Protein Pudding

I love Summer.  It is full of all the things I enjoy; warm sun, longer days, playing outside, swimming, BBQ's and yep, lots of GOODIES!!  

BUT you don't need to feel quite as guilty about this yummy goodness.  My mother in law introduced me to this protein pudding.  It is the PERFECT Summer treat.  It is low fat, packed with protein, AND most importantly it's super yummy!  And with all the protein it is a perfect "after workout" snack.  

It is such a good alternative snack to all the sugar loaded junk we often indulge in in the Summer.  Ok, now I by no means am a healthy eater and I 100% guarantee I will continue to eat the junk that I so love but this is one treat where I can enjoy it and don't have to feel *as* guilty after eating it so I thought I'd share.

Protein Pudding

-2 c. *low fat* cottage cheese 

-2 c. Skim or low fat (1%) milk 

-1  6.5 serving instant pudding (I do white chocolate flavor) *fat free, sugar free*

-1  8oz. container *light* whipped topping

-1 Tbs. Almond flavoring

Add all ingredients in large blender or food processor and mix until smooth.  Let refrigerate to further set up.  Serve plain or with fruit of choice.  Enjoy!

My three year old and my husband loves it and they are the pickiest eaters I know.  It's a good way to hide some needed protein in my son's diet ;)  

Enjoy and Happy Summer!

Fast and Easy Grocery Bag Storage

Anybody have a hard time keeping their grocery bags from taking over their kitchen?  No, just me?  Ok.  Maybe I was being lazy but I obviously had an issue on my hands.  

No exaggeration, this is my pantry before I did something to control the grocery bags.  I swear they would somehow grow and work their way out of the larger bag I was just stuffing them into.  Besides the obvious bag issue, don't judge how extremely unorganized my pantry is!

So here is a great way to neatly store a 

large amount of grocery bags: 

Start by laying bag out like this

fold it in half- hot dog style ;)

While anchoring the end with your thumb, start wrapping sack around two fingers (doesn't matter which end you start with)

keep wrapping until you get a little tail leftover

gently remove fingers and stuff the tail into the center of the roll

you will be left with a little grocery sack ball all nice and compact

If I were super house wife and had a fancy, organized pantry I would put these into a cute decorative container but since I haven't gotten to organizing and cutesy-ing my pantry quite yet, I stuck them in a leftover Costco shake box :)  

Ahhhh so nice to have my pantry back!  My box is tucked away in the far right side out of sight of this picture but it's there.  Now when I open my pantry door I'm not greeted with a million grocery bags swarming at my feet, they are neatly tucked away practically out of sight.  

By doing this, I can neatly fit hundreds of bags even just in that little cardboard box!  And it may seem time consuming but it really isn't!  Once you've done one and get the hang of it, you can easily wrap hundreds in just a few minutes.  It is so easy to come home from grocery shopping and unload and just wrap the bags up quick and throw them in my container with the rest.

Family Rules Board

I have been working on this project for over a year and it is FINALLY complete!  

It took me a good while to decide what I wanted my board to say.  I wanted powerful words that are important to my family.  I felt it was a big responsibility to represent my family and our values and motto so I took this project very seriously.  After consulting with Carson about what we would like it to say, I spent some time drawing up the design.  I wanted a subway tile art type of style and wanted it clean looking and easy to read.  I love family rules boards in black and white and knew from the beginning that is what colors I wanted- that was the easy part!...Usually not the case with me.

I immediately got hung up on what I wanted it mounted on.  I knew I wanted wood, but couldn't find a good solid piece that wasn't too heavy.  I finally decided to piece boards together and give it a pallet look.  This took a little more work than if I was to go with a solid piece but it was fun to experiment.  The pallet idea didn't totally turn out as planned as it's hard to see the individual boards because of how dark the color is but I still really like how the overall product turned out!  This can also be done on any size canvas. 

I contacted my awesome vinyl gal and she got the wording to me super fast.  All I had to do was paint using the vinyl as my stencil!  I then applied hardware to hang it on the wall and sprayed it with a clear coating to protect it and that. is. it!  Super easy craft especially if you choose to mount it on a solid piece of wood or canvas.  

This is one of my most valued and treasured projects.  I love what it represents and hope it can stay in my family for a long time.  

This bad boy is going on my family collage wall which I am excited to show once it is finished!

String Easter Eggs

Easter is upon us!  There are like a million tutorials for these cute string Easter eggs, each are a little different.  I did a couple of batches and through trial and error, I figured out how to make these come out just right so I thought I'd share.  

Warning: This is an extremely messy project!

Here is what you'll need:

• Mod Podge
• spray starch
• small balloons
• embroidery floss
• something to put the glue mixture in (I used either a disposable tupperware or a disposable bowl)
• something to set them out on to dry that they won't stick to (I used the glossy side of freezer paper)

The How to:

1. Put down some newspaper...as I said this is messy
2. Blow up however many balloons you wish to use.
3. Make a glue/water mixture (about 1 part water for every 1 part glue) It is important not to make it too thick. The half and half ratio is perfect.  Put this in your bowl and mix it with a plastic spoon
4. unravel embroidery floss (be careful not to get it tangled) and start dipping one end into the glue mixture
5. grab a balloon and start wrapping the string, making sure to dip the string as you go along- I found that it was WAY easier if you started at the top of the balloon (where it ties) and wrap the string around lengthwise (top to bottom) a few times in different areas of the balloon before wrapping it in other directions.  This seemed to give more stability.  I also would go around the tie so it also reinforced everything.  You can use the whole skein of floss if you like or cut it off if you're pleased with the look before you run out- just depends on how dense you want it.  
6. Spray the entire egg immediately after with the starch- this is also important as the starch adds to the crispness and helps it hold it's shape (I recommend doing this outside and bring a paper towel with you as it will drip off the egg)
7. Place eggs on freezer paper (or anything else that it won't stick to)
8. Allow to dry about 24 hrs
9. After dry and crisp to the touch, poke the balloons with a pin- I guess I expected the balloon to just pop but because of all the glue and starch, the balloon actually slowly deflates and pulls away from the string (makes sense), so you get more of a crackle and pop sound kind of like Rice Krispies ;)  This part was actually a fun activity for my little 3 year old to help with.  He loved it!
10. And voila!  You may have to pull the remaining balloon out with tweezers and peel off some excess webbing made by the glue here and there but there you have it!

I put mine in a lantern display with some Spanish moss on my kitchen table but I got overzealous and made a ton so I also made a display in a decorative bowl for my front room too!