patience and you’ll make something you love and are proud of.

Another Felt Flower

I’ve been having a little bit of a crush on felt and I’ve been using it like CRAZY!

Maybe because it is cheap? Or just easy to work with? 

Not sure but those are two of my favorite things especially when it comes to crafts, cheap and easy.

Well I have another felt flower for you! But this time I added it to a clip instead of a headband. 

It could also easily be used as a broach. Maybe a cute alternative for a a corsage? 

Either way I’m excited about this!

You will need:

Felt

Scissors

Bead(s) for the middle

Clip

Hot Glue

Sewing Machine (Optional, I used a sewing machine)

First start off with 5 felt circles. Mine were about 1.5 inches in diameter.

Next mark the center with a marker. (You can barely see mine, it’s orange)

Fold each circle in half.

Then sew from the center mark to the outside, about 1/4 inch from the fold.

I used a sewing machine because it create a nice clean straight line. However, you can simply use a little bit of glue on the inside. Be careful and don’t add very much, so you can be sure to create as straight of a line as you can.)

Next cut off the extra felt.

Do this to all of the 5 circles.

Next of the backside of the circle, right next to the seam, add a small amount of glue to the very edge of the circle.

Attach it to another circle in the same spot, the two seams should line right up.

This is what it should look like on the other side.

Now add the glue in the same spot to the next circle, and attach to the other two. Continue for all 5 circles. 

Then glue the last and the first circles together. It’ll form a circle of circles and will look something like this before you flatten them.

But since the glue it just on the edges of the circles, push down the center and then get a beautiful flower!

Next cut one more circle, the same size and add some glue. 

Attach it to the bottom of the flower so that the flower will stay open and full.

Next get the beads that will work for the center of the flower. 

I also thought of using a cute button, but in the end thought this was more of what I wanted.

Add some glue…

And attach the beads!

Now for the clip.

Turn back over, and add some glue.

Attach the clip.

I put some wax paper in between so that the glue wouldn’t seep through and glue shut the clip.

And Finished!

Blackberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins

While I was living and teaching in Vegas, school started early so I rarely had time for breakfast. I’d usually grab a yogurt or some fruit, but I’d always be ravenous by lunch…and I almost always forgot my lunch. 

I found a great recipe for baked oatmeal, switched up the ingredients a bit and baked them in a muffin tin to make it easier for me to carry to school. From start to finish they take about a half hour to make.

Blackberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins

1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 c. quick oats 

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 stick of melted butter

1 c. yogurt (I actually used peach yogurt in this recipe. You could use vanilla, blueberry, strawberry etc.)

1 egg

1 handful blackberries

1 banana

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all the wet ingredients. Combine everything together and add the blackberries and banana. (tip if you’re using blackberries: squish them up. If you leave them whole, they take up valuable space in your muffins and usually fall out of the bottom after they come out of the oven.)

Spoon into a muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes-or until muffins are lightly browned on top.

Makes about 12 muffins

They should come out soft and delicious. I dare you to eat only one.

The best thing about this recipe, is that you can add any kind of fruit you want to make endless combinations.

Strawberry Banana

Blackberry Peach

Apple Blueberry

etc

I have a different variation that I also like to make…its slightly more healthy for you. I use less sugar and more oatmeal.

Blackberry Orange Oatmeal Muffins

1/2 c. flour

2 c. quick oats

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp baking powder

1.c yogurt (I use vanilla, peach, lemon….any kind of fruit)

1 egg

zest of an orange

1 handful blackberries

Same directions as above. Mix everything together and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. It makes about 10 muffins–these come out a little more dense, and more alien like, but super delicious. They also keep me more full. One or two and I’m stuffed till lunch.

 These pretty much saved my life during the week. It’s one of my favorite things to make because they are so quick and easy….and SO delicious.

Heart Patch Leggings

I have a slight obsession with patches lately. I really want to do some patches on some of my cardigans but the perfect idea hasn’t quite sparked in my head. But I then thought that Valentine’s Day was coming up and no one can ever have too many leggings, especially when they are on little cute one year old leggies!

I made two pairs. The first ones were red, and then I realized that the heart patches were just a little too far down to be on the knee. So then I made the pink ones which turned out great! The pink ones the heart was right on the knee. (I measured these ones!)

They both turned out great! Now let me show you how you can do it!

You will need:

Knit fabric (I didn’t actually measure how much I needed, maybe 3/4 yard)

Felt, non-wool

Elastic

Here is how you do it:

First I started by getting a pair of pants that were already the size I wanted. I turned them inside out, and folded them over, like in the picture. I then traced it but leaving enough for seam allowance (I used the standard 5/8 inch seam allowance.) I also allowed a little more for the top, since I will need to add elastic (I added the width of my elastic times two.) For the bottom, I also added a little extra allowing for the hem.

Cut 4 of these.

Now that there are 4, put them together in pairs, like this. One set will become the front and the other will be for the front. 

Before sewing, turn the machine stitch to a zigzag stitch. I didn’t want mine to be the biggest so a size 3 for me was just right.
Note: The wider the zigzag is the more “ripple” it’ll make in the fabric but it’ll have more vertical stretch. The more narrow the zigzag is the less “ripple” but the less vertical stretch.

I wanted to use the zigzag since I an using a jersey fabric that is stretchy anyway, the zigzag allows the hem to stretch with the fabric.

