Tonight's dinner...

Tonight I found an OH SO GOOD recipe that I  to share and store away. I found it on Pinterest here and it was a hit in our house.


Enjoy!

Crispy Chicken with Creamy Italian Sauce and Bowtie Pasta

Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts

5 C corn flakes

3/4 C flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 C milk

6 T olive oil 

1   12 oz package bowtie noodles (farfalle)

Sauce:

1   10 oz container Philadelphia Cooking Cream (Italian Cheese and Herb Flavor)

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 C chicken broth

1/2 C milk 

*Substitute 8 oz cream cheese and 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning for cooking cream (If  cooking cream is not available).

*fresh parsley (chopped (optional) for garnish)

Directions

1. In a small food processor crush the corn flakes into crumbs. (Or put them into a bag and crush with a rolling pin).
2. Add the 1/2 t salt to the 3/4 C flour. Stir to combine.
3. Place the flour, milk and crushed cornflakes each into their own separate pan. Loaf pans work well for this. If you don't have three loaf pans, do not dismay. You could use pie tins, or round cake pans...whatever works for you.
4. Place your chicken breasts in a gallon sized Ziploc bag and seal the top.
Pound the chicken flat with a meat mallet (or hammer). You will really be thankful for the Ziploc bag in this step. Who wants a bunch of chicken guts flying around their kitchen?
5. Take a pair of sharp kitchen scissors and cut each breast in half.
6. Dredge the chicken in the flour. Be sure it gets covered on both sides.
Lay the floured chicken onto a small cookie sheet and slide the sheet into the freezer. Let it hang out there for about 5 minutes.
7. Remove the chicken from the freezer and dredge each piece in the milk and then immediately into the corn flake crumbs. Again, be sure both sides are covered well.
8. Add the olive oil to a hot skillet.
9. Carefully lay each chicken piece into the hot oil. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes....or until the underside of each piece is nice and golden brown. Turn the pieces over. If the bottom of the pan is dry add just a bit more olive oil to the side of the pan. Swirl the pan around a bit to let the oil flow to all sides.
10. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Let the chicken cook for about 7 more minutes, being careful not to burn the bottoms. Burned bottoms are not advised. In any shape or form.

11. Start cooking your pasta.
12. When your chicken has been cooked through remove it from the pan and place it on a paper towel (dry off some of the oil). Transfer to a plate. Cover with tin foil.
13. Into the same pan pour your Broth, Philly Cooking Cream (or cream cheese and Italian seasoning), Cream of Chicken, and Milk. Whisk the sauce around and let it get all warm and bubbly. Should only take about 3 minutes.
14. Slice your chicken into strips and serve over your cooked pasta and sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley if you choose.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Crescent Rolls...

So I made this easy Chicken Cordon Bleu Crescent Rolls the other night for dinner. I found the recipe here http://www.redstarrecipe.com/2013/10/chicken-cordon-bleu-crescent-rolls.html

I used chicken that we had leftover from our little Thanksgiving dinner, so I'm sure turkey would work just as well. Also I didn't have any swiss cheese so I cut up chunks mozzarella which tasted just fine, but next time I will shred/grate it instead of putting chunks in there. Also I used up some pepperoni that I had in the refrigerator. Oh and finally when you put them in the pan, DON'T let them touch each other! They are NOT friends! Mine had been in the oven for 18 minutes and when I pulled them out they were all doughy. So when you cook them, give them plenty of space to grow and don't let them touch each other!

Go ahead and try it. I think it turned out great (after I separated them and put them back in the oven to finish cooking)! Also I felt it a little dry so I ate it with some leftover gravy :)  but I just like gravy.

Cook it, try it, Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 6 slices deli ham
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 2 Tbls honey (optional)  (For dipping sauce)
• 2 Tbls Dijon mustard (optional) (For dipping sauce)

                                      

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Remove crescent rolls from can and lay out in a long rectangle. Pinch the seams together well.
3. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
4. Layer first Swiss cheese, then ham and finally the chicken breast on the rolls.
5. Roll up like a cinnamon roll and cut into 8-10 rolls.
6. Place in a pie pan or 9-in square baking dish and bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Mix honey and Dijon mustard and serve with rolls if desired.

