Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Monday, June 14, 2010

Small Wonders Preschool Graduation Program


Sunday Best

The Best Boys Hair Product!


My friend Brooke introduced me to this and it is absolutely freaking fabulousness. It is from Beyond the Zone and it is called Spike It hair cement. You just get it at Sallys and it is only about $5! It lasts forever, holds so well for your little guys faux hawks, spikes, whatever, it works well dry, doesn't make hair sticky or wet looking and washes out so easy with no residue or build up! Check it out on my handsome model!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Summer Schedule

She is supermom, I'm going to try and see what I can implement this summer...

courtesy of Grace Violet

Friday, June 4, 2010

Quote of the Day

Limiting Beliefs~
Have you become addicted to limiting beliefs? Do those
limiting beliefs soothe you and comfort you while at the
same time holding you back?

In the short term, it can be much easier to tell yourself
you can't do it. Yet when you look at the big picture, it's
much better to go ahead and do the work of achievement.

You can comfort yourself today by believing that your lack
of progress is not your responsibility. However, you'll soon
be paying for that short-term comfort with long-term regret.

It is difficult work to acknowledge and follow the best of
your possibilities. And it is well worth the effort.

For your dreams are calling to you, and they'll never be
satisfied until you do something about them. You have what
it takes to reach them, and they know it.

Break free of your dependence on limiting beliefs. And
achieve the great things that only you can bring to life.

Ralph Marston

Why didn't I think of this?

Homemade Mozzarella sticks that is. The Pioneer Woman strikes again with her genius! I am trying it this weekend and the best part is, Panko and String Cheese is on sale at Smiths!Grab the panko breadcrumbs.
You’ll need a bunch of string cheese—one string cheese per two fried mozzarella sticks you’d like to make.
You’ll need a bowl of flour…
A couple of eggs…
A little milk…
And some dried parsley flakes.
Add the parsley flakes to the panko crumbs…
And stir them together with a fork. Now, you could certainly sprinkle in a little salt, garlic salt, or other seasoning mix—even a little cayenne pepper—but I wanted to keep things simple. I don’t think the crumbs really need much help.
Next, splash a little milk into the eggs…
And whip it together with a fork.
Finally, unwrap as many pieces of string cheese as you need…
And just slice them in half with a sharp knife.Now, this is just a great, basic way to bread basically anything with panko crumbs. Use this method for everything from chicken tenders to zucchini spears. In this case, just set one of the pieces of mozzarella in the bowl of flour…
And roll it around to lightly coat.
Next, dip the flour-coated mozzarella in the egg/milk mixture.
Coat it completely…
Then place it straight into the seasoned panko crumbs.
Rather than roll it around and disturb the coating, I just use my hand to scoop panko crumbs on top of the mozzarella so that it’s adequately coated.
Pat it gently to make sure it’s all coated with crumbs, then gently remove from the crumbs…

And place on a clean tray or cookie sheet.
Repeat until all the pieces are coated.
Now—this is an important step: Place the tray, uncovered, directly into the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes. This will flash freeze the mozzarella sticks (at least partly), which will help them stay together better when it’s time to fry, and will also keep the mozzarella from melted too quickly when it hits the hot oil.
When you’re ready to fry ‘em up, heat a good inch to an inch-and-a-half of canola oil over medium heat. Medium high or high, at least on my stove, proves to be a little too hot for panko crumbs. Medium’s about right, but you can sort of gauge your stove and see what you need to do.
Pull the frozen sticks out of the freezer…

And carefully add a few to the hot oil.
Oh! And I always feel like saying this: be careful with pans of hot oil if you have cute little roly poly kids walking around the house. I always, out of habit—even now that my roly poly kids are getting bigger—keep pans on the back burner of the stove (handles far out of reach) if I’m going to fry with oil. It’s just one of those things that crawled into my brain at an early stage of parenting, and something I’m going to keep bugging you about anytime I share a recipe that involves frying with hot oil.
Hope you don’t mind.
Things will move quickly—be ready to roll them over to the other side when the first side gets brown. The trickiest part of making these is getting the oil to just the right temp in order to melt the cheese without burning the crumbs, but it isn’t difficult to get the swing of it right away. Keep in mind that the cheese will continue to soften/melt after you remove them from the oil.

When they’re nice and golden, remove them to a paper towel-lined plate.
Yum! Look at the yummy panko breading. If I took a bite of this, you could hear the crispiness in Yonkers
Pretty dish.
Pretty dish filled with marinara sauce.

My kids and husband were gathered around as I was taking these photos. I had to beat them away with my tongs.
Because I wanted to try one first.
The Verdict: Perfection. These are not your typical run-of-the-mill fried mozzarella sticks. The panko crumbs absolutely make them. They add a much-needed crispiness and texture to this widely loved (but sometimes tired) bar-and-grill food. You’ll love them!
And remember: use this flour-egg/milk-panko breading process on any number of things:

chicken tenders
zucchini spears
raw, deveined shrimp
sweet potato sticks

The list goes on!

Recomended Reading

I LOVE the Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn. There are 3 and another one on its way. Also she has another book outside the series that is pretty good too. It is a 1890's British Mystery Romantic Suspense. The fist sentence reads:
"To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor." You'll read the whole thing in a weekend I promise. Soo good! Just beware of the book covers as she seems to be obseesed with cleavage, but a Fabio Romance novel, this is not I assure you.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Down on the Farm





A Day at the Splash Park

I took the boys and one of Boston's friends on a walk today to see the horses. On the way back we decided to go to the Splash Park cuz it was hot and no one was there. This is the first time we've gone this year, first time ever for Brock actually. He LOVED it! I can't wait to take him swimming he is going to be insane.


Transportation Bedroom

Brock's Room



Recent Projects

I got this old window pane at the Antique store. Here is the before:I painted it and did this fabric in it that I love (it is moda freebird, if you are swooning too)hung it in my fam room and voila!
New wall color in living room

Cheap kitchen bar stool before and after: