Family Motto: Poster How-To

The idea of having a Family Motto is not a new one.

Many families have one.

This family, however, did not have one.

Since Hubby and I will have been married for 12 years this year, and oldest is almost nine, we figured it was about time we came up with a motto for our family to live by.

When Hubby and I were talking about possibilities, we kept coming back to the same general ideas. We want our kids to be okay with hard work and to have a desire do their best. We also want for our boys to not take for granted the things they have.

We want them not to be tempted to take the easy way out.

We want them to not focus on their have-nots, but to see their haves.

From those desires our Family Motto was born. I can't take credit for the exact wording. that is all Hubby.

"Work Hard and Be Grateful".

We presented it to our boys. We talked about what we wanted our family to be known for. We were all in agreement this was a pretty good motto to live by.

I told the boys I would make a poster that we could see every day to remind ourselves.

So make a poster I did.

I used picmonkey. I put together a little how-to if you want to make your own Family Motto poster.

I used all of their free edits, so no worries if you don't have the royale upgrade. Yeah!

First...pick your Family Motto.

Then, go to picmonkey and open a blank canvas (learn how to make a blank canvas HERE).

Click on the Overlay options. Go into the geometric option and pick the rectangle.

Before you go any further, let's do the fun part...picking your colors. You could just pick them yourself, but here is a little secret...

There is a site called Design Seeds that is a color wonderland. So many color palettes so little time.

It literally has tons of colors gloriously put together for you choosing.

I chose this palette.

If you put your cursor over the color you want to use, the hex code will come up.

Then you can hop back over to picmonkey. Then plug in the hex code into color edit box.

Enlarge the rectangle over almost the entire blank canvas, leave just enough to make a white border. Then click the merge button on the top tool bar so that the layers are one.

Now you can play around with the fonts. One of my favorites, Tall Dark and Handsome, is still a free font.

Go back to Design Seeds and get your next hex code. I chose the coordinating green.

Enter the color code into the edit box. Also now is the time to make your font the size that fits on your poster. In enlarged my main font to 675.

Position your words where you want them.

For a nice touch, pick another coordinating color for part of the motto.

Maybe even choose a different font.

Continue with the rest of the words.

Make sure all the words are the right size and color. Put them where you want them.

Then save.

Depending on how big you want the poster you will need to resize it.

Once the canvas is the right size all you have to do is order a print.

Then you are all ready to hang your motto in your home.

What is your family motto? I would love to know.

Slow Cooker Saturday: Teriyaki Chicken

Welcome to my first every Slow Cooker Saturday.

Oooh...Are you as excited as I am?

Saturdays around the blog are often slow and a little spotty at best. I had been searching for something more concrete to share with you lovely readers on Saturdays and then when I did my 2012 round up and noticed how viewed the recipes are, I did a little brainstorming and came up with...

Dun-DA-duh...

Slow Cooker Saturdays.

Slow cooker meals and I don't know each other as well as I would like. In the past, I have struggled to find recipes that I enjoy and like serving to my family.

The ones I do like, my tried and true slow cooker recipes I have already shared on the blog. Like French Dip Sandwiches, Mango Chicken with Coconut Rice, Rootbeer Pulled Pork, Chicken Enchilada Soup, and Tex Mex Shredded Pork Burritos.

I am hoping to try some new ones and on Saturdays I will share the ones that we have loved.

Another perk about Slow Cooker Saturdays is that when if you see a recipe that looks good, you can check your pantry, run to the store, and put it on the menu for Sunday. Slow cooker recipes make for perfect Sunday meals.

On this the first Slow Cooker Saturday, I am sharing this recipe for Teriyaki Chicken, which was, if I might say, to.die.for.

The Teriyaki sauce was insane. Insane I tell you.

I may or may not have "quality checked" like a fourth of the chicken before we even had dinner.

When all the chicken had been dished up and eaten I asked my Little Men for the thumbs up or the thumbs down. There were absolutely no thumbs down. This Momma's dream come true. A yippee dance ensued.

So basically, I am pretty sure I recommend this recipe.

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
adapted from Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Printable Recipe

2-3 chicken breasts, each cut in half
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
6 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3/4 teaspoon minced (or ground) ginger
3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 1/2 teaspoons cold water

Place the chicken into a slow cooker. In a bowl, combine the sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, and pepper. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the mixture over the chicken. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours then turn the chicken over and cook for 1 hour on low.

Remove the chicken from the liquid and tear the chicken into smaller pieces, but do not shred. Cover and keep warm.

Strain the liquid from the crock pot into a sauce pan. Whisk the cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl. Bring the sauce to a boil and then slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Continue to heat the sauce until it thickens.

Pour some of the sauce over the chicken to evenly coat. Serve chicken over rice and top with more teriyaki sauce.

YUM!

I hope you look forward to more slow cooker recipes and are as excited as I am to expand my slow cooker recipe box. Now, I don't want you to think that because I am including another recipe posting day that the blog is turning into a recipe blog.

The blog will continue to have project, parties, sewing, and such. I mean a girl can't give up her sewing machine now can she? In fact, I have a couple of projects currently in the works that I am hoping to share with you next week.

Thanks for being the best readers!

Oh...if you have any favorite slow cooker recipes, I would love for you to share them! Just drop me an email.

