And since I'm back on processed food...

I created this AWESOME dinner on Sunday.  Because I was too lazy to cook everything healthy and stuff and sometimes powdered cheese is A-OK in my book.

You will need:
1/2 to a 1 pound of sirloin
1 box of AuGratin Potatoes  (Generic Kroger brand $.99!!!!)
1 cup frozen cooked peas

I had some lean sirloin so I cooked it up to medium rare.  Then I sliced it into bite size thin pieces.  I added a box of AuGratin Pototoes, the powder cheese packet, 2 cups of water and 3/4 cup of milk and brought it to boiling stirring frequently.  Then I covered and simmered for 20 minutes until the fake potatoes were done.   THEN to get a damn vegetable in there so I didn't feel so bad I added some cooked frozen peas.

CAN I just say that this is the new gourmet Hamburger Helper?  Except it doesn't have hamburger...because you know since it's sirloin...it's gourmet.  But I guess you could use hamburger if you wanted too.  Or chicken.  Or whatever meat you had on hand.  Hell use spam if it tickles your fancy...ok wait...don't use spam...that's just nasty.

AND Addy ate it ALL up and wanted more.  Even the peas.  Yes people she ate peas.  Heheheheh  I love being sneaky with her vegetables.

Lets talk about weight loss for a sec...

Okay so I gained a bunch of weight with Addy ::cough80poundscough:: and for two years I've been working like crazy to get it off.  I've worked out 6 days a week, an hour a day, put myself on a very strict high protein-low carb diet, followed all the rules, and even went all compulsive JillianMichealspsychobitch crazy and tracked everything I ate all.the.time. while training for a marathon and following the P90X workout program.  It's been exhausting.  And I've lost 20 pounds...in two years. 

I've been very frustrated wanting the scale to move and it just WON'T so I decided a month ago that screw it.  I was done.  I'll work out....when I feel like it.  I'll eat okay but if I want a damn french fry I'm gonna eat one!  And dinner in a box??? MAYBE.  I'll have some mac and cheese.  It's all about moderation right? 

Well I've lost more weight in the last few weeks than I have in months.  Weird.  I think I'm on to something.

I SHIRRED!!

I am officially in love with sewing.  It is so relaxing!  I followed THIS awesome online tutorial from http://www.kukyideas.com/ and made Addy's birthday dress!  Shirring was definitely easier than I thought and her instructions were super easy to follow.  So here it is!

I really took my time with the seams to make sure they were straight and I drew lines where I shirred to make sure I kept those lines straight.  I'm really happy with how it came out. 

And here it is modeled by the lovely Addison:

Twirl girl!

I'm going to make a matching headband next.  Gotta find a new project though.  I'm addicted to sewing!

Oh the Easter Cuteness

My friends and I threw an Easter egg hunt this morning for the kiddos which was really an excuse for us to dress them up in their adorable outfits and take pictures.  Toddlers running around all cute and stuff hunting eggs has to be the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to my mother for hating that she put me in this Easter get up.

I get it now.  I really do.  Now it's my turn!  Although I think I have a little bit better taste than my mother but it was the early 80s so don't laugh.  The socks are AWESOME.

Addy teaches us to stop and smell the flowers:

She loved hunting Easter eggs.  Loved it.  She had a great time!

Any more eggs in there?

SCORE!!!!

Really.  Too cute.  And hilarious.

We ended the day with a ride on the swings!  Weee!

TADA!

The TShirt dress project:

I know, I know NOT BAD right?  LOL well, if I do say so myself... 

All kidding aside- sort of.  I was happy with how it came out at this stage...I could have just hemmed the sleeves and neckline and been done with it....then I started looking closely....then my need for perfection kicked in...and THEN I decided that I had to REDO the skirt and add sleeves and a collar.  ALL of which I had no business doing because well this is my THIRD project and sleeves?  Really?  That's a little advanced.  BUT I did it anyway and ruined the damn thing.  Greeeeaaat.  

I turned it into this.  Complete with holes everywhere where I pulled the seams out.  Sigh.  I suck.  Look at those sleeves....pure floppy awesomeness.  I don't know what's going on with the collar- and the skirt is now all angly and holy.  Rock on.

Oh well.  It's now a nice gown.  Addy loves it anyway because anything with Elmo and Cookie- no matter how hideous- is like fascinating rare art in her eyes.  I love how easy to please she is. 

I learned a lot though.  Like knit sucks to sew with and tears easily.  And how not to add a ruffle skirt...I sewed it on backwards at first.  Oops.  Oh and just leave well enough alone. 

I might revisit this project again...we'll see.  :)

Next up...shirring!!!  I've gone sew crazy!

She's not a baby anymore...

...she's growing into a little girl with big opinions.  Opinions like "NO I DO NOT WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL TODAY I DON'T CARE HOW LATE YOU ARE TO WORK"  That's always a fun morning.  Especially when I wake her up and she's SOAKED in pee.  SOAKED.  TShirt, pants, hair- soaked.  AND she decides that she is just fine with soaking in pee as long as she gets to stay in bed.  Because changing and going to school is much much worse than sleeping in a pee soaked bed.  Twenty minutes is how long she screamed and flipped around the floor like a fish out of water.  It's very difficult to get a diaper on a flipping, screaming, toddler.  And not to mention trying to clean a pee soaked toddler at that.  My morning was awesome.

Sewing tip of the day...

