craft | meal planner

I've tried out quite a few meal planners over the past two years.  Weekly, monthly, print-at-home templates, scribbled on a piece of scrap paper, etc.  I'll be honest, some were better then others.  Then I found this printable template from The Project Girl -- half the page is a Sunday - Saturday meal planner with fill in boxes, the other half is a categorized shopping list.  I decided to spruce it up a little with some lamination and personalized meal magnets.  I made a document with a list of most of the dinners we make on a regular basis along with a couple extras like "date night", "try a new recipe", and "leftovers".  I printed, laminated, and attached magnets to each rectangle so that meals can be arranged and rearranged as needed.   

To make your own meal magnets, create a Word or Publisher document and add text boxes approximately 1in by 3.25in.  Add your own meals and adjust font size, color, and style to suit your preferences.  Print, laminate, cut, and assemble.

food | white chicken chili

Now that it is getting cooler outside, I've been looking for some new Fall recipes. A few days ago, I was talking with a friend who recommended white chicken chili...yum! So yesterday I found a fantastic Taste of Home recipe with the perfect amount of spice and heat. Not so much that you can't taste anything after eating it, but enough that it has great flavor and makes you feel really warm and toasty. You can find the original recipe here, but I changed a few things in the batch I made last night.

Kaite's version of White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 - 2 (depending on preference) cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:
In a large saucepan, saute the chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Separate aproxomitely half the beans and mash in a bowl until chunky. Add the whole beans, mashed beans, corn, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Divide into bowls and sprinkle a little shredded cheese on top.

By mashing half of the beans before adding them to the chili, you can reduce the amount of sour cream and heavy cream from the original recipe to make it a little healthier but still have a nice creamy chili. I added a can of corn to my chili just to get another vegetable in there, but you can add whatever you have on hand: frozen carrots, chopped roasted cauliflower, etc. It may not be the most traditional, but it does make it a little healthier and very filling.

sew | roll-up shopping bag

I found this roll-up shopping bag tutorial on Pinterest and decided to give it a try for my mom's birthday. I loved the finished product so much I've made four more since then (one huge one for me to use at the grocery store and three as gifts).

I love how the size is completely adjustable depending on your needs and yet, no matter how big you make the bag, it rolls up to about the size of a fist. This makes them ideal for hauling library books home, grocery shopping (or any shopping), and travelling (since they are approximately the size of a pair of socks, throw in two or three in case you need an extra bag or two for the trip home).

I was so excited to get the birthday bag in to mail to my mom I completely forgot to take a picture of it. However, I did manage to take a few pictures of the other bags:

Here are the three yet-to-be given-as-gifts bags all rolled up (I don't want to ruin the surprise of what they look like for the people who will be receiving them)

My jumbo bag

All rolled up

These bags are really easy to make but I strongly encourage that you don't skimp on the French seams. They take a little extra time but make the bag so much stronger (and they look nicer too!). I didn't know how to do French seams before this project but she walks you through it in the tutorial. If you're still a little confused (like I was) Google "how to sew with French seams" and you'll find a ton of detailed explanations.

food | lemon curd

A few weekends ago, we had our first guests in our new apartment - our dear friends Victoria and David. Victoria and David both love to cook (as do I, though I'm not as creative as they are) and Isaac loves to eat so we had a wonderful weekend with lots of delicious food. One thing I absolutely had to share was Victoria's lemon curd recipe (which we enjoyed with angel food cake and strawberries). I don't even usually like cake, I don't hate it, but if given the choice between cake and some other dessert I will almost always choose the non-cake option. In fact, growing up I never asked for cake on my birthday (unless it was an ice cream cake, those are great!), I would ask for pie or grandma's cherry delight. However, Victoria's angel food cake with lemon curd is what I will be requesting for every birthday from now on. Seriously, this cake is really that good.

It looked a lot like this but instead of spreading the lemon curd between the layers, we just drizzled it over each slice. Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of our actual dessert because we ate it up so fast.

Start with an angel food cake mix and prepare and bake according to directions.

While cake is baking, prepare the lemon curd.

Victoria's Lemon Curd:

3 TBLS. Grated lemon zest
3 lemons (to equal 1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice)
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, chilled.

Mix yolks, sugar, zest, and lemon juice. Put in double boiler or heavy bottomed saucepan. Slowly cook, stirring continually, until mixture thickens or to 170 degrees. Should be able to coat the back of a spoon well. Take off heat and stir in small pats of butter one at a time. Place in fridge.

Victoria says that it isn't that complicated but it does take patience because you have to stir and watch and stir and watch the whole time it is on the stove.

Enjoy with fresh fruit and the angel food cake!

style | look alike fashion for Fall

I've never really been on top of the latest trends or styles, but I do love to shop.   Thankfully I have many friends (and three stylish sisters) who are in the know and do their best to point me in the right direction (check out Mary's blog for great fashion posts).  For example, I vehemently refused to try skinny jeans for years.  I though that, given my hip to chest ratio, I could never ever ever wear them.  I tried on my first pair not that long ago, and it turns out that they are the best fitting (and looking, if I do say so myself) jeans I have ever owned.

So now I try to keep abreast of what's going on out there in style land.  After perusing the J. Crew website and catalogue for Fall style ideas that were unfortunately out of my price range, I discovered a few look alike pieces from Target.

I'm really loving stripes for Fall -- this top from J. Crew was top of my list until I found this almost identical one from Target (for almost half the price!).

I bought the Target version, and I love the fit and color -- great with skinny jeans for Fall.  I don't usually go for sequins, but I really like the detail at the shoulders.  It dresses up an otherwise plain tee.

I'm also loving structured dresses like these two from J. Crew and Target.

Chances are, if it has a ruffle, I'll like it.  These cardigans from J. Crew and Target are no exception.

Happy shopping!