Daddy Treats

I made this for my husband for his first Father's Day this year.  I got part of the idea off of Pinterest, by putting different things in old bottles, but I added all of the photos and labels to personalize it.  I think this project would work well for a great deal of holidays and recipients by changing the ingredients (think of putting in dried herbs for a cook or beading for a crafter).  So, here's how I made it!

Step 1: Buy a 6-pack of something in a bottle.  I chose these Smirnoff cocktails because I wanted to try them (not a huge fan, though) and I also thought clear bottles would be much nicer than the dark bottles beer usually comes in.

Step 2:  Drink all six drinks!  Make sure you use twist-off caps and keep them somewhere so that you can re-cap the bottles.  Once you've finished all of the bottles, wash them with soap and hot water.  I'm sure you could run them through the dishwasher, but I didn't think to do it until I was already done.

Step 3:  Dry the bottles.  I put this as a separate step because you need to make sure they are VERY dry.  I did one bottle before it had dried completely and the candy stuck to the bottom, so I had to re-wash it and get new candy.

Step 4:  Color the caps.  I did this, simply to remove the smirnoff logo.  You could spraypaint the tops, cover them with paper, or color them with a Sharpie, like I did.

Step 5:  Cover the cardboard portion of the 6-pack (I used brown craft paper).  Glue it either with a spray adhesive, or use Mod Podge, like I did.  No matter what you use make sure it is evenly distributed so that there are no bubbles in the paper.

Step 6:  Create labels.  You would want labels that can cover the labels on the bottle already.  I chose to make them as you can see in the photo above.  I also created labels to put onto the 6-pack.  Even though I could have just printed them at home on my personal printer, I was running low on ink, so I took mine to Staples and had them print it.

 

Step 7:  Affix all of the labels.  Again, I used Mod Podge, but you could use spray adhesive as well.  I sealed all of the labels with Mod Podge as well, so that they would be really stuck down.  As you can see above, I added some of the scraps of plain white paper over the small label on the neck of the bottles as well as the large labels.

Step 8:  Gather your fillings.  I did candy for all but one bottle, which I put peanuts in.  I had to end up getting extra Good n Plenty and Reese's Pieces, because they seemed to settle more than the others and took up less room.  Obviously, I chose treats that I knew my husband would like!

Step 9:  Using a funnel (or your hand, like I did), fill the bottles.  Twist the caps onto the bottles.  They will not make it completely airtight, but they will keep the candies from going stale and they will keep anything from coming out if you have to carry the gift anywhere.

Finally:  Place the bottles back into the cardboard 6-pack holder and it is ready to present!

Topped steaks

Tonight I don't really have a recipe since it's just a topping, but I grilled some steaks on this 80 degree Charleston February day! Topped mine with shrimp and parmesan cheese, while I topped Nic's with bacon and parmesan. Paired with green beans and rice! Yum yum!

Lily's Dresser

Progress on the dresser!  This is going into the baby's nursery.  It started as a plain brown armoire that has been mine since I was in middle school.  It is still in great shape, but the wood isn't the highest quality, so I decided to re-finish it in such a way that would look good in the beach-themed room.

First I took all of the hardware off and took the drawer and door fronts off.

Next, I used the Valspar spraypaint with the stone texture to texturize the doors and drawers.  The color didn't really matter, this was something we had leftover from another project awhile ago.

The next step was to paint the doors and drawers with the same sandy color I'm using for the walls in the bedroom.

Tools:  I used some packs of shells from Hobby Lobby and some liquid nails from Lowes to stick them to the doors.  

Here, I did the layout of the shells and decided how to position them onto the dresser doors.  The last one is the final product after everything was stuck down.  I also sprayed a thin layer of clear spraypaint to seal the shells and make the whole thing a little easier to clean.

I also added the shells to the drawers and sealed them with the clear spraypaint as well.

Here I taped and painted the dresser itself.  It is kind of her to see, because the lighting in the bedroom isn't ideal at the moment.  The photo on the left is the original and the one on the right is after the first coat of paint.

To be continued as I progress...

