Make Your Own Olive Garden Dish At Home

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Hope you all have a great day with your families remembering our veterans, past and present.

I know I will be.
(I love you daddy, thank you for serving this great country of ours!)

Now that summer is officially upon us, I wanted to post a recipe PERFECT for those hot summer nights or even for taking along for your next picnic.

Many moons ago, when I was younger and living in Colorado, I worked at one of the local Olive Gardens there.

One of my FAVORITE dishes while I worked there (and still now) is their Capellini Pomodoro.

It's so yummy and healthy and has tons of tomatoes, which I LOVE,

AND,

It's super easy to make in a flash with not much cooking.

Since we have a wee babe 'round here these days, I've been making all my pasta dishes with rotini, so it's easy for Kira to pick up eat with her hands. I also use whole wheat pasta, so it takes a little longer to cook.

Here's the recipe, courtesy of  the Olive Garden web site
(check them out, they have LOTS of yummy recipes)

This is for 4 servings

Ingredients
14 oz capellini pasta (angel hair) or equivalent in another type
8 medium tomatoes, cut into ½” pieces
11 fresh basil leaves, chopped (also great with dried)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
6 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

1. COOK capellini pasta according to package directions.
2. MIX diced tomatoes, chopped basil, garlic and oil. Season with salt and pepper.
3. DRAIN pasta. Toss pasta with tomato mixture in a sauté pan and heat throughout.
4. SERVE immediately. (or put it in the fridge till your picnic :)

 This also great to make the night before and refrigerate to serve as a cold dish at a picnic, just let the oil mixture cool a bit before adding the tomatoes, so they are nice and pretty when you serve (and not wilted looking).

I also happened to have some fresh mozzarella balls on hand, so I just cut them up and added them after everything was done. I would have added black olives too, but we didn't have any :(

 Also, since she has been SO busy making cute stuff, I want to show a few more things from Green Bean's Crafterole that she uploaded to the Not So Idle Hand's Flickr pool

Such a cute teacher's gift........might just have to try this one!

YUM! These marshmallows look so good and they are surprisingly easy :)

Don't forget.......you can upload your projects to the Not So Idle Hands Flickr pool too and you could be featured too!!

Have fun!!

Freecycle Friday - Magazine Rack Re-Do

Hey all! Hope you all are having fun dreading anticipating the end of school so you can have your kiddos home ALL day EVERY day :)

Well, I know I am (it's not too scary for me yet since my oldest is only in kindergarten)

Anyhoo, today I wanted to show my little magazine rack make-over.

We've had this for a lloooonnngggg time, but I still love it. It was just looking a little drab and I thought I would add some color to help spruce up our reading room bathroom.

We got it from Pier 1, so it's plenty sturdy and has tons of life left in it.

I also had the PERFECT fabric for it!

We recently got a new bedding set (after 4 1/2 years!) and we didn't end up using the pillow shams (we aren't fancy like that).

But, I REALLY love the fabric, so I decided to use those to add a little color to this (and I actually only ended up using half of one).

So, here's the before (minus the bottom pocket cuz I remembered to take pics after I had already done one :)

Well, I didn't really measure, but the fabric was around double the length of each of the pockets

First, I sewed around the edges of the fabric to prevent too much fraying, but a little is fine with me.

Then, using a large stitch (at least #3 on your machine, but 4 or 5 works better for me), stitch a straight line down the middle (or 2 lines if you want to do it like this one).

Backstitch at only one end and leave the threads loose at the other end.

Then, pull one of the threads to make the ruffles.

Once you have the fabric to the length you need and the ruffles look good, tie the 2 threads in a knot to keep it from un-ruffling (hmmmm, good grammar?)

Then pin the fabric in place and sew it down along your original stitch.

See? So cute and an easy re-do!

Now you can look around YOUR house to see what needs updating and use re-cycled fabric you may already have on hand. Some examples: old clothes, under-used sheets, towels, curtains, tablecloths,...etc.

Have fun!

Cute Tooth Fairy Pillow

So, we are now up to our eyeballs in Tooth Fairy lore here.

(the first pic is Maddie in the am all dressed and hair done for school, the second is right before bed and just a headband thrown on.....that's why the lighting looks so different in each)

A few weeks ago Maddie, my oldest, got 2 wobbly teeth (and then lost 2 wobbly teeth). So, I went looking for a cute Tooth Fairy tradition to start for all my girls.

