DIY Plarn Water Bottle Holder

Being the nerd I am, I wanted to attend the South Park Fan Experience this year in downtown San Diego. My SO and I would be taking the trolley there; parking is a nightmare come Comic-con.

I knew I'd be taking water. A BIG bottle of water. But I didn't want to have to hold it the whole time. I knew I'd need to come up with something crafty to solve my dilema.

Enter the plarn water bottle holder.

Large enough for my water bottle, plarn crocheted thick enough to insulate the bottle; keeping it cold and me dry (from the bottle's condensation).

There was no rhyme or reason, I didn't have a pattern. I just made a circle by crocheting in the round, making the circle the same diameter as my bottle's bottom, then not adding more, just going around and around. For the strap I used sturdy, black plarn.

My mother, The Gardening Soup Queen is my lovely model. She thinks I should make more and sell them (with others like my reusable totes) at our community farmer's market. What do you think?

If you need a pattern, there's a good one over at My Recycled Bags.

South Park Fan Experience? Huge success.

Muffin Tin Pot Pies

Since my muffin tin apple pies were such a huge success I thought I'd try something equally epic. Pies. With. Chicken.

I used the same crust from the apple pies. (I love "no chill crust".)

Here we go!

Make the dough.

• 2 1/2 cup Flour
• 1 cup Shortening
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 egg + 1/2 cup cold water

Pre-heat your oven to 345°F (173°C). Fork shortening into the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat egg and cold water together, then fork into the dough. Knead until you're satisfied with its consistency.

Roll 11 - 12 small pieces of dough into balls.

Now you can roll out the dough with your rolling pin or a glass. It is a good
idea to dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. Lay the rolling pin
in the center of the dough ball and roll up, center and roll down. It is good to lift the
dough and turn it. Again, rolling pin in the center and roll. Roll them out fairly thin.

Place into your muffin tin.

Now for the filling. It's really up to you. If you want to go all out you can follow this:

• 4 Tbsp butter
• 3/4 C onion, chopped
• 3/4 C celery, chopped
• 3/4 C carrots, chopped
• 3/4 C cremini mushroom, chopped
• 3/4 C potatoes, chopped
• 3/4 Tbsp fresh thyme
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 C white wine
• 1 1/2 C chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 3 C poached chicken, chopped
• 3/4 C frozen peas
• 1/3 C whole milk
• 3 Tbsp parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper

Heat butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion, celery, carrots and potatoes. Saute until the vegetables start to soften. Add thyme and garlic and continue to stir 2 or 3 minutes.

Pour in wine; let boil and cook off. Add chicken broth; reduce heat and bring mixture to a simmer. Add flour and stir until sauce thickens; about 6-7 minutes.

Add in chicken, peas, milk and parsley. Bring mixture to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

Or, if you're like me and don't own a restaurant to house all these ingredients you can use whatever you have on hand. I had onions, chives, carrots, potatoes and spinach. I achieved celery flavor with some celery seed spice. I also added some garlic powder and salt/pepper. Then I added a can of chicken breast. The whole can, including the juice. Let it simmer and add a little milk. Let it simmer again and add a bit of flour to make a light gravy.

Spoon into the dough cups. (Cheese is optional.) And pinch four sides of the dough closed.

Bake on 345°F (173°C) for 35 minutes.

Enjoy with some nice salad topped with homemade ranch dressing.

Robert said "Wow, they actually taste like pot pie!" (He ate three with his hands.)

Why so surprised; who do you think you're talkin' to here!?

Micah-ism: "Don't be hostile to me!"

Not Your Grandma's Apple Pie

When I want to bake, I want to bake NOW. Pity the fool who gets in my way on a baking day.

Today I don't know if it was family being in town, or just the fact that I hadn't baked in a while... But the urge hit me hard at my mom's house. GET OUT DA KITCHEN!

I decided I would make some muffin tin mini apple pies. You can make any kind of pie in a muffin tin. Mini cheesecake, mini key lime pie and even mini chicken pot pie. (I really don't know which one to do next... Suggestions?) Since I don't like letting things "rest" when I bake, I needed a "no chill crust" recipe (see recipe below).

Mini Apple Pie Recipe

Filling:

• 2 large apples, chopped
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• as much cinnamon and nutmeg you like

Crust:

• 2 1/2 cup Flour
• 1 cup Shortening
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 egg + 1/2 cup cold water

1) Pre-heat your oven to 345°F (173°C). Fork shortening into the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat egg and cold water together, then fork into the dough. Knead until you're satisfied with its consistency. Set aside.

2) Chop your apples into small cubes or rectangles if you haven't already and leave the skins on (lots of fiber and contains half the vitamin C the whole apple offers). Add the butter and let cover the apple pieces. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix it up! (Using your hands is fun, this is the part Micah loves.)

