What's for Dinner: Week 93

(stuffed zucchini flowers)

My sister works all week and then goes into baking and cooking frenzies all weekend. This week we benefited from her mania in the form of delicous chocolate zucchini muffins that were so sweet they tasted like cupcakes and stuffed zucchini flowers, which holy cow were delish. She used this recipe but added sausage to the filling.

In other news I've been craving buttermilk fried chicken. A friend made it a couple fourth of July's ago and ever since we went to his annual party this year I've been wanting some. So I think i'm going to give it a go. Do any of you guys have tips? Or suggestions for sides?

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Tacos with homemade beans	Grains and nuts: granola bars, ww pasta Veggies: zuccs, spinach, lettuce Fish: Shrimp and fish
Monday	Campanelli
Tuesday	Zupa Toscana
Wednesday	Eat out
Thursday	Chipotle Chicken Salad
Friday	Salmon fancy cookout
Saturday	Fried Chicken

Guest Blogging: Sew Can Do - Craft Share

Cheryl over at Sew Can Do has been doing this really neat Craft Share series and today I'm guest posting over there. It's about freezer paper stenciling and I give some practical tips that I've learned over the last year of playing with the technique. Check it out here.

Naughty Time: Zoo

A few weeks ago the musicmaker's pseudocousin's family visited (you know those people who are so close you've called their parents Aunt and Uncle your whole life?). They've got a little boy the same age as L so we hit the zoo with everyone.

My hubby, aka the best uncle in the world and the naughty girls.

 And of course they needed to go on the train. It's so fun to see them every year (or sometimes a few times a year if we're lucky). There's just something about friends that are so close you consider them family.

Recipe: Lazy Cookie Bottom Brownies and Vintage Revivals SLC Meet Up

Last month the infamous Mandi of Vintage Revivals had a meet up in Salt Lake City. (If you don't know who I'm talking about you totally need to click over and check her blog out. You'll die from home craft awesomeness overload) Anyways I'd been planning on attending since she announced it but as life goes things get busy, schedules fill up and it was the morning of the meet up and I thought to myself, "oh yeah that's today and oh yeah we're supposed to bring a dessert". I already had loads to do so I knew it wouldn't be fancy, but at the same time I wanted to at least kinda make something. More than that I was feeling like both cookies and brownies. Hence the lazy cookie bottom brownie was born.

I didn't have time or energy plus I had a tub of cookie dough that needed to be finished but really you can make your own cookie dough and brownie batter from scratch if that tickles your fancy
.

What to do

• cookie dough (I used half a small tub for my 13x9 pan)
• brownie mix (I'm a big fan of duncan heinz's dark chocolate mix)
• eggs, water, oil (basically whatever the brownie mix requires)
• spray oil

It's so easy, spray your dish. Pat the cookie dough to make an even layer at the bottom. Mix up the brownie mix. Pour the brownie batter over the cookie layer and back according to the brownie mix directions. Test with a tooth pick since it may take a tad longer than the brownies alone. And enjoy them the next time you're feeling lazy or crunched on time. Because really why make life harder than you need to?

Here are a few shots from the meet up. Cutie Lauren aka voice of Dani Lion aka fancy pants creator of Bowie Blaine went with me too and got some ideas from Mandi for decorating her pad. Neither one of us could stay very long so I didn't get a chance to write down who blogs where so if you were there  (or if you recognize people in these pics) and are reading this I'd love you to remind me and leave a link blog so I can visit.

 We should totally do another Salt Lake area bloggers and crafty girls meet up, one I can stay longer for ;)

SYTYCD: For the Love of Lyrical Hip Hop

We caught up on So You Think You Can Dance a few days ago and I was blown a way by a few routines. To be honest I've kinda fallen off the SYTYCD fanwagon just since Nigel can't stop but make it a giant cross promotion with his other projects, give himself high fives and say nasty things about the younger choreographers. And of course the carmera men spinning the stage and filming from ridiculous angels where you don't get the intended perspective of the routine drives me batty.

The musicmaker still is into it luckily or I would have missed these two awesome performances. He still records it and watches it with the remote in hand to fast forward the blabbering while I do other things, like write blog posts, make iron-ons, etc. and just kinda watch. But this lyrical hip hop routine (above) performed by Twitch and Sasha knocked my socks off. Seriously it may be my favorite routine I've ever seen on the show.

And while the I don't get the same tingle from the Youtube as when I watched it on tv, I loved Kathryn and Jess's routine this past week as well. I'm liking this new format, I thought the allstars took away from the contestants last year but having the allstars come in at the end I think gives us the best of both worlds. Any ways I thought I'd share in case some of you missed these two. And for you faithful SYTYCD fans we don't record the results show because it's just so annoying but have I missed any performances from those days that I should go look up?

What's for Dinner: Week 92

My mom and I are planning on cranking out a bunch of pasta tomorrow. We'll pop it in the freezer and hopefully it'll last for a while. I've been going through withdrawals.