That's when I stumbled accross Larissa's blog Mmmcrafts and saw this. I was blown away by how A-Dorable it was (as well as the others she made here)!!!

Plus, it's wwwaaaaayyyyyyy easier for the TF to get the tooth from a pillow hanging on the door than it is for her to go digging under pillows and trying not to even breathe for fear of waking up the sleeping child who is already sleeping lightly in anticipation of her. hands down.

So, I decided I was going to try to make one for each of my 2 older girls (so I'll already have one when Aislyn starts losing teeth next year :) and one of the cute "Tooth Marshall" ones for my nephew, who is the same age as Maddie and is already losing teeth too (I'll show pics of that one soon).

Well, Larissa has an awesome tute here on her blog already, but I'm gonna do one too since I did a few things differently.

The first thing I did was go to the store and get some yummy fabric!! I decided to use flannel instead of felt because I have a hard time sewing with felt and was afraid I would ruin them somehow (trust me, I would've found a way :) 

But, that meant that I now had to make sure and use Fraycheck on all the raw, unsewn edges like the crown and the skirt and mouth. You could probably even use just about any fabric, but i like the look and cuddly~ness of flannel.

In addition to fabric, you will need:

• Fraycheck
• Fabric glue
• Matching ribbon to hang it with
• Sewing stuff (sewing machine, scissors, pins, needles, etc)
• Matching thread
• Buttons for the eyes
• Stuffing

So, I cut all the pieces out thanks to the pattern Larissa has on her blog, but since there wasn't one for the teeth, crown, and cheeks I just made my own.
*Update: Larissa e-mailed me and said she's now added the cheeks and teeth to the pattern!! That's so very nice of her to take the time to do that, so be sure to thank her (and for the great idea in the first place :)*

Then, she suggested to sew around the mouth before cutting it, so I traced that part onto the wrong side of the front piece by laying the material over the pattern on the window (so the light shines through and I can see the pattern underneath).

I sewed around it and then cut a slit for the mouth and put Fraycheck on it.

After that dried, I glued the teeth onto the back and positioned them so they just peeked through the mouth.

Then, I glued the back of the mouth over that (remember, use a thin line of glue all the way around).

After those dried, I went ahead and did the face. I LOVED the way she embroidered the cheeks and teeth, and the eyebrows so I did that too (look closely and you can see the teeth). 

Then, the little button eyes went on.

Now, before you pin the right sides together, make sure you add the crown and ribbon and pin those in place. Also, make sure you cut a slit in the back so you can stuff it.

I used ALOT of pins to make sure nothing moved while I was sewing it up :) Use a 1/4" seam allowance for this.

Then, I trimmed a little off and cut notches all the way around (yes, I did realize you only have to cut notches on the curves AFTER I did it on all 3 pillows).

I then turned it right-side out and stuffed it and hand-stitched up the back.

This is her up to this point.....pretty cute huh?

Oh yeah, and I also stitched the crown to the ribbon to keep it from falling over (can you say OCD?).

But, my girls HAD to have a skirt too (I guess we must be halfway modest for the Tooth Fairy), so I let them pick out the fabrics they wanted. I measured the waist and used a mixing bowl as a pattern (just like the one I used for this craft......and it's super-reflective, so you can see me taking the pic in my messy office. That one's for you Kristen :)

I cut them each out with pinking shears too (and Fraychecked around each). Then, glued them together around the waistband part and whipstitched (is that the right term?) them onto the tooth. Be careful not to sew through the mouth....like I did :(

So cute! And now the Tooth Fairy will be pleasantly surprised when she visits YOUR house too!!

 A few weeks before her teeth came out, and they were still wobbly, Maddie wrote the TF a letter letting her know. So, the TF typed up a note saying thanks for the heads up and left it under her pillow. Then, when the teeth came out and were then put in the pillow, the TF left little "thanks" notes each time. Madison really liked that part.....almost as much as the $$!!
The TF also left a short trail of fairy dust on the floor when she came for the tooth :) Both the older girls REALLY LOVED that.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but these took a little more time and effort than I expected since there were so many little components.
I'll be back for Freecycle Friday!

Have fun!

Some Ideas For Your Lost Series Finale Party

Just wanted to make sure and remind you all to watch the Lost SERIES finale tonight on ABC starting at 9pm (pacific time). There's also a special beforhand to help summarize everything and get everyone up to date. So, even if you haven't been a die hard fan.....you should be able to watch that and then enjoy the finale with all your friends :)

Here are a few fun food things I found that you can make for your LOST party.