3) Roll out your dough and cut into circles using a cup, bowl or knife. Place the circles in your ungreased muffin pan. Spoon copious amounts of your filling into the dough cups. For the dough lattice that goes on top, just roll out the extra dough, cut into small strips with a pizza cutter and place them on top. Only interweave them if you have the time... I didn't.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until your crust is brown.

Let them cool for 10 minutes, then serve with fresh whipped cream and/or french vanilla ice cream.

ENJOY!

Micah-ism:
"Fireworks make me want to hug someone."

The New Blog Look and a Surprise!

Tired of the ho-hum-drum Blogger template, I decided to take a page from the Dan Pierce, who Will Work for 4 Followers book of blog know-how. I got my CSS on big time.

I added a Favicon:

Then I made a new banner in Photoshop, streamlined my networking links, added some nifty tabs at the top and removed the right nav bar, which was crowding the whole thing up.

I also did an image map in Fireworks. (Those nifty buttons on the upper left is actually one image.)

Say hello to the new MiaU (Mom is an Understatement), pronounced like "meow" (not mandatory).

Hello gorgeous.

Of course, there's always room for improvement. We'll see how much easier readers are able to navigate, then I'll do some more tweaking.

And now; for the surprise!

A list of Micah-isms:

*Micah went to the doctor yesterday and got a shot. Grandpa asked him, Micah, did they shoot you? He said No no no no (rolling eyes). They don't SHOOT people!

*Right when Micah and I got home he takes his shoes off and says "We had a great day." matter-of-factly.

*Micah is with his dad for the next three or so days. When he was leaving he said "I love you! Buy! Don't die!"

*Micah says some of the funniest things when he's in deep trouble. Sometimes it's hard to keep a straight face. "Ask me again, I'll tell the truth this time, because I love you!"

**wail* "I'm so tired of this world!"

‎*"Micah, why are you playing Portal 2?"
"Because I rock and this game rocks."

*“Don't be hostile to me!”

*Micah pulled me into the bathroom so I could take a look at his giant #2. I said "Whoa! What happened?" He said "Its because I ate a lot of cereal."

*Micah-ism: Shouting "GERMOMMY-O" while jumping off the couch. ♥
(I keep telling him it's 'Geronimo'.)

Squid Eyes and Fruit Pops

Fooled you a bit with the title.

The new rag rug I made with recycled t-shirts is finished. It looks like a squid's eye...

Available now on Etsy.

Seems my kitty really likes it. Sorry kitty! I'll make you a new one.

In other news, my son has been saving his allowance for a new wooden train toy. Today was hard, however as the ice cream truck came around blasting the jingle from hell. He was torn. Spend $2 on an ice cream or save it for a toy. While he was deciding the ice cream truck drove off and he crumpled into a heap. So sad.

So after he calmed down I asked him if he wanted to help me make some fruit pops. We cut up one orange, took a handful of frozen strawberries out of the freezer and blended them in the blender. Into the ice pop trays they went. One hour later we were enjoying our homemade (and healthy) fruit pops.

DIY Hanging Upcycled Strawberry Planter

Drawing inspiration from a strawberry topsy turvy I decided to craft one of my own. Its basically a plastic bag cylinder. Besides... Its $10 + shipping. And I'm rather fond of my money.

And upcycling.

So I ironed about 8 plastic bags together (how to iron together plastic bags)and sewed it all up on my sewing machine. My mom saved 3 strawberry plants for me from her surplus, so I cut 3 asterisk shapes in the front (evenly spaced).

Then I popped the plants in the holes and filled it with (my mom's) dirt.

I hung it on my car's laundry hook and took it home.

Doesn't it look happy on my front porch? My neighbors across the way paid for theirs. If only they knew how to fuse plastic.

FREE TIP!

Notice how on every strawberry topsy turvy you see the strawberry plants at the bottom are runty? The plants on the top (where the fertilizer and water are deposited) are hoggin' all the food!

My solution? Cut two small snips in the back, poking a funnel in there for water and pushing in fertilizer from time to time.

Opps, there's my neighbor... Another tip: don't water your neighbors.

Easy Seedlings on a Balcony

Container gardening on your porch or balcony doesn't have to be a chore, or a seemingly daunting task. You and your little one(s) can do what I did and take it slowly at first.

Starting your plants off as seeds is the more economical (and educational) way to go about doing it.

Here's how we did it:

Get some plastic wrap, scissors, seed starter, seeds, and a used cardboard egg carton.

Cut the top off the egg carton and save it.

Cover the top in plastic wrap and place the bottom on top of it.

Put in the seed starter.

Put your seeds in and label them.

Keep them moist for the next 24 hours. Water from the bottom up. Take a water bottle and water in between the egg carton layers, making sure only the top layer gets wet. The bottom layer is protected from the water by the plastic wrap.

Your seeds should sprout after a 3 - 7 days. When they're ready to move to a bigger container, just tear off the individual portion and plant. Your plant will grow its roots through the wet paper.

When ours sprout I'll post more pictures of that, as well as when I transplant them.

Happy gardening!