Free Quiet Book Templates

Have you ever wanted to make a quiet book for your child? Alison has free templates online for 9 Quiet Book pages! She has other fantastic ideas on her blog Oopsey Daisy so head on over to check it all out!

Mini Caramel Apples

These Caramel Apples are so kid friendly. There's no way my son could eat an entire one. I mean, even as an adult I love them, but they are work to eat. So this solution has me thrilled! Can you imagine them rolled in nuts, drizzled with chocolates, or dressed up any other way? Too cute! Christy of From Glitter to Gumdrops gives us the instructions on her blog!

Gearing up for Halloween

So many blogs have great Halloween ideas lately. I'm trying to decide what our costumes will be this year. I don't want to be making them last minute like last year.

I have a feeling I will be making these bags from How Does She. She shows you how to make them in a guest post over on eighteen25. They'd be cute for gift bags, but also for Trick-or-Treating:

If you're having a small party, or want to make simple gifts, what about this play-dough? Another guest poster, Ashley from Under the Sycamore, shares how to do this on eighteen25.

Or do you just want to decorate for Halloween? You can learn how to make these wall plaques over at eighteen25. It's from another guest blogger Craft-O-Maniac. Head over to either blog to get more fabulous Halloween ideas.

Easy Little Cakes

These little cakes are adorable and they're easy to make too! You can get instructions here on Zakka Life.

These are adorable...

I just love these pinwheel hair clips on eighteen25. Head on over there to get instructions on how to make them!

Homemade Laundry Soap

Before Ava was born I read that you must use hypoalergenic laundry detergent on baby clothes but when I saw the price for Dreft I decided to do something a little more cost effective. I found this wonderful homemade laundtry soap recipe and in 6 months I have spent about 7 dollars on laundtry soap and I use some of the ingredients for dish detergent too. This recipe is for liquid soap the consistency is not as nice as store bought but it works great! I don't add the essential oils because the soap already has a lemony scent.

1-bar Fels-Naptha soap

1 cup Borax

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOT BAKING SODA!)

Hot tap water

5 gallon bucket with lid

2 gallon plastic beverage dispenser

Light colored essential oils (optional)



Grate bar of soap with a cheese grater. Fill the 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full with hot tap water. Melt the grated soap slowly over med-low heat in a large saucepan with 2.5 cups of water. Once the soap is completely melted, add this to the water in the five gallon bucket. Now add the Borax and the Super Washing Soda and stir. Now top the bucket off with more hot tap water. Loosely put the lid on the bucket and leave over night to thicken.


You can add 15 – 20 drops of essential oils to this if you like. (Lavender, Lemon, Peppermint, etc.)

I use about 3/4 cup per load if you have an energy efficient loader you can use less.

I have a friend that makes dry laundry soap from equal parts fels naptha, borax, and washing soda. That seems to work pretty good too! If you make it dry you must grate the fels naptha very fine though since it dissolves slowly and you don't want it left in your clothes. Happy Soap making!!

Bacon and Wild Mushroom Risotto with Baby Spinach

I came across this recipe in my Cooking Light magazine. It is so delicious, I just had to share!!

Ingredients

4 cups chicken stock (not broth)

6 bacon slices

1 cup chopped shallots

1 tbs olive oil

1 tps chopped fresh thyme

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced

4 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

4 oz oyster mushrooms, sliced

1 cup uncooked medium-grain rice

1/3 cup Madeira wine (I just used 1/3 cup of extra chicken stock)

4 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 tsp pepper

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Instructions

1. Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a small saucepan (do not boil); keep ward over low heat.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add bacon to pan. Cook until crisp. Remove bacon fro pan, leaving drippings. Add shallots, oil, thyme, and garlic to drippings and cook about 6 minutes, or until tender. Stir in mushrooms and cook 8 minutes. Add rice and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine (or extra stock); cook 1 minute or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 cup stock; cook 4 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining stock ,1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of stock is absorbed before adding the next (about 25 minutes total). Stir in the spinach and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with bacon.

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Yield: 6 1/4 cups

Cute Vest Pattern

This little vest pattern for boys and girls is really cute! It's size 6M to 5T and it's free to download right now! It's from Leila and Ben. I love their other patterns too. Head on over and download the pattern if you have kids and sew.

Lunchbox Love Notes

Okay, so I know for most of us-- the school days for our kids are not here yet (thankfully!). But I think this idea is too cute not to take mention of, and perhaps use for our husband's lunches, or bookmark to save for future use. This creative lady has a free download on this post for adorable lunch notes, plus some cute jokes and ideas of how to make lunch magical for a child, or someone else. Just thought it was a cute idea to pass along!

April Fool's Day

I found this idea online and I can't wait to try it out on my husband for April Fool's day (so don't anyone give him a heads up! Or you'll be in trouble!)

Don't these look like yummy cupcakes? Would you really guess that they are meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top???

The first surprise here: there's not a grain of sugar in these cupcakes. The second surprise: your kids will love them anyway.

Ingredients

• MEAT LOAF
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 egg

• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• POTATO FROSTING
• 3 cups mashed potatoes
• Food coloring

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full).
3. Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Divide the mashed potatoes among three small bowls and stir a few drops of food coloring into each batch to create blue, yellow, and pink pastel frostings. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Isn't that great? I think that instead of using food coloring I am going to add a bit of beet juice to the potatoes to act as the dye. Ohhh.... I can't wait for April Fool's day!

Check out the site for more wonderful April Fool ideas!