You can make these super-cool (life-sized) fish biscuits, just like the ones that were dispensed in the cage Sawyer was in when he and Kate were locked up. Really, these are AWESOME!

You can go to Epicurious here and they have several dishes that are appropriate for serving.

Start with Fried chicken bites to represent Hurley's job at Mr. Clucks Chicken Shack.

Then, on to a grilled tuna and mango salad since these were 2 of the most available foods on the island.

Finally, peanut butter and fudge brownies with salted peanuts to represent the time when Charlie got pregnant Claire some (imaginary) PB wwwaaaaayyyyyyyy back at the beginning. (Aaaaaawwwwww, I can't believe it's almost over!!!)

And you can download and print out your very own Dharma Initiative Logos and put them over the labels of the food you serve to make your own Dharma food!!

Also, don't forget the HUGE tub O' Dharma ranch (like the one Hurley was hoarding) and the totally 70's music (like what Desmond listened to in The Hatch). And, you can make some yummy ribs and pretend it's wild boar!!

Have fun!!

Sleeping Yoga Master

Maybe there is some truth to the "Russians are better suited for gymnastics" stereotype?

Have fun!
(Freecycle Friday will be back next week)

Guest Posting Today

Hey there!!

Well, I got bored of posting on my own blog......so today you can check me out over at Somewhat Simple for "Make My May."

And be sure to poke around over there, Stephanie has a great blog (plus, she called me famous :)!!

Yummy Graduation Hats

No, my kiddos didn't miraculously grow up and graduate. 

(although.....there are moments that I wish they had :)

I made these to go with a RS lesson that my friend Cathy taught 2 weeks ago and thought I would share, since it's "That time of year again"

AND, they are SUPER easy!!

You will need:

• Reeses PB cups~the small ones
• Black cardstock
• Fuzzy yarn (or whatever you think looks good)
• Hole puncher~regular sized

So, just.....

1. Cut your cardstock into alot of 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" squares.
2. Glue them onto the small end of the PB cups.
3. Cut your yarn into small pieces and glue those in the middle of the sqaures.
4. Punch out black holes with the paper punch and glue those right on top (in the middle) of the yarn.

Voila!!

Didn't know graduation caps could be SO cute.....or yummy???

I just used different colors of yarn since it didn't matter, but it would be totally cute to choose the colors that match your child's school.

And, you can leave the tiny black dot off too, they look just fine without.....but you all know how anal I am and I'm always thinking things need  just one more thing :)

Then, I packed them all up in a triffle dish and sent them on their way!!!

Have fun!

Freecycle Friday - Kids Freecycling

 Thanks SO much to everyone who responded to this post and gave me some great tips on how to salvage my shirt (that I worked SOOOOOOO hard on).

I tried EVERY idea, but, sadly, no success. So, it is happily going on it's way to a new home where Chris can hopefully get some use out of it (she was the first that called dibbs :)

You guys are AWESOME.......and so SMART!

Now on to the Freecycling!!!

Well, I was looking at some pictures the other day, and saw a bunch that I have taken of crafts that my girls have done. They really like taking trash and making crafts out of it (Hmmmmm, wonder where they got THAT idea?).

So, today, I'm gonna show some of the things they have made from trash..........because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want :)

Most of these are Maddie; creations, but Aislyn is starting to get more into making things like her sister.

And just so you all know......these are ALL things they made on their own.....all the credit goes to them :)

Maddie made this bed for her Hello Kitty.

Complete with a blanket and.....

....pillow!

The girls LOVED it when I let them get these yogurts at the store, they even made some pretend yogurt after they ate it all.

See the tiny M and M's???

AND a spoon (duh, you can't eat yogurt without one :)

These rings they made were just some plastic rings they had and then cut some shapes out of scrapbooking paper (with permission, of course). Then, they asked me to stick them on the tops of the rings with glue dots.

Maddie made this "sippy cup" by cutting up a cardboard box and taping it together to look like a sippy. She even put water in it (too bad the straw didn't work).

And OF COURSE they didn't forget to include the baby in their craft-making!!!

These were "wings" made from the leaves off the tulips in this post. Kira looks thrilled  : D

Hope this inspires you to let your kiddos go wild with the trash recyclables in your house!!

Have fun!