In a Nutshell: Canning, Beef, Coupons

So...um...I am a super late in posting this today. I am running behind in a couple things lately, but I have decided to embrace it. All my running slower is for a very good reason, so I am not going to let it bother me...most the time anyway...hahaha.

I was pretty productive at the beginning of this week and there was a second round of pressure cooking canning at our house. Since my first attempt at the end of Summer with beans went without anything blowing up, I decided that I could give it another go.

I washed the jars and got the lids ready...aren't they so cute and country looking?

I loaded in my canning ingredient. Then I loaded up the pressure cooker.

With a little more confidence I got it locked and loaded and started. I am still a little unsure of everything so when it took a little longer and didn't go exactly like I thought it should, there may have been tears and a frantic call to Hubby and a friend.

No worries though, all worked out. About an hour and half later I had 16 jars all canned and sealed.

So are you wondering what I canned?

No judging...

No seriously, do not judge me.

I canned chicken...say what?!? Yup that is right I canned chicken!

I was totally skeptical when I first heard about canning chicken. I have a friend who had done it and when I spent the afternoon at her house we used a can to make chicken salad sammies. Well, they were just about the most delightful thing. The chicken was awesome. Once I got past how it looked in the jar, I let the taste of the yummy chicken convince me to give it a try.

Luckily I tried this chicken and made the decision right before getting a huge pick up of chicken from a company called Zaycon Foods. PS Thanks to my friend Melanie for introducing us to this company! If you do head on over, we get a referral bonus, so either click on the link above or you can enter LarissaZ in the referred by section when you register. Thanks for sharing the bulk meat love!

I will have to give a little rundown on this company soon.

This is our second time ordering the chicken. This time we were also able to put in an order of ground beef. Forty pounds of 93/7 for $2.99 a pound. YEAH.

So after I canned some of the chicken, prepared and stored the rest, I had to split up the beef into 1 lb portions and store. AND if any of you were wondering if I was going to can the beef...um no. Word on the street is you can...however I felt that my adventures in chicken were enough for now.

So after a day of chicken and beef I was all meat-ed out. I did feel a lot of accomplishment though.

In saving money and frugality fashion, we have also lightly  reinstated this little chore...

Oh couponing...how I am not a huge fan of you. However, our large stock up pile has severely depleted since we moved. So we decided to start up again. We did our first couple shopping trips this week and while we definitely will not qualify for "Extreme Couponing" ever anytime soon, we have stocked up some things again and it feels good.

I have good intentions of showing you guys some projects this week. I have some Valentine printables to share. Maybe a room reveal or two. I am starting to work on Oldest's party projects.

BUT we will see...I can't predict when I am going to need to sit down, chill, and let the only project be growing this tiny human in my belly. Six weeks to go and man am I feeling it.

See ya soon everyone!

A Pinteresting Saturday: Minky Blankie for Newest

Did anyone notice that last week I missed my Pinteresting Saturday deadline? Ugh. This blanket was actually in the works last week, but I simply had too many other things I had to do. So this got done a little later than planned...

...but it did get finished!

We hadn't found a blankie yet for Newest. So when I saw this project by No Big Dill over at Delia's Nesting Series, it immediately got pinned.

pinned HERE

I did make a couple alterations to the original tutorial. First, I did not get the triple stitch in. That was a little frustrating, but I just couldn't seem to get the stitches on in a way to allow three rows. I still really wish I could have gotten the third row in, but I am still pretty pleased how it turned out.

The second alteration I made I did intentionally.

Minky can be a booger to sew with. I mean pull-you-hair-out-makes-you-wish-you-were-a-swearing-kind-of-gal difficult.  A while ago I did a project this project with minky...

tutorial

I had learned about the tip to sew diamonds into the minky to help the material stabilize. It is tedious work, but it is well worth it, AND I think it totally adds an extra detail to the blankie itself.

The last little touch was to mimic the original sewn on tag. I wanted to hand stitch newest's first and middle name onto the little tag. Then I attached the tag using the machine.

A perfect little handmade touch.

Now Newest has a blankie to snuggle in. Hopefully he will just adore it.

How is your pinterest list going?

Have a fabulous Saturday!

Copy Cat Chick-Fil-A Nuggets in a Slider

First off, let me just go on about how great these copy cat Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets are....

Glorious.
Delightful.
Addicting.
Yummers.
Finger-licking...oops wrong chicken company...
Heavenly.

Then if things couldn't get any better...I decided to make sliders and slap the nuggets in between a glorious homemade roll. Now my feelings...

Ditto of the above times 10.

We have made this meal several times over the last couple months. We enjoy treating our family to this meal every once in awhile...it would probably be more if fried foods was more important on the food pyramid, but alas it is not.

