I’m still working on making Linnaea a few things to take with us to Missouri and THIS toddler sundress is one of them. It took me about an hour to whip up yesterday during her nap time and I couldn’t be more in love with it. It’s simple and adorable! I used an old sheet I got at Good Will for $1 (although I only used about 1/8 of it), and a fat quarter from the goods I scored at Tuesday Morning. Another 25 cent outfit 🙂 Cute AND affordable, gotta love it!
The hardest thing about dieting is my sweet tooth. So, I have been looking for alternatives so that I can “indulge” every once in a while. Here’s one we found that was a real winner!
Low Carb Chocolate Souffle: Via Low Carb Desserts
8 oz sugar free chocolate chopped
6 tablespoons (3/4 of a stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons coffee (rum or water can be used)
6 large eggs (divided into 6 egg whites and 6 yolks)
¼ teaspoon cream of tarter, heaping
½ cup Splenda
Fill a sauce pan 1/3 with water and heat until water becomes hot but before it simmers. Preheat your oven to 375ËšF.
Combine chopped chocolate, butter and coffee in heatproof bowl and place over the hot (but not simmering) sauce pan of water and stir until the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat, let cool for ten minutes and then whisk in the egg yolks. Set aside.
Beat the egg whites on medium speed until the eggs are foamy then add in the cream of tarter and beat on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the splenda until the peaks are stiff but not dry.
Using a large rubber spatula, stir in 1/3 of the egg whites into the low carb chocolate mixture, and then gently but thoroughly fold in the remaining mixture. Butter 6 (10 oz) ramekins and sprinkle with Splenda and arrange on a baking sheet. Divide the batter equally among the 6 ramekins and bake to risen and set, about 20 minutes. Once you remove it you have one minute maybe two to get the low carb soufflé to the table before it falls!
The low carb soufflés can also be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 before baking.
We are heading to Missouri to visit my parents soon, so I wanted to make Linnaea something comfy and light to wear in the heat. I found this awesome pattern and tutorial for a romper at Fabric.com, and just HAD to make it! To make things even better, I made it out of an old sheet that I got at Good Will. The whole little outfit cost me about a quarter. You can’t beat that!
Just adorable, right? And it only took me an hour or so to make from cutting to finished product. I love it!
With the cute little sash around the waste.
I just wanted to quickly share a great deal that I got today, that maybe you can snag too! A friend of mine, who lives in Texas, told me about a deal she got on quilting fabric bundles at a store called Tuesday Morning. Naturally, I had to go to our local store and see if they had some on clearance too, and they did!! I spent about $35, and got a ton of great stuff. Some of it will be used for quilting, but a lot of this can be used for clothing, so I am super excited!!
Here’s everything I got. Such a great deal!
fat quarters…. I love the polka dots in this one. I may have to find something to make for Linnaea out of fat quarters!
Fat quarters
8 fat quarters. This actually matches some quilting material I already had, so this will be turned into a quilt soon!
1 yard
1 yard of each fabric
1 yard of each fabric
Two jelly rolls…
These alone are worth $35.
So, if you have a Tuesday Morning near you, go take a look! Hard to pass up these deals!
Jason and I have been working on losing weight. I gained 60 lbs when I was pregnant (Ugh, I know!), and now that she’s 1.5 I guess baby weight is no longer an excuse for why I’m overweight. lol. Anyways, we have cut out all junk food, sugar, bad carbs, etc and have both lost quite a bit of weight. One thing that I’ve struggled with is finding healthy recipes to replace some of our not-so-healthy cravings. Pizza is a bad one for me. I LOVE pizza. So, I’m trying out a few different low carb variations. The one we tried this week was the cauliflower crust pizza from Spark Recipes. It was actually pretty good. Not sure if I’d really call it a pizza, as you can’t pick it up and eat it with your hands. Although, if you read the comments, some people suggest using raw cauliflower and say that it comes out better. I’ll have to remember that for next time!
Here’s the recipe for you to try at home!
Rice or finely chop the cauliflower. Beat egg, add the cauliflower, and shredded cheese. Mix, then press into a greased pizza pan then sprinkle with the spices. Bake at 450 for 12 to 15 minutes. If you double the recipe cook 15 to 20 minutes.
Add desired pizza topping such as red sauce, mushrooms, green pepper, onions, cheese, etc. Bake until brown and cheese is bubbly.
This makes four pieces.
Number of Servings: 4
**Thought I’d add…. When the recipe says to “rice” the cauliflower here’s what it means:Â How to rice cauliflower
I prepared ours in a cake pan, and topped it with cheese and turkey pepperoni. YUM!
This past week I participated in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge (KCWC) via Elsie Marley. Basically, we were challenged to work for one hour a day, for seven days straight, on making children’s clothes. I got several things accomplished, and wanted to share with you!
Leggings made from old t-shirts. I got this tutorial from Rookie Moms.
