MIXED TAPE MONDAY: EASY LISTENING Vol. 2

I haven't made a 'Mixed Tape Monday' post in forever, so here is another mix of my favorites. I am pretty much obsessed with the band Walk off the Earth. They write their own songs, but also do some pretty awesome covers. I have always loved Brett Dennen and I am diggin' Delta Rae's 'If I Loved You."

Thanks to Pandora, late night YouTube sessions with Logan and my constant 'Now Hear This" emails back and forth with my musical soul sister, Raija, I seem to land on a variety of different tunes.  

This gem isn't available on Grooveshark yet, so here is the video:

Yup, We are going to this. Puuurty stoked about it.

Delta Rae's "If I Loved You"

Hall and oates singing "I Can't Go For That"

Walk off the Earth doing a cover of one of my favorites

STAMP IT - CLOTHING, HOME GOODS, TOTES, AND GIFT WRAP!

After stamping the tea towels I figured I could do this on so many things. Here are some ideas in case you decide to give it a go. I plan on trying it on a T-shirt soon! Who wants to come over for a stamping party? No, really. Who?! :)

 

POM POM FRINGE INSPIRATION

As a little follow up from yesterday's tutorial, I thought I would show some other examples of how you can use pom pom fringe. It is kind of my favorite. I would add it to pretty much anything. :) I will have lots of stamping inspiration and ideas up tomorrow. Happy Thursday!

DIY HAND STAMPED TEA TOWELS

Sometimes a girl just gets the urge to craft. At least I do. Sometimes I need to do more than just push pixels (graphics lingo) around a screen and actually get my hands dirty. I need to build, paint, or sew something!!! You know... like actually MAKE something I pinned instead of just pinning it. I had seen some DIY stamping tutorials on Pinterest & I wanted to give it a go.

I kind of combined a few different tutorials, experimented a bit, and made a few changes to come up with this.  

I made two different tea towels. 

The yellow one I bought fabric and sewed my own tea towel.

(100% cotton fabric - used for making cloth diapers, so super duper adsorbent)

And the pink one I bought from Walmart, which are sold in two-packs for $1.89!

If you like to sew, great. If you don't, buy plain white tea towels and use those. Either one will work - it's the same process. (***Note: Make sure the towel/fabric you buy does not have a lot of texture. The ink will not distribute evenly on the fabric. For example: a waffle weave towel wouldn't work well.)

Here is what you will need: 

  

Step #1: Decide on your design and make your stamps 

- I used wooden blocks that I had laying around, but you can use anything just as long as it is the right size for your stamp and a sticker will stick to it.

- Cut your foam in the design that you want. Obviously geometric designs work best and are easiest to cut, but really the possibilities are endless as long the design isn't too detailed.

- Peel of the back of the sticker and stick your design to the block.

Step #2: Wash, dry, and iron your towels

Step #3: Get ready to paint

- Put something under your towels so the paint doesn't leak through onto the table or other parts of your towel. I used an old magazine.

- Mix your paint colors. Use 1:1 ratio of acrylic paint and fabric medium. (a mixture of half paint and half fabric medium)

Step #4: Stamp your towels.

- Paint directly on your stamp. 

- Place your stamp where you want it on your towel and press down firmly. 

***Reapply paint to your stamp with your paintbrush before each stamp.

Step #5: Let your towel dry for at least 24 hours

Step #6: Iron your tea towels to set the paint

Step #6: Add some detail by sewing on edging.

There are tons to pick from. I picked the small tassel edging b/c I wasn't sure how the large ones would wash up.

And she strikes again...

COCONUT ZUCCHINI COOKIES

Is summer really over? Is the long weekend really over? Do we all have to head back to the daily grind today? Are our days of sundresses and flip flops numbered? What about days at the lake? Are they gone, too? YES. YES, it is all true.

Buuuuuttttt...... most of us live in Wisconsin (my stats page tells me this) and FALL is right around the corner. That means chunky sweaters, jeans, scarves, pumpkin spice lattes, football games (not that the Buells give a hoot about football) crisp air, the changing leaves, bonfires, pumpkin patch going, and apple baking. Ohhh just writing this is already making today better. Hello Fall! I am ready for you!

