Tag Archives: easy

Meal Planning – Week of August 10th

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This week was pretty easy as far as our meals went. Since the weather finally dealt us some non-stormy cards we were excited to get back outside and grill! As usual I tried to plan my meals so that the components of the first few meals could work easily into the meals later in the week, after all less prep work for Mama means a happier squishy baby :).

SUNDAY // Chicken Sushi Rolls with Bacon and Red Pepper Aioli – this is one of my original recipes and one of our new favorites. Since it takes a bit longer to prepare than our weeknight meals we prefer to make this one on a weekend day so that we can spend a little extra time preparing it together.

MONDAY // Shredded Beef Fajita Quesadillas – These were just a quick little something I whipped up using the left over beef from my Beef Barbacoa Tacos that we made on Friday. I simply used burrito sized tortillas, shredded cheddar cheese, sauteed onions and peppers, black beans and corn. Not only did using the left over beef help me stretch a buck, I saved some time by sauteing a large batch of peppers and onions so that I could use the extra in our Skinny Cheese Steak Sammies on Wednesday!

TUESDAY // BBQ Bacon and Chicken Kabobs – I used 4 cubed chicken breasts, two red peppers, 6 strips of bacon sliced into 2″ pieces, two onions cut into quarters and separated, threaded them onto metal skewers sprinkled with salt and pepper and basted with barbecue sauce before grilling. I grilled them until the chicken was cooked through and the bacon was crispy, basting a few extra times during the cooking process. Not only are these delicious but they are easy to prepare and a fun twist on regular chicken kabobs.

WEDNESDAY // Skinny Cheese Steak Sammies – This is my personal take on the traditional Philly Cheese Steak. I use sliced grilled skirt steak to keep the meal low cost, sauteed peppers and onions (the ones that were left over from my quesadillas), thin sliced provalone cheese (in place of cheese sauce to keep it light), broiled on a hoagie roll with some homemade chipotle mayo.

THURSDAY // Greek Salad Wraps – I grilled a few chicken breasts using my Quick Greek Marinade then cubed them and served all of the components of a Greek salad in a wrap – red onions, yellow peppers, sliced kalmata olives, sliced grape tomatoes, spring mix lettuce and feta cheese with Greek style dressing. This is my simple way of making a meal out of a simple Greek salad!

FRIDAY // Grilled Shrimp Tacos – This was an easy fix that I kind of made up by using ingredients I already had on hand. Since I always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer it’s easy to pull some out as needed. I marinated the shrimp in a bit of lemon juice, salt, pepper and chili powder then grilled them on skewers. I then served them in 6″ tortillas with a bit of chipotle mayo and spring mix lettuce (both left over from meals earlier in the week).

SATURDAY // Ordered In 🙂 – Since Saturday was our DIY day we ordered a pizza so we continued to craft the night away 🙂

Check out all of my favorite recipes on my “Tried and True” Pinterest board!

Skinny Cheese Steak Sammies

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This recipe is my “skinny” take on the traditional Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich, but I won’t refer to them as “Philly” Cheese Steak Sammies for fear of ridicule from the hardcore Philly Cheese Steak enthusiasts out there, haha. I LOVE a good Philly Cheese Steak but I try to keep my intake of cheese sauce to a minimum so I came up with my own healthier version of the sandwich so that my hubby and I can enjoy it at home. If you’ve checked out any of my other recipes you’ll see that I’m a big fan of skirt steak, mostly because it’s super cheap and in my opinion underrated because when prepared right it can be a great alternative to more expensive beef cuts like sirloin. I love these sandwiches because they’re great at any time of year and since they’re not as heavy as the traditional Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich, they can even be enjoyed on super hot summer days (like we did this past week!) and with the addition of a little chipotle mayo they certainly aren’t lacking in flavor. Additionally, they can be prepared entirely on the grill or indoors on the stove top so you have different options in terms of preparation as well. I hope you enjoy these as much as we do, I promise you won’t miss the cheese sauce 🙂

SKINNY CHEESE STEAK SAMMIES (MAKES 4)

*For some reason I only took three pictures and then got too excited to eat the final product and forgot to snap a photo of that as well, lol. Will update soon!

