Taggie Blanket

So you all know I sing, right? But did you know I play the violin?

Yep.

I started when I was 10 years old. A few years later, I was in a full-blown war with a violinist in my 7th grade class in Helena, MT named Teresa. We couldn't stand each other! We were always competing for first chair, didn't like the other's playing style (she was a very technical player and I was more on the artistic side), she practiced all the time and I practiced as little as possible, and we were not very nice to each other. At one point, our teacher even separated us on each side of the room because she was tired of listening to us bicker!

During a summer orchestra program, we were in an orchestra filled with older and unfamiliar faces. That summer, we began to respect each other and work together. We played together all throughout High School and never fought again. She always played First Chair, 1st violin and I played First Chair, 2nd violins. It worked beautifully! Her technical ability suited more difficult portions in 1st violin and my deeper sound added richness to the 2nd violins.

I didn't intend to write a Kumbayah post here, but my friend Teresa (who coincidentally lives about an hour away) is having her first baby sometime around the end of August.

I wanted to do something special for her baby, but I'm low on time these days (hence the lack of posts in the last month). I decided a taggie blanket would be an easy handmade project that I could finish in one evening. I found a celery green flannel remnant at JoAnn's and decided to base the blanket around that. I found a brightly colored flannel that matched and some coordinating ribbon of different textures. I spent less than $10 and have enough materials to make three blankets!

I used these instructions, but didn't really find an exceptional tutorial (clear step by step pictures). I was in a hurry when I made this one, but if enough of you are looking for instructions, I do have more material and would be happy to make a tutorial. Just let me know in the comments if you are interested. I think it turned out great!

A Blueberry

The ONLY blueberry this year, to be exact. In order to allow the bushes to put all their energy into the plant instead of the fruit, we picked off all the berries before they matured, save this singular beauty. I was so looking forward to tasting this little blue sphere of happiness, but unfortunately, I left it on the table inside while I was talking to the hubby on the deck for a second. Midget climbed up and ate it.

*Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah*

Garden Update

The garden is growing so quickly! I took these pictures a week ago and they're already outdated--BIG TIME!

Although the garden has grown a lot in a week, we've hardly harvested anything yet. It's definitely a major exercise in patience for me. Because basically, I have none.

But no one's perfect right? It is my one and only flaw.

What??

When you say "lack of modesty," what exactly do you mean??

You can explain some other time. I'd rather just show you the pics.

Here's to Twelve Years Together

My First Bloggy Buddy Meetup!

Some of you may know the fabulous Aubrey, from The Fam Five. If you aren't already a reader, get yourself on over there and get a good giggle! I was so excited to get to meet her while I was in Colorado visiting family!

We had a great time talking and laughing while the kids played, although I felt a little bad that she was completely inundated with poop stories. I'm not sure why, but it doesn't take long for my family to start talking poop. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, considering my sister came with me.

Here's a few pics of our fun day! We were having so much fun yakking that I kind of forgot to take pictures!

Patriotic Pom-Poms!

For our little town's annual summer fair, Midget and I walked in the parade. I found a little outfit at a consignment store and found this fun pom-pom project in my Disney Family Fun Magazine. I had everything already on hand at home (plastic bags, wooden dowels, and blue painter's tape), except I had to call on a few friends to get enough Target plastic bags and I used cheap wooden chopsticks for handles.

I was excited to find the Patriotic Pom-Poms project online so I could share it with all of you, just in time for Independence Day!

Midget certainly drew LOTS of squeals and giggles!

I'm BUSY!

If you're wondering why you haven't heard from me in a while, here's what's been occupying our time.

Drove to Madison, WI
Dropped off the Wieners and stayed overnight at the Frazier Family Hotel
Drove to Milwaukee, WI
Hopped a plane to Denver, CO
Took Midget to Open Gymnastics (total maniac)
Attended exactly 6,348,983 little league baseball games, each two hours long
Played Tennis
Roasted Marshmallows
Had my very first meetup with a bloggy friend in real life--more on that later!!
Drove to Nebraska
Went to a big 50th Wedding Anniversary party
Let Midget ride her first horse
Got molested by a giant moth I was trying to take pictures of
Visited Carhenge--this is a once in a lifetime opportunity peeps...
Drove back to Denver, CO

Feeeeeee-yoooooooof! I'm tired just from writing this and I'm not scheduled to return until the 1st of July.

