Halloween costume!

My daughter Amanda has allowed me to make her costume this year!

Now I am sure some of you are wondering why I said "allowed" I will explain!

When Amanda was born my amazing Mother started making Amanda her Halloween costumes. Each year out doing the prior year.

 

My Mom


When my Mom got sick, Amanda and her Dad starting going to the Halloween store to buy her costumes. Now mind you they never asked me to go because I would never have let them pay that crazy money for something that is worn one day out of the year!!!
So this year I decided to make Amanda's costume myself, I mean really how hard could it be, I can sew!!!!!
So first Amanda had to decide on what she wanted to be, let me tell you that wasn't easy, if you have a 12 year old daughter you know what I mean.
We were in Target trying to get some ideas when we came across this plain white plastic mask, similar to one worn at a masquerade party. I suggested to Amanda that we buy it, decorate it with glitter and crystals and build the costume from there. Guess what????? She liked that idea.
So she spray painted it black and added her touches with glitter and crystals.

 Next I found some great fabric 50% off at JoAnns and started designing her dress.

I found this wonderful black shimmery fabric that look green in one light and purple in the next, so I used that around the neck and bottom of the dress.

I didn't have enough to go around the sleeves so I got out the glue gun and added some crystals.

Last but certainly not least were the shoes. Amanda had a old dingy looking pair of white sneakers, so we spray painted them black and added some glitter.

Her costume was complete and all under $20 bucks!
I am not sure how many more years she will be dressing up but I am sure I have passed the test and will be able to make next years costume.
By the way she and her friend Abi have decided they want to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 next year. Maybe I should get started now!


 

 

 

Sooooo good!

 I just made these yummy Pumpkin Pineapple Spiced Muffins.

 

 

They are not the prettiest to look at but they are sooo good I can get passed their appearance.
They are so easy to make, only a few ingredients.

 

 Simply mix one box of Spice Cake Mix and one large can of Pumpkin, that's it,  no egg, oil, or water.
You could stop there and they would still be very tasty but of course I have to make this recipe my own.
So I added more cinnamon, fresh nutmeg and pumpkin spice. I had fresh pineapple in the house so I decided to add one cup finely chopped.
I baked them for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
They are very dense and moist, it's hard to eat just one!
However, with these you can splurge, they are 100 calories and less then 2 grams of fat each.


Fall soup kinda day.

Today reminded me of a typical fall day back in Illinois.

 As a child, as soon as the weather changed my Mom would make a big pot of homemade soup.

So today I decided to channel my Mom and make soup.

I wanted to create a low fat healthy soup. I knew I had a head of cauliflower that needed to be used so I decided to try something with that.
We love roasted cauliflower so I roasted my veggies first.

 

I chopped a head of cauliflower, 6 loves of garlic and one large onion. I brushed them with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes.

I put 6 cups of low sodium, organic chicken broth in a pot and added my veggies. I simmer them on the stove for about an hour.

I added salt and pepper to taste and a large pinch of Thyme. Even though I had used roasted garlic cloves, I added two fresh cloves, roasted garlic has a sweet taste and I wanted a bigger taste of garlic.  

 I emulsified the broth and veggies to create a nice creamy texture.

When I tasted the soup I felt it needed something to bring the flavor up so I added the zest of one lemon.

The soup was good but still needed a little something, somthing, so I decided to make a puree of roasted red peppers to drizzle into the soup.

It really did the trick.

 









 

I made homemade caramelized onion facaccia bread to go with soup.

Perfect accompaniment to the soup.

 

I did what I set out to do, make a low fat, healthy soup. You can easily change out the chicken broth and use vegetable broth.  I think a basil pesto would also taste good  instead of the roasted red pepper drizzle.

My husband approved, he had three bowls of soup.

 

I will share the onion facaccia on another post.







 



Having so much fun!

I know I have said this before but....... I am loving this floral arrangement class!

 

This week we created an arrangement in a pumpkin.

 

 

Of course my mind is already racing at all the other vase possibilities.

I am obsessed with flowers now and have started a new folder on Pintrest of floral arrangements.

There is nothing better than having fresh flowers in the house.

 



Best dinner.

 

I wanted to share with you a great, healthy dinner I made last night. I wish I had taken a picture but didn't think that far in advance.

 

I had left over salad from the night before, lots of different greens with tomatoes and cucumber. I also had two roasted chicken breast, when I roast chicken I like to make extra and have it on had for other dinners.

I took a head of cauliflower, two red peppers and 3 zucchinis cut them up and brushed them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted them in a 400 degree oven.

I took 4 lemons and juices them into my Cuisinart, along with two garlic cloves, a hand full of fresh basil, salt, pepper, dried thyme and a pinch of sugar. I ran the Cuisinart until the were liquefied. I slowly added a 1/3 of a cup of olive oil while running the Cuisinart to emulsify the dressing.

Once the vegetables were brown around the edges I removed them from the oven  and let cool. I removed the skin on the roasted red peppers.

I chopped the chicken breast, added the roasted vegetables and drizzled the dressing on my salad.

A very healthy and delicious meal for my family.

 



Yikes I have done it again.

Yes, I have done it again. Gone way to long without a post.

 

I have really been enjoying my floral classes. I love learning about different flower combinations and all the different foliage you can add to an arrangement.

Here are a few of the arrangement I have made so far.

 It has even inspired me to add different plants to my outdoor gardens.

 

 

Stepping out of the box.

I have been having so much fun lately trying new things.

 

I have always wanted to learn how to make Mozzarella Cheese, I have seen it done on the cooking channel and they make it look so easy. My first thought was I am sure I can find a class somewhere in the valley, so I searched Google. I was really surprised to find nothing listed. So my second thought was  You-tube, I am always amazed at what it on You-tube. Sure enough I found several step by step tutorials.

I found that I needed Whole Milk, or best Unpasteurized, vegetable rennet and citric acid tablets. I figured if any place would have all three it would be Whole Foods. To my surprise Whole Foods did not carry Unpasteurized Milk, now they have every variety of Milk and Milk type products but not Unpasteurized. They recommend I go to one of the local dairy farms. Because the recipes said Whole Milk will work just as well I went with it. I found my vegetable rennet and citric acid at Whole Foods as well.

I  was surprised how easy it was to do!

So of course I had to make my favorite dish with my very own home made cheese.

 

 

Yes, it was as good as it looks, I have tons of basil in my garden right now so I made a pesto and drizzled it on the tomatoes and cheese. Now I just wish I can grow decent tomatoes in Arizona!

 

This summer I turned 50, yes, 50!!!!

Boy, that was tough, however, my good friend Anna bought me a wonderful gift.

She enrolled us in a 12 week Floral arrangement class. Last night was our first class and let me tell you, I LOVE IT!!!

Here is a picture of my first arrangement.

I can't wait to see what we do next week!

I will be sure and post each week.