INGREDIENTS 

  • 2 lbs. Skirt Steak
  • 2 green peppers, thinly sliced
  • 1 medium to large onion, thinly sliced
  • 8 thin slices of Provolone cheese
  • 4 Hoagie or Sub Rolls
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 3/4 cup lite mayo
  •  1 Chipotle Pepper in Adobo (after removing one from the can you can freeze the rest in a small ziplock bag for later use)
  • Juice of 1/2 a Lemon

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: Begin by placing your skirt steak in a dish with a generous amount of olive oil and salt with a bit of pepper and toss to coat. Allow it to marinate for a few minutes while you prepare the chipotle mayo and pepper and onions.

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Step 2: To prepare the mayo place the mayo, lemon juice and chipotle pepper in adobo in a blender or food processor and blend until combined (I use my nutribullet). If you don’t have a blender or food processor you can chop the pepper as fine as you are able to manually and then combine all ingredients by stirring by hand.

There will be lots left over! It is super yummy on just about anything :)

There will be lots left over! It is super yummy on just about anything 🙂

Step 3:  To prepare the peppers and onions you can sautee them for a few minutes on the stove top with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper until tender. If you plan to prepare them on the grill you can combine the peppers with olive oil, salt and pepper within a foil packet and place on the grill along with your steak when you grill it. If you want preparation to be super easy you can prepare your peppers and onions ahead of time as I did by setting some of my peppers and onions aside when I prepared my Fajita Quesadillas a few days prior.

My left over peppers and onions

My left over peppers and onions

Step 4: Now you are ready to grill your steak. Preheat your grill and then grill your steak to your desired level of doneness. Allow the steak to rest for a few minutes before slicing against the grain (to make it easier to chew). I slice it in half, then into strips against the grain and cube it.

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Step 5: Once your ingredients are prepped, slice your rolls and spread your desired amount of chipotle mayo in each then assemble your sandwiches by placing steak, peppers and onions in side of the open roll and finally topping the ingredients with two slices of provolone cheese.

Step 6: At this point you can either place your sandwiches back on the top rack of the grill for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and the bread begins to crisp or you can place them under the broiler for a minute or two just to melt the cheese. Enjoy!

DIY Rustic Picture Display

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As I mentioned, we’ve been brainstorming ways to brighten up these hospital-white walls in our new home. Since we’re only going to be here for under a year we decided that painting the walls would just be silly. However, as you can imagine and entire house painted in flat white paint (that was clearly just slapped on by maintenance after the previous occupants vacated the home) is not ideal. The obvious solution would be to hang LOTS of decor items and pictures, but given our tendency to move every two minutes (lol) picking up expensive wall decor when we don’t have the slightest idea about the layout of our next home just won’t work for us. So our plan is to keep it simple and as budget friendly as possible by refinishing old frames to hang our pictures (more on that later!) and using our DIY skills to copycat some expensive decor.

The first place I picked up some inspiration for “operation DIY-decor” I was in Michael’s craft store and saw this gorgeous distressed picture display (shown below) that was way out of my budget at $69.99, I knew immediately that I could probably recreate it so I snapped a photo and moved on. A few months later when our new home on base was finally beginning to take shape and I was brainstorming a few finishing decor touches, I came back to the photo I had taken at Michael’s a few months back and knew it would be prefect for the small space between the doorway and the window in our dining area. The project took me only two naptimes (or two hours lol) and once I had completed it I was SO glad that my DIY-eye caught this one, because not only is the finished product beautiful but it only cost me $10.25 to create! Since I was adapting my version of this picture display to work into the color scheme of my dining and living room I was able to use paint that I already had on hand from some of my previous refinishing projects which meant I only needed to purchase an unfinished board from Lowes (which didn’t even need to be cut, woo-hoo!) and a few thrift store frames (which cost a total of $3.25 for all 4!).

In coming up with exactly how I wanted to go about creating this picture display the project took on many different forms in my head in terms of what kinds of frames I would use, what color, how many and how they would be fastened to the board. My first idea was to mod podge the pictures onto the wood then remove the glass from the frames and fasten it to the board around the picture, then my next thought was to saw holes into the back of the wood as an access to the frame so that the pictures would not have to be permanent (decided that option was too much work, lol). Finally I decided to make it super easy by simply fastening the frames permanently to the wood using hot glue (for the time being it has held good, I may decide to pop them off and reglue them using gorilla glue so that I can be certain that the frames will stay fastened to the wood). While I may at some point in time want to change the pictures out, for the time being I am absolutely obsessed with baby P’s six month photos and couldn’t dream of putting anything else in there, that being said I’m sure it won’t be difficult to pop the frames off, change the pics out and reattach them should I change my mind down the road.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to jazz up your decor without hanging individual photos or artwork this could be a great DIY project to try! This would be an especially good decor option for a renter, since the board can be hung using a hook that requires only one small nail which is much easier than hanging multiple pictures and means that you won’t have to patch multiple holes on your way out. That being said you could even use a larger board and attach a bunch of frames kind of like a removable gallery wall, the options with this project are endless so have fun with it!

