For Emily:: My Meatless Monday

My soon to be sister-in-law has fabulous, make you drool staring at the screen, Meatless Monday ideas every week.  Today for lunch I decided to try to clean out my fridge a bit and get creative...and low and behold it was meatless!  So, for you Emily, here is my meatless-creation-which-happened-to-occur-on-a-Monday.  ;)

1. First, I dug around in my fridge and came up with the following ingredients:

 

 {organic spinach, leftover homemade french onion soup, organic carrots, homemade white bread, mushrooms, Duke's mayo, and home-grown organic squash, and sliced provolone...which didn't make the photo shoot}

2. I peeled the outer layer off of a couple of carrots...and then kept peeling to get carrot curls.  Tossed those into a skillet with some extra-virgin olive oil on medium heat.

3. Sliced 3 slices off the ginormous squash and added those to the skillet.

4. Sliced one big ol' mushroom...and tossed him into the pan as well.

5. Added one ladle-full of french onion soup to the pan and let simmer down {you know you want to say it..."simma'-down-now"}.

6. Sliced off 2 pieces of bread and toasted in the toaster while my pan was simmerin' away {simmer is really just a fun word...don't ya think?}.

7. Once the soup was reduced by half, I tossed in a good handful of spinach {probably about a cup for you measuring folks}.

8. Cut my toast in halves, added mayo and started to stack...veggies on the bread...provolone on the veggies...more bread...more veggies...more cheese...more bread...and you're done!

 

Voila!

Now for you sticklers, this is meatless but it's not vegetarian because my french onion soup was made with beef broth.  What can I say?  I'm carnivorous.  You can add sliced onions with a splash of veggie broth {about 1/3 cup I'd say} as an alternative to the french onion soup if you like.

And a word of caution...this sandwich needs a fork.  It is fabulous and worth every bit of the 8 minutes it took to make.

Happy Monday!

5 Months

Isn't he a cutie?  We had unseasonably cool weather this week which gave me the opportunity to bundle him up one last time for awhile.  That beanie barely fit on his head.  I kept pulling it down over his ears and it kept riding back up.

Here's how it used to fit::

 

He still tries to scrunch up in my arms.  At night before bed he pulls his legs up into his chest and nestles his head on my shoulder and tries very, very hard to be small.  

But during all his waking hours he is very much a growing boy.  

He has an ever-expanding vocabulary of sounds {his newest one is dadadadadadadadada, which he has yet to use properly....crayons are dada...his bear is dada...and on and on}.  The hubster and I sneak into his room on all fours when he is conversing with his stuffed animals and sit quietly next to his crib to eavesdrop.  He likes to stand holding onto the coffee table.  Baxter is his favorite family member...and he reaches out to pet him all day long.  He loves splashing in the bathtub and the washcloth is his favorite bath time toy {the rubber-duckies come in for a close 2nd}.  Next month he will be starting solid foods, and his first tooth is slowly but surely beginning to make an appearance {with all the fun teething symptoms along for the ride as well}.  

My sweet, tiny bundle of baby joy is growing into a sweet, joyful little boy.

He has his mama's eyes and his daddy's jaw and the most infectious smile and cheerful disposition that belong entirely to him.

It is such a joy to get to be his mama.

And I've realized the irony of Mother's Day.  It really isn't at all about cards and gifts and flowers...even though those are nice.  The only thing in the world I would ever want for Mother's Day is my child.  He doesn't have to do anything special...the hubster doesn't have to do anything special...just living out our life as a family is the best gift I could ever receive.  

I wonder if that's how God feels about us?  All the gifts we could ever bring to Him...our best efforts in life...are nice.  And it isn't that He doesn't enjoy our efforts.  But really, He just wants us.  Bad habits, quirks and all.

Not a perfect analogy, but you get the picture {I hope!}.

Happy Mother's Day, friends.  I hope your day is truly special.  :)

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary...

 

...how does your garden grow?

I admit, when we first moved into our home, I was elated at the prospect of planning how our very large yard would be landscaped.  I had visions of blooms...lots and lots of blooms.  Names like snapdragons, dianthus, geraniums, hydrangeas, and, of course, roses danced through my head.

I was less excited about vegetables.  Herbs, sure...who doesn't like a fragrant bunch of basil or lavendar or sage?

But vegetables?  The 5 year old picky eater in me was quickly surfacing.

But we had this little plot of dead grass in our backyard...a section where no sprinkler head reached...with full sun.  So my sweet hubster labored to create this.

 

A fenced in plot where our pupster cannot enter and our veggies can grow in peace {well..except from the occasional bird or squirrel}.  After our first harvest of a million and five cucumbers which were pickled into the best pickles you've ever tasted, I was hooked.

 

We planted our first crop in August and had a mid-late fall harvest.  And I cannot take credit for the bounty.  I do not possess a green thumb in any way, shape or form.  I am descended from both a legacy of green thumbs and brown thumbs.  My Great-Granny Willie Mae could take the most barren soil and make beautiful things grow.  Ditto with my Grandpa.  And my brother...well if you hop on over you can see he inherited the genes {morning glories were also a specialty of Grandpa's}.

*Ahem.*  So that brown thumb legacy?  I'm thinking it's linked to the eye gene.  'Cause my Granny was not as talented in the green thumb department {though she could keep ivy alive}, my mom is a little less talented with the ivy-keeping, and I have killed every ivy plant I've ever owned.  And we all share the same blue eyes.  Which means...my little Kiddo is likely destined to kill plants. {Hopefully not!}

Our first crop was grown from seeds.  We have purchased plants that have already been started {is that the right term?}.  But this year, we are more budget conscious thanks to my new career.  {I joke that I get paid in smiles and poop.}  So we have gone back to planting seeds.  

