Have a cold = Make Chicken Soup

Today, I'm still feeling awful and Hazel is starting to get better, but still seems a bit off. We decided to make some soup. I bought for her a vegetable chopper and cutting board from Bella Luna which we got yesterday. This is similar to what they use at Cape Ann Waldorf School in the nursery classroom on soup day. Hazel has been asking to help with chopping vegetables when I am making dinner, so I figured at least this way it would be fairly safe to have her help.

She loves it though did not enjoy chopping the onion. I tried to warn her about it and not to rub her eyes, but needless to say, her eyes stung. She however did enjoy the carrots, parsnip and zucchini. Then she helped with the sugar snap peas and broth, etc. She however did not want me taking pictures for some reason today.

Our lazy chicken soup recipe:
3 boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
3 carrots chopped
1 large onion chopped
3-4 stalks of celery chopped
1 small zucchini chopped
1 parsnip chopped
1 small head of broccoli chopped
dried oregano
dried basil
1 cup or so sugar snap peas broken in half
1 can of diced tomatos
2 quarts low sodium chicken broth

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high for an hour and then turn to low for 5 hours. Then add fresh parsley chopped and some small pasta (we are using alphabet noodles) and cook for 30 minutes or more. I'm hoping the vegetables Hazel chopped cook all right--they were on the large side.

Since we haven't tried it, I can't tell you how it is, but I'm guessing it will be delicious. I bought a nice loaf of bread to go with it for dinner tonight. Hopefully it will help us both feel a bit better.

Hope you are having a good day.

Snow and Nursery Rhymes

We finally got some snow, but Hazel and I are stuck inside with colds. So much for her building a snowman. However, last night I cut her out some felt so she could "build" and dress her own snowman. She was having fun with it this morning.

We were checking out all the clothes and accessories I cut out--vest, skirt, boots, bow tie, etc. Then she decided the boots needed their own eyes and noses.

The other craft we did involved using some of the Tagxedo prints I made and using the nursery rhyme party hats we made, but didn't use at Hazel's party. I unstuck them and mod podged them onto unfinished frames I bought at Michaels for $1.

The glue isn't completely dry yet, so I will have to do some touch-ups after it is, but that is what we have been up to.





In case you are interested here are the Tagxedo prints I did.

I cropped this one since it was an ice skate and not a shoe

I added Word Art in Word for the handle

I didn't do this one yet, Mary Had a Little Lamb

Hey Diddle, Diddle version I didn't use

I have my cropped and edited pictures in a Word document here. They are sized to fit a 4 x 6 frame.

Enjoy!!

Square It Up Quilts

So back in September when I was really just beginning to get into the blog world, I won a contest over at Sew Happy Geek. I won a pattern designed by Jenna of Sew Happy Geek called Square It Up! and the fabric to make it from the Fat Quarter Shop. I haven't really been quilting in about three years. I made but did not finish a baby quilt for Hazel. It is almost done, but I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

Anyway, this pattern went together so quickly and I noticed how the colors of the fabric I won matched my bedroom walls perfectly so I decided to buy more fabric and extend it to be a bed quilt. I shared the pictures of the completed quilt on Friday, (but I put one at the top in case you don't want to go back). The original size quilt top I pictured here. On October 19th, I was honored to guest blog at Sew Happy Geek and I showed three quilt tops at my blog here. While waiting for the fabric to extend the quilt, I decided to make one for Hazel. I had found the perfect center block for her--a Hey Diddle, Diddle square that was suppose to make a pillow. Since it came with two, I also made a baby quilt. I basically did hers and the baby quilt as scrap quilts though I did buy a few more nursery rhyme fabrics to go with my nursery rhyme theme.

Well today, I finished Hazel's quilt. (My shoulders are not very happy about spending so much time bent and pushing the heavy quilts the past week--oh, well.) So today, I'm happy to share some pictures with you. I took the majority of the pictures on the guest bed since the bed rail and all her pillows and the wall make it hard to get a good picture at her bed. Behind the guest bed is the beautiful quilt my mother made me to take to college. It is a family favorite--my father really wants it to hang in their house, so I put it in the guest room they stay in.

And then her bed--she has a cold so we have the wedge pillow on there and what not, but you'll see what looks like.

Now I just need to finish the baby quilt. I also need to add a huge thank you to my mother for helping me back, layer and pin both of these large quilts!! She actually even provided me with the backing fabrics. Thanks, Mom!! I love you!

Baking, Crafting, and Relaxing

Wow, I'm so excited. My followers moved to over 100 yesterday. Thank you!! I feel so honored especially since most of my followers are not my family and friends I met elsewhere--not from Crafty Moms Share. Also we have 90+ posts shared at Sharing Saturday. It is still open, so please go check it out and share something with us. I am always amazed at everything and love to see what wonderful things people are up to. I often try some of them with Hazel as well.

So this weekend, we baked some muffins. We made Banana Blueberry Muffins since we had some overripe bananas to use up. Hazel is a great banana masher.

She also did most of the mixing and helped scoop them into the muffin tins.

Our recipe is pretty low fat and healthy!!

Banana Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oat bran or oatmeal
1/4 cup ground flax seed meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup non-fat milk
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I use Greek so it has extra protein)
1 egg
2-3 over ripe bananas, mashed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a muffin pan with foil liners or spray with non-stick spray. (The muffins are moist and will stick to paper liners.)

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

In large bowl beat egg and then add milk, yogurt, bananas and oil and mix. Then add dry ingredients and mix well. Then add blueberries and stir.

Scoop into the prepared muffin tin. Bake for 20 minutes and then cool on rack for 10 minutes before eating.
Makes about 18 muffins.

We also did a craft of sorts. I had been saving a Tropicana juice bottle. I love the shape and thought it would be a fun playhouse for some of Hazel's dolls. I asked Steve to cut a door in it. Then we glued some double folded bias tape around the cut so there wouldn't be any sharp edges. Then we moved Hazel's Caillou figures into it. I think Hazel and I may decorate it more, but it at least gave her a playhouse for the figures.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I know I'm excited to have my quilt done and have been working on Hazel's. And have been enjoying some family time.

Sharing Saturday #2

Thank you to all of you who shared last week!!  We had some last minute entries, so go check them out!