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TUTORIAL 

*This is simply what I did step by step as a guide, there are so many variations on this project check out my tutorial on painting wooden furniture or painting with homemade chalk paint to get some inspiration for finishes and colors!

WHAT I USED:

Before!

Before!

  • 1 unfinished board (mine was 1″ thick X 4 ft. long X 10″ wide .. I think lol)
  • 2 8X10 wooden frames
  • 2 5X7 wooden frames
  • 4 pictures
  • chalk paint (for frames and board) – see link to see how I made my own chalk paint, for a great tip on saving money by purchasing sample size paints see this post.
  • white latex paint
  • regular 2″ paint brush
  • black foam brushes
  • Electric sander or sanding blocks
  • Minwax Paste Finishing Wax in “Special Dark” (available here via Amazon)
  • glue gun and hot glue or gorilla glue/wood glue
  • 1 sawtooth picture hanger
  • measuring tape
  • level
  • hammer
  • mounting hook (I used something like this)

WHAT I DID:

Step 1: I began by giving my board a quick sand down with the electric sander with a 150-grit (fine) sand paper just to remove any jagged pieces on the edges and to smooth out any scratches, this took me less than a minute. It doesn’t need to be perfect, the knots in the wood will add to the “rustic” character of your finished product, also keep in mind that your frames will end up covering most of the board’s surface area.

Step 2: Next I painted the front and sides of the board with a coat of chalk paint (mine only required one coat, depending on your color you may need two or three) in “Borough” by Valspar using a 2″” black foam brush.

Step 3: While my board was drying I got to work on  my frames. I removed the glass and gave the wood a quick sand by hand just to remove any varnish or dirt then wiped them clean with a damp cloth. I then used a black foam brush to apply two coats of chalk paint in “Farmer’s Market” by Valspar (this color has become my accent” color for most of my projects for the living/dining rooms), waiting about 30 minutes in between coats. NOTE: For a larger piece I would allow more dry time but since they were only frames that wouldn’t be handled much I figured I could rush a bit.

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frames after first coat

Step 4: Once my board had dried I used a regular 2″ paint brush to “dry brush” the top and sides of the board with regular white latex paint (I had some trim paint left over from our old house). For a more detailed explanation of the technique of dry brushing just do a Pinterest search for “dry brush painting”, but very simply all you need to do is take your dry brush, dip it into the paint so that there is just a very small amount of paint on the tip of your brush, then dab your brush on a piece of paper towel/cardboard/scrap paper (whatever) to remove any excess paint then begin to brush your wood very lightly and randomly, in the same direction. I started out with very light strokes, barely swiping the board and increased  my pressure of stroke as the brush became dryer. Repeat this process until you have achieved the desired “rustic” look to your board. Allow about 30 minutes of dry time.

The dry brushing will look something like this before distressing.

The dry brushing will look something like this before distressing.

Step 5: Once my white paint dried I returned to my board and used my electric sander and 150-grit sand paper to distress the board (if you do not have an electric sander you can do this by hand using sanding blocks or regular sand paper, it will just take you a bit longer), focusing on the edges and randomly along the surface, I applied various pressures along the edges to give it a more authentic distressed look. The amount of distressing you do is up to you and if you are going for a modern look you need not dry brush or distress the piece at all!

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Step 6: After distressing my board I wiped it clean of any sanding dust since it was now time apply my paste finishing wax. Using a rag, I applied a thin coat of the wax to the front and sides of the board, then did the same to my frames. After the recommended amount of time had passed, I buffed them all out using a clean rag. I just recently started using the finishing paste and I love it because it doesn’t require any dry time other than the 15 minutes you have to wait in between applying the wax and buffing it, once you buff your piece it is ready to use!

frames with wax applied before buffing

frames with wax applied before buffing

Step 7: Next I used a level mark a line at the top center of the board (about 5 inches down) where I wanted to attach my sawtooth hook (make sure you use a level or else your board will hang crooked!), and used a hammer to nail the hook into the board.

