Spooky Tin Foil Tree

SO EASY!! All you do is take some tin foil and scrunch it up into the shape you want. The messier the better, gives your tree character. Then you take smaller pieces to scrunch into smaller branches. I used a hot glue gun to attach the branches and it turned out like this.

Cool right? Now take your favorite can of spooky spray paint and go to town! I used black but brown or purple would look amazing!

Bacon Tomato Chicken

This is a very easy and super yummy main dish.  We have been having a LOT of chicken lately and I admit I have gotten really tired of it. I just had to come up with something else. So I went looking online and combined a couple of elements I thought would be yummy.

Take your thawed chicken breast and rub with olive oil and garlic.

Spinkle your choice of spices and herbs on the chicken. I use just thyme when I want more of an italian taste.

Then place a slice or two of roma tomatoes on the chicken. Then put two slices of bacon or turkey bacon on the top in the shape of an "X". This holds the tomatoes on the chicken.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. (I always cut open my chicken and check to make sure it is fully cooked. OR if you are smarter than I am and have an internal thermometer that works great too)

Enjoy!

For a more advanced version, you can stuff the middle of the chicken with some mozerella cheese and italian sausage. 

Jute Monogram Tutorial

I was REALLY bored the other day (you can only workout so much!) so I came up with this quick and cheap little project to hang on my wall. I really like the rustic feel it has and it goes great with the "farmhouse" autumn feel.

First thing I did was find an old cardboard box and draw out my letter. I then used my amazing McGyver skills to cut it out with a pocket knife.

Once you have your shape you can proceed on to covering your cardboard with jute. You could also use yarn or strips of fabircto give it a taste of your personality. I personally just attache one end of the jute to the back of the cardboard and wrapped the jute around the letter form. Occasionally, I used a dab of hot glue to secure peices down or cut little peices to fill in empty space.

After my form was done I grabbed a frame I wasn't using and went looking for fabric. Wallah!! An old shirt the hibs doesn't use any more.

I cut out a piece from the breast of the shirt and taped it over the glass in my frame.  Glued my monogram to the fabric and then added some pretty coffee filter flowers to the top.

Voila!! Easy, fun and beautiful! 

Muffin Tin Apple Pies

You can easily use your favorite apple pie recipe to make these fun individual pies. Make your pie crusts (2 crusts makes about 6 pies)

Roll out your crust then use a small bowl to measure a circle about a little bigger than your muffin tin. You will want there to be about 1/4 inch of crust above the edge of the muffin tin. This extra edge will help you attach the top layer to the bottom.

Then take another small bowl and measure out a smaller circle that will cover the top of the pie.

Make your filling.

Take your muffin tin and place squares of tin foil in the holes to mold the muffin shape. This will allow you to easily pull out each mini pie when it is finished baking without it losing its form.

Place the larger circle of crust in the bottom of the muffin tin holes on top of the tin foil and press out any cracks and folds. Take a fork and poke the bottom a couple times then put in your filling. I like to fill them pretty full because as they bake the filling will settle.

Place the smaller circle on top of each pie and pinch the sides together. I like to use my fingers but I know many people use a fork to create the seal. Then you can adorn the top with whatever crust decorations you want. Just make sure you poke a few holes in the top for the steam to escape.

Bake at 345 for 35 - 40 minutes and let sit at least a half hour before serving.

Fall Decorating

So being down here in the south there is no such thing as a "season".  There is no winter, no spring, and no fall. There is summer.  The only way I know it is September is the weather has finally cooled off enough to stay under 100* F a couple days a week. Everything is just as brown and hot as it was mid July. Soooo... in my sanctuary of an apartment I am working to "autumn-ize" my decor. I went looking for old shirts and any other scraps in fall colors I could use.

I changed up my lamps. I don't know why this picture makes it look so crooked... must be the horrible lighting and my lack of a decent camera. Or it's just my lack of photography skills, ha!

I dug up a picture I painted as a Sophomore in high school. Random? Very. Why do I still have it? Who knows.

Pulled out a lace table cloth and put the our random sword (gift from my grandpa) on it for some character.

Finally, I added a homemade monogram wall hanging to make it more personal. (Tutorial to come)

Tuna Crochettes

 As many people know, tuna fish is something that is extremely healthy. Low in fat and high in protein it's a common element of a body builders diet. However, eating tuna without high fat condiments like mayo proves to be very difficult. I have, for a number of years, eatin tuna directly out of the can with only pepper for taste and water to wash it down. Yuck. But let not your heart be troubled! I have found the solution! By eating tuna crochettes you are able to get all of that protein with a very small amount of added fat. They are easy to eat by hand and I love eating them dipped in a little ketchup and baked potato wedges. For those with kids who love those nasty freezer fish sticks... this is an amazing alternative!

2 cans tuna, drained
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Then begin making 2 Tbs balls of the mixture. Place each ball on wax paper or tin foil and allow to sit for 15 minutes. This will allow the extra water and other fluids to "drain" out of the balls. (Make sure you don't skip this step. The crochettes will fall apart as you cook them if you don't allow them to sit.)

After the fifteen minutes, take your balls and roll the balls in bread crumbs or oat crumbs (the oats are my favorite and they make for a crunchier bite). Then place balls in a pan of 3-4 Tbs of hot olive oil. Take a spatula and squash the balls into little patties. Cook each side on medium heat for 3 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Doggy Diaper Bag

This only took me about an hour to make and it worked really well on a trip we went on a couple days later.  Because I used a bag that already had a bottom in it the process was super simple and quick.

If you make one of these make sure the dog food bag is one of the plastic sturdy ones. I washed mine out and it got rid of the dog food smell.

The first thing I did was measure from the bottom of the dog food bag and mark the desired height of the bag. I chose to make mine tall enough so you can see the "puppy chow" label. Then cut across.

Because I was short on time I chose not to "hem" the edges of the bag but I wanted to make sure that it didn't have the chance to unravel. So I took a lighter and used the heat from the flame to melt the cut edges.

Now for the straps. I used the leftover scrap from cutting the top off the bag for the straps. How wide you want the strips to be is up to you. I basically cut the stips then folded them to the size I wanted. Doing it this way I was able to get the "puppy chow" to be on the front strap. Make sure that the edges of the strap are overlapping that way you can stitch through both flaps at once.

Then take your folded strap and stitch the overlapping flaps down.

I wanted to make sure that the stitches had more stability so I used a zigzag stitch but you can use a straight stitch if you wish.

After that I measured and marked where I wanted my straps to be.

Then I attached them.

The end! It turned out to be very sturdy and worked perfectly for all of my puppys things.