We'll return to your scheduled programming shortly, folks! Until then, here's a few pics of some of the activities.

Lusciously Lowercal Chicken Spanakopita

I figured I'd better redeem myself after posting that last disgusting-looking pile of goo. Yes, we ate them. No, they weren't as disgusting as they looked. Maybe I'll try again with a thicker dough instead of a batter.

This should remind you that I AM a cooking prodigy in an ever-shrinking platinum blonde package. hehe




So you might be going, "Chicken Spank-a-what??"







Spanakopita is Greek for Spinach Pie. Traditional Spanakopita is FATTENING--buttery layers of phyllo dough stuffed full of eggs, onions fried in olive oil, and full-fat feta cheese. It normally comes in around 12 Weight Watcher points (approximately 500 calories and almost FORTY grams of fat), but I made several small changes and kept the dish lip-smacking delicious and cut the WW points down to FIVE!

Phyllo dough is a mystery to some and many people are frightened to work with it, but by using cooking spray instead of melted butter, it not only cuts the calories, but it's as easy as (spinach) pie!

*bah dah bomp-chhhhhhh* Thank you folks, I'll be here all week.

By the way, you can find phyllo dough in any decent-sized grocery store freezer aisle, usually in a box containing two 8 oz twin packs of dough. Be sure to let it thaw out completely at room temperature or you will hate me forever for suggesting working with phyllo is easy.

This recipe is simple enough to make for a weeknight dinner and impressive enough to make for company! This dish manages to stay lowercal and adds ground chicken to make it a complete meal. Pair it with a salad dressed with Red Wine Vinegar, a sprinkle of garlic salt, and just a tish of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and you've got yourself a meal you'll want to scream OPA!! after!

Lusciously Lowercal Chicken Spanakopita


Nonstick Cooking Spray (butter or olive oil flavor recommended)
1 teaspoon Olive Oil
1 large Onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 lb Ground Chicken
2 10 oz. packages frozen chopped Spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain liquid
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
dash of Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Dried Oregano (or 1 Tablespoon Fresh)
1/4 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 cup Lowfat or Light Feta Cheese Crumbles
1 cup Egg Beaters
8 oz (9 x 14 in) Phyllo Dough, THAWED COMPLETELY


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Over medium high heat, heat a large skillet and add Olive Oil. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, then add chicken. Cook until no longer pink, approximately 8 minutes. Add spinach and all spices. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until there is no liquid coming out of the spinach.

Remove the spinach mixture from the heat and set aside while you are working with the phyllo.

Spray a 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Open and unroll the phyllo dough. Place one sheet of phyllo in the bottom of the pan (the dough is nearly paper thin, so be sure to just do one sheet at a time) and spray with cooking spray. Repeat with 9 more sheets of phyllo, making sure to spray with the nonstick spray between layers.

Mix the feta cheese crumbles and the egg beaters into the spinach mixture. Spread this mixture over the the phyllo "crust" in the pan.

Repeat the same phyllo, then cooking spray technique over the top of the spinach mixture with the remaining sheets of phyllo (there should be about 10 sheets remaining).

By the way, if your phyllo sheets tear, don't worry--it doesn't matter at all! Just piece it back together and keep layering.

LISTEN UP! Do not skip this next step or you risk your spinach pie turning into a crumbling mess!

Cut the top layer of phyllo crust into 8 equal pieces BEFORE PLACING IN THE OVEN and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned. You will need to cut your 8 pieces again after baking to cut your bottom crust.

Makes 8 servings, 5 Weight Watchers points per serving.

This is what your pan should look like. Give yourself a few activity points for all the jumping up and down you'll be doing after you taste this dish!