Step 8: Next I put my pictures into the frames and made sure that any existing hooks on the back of the frames were removed so that they would lay flat once attached to the board. I then laid the frames out on my board and measured out equal distances for placement (you may use a level for this part too if you would like), making small pencil marks for where each would go. Once I had marked my board for the placement of each frame I began attaching them by applying a generous amount of hot glue or wood glue to the back of each frame (if using hot glue work quickly so that the glue doesn’t harden!) and then pressing it firmly onto the board. NOTE: As I mentioned above this display is on a sort of probationary period to see if the hot glue will in fact hold, lol. If I feel that the frames are starting to come loose I will return and re-glue them using gorilla glue or wood glue to ensure a permanent hold. Once your glue is dry and your pictures are securely fastened your board is ready to hang!

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The project as it’s displayed in our home! Baby P is obsessed with it haha

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Meal Planning – Week of August 3rd

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Unfortunately this post will only include five meals instead of six. We had our usual dine-out/order-in day on Sunday and then the following Saturday one of J’s co-workers ended up inviting us over for dinner so we got out of cooking on that day as well :). All in all it was a good week of recipes despite cheating out of an extra day, I was able to whip up some of our favorites in addition to stretching a dollar by using our left overs as components of other meals!

SUNDAY // Take-Out

MONDAY // Spinach & Feta Chicken Roll-Ups – This was a super cheap and simple meal I made using the left over filling from the Spanikopita Bites I made for Friday’s baby shower (for some reason I always wind up with more filling than phyllo cups!). I sliced my large chicken breasts into thirds and pounded them thin (much cheaper than purchasing thin cut breasts!), spread about 2 Tbsp. of filling onto each breast, rolled them up and secured them with a toothpick. Next, I simply pan seared them to brown on each side then baked them in 375 degree pre-heated oven for an additional 25-30 mins. I highly suggest trying out the Spanikopita Bites as an appetizer for your next party, to make it super easy I buy the pre-made phyllo cups as opposed to making them myself. 

TUESDAY // Greek Sliders – This is a recipe I came up with to satisfy our burger fix and to use up the endless supply of feta cheese I always keep on hand, it’s healthy and super easy. Check out the link to hear more about it! 

WEDNESDAY // Chicken Satay – I am obsessed with satay. Since we cook it on the grill the hardest part of the preparation (which isn’t hard at all) is the peanut dipping sauce, so when I found a peanut sauce recipe that I enjoyed I made a huge batch and froze it in a few small plastic zip locks so that whenever we have satay I’ll always have it on hand. I am yet to come across a satay recipe that I didn’t enjoy, but I give this one bonus points because I already had all of the ingredients on hand. I subbed chicken thighs for breasts to make it extra cheap! 

THURSDAY // Miso-Glazed Salmon – New-favorite-alert! This recipe was awesome! Last time I was in Trader Joe’s I happened to come across some miso paste (which apparently only costs like a dollar, who knew?), and knew that I needed to whip up one of the miso-glazed salmon recipes I always happen across. Since J agrees to eat salmon “if it’s prepared right” (whatever that means, lol), I knew that this asian-inspired recipe would most likely be hubby friendly. This super easy and healthy recipe only requires about three ingredients and is SO good. I garnished with green onions instead of chives since I always keep some scallions on hand.  

FRIDAY // Slow-Cooker Beef Barbacoa Tacos – I really enjoyed this one. I’m a fan of anything with a chipotle flavor as well as anything that’s prepared using the slow cooker so this recipe checked off two boxes on my list. One of my favorite parts of this recipe is that it made a lot so the left overs can be used to make nachos, burritos or quesadillas (see next week’s meal planning menu!). 

SATURDAY // Dinner with Friends 🙂

Check out all of my favorite recipes on my “Tried and True” Pinterest board!

Greek Sliders

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Not so surprisingly I decided to come up with another Greek inspired recipe this week 🙂 We were coming off of an awful eight day rainy spell and were itching to get out and grill and since I usually always have feta and frozen spinach on hand, these Greek style sliders were easy to throw together. While I love a good, juicy burger when we’re out, I almost prefer to prepare them at home to both ensure that they are fresh (not frozen) and to save on our fat intake by using a leaner ground beef. I love these little sliders, once I get around to posting my Dad’s Greek meatball recipe you’ll see that the two recipes are very similar, however, since the meatballs are baked it’s nice to have a grilled variation in the form of a recipe so that we can switch it up! Additionally, I love a “fun” burger (I’d say “gourmet” but my use of cost saving ingredients somewhat prevents me from doing so, lol), so if you like these check out my recipe for Kitty’s Mediterranean Turkey Burgers (I use the same Lemon Dill Sauce on these burgers!) and keep an eye out for more burger recipes to come 🙂

