Foodie Wednesday

You know when you've pinned too many items in Pinterest that you're pinning duplicates? For me, I do it a lot with food. I see something I want to make, pin it, and mentally note to cook it asap. Mooonths and months go by. Then I pin it again.

I'm putting a stop to it!

I made Turkey Stuffed Peppers earlier this week and they were fabulous. The recipe is below, but I had to change a few things. Since I only had one red pepper, we made a burrito for Ryan and I with the rice/turkey mixture along with the stuffed pepper. Also, I just had dried parsley and it was just as good. Oh, and, I made it with brown rice. It was absolutely delicious and I plan on making this mixture every time I want tacos. 

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

1 lb lean ground turkey

I garlic, minced

1/4 onion, minced

1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cumin powder

salt to taste

3 large sweet red bell peppers, washed

1 cup fat free chicken broth

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

Olive Oil Spray

1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheese

Heat oven to 400°. Spray a little olive oil spray in a medium size saute pan and heat on a medium flame. Add onion, garlic and cilantro to the pan. Saute about 2 minutes and add ground turkey. Season with salt and garlic powder, and cumin and brownmeat for several minutes until meat is completely cooked through. Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, mix well and simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Combine cooked rice and meat together.

Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, and remove all seeds. Place in a baking dish.Spoon the meat mixture into each pepper half and fill it with as much as you can.Place all stuffed pepper halves on the baking dish and pour the remainder of the chicken broth on the bottom of the pan. Cover tight with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 minutes. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and enjoy.

turkey mixture simmering

cut red pepper

ready to be baked!

look at these two while I was making dinner :-) Love them.

and I very happy husband

Sweater Stocking Tutorial

I am so excited about this tutorial today. 

I have been having visions about sewing our own family stockings for awhile now. I found adorable stockings on-line after sorta giving up on my dream but they ranged from $15-$40 a piece!!! So I was determined to find an alternative that was equally beautiful. 

First, I headed out to Good Will, of course during Brinley's nap. I can't go anywhere with her if I really need to concentrate! After much searching, I found 3 great sweaters. One red cable and two super large cream cable sweaters. One of the cream sweaters was so big I am saving the rest to hopefully make another stocking for our family next year! Cross your fingers! 

Tips:

#1 sewing through sweater is a bit challenging because the fabric pulls. I tried sewing a zig zag on the first one but it pulled even more. Doing a tight straight stitch is good enough.

#2 Don't get flustered! Mine definitely look home-made if you look close enough, but from far away they look gorgeous!

Materials:

1 sweater per 1 stocking

1.5 yardinner lining fabric , (or more if you are doing more than 3 stockings). I got an adorable white on white polka dot in cotton.

ribbon, trimmings, rick rack, or anything else you may want to use to decorate the top

scissors, thread, and pins.

Okay. Here are some directions.

Take your Good Will or old sweater.

and an old stocking, or pattern of one you want to trace.

FIRST, have the sweater inside out. I placed the cheap stocking over the sweater and used my rotary cutter and just free handed the shape. And then pin immediately. 

Like I said, you can zig zag stitch it which would probably hold it together better over time, but when I did it on the red sweater, it pulled a lot. So straight stitch it. 

I did a free handed rotary cut for the lining too. Pin the fabric right sides together, and then sew again.

Now, keep the sweater stocking inside out and keep the lining INSIDE the stocking inside out as well. (this picture is WRONG. I had to do this process three times before getting it right. geez I was loosing my mind! You get the idea of how it should look like at least). Doing this keeps all the raw edges together facing each other so you can't see them. But if your not particular, but can have the inside lining the other way and you'll be fine. I just like the clean lines! 

Sew around but keep about 2-3 inch space open to pull the stocking out.

If you're still lost how to do this part, check out this link.

Now turn everything right side out through the section you left open along the top. Line everything up and tuck the raw edges of the opening inside and pin. Sew a top stitch all around the top of the stocking.

I folded the top of the stocking about 2-4 inches down.

You're now going to want to pull out any embellishments that you have. I had some great ribbon and lace my Oma left to my Mom and then she passed it onto me. I am sooo happy I used her beautiful vintage ribbon because we will always be reminded of Oma! 