Recipe Flop

Since I always post perfect pictures of excellent recipes (yes, I'm quite modest--or completely delusional), I thought I'd post a picture of a recent flop. After taking Midget to her first carnival on Saturday, I had a massive craving for corn dogs! But I was not ready to spend a day's worth of points to eat a soggy microwaved one at home.

By the way, here's evidence of how much Midget loved the carnival rides.










So, I jumped on the good ol' internets and tried to find a recipe for baked corn dogs. The closest I came to finding a recipe was a baked dairy-free soy corn dog--bleeeeeech!

So I attempted to do one out of my head. This was the result.


I dub thee--PUDDLE DOGS!

Do not attempt this at home, kids.

Garden Goddess

Or as I like to call it, "Ho with a Hoe."

I know you're all laughing with me, not at me, right??

Excuse the blue hue--I'm still getting to know my new camera and I change things and can't remember how to get them back.

Oh! And can you believe how skinny I'm getting?? You may now commence heaping praise (even though I still gots lotsa chunkies). Actually, I don't think I've ever posted a full body pic on here before. Don't even ask for a full body "before" pic--I'm DEFINITELY not going to post one!!




By the way, all my plants are in the garden! Now I just have to have patience. This is not a skill I possess.

Trust me...

iHeartCake and Puppies

For more Birthday Celebrations and Pets, visit

It's a TWEETZZA!!

Last night, after I made a batch of no-knead pizza dough (recipe at the end of the post), I sent out a tweet looking for topping inspiration. I would pick a winner, make their pizza, and post about it here on my blog. I have dubbed the creation tonight my first Tweetzza!

Thank you all for the great suggestions!! Can I get a drumroll please??

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*
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The winning suggestion was Angie's creation!

@oikology101 My fave is artichoke, chicken, and garlic...with the garlic clove and artichoke hearts cut into chunks and scattered around mmm





Angie blogs at Homemaker Chronicles. You can follow her on Twitter here. I met Angie during an iHeartFaces Twitter party. She takes gorgeous photos and has a beautiful family! Please go say hi and congratulate her on a SCRUMPTIOUS TWEETZZA!!!

I peeled and chopped four cloves of garlic, cut the breast and thigh off the rotisserie chicken and chopped it into bite size pieces, and drained and chopped two jars of artichokes into slightly smaller pieces.

I knew I wanted to cook the garlic before I put it on the pizza. Given more time, I would have roasted it. But tonight, I just gave it a quick saute.

I did add one ingredient to her creation--mushrooms. I figured as long as I was going to saute the garlic for a quick second, that I might as well add mushrooms!

Oh, wait! I added a second ingredient (because you know me--I can never leave well enough alone). Fresh Basil! Mostly because I had it and because it's delicious!

In addition, I used 1/2 cup of prepared pizza sauce, 1/2 cup of mozzarella (go light on the cheese to save calories), and a tablespoon of real parmiggiano reggiano grated on the microplane.

So what do you think of my first Tweetza??










The pizza dough recipe was given to me by my friend, Jessica, and I've made just a few modifications. It is super delicious and so EASY!! You just mix it up, let it sit, and that's it! It doesn't have a single bit of fat in it and gives you a big puffy and chewy crust. The recipe makes two pizzas, so you can make a huge pizza for dinner and make another one an entire week later!

You MUST let this dough sit (total time needed to develop is at least 10 hours). The reason it doesn't need any kneading is because the glutens have TIME to develop! Because it can sit up to a week, you can make it and wait a few days to make your pizza(s). I promise that you'll want to have this in your fridge at all times!

No-knead Pizza Crust


1 1/2 Tbs granulated yeast (or 1-1/2 packets)
1 1/2 Tbs kosher salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3 Cups Lukewarm Water (NOT HOT)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour
Cornmeal for the pizza stone or cookie sheet.
Your choice of toppings (pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni etc.)


In a large plastic bowl with a fitted lid (at least 18 cup capacity--I use my 4.3 litre Tupperware Impressions bowl), mix salt, yeast, and Italian seasoning. Add water and minced garlic; stir. With a stiff spoon, incorporate the flour into the water mixture until well combined.