I've kinda fallen off the veggie band wagon so I'm trying again. I think one thing I'll do is have a meal salad for one meal every week and then try a lot harder to get a serving of veggies with every dinner. I've started prepping fruit so we can easily have a serving of fruit with lunch every day and that's worked well. If you have any suggestions for yummy veggie ideas or ways to get more veggies into our bodies let me know.

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Shrimp Alfredo and salad	Grains and nuts: granola bars, ww pasta Veggies: zuccs, spinach, lettuce Fish: Shrimp and fish
Monday	Cowboy Hamburgers and grilled zuccs
Tuesday	Jambalaya
Wednesday	Eat out
Thursday	Chicken Cobb Salad
Friday	Zupa Toscana
Saturday	Something new, if you have a recipe I should try let me know

Star Wars Birthday Party

Our little friend Stryder is obsessed with Star Wars. And his mama the super crafty talented Jana of Stray Button went all out. She made the family costumes and had a bunch of kid activities. I was so impressed. The party was really fun and the games, unlike most party games, were accessible to the little guys. There were some great ideas that would be fun for any Star Wars party.

First she had Jedi training. Each of the kiddos got a card and when they "passed" the training they received a sticker on their card. The first training was just like when Luke was training in the first movie. She made this awesome paper mache thingy on a string. It was fabulous.

At the next station the kids were supposed to move the objects with the force. She had this big plate and magnets underneath so it looked like they were moving it with the force. Clever eh?

For the last station the kids threw a bean bag into the death star. And she's so smart she put a bowl in the hole so you didn't have to go find the bean bag or move things to get behind board. She even had cute little prompts for the adults manning the stations to read.

When they completed their training they were rewarded with lightsabers. Just fun noodles cut in half with black duck tape on the ends. I think these homemade lightsabers were ingenious. The kids had a blast beating eachother  play fighting with them. 

Her cake was adorable. A bunch of lightsabers, blueberries and characters. Isn't she so cute?And I've never seen this kind of pinata before but it was awesome. Darth Vader of course but instead of trying to get 3 year olds to beat it open they took turns pulling on a string and one pulled the latch open. And what's even better you can reuse it or have it in take just for fun later.

We split a gift with my sister, but I couldn't resist and make him a Star Wars Lego Stormtrooper shirt as well. My tute on how to do freezer paper stenciling is here.

(picture borrowed from Jo)

It was really fun, and the cutest part was that the dads (and the Uncles) seemed like they had their dreams come true in a Star Wars party.

Customer Appreciation Pic: Birdie Baby

I so love this pic of this sweetie pie in my happy bird outfit. Besides the super adorable babe, I think the shot is so so darling. I love the cute facial expression, the colors and those knobby knees oh man I just want to kiss her little legs. And I really wish I could take photos like this.

I so love these customer pictures, seriously they are one of the best parts of this job. If you've got any shots of your little ones in my goodies feel free to send them to me or post them to the Rae Gun Facebook page.

Harry Potter Wrap Up: Deathly Hallows II and Chocolate Frogs

Have you all seen it yet? Well, what did you think? For me I went into it knowing there would be some HUGE changes, particularly at the main conflict so I think I was able to not freak out about it (unlike last time). I wish they had stuck to the order of events better in the end, sigh, and I don't get the wrestling with Voldermort in the sky bit, but I really enjoyed it. The whole first half felt SO fast (which I guess was necessary to keep it from being super long) and I'm glad they slowed down a bit where they did. As great as I think the movies are I think this last one confirmed how fantastic and unmatchable the books truly are. In the books every single wizard that died and relationship that was tested broke my heart and the movie just didn't get me.

But we had fun as you can see. And part of the Potter watching experience with me means that you'll be getting some themed special. This year's treat include a couple chocolate frogs and some Bertie Bot inspired jelly beans. The musicmaker and Mark were dying to put in some real Bertie Bots but I nixed that idea. And as if I needed another hobby, but I kind of got addicted to making these little frogs. Seriously they are so easy and fun.

How to Make Chocolate Frogs

• Melting chocolate (make sure it's palm oil and not only coco butter for the fat) I used dark, milk, vegan milk, and butterscotch chips
• Frog candy mold

Melt the chocolate, a small bowl at a time. I zapped it 20 seconds and stirred and repeated until it was fully melted. Port the melted chocolate into the mold. Tap on the counter to distribute. And freeze (about 15 minutes) until the chocolate looks hard and pulls away from the mold when you bend it. Pop the frogs out and repeat.

My favorites were to layer the chocolate and the butterscotch chips. I did a later of chocolate by spreading it around the mold and then adding melted butterscotch chips to fill the rest. It ended up being 1/3 to 1/2 chocolate to the rest butterscotch.

What's for Dinner: Week 91

I'm not feeling particularly inspired to cook this week plus we've eatten out and junky a lot so I'm thinking I'll do a  rotisserie chicken from costco this week and keep things easy. I'm all out of fresh pasta so I think I'm declaring Saturday the day to make some more. It's been too long.

