Mother's Day Ipod Crochet Case

So it turns out the crochet case was a hit with Momma Dukes! Not only did she love it but the ipod fits beautifully. 

I will have to make more for the craft fairs before Christmas! Its a very quick and easy gift for friends and family. 

My next crochet case will be for her Samsung Digital camera for when she goes on vacation.

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Check out the original post: Ipod Mini Case

Salsa topped Cauliflower "rice"

So I have been seeing pinterest pins about cauliflower rice and decided to give it a try today. I came up with my own recipe with what I had on hand and loved it! I also threw together a quick salsa with some corn and tomatoes that were getting ready to go bad and used it to top off the rice and add a little crunch. I will be making this salsa this summer with all the extra tomatoes I get from the garden.

Cauliflower Rice Recipe:
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried cilantro
half head cauliflower
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup red pepper

Process cauliflower in food processor for a rough chop. Heat frying pan with oil and garlic clove minced/sliced, toss in red pepper, cauliflower "rice", and spices. Cook for about 6 minutes or until soft but not mushy.

Processed Cauliflower "Rice" 

Salsa Recipe:
2 vine tomatoes
2 corn cobs broiled
1/8 garlic powder
1 tablespoon fresh or dry cilantro
1/8 cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop up two vine tomatoes, out in small bowl. Broil 2 ears of corn in an aluminum "boat" with a tablespoon of butter. Broil until the ears are charred, about ten minutes. Make sure to keep turning for an even char. Cut kernels from core and put in bowl. Mix in garlic powder, cilantro, and cayenne.

Before Broiling

After Broiling

chopped tomatoes

Final Salsa

Hash Brown Rosemary Crisps & Steak Sandwiches

The lovely grocery store always tempts you with something when you walk in for two things. Well this time it was fresh shaved steak sandwiches. And what goes better with steak then potatoes?

With every dinner I like to have a fresh vegetable as a side but lets face it, who has the time! Between attempting to keep the house clean (and failing miserably!), tending to a teething fussy baby, and making a thousand crafts for an upcoming wedding I run out of time way too fast. So I am always on the look out for yummy veggie sides that are quick and fast.

I found How Sweet It Is Cheesy Sweet Potato Crisps and tweaked it into a fast and yummy recipe with what I hand in my pantry and freezer. I had some leftover frozen hash-browns from a brunch we had a few weeks back and decided to use them for the potato's in this recipe. Works perfect with the beef sandwiches!

Hash Brown Rosemary Crisps
1 1/4 cup frozen hash brown, thawed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon onion powder, salt, and pepper
1/4 teaspoon rosemary

Thaw out 1 and 1/4 cup of frozen hash brown.
Preheat oven to 400
Squeeze out as much liquid as you can from the has browns. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Make two potato patty's. Cook for 20 minutes or until brown and crispy.

I started with 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary but it was pretty strong, Honey loved them but I think next time Ill go with 1/4 teaspoon. You can be the judge depending on how much you like rosemary.

Steak Sandwiches
About a pound Fresh Shaved beef steak
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt pepper and onion powder (since I was out of fresh)
Fresh peppers
Fresh garlic
Sub Rolls

Heat olive oil in saucepan. Throw in garlic, spices and beef, brown almost all the way. Throw in pepper with about two minutes left. Prep rolls with cheese and any condiments you like.

We used Swiss cheese slices

Serve up and enjoy with an ice cold drink, ours was sweet tea =]

The finished meal!

Stuffed Avocado

Another avocado recipe! Had to use up that second avocado I got on sale. So I used the Baked Avocado Salsa from Mele Cotte Blog to make it into my own Stuffed Avocado recipe.

Ingredients
1 avocado, halfed and pitted
1/4 cup imation crab meat
1 tablespoon salsa
1 teaspoon panko breading
salt and pepper
2 tomatoe slices

Preheat oven to 350
Mix crab, salsa, and panko in a small bowl.
Stuff in both half's of the avocado
Bake for 5 min and pull out of oven
Place tomatoe slice ontop and put in oven for 3 more min

Enjoy!

Ipod Mini Crochet Case

Mother's day is Sunday and we are trying to save money so I figured I would handmake a gift for my mother. I know she loves her Ipod and I have been wanting to make an Iphone case so I am testing out my first pattern. 

Here is what you will need:

G needle/ 4.25mm

size 4 yarn, 2 colors

button

thread and neddle

Front & Back:

ch 10 

SC in 2nd from hook sSC across, ch turn (9SC)

repeat for next 15 rows (total of 16 rows)

Finish Off, make two

I used Salt for the Spirit's small heart pattern for the front and sewed a button in the middle for the closing loop

Connect front and back with same color or color of heart (your choice). I first tried it with the blue border but didn't like it. So took it out and did it in rose and like it much better.

SC across top (9SC), hold back and front together SC two more SC in the 9 SC to make corner, SC 16 down the side connecting front and back. On each corner SC 3 to make the turn.

when you get to the top of the back piece SC 4, chain 15, skip next SC and SC across last 4 SC finish off and sew the tail.

You can alter the pattern to make one for a normal Ipod as well. Have Fun!

Avocado Salad Dressing

I went to the grocery store today and they had Avocado's on sale 2 for $3.00! 

I love avocados but have only had them so many ways. Well my best friend told me about her co worker who is vegan and how she uses a very ripe avocado for salad dressing. So I figured lets add a bit extra and make my own dressing!

I first tried using a blender but it just wasn't enough to really blend it together, unless you make a larger batch. So I switched to just mashing it together and it worked great. This recipe makes enough for two large salads and is delicious!

Ingredients:

1 Very Ripe Avocado

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Container to store

In a small bowl put the pitted and peeled avocado half's, olive oil, salt, pepper, and squeeze the lemon once or twice to taste. Mash them together and mix well. Store for a day or two, might turn a little brown but will still be okay to eat.

Bathroom Decorating

I have been working on the final touches of our upstairs bathroom while trying to give it that personal touch that I love. Looking around at what I have left to do I came upon a basket holding all my hair clips and ties. Why not fix it up to match the bathroom colors!? Our color theme in the bathroom is brown, white, and yellow.

 Here is before and after photos:

Huge difference right? It only took about two hours and thats with the paint drying time. Turned out cute too! 

First I cut the handle off. I couldn't remove the pins because the top row would have come undone. So I cut the handle at the top and the piece broke around the pin! I put a small dot of hot glue to hold the pin flat on the outside.

Be very careful cutting, the handle was hard to cut. 

Then choose your color of choice, mine was brown. It took two coats to cover all of the blue, and only one coat on the inside since no one will be inspecting it... I hope! I found that a stiff bristle paint brush worked better to get in all the cracks of the weaved basket.

Then make sure to let it dry al the way. I'm very impatient and tried doing the ribbon before the basket was dry and got wet paint on the ribbon (and my jeans!). So be sure to wait for it to dry!

I plugged in the hot glue gun and waited for it to warm up.

Start with a small drop on one side and attach the ribbon. I used four small drops, one on each side. Before gluing the last spot of the ribbon I folded the end over and secured it with a small amount of hot glue then glued it to the basket. Makes it look a little bit cleaner.

Hope you like! Its great how you can turn some old find into something amazing. 

I've got a few more thing to do in the bathroom and will be sure to share it with you guys!