I am finally getting around to sharing this recipe with you all. I promise it is an instant crowd pleaser, but most importantly, it is an instant kid pleaser. So what do you have to lose? Absolutely nothing!

Chicken Nugget Sliders via Copy Cat Chick-Fil-A Nuggets 
nugget recipe adapted from My Name is Snickerdoodle


Ingredients:

3 skinless chicken breasts, cut up in bite sized pieces
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2  cups flour
4 Tablespoons powdered sugar
3 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of pepper
canola oil (or peanut if you have it on hand)

Place the chicken in a ziploc bag, pour the buttermilk in and seal the bag. Store the bag in your refrigerator for 2-4 hours, allowing the chicken to marinate. After you put the chicken in the fridge, you can start the rolls, recipe follows.


When your chicken is done marinating, in another gallon-sized ziploc bag combine all the dry ingredients. Mix well. Set aside.

Start heating up your oil over medium high heat. There should be about 2" of oil in your pan. I use a thermometer to make sure my oil is heated up to about 375 degrees. Make sure your temp is always around here when you are cooking the chicken.

Once the oil is heated up, using tongs, remove the chicken from the buttermilk and place in the flour mixture. Seal bag and shake, shake, shake till the chicken pieces are evenly coated. Take about 8 pieces of chicken out at a time and place in the oil. Cook them until golden brown. Turning them once about halfway through the process.  My chicken took about 2-3 minutes to cook each round. If you are worried, check the thickest piece in your first batch to see if the chicken is cooked all the way through. That will be a good gauge to see how long you need to cook the chicken.

Remove the chicken and drain on a paper towel. Repeat until all the nuggets are cooked.

Serve on a homemade roll with a little bit of lettuce and your favorite condiment. Slap a side of sweet potato fries down next to your sliders and get ready for a delightful little meal.

They are also quite tasty all by themselves, in fact sometimes my Little Men prefer them that way.

This is our new favorite chicken nugget indulgence. I am sure you and your kids will enjoy it too!

Now as I promised, here is my go to roll recipe:

Homemade Rolls


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the warm water, sugar and yeast. Let it proof for about 5 minutes (this means you are activating the yeast a little bit. It will get all foamy).

After you have let the yeast proof, add the oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour. Mix on medium high until everything is incorporated. Then, while mixer is on still, add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the bowl. The dough will be soft and slightly tacky.

You can keep the dough in the mixer going on medium high and let the mixer knead the dough for another 5 minutes (this is what I do). You can also dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand for about 8 minutes.

After the dough has been kneaded, transfer the ball of dough into a greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Set aside and let rise for 1 hour.

Lightly punch down the dough and dump onto a greased counter top. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Form the pieces each into a ball and place in a greased baking pan or sheet about an inch a part. Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through.

Brush the tops with butter. Serve.

Enjoy everyone! Thanks for reading!

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DIY Striped Curtains Tutorial

I really wanted striped curtains in Oldest's Star Wars room. Really, really.

In my head that is what went best with all the bedding, the gray, black, and navy blue color scheme, and of course our favorite villain Darth Vader.

However, with all the room redo-ing lately, I didn't want to spend a lot of money and time. So I came up with a cheap, creative way to make my own striped curtains for his room. These curtains took about a day to make and cost me less than $20. A-whoo-hoo.

Since they turned out so well, and because they were easy and affordable I decided to share with you guys how to make your own.

DIY Striped Curtains

What you need:

1 flat sheet-mine came from The Mart and were SUPER cheap

1 pkg of 84" length curtain panels-again they came from The Mart

coordinating thread

rotary cuter

The first thing that needs to be done is to prepare the curtains and the sheet to cut the strips from them. I laid out each lengthwise and folded them in half (hot dog style...yeah I am technical like that) and ironed.

First I cut out strips of the sheet. I cut out 5- 8 1/2"x 30" pieces for each panel. That made 10 total.

The bottom strip will need to be bigger since you will have to hem the bottom. So I cut out 2- 12 1/2" x 30" pieces out of the navy for the bottom strip.

Next I started with the curtain. Start with the top and cut off 7 1/2". Keep this strip. All of the curtains strips you will use will be cut at 7 1/2 ". I cut one strip at a time because the curtain material was a little temperamental.

Take the first cut curtain strip and lay right side up. Lay one of the 8 1/2" strips from the sheet with right sides facing. Pin at the raw edges. There will be excess on each outside edge.

Sew with 1/4" seam to attach the strips. Iron seam when done. Then open and press stripes again.

