Sunday, October 11, 2015

Halloween Pom-Pom Garland

This week's project was fun, albeit time consuming.  The Halloween Pom-Pom Garland by Eighteen 25, pinned to my Halloween Crafts board, looked like the perfect thing to make while catching up with the massive amounts of shows I've missed this week.  It was also very inexpensive as you're only buying a bag of paper straws and a skein of yarn.  I found both at my local Wal-Mart for approximately $5.00 altogether.  The black and white paper straws were in the bridal crafts section and the yarn is by Red Heart in the color Pumpkin.

Before I forget, it's best at this point, before you start making your poms, to cut a realy long piece of yarn that you will use to string the garland.  I failed to do this and ended up having to dig through my yarn to try and find something that would work after the fact. Learn from my mistakes, people!

Okay, now it's pom pom time.  I don't own a pom pom maker, so the first thing I had to do was make one.  I followed this tutorial.  I didn't want them to be huge, so instead of a DVD I used a latte mug as the template.  It was a much faster method than the ones I made in elementary school!  Really, I had them all done within a few episodes of Scream Queens.  Once you're out of yarn, you're done! Trim those poms and admire your handiwork.

Now the straws.  The tutorial says to cut them in thirds, but I didn't want them that short, especially with the bigger poms, so I cut mine in half.  Use some decently sharp scissors so that you dont mangle the ends making it virtually impossible to thread yarn through them.

Now we're ready to put it all together.
Take that really long piece you put aside and thread one end through a yarn embroidery needle.  Thread through one of your straw pieces and then through the center of a pom pom.  Keep going until you run out of either straws or pom poms.  Et fini.  Gorgeous, isn't it?



Hang it up and enjoy it's pom pommy glory.  I ended up with half of my straw bits leftover, so really you could buy two skeins of yarn and make either a really long garland or two regular sized ones.


Thursday, September 24, 2015

Cheesy Spinach & Mushroom Lasagna Rolls

Last night's dinner was Cheesy Spinach & Mushroom Lasagna Rolls from the Skinny Mom website, pinned in my recipes pin board.


I had company for dinner and everyone agreed this was a hit!

I added mushrooms to my sauce as well as the mushrooms in the filling.  I also laid thin strips of zucchini that I had cut using a vegetable peeler onto the noodles prior to putting the fillings on it.  Easy to make and really delicious.  Definite win!

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Raw Spicy Zoodle Bowl

Today's experiment was The Raw Spicy Zoodle bowl, from The Glowing Fridge.

The Glowing Fridge

I was so excited to try this!  I'm a huge fan of Asian food, especially the noodle dishes like Pad Thai, but am also trying not to eat so many carbs.  This recipe is the perfect blend of tasty and healthy.

I made a few modifications, for taste, but didn't want to deviate too far from the original recipe.

I spiralized two medium sized zucchini and shredded two medium carrots.  I then added the cup of red cabbage, cup of corn and a cup of peas.  I omitted the celery as I am not a fan.

For the dressing, I doubled the amount of ginger and jalapeno.  I used the juice of three key limes, which were tiny, so it was probably close to the same amount of juice as one lime.  I substituted the coconut oil with sesame oil to enhance the flavor of the toasted sesame seeds.  I also threw in more of those than was called for.  After blending the dressing I tossed the veggies and that was it.  Super quick!


Sorry for the craptastic photo, I couldn't find my camera.  Anyway, it was delicious!  I'll definitely make it again, possibly with a bit of peanut butter.