I've been adding things to my "Backyard" board on Pinterest, and realized I had several ideas using pallets. From what I understand, simple calling a home improvement store, a recycling center, or a landscape company can result in scoring inexpensive or even free pallets for your next project.
1. Pallet as a cocktail table-with a planter in the middle. How easy to add some color, or even small herb garden to a functional piece of furniture.
2. Pallet as a shoe rack. Turned on it's side, there isn't a lot of extra work involved in making a pallet into a shoe rack.
3. Pallets as a corner couch unit. On our patio, we'll have a small section in the corner, and this will fit nicely in that area. It will also turn the corner into a functional seating space.
4. Pallet as a coffee table. I really like the dark color of this table, and the height The chairs and table look as if they belong together.
What exciting ideas have you found on Pinterest? If you're on Pinterest, follow me and I'll follow back 
. If you want an invitation to Pinterest, email me at foundmyfavorite@gmail.com, and I'll send you an invitation.
In our house, pizza is very traditional-red sauce, cheese, pepperoni, etc. I've been wanting to try this recipe from Taste of Home, so I added it to my menu last week. My husband and I LOVED it! Since I had made a pizza dough and froze it, I had enough dough for two pizzas. I rolled it out, cut it in half, and used half for the Chicken Pesto Pizza. For the other half, I split it between the boys, and Lucas made his own pepperoni/sausage pizza and Matthew made a stromboli for himself. In situations like that, I don't feel like I'm making "two meals"-one for us and one for the kids. The Chicken Pesto Pizza was SO great-light, healthy, and fun to eat.
Chicken Pesto Pizza
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
- 2-3/4 cups bread flour, divided
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1/2 each small green, sweet red and yellow peppers, julienned
- 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- 3 tablespoons prepared pesto
- 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Beat in the 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon oil, sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the remaining flour; beat until combined.
- Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the chicken, onion, peppers and mushrooms in remaining oil until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat; set aside.
- Punch dough down; roll into a 15-in. circle. Transfer to a 14-in. pizza pan. Build up edges slightly. Spread with pesto. Top with chicken mixture and cheese. Sprinkle with pepper and remaining salt.
- Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until crust and cheese are lightly browned
You'll notice that the beginning of the recipe is for the crust. I had already made and froze mine, so I skipped that part. I think this would work with a prepared crust, or one from a pouch as well. Also, I added some halved grape tomatoes to our pizza to give it a little more color. When cooking the chicken, peppers, and onions for this pizza, it would be easy to throw in some extra of each ingredient. Simply top your pizza with it, then freeze the rest for a future Chicken Pesto Pizza.
This is linked to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.
Menu Planning Tip: When planning for the week, fill in a few days with an easy family favorite recipe. For us, that's Friday-we always have homemade pizza. The other days, I plan a meal or two I know my family loves, and then add the new recipes I want to try that week.
 |
| Baked Nutty Pretzel Chicken |
Dinner:
Dinner with our church family
Baked Nutty Pretzel Chicken/Rice/Green Beans
Grilled Steak/Baked Potatoes/Salad
Tuscan Lemon Chicken/Pasta/Cucumbers
Chicken Fried Pork Chops /Homemade French Fries/Green Beans
Homemade Pizza/Cucumbers and Carrots
Hamburgers/Chips/Cucumbers
Pork Roast/Rice/Salad
That's what we're having in our house this week. For more ideas, go to Menu Plan Monday at Organizational Junkie.
A lot is floating around the blogosphere regarding back to school organization. With the twins being in separate rooms for the first time, I think some more organization is in my future. I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Is she serious?! She organizes everything!" My "Friday Finds" today feature ways to organize the weekly papers, or even for the long term projects and papers you want to keep.
Storage Boxes from Cereal Boxes-Delicate Construction had the brilliance to use cereal boxes, mod podge (my new fave), and napkins to create super cute storage boxes. Love!
Artwork Binders-Perfect for those school papers you want to keep-like the first spelling test, the "What I did Over the Summer" paragraph, or even some artwork. Decorate these for each kid, grab a hole punch, and you're set.
Pin It
Slender File Boxes -Making Family Life Fun uses slender, colored file boxes to store her kids' memorabilia. These would look nice on a bookshelf in the family room, or alongside the scrapbooks. Also, they hold a lot of papers, and easily keep the papers contained.
With these ideas, you'll have a "project" while the kids are at school. It's a good idea to start with the most recent papers and slowly work your way toward the past. Pick a method, try it this school year, and if it works, you'll have a solution for all those papers that have piled up. If it doesn't work, you'll have a few more to try.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Pin It
I found a picture of this idea on Pinterest quite a long time ago and thought it would be a great addition to our home. Since the tutorial for this project is nowhere to be found-I even emailed the blogger who linked to it and she said it no longer existed-I'm giving you my tutorial here on the blog.
Materials:
Large Paper Mache Letters-I found my "L" and "M" at JoAnn Fabrics
Mod Podge
Sponge bruses or paint brushes
Black and white printed photos
Clear coat matte finish spray
1. Choose your favorite pictures and paste them into a word document. When you have as many as you want, print them in regular black and white on good quality printer paper. I simple scoured my pictures I had stored on my computer and placed them in a word document. I had to downsize them a bit, but that was no problem. Cut the pictures out. Mine were cut out in perfect squares.
2. Spread some newspaper on your work surface and pour some mod podge on a paper plate. Lightly coat the area where you want to put your picture with mod podge. Then, lightly coat the back of the picture. Press it down, firmly in the center first, then if it hangs over the edge, seal the edges down, too.
3. Continue step 3 until your whole letter is covered. After it is covered, put a fairly thick coat of mod podge over the entire letter, evening it out with the brush. You don't want the mod podge bubbly and thick.