But before we head on over to the neighborhood bonfire with our spiced apple cider and chunky scarves, let's use up the zucchinis that are taking over our gardens. whatdoyasay? 

Last year we planted TWO zucchini plants in our garden and we had zucchini coming out of our ears. I baked and cooked zucchini everything. We didn't plant any this year, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't get any...   

Our neighbors sent their little girl over to our house the other day with a GIANT zucchini from their garden - like a big as my arm kind of giant. I do not like to waste food, especially homegrown, organic goodness, so I was on the search for some yummy (and of course healthy) zucchini recipes to try. Here is zucchini recipe #1! It is a keeper.

Ingredients:
1 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and cooled to room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded zucchini
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes (I used unsweetened)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine coconut oil and sugars, mix until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract. Next, add the shredded zucchini. Mix until combined.

4. Slowly add flour mixture until just combined. Stir in oats, coconut, and chocolate chips.

5. Drop cookie dough by heaping tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or cookies are slightly golden around the edges and set. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

(Recipe from two peas and their pod)

Did you all have a fabulous Labor Day weekend? What did you do?
In case you do not follow along on Instagram, I will do a quick recap of our weekend. We got Ellis' play kitchen all ready to be sanded, primed and painted, I baked up a storm, we went to the Taste of Madison with some friends and had key lime pie, buffalo chicken dumplings, meatball sandwiches, and drinks. Lots of drinks. :/ We also saw the boat show downtown, and went pontooning with our neighborhood friends. I pretty much loved every second until we had a baby meltdown after she missed both of her naps yesterday while we were pontooning. Yikes! That child needed "night night" stat! 

WATERMELON & COCONUT SMOOTHIE

Nothing beats a sweet, juicy, and perfectly ripe watermelon in the summer, am I right?! Too bad you only get those gems about 30% of the time. Usually they are just ok. And sometimes they just suck.
What do you do with all that 'not so tasty' fruit? You freeze it and throw it in a smoothie of course!

WATERMELON COCONUT SMOOTHIE

Throw the following in a blender:
2 ripe bananas
2 heaping handfulls of frozen watermelon
1/2 cup or so plain organic yogurt (I use stonyfield)
Enough coconut almond milk to make it the consistency you prefer

popsicles  |  margaritas  |  sorbet  |  lemonade

And... IT'S FRIDAY! Happy Labor Day weekend! See y'all on Tuesday! This girl will be spending the weekend at Taste of Madison and on a pontoon boat! Yippee! 

MEAL PLANNING 101

I have had a few readers ask me how I meal plan. I hope you are ready for a novel, b/c I wrote one. :)

While I was pregnant with Ellis, I would always find myself trying to imagine what life would be like when she got here. I was curious how I would feel once she made her arrival, subsequently making me a 'Mom'. Would I be tired all of the time? Would I care about my career anymore? Would Logan and I ever 'go out' again? Well, now that she is here (and 17 months in) I can answer all of these questions.

No, I am not tired all the time. Yes, I still care about my career. Yes, Logan and I get time away, if we make it.

Having a clild has taught me many things. It has taught me how to love (& worry) more than I ever thought possible. It has taught me patience and how to function on little to no sleep. It has also taught me a whole new level of multitasking. Having a child, especially as a working mom, creates a whole new kind of crazy in your life. Crazy isn't staying out too late or waking up with a hangover and barely making it to your studio class on time. Crazy is trying to figure out how to get a child ready for daycare, make it to work on time, get everyone fed dinner by 7pm, keep a clean house, and have enough energy to talk to your spouse at the end of the night. (This goes for Logan and myself - we are a team.) You figure it out as you go. You learn what you have to let go of and what you keep. It's all about making room for what you love and care about and cutting the things you can do without. We might not stay out late with friends as much anymore, but I wake up at 5am every morning to either prep food for that night's dinner or get in my morning run because those are the things that are important to me.

