End of year teacher gifts

I never make gifts for my teachers because I am not crafty, and I just am so inconsiderate that I don’t think of it. I also think it’s dumb to give them something like candy or  something like that so I saw this on pinterest and I thought that is a great idea.

What you need….

Dollar store picture frame

Subway art printables from http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/05/coachdance-teacher-week.html

(eighteen25 has so many cute subway art printables.)

Spray paint

20 min of spare time

The whole project is cheap easy and fast that is why I love it.

I used two of the smaller cans of spray paint made for small projects I got these at my local hardware store so I am sure you can find them anywhere.

I laid out my cardboard and took the glass out of my frames and sprayed away.

It only took one coat of paint on each side

I then brought this inside to dry over night. While they were drying I printed my subway art and trimmed it to the correct size I did an 8×10 frame and of course my paper was 8.5×11 so there was a little trimming involved. I did not design the printable I got them from a great website that has tons a beautiful artwork available for download. Please click here to see the subway art collection at eighteen 25, and get your own printable.

In the morning I just put it all together, and Voila. A simple cheap teacher gift.

One for my kids teacher and one for my daughter’s dance teacher

I know the photograph is terrible but you get the idea. I think they turned out wonderfully.

Happy Crafting

kimmy (the sticks)

 

Curry Rice With Pan Seared Scallops

This recipe takes a little time to make but its easy and the cooking time is relatively hands off for a good portion of it.  It was a good dish, the subtle sweet taste of the scallops paired excellently with the curry flavored rice.

Start by chopping up 1 yellow onion and mincing 1 garlic clove.  Saute that in a large skillet over medium-high heat in 1 T oil until tender and slightly opaque.  Add 1 cup of uncooked long grain rice (I used whole grain variety), NOT MINUTE RICE, and 1/2 tsp ground turmeric (you could also use a curry powder too).  Stir well to coat everything.

Add 2 and 3/4 cups water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cover and simmer for as long as the rice package instructs, until the rice is tender.  (Mine was about 45 minutes!)  That is the long part.  At this point, you can just check on it a few times and stir.  It does not need a lot of attention while it cooks.   After it is tender, add 1 cup frozen peas, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cover it and cook it on low, stirring periodically until the peas are warmed through and your scallops are ready (which you will prepare while the peas are cooking).

Now, while the peas are cooking, it is scallop time.  Get 1 lb of scallops (you can use the jumbo or bay scallops) and place them on a paper towel and cover with another and pat dry.  You want them sufficiently dry because they hold a lot of water content and if they are too wet, they won’t sear properly.  Salt and pepper them lightly on each side.

You may notice that I accidentally manhandled them while they were thawing and broke one

Grab a skillet and heat it on high heat for about 1 full minute.  Add about 1 T butter to the skillet and allow to heat up for another minute.  Carefully add the scallops to the pan, there should be a GOOD sizzle sound when you place them.  Cook for about 1 1/2 minutes and then turn over and cook another 1 1/2 minutes.  Even with the non stick pan and butter, they might stick a little bit BUT there is a little trick.  When they are ready to turn over, they will separate from the pan mostly.  They will sort of tell you when they are ready to turn.  We are looking for a good browning on them and still a little opaqueness in the middle.

You want to serve them immediately so plan to dish and eat right after those are done.

I feel as though I am frequently apologizing for my lack of posts.  So, again, sorry about that!  I hope this one makes up for it

Erin, The Burbs

 

The truth about Mothers Day

 

So it just dawned on my while trolling facebook that Mother’s Day is next week. How the hell did that happen? I loath mothers day, I think I got it from my mom, she hates it too as does my mother in law. I think it is because mothers day makes you feel like a shitty mom. I think we all feel like shitty mom’s from time to time. I try to do my best but my best is far from good I am sure. My kids are clothed, fed, chauffeured from place to place, but I am not of a get down on my knees and play with my kidlets kinda gal neither is Erin BTW. I had to throw that in there so I didn’t feel like I was the only one who feels like crap for not playing with her kids. So yes I did it i threw my Bestie under the bus.

Anyway, I think I get up on mothers day expecting some sort of miracle. The table will be set with fresh flower in a vase as a center piece my children will be well behaved, perfectly groomed and kind to each other. My husband the Mountain Man would rub my feet and back and tell me what a great mother I am while  keeping my coffee cup always full.  I really dont want much just a clean house when I wake up and hot coffee maybe a nap I forgot what those are even all about I would like to try them again.

However, my mother’s day goes more like this. I am woken up by the sound of children fighting over a box of cereal at 6:30 a.m. I pull my self out of bed and start brewing my keurig meanwhile wrangling the kids and reminding them the animals need to be fed before them. Then I plop on the couch and pop two Excedrin because it is mothers day and I will have a headache. Mountain Man will roll out of bed at around 9:30 because I have kept the kids quiet for him. Then we begin the fight to get ready to go visit the Grandma’s, apparently bathing and getting dressed has become a new form of mid-evil torture for my children we will make it out the door at 1:00 and the kids will be starving at that point so we will enjoy a gourmet meal of Mcdonlds on our way to visit mountain mans mom. After and hour there we will return home and I will go down the street to visit my mother. Then Mountain Man will prepare to go back to work while I throw together some simple dinner like the dreaded spaghetti. Mountain Man will stuff his face grab is bag and be off to work and I will be left alone with the kids. If it goes well I may be able to talk the three stooges into playing on the tramp for a few hours before bedtime, that of course depends on how big of a mess my house is I may need them for child labor. Then I will put them to bed at 9 and sit on the couch and watch reruns until I cant keep my eyes open anymore as this is what I really want piece an quiet and a cup of coffee that is all I want maybe a back rub would be nice as well.  We dont want flowers, perfect families, breakfast in bed, big gifts, or any of that crap what we want for mothers’ day is to pretend we are not mothers. That is all I want anyway.

