Homemade Lettuce wraps

In an attempt to get healthy and shed some pounds, we have decided to make some less fattening dinners for the three of us.  Lettuce wraps have always been a favorite of mine at certain restaurants so I thought I would give them a try.

To my surprise, they turned out WONDERFUL! Even our 5 year old had four wraps!!

I am going to list the recipe/ingredients but please remember that these are not exact measurement and you may need to adjust to your taste (especially for the sauce).

Hope yours taste as good as ours did   :)

Filling for wraps:

1 bag of Morningstar Crumbles (can use ground chicken also)

1/2 cup minced onions

1 small can water chestnuts, minced

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/4 to 1/2 small bag of broccoli slaw

1 tbsp of Asian seasoning from Pampered Chef (could prob be left out)

2 heads of Boston or Bibb lettuce (can use Iceberg also, leaves are just bigger)

Sauce:

1 cup Soy sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

Just a few drops of Sriracha sauce

1 tbsp Rice vinegar (could prob use Apple cider vinegar)

1 tbsp Olive oil

1 tsp ground ginger

Pull part lettuce leaves, wash with water and pat dry. Set aside.

Whisk together all ingredients for sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

Spray frying paying with cooking spray, toss onions in and cook till tender. Add garlic and Morningstar Crumbles. When almost cooked through add water chestnuts and broccoli slaw. Do not over cook. You want the broccoli slaw and water chestnuts to stay crunchy.

To assemble, place a small amount of filling on one leaf, drizzle some sauce on top, fold over sides of leaf and eat. You will get messy but it is healthy and very filling. Please let me know if you try this recipe.

78 days til Christmas

Christmas is getting near and just like anyone, I will be super busy. Busy being crafty! And I am here to help YOU by making your shopping easy! Have a person who is hard to buy for? Get them something personalized. Check out some of these pics and let me know if there is something you are interested in...

I can also make: large glass plates, large serving bowls, candy jars, cake stands, square vases, floating frames, vinyl car decals, and more.

Please contact me through Facebook or email with more details of what you are looking for. Gotta get started early! :)

LOTS of craftiness going on...

In the last few weeks I have done quite a few gifts and something small for myself. Just wanted to share some pics. Here were a few Father's Day and Mother's Day gifts. Didn't get a picture of my dad's :(

Next was a chip bowl for our new friends. The Women's Ministry at PBC threw Pastor Jim and Karyn a housewarming "Pounding" party. Josh and I chipped in on another gift but I really wanted to make something personalized for their new home. Cost: $10 for chip bowl

 

Made a little something for my new office space at work. My workstation got moved so I wanted to make something new to make my new desk feel homey. After taking the picture, I added a flowered patterned paper behind the glass to add a little more color.  Cost: $3 for clearance frame, $1 for patterned paper

Last but not least, a painting for my little friend Mary. Mary is such a sweetheart and will be moving to Michigan State at the beginning of 2012. She LOVES giraffes and I wanted her to have something to remember us by. I used my Create A Critter, Cricut cartridge to make a giraffe stencil then started painting layer by layer.  Cost: $5 for canvas, already had paint and brushes.

I hope to stay busy with some small crafts but that will have to wait til after Vacation Bible School. Hope you like these. Til next time...May God bless you and your family!

Momma's Day came early...

Josh decided to give me my Mother's Day gift early since getting a 3yr old to keep a secret is a pretty hard task. And I am pretty sure I am one of a very small group of women who would be excited about getting an air compressor as a Mother's Day gift. Yep, I received an air compressor, an air eraser kit and a bottle of Aluminum Oxide. All of these items allow me to do glass etching quicker and easier than the cream I used at Christmas time.

Tonight was the first night I tried it out. Josh needed a birthday gift for one of his co-workers and asked me if I could etch a beer stein with his last name. I bought the mug at the Dollar Tree and used my Cricut to make a stencil using Contact paper then covered the rest of the glass with painter's tape.

For the first two items I created using this new method....I think they look awesome!!! Can't wait to try more :)

Monster Love

With Valentine's Day coming up, Daycare asked that Jacob bring in 10 valentines to pass out to the other kids during the party on Monday. Instead of buying the boxed valentines from the store, I wanted to make them homemade so he could help. So I searched the web for some boyish ideas and printed a few out. We gave the final decision to Jacob to pick which one he liked the best. Thanks to Disney Family Fun website, Jacob loves his Monster Inc. inspired valentines that he will pass out to all his friends.

I used the Cricut to cut 5.5" hearts for the body, 1.5" hearts for the hands and feet. Punched holes in all pieces. I cut 24" pieces of yarn and tied at knot at the ends. I threaded yarn through the arm hole with a loop, went across the back and came back through the foot hole then looped it again. We used 40mm googily eyes from Hobby Lobby and adhered them to the center then used a Sharpie to draw the mouth and eyelashes. We wrote "Eye" themed sayings on tiny squares and stuck them to one of the hands. 

Project cost: approx $7.00  :)

I prefer baseball...

Not a huge SuperBowl fan but I am a SUPER big fan of scrapbooking.

My sis and I put together our 14th All-Day Crop for ScrapHappy on Jan 15, 2011. At each event, we try to teach some sort of new scrapbook project or technique for the scrappers to use in their own layouts. Our technique for January was making a layout using a mosaic design. Karla had mastered this technique after making about 3 layouts in this style. I on the other hand, had NEVER done it, so it was as new for me as many of the other ladies who attended.

Even though these two pages are all I worked on that day, I am very happy with the way they turned out and thought I would share them with you. Hope you will try it as well! Enjoy :)

Best soup in 8 years!

There hasn't been very many times in my marriage that I have made some kinda of soup other than chili. Chicken Noodle...maybe twice, French Onion...once, Broccoli Cheese...once...but that is pretty much it.

After a co-worker made Stuffed Green Pepper soup for a potluck in October, I really wanted to see if it was something I could make. The critics, my husband and son, cleaned their bowls and Josh said "that is the best soup you've ever made". SCORE!!!

1lb ground beef

1 large green pepper, diced

1 cup onion, diced or minced

3 cans tomato soup

2 cans beef broth

2 cups cooked white rice

few splashs of Worcestershire

few splashs of soy sauce

pepper to taste

Cook ground beef in a large pot. Do not drain. When meat is almost done browning, add green peppers and onions. Cook for 5-7mins or until veggies are almost tender. Add soup, broth and spices. Add rice at the very end. Heat throughly and serve!

This is a hearty soup and was perfect for a day where the snow is falling...like today! It made TONS, way more than enough for our family of 3. Plenty for lunches.
Hope you will try it and enjoy it too. Nite all :)