4. Allow it to dry. Then, take a good look at it. See where you might need a few small slices of paper to cover up any part of the letter that is exposed.
5. Spray your letter with a clear matte finish. I found this in the painting section of JoAnns .
I had never used mod podge before, and I have to tell you I'm hooked now! This was honestly a very easy project. For our home, we'll hang it as part of a gallery wall, featuring pictures of each boy with his letter. As a side note, I wouldn't use pictures printed on regular photo paper because they are very thick. I think that it would be slightly more difficult to work with.
I've reached about 1119 pins on Pinterest, and I currently have 38 Boards that I've been pinning to. For today's "Pinterest Favorites", I decided to choose a "pin" from my first five boards and share them with you.
Books Worth Reading-The Shack. This book changed my outlook on the Trinity in a good way. As the main character experiences a trial that could happen to anyone, he encounters God in His three persons while searching for answers.
Christmas Gift Ideas-Since I have a "Cricut" machine, I'll be making mongrams for gift tags this year. I used printable tags last year, and really loved how they turned out-not to mention the time and money they saved. When I ran out, or needed a certain size, I could easily print it right away!
Hanging Vases-This is on my board I have for our downstairs bathroom that is waiting patiently to be painted and decorated. By mounting vases on the wall, I can put seasonal fresh flowers, or even silk ones, in them to change up the decor.
The "LOVE" Frame-I made one of these for my grandma's 80th birthday last week, and she loved it. Why didn't I take a picture of it for the blog? IDK. Oh well. It was so easy to take the kids outside, have them each hold a letter to the word "love", edit the pictures a bit in Photo Gallery, and order them from Shutterfly. A frame at 40% off from JoAnn's, and I was set.
Bricks as BookEnds-I love this idea! It's on my "Home Decor" board, and seems super easy. Some fabric mod podged on a brick and set as bookends. Love!
Are you on Pinterest? If not, email me and I'll send you an invitation. I love having all my ideas that I think I'll "remember later" organized in one place.
Menu Planning Tip: While planning, keep your grocery list next to you so you can add the few ingredients you might need for that week's meals.
This week is my last week before I'm back to my "real life"....aka school starts for the kids, the toddler is back to the sitter, and I'm back to work. We'll fall into the routine easily, but I'm not especially looking forward to the homework and other responsibilities that take the place of our relaxing summer days.
Dinners:
Steak, Baked Potatoes, Salad
Chicken Scampi/Low 'Cal Fettucine Alfredo/Green Beans
Chicken Pesto Pizza/Salad/"Olive Garden" Breadsticks
Chicken or Beef Fajitas/Chips and Salsa
Hamburgers/Homemade French Fries/ Cucumbers and Carrots
Homemade Pizza/Salad
Pancakes or Waffles/Sausage and Bacon
Check out my Favorite Foods page for a list of links to recipes.
You can find more meal inspiration at Menu Plan Monday on Organizational Junkie.
Menu Planning Tip: While planning, keep your grocery list next to you so you can add the few ingredients you might need for that week's meals.
This week is my last week before I'm back to my "real life"....aka school starts for the kids, the toddler is back to the sitter, and I'm back to work. We'll fall into the routine easily, but I'm not especially looking forward to the homework and other responsibilities that take the place of our relaxing summer days.
Dinners:
Steak, Baked Potatoes, Salad
Chicken Scampi/Low 'Cal Fettucine Alfredo/Green Beans
Chicken Pesto Pizza/Salad/"Olive Garden" Breadsticks
Chicken or Beef Fajitas/Chips and Salsa
Hamburgers/Homemade French Fries/ Cucumbers and Carrots
Homemade Pizza/Salad
Pancakes or Waffles/Sausage and Bacon
Check out my Favorite Foods page for a list of links to recipes.
You can find more meal inspiration at Menu Plan Monday on Organizational Junkie.
My children are "packers" for school lunches. They think Lunchables are a treat-which I'm thankful for their attitude towards pre packaged meats and cheeses. Not that they're terrible-in fact, I often fall prey to how easy they are to throw in their bags-but, it's nice to know that I send them to school with a packed lunch of what they like and what I know they'll eat everyday. Here are some inspiring and creative lunches-I'll feel like supermom if I can manage two of these fun ideas a week! Kudos to those moms who do it everyday!
I found these fun ideas at Easy Lunchboxes and This Lunch Rox. Both of these sites have easy, fun ways to package your kids' lunches (and your own ). For my kids, it's usually all about the appearance of the food. If they like what they see, they usually like what they're about to eat! I especially love the ideas of using cupcake/muffin liners to put small bits of food in-like the strawberries and cheese above.
To make the fun shapes, you can buy a set of 4 "Lunch Punches" on Amazon for about $14. There are a variety of other websites that sell them. I just googled "lunch punch". Also, cookie cutters would work for breads, cheeses, and wraps.
Brother and Sister Pose-Have them pose the same way, year after year. This is an easy photo idea, and could be turned into a gorgeous gallery collection on your walls.
Baby with a Mirror-Such a classic idea for a pose. I know my little girl would completely ham it up looking at herself while I took pictures. This could be easily staged in your home or even outside.
After you've had fun posing your kids and developing the pictures, why not turn them into canvas or larger than "normal" prints? You can order canvas prints from companies like Shutterfly or Snapfish, or you can make them yourself.
1. This is an arrangement of 2 20x30 photos and 3 16x20s.
2. Each image is 20x20, and the frame was custom built to reach floor to ceiling. I know my husband could make a frame like this, if I decided to arrange photos this way.
How do you like to display your photos at home?
If you're not on Pinterest, but would like to be, please email me at
foundmyfavorite@gmail.com. Request and invite, and I'll send you one.