Anyways, I just pinned the ribbon along the top and sewed round and round until I got to the top of the stocking. This part is a bit tricky because you are sewing through multiple layers. My sewing machine was moaning quite a bit but I kept up my speed and she powered through!

Here is the finished product for Brinley's stocking! I love it!!! After I was finished, I hand stitched a piece of rick rack on the corner to be hung. 

 Hanging up! So cute!

Here is mine. I LOVE it.

Here is Ryan's. He could either have glitter ribbon or ruffles. He picked the glitter ribbon :-)

The ribbon looks kind of tacky on camera, but in person it looks awesome. I tried to make his stocking as masculine as I could haha

And here they are together! I am so happy they all turned out! Each stocking is different but they all work together. I'm also really happy with the sweaters I was able to find and I loooove the different cable designs. I just wish we had a fireplace with a mantle :-( But this is still okay.

Cost of the entire project:

Sweaters: $15 ($5 a piece)

Lining: $2

Ribbon: $2

Total: $19.00!!

Thanksgiving in Charleston

Thanksgiving in Charleston:

6 hour drive. Only stopped once because Brinley is a rockstar in the car. She played with colored pencils for over an hour. Beautiful drive. Greeted by our friends. Hugging my bff so tight! Ryan meeting Ricardo for the first time. Me obsessing over baby Brisa. She is my new best friend. Brinley and Abel playing together. Hearing lots of spanish! Ryan was totally in his element. Eating at Jim N Nicks for dinner. Having Brinley's milk spill in my lap and down my leg into my shoe at dinner. Thankfully, I laughed it all off and didn't react. Putting the kids to bed. Brinley falling asleep instantly. Staying up late cooking stuffing and getting the turkey prepped. Boys watching lots of football. Sleeping in until 8am. Brinley waking up with a 101 degree fever. Cranky Brinley not wanting to do anything. Brinley falling asleep on Ryan and I while watching Cars. Deciding on eating at 1pm instead of 5pm. Eating. And eating. and more eating. Adults wanting to pass out. Kids run around like crazy-town. Packed up the troops and walked to the park. Back for a snack. Packing up the troops again to drive to James Island State Park to see the beautiful Christmas lights. Brinley passing out on the way home from the lights. Staying up late talking and baking Pumpkin pie for the next day. Swapping stores back and forth and laughing until after midnight. Sleeping in again until 8am. Brinley cuddles in the morning. Started screaming because she twirled her hair so tight around her finger it got stuck. Had to cut her hair to untwine it (very dramatic). Eating the most delicious Over-night French Toast. The women going to the outdoor mall to do some shopping. The men taking the kiddos to the park. Brinley's fever disappeared. Packed up the car. Said our goodbyes. Stopped twice on the drive. And now we're back home!

Ryan reading to Abel and Brinley Thanksgiving morning.

My best girl friend, Brisa.

Abel!!

Just some of the Thanksgiving spread.

Brinley digging in.

Maricela and Abel

Cute family!

Thanksgiving family picture.

Girls with their twinner outfits! 

Brinley looooved baby Brisa! 

Digging into some pumpkin pie.

Us ladies together.

Brinley LOOOVED Pumpkin pie (obviously!!) 

Ricardo and Abel

 Okay.

Classic kid shots. Watch Brinley's face.

Sooo good huh???

Brinley bear on the ride home.

Thank you for letting us come and crash for a couple of days!  So nice to be with friends over the holiday week! We love you guys!!

Christmas Pictures 2011

We went to Goodwood on Saturday with our great friend Freya to take some Christmas pictures. Do you remember Freya from this post? We had such a good time! The venue was perfect. This place is so old southern we were all freaking out how gorgeous the history was. I'm a sucker for the big southern trees and spanish moss hanging from each branch. So whimsical. We were able to walk around the grounds and take pictures in practically every pose and setting. I was stressing out big time because we had nothing to wear the morning of our photo shoot. I ran to Target with Brinley and first found her a cute shirt to work around. I found a plum thin cable knit sweater that I could wear. I'm more of a cardigan girl, but they were all out of plum! Grrr. I really didn't want to buy anything, but sometimes you just need to! Ryan and I both decided that his grey argyle sweater was perfect for pictures. And after 132 pictures, we ended up with a lot that we were super happy about!!! We're ready to start a picture wall in our kitchen now.

