Cover the Safety Railing

When we took down my son's crib and upgraded him to a toddler bed, we would often go in and check on him after he had fallen asleep.  A lot of the time we would find him rolled over to the side with his head leaning ON the little safety railing.  The bed is made of metal, sounds comfortable, I know...
My husband mentioned that we should put something over it, immediately I knew what I should do...

I went to the dollar store and got a pool noodle.  I let my son pick out whatever color he wanted.  He felt like such a helper :).  I brought the noodle home and put it up against the bar, and cut it to the right length.

Leftover Chicken Broth?

When I am making a recipe that calls for chicken broth, I have noticed I don't always use the whole can.  I decided to try a little experiment and see if it can be frozen...guess what, it can be!  Yay!!  The only thing I had on hand was an ice cube tray, so I poured the leftover broth into that and put it in the freezer.  Once the broth was frozen I popped them out of the ice tray and put the cubes in a ziplock bag, and just kept them in the freezer.  Each cube is 2 Tbsp. of broth.   

Another 'experiment' I wanted to try was to see what would be the best way to use the cubes.  I was making a sauce in a skillet on the stove, and I needed just a little bit of broth.  I grabbed two cubes from the freezer and threw them in the pan.  They just melted, and it worked perfectly!

Baked Chicken Taquitos

These taquitos are SO good!  The tortilla is perfectly crispy, while the filling is creamy and flavorful, mmmmm...

Chicken Taquitos

Makes 12 Taquitos (about 6 servings)

• 3ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 c. green salsa (I got a good sized bottle from Wal-mart for $1.68)
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 (large) clove garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 2 Tbsp chopped green onions
• 1 c. shredded Mexican cheese blend
• 12 soft taco sized tortillas
• 2 c. cooked shredded chicken*

Spout Extender

My son is ALL about having things 'his size'.  I think all kids feel the same way.  It makes them feel important.  

Well, a couple of things were on my mind when we created this next craft

1. My son was getting too big for me to hold up to the kitchen sink when he needed to wash his hands, and,
2. I felt bad holding him up to the sink because I always feel like the edge of the counter is pressing into his little tummy

So, we had just finished this bottle of Mountain Dew, and I thought we should put it to some good use!  Yay for reusing!!

 I first cut off the top of the bottle, 

No-sew Super Why Cape, Mask, and Why Writer

For a while my son started really getting into a show called Super Why.  It's all about teaching kids how to read, I believe it's on PBS.  His favorite character on the show is the main one, Super Why.

Super Why image was found through Google.

I thought it would be so fun to turn my little guy into Super Why, he LOVED the idea as well.

So, I took an old shirt that didn't really fit anymore, turned it inside out (so I could see the seams), 

I cut along the inside of the inseams from the bottom all the way up and around the neck.  Don't cut the neck.  Voila!  Instant cape.

Marbled Fondant

This was my second attempt ever at using fondant, and I thought I would try something new, again.  One of my brother's was having a birthday/Sunday dinner at my parent's house, so I figured was a good excuse to bust out a new cake.  

I made the fondant a light almost mint green color using regular liquid food coloring.  It was also my first attempt at a two-layer cake.  Yay!  

Yay's for me:  I didn't roll the fondant out as thin this time.  Also, the bottom part of the cake looks much cleaner and almost perfectly flat/straight edged  all the way around, and pretty dang good if I do say so myself :)

Boo's for me:  I probably should have finished off the top somehow, maybe even written 'Happy Birthday' or something, but to be honest, we were running a little late, (I didn't quite give myself loads of time to finish this...)

After covering the cake in the green fondant I had some left over and thought I should experiment with it.  I wanted to do a design and change the color, so I grabbed some liquid blue food coloring and started to mix it into the fondant with my hands.  

The result: this cool blue marbled looking fondant.  I cut it into strips and laid the strips around the two layers.  (They kind of look like strips of gum huh?)  

A helpful hint: to get the fondant to stick, moisten the side that will be placed on the cake with a tiny amount of water.

Much better than my last attempt!  Practice makes perfect!  Endless possibilities here, don't be afraid to try something new!!

Mini Fruit Tarts

These are by far my favorite dessert!  I was so happy when I found a recipe for them, they are SO easy!  Don't they look heavenly? :)

Mini Fruit Tarts

Ingredients

• Tart Crust:
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), chilled
• 1 egg yolk, broken with a fork