Cute sweater remake

Ok so I saw this really cute sweater while roaming on Pinterest the other day. The problem is that it's $130! I never spend that much on clothes, however if someone wants to buy it for me I wont object :)
It is found here http://www.backcountry.com/emu-yambulla-pullover-sweater-womens


Well I may not be able to buy it, but I decided to try and make it instead. As with all of my sewing projects (or 97% of them at least) I don't have an actual pattern, what you see above is what I get. However I draw what I want on a piece of paper (I was going to add pockets, but didn't) and take my measurements and write it all out. Then I measure and cut. I wouldn't suggest this method for everyone, in fact my husband thinks I'm crazy, and I do make mistakes and have lots of unfinished projects because of this...nevertheless, it is what it is.

Originally I was going to make this with a grey sweater material, but that was a bust, as I couldn't get the neck to fall right =/ so I opted for a blue knit instead and love the way that it turned out! (Below is not the best picture and doesn't do the shirt justice, but it's the first time that I have ever done a cowl-neck so I am rather happy with the result.)

Found this on Pinterest. IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!

Sweet and Sour Chicken
http://mandysrecipebox.blogspot.com/2012/04/sweet-and-sour-chicken.html

 Chicken

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

salt & pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

Sweet & Sour Sauce

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

How You Do It

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. I like my chicken partially frozen when cutting. It makes it easier. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.

  I can't get over how it tastes like it came from a Chinese restaurant.

 

More than just pinning.

I'm in love with crafts and I have a huge crafty board on Pinterest that I've decided it's time to do "More than just pin" with. So here's a few of my recent crafts.

Cute little sock snowmen found here http://www.thenshemade.com/2011/01/sock-snowmen.html

I used beans instead of rice. Between the 2 of them, I used almost a whole 2 pound bag of beans. I also sewed the bottom and tops of the white socks so that if my kids get ahold of them, they will survive :) this cost me about $3 because I got my white socks at the dollar store and my bag of beans of course.

Kids fishing game found here http://www.designdazzle.com/2012/06/summer-camp-fish-game/

I used magnets instead of paper clips because my kids are still young a sure enough started flinging them around. My magnets were a little weak, but the little ones still enjoyed it. Also the fish were trial and error. I made a few big ones (the purple one) out of felt and just glued them together with a magnet in the middle. It was to big and heavy, so I made smaller fish and those seemed to work better. I didn't do any sewing just hot gluing :)

Toilet paper roll cars found here http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c6/bf/74/c6bf7421982a8d9aaac10918fdfb8606.jpg

There are no instructions just pictures, I think it's pretty self explanatory. You can do whatever you like with those extra roles! They didn't last long, but the kids enjoyed them for a day or two.

Kid 1...did you fart?

So I call my kids kid 1 and kid 2, not all of the time, just sometimes. They have so many random, weird, outoftheblue names, it's hard to keep up with who is actually who. Kid 1 and kid 2 are just easier to remember. Kid 1 (she's 2 1/2) is a whoot. She's at the half talking age, she's also at the "I don't want to poop in the potty stage"...*sigh* we are still working on that. 90% of the time she's fine, pee she's perfect, 10% of her poop ends up in her pants. And it often comes at random, inconvenient times. So this evening as she is crawling across the floor on her hands and knees and lets one rip (you know what I'm talking about) I look back (trying not to laugh...haha have you heard a 2 year old fart, it's kind of funny) and ask her if she farted. With a little grin on her face, a bit of embarrassment too, she says "yes", but when asked if she stinks she's quick to answer "NO I DON'T STINK!" Haha no more embarrassment. SHE'S 2! Haha oh what am I going to do?

Butterfly Wings

So it's almost Halloween! I'm so excited, so what have I been doing for the last couple of days...I've been coming up with ideas for my daughters Halloween costume. I finally decided on a ladybug (it's been her theme all year, so why not!) now how to make it into a costume. I want something cute so I decided that I would make some butterfly wings and make them red with some black dots on them. I know not quiet a ladybug but I'm hoping that when the whole thing is done that people will get the idea and hopefully understand that it's a ladybug...but we shall see.

Anyways as of right now I have my wings done and thought that I would show you how to make your own. These wings fit my 14 month old to the dot. I simply used 1 hanger for each wing. So if you plan on using these for a bigger child then understand that they may be smaller than you wanted or just right if you want them that way. (Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions concerning this project or another and I will try to clarify it. Also if you have something that you would like to know how to do, I will do my best to experiment and see if I can help you out. I love to create!)

Enjoy!

Bend the hangers to the shape that you want them. Cut off the hook ends and do your best to bunch up the loose wires. This will hold your two wings together.

This is how my bunch turned out.

I used some knee high nylons and put them around my hangers.

Then I tied the ends of the 2 knee highs together in the middle over my bunch of wires. This is a picture of the knot made with my nylons.

This isn't a great picture but it's what the wings look like with nylons on them. I could still see the wire through mine so it might be desirable to add a couple more layers of nylons and tie your middle know at the end. If that's the case though you will have to experiment, I didn't do that.

Here I hot glued the extra nylon to fit around the wire. This way it took the shape of the wire as can be seen in the next picture.

And if you want to end there simply tie and or hot glue your elastic to your wings and you're good to go!

However I added some fabric to the outside of my wings because I wanted them red. Soooo I cut the fabric (doubled) to slightly bigger than my wire.

Now I was lazy and in a hurry so I hot glued it, but it would probably look better if you sewed it. Whatever works for you. So I hot glued my fabric all the way around my wings. Then to make a better looking edge I hot glued some ribbon around the edges and added a great big bow and some dots (with a black marker...again I was lazy, but hey it's just Halloween right?) for my ladybug effect.

She wouldn't stop moving and trying to get them off! Haha.

And those are my wings what do you think?

Hair ribbons and bows

So I have been asked to show you all how to make some cute hair ribbons and bows, and since I've finally been able to get my ribbons and hot glue gun out I'm ready to go. Now I've realize that it's kind of hard to show how to complete a project with pictures and words online but I will do my best. As I try to keep up with this blog maybe I will get better, but if you don't understand a step, please let me know and I will try to clarify! Alright, here goes nothing =)

So I don't have any flowers today so we will make some bows. First you need some ribbon. How much is up to how big you want it, so for this project just grab a role, or at least a yard. And don't forget your glue stick and plenty of glue. If you're going to make this a bow clip you will need some clips. I bought mine from Sally's Hair Salon. I'm pretty sure that you can buy them from any hair accessories place so just look around. 

Let's get started.

This is the clip that I will be using.

To start fold your first piece over like this. Make sure to burn your ends so your ribbon doesn't fray. Also leave a little tail so that you can see the end when you're done.

When folding with a one sided ribbon, make sure that your design is on the outside.

Your bow should have 4 loops. Keep in mind it doesn't look like a bow yet but now simply put some hot glue between each of the layers. Not to much, you don't want it to bunchy, just enough so that it all sticks together and keeps its shape.

It should look like this when it's all glued together and your ends are cut to the desired length and melted to keep them from unraveling.

Now this parts kind of tricky, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Fold your bow in half towards you and add a drop of glue in the center. Now when you fold down the sides away from you it should look like this picture.

Keeping your bow together- glue a piece of ribbon to the back and bring it all the way around as shown. Glue on your clippy so that part of the ribbon will be covering some of the medal (as shown below). This holds the clip in better than just gluing it onto the outside. You can end here or add a little design to the middle of your bow.

Here, after gluing the clip on, i continued my ribbon around and just twisted it to give it a little design. Another cute touch would be to tie it into a loose knot instead of the twisting. And then cut and burn the end of your ribbon (stop the frays) and glue it in the back somewhere to hide it from the front view.

Ladybug Pinata

My little girl turned one this year so I decided to do a ladybug theme. I knew that I wanted a Pinata and after searching everywhere for one I gave up and attempted my own. It's not store bought but it worked for what we wanted to do...soooo I cut out some cardboard in the shape of an oval plus the ladybugs head. Then cut out different pieces for the legs and antennas and taped them on. I didn't take pictures of each step but if you have any questions let me know! I cut paper into strips and taped it on. Then I painted it black, however I should have just used black paper. So if you decide to make your own I would pick up some paper that's colored to the color that you want. Then you cut it and tape it on. I also took a 3-5 inch wide piece (depending on how much space you want inside of your pinata) and hot glued it in between the two oval pieces that make the top and bottom of the ladybug. So far I have only attempted this pinata but it worked great! I think when the weather warms up again I shall try something else. Good luck with you experimenting! Oh and don't forget to insert something to tie the string too and to leave a hole in the back to put the candy in! I used a double thick pipe cleaner to tie the string to and it worked well, but if you had a zip tie or something that is stronger and more durable that would probably be better.

WELCOME!!!

I've decided to start this blog as an outlet to contain whatever my little heart desires. Whether that be my latest breakdown, funny story, or a look at my crafty side (pinterest...enough said). I'm a stay at home mom who loves to sew and experiment with crafts. I also have a lot on my mind, so if you would like to see what I have to share, pull up a chair, grab some milk and cookies, and join me on my latest adventure.

Enjoy!
~Ness~