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Squishy baby wishing he could try one of the yummy sliders! Actually, I’m not even sure if this picture is from that day but he is just so cute I had to share it anyway 😛

GREEK SLIDERS (makes 12)

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb. Lean Ground Beef (I used 93% lean)
  • 5 oz. chopped frozen spinach
  • 3/4 cup feta crumbled feta cheese
  • 2 Tbsp. chopped Italian Parsley
  • 1/2 onion, finely diced (yellow, white or red is fine)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper 
  • Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS

Step 1: Prepare frozen spinach according to package directions. Once spinach has cooked squeeze out any excess water by either wrapping it in a clean dish towel and squeezing out the excess liquid or placing the spinach in a strainer and pressing with a dish towel or large spoon. 

Step 2: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand until just combined, do not over mix. slid1

Step 3: Form 12 small patties of equal size (or 6 regular sized burgers if you prefer not to do sliders) and brush with olive oil. Grill to desired degree of doneness (is that a word? lol) and enjoy! I serve mine up on mini buns with Lemon Dill Sauce (this time I didn’t have any fresh dill on hand so I just used dry, no big dill lol).

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Gnocchi with Sausage & Spinach

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Alas, yet another recipe that I didn’t document with pictures, lol. Thankfully this one is pretty easy to explain sans pics, so I will do my best. I came up with this one as a result of having picked up some gnocchi on my last Trader Joe’s trip. The best way to describe this recipe is as a healthy, non-soup version of Olive Garden’s “Zuppa Tuscano”, which is one of my absolute favorites (but I bet I wouldn’t like it as much if I got my hands on it’s nutritional info. lol). While this recipe isn’t totally guilt free (turkey sausage is still sausage, haha), it is significantly healthier than it’s inspiration and is a nice hearty meal when you’re craving some Italian comfort food 🙂

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Package regular potato gnocchi
  • 4 links hot Italian turkey sausage or about 1 lb. ground turkey sausage
  • 10 oz. cut leaf spinach (fresh or frozen, I used frozen)
  • 1 1/2 cups Cauliflower “Alfredo” 
  • 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS

Step 1: Begin by preparing your Cauliflower Sauce according to the link above. I make big batches and keep it frozen in my freezer (it freezes well!). When finished set to the side.

Step 2: Heat olive oil in pan. Remove sausage from casings and discard casings, add sausage to pan and break into small pieces. Since my sausage didn’t contain any fennel seed I added some to give it a more authentic sausage flavor. 

Step 3: While sausage is browning, prepare spinach and gnocchi (gnocchi will only take a few minutes to cook in boiling water). If you are using frozen spinach prepare it according to package directions (stovetop or microwave). Once the spinach has cooked make sure you squeeze it using either a dish towel or paper towel and strainer to rid it of any excess liquid. If you plan to use fresh spinach simply wait for the sausage to finish browning, then add it to the pan and allow it to wilt, stirring constantly.

Step 4: Add spinach, gnocchi and cauliflower sauce to pan with sausage and stir to combine allowing all ingredients to heat through, then remove from heat. Enjoy!

DIY Dry-Erase Paint Chip Calendar

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This project has me so excited and I’m not sure why since it’s nothing crazy. Probably because it’s the first step in finally getting my laundry room and family command center in order! I had seen something like this on Pinterest a while back and had decided against making it since we didn’t have the place for it our old home, however, now that we have a laundry room and soon-to-be family command area, I knew this would be the perfect addition. 

So today, teething baby in tow, I headed to Lowes to fetch my free paint chips. Now, I’m sure the staff couldn’t care less about my taking thirty-five (that’s how many I needed) paint chips since they are after all, free, but I couldn’t help feeling that I was abusing my paint-sample privilege. I didn’t feel too bad considering I was purchasing other items, but I was sure I was going to get in trouble anyway, haha. At one point the lady at the paint counter motioned me over and said “I saw you over there and couldn’t help but notice …” and I was sure she was going to say “that you had a few stacks of paint chips in your hands, put those back”, lol but of course she went on to ooh and ahh over my squishy baby who apparently couldn’t stop smiling at her while I was busy abusing the paint chips. So proud of that baby P, already aiding and abetting in my questionably kosher crafting adventures! Anyway, moral of the story is, nobody cares, go nuts and take as many paint chips as you want :).