Here it gets a little tricky, but next you want to cut off a 8 1/2" strip of the curtain and just throw it out...you won't be using it. Then cut a another 7 1/2" strip. Pin that strip to the sheet strip, right sides facing. Sew again a 1/4" seam along the raw edges.

Repeat pressing.

Repeat this pattern until just after the last 8 1/2" sheet strip is sewn on.

When you get to the bottom of the curtain, you will forgo the last 8 1/2" discard cut of the curtain and just cut another 7 1/2" strip to use. Then discard the bit of the bottom of the curtain.

Sew on the last curtain strip like before. Then sew on the 12 1/2" strip of sheet to the last curtain strip.

All the strips should be sewn together. Whew...a lot of work. Almost done.

Hem the bottom by first ironing a 1/2" from the bottom. Then fold to 4" hem and stitch hem in place. Hemming the bottom should achieve the last 8 inch strip.

The last step is to fix the overhang of each sheet strip to match the side hem of the original curtain. Can you notice the extra special treat in the photo below???

Okay, back to finishing the curtain. Fold in the excess once and iron. Then fold again to match the curtains original seam.

Then sew the side hem in place. Repeat with both sides of each strip.

Then repeat the whole sewing process with the other panel.

After that you can hang those beauties up and admire your hard work.

I am super happy with how they look in the room. Nothing better than a DIY set of curtains...and these look super polished because of the pretty-precise ( I wouldn't dare say uber-precise) stripes.

Now I just need to add all the stuff on the walls. Imagine it with me.

Until I get all the pictures/posters up, I will just stand back and admire my DIY striped curtains. Woohoo! Ehem...sorry I still get excited about them.

Hopes this helps you guys with all your striped curtain dreams...I mean I assume, like me, you have had them.

Linking up:
Ta-Da Tuesdays: Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night
Share Your Awesomeness: The 36th Avenue

In a Nutshell: Forts, Supers, Villains and HAPPINESS

This is a little how our house looked during the day this week. There was lots of fort building, lots of creating, and lots of Little Men running around. I am still in the middle of my sewing/organizing/re-doing madness, so the Little Men found lots of ways to have fun while I sewed and painted.

As you will notice by the following picture, there were also several days where jammies were worn half, if not the whole day. No one was complaining though.

There were also two days were I couldn't get Middle and Littlest out of their Halloween Supers costumes. I kept meaning to get a picture, but never did. Shoot dang it all. Believe me though it was cute.

My boys LOVE anything Super. In fact this week while Middle was dressed up as Superman I asked him to help me with something. His reply...

"Of course Mom, 'cause Superman is helpful."


Yes, Supers are pretty important in this house...even the aunts got in on the fun this week during a little trip to Target...aka the best store in the universe...aka the store I could drop buckets of money in.

Now as most of us know, where there are Supers there must be Villains. I mean what purpose would the good guy have if there was no bad guy to fight.

Well occasionally the bad guy shows up in our house. This week the bad guy was this villain...

Ooooh. Scary, right?

It was a pretty fun week.

Having boys in the house is never dull or quiet. If I am honest with myself, I wouldn't have it any other way. I just about love all the fort building, Supers vs. Villain fighting, furniture jumping, and dart gun shooting.

They make me happy even when they are making me crazy.

Segway into my HAPPINESS moment.

My kiddos did have several moments of driving me crazy this week. I blame it mostly on my advanced stage of human incubatoritis. By this time of pregnancy I have not been traditionally a chipper person. This pregnancy is no different...in fact it may be worse.

I am older.
I have three crazy kids.
This is my fourth.
My body is tired.
I swear this baby is a giant.
Did I mention I am older?
Well I am older.

This doesn't sound like HAPPINESS yet does it?

Well no, not really.

There were plenty of moments this week when I did not feel happiness and most of it centered on my late stage of pregnancy. However, when I stop though and really think about this pregnancy, I realize I am happy about many things in this pregnancy. If I stop and reflect with gratitude on the blessings I do have in this pregnancy, I can't help but feel peace which does lead to happiness.

So yes, I don't enjoy the last little bit of pregnancy, but I can be happy in recognizing my blessings.

I am healthy.
I can still be active.
I am not on bed rest.
Newest Little Man is active, so I know he is there.
He is healthy.
I have a helpful husband.
I have three healthy boys.
I am a Momma to boys.
Good boys.

I may have to remind myself of this while crying as I struggle to get into a pair of pants...but I am a big believer that being happy is an active state of being. I am learning that in sadness if I try hard to put things into perspective and focus on the good then happiness can evolve.

Then the peace comes.

Perspective follows that.

Then the smile soon follows.

Have a great Sunday everyone. Thanks for letting me share my HAPPINESS journey with you.