Buy a good seam ripper.  That is all.

LOL I'm trying to construct a T Shirt dress for Addy and silly me- instead of going by a PATTERN which normal people would do- I'm just winging it.  Needless to say, the darn thing is super tight and looks like a spandex rocker dress.  Um.  This may not be appropriate for my sweet girly TWO year old.  I didn't have a seam ripper so I used a steak knife.  I'm all about adapting.  This project may take longer than I expected.

Which makes me think of another tip.  If you aren't sure of what the hell you are doing, don't reinforce your seam with two lines of zig zag stitches before actually trying the dress on your kid.  It took awhile to rip those suckers out.

New low fat recipe!

Eating healthy is kinda a big deal in our house.  The problem with that is that low fat/healthy/clean/non processed food usually doesn't taste that great.   ::coughcardboardcough::   Let's be honest here, I love me some processed food (omg Totino's party pizza and aerosol cheese), and a raw carrot just isn't going to cut it for me sometimes.

So I *try* to find ways to make my favorite foods in a better for you healthy way and last night I made these enchiladas.  I guess I'll be creative and call them Turkey/spinach/sour cream enchiladas. 

6 98% fat free tortillas
1 pound low fat ground turkey (sub chicken if you don't like turkey)
Some spinach ( I'm guessing that I used about 1-2 cups?  I didn't measure.  I used frozen but I think fresh would work MUCH better.
1/2 cup of LIGHT sour cream (only 2.5 grams of fat!)
1/2 cup 2% mexican cheese
1/2 can of green chile enchilada sauce (or you can puree a can of green chilis.  If you have rotel tomatoes and green chilis you can probably use that too- just puree it to make a sauce)
Garlic because I like it.
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350.  Brown turkey and garlic in a skillet until cooked through.  Add spinach and cover.  Cook on med low heat for about 5-10 minutes and add sour cream.  Stir until it's all mixed up.

Spray your 9x13 pan with Pam and take tortilla and fill it with the filling.  Add some cheese and roll that bad boy up.  Do this until you run out of the filling or run out of room.  Cover all your rolled tortillas with either the green chili enchilada sauce (I used a can sauce from the taco section at the store) or the rotel.  Sprinkle your enchiladas with some cheese and cook for 25 minutes!

Add some black beans and some light sour cream or salsa and enjoy! 

I don't have pics.  Sorry.  But I really enjoyed them and so did Jim and they were super fast so thought I'd share.

I'm running with this craft thing

YAY! I bought a sewing machine! For years I've talked about sewing and finally just did it. I purchased a starter Brother LX3125 machine at the Wal-Mart and went to town learning and trying to absorb all the skill I can through the interwebs. I've been scouring the net looking for free tutorials and lessons and there is a TON of information out there. What the hell did we do before the internet? I decided that instead of buying fabric I was going to repurpose old clothing so that a.) it was free and b.) if I screwed up I wouldn't be pissed and cuss a storm because of the $7.00 I paid on fabric. I'm a bit thrifty that way.

First project: Turning one of Addy's recieving blankets into a pair of pants. I used contrasting thread so I could see my stitches which really helped. Now I decided that I'm just going to go by the tutorials online and don't have a pattern so I took a pair of Addy's leggings and made my own pattern. Lets just say I learned a lot from this first project....like seam allowances are your friends and your finger CAN get caught and it hurts... 

First pair of pants = WAAAAYYY to small and WTH is going on with the crotch?  But I'm pretty darn proud that I sewed a crooked line with only minor injury and no blood so I rate this a PASS. These have to be the UGLIEST leggings I've ever seen but whatever it's my first time.


Next project: Now I've gained a bit of confidence after some minor mishaps resulting in a weird and very large nest of thread after trying to sew a straight line, having to rethread the darn machine twenty billion times, and hurt finger- I decide I am going to recreate the pants using this tutorial:  Make it and Love It
 The chick that writes this blog is my new girl crush. I've been stalking her blog for days now and she has the best tutorials and advice. Because of the blog above my second attempt at pants came out surprisingly much better:
AND notice the ruffling??? Those were a pain in the butt and are extremely unruly but the cuteness outweighs the annoyance. My lines are crooked- the ruffles are hilariously off kilt- but it's a definite improvement from the last go around and I didn't lose a finger!  So PASS! They even fit this time! So Wooohooo! I made something!

My next project is a dress repurposed from a T shirt. Should be interesting.

Craft time!

I like hobbies- I think it's very important to have a hobby that you find relaxing. I love crafts and have always been uber jealous of my crafty friends and their skills. I've never really explored my crafty side as an adult because honestly, who the hell has time for all that? But I decided one day while shopping with my gorgeous friend Janae, that I was tired of talking about all the wonderful things I wish I had time to make and I was just going to do it.

Janae told me about a wonderful idea she did for her now 12 year old spunky daughter....she purchased some chalkboard paint and painted a table. BRILLIANT idea! We just so happened to be in Ikea at the time of this awesome nugget of info so I jumped at the chance.

Wouldn't you know it? Ikea didn't dissappoint. I purchased a side table for $7.99 and a chair for $9.99 and got to work. THAT's a great deal people, and I LOVE a great deal.



Here is the end result!


Addy enjoying her new table. She LOVES this thing. She eats at it now as well. All we do is cover it with a little table cloth for dinner time!



This has unleashed a crafty beast in me. Yay for hobbies!