Once I got home this took me about 45 minutes to put together and since it didn’t require any hazardous materials I was even able to do it in the presence of baby P! The frame was a thrift store find that I had redone (aka hit with some spray paint) when we were planning on putting up a gallery wall in the old house (more on that later, as we’ll be putting up a smaller scale gallery wall in this house soon!), so the frame was essentially free which means that this project cost me ninety-seven cents (the cost of the poster board)!!! I can’t wait to hang it in my command center as part of my new and improved laundry/mudroom. Apparently we really needed this calendar too, when my hubby got home and I showed it to him he all sorts of questions about the events on it, none of which he knew were happening, lol. Here is my tutorial, it’s quick, easy and can be customized to fit any color/decor scheme! 

NOTE: If you have a rotary cutter this project will probably take you significantly less time. Personally I didn’t care if my lines weren’t perfect but if you’re a stickler for a perfect job I would definitely consider using one. 

Sorry that my pictures are so awful, I was so excited to post this I didn’t even hang the calendar which is why it’s leaning on a chair lol. I will post better ones soon!

Baby P watching our lawn getting mowed while I worked on the calendar :)

Baby P watching our lawn getting mowed while I worked on the calendar 🙂

YOU WILL NEED:

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  • 35 paint chips – I used seven different colors, five of each color. You can do it the opposite or use all different colors if you prefer. Try to stick to lighter colors so that your dry-erase marker will show up well against it. I used the Valspar chips from Lowes since the little square at the top is perfect for inserting the date.
  • 1 piece of white poster board – any other light color will do as well.
  •  16X20 frame – based on the size of the paint chips I think this size works best.
  • Glue Stick or other crafting glue
  • Scissors
  • Ruler

INSTRUCTIONS: 

Step 1: Begin by cutting your poster board to size. Then comes the tedious part – cutting all of your paint chips. I simply cut them down to eliminate any wording (for example the name of the paint and it’s code). This is a great project to do while watching a show!

Step 2: Line your chips up on your poster board, seven across and five down. Make sure you leave enough room at the top to write the name of the month and if you’d like, some room on the bottom to write “notes” or “monthly goals”. Once you are happy with their placement, use your glue stick to glue each one down. 

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Step 3: Along the top either write the days of the week or as I did, print them out and glue them on. 

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I chose colors that complimented our home’s color scheme, in case you’re into paint colors they are all Valspar. From right to left: Terra Cotta Red, Desert Rose, Roasted Squash, Hazy Stratus, Toasted Apricot, Urban Sunrise and Apricot Honey.

Step 4: Place your calendar into the frame and boom, DONE! Use a dry-erase marker to fill out your dates and happenings then display it proudly because you my friend, are a DIY diva (or dude, whatever lol)!  

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Easy Scrapbook Distressed Wooden Letter

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This is just a quick little project that has done double duty for me in the way of both home decor and DIY gifting. I love it because it’s super quick and easy and can be customized to any gift or decor scheme, making it a perfect addition to a diaper cake to later be used in a nursery or as part of a gift basket to later be displayed in the recipient’s home! Any crafting enthusiast will most likely be familiar with mod podge and it’s seemingly limitless crafting applications. Personally I have used it as a sealer and glue as well as a top coat to many of my projects. This particular project simply involved mod podging a piece of craft or scrapbook paper to a wooden letter and sanding the edges a bit. From start to finish it takes about 10 minutes (not including dry time)! When creating gifts I love adding little extras that don’t cost a lot to produce so this is the perfect addition to any gift (I’ll give some examples below), this particular project cost a little over $2.00. I hope this one makes it onto your next diaper cake or gift basket!

YOU WILL NEED:

  • 1 wooden letter (I purchased mine at Walmart for $1.97)
  • 1 piece of craft or scrapbook paper
  • mod podge (glossy or matte, whatever you prefer)
  • black foam brush
  • Sanding block or sand paper (medium grit)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Begin by laying your scrapbook paper print side up and placing your wooden letter right-side up on the paper. Using a pencil, trace around the letter.

Step 2: Next, cut out the letter that you just traced, it does not need to be perfect, you will be sanding off any rough edges later in the process.

Step 3: Using your foam brush, apply a generous coat of mod podge to the back of your scrapbook paper letter then carefully place it onto your wooden letter, adjusting it so that it lines up as closely as possible. Use your fingers to gently smooth the letter out, pressing the paper onto the wood. Use a tissue or paper towel to wipe any excess mod podge from the edges. Allow to dry, this will probably take about an hour but may be done in as little as 20 minutes. Be sure to wash out your brush so that you may reuse it later!