And, until today, I never realized that you can save your seeds and replant the next year.  Apparently, that's how heirloom seeds are passed down.  And there is even a whole website dedicated to passing on the know-how of seed-saving {www.seedsavers.org}.  So...you buy your seeds once.  And replant year after year.  

Now seeds are already ridiculously cheap.  We spent $1.38 on a packet of red bell pepper seeds {which, coincidentally is how much they currently cost per pound at my local grocery store}.  And if we save seeds from our pepper harvest...we can replant them again next year...for free!

I'm hooked.  I might not be a coupon genius...though I admire those who miraculously haul in large amounts of food for little or no money...I do not have the time to hunt down those deals.  But drying out seeds and replanting for next year?  Done.  :)

Fancy Schmancy Pillow Slipcover

I confess.  It has taken me a ridiculously long time to get around to posting this.  This was a spur of the moment, hey-what-if-I..., type of thing that turned out way better than I dared to hope.  In fact, I'd say this handy dandy pillow slip has upstaged the chair slip she was meant to accompany.  {We won't mention that to the chair. ;)}

Once upon a time, I had a lovely 16"x16" pillow from HomeGoods.  She was pretty and fancy with her braid and tassel trim.  Enter the cutest puppy on the face of the planet.

 

Look at his adorable puppy cuteness!  I miss that speckled nose of his.  Here he is in all his distinguished adultness...

 

We jokingly give him Eeyore's voice..."Nobody loves me...it's all about the baby now."  Poor Baxter.  

Anyway, I digress.  As an adorably cute puppy, Baxter had an affinity for pillows.  If I turned my back for a second, he just couldn't resist attacking the pillows.  And turning my back for 30 minutes was all he needed to make a few choice "alterations" to the trim on my pillow.  We're just lucky he didn't actually eat the trim.

But I couldn't bear to throw out my pillow.  Green and blue are my favorite colors and this was one of my favorites.  Eventually, Baxter's alterations were so great that I ended up lopping off the tassels myself and just leaving the braid in place.  So this was the state of my pillow when I remembered I still had it in a closet somewhere.

 

I double checked my measurements, which I highly recommend because my pillow technically is 16"x16.5".  Not a perfect square.  And had I just gone off my memory of "oh it's a 16x16" my cover wouldn't have fit in the end.  And I would have surely cried.

Once I double checked my measurements {remember the old adage "measure twice, cut once"} I added an inch on each side to allow for 1/2" seam allowance and made my cuts using leftover fabric from our breakfast nook roman shades {thank you Mom!}.  

Working with stripes is a curse and a joy.  The curse comes when you need to match your pattern.  The blessing is you have built in straight lines to cut on.  This is where I was patting myself on the back for using stripes.  {And yes, I was cursing the stripes later.}

Next I folded my pleats and pinned them.  At first I was trying to be super exact, measuring out each pleat exactly.  After about 4 or 5 I realized, this does not need to be exact.  Eyeballing works fine and saves my sanity.  I'm pretty good at eyeing things for spacing.  If you aren't, you might want to measure out your pleats.  Also, this is where I began to realize stripes aren't always fun.  I had to be careful to make sure my lines matched up while pinning.

A close up of the pinned pleats.  

After my pleats were pinned, I topstiched down both outer edges.  Again, I had to be careful to make sure the stripes matched as I was stiching.  Thus, I sewed with the pins in {yes, I know this is a huge no-no}.

After I topstiched down the sides, I measured to find the middle and topstiched straight down the middle.  Here is where reverted to singing the praises of stripes.  See how I just lined up the foot of the sewing machine with the stripe?  It was a wonderful guide and I started patting myself on the back again.

You can see the effect of the pleats.  And I almost stopped here.  It was pretty enough.  I was just messing around so I didn't really need to continue.  But my inspiration for this project was an episode of Sewing With Nancy {I hear you laughing...but seriously there is nothing on TV in the middle of the night when you are up nursing your newborn...so yes, I watched PBS instead of infomercials} and she made it look so easy....I had to give it a try.

So I went back and carefully pinned in the opposite direction.

And then topstiched in the opposite direction.  And voila!  Here you can see what a difference it makes.

Here are both sides topstiched in the opposite direction.

Then I matched up the fabric I cut for the back of the pillow and stiched along 3 sides with the right sides together.  I hemmed the edges of the 4th side and left it open.

I thought the fasted way to end my project would be to just stitch it closed.  *Ahem.*  And then I broke 2 needles consecutively.  Moving on to plan B!

This is a jar of vintage buttons my Granny let me play with as a little girl.  I went shopping in my button jar and found these...

I sewed them on the inside of the edge of my pillow and consulted my sewing machine manual to learn how to make button holes.

Voila!  Here is my pillow all neatly tucked into her new pillow cover.

And here are her fancy schmancy pleats!

What I love about this pillow:

1) Let's fact it, she was free!  I already had the pillow and the fabric and you just can't beat free.

2) She's pretty front and back.  I go back and forth flipping her around depending on if I want my chair to look fancy or casual.

3) Since she matches every room in my house, when I get bored with her in my bedroom, she can visit the living room, the study, even little Matthew's room if she wants!

The one drawback:

I mentioned she is made from leftover drapery fabric.  She is a synthetic suede and is dry clean only.  {Wah Waaaaa}.

Overall I'm super pleased though.  Now go out and make yourself one!

Post Edit: In re-reading this I realize I didn't explain how to measure and cut your fabric for your pleats.  For my pillow I cut one square 17"x17.5" {remember my extra inch for seam allowance} and then for the pleated front I cut 17"x the existing length of the fabric.  This allowed me extra fabric to fold into pleats.  A very important thing to know!  Because if I had just cut the fabric 17"x17.5" like the back I wouldn't have had enough length to make pleats.  Hope this helps!