A pair of long shorts. I've had terrible luck in the past with shorts patterns, so I actually spent one hour of my sewing time creating a pattern for these. Some day, I'll add more sizes to it and post if for everyone to download.
And of course, the poodle skirt I showed you earlier this week. You can find the tutorial here at SuperStayAtHomeMommy!
I got this pattern from the free downloadables at Fabric.com. I changed it up a little and added the tiers. This is my favorite thing I did this week 🙂
I’ve been wanting to make Linnaea a poodle skirt for a while now– simply because a 1 year old in a poodle skirt is too stinkin’ cute! I couldn’t find an online tutorial out there, and didn’t want to spend the money on a pattern for such a simple skirt, so I had to get thinking…. I absolutely LOVE this circle skirt tutorial by Dana Made It, and it dawned on me that that’s pretty much what a poodle skirt is- a circle. Now, using this pattern, the skirt comes to the knee. So, all we have to do it add a couple inches in length (measure the leg to where you’d like the skirt to end, and use that as the length measurement.) Anyways, here’s how I did it:
To start, as I said before, I used the pattern from Dana Made It, and simply add a couple to the length. To make this skirt, I used felt. The beauty of felt is-- NO HEMMING! How great is that! It doesn't fray, so no need for hems.
Again, following Dana's tutorial, I sewed the exposed elastic along the top. We're almost done already!
Here's the iron-on poodle applique. I ordered online from Joann's. All we need to do is apply it!
Voila! We have a poodle!
Here's the finished product. How easy was that!
Adorable!
I had seen this recipe on a show on Food Network, and thought it sounded a bit strange. But then my in-laws tried it and went on about how delicious it was…. So, curiosity got the best of me, and I just had to try it to. Let me tell you, I am in LOVE! This is how I want my salad every night for dinner 🙂
Mmmmm..... Grilling it brings out so many flavors in the romaine. You have to try this, so tasty!
Here’s the recipe via Food Network
Preheat a grill to medium-high.
Rinse and pat dry the lettuce. Cut the 2 heads in half lengthwise. Brush surface with olive oil and grill about 4 to 5 minutes total, turning occasionally. Place each wedge on a salad plate and drizzle with your favorite Caesar dressing. With a vegetable peeler, shave some pieces from a wedge of Reggiano-Parmigiano over each salad and serve.
**I add some salt and pepper to the lettuce after brushing it with olive oil, and we use just plain old Parmesan cheese. I do drizzle mine with a little Caesar dressing, but it actually tastes delicious without any dressing at all. Enjoy!
Recently, I snagged a couple little chairs and table on Craigslist for $5. I was looking for a little place for Linnaea to sit down and color, and this was perfect! There was just one thing wrong… The chairs were covered in cartoon characters (Dora and Spongebob, which we don’t watch here), and the table had a picture of a princess and was covered in scratches. Since they were going to go in our living room (the room Linnaea has officially taken over as her playroom), I needed them to look more presentable. So, I decided the easiest way to go about doing that was priming and painting the whole set. This ended up not costing me a penny! How did I do that, you might ask? Well, we had a little primer left over from a previous project. For the paint, I went to Ace Hardware on a weekend when they were offering a free quart! They do this occasionally, so keep an eye out and grab a quart next time you see the deal going on! You never know when you’re going to need some paint!
Here’s some before and after pics, I am quite pleased with how they turned out!
Before.... Even if we wanted to, we just couldn't leave the chairs this way. Linnaaea was terrified of the giant Spongebob eyes staring at her!
During... After a couple coats of primer
After! Her table and chairs set up in her little corner of the world 🙂 Total cost- $5! In researching online, I found that I saved anywhere from $45 to $100! (Depending on the set of table and chairs you get). Keep an eye out for deals, it pays off!
I am so excited about this post! I have been working on 2 quiet books, one for my daughter and one for my nephew, for about 2 weeks now. They are time consuming, but SO worth it! I love how they turned out, and can’t wait to see what you guys make too.
I found the design, templates, and supplies list at Serving Pink Lemonade. She’s got it all organized, and makes it easy for you to make one too. I did make a few changes to some of her templates, and I’ll show you below what I added…..
Ok, I didn't actually change this one, but it is by far my favorite! The petals have velcro so kids can move them around and learn counting. Then, the little pot that it's in is actually a pocket to hold the petals. So cute, right!
"Serving Pink Lemonade's" design is actually a cute ballet slipper. I had originally planned on doing the ballet slipper for Linnaea's book, and a tennis shoe for my nephew's book. I decided I actually liked the tennis shoe a bit more than the slipper, so I did this for both books 🙂
The only thing I added to this one was a little personalization-- just put their initials on the mailboxes, which I thought was fun!
"Serving Pink Lemonade's" first page simply says "My Quiet Book", once again I wanted to add a little personalization so I did it this way. I also added the little pocket.
I had a great time creating this fun little books, and I hope you guys do too!!
Super Stay At Home Mommy! 