Step 4: Once the letter has dried, use your foam brush to apply another coat of mod podge to the letter atop the scrapbook paper, this will seal it. Be sure to brush any clumps of mod podge off of the sides of the letters. Allow another hour or so of dry time.

Step 5: Once the top coat has dried, use your sanding block to sand the edges of the letter (focusing on the top edges not the sides), this will give it a distressed look and really make it look like the paper is painted onto the letter. Once you are happy with your level of distressing on the edges you are finished! If you feel the need you can apply another coat of mod podge or if your paper has lifted at all on the edges you can apply some mod podge to those specific areas.

This quick project helped me add a little something extra to the two gifts below!

Here it is as part of my “Whale-of-a-Time” Diaper Cake. Since I forgot craft paper at the store that day I decided to improvise. Since baby Brian’s room is whale themed I simply printed the lyrics to “Baby Beluga” on some blue card stock that I already had.

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Here is a “J” I made for baby Jackson as part of my friend’s baby shower decor. She had been a huge fan of my Spring Chevron Wreath so I made her one as a gift and at her shower we displayed it with the “J” on the door as part of the decor (I also made her a welcome burlap mini banner to go with it). Oh, and check out my tutorial for DIY fabric flowers if you like the ones on this wreath!

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Nautical Mini-Diaper Cake

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Eek, super late with this post, seeing as how this sweet little boy was actually born this week, but I will go ahead and post it anyway since it’s still so darn cute! So before attempting my four tier whale diaper cake I wanted to do a little trial run so that in case my diaper cake making abilities were a complete fail, I would still have time to scramble for a new gift idea. One of my NC friends Ashley is expecting a sweet little boy in August who is going to have the most adorable nautical themed nursery. This gift was very simple, just diapers and a little nautical outfit, so I wanted to present it in a fun way that would give it a little flare. Aside from the ribbon, outfit and diapers I already had all of the other components in my craft stock, so it was extremely easy to put together. I will go ahead and give you a description of what I did and how I assembled the cake as a guide, but be sure to check out my whale diaper cake post above for a more detailed description (and links to my friend Courtney’s amazing diaper cakes) on how to assemble an awesome little cake!

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WHAT I USED:

  • 1 nautical baby boy outfit  – purchased via Amazon (currently unavailable, but a link to the image is available here).
  • 25-30 Size 2 Diapers
  • Chevron/Burlap 2.5″ Wire Ribbon
  • Red Striped 1″ Ribbon
  • White Basket/Gift Shred
  • 2 wooden skewers – small wooden dowels, popsicle sticks or straws would also work!
  • Twine
  • Stick-on craft letters
  • Glue Gun & Hot Glue
  • 6″ & 8″ cake pans

WHAT I DID:

Step 1: For this particular cake I began by fanning the diapers (fold side out) into the two cake pans. The pans are not necessary but they are a good guide and make it much easier to arrange the diapers. Once I had filled the pans and created the two “tiers” for the cakes, I secured them by tying a piece of string around each to hold them in place (this can also be done with large rubber bands).

Step 2: I then cut a piece of cardboard (part of the diaper box, lol) in a circle that was a little bit larger than the bottom layer of the “cake” and covered it with blue wrapping paper. For a more finished look you can purchase cardboard cake bottoms but for this one I just improvised. After covering the cardboard with wrapping paper I cut a small 2X2″ “X” in the middle of the cardboard round and set it aside.

Step 3: Take your 2.5″ ribbon and cut a piece just large enough to wrap around each tier of the cake. Repeat using the 1″ ribbon. Take your larger ribbon and wrap it around the middle of each cake “layer” and secure it tightly using a dot of hot glue. For the top tier I repeated the same process using the 1″ ribbon, but for the bottom I simply wrapped it around the tier and tied a bow in the front.

Step 4: Next I used the pants and top of the outfit to create a “bow” for the top by folding the shirt into a rectangle, then folding the pants in half and then laying them across the shirt rectangle to create a bow (this will make more sense when I explain the next part).

Step 5: Take your cardboard round and set your bottom layer of “cake” atop it, then your top layer on top of that. Now you will use your little outfit “bow” to do double duty: both hold the cake together and be the cake topper. I fed the legs of the pants through both cake layers and secured the tips of the toes at the bottom using the cardboard “X”. The top of the cake where the pants were folded over the shirt to create the bow will be held tight (the waist of the pants should just reach over to be tucked into the top of the diaper cake where as the legs will extend all the way down through the cake). NOTE: This just so happened to work out this way with the outfit I had chosen, you can always just top the cake with a pair of baby shoes or a stuffed animal to make it easy, simply secure it with pins!

