Zucchini Tots or Bites

Zucchini is really in full bloom around here.  There is zucchini everywhere.  I saw this pin and had to make the recipe for zucchini tots.  They sounded too good not to try, and very minimal calories per!!

I found the recipe at The Curious Country Cook  I believe Rayna Lynn found the base of the recipe from Kelsey over at the Naptime Chef.  Between these two fine ladies, they have come up with a wonderfully delicious idea!

Here is the recipe I used:

Zucchini Bites

Recipe adapted: The Naptime Chef

yields: 12 mini muffins

1 cups zucchini, grated
1 egg (1 large egg equals 3-4 tbsp when whisked together)
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup cheese (cheddar or Parmesan work the best)
1/4 cup bread crumbs - I used Italian style
Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.
2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- like when using frozen spinach; if you skip this part, the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy while the outside gets crispy and no one wants that.
3. In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, salt and pepper.
4. Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.

I of course used plain bread crumbs and Locatelli cheese instead of cheddar.  I cooked mine for a little longer too, I wanted them to be very browned, after 18 minutes they were still too pale for me, so mine cooked for about 20-25 minutes.  It's possible that I used more than 1 cup of zucchini and I believe that's why they took a little longer.

Be sure to grease your mini muffin pan before you start...a little bit of cooking spray will do the trick.

Mix your ingredients super well

Put em in the oven after you fill your muffin pan

Finished product...YUMMO!!!

Yup, that's Pinteresting!

Dill Dip

Went to a party the other day and had a taste of Dill Dip with veggies.  Wow, I really loved the flavor.  So much so, that once we left the party, I went to the grocery store to buy the identical dip.  Much to my dismay, they didin’t carry it.  Uggh, now what?  Make my own of course.  I remembered reading on Pinterest people using Greek Yogurt in place of Sour Cream, so I thought this would be a fine time to try that idea out.  I bought fresh dill and Greek Yogurt at the store, oh and a bunch of veggies…yummy!!!  I got online once I got home and found this recipe from Heidi at Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom. I of course did what I always do and used it as a guideline or Pinspiration as I like to say, but basically made her dip, minus the mayo and added fresh dill.  I have to say my family loved it, nobody suspected this was actually healthy.  I love when that happens!

Here's what I used:

Greek Yogurt, fresh dill, parsley, minced onion and TS Seasoned Salt

I omitted the mayo, cause I was kinda trying to keep healthy and low calorie/low fat with this recipe.  I've made this twice now and learned that since I was cutting out the mayo, I needed to reduce the salt too.  I used about 4 sprigs of dill.  I have no idea how much that is, but it looked like "enough" to me.  

Here's the finished product:  

Dill Dip Pinspired by Heidi at Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom

Yup, that's Pinteresting!

Rotten Strawberries? No More!

Ever hear of Tupperware?  You’d have to be living in another universe not to have.  How many of your friends have had a Tupperware Party?  Too many to count, right?  I attended a friend’s party and the lady really sold me on these items called Fridge Smart Containers.  She said they kept your veggies and fruits longer and helped to save you money.  I mean let’s face it, doesn’t it just irritate the heck out of ya when you throw food away, especially fresh produce!!  Besides “supposedly” being able to keep my fresh fruits and veggies longer, I was already looking for new containers to complete this task, so I bought them to help my friend out with her party.  Kinda of pricey if you ask me, but I  got “better” containers than I was currently using.  I liked the warranty and I added up what I had spent on the throw aways and the purchase seemed sound enough.  Don’t get me wrong, I reuse the throw away containers, but after a few visits through the dishwasher, they get kinda yucky.  Let me be VERY clear.  I am not a Tupperware consultant, I’m not trying to sell their product for them, I am just sharing my experience. 

Strawberries were on sale last week for $1.88.  That’s a good sale and we eat lots of strawberries (did you know they help brighten your teeth?)  Strawberries NEVER store long, but I bought three containers knowing we would eat them all.  I only had one Tupperware Fridge Smart not in use, so I put as many strawberries in there that I could and kept the rest in their original packaging. 

I bought the strawberries a week ago today.  Look at the difference between original packed and Tupperware packed.  Needless to say, it’s been a week and we have not finished the strawberries yet.  Thankfully, I only had to throw away a few berries from the original container.  The others are still great and will be eaten with lunch this week.