Place the lid over the bowl, but do not seal (some of the gasses need to escape or the container could burst). Leave out on counter for two hours or until at least doubled. Seal bowl and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

When you are ready to make your pizza, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Spray the baking stone or cookie sheet with cooking spray then sprinkle with cornmeal. Your pizza will stick big time if you skip this step.

Sprinkle flour on top of the dough, while it's still in the bowl. Rub your hands with flour to prevent sticking. Take out half of the dough for one pizza. Use a serrated knife if necessary. Put the remaining dough into the refrigerator (covered with the lid). You can keep this for another seven days if you can wait that long to eat more of this delicious pizza!

Drop the dough into a bowl of flour to coat both sides, shaking off the extra. To form the dough ball, roll the dough down and under itself, with a tucking motion. Turn and repeat two or three more times, until you achieve a nice round mound of dough.

Roll or stretch out the dough almost to the edges of the large baking stone or cookie sheet. If your dough resists rolling, let it rest for about 5 minutes and try again. I use my fingers and gently press the dough out to the edges of the cookie sheet.

Spread sauce on pizza. Top with your desired toppings and bake at 450 degrees. Set your timer for 10 minutes and check your pizza. I use the large Pampered Chef baking stone. It took 23 minutes on the bottom rack to cook the pizza to perfection this evening. If you are not using a stone, you will most likely need to place your pizza up higher to avoid burning the bottom of the crust.

Yields two pizza doughs, eight HUGE pieces each. Crust only--3 WW points per piece. To reduce the topping calories, bump up the amount of sauce, use less cheese, and do mostly vegetables and a little (or no) meat. Turkey pepperoni is actually pretty good and only adds a few points to the entire pizza.

Come on! You know you want a bite!!!!

Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot Pie

Do any of you remember Slow Donnie from Just Shoot Me? Truly, one of the best plot lines on a show--EVER! You can go here to get a refresher--or a HUGE laugh!

Here's a little snippet and what I think of every time I think of Chicken Pot Pie (just click on it--it's FOUR seconds long):


When I started Weight Watchers back in November, I thought I'd need to swear off all comfort food in order to lose the weight (I'm 32.6 lbs lighter today than I was when I started). What I've discovered is that it's easy to make good food. You just have to make different choices and adjust your way of cooking.

By not making a true "pie," you save yourself TONS of calories and fat and you still get all the great taste of a pot pie, complete with flaky pie crust!














Lusciously Lowercal Chicken Pot Pie

1 15 oz package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)
Cooking spray
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 10 1/2 oz cans condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cut 6 4-inch circles out of dough. Place the circles on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat dough with cooking spray and sprinkle evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pierce top of dough with a fork. Bake dough for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.

Combine flour, poultry seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a zip-top plastic bag; add chicken. Seal bag, and toss to coat. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken mixture; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Stir in chicken broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in vegetables, mushrooms, and soup and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Spoon 1 cup chicken mixture into bowls; top each serving with 1 piecrust.

Yields 6 Potpies. 7 WW points per pie*

*I am obviously not Weight Watchers endorsed and all points values are estimates. So if you want to sue me because I don't have points values EXACT, you will be wasting your time because I am poor.

New Camera, New Hair

Those of you who follow me on Twitter already have heard these two pieces of news. Those of you who don't--why wait for blog posts full of nonsense, when you can have little bits and pieces of nonsense from me ALL DAY???

1. I found a brand new Canon EOS Rebel XT with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens on clearance at Wal-Mart for $299. Can you say MEGA-SCORE???? I'm going to sell my Powershot SX10IS and should be able to recoup nearly all the money we spent on it!

2. I got bored on Saturday and decided to go platinum blonde. Wow! What a process! I've done two bleachings and a light blonde toner and I'm still not done yet. If I have any hair left and my scalp isn't one big scab when I reach the true platinum shade I want, it will be a miracle.

What do you think??

Milk Mustache

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Growing Like Crazy!

Remember my little seedling pots I posted three weeks ago?