And now, after that long (and probably way too serious) intro, I land on the subject of meal planning. Just because life is busier than ever, doesn't mean I have to sacrifice taking care of myself and cooking heathy meals for my family. I refuse to be the person who swings through the McDonalds drive thru after work and pick up dinner to go. So, I guess I just had to figure it out, right? Well I think I have a pretty good system. At least it is a system that works for me. Whether you already have a system, are in dire need on one, want to save money, or cut nightly trips to the grocery store for last minute meals, you might find this post useful. So here it is, my bible of meal planning to get healthy meals on the table, snacks in lunch boxes and reserve meals in the freezer. This is my routine every other week. So yes, I feel it is totally doable two times a month. Trust me, it will save you time and money.

#1 – Create two Pinterest boards:

Start pinning. I am a huge fan of cooking healthy, so I follow certain people who I know also appreciate a veggie packed dinner. Skinny taste is one of my favorites. Really, the girl never lets me down.  Pin your recipes to your "Recipes to Try" board.

#2 – Review your "Recipes to Try" Pinterest board and pick the following to place on your menu board. (adjust to number of people in your family)

2 snacks
5 meals
1 freezable meal

For example:
Baked Oatmeal Cups (snack)
Energy Bites (snack)
Greek Yogurt and Honey Dijon Chicken Salad (meal)
Thai Quinoa Salad (meal)
Homemade Pizza (meal)
Falafel with Avocado Spread (meal)
Chicken, Broccoli and Quinoa Casserole (meal)
Southwestern Egg Rolls (meal – freezable)

#3 – Review all of the ingredients in the recipes and put whatever items you need on your shopping list. 
Rewrite the list in order according to your route through your grocery store. (this will save you so much time in the grocery store!)



#4 – Write all of the meals you have picked on a menu board that is visible in your kitchen. Mine is a large chalkboard that hangs on a wall in our kitchen. Yours might just be a notebook that is always on your kitchen island – whatever works for you.  Write your list in this order:

Snacks
Freezer Meal
All of your other meals in order according to what ingredients will spoil first.

Note: This picture doesn't really show the meals in the correct order. Hey, I live on the wild side, sometimes breaking the rules. ;)

I usually meal plan the night before I plan on going to the grocery store. It takes me a total of 45 minutes to an hour to find all the recipes I want, write down the ingredients I need, and re-write them in the correct order for my shopping trip. I usually do it while watching TV and winding down for the night.

#5. Grocery Shop. Every two weeks I make an early morning (and I mean EARLY…. like before anyone in the house is awake kind of early) trip to Woodmans for most of my items. I, also, sometimes make a trip later in the week to Trader Joe's for a few organic options. I am sure you have your favorite grocery store. Do whatever works for you.

#6. Set aside a chunk of time and cook up a storm. Make both snacks, the freezer meal, and the dinner for that night. You will make the rest of the meal options throughout the next two weeks. This many meals last us two weeks b/c there are only two of us and a toddler and we live on leftovers. What we don't finish of that night's dinner, goes straight into glass containers to be packed in our lunches for work.  We, also, are not home every night for dinner. Sometimes we are at a friend's house or my parent's for dinner. We do not need a fresh cooked dinner every single night. That just isn't realistic for our family. There are some nights we might just have leftovers for dinner (as well as lunch) or make something simple like 'breakfast for dinner' or chicken on the grill. Plus, that is what the freezer options are for. They are for the nights when you really cannot get anything made. I love always having a stocked freezer. Making one freezer meal a week usually keeps it pretty packed.

Throughout the two weeks, make the meals on the list from top to bottom, making sure to make the ones that require the freshest ingredients first. You want to avoid wasting your money on spoiled ingredients. This system will also nix all those last minute grocery store trips b/c you have planned out every meal.

#7. Wrap up and evaluate. When all the meals on the board are crossed off, it is time to decide what recipes you would make again and what ones you wouldn't. Go back to your Pinterest boards and transfer all of the ones you liked to your "Tried & True" board and delete the ones you wouldn't make again. Let's face it, not all Pinterest recipes are a win. When meal planning, I now pull from both boards. I have a good mix of 'tried & true' recipes and new ones. I always try at least two new ones every two weeks. It keeps it exciting! ;)

This system might sound a little over the top, but it really works for us. I hope some of you might be able to take some of these tips and integrate them into your own routine. Let me know what you think.

Do any of you have any other good meal planning tips?