Side by side....original packaging and fridge smart container...wow!  what a difference!

I really couldn’t believe my eyes.  These containers really DO work!!!  Next time, note to self.  Buy more strawberries and use very large Fridge Smart container to store them.

~Yup, that’s Pinteresting

Diva Pina Colada

A friend of mine recently asked if I would make her something.  She participates in a community type theater and needed a star sign for an actor in the play.  A placard on a door.  You know the kind that you picture on a celebrity's dressing room door.  She wanted it gold and big enough to see from the audience, but normal size for a standard door.  Oh, and the rest was up to me.  OK, sure I can do that.  I've tinkered with a saw here and there and I like to paint and be crafty, so this would be fun.

I first selected Luan since it was lightweight and could be hung up easily.  I created a star template on the wood and got to cutting.

 

A professional photographer, I am not, but you get the idea

 After I cut and sanded, it was time to paint the star and add the lettering.  I used a vinyl cutting machine to create the letters for the star.

Here is the finished product, I hope it Pinspires you to create a little something out of the ordinary.

Diva Pina Colada...I hope to get a picture with the actor soon.

Yup, that's Pinteresting!

BBQ Chicken Pizza Heaven

Have you ever eaten something at a restaurant to only want to duplicate it at home and it doesn't really go the way you thought it may?  Once, while eating at Planet Hollywood, I had what I determined to be the best BBQ Chicken Pizza EVER!  That was quite a number of years ago.  I've ordered elsewhere, I've even tried to make it according to the ingredients on their menu, but I never had that same taste occur again....until tonight!

I wrote out our dinner menu last week and wrote down BBQ Chicken Pizza for tonight's dinner, never looked for a recipe, just decided to go for it one more time.  I've been quite PINspired to try a number of things that I never normally would thanks to Pinterest.  I've noticed a few pictures of BBQ Chicken Pizza, but haven't even clicked on them.  I didn't want to try them out and be disappointed.  Today was different, I already had the menu planned, I just had to buy the ingredients, well some of them.  Normally when I make pizza, I either make the dough or buy frozen bread dough and do the whole thaw and rise thing.  Today, it was HOT,  so making pizza dough was not going to happen.  Then the kids had friends over in the pool, time got away from me and I had to run to the store to BUY pizza dough rounds.  I've seen them in the aisle before and don't you know my local grocery store just rearranged their aisles, so it took me a few extra minutes, but there in the pasta aisle I found them....already made pizza crust.  (This is where the angels sang for me)

I bought Freshetta's GoldenWheat Pizza Round.  My recipe was going to be super simple, simple is better, right?  Remember how I said all the kids were at my house, yes, well I also didn't grill any chicken for my pizza, so short cut number two... Tyson's grilled chicken in the bag.  I sauteed red onion, mixed Mozzarella cheese with Parmesan cheese about 1/2 to 1/4 cup of Parm to the Mozz., and I got my BBQ sauce ready.  I love Bulls Eye BBQ Sauce.  I swear I could eat it with a spoon.  Eww, saying that out loud, it kinda seems a little well, GROSS!  Anyway how I made the pizza.  Sorry, I don't have an exact recipe.  This is just how I cook.  I use recipes to bake or for an outline to make something, but I always just ad lib.  

 I prepared my ingredients and fired up my grill.  I poured the BBQ Sauce over the crust and placed about a 1/4 of the cheese over the sauce.  I then placed my already heated up chicken and onions overtop of the saucy cheese mixture and topped all of that off with more sauce.  Oh, and we love mushrooms in our home, so I mixed some of those in with the onions and chicken.  I placed the pizza in the grill on medium heat for about 10 minutes.

LOOK...doesn't it look yummy!!! 

Little slice of heaven...aka, BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Tie Dyed

I know you've seen them...tie dyed shirts.  They are all over Pinterest.  People make their own dye's, some use acrylic paints, some just go and buy dye like Rit and get creative.  I'm creative, to an extent.  My kids wanted to to tie dye and I was all for it, but I was buying a kit.  I used my 50% off coupon at the craft store and we got busy.  My kids don't like their shirts to be entirely colorful, they wanted some white to show through.  That being said, the kit we purchased was enough to dye 5 shirts.  We dyed 6 shirts varying in size from Youth Medium to Adult Medium and we still have an ample amount of dye to do at least 3 more shirts. First you have to be sure to have some pretty important supplies on hand.

