Modge Podge Flower Pots

     My sister and I came up with the idea the make a collage on a flower pot for my mom for Christmas. My mom is big into planting flowers and herbs right now. And then she sells them, along with everything else. She is a professional garage seller. So in order for her not to sell something we give her, we need to make it personalized to her.   
    I found a picture on pinterest to make the flower pots, tried it at home, and it didn't work anything like the picture looked. First of all, modge podge is a pain to work with. I've never worked with it before, then realized it takes forever to dry, and the pictures were on a curved surface, so they weren't sticking. So, we went back to good ole faithful...the hot glue gun. 
     We hot glued the pictures on the pot, and the pictures now unfortunately stick out away from the pot, instead of flush. I tried to modge podge over the finished collage to hopefully make it all flush, but that isn't working either. I know there is a clear resin type thing somewhere to make it all flush and even, but I have no idea what it is, and its probably expensive. 
     Well, we added a bow and ribbon as well. My sister put hers on with hot glue, and I used modge podge. Mine is a little smoother, but both look equally as good. 
     Hopefully mom likes them.

Healthy Waffles?

     I have been craving waffles, so decided to try and be healthy and make whole wheat waffles. I've had this bag of whole wheat flour just waiting to be used, so why not?
     Searching through pinterest this morning, I remembered I had posted a waffle recipe already, and I wanted to try it. My boyfriend was once again still sleeping, so I snuck out of bed and followed this recipe.
     As I was mixing it all, I realized my sister had not bought milk last night as she said she would, so in my waffles I used 1 cup 2% milk and 2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk.

As I don't have an official waffle iron, I busted out with using the George Foreman. I think it worked well. This is a picture of the second batch, just a little short on the batter.

     I also topped my waffles with creamy peanut butter, half of a banana and just a little bit of syrup.

     Overall they turned out ok. They tasted like a healthy waffle, but a little rubbery and thick, but so very filling. We each only ate half of one and are very satiated. I think that is a success.

• 1 1/2 cups whole grain pastry flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups fat-free milk
• 2 egg whites
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups blueberries
• 1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

2.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3.

In a medium bowl, combine the milk, egg whites, brown sugar, and oil. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Fold in 1 cup of the blueberries.

4.

Coat a nonstick waffle iron with cooking spray. Preheat the iron.

5.

Pour 1/2 cup of the batter onto the center of the iron. Cook for 5 minutes, or until steam no longer escapes from under the waffle-iron lid and the waffle is golden. Place the waffles on the prepared baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm.

6.

Repeat with the remaining batter to make a total of 8 waffles.

Alternate breakfasts

     I was pinteresting this morning, and I think I'm going to restart my losing weight train. I know healthy food is tasty, I just need to get off my lazy butt and do something. I think if I keep moving, it wont be such a bad idea that I am moving and cooking and exercising and making myself feel better. When I have a lazy day, it turns into this cycle that I can't get out of. So, tomorrow morning I'm up by 8. It will be hard, but worth it. :)

I found this yummy looking smoothie recipe this morning here, and I want to try it. I'll keep you updated....


So, a little over a week later and I'm finally talking about my smoothies. I have started making them, adding a scoop of protein for the after workout smoothie, and really overall enjoying them.
I found this smoothie post on pinterest, and decided this was the way to do it. spend one day freezing and preparing, making the rest of the work easy peasy.

I did  really well on preparing and cutting up all of the fruit. I even put the yogurt in the mini muffin pan like the post said to do.  And then my boyfriend got involved...

Now I had to start all over with the fruit.

     The second batch doesn't look as good, but I was in a frustrated hurry. I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and cut up about 6 strawberries, 1 banana and 2 kiwis. I only had one mango, and that ended up on the floor. I hated cutting up the mango (as I am not familiar with them at all) so I was not about to go buy another one. 
     Once all the fruit was frozen and the yogurt was frozen I separated them into freezer bags. A large handful of strawberries, one slice of banana, 4 slices of kiwi, and three mini muffin frozen yogurts per bag. I have been using them all week. I just dump the bag into the blender, add a scoop of protein powder, and about a half cup of milk. If I have some pomegranate juice or orange juice, I will add about a quarter cup of that as well. Turns out as a delicious and yummy breakfast smoothie that is healthy too. But so much for that getting up at 8am thing...

Salads!

     I don't know why it took me so long to make this amazing salad. If I would have known it was SO DAMN EASY, I would have been eating a lot of it long ago. I get like that though, afraid to venture out to do or buy some things.

     Well, I finally made my first purchase of mozzarella cheese. I have been growing a basil plant, and have started (thanks to my boyfriend) cooking with olive oil.

     This plate is only one roma tomato! and I sliced the sliced mozzarella in half, so as not to overpower the tomato. A leaf or two of basil, washed, in between the cheese and tomato. Then i sprinkled a little salt over the entire thing. This salt step is huge for me, as I don't add salt to anything, I even go out of my way to buy low sodium items. Then i drizzled a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the whole thing. Mmmm!

     Also, last night, I ventured into making my first homemade pasta salad. I usually buy the boxes of Suddenly salad and add my own few twists to them, but this one was all from scratch! I started with this recipe, but here is what I ended up with:

8 ounces Garden rotini noodles

1 large avocado, halved, seeded, chopped, peeled

4 slices bacon, crisp cooked, drained and crumbled

1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cloves minced garlic

1 medium zucchini, coarsly chopped

1 can peas

1/4 red onion

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package. While pasta is cooking, empty can of peas into pot and add zucchini, on low heat. Heat until zucchini is slightly tender.
2. In large bowl, combine avocado, bacon, basil, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and onion.
3. Drain pasta, peas and zucchini. Add to large bowl and mix all ingredients together. Serve.

     I totally forgot the cheese that the original recipe called for, but it was delicious nonetheless. I am thinking next time of adding chunks of mozzarella. I also think the onions were a little crunchy for the rest of the salad, but their taste was a good addition. I will definitely make this again.

The reason why

     I've decided to write a blog about my experiences on trying new things I found online, and on pinterest. Its a good way for me to keep track of what I liked, didn't, what I want to try again, but mostly to appease myself in remembering what I did. It is also a reason for me to start using all of those crafting accessories and tools that I have spent so much money collecting, and a way for me to remember the delicious food I ate, without having to post it on Facebook and get everyone mad. The writing will be terrible, pictures will be fuzzy or non-existent, but like I said, I'm doing this for me. 

Ok, so here goes my first one.

We've all seen the cute hair styles on pinterest, such as  http://seabelle.tumblr.com/post/26881295804 / (my pinterest post)

French braid and bun

I basically french braided my hair, then put the tail in a bun and bobby pinned it to my head. I've done it a couple times now, and each time I'll do something different to the front; either a small poof, or a side braid. Now if only I could find other easy things to do to my hair myself.