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Birthday Noodles for the musicmaker	Grains and nuts: granola bars, ww pasta Veggies: carrots, lettuce Fish: Shrimp and fish
Monday	Chicken Corn and Tortillas
Tuesday	Big Chicken Salad
Wednesday	Eat out
Thursday	White Chili
Friday	Cowboy Hamburgers
Saturday	Shrimp Alfredo

Harry Potter Countdown: Shopping Spree

 (my most recent purchase it's still for sale (for the rest of today) at Teefury)

Well as I type it's less thank 30 minutes til many of you will be watching the movie. Have so much fun! Our tickets are for tomorrow night. We didn't want the front row and we've got elderly friends (you know in their late 20's and 30's) that have real jobs that they have to be up early for so we thought Friday night sounded better.

Seriously I cannot stop buying Potter related stuff. The last 2 weeks I've bought FOUR teeshirts, a necklace and a ring and this is not including my awesome snitch necklace I bought a few months ago or all the goodies I've crafted. I've got a problem. Worst of all, all of these purchases were made with the assumption that the items would not arrive in time for the premeire. But guess what was in my mail box today all the way from the UK. This totally awesome necklace. Neato Eh? Now that's what I call fast shipping.

 (from teefury and riptapparel)

Happy Harry Potter day. Hopefully I can stop buying HP swag now. 

Harry Potter Countdown: Hogwarts Gryffindor Tie Tutorial

 Look what I did last night :) The musicmaker and I have fun. I really wanted a Gryffindor tie. And when I saw this tie for sale on Etsy I realized I could make one. Ties are easy, but I found this to be kinda annoying if I would have found this listing weeks ago (in time for the Deathly Hallows part II premiere) I would have just purchased it. Instead I bought crappy cheap costume satin (not really satin at all, Tessa if you're reading this I know you warned me -mistake #1). It's not hard, just annoying and if you're going to make one yourself I'd recommend buying satin (just use a coupon or wait for a sale). I'm a super fast sew-er. This took me a little over an hour  (mind you I can sew myself a dress in an hour)and it's kinda weak quality-wise.

Any ways I'd like to show you how to make your own Gryffindor tie. And I hope that you will learn from my mistakes because unfortunately I made a few.

What you'll need

• Satin  (I used fake costume satin and regretted it)
• Tie Pattern (wait til they're on sale for 99 cents)
• Thin goldenrod ribbon

What to do

 (click on the image to enlarge)

1. Cut out your fabric, most tie patterns will either have a flap to fold under at the end (left column on my drawing) or it'll have you line the fabric). Cut it the direction it tells you to (on the bias) I rebelled and regret it since it probably would have laid more flat like the ribbon if I cut it properly (mistake #2) Read the pattern directions so you get the general jist. Sew the flap part or sew the good fabric to the lining and flip. I recommend serging the straight edge of the flap if you're doing the flap style (the one that will eventually be horizontal).
2. Before you sew the long ends together sew on the ribbon. I tried to sew the ribbon down the middle but it ended up curling and looking lame-o (mistake #3). I highly recommend sewing on each side of the ribbon.
3. Sew the ribbon in the pattern all the way down. I didn't measure or pin. I just eyeballed it and put it in about the same position on my machine each time. But I'm not a perfectionist.
4. Follow the the directions for the tie. Basically sew the long ends together (right sides) then flip and iron.
5. Do not use fray check on the raw edge if you're using fake satin, and whatever fabric you use test it first if you're tempted to do that (mistake #4) or else you'll get a nice stain on your tie right after you did all that work.
6. Dress your husband up, give him a chopstick and take lots of pictures.

Just to clarify, he's my cute model for this blog post but it is MY tie. Hopefully that made sense. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

Pregnancy and Newborn Feature

Hey all check out this really nice Rae Gun feature from Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine. Cool eh?

Harry Potter Countdown: Forget Harvard this Baby's Hogwarts Bound

My good friend who also is a Potter fiend had a sweet baby girl a few weeks ago. And I just couldn't help but make her a Gryffindor onesie outfit. I wish I could say I'd put these onesie sets in the shop but freezer paper stenciling is such a finicky sport that I just can't do it. (It took me 4 tries to cut out a Hogwarts stencil on my cricut and I smudged it a bit peeling the stencil off). But you can make your own!

If you want to make your own I explain how to do freezer paper stenciling in this post. It's easy the hardest part is cutting out the stencil. You can kind of see the steps in my pictures.

Basically you cut the stencil out of freezer paper, iron it down and then paint and peel the stencil off

As you can see I kind of smudged the paint taking the stencil off. But I added sparkles and it's fine. Design feature right? Yeah only a few more days left until the movie. And Lisa if you're reading this, Molly has something coming in the mail :)

Here's the image if you want to give it a go yourself.