I found this I thought it was pretty funny

Kimmy ( the sticks)

CopyCat Papa Murphy’s Thai Chicken Pizza!

I love the thai chicken pizza available at Papa Murphy’s but I wanted to try my hand at a homemade version of it.  It worked FANTASTICALLY!

I am a believer that pizza should be easy so I did not make my own crust, I bought one of the cans that pops open when you peel off the label.  The directions on this crust was to spread it out on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes BEFORE topping it.  I did that but you will want to follow the directions on whatever type of crust you use.

Preheat your oven and get some boneless skinless chicken breast out.  I used about 3/4 lb.  Cut it up into bit size pieces before cooking (I was worried it might make for dry chicken this way but it did not seem to).  Pour enough oil into a small pan to coat the bottom and cook chicken on medium heat, stirring often to get all sides of the chicken.  Cook for about 5 to 7 minutes until done.

Once the crust is ready, you want to spread just under half a bottle of sweet thai chili sauce.  I don’t remember where I found mine (sorry, I bought it a month or so ago) but I did find it in a local grocery store.

Spread this on your crust.

Next add grated mozzarella cheese.  I did not measure because it is more of a look that you want.  It was about 1/2 a regular size block I guess but just add until it looks like this:

Spread your chicken evenly over the pizza now.  Next, chop 1 scallion and about 1/4 a red onion and spread those evenly over the pizza (I did not use quite all of my scallion).  Finally, cut thin slices of 1/2 of a zucchini and spread that out on the pizza as well.  At this point, it should look like this:

At this point, you can add a little more sauce and cheese if you like (which we did) as well as red pepper flakes to add some heat.  We used about 1 tsp is all on ours because our kids were eating it too.  The beauty of the red pepper flakes is that you can add a tiny bit, cook the pizza, and then let those who want to, add more to their pieces later.  You can see about how much of each ingredient is there if you look closely.  Finely, place in the oven to bake according to your dough instructions (ours cooked about 9 minutes).

It should come out beautifully!

Our pizza crust was not bad for store bought.  It cooked well without burning and was just crunchy enough without being stiff or tough.  Yum!

My kids think the Papa Murphy ones are too spicy but loved this one.  Husband said that he liked the zucchini on this one WAY better.  He also said that he thought that if I did a blindfolded tasting between mine and Papa Murphy’s, he probably would not be able to tell which was which.  Now that is what I like to hear!

I should note that I am not sure how the cost ended up so I don’t know if it is actually cheaper or not.  Next time I make it, I will price it and post again.

Erin, The Burbs

SHIP MY PANTS ( a little something for the 12 year old in all of us)

Every time I watch this commercial I laugh so hard I nearly SHIP MY PANTS. I thinks it’s because I am a incredibly immature individual especially when it comes to crude humor, the more disgusting the better.

Ha Ha Ha,

Your welcome,

Kimmy (the sticks)

Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole

It ain’t perdy but it sure is yummy.

I love stuffed bell peppers, but they are a pain in the but. Here is a simpler version.

1lb spicy or mild Italian sausage

2 green bell peppers diced

2 small cans tomato sauce

1 onion diced

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can corn

1 can black beans drained and rinced

1/2 loaf of Velveeta cheese

1 cup mozzarella

garlic salt

cayenne pepper

cumin

black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cups prepared white rice

Brown meat in large pan, pull meat from pan and set aside. Add olive oil peppers and onions, cook until tender about 10 min. Put back in meat and all ingredients except rice in pan and heat through. Then stir in the rice, and ad seasonings to taste.

In a well greased casserole dish or 9×13 pan pour half of your mixture and spread evenly then add chunks of Velveeta cheese evenly over top of mixture and add the second layer of your casserole mixture on top. Sprinkle with Mozzarella cover and put in oven for 30 min until hot and bubbly. Let sit for about 10 min and serve.

Enjoy!

Kimmy (the sticks)

Price Matching at the Wallyworld my haul this week

As I have mentioned in previous posts I am a coupon-er. There I said it. I wont pay full price for anything I have been feeling really unmotivated with my grocery shopping for a while and I thought if I posted my haul today it might get me in the mood.

So here is what I picked up at wally world.

This pictures contains

Hot Italian Sausage

Greek Pitas

Baby Carrotts

Hot Dog Buns

Dozen Doughnuts

IBProufen 100ct

celery

red grapes

scentsy wax

2bell peppers

Head of lettuce

mushrooms white pre sliced

5 lbs of chicken boneless skinless breasts

Crystal light (mio copy cat thingys) 3 of them

Gain Fire works fabric softenener

1 gallon of milk

Finish 32 count dishwasher tabs

Fiber one bars 4 boxes

Quaker granola bars 3 boxes

2 Bales of Pine Shavings for the chikens

Regular cost at my walmart would have been $89.45 after coupons and price matches I paid only $54.55

I saved 34.90 and only 11 dollars of that was coupons so even if you dont want to coupon and that is to time consuming for your lifestyle,  I think it is important that everyone price match considering most of my saving was from price matching.

ttfn

Kimmy ( the sticks)