Linking up here:

Skip to my Lou, Craft-O-Maniac, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,
Sugar Bee Crafts, Today's Creative Blog, Lil'Luna,
Southern Lovely, the 36th Avenue, Design, Dining + Diapers,
Six Sisters Stuff

9 Months Old

Just before Christmas Bean turned 9 months. Practically overnight he seems older...not much bigger mind you...but older. He is our little jumping bean. He is the most active baby we have ever had. He is quite determined to get into everything.

If there is something teeny tiny on the ground, he will find it. We have to be very vigilant about keeping things off the floor. The gate on the stairs in now a permanent fixture because he is one speedy little weasel.

He is practically perfect. The only hiccup in his perfection is the fact that he is still not sleeping through the night. Ugh. We have truly tried to train him to sleep. Unfortunately, the cute little bean keeps wetting through his diapers. So we have to get up.

Enough of his one imperfection...

He is happy. He is active. He is so much fun.

Crab Wontons

You wanna know one of the things I love most about food...

...well besides the fact that it is practically always oh-so-yummy...

Okay, so one of the things I love most about food is that it often evokes memories. Memories that stay with us and come vividly to life every time we eat.

I remember the birthday dinner I requested every year. I can remember the cookie jar filled with Mother's frosted animal cookies that I used to devour whenever I stayed at my Grandma's house. For the first five years of my marriage I made shepherd's pie every year for Hubby's birthday.

I remember Sunday night dinners when we lived in Utah. Every Sunday we had friends over. We rotated who was in charge of cooking. We always pulled out the stops. Sometimes we tried new recipes and sometimes we clung to our group's tried and true favorites.

One of our tried and true favorites was a delightful fried wonton filled with cream cheese and crab.

The recipe came to us via my college roommate and lifelong friend, Elyn. We called this fried goodness Crab Poofs. Forever more I will always think of Sunday night dinner and games when I eat crab poofs, which I now so maturely refer to as Crab Wontons. I will also think of my friend who lives too far away.

I recently made these for New Years Eve for a game night with friends. Now I am layering new memories on top of old memories.  The food was delightful as was the company.

Good food and good company is always a grand idea.

Call up your friends, invite them over.

Then make some Crab Wontons and make some food memories all your own.

You will need:

1 package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups chopped imitation crab (or crab if your have some extra dolla's falling out of your pockets)
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon garlic salt
wonton wrappers
oil for frying

Mix the cream cheese, crab, green onions, and garlic salt together until the cream cheese is evenly distributed. Stir somewhat gently so you don't mush up the crab.
 

Spoon a teaspoon amount of the crab mixture into the center of the wonton wrapper.

Moisten the top edges with water.

Fold the bottom of the wrapper up, creating a enclosed pocket of crab. Press all the edges, making sure to seal them closed. Also gently press the air out.

Using a little more water, bring in the bottom corners and fold them into each other. Press to seal.

Repeat until the crab mixture is gone. I made just under 30 wonton.

Heat up several inches of vegetable oil in a deeper skillet.

When the oil is ready, gently drop several in the oil at a time. Let them fry for 30-45 seconds, gently flipping over to evenly cook each side.

Drain on a paper towel when done.

We like to serve ours with sweet and sour sauce or our favorite sweet chili sauce.

Oh good grief. 

So yummy.

Thanks Elyn for this fantastic recipe/memory.

Crab Wontons

Print Here

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups chopped imitation crab

3 green onions, sliced

1 teaspoon garlic salt

wonton wrappers

oil for frying

Mix together the cream cheese, crab, green onions, and garlic salt in a small bowl. Mix until the cream cheese is evenly blended. 

Place teaspoon sized scoops onto the center of a wonton wrapper.

Moisten the top triangle edges with a teeny tiny amount of water. Fold up the bottom and seal the edges making a small pocket. Press the air out. Bring the bottom corners around to the front and seal the corners together with a little water.

Repeat until mixture is gone.

Heat up the oil in a deep skilled.

Cook 5-6 at a time for 35-40 seconds. Drain on a paper towel.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Linking:

Design, Dining + Diapers

Top Ten in 2012

2012 was a busy year in our home, not to mention this little old blog.

I had fun going over the last years posts and seeing what you my readers enjoyed most. I will honestly admit I was more than a little surprised that the majority of my most viewed posts were recipes. Who knew my little-bit-of-everything blog is most popular for the recipes.

Now, this new found discovery doesn't mean that I am changing this blog to strictly recipes, but I wondering if you, my readers, would be interested in having two recipes a week instead of one.

I would love to know what your thoughts are. Please let me know what you think about seeing more recipes and if that is something you would fancy!

Now, what I promised, the Top Ten of 2012 from Just Another Day in Paradise.

10. Hooded Baby Towel Tutorial

9. Chinese Coleslaw

 

8. Baking Soda Painting

 

7. Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

 

6. Pumpkin Chili

 

5. Lemonade Chex Mix

 

4. Chick-Fil-A Nuggets Copycat

3. Freezer Meals

 

2. Uh Oh Ransom Box (and Chore List)

 

and drumroll...

The number one post of 2012 is...

1. Cinnamon Churro Chex Mix

 

Thank you to all my readers for a great year. Thanks for pinning and sharing my posts. Thank you for coming back again and again. Thanks for your words of encouragement.

Every comment and email means more than you could know.

Here is to a happy and productive 2013.