Now sew the  curved seams or the crotch seams, on both the front and the back.

Onto the knee patches. Use a felt that IS NOT wool. It’ll last longer when washing it if it is something like a polyester material.
It should say on the sticker on the felt. (On mine is says polyester right under the green words, ecofi.)

Then I cut out some heart shapes until I got one I liked. Then cut another one, two hearts total, one for each leg.

Next open up on the the pants.

Then pin the hearts onto the front of the pants where the knee would be. Remember to take into account that there is some added fabric for the hem. The first pair I made of these the heart was more on the shin than the knee. So measure the legs before placing the hearts

And switch your machine to a straight stitch.

And slowly and carefully sew around the heart. Isn’t it so cute? This is my favorite!

Now you should have something like this.

Next open up the back of the pants and line then up with the front. Make sure the right sides are together. And pin it up!

(Little side tangent: I used to HATE, absolutely LOATHE pinning. When my mom first taught me to sew, it was always “ok next you pin it” UGH! But now that I am older, and wiser, ok maybe not wiser but now I’ll take my time on things, and pinning it one of them. Pinning makes everything you sew turn out better, even if it is just a simple line. PIN PIN PIN!!!)

Now you should have a nice little seam like this.
(See how the seam kinda started to “ripple” yeah I was going to fast and wasn’t taking my time. You DON’T want this. I wasn’t see worried though since these were going to be a tighter pant, the ripples would be less noticable.)

Next don’t turn or move any fabric around, but line up the outside of the pants nicely and sew those as well. (Isn’t the backside of the heart so cute?)

Now almost done!

Now to hem the bottom of the pants. Since I used jersey I wasn’t worried about the ends fraying.

Turn over the bottom of the pant, I did about 3/4 of an inch or however much to you added for the hem at the beginning when you cut them.

And of course PIN!

Yay! Don’t you love pinning?

And sew on the edge a zigzag seam.

Now onto the waist. Fold over the top about an inch again and pin. (You might need to fold over more depending on how wide the elastic is. My elastic is about 3/4 of an inch so I wanted it just slightly bigger than that.)

Sew all the way around the waist, leaving about an inch gap. This is where we will put in the elastic.

Next measure the waist of your little one, or whomever is going to wearing these, and then make the elastic just slightly smaller. Mine is about and inch smaller. Then put a safety pin on the end of the elastic, this will help move it through the fabric.

Put the safety pin in the opening that was created when sewn.

Then pin the other end to the pants making sure it doesn’t accidentally slip through when moving the elastic through.

Move the elastic all the way through the waist.

Pull the ends of the elastic out, and overlap them slightly, make sure not to twist the elastic.

Zigzag the end of the elastic a few times, making sure it is nice and secure.

Then pull the elastic tight and it should fit nicely back into the waist.

Then sew the opening shut so the elastic is now hidden!

Oh they turned out so cute!! I love them! I put them on her every chance I get. Which isn’t that often because usually they have marker on them or some sort of food dribbled on them. How do you keep your kiddies clean?

Easy and Delicious Salad

I’m no cook. I LOVE baking but when it comes to making dinner everyday, it is seriously a chore to me. One I don’t like. So I’ve come up with a few easy, fast meals that I can literally throw together. This one is probably my favorite. And to make it even better I change it up all the time but it still awesome and amazing!

Ingredients: (These are what I usually put in)

Lettuce, Chopped (I like green leaf lettuce, or red leaf lettuce)

Spinach, chopped

Tomatoes, diced

Hard boiled egg(s) (I love hard boiled eggs to sometimes I add two)

Cheese of choice, grated

Chicken (I like to get the breaded chicken tenders in the freezer section)

Dressing of choice

Other ingredients I might add:

Avocado, sliced

Croutons

Olives

Pineapple

Black beans 

(Another favorite combo: Green leaf lettuce, Grilled chicken, Black beans, Pineapple tidbits, Olives, and croutons)

First I pop the chicken into the oven so that can start baking which I prepare the rest. I usually bake my chicken a little longer than the packaging says that way it is extra crispy, and then I don’t need to add the croutons.

Then I get to the rest of the ingredients that I put it. If I don’t already have a hard boiled egg I then put a few on the stove to get cooking, sometimes I cook a few more than I will use so that the next time I make this I don’t have to hard boil eggs again. Then I chop the salad and tomatoes, grate the cheese (ok I hate grating cheese so if my husband is home I ask him to do it), and then I dice the eggs when they are done.

Then I wait until the chicken is done and add that to the top.

When it comes to dressing, I’m super picky. I’m a ranch girl, VERY RARELY do I ever, and I mean ever try anything new when its about my salad. BUT on occasion I do try something else, usually after the first bit thinking I should have just stuck with the ranch. I was home a couple months ago and my mom had this dressing. Its a little sweet, but is is AMAZING. I love it. So I usually have a few bottles in my cupboard now, just to make sure I never run out. (I haven’t bought ranch since **gasp**) Anyway if you are looking for something new to try, I would recommend this. Not to mention it is all natural ingredients!

Then I’m done! From start to finish is usually only 30 minutes but that is only because that is how long I cook the chicken. I’m usually in the kitchen for only 10 minutes MAX. And I can chop/dice more ingredients depending on how many salads I make. 

Enjoy!