Super easy dinner - Shrimp Caesar Salads

My hubby and I both love Caesar salads, and to me, nothing tastes better on top than some big, fat shrimp. This week I'm in luck because not only are XL shrimp on sale at Publix, but a new produce market opened in my neighborhood with the nicest selection of lettuce super cheap! I strollered over with the kids after work and grabbed a few things and then got busy. I love making this salad because it's fast, inexpensive, relatively healthy, and DELICIOUS!

Ingredients (for two)
 - 1/2 lb. shrimp
 - lettuce (I like red or green leaf, but Romaine is great too)
 - Caesar dressing (I love Kraft Classic Caesar. To me it's much tastier than many more expensive Caesars)
 - S&P to taste
 - Parm cheese to taste
 

 First, clean the lettuce, tear it into bite sized pieces and give it a good  spin in the salad spinner. To me, the salad spinner is in my top 5 "can't live without" kitchen items.




 

 Next, add dressing and toss with some big shiny tongs! The metal bowl and shiny tongs are the key to a good Caesar. This is how I learned to do it in restaurants. The dressing must fully coat each piece of lettuce.



After cleaning and peeling, lightly salt and pepper the shrimp and throw them in a pan with PAM over medium heat. If you are really pressed for time, you can buy shrimp that are already cooked and just heat them a bit.

After your shrimp are cooked to your liking (I like mine pretty well done) let them cool a bit so they don't wilt your lettuce. Arrange your Caesar-y lettuce on a place, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and top with your gorgeous shrimp. If you like, serve with croutons or garlic bread and as Julia would say, "Bon Appetit!"

I heart President's Day at Jo-Anns

BOGO buttons! What could be better. I went Saturday, Sunday, and today because I kept thinking of things I "needed" and I had to use all of my coupons, of course!

I got some great buttons for cheap, knitting needles and yarn, fabric, but my very best score of all was a little bias tape tool I needed  to make my own bias tape. I love bias tape, but I find it very cost-prohibitive if I need a substantial amount. So, I was thrilled to find it for only like $6.99. THEN, when I got to the register, it turned out to be on sale too! So there it was, for $3.49. I am so glad I didn't order it online last week and pay full price and extra for shipping!.

I know I am a big dork, but I try to be very budget conscious whenever possible. I don't make stuff by hand to be cheap, but it is an added bonus. I am happy to spend money on quality materials and tools when they are called for, but I also like a good bargain hunt and a deal whenever possible!

My first online fabric purchase!

I confess, up until now, I've only shopped at Walmart or JoAnn for fabric. I tend to buy things mostly on sale or with 50% coupons because I'm afraid to spend a lot on something that may not turn out right, so *gasp* here it is at $8.50 per yard. My first ever online fabric order. I ordered from Hawthorne Threads and had a great experience with them.

The top one is Robert Kaufman, Monaluna, Vive la France, La Tour Eiffel in Natural and the other is Michael Miller, Extreme Team, Skate Park in Black. I've been obsessed with buying the Eiffel Tower fabric since I saw in in an email newsletter. Not for me, my aunt loves Paris and her birthday is coming up, so I knew it would be perfect to make something for her. I'll make something for my little guy with the skate park fabric. Not sure what yet, but it goes with the general black and light blue theme of his room that I'm working on.

Getting fabric in the mail could be very addicting, but I will trying to control myself for now. It is hard to ignore those pretty email newsletters when they show up though!

Valentine's cutie outfit

 Having a baby girl really gets me excited about sewing. I couldn't resist trying out Homemade by Jill's cute and easy tutorial to make an infant jean skirt out of a pair of old jeans. This was especially timely, because I have finally decided I am ready to clean out and donate and consign most of my old maternity clothes, but I am holding on to some items that really aren't fit to be donated or consigned but are perfect for re-purposing as baby clothes! What could be more fun than making an adorable jean skirt for my little girl out of scraps from old maternity jeans and a nursing tank :)

I thought it turned out so cute that I decided to applique a matching onesie. There's that Valentine's fabric again that I used for my table runner and Mom's Valentine's pillows. It's hard to see in the photos, but the fabric has the cutest sparkly hearts, so I just ironed on some Heat-n-Bond and cut out a few hearts and then ironed them on to the onesie and skirt and stiched around the edges with some hot pink thread.

This is a really easy and inexpensive project and can be adapted for any holiday. I'm already thinking I have the perfect gingerbread man fabric for Christmas. Maybe I'll do Shamrocks and Easter bunnies too :)

Valentine's Pillow Covers

When I got back into sewing, some of my first few successful projects were pillows. I kept sending my mom pictures of my finished work and she mentioned that she loves throw pillows. When Christmas rolled around I had a really hard time deciding what to get for her because although she loves lots of things and loves to shop, she tends to buy what she wants when she wants it, so I told her she was being enrolled in the "Throw Pillow for All Seasons Club." I started her with 2 pillow forms and these winter pillow covers. They are made from some nice, soft flannel. The snowflakes on the white cover are just appliqued on with heat-n-bond and then I stitched around them in white.