Step 6: Lastly, I created the name banner by cutting triangles out of the wire ribbon and hot gluing them to a piece of twine before adding the stick-on craft letters and gluing each end of the twine to the wooden skewers so as to suspend the banner in between. I made sure the sharp ends of the skewers would be pointing down so that they could simply be stuck into the top of the cake layers without needing any sort of adhesive.

That’s it! This was my first attempt at a diaper cake so I kept it small and just worked with what I had. Sorry if the description of my process is a bit confusing, I was kind of just making it up as I went along! Don’t forget to check out my Whale Diaper Cake as well as Wildly Domestic’s tutorials on diaper cakes, she has a whole section of her blog dedicated to them! 

Meal Planning – Week of July 20th

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So I know I had previously mentioned that I would try and post my weekly meal plans, both for the benefit of anyone that cares and for me to refer back to when trying to plan future weekly meals. Anyone that has tried to stick to a strict budget while maintaining a healthy diet knows the challenges that this combo can pose. In our house we don’t follow any particular diet plan, we just try to eat mostly healthy meals prepared by healthful methods of cooking. I plan on creating a separate post regarding our budget, but we try to stick to a strict $50.00/week grocery budget (this doesn’t include household goods like cleaners, toilet paper and other non-food items available at the grocery store, only food). We also don’t buy lunch food, I just prepare large enough dinner meals that reheat and pack well so that they can be eaten for lunch by both myself and J the following day. Personally, I am always looking for new dinner ideas (a big reason I waste so much time on Pinterest, haha), so the purpose of these “meal planning” posts will mainly be to share some new meal/recipe ideas with my friends, followers and fam! If I can be as diligent as I hope to be with these weekly posts, I plan to eventually make a whole “meal planning” category. 

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The menu, as displayed in our home 🙂 I ended up replacing “summer quiche” with another recipe, however, I will be posting that soon! Check out this pic’s link to my “DIY menu chalkboard”!

SUNDAY // Chicken Cordon Bleu – I stretched a buck by purchasing a large package of chicken breasts and using them in both this meal and my Panini recipe below. Instead of spending the extra money on thin sliced breasts, I slice the large breasts and pound them thin myself.

MONDAY // Fried Rice – I love this recipe! It really is very close to “restaurant quality” as the creator claims it to be and it’s super cheap to prepare! I added some roast pork that I had left over from one of our weekend meals but usually I’ll just add extra scrambled eggs as the protein element. 

TUESDAY // Almond Crusted Shrimp – Prepared in the same fashion as my Almond Crusted Flounder, so simple and delicious and I only use a little bit of oil to fry them up but if you’re trying to be super healthy you could always bake them. 

WEDNESDAY // Baked Felafel – This is one of my favorite recipes! I serve it with my Skinny Tzatziki and yellow rice. I always double this recipe so that we will have enough for lunch the following day. I also tend to add a little extra flour, my mixture is always a little looser than hers looks in her prep pics. 

THURSDAY // Grilled Chicken & Summer Veggie Paninis – This was simple as grilling up some thin sliced chicken breasts, zucchini and summer squash. I like to use veggies in our cooking that I can also steam up and serve to baby P. I finished it off with some sliced gouda (I bought the cheap Sargento slices, well, because they’re cheap, lol, but also because they melt quickly) and some of my simple Red Pepper Aioli that I always keep on hand. Instead of using artisan breads for my paninis I instead buy a loaf of Italian bread, cut it into thirds and slice it (digging a little out of the middles before forming the sandwiches), they crisp up nice and cost as little as $1 for a loaf! 

FRIDAY // Grilled Steak Rolls – This was the first time we tried this recipe and we loved it! We used a cheap cut of thin sliced top round beef and a combo of peppers, onions, zucchini and summer squash. Instead of balsamic glaze we substituted teriyaki sauce to give it an Asian flare, it reminded me a lot of beef negimaki (little beef and asparagus rolls served in a lot of Japanese restaurants).   

SATURDAY // Since we had a birthday party to attend this was our night “out” but typically we will choose one night of the week to either order in or go out to a restaurant, just to give me a break from cooking 🙂

Check out all my favorite recipes on my “Tried and True” Pinterest board!