Here's the parsley on 4/27.















Here's the parsley today.















Here's the basil on 4/27.












Here's the basil today.












Here's the first picture of Midget on this blog.












Here's Midget today.








It's a miracle I haven't killed any of them. Especially Miss Sassypants, who seems to have developed a MAJOR attitude all of a sudden! Fun times ahead, right??

I'm in a Rhubarb State of Mind...

My awesome Sister-in-law gave us four rhubarb roots to plant in our yard! I grew up eating lots and LOTS of rhubarb, as my grandma grew tons of it and both of my parents loved it. The hubby's Mom also has a GIGANTIC section of rhubarb in her garden (it's seriously huge--trust me, it's enormous), which is where my Sis-in-law got her roots from. These little plants will be huge in a few years!












Doesn't this scream "Feed Me Seymour!?!"













She also pulled some stalks off her plants and gave us a gallon ziploc stuffed full of rhubarb. Of course, I had to make some rhubarb sauce! I love eating it on Angel Food Cake. For any of you who've never eaten rhubarb, WHY IN SAM-HELLLLLLS NOT?? It is deliciously tart and is fantastic in quick breads and pairs especially well with goat cheese! Oh lordy lordy. It's so good!















Sugar Free Rhubarb Sauce

6 c rhubarb, diced
1/4 c water
1 .3 oz sugar-free raspberry gelatin (you could use strawberry, but I prefer raspberry)
1-1 1/2 c splenda

Place rhubarb and water in 2 qt saucepan. It will nearly fill the pan, but will break down quickly. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir and turn heat down to medium-low and cover. Stir occasionally, simmering for 10-15 minutes until rhubarb has broken down. Turn heat down to low, add gelatin and 1 c splenda. Mix thoroughly and add remaining sugar to taste. Remove from heat and serve warm or cold.

Roll Out the Red Carpet...

This week's guest judge at is Ree Drummond a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman!! Not only can this woman cook, she is a fantastic photographer, writer, and gorgeous to boot!

I hate you. Okay, not really. But sort of...

Welcome, Ms. Drummond, to Oikology 101!! See how polite I am? I'll let you give me permission to call you Ree and then we'll be BFF's forever, okay??

So even though I have no chance of even placing, here's a rundown of why I will not win and why I might win (if by some miracle crappy photos win).

Reasons why I won't win:
1. I have no idea how to use my camera and it's a P&S. That's sad...
2. I got super lucky and inherited Photoshop 7.0 from my hubby's work, but I have no idea how to use it. I'm plodding through and trying to figure it out, but it's a MASSIVE undertaking!
3. All of my artistic talent lies in my voice. I can barely draw a circle and make it recognizeable, let alone put together beautifully composed photos.
4. When Midget laughs, her entire body spasms (wonder where she gets that from *whistle whistle*) and it is EXTREMELY difficult to get a picture of her!

Reasons why I might win:
1. My rapier wit and wicked sarcasm.
2. Midget is extremely charming and has the most fabulous personality!
3. Did I mention my rapier wit and wicked sarcasm?
4. All professional photographers, amateur photographers, hobbyist photographers, and enthusiast photographers experience internet outages and are unable to post their photos.

Yes, weak reasons to win, especially because I doubt Ms. Drummond will have time to read all eleventy billion links on iHeartFaces and will therefore have no opportunity to experience my wit or sarcasm. Although, she does seem to have superhuman skills, so I guess it's possible!

So, without further ado, Pioneer Woman--meet Midget!

Isn't it Ridiculous...

that I was finally able to put a ponytail (and a sorry one at that) in Midget's hair? She'll be two years old in four months and still barely has any hair! As you can see, she wasn't thrilled about looking like she was Alfalfa from The Little Rascals.







Remember this?? Yes, that is our new tv behind the bratster. I hate to say I told you so, but...

A Short Story

Midget's Godbrother, just sitting and minding his own business.









But then along comes Midget.
















"Hmmmm... He looks like he's missing something."







"Ta-daaa!!"












"Seriously??? This stinks."