I Win the Prize…

for the most effective use of a Christmas gift card in a 30 minute period. Here’s how it went.

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The card was for this cool place–a Toys R Us for grown-ups, called “Orson Gygi’s Culinary Solutions.” Hot dang–did we have a good time spending all that play money. Check out our loot…

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A Pastry blender–a sturdy one, not a wimpy one that bends every time you give it a job. We use these for tons of stuff.

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Key Lime Oil. The flavor of the Gods…we’re a bit obsessed with Key Lime anything around here.

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A teeny, tiny grater. You know, for putting cheese on Barbie’s pizza. ha ha. Or shaving chocolate maybe. Ok, ok. I just thought it was cute.

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I’m excited to try this one–a real, authentic tortilla press, for homemade tortillas. Yum! If I get really good at it–maybe I’ll show you.

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A small, double ended pastry roller. Yeah, we could have used this with the Fruit Pizza.

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A sandwich cutter. This is for the babies so we can cut their sandwiches into dinosaur shapes. Somehow that seems like a pretty important thing to be able to do. I’m just guessing.

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Pickle tongs–because after watching a couple of boys fish a pickle out of the jar–with their fingers–well, it tends to make one not so interested in pickles anymore. Yes, I’m determined to teach those cavemen some manners.

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A nice, long spatula. This was a surprise for Lyndi because she’s the resident cake decorator in these parts and she likes this sort of thing.

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We dropped our last candy thermometer and busted it in a million pieces. THIS time, we opted for a metal one. See? We can be taught.

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A veggie steamer. This was the bald kid’s choice because he seems to think that we should steam our vegetables. La de da. And so we shall.

When we rang up all our stuff–the lady said, “You have $14.15 left on your card,” and since THAT’s not acceptable, April flew back and grabbed a measuring spoon set, a donut cutter and 5 spice jars. She scurried home with them before we got a picture. Trust me they’re cool.

All in all–we spent 85 cents and hauled home a bus load of loot.

Just think of all the kitchen adventures that are coming up with all this cool stuff!

Stay tuned…

Week 17 food storage prompt: 2 cans tuna, 4 cans Tomato soup

July 9, 2009August 2, 2020

Sleeve Cap

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I know what you’re thinking–“Of course the cap is sleevless. Sheesh!” Sure, sure. But wait. That’s not what I mean. This stripey cap that’s a sweet little cross between Wee Willie Winkie and Captain Jack is made from a SLEEVE.

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Back last Christmas, I was making a valiant attempt to be frugal and creative at the same time. Often that can go quite badly, but lucky for us–it turned out surprisingly well. The bottom left piece of this shirt was made into rice pillows. The bottom right piece was made into night caps for the bald kid–he didn’t even mind the flowers. The neck piece is still in the creation stage.

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And the sleeve pieces I just turned wrong side out…

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and sewed up the curved side. Here they are turned right side out again.

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The babies have had these since December but Lily has just discovered that she can actually put them on…

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pretty much by herself.

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Simple. Sweet. Free.

Beat that.

Made something cool from an unexpected source? Tell me, tell me. I love comments!

July 8, 2009August 2, 2020

Fruit Pizza

Oh yeah…

Our family loves this little breakfast so much, that we ended up making it twice! That is either devotion or maniacal addiction. I’m not sure which. At any rate–if you and your family are summer fruit freaks—like we are–this should do it for you–in a severe way. It is a simple enough recipe–but it takes either a little time or teamwork. Go for the teamwork because, just remember what your mama probably told you: “Many hands make light work,” or…a party.

Ingredients:

1 (18-ounce) package refrigerated cookie dough

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

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This is the subjective part. You can pretty much use what ever kinds of fruit that floats your boat. We like banana slices, mandarin orange sections, seedless grapes, strawberry slices, pineapple and peach chunks, cherry halves, diced apples and raspberries. If you like kiwi and blueberries then, by all means, use them.

BIG, COOL, HELPFUL TIP: Pour the juice from the mandarins and canned pineapple into a bowl. Drop the apple chunks and banana slices into the juice for a few minutes and then drain. The citrus acid will keep the light fruits from turning brown.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pat or roll cookie dough into an ungreased 14-inch pizza pan. If you want to use a cookie sheet–you will need two packages of dough. Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract or other flavoring; spread over cookie crust. Arrange fruit over cream cheese layer in any design you want. We always start out all orderly and then end up just sprinkling the rest all over the place. Refrigerate for an hour or so to set the frosting.

Gobble it up.

Fruit Pizza

Ingredients

Ingredients:
1 (18-ounce) package refrigerated cookie dough
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
⅓ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pat or roll cookie dough into an ungreased 14-inch pizza pan. If you want to use a cookie sheet--you will need two packages of dough. Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract or other flavoring; spread over cookie crust. Arrange fruit over cream cheese layer in any design you want. We always start out all orderly and then end up just sprinkling the rest all over the place. Refrigerate for an hour or so to set the frosting.

July 7, 2009August 2, 2020