Enjoy! I've had a bit of help to edit the pictures so I guess you'll be surprised when you see the final product in the mail!

Fun pictures, huh??

I'm gonna mess you up!

Maybe it is because I blog too much.

Or because I turned 25 this year.

Or maybe I do too much during the day.

Probably a nice helping of each to add to the problems I have in my right wrist. It has been building for months, but I think I am developing tendonitis. No good! So, I have decided to cast up my wrist to keep myself from moving it, along with icing every hour. I remember have dreams growing up of having a cast on my arm to be "cool." I have never had a broken bone, or had to use crutches, or had a doctors note for an injury (maybe I did in high school...I think), but now that I have it, I hate it!!! All I know is that my wrist hurts more now that I can't move it, going to the bathroom takes time, don't even talk to me about sleeping, and I have to take it off every time I change a bum. What has my left hand been doing the last 25 years! It is USELESS! I am acting like I can't even feed myself when using my left hand to hold my spoon or fork. It is awful! Anyways, I may be absent from writing long blog posts, or they may be lacking punctuation.

*if you're wondering, this brace will never be seen by the outside world.

All I know is that we are having Christmas pictures taken tomorrow (cast will not be present). I can't wait to order my Christmas Cards!

Five new things I created

1. Brinley's high bun. 

I am envious and I want to cry. I cannot believe her hair is getting this long. She looks so grown up with a high bun. and I love her chubby cheekies too!!

2. New Art Work 
My molar pregnancy sister, Ashley, had a guest posting today that designed her motto, Choose Joy. I'm not a huge fan of the chevron stripes, but this saying means so much to me. I just love Ashley to pieces and this print will remind me everyday to choose joy. Go get it yourself! 

it now hangs in my kitchen

perfect place to remind me to choose joy!

3. Finished a Baby Gift

I FINALLY finished my baby gift for my wonderful sister-in-law who had her baby in June. Chrissy, I am so embarrassed! Here is a sneak peak! Watch for these in the mail! It was also my first applique job and it. was. SO. EASY! Oh my gosh. I don't know why I've been so afraid but the whole gig took probably 20 minutes. It was a sinch! Hopefully the onesie still fits baby Beau!

I followed this tutorial but didn't do the neck strap. I tried that when I made my nephew's bow ties for my brother's wedding and they didn't fit very well. Safety pins work perfectly!

4. Skinny Jeans 
I followed this tutorial I found on Pinterest to skinny down one of my favorite pairs of Gap jeans. I bought these jeans right after I had Brinley and they are still a bit big in the waist, but I was desperate for jeans post-baby. They were too long and flared legs, so I hemmed them up and skinnied them down! It was a bit confusing at first getting the right pair of jean to trace, but overall, I am so impressed! The right leg is a taaad bit bigger than the left so I need to do fix that. Ry said he didn't even remember if they were skinny jeans or not to begin with! That's a good sign!

they look good, huh??

5. Pictures of the Temple

It has been on my list for months (years, really) to get pictures of the LDS Temples framed in our house. I ordered prints off of the LDS Distribution Center website instead of Deseret Book because they are about $1-$5 per print, whereas the Deseret Book prints are so over priced. I ordered 3 prints: Columbia South Carolina, Rexburg Idaho, and Seattle Washington. We want to start collecting more prints of the temples we've been to. I've already noticed a huge change in our house because we are frequently reminded of the temple. Brinley loves to point at them too!

This one of the Columbia South Carolina temple hangs in our living room. Remember, Ry and I were married there!

and this one of the Seattle, Washington temple hangs in our kitchen. The Rexburg, Idaho temple is in Brinley's room because she was born in Rexburg. It thought it was special because that temple means so much to Ryan and I and maybe someday, she will be able to go inside!

I love finishing a good project! I have a few more things on my list that possibly include maybe sewing up some new stockings for us (YIKES!), but I'm not sure I have the time before Christmas.

Have you created anything lately that has made you really happy???