100% cotton tie dyables (shirts, shorts, bandannas, hats, whatever)

Lots of rubber bands

Gloves (if you don't want to look like an umpaloompa for a few days)

Newspaper or Grassy Area

Cooling Rack (optional)

Dye

Water

Soda Ash

Squirt Bottles

Zip Top Bags

The kit I bought came with gloves, 3 colors of dye, squirt bottles, rubber bands and soda ash.  All for $6.00!

We twisted, turned, rubber banded and dyed our shirts.  Sorry, no photos of the dye process.  That was too messy with the kids participating.  It's easy though, just make sure whatever colors you dye the top side, you do the same on the back side.

During rubber banding, I learned that working from the back side of the shirt vs the collar side was easiest to manipulate.  

Placed them into Zip top bags overnight.

Actually wound up being about 30 hours.  Carefully, cut all the rubber bands and rinse under running water.  I then washed all of the shirts in a cold wash with a tablespoonful of vinegar and let them air dry outside.

Here they are, cool huh!

Yup, that's Pinteresting!

Hair Chalking

How many pins have you seen on Pinterest about hair chalking?  Countless, right?  I just love the colors, they look so vibrant and beautiful.  I have two daughters, both of which were really excited to have their hair chalked.  Even more excited were their three friends who also thought it would be fun!  Don't worry, I got Mommy's permission for each child.  I have looked at a number of Youtube videos and blogs about chalking.  There seems to be many techniques and favorite ways to chalk ones hair.  I preferred a combination of the techniques I've watched and read about.

I learned that if you braid a section of hair (smaller is better) that when you undo the braid, the hair looks like a feather has been applied.  I tried really hard to photograph this, but I wasn't very successful.  This technique worked best on the Blondie.  I also learned that you can gradient the colors and do basically whatever your mind thinks up.  We used plain 'ol pastel chalks that you can find at your arts and crafts store.  I already owned them, so this Pinteresting idea cost me zilch to try....bonus!

Here are a few things we did:
Wet the hair
Twisted sections
Applied the chalk in a downward motion
Used the hair straightener after the color was applied
Combed out the hair to get the additional chalk out
Had a ton of FUN!

before going pink/purple

After pink/purple

Before the gradient rainbow

After the rainbow.

All layered up

Orange, Pink, Purple...these colors worked great even on darker hair

Feather technique in aqua.  Braid small sections very tightly then chalk across them.  Cool!

Yup, that's Pinteresting!

Homemade Grout Cleaner

If you've been scouring (no pun intended) Pinterest as of late, you've seen this picture of a way to clean your tile floor, well, really, the grout between the tiles on your floor.

My bathroom floor is Horrible (yes, with a capital H)  Since we purchased our home, I've wanted to replace it, but it has never really been in the budget and I'm really only replacing it because I think the grout is disgusting.  Me and only me seems to think it's terrible.  Not one person in my life has ever said anything, not even my Mother, but I think it's awful!

Anyway, I decided to try the grout cleaning solution found on Unique. Just Like Everyone Else's blog.  Formula posted here.  I gave it a good try.

Took my before pictures:

Grossest floor!!!  Eww!!!!

Sprayed the solution, rubbed it into the grout and waited about 30 minutes...I said the grout was disgusting.  I got to scrubbing.  A grout brush is definitely a key tool to do this job well.  Toothbrushes and scrub brushes just don't have the stability that a grout brush does.  The solution definitely improved my grout, but get it clean like the picture on Pinterest, it did not.

After I used the grout recipe.  Improved, but not what I wanted or expected.

I went to my tried and true cleaner.  So many people are going to give me flack about this....I poured liquid bleach along the grout lines and let it sit for another 30 minutes.  Then I scrubbed.  Good thing my bathroom is tiny, only 40 linear feet...whew!  I really believed that between the Ammonia, baking soda, vinegar and bleach that I would have stain free grout...WRONG!  I have cleaner grout, but like new it is not.  Check it out yourself:

After serious chemicals were applied.  I'm satisfied, but I still want a new floor :-)

Yup, that's Pinteresting!