I told her there would be additional pillows for holidays and changes of season. So, now that she's received them, here are the Valentine's covers. I love the fabric, the hearts are all pink and red and sparkly!

And here they are in their new home :)

Next up will be spring!

Last minute Valentine's party

We have family in town this week and there's been a lot going on, so it's hard to schedule things, but I really wanted to get my FIL together with my relatives that stay nearby, so we decided to have everyone over tonight for pulled pork.

I love to entertain and decorate for the holidays, but since we didn't really have anything planned ahead, I had not bought a thing for Valentine's. Instead of stressing about it, or wishing I had sewn the Valentine's table runner I'd been dreaming about in my head, I decided to just pull together whatever I already had in the house and make a 30 minute Target run.

Luckily I had already bought a pork butt and put it in the Crock-Pot first thing, because we were planning to eat that tonight anyway, company or not. So, all I had to do was pull together some fast sides, decorations, and dessert. Fortunately, the pantry was already stocked with tortillas, black beans, and rice and there was cheese, sour cream, beer, and soda in the fridge. I even had some red and pink sprinkles for cupcake making.

I ended up grabbing a few things at Target and the grocery store and was able to whip up this cute table for my buffet (using a plastic tablecloth and the valentine fabric that I used for my mom's pillows.) I didn't even sew the table runner, just folded it under and stuck a vase and some plates on top of it.

The pork was delicious and everyone had fun :)

$2.93 of fun!

Thursday night is knitting night. I take the baby and get together with my aunt and grandmother and we four generations hang out, catch up, and do a little knitting. I am very fortunate in that I get to benefit from their knitting wisdom.

I've been working this Turkish String Bag and while I do look forward to finishing it, I need a little break because it's the same thing over and over. Also, my grandma and aunt are only in town for a few months (they're doing the snowbird thing) so I want to take advantage of their knowledge and work on a tougher project.

So, I will be attempting the Anouk pattern from Knitty.com. I think it is just adorable! It's probably a lofty goal, but I'm up for the challenge. While I think the dress, as is, is adorable, I'm going to attempt to modify it a bit to be more my style, so it will be an all grey dress and the pockets will be black with hot pink hearts. Although my little miss is only 6 months old, I'm going to make it the 18 month size because a) It may take me a year to finish and b) I think winter in South Florida is over already so she probably won't get any use out of it until next year anyway.

I had two awesome JoAnn's coupons that were about to expire, so I grabbed the baby and hustled over there on my way to knitting night and for $2.93 got a lovely set of bamboo needles and some super soft, grey yarn. Wish me luck!

Early a.m. sewing party

I'm working on getting up an hour earlier than my kids so that I have some extra time to myself to work, sew, or just drink coffee and stare at the wall before the morning chaos begins.

Today I succeeded at getting up early and was pumped to work on some quick throw pillows because we have two different sets of company coming over the next two weeks and I think it's time for these Christmas throw pillows to go, even though I do love them.

So, I got up and started some coffee and cutting fabric and wouldn't you know, both kids decided to get up early too. Although my quick pillow project didn't go as planned, I did manage to diaper, clothe, and feed the two kids and myself and finish my pillows in about 2 hours! The are a very basic fabric, but I love them. Hubby does too :)

I've been sewing so many pillows lately that it's gotten fast and easy and I know the measurements in my head for the sizes I sew often. I love this tutorial for sewing pillows from Lemon Tree Creations http://lemontreecreations.blogspot.com/2010/11/shut-up-and-sew-pillow-cover.html. I used to think I needed zippers for my pillow covers, but that tutorial makes it so much easier and cheaper! Probably seems pretty obvious, but it wasn't to me when I sewed my first one!

Getting started

I've been wanting to start this blog for a few months now. I have all of these posts running around in my head and I need to get them out!

I've been sewing off and on since I was a kid, but hadn't dusted off the old machine since I tried (and failed miserably) to sew some cloth diapers before my son was born over 2 years ago. (That PUL fabric was a nightmare for me.) Thankfully, the birth of my daughter and the need to hem some curtains rescued my sewing machine from exile and I started cranking away on some fun Christmas projects and gifts and entry-level infant attire.

I realized something - besides the fact that I love buying fabric and ribbon and other pretty things - I really enjoy making stuff. It's such a great feeling when a project turns out as planned. I even appreciate the learning experience when a project doesn't turn out quite how I'd planned. You see, I love my job, but it's not exactly a creative outlet. I felt like I was spending most of my days in the grind of work or running around crazy with the kids and felt like I just didn't know how to be creative anymore.

Now that I've given the creative side of my brain a little exercise, it is off and running. In my spare time during the day I like to scour the internet for ideas and and inspiration and then I grab an hour or two in the evenings when my kids are sleeping  to crank out a project or two here and there. I am a novice at sewing and knitting, but I am working on my skills. Mostly with the help of internet tutorials and the occasional patient relative.

I'm excited about sharing some of the ideas that I find online and sharing some of my own too. Thanks for visiting!