Nursery Decor

We are currently expecting our first little one!  As such, we are working on decorating the Nursery.  The whole room is being done in a beach theme with a lot of shells!  These vases are going to be used as decoration on shelves or on a bookcase.

The vases are from Dollar Tree, and are actually re-used from another project I did for work a couple of months ago.  The shells are mostly from Hobby Lobby, as is the sand.  I had some random shells from Michael's and I think from Dollar Tree too, which pretty much all got combined.

Wishes in a Bottle

Just a little craft I came up with after seeing some jewelry made with the same idea.  It's a wish bottle!  Save up all of your wishes in this bottle!  The corked bottle came from Michael's and the wish flowers (or dandelions) came just from my yard.  I let them dry out for a day or two so that all the little white parts came off of the stem a lot easier and just fed them into the bottle using tweezers.  Mostly just pretty/for decoration.

Pasta with Lemon Butter Cream sauce

When I was visiting my parents last week, I decided to make dinner one night.  Dinner there isn't the easiest thing, with the various tastes and restrictions in the house.  My husband doesn't eat seafood, Mom isn't a fan of chicken, and Dad will only eat pasta if it has enough other stuff in it to make it a full meal.  I threw this together while picking things up at the grocery store, so I'm sure there are ways to improve it!  I would possibly have added Greek olives and capers, but that didn't come until an afterthought.  Because of the preferences of the family, I made two bowls of the pasta topped with shrimp and two topped with chicken.  You could always mix the two or just use one or the other.  If you want to choose just one, plan your amounts accordingly!

Here you go, hope you love it!

Ingredients (Feeds about 4-5):

3 medium boneless-skinless chicken breasts
12-14 Jumbo shrimp, pre-cooked, shelled, deveined and tails removed
1 1/2 c salted butter
1/3 c flour
1 c milk (I used 1%)
1/3 c lemon or lime juice (more or less to taste, I love acid, so I use a lot) plus 4T lemon or lime juice
1 box uncooked pasta
8 oz crumbled feta cheese (divided per portion)
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered and warmed (divided per portion)
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Step 1:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2:  In a medium saucepan, melt about 1/8c butter over med-high heat.

Step 3:  Add raw chicken breasts to melted butter in pan.  Add about 2 T lemon or lime juice.  Cook breasts on each side for about 6 minutes or until it begins to brown.

Step 4:  Transfer chicken breasts, along with any liquids and drippings, to an oven-safe dish.  Cover and place in oven for about 20 minutes or until chicken is fully-cooked.

Meanwhile...

Step 5:  Add remaining butter to a cold saucepan along with flour and 1/3 c lemon/lime juice.  Melt and combine ingredients over low heat.  If you heat it too quickly, your butter will separate and get kind of gross-looking.  The milk will also not mix in as well later if your butter "breaks."

Step 6:  Bring water to a boil in a medium stock pot (for noodles).  Add pasta and cook 9-10 minutes or until the pasta is fully cooked.  Drain pasta and set aside.  A small amount of olive oil may be added if you are worried about the noodles sticking together.

Step 7:  While water is boiling and pasta is cooking, sauté shrimp in a small saucepan with 1/8c butter and about 2T lemon or lime juice.  As the shrimp are already fully cooked, you just want to cook them long enough to warm them through and add flavor.  Be sure not to allow them to become rubbery.

Step 8:  Remove chicken from oven and transfer to a cutting board to allow the meat to rest 5-10 minutes.

Step 9:  Slowly mix milk into the butter mixture, stirring constantly.  You may want to add less milk if you want a thicker sauce.  Cook only until the sauce is warmed though, being careful not to allow the sauce to boil.

Step 10:  Add pasta to a plate/bowl.  Top with artichoke hearts, feta cheese and shrimp and/or sliced chicken.  Pour sauce over the top and serve immediately.

Creamy Mac n Cheese with Beer Brats

Mac n Cheese is one of my favorite foods ever!  From the Easy Mac type to the excellent homemade variety, cheese and pasta just really hits the spot for me!  Here is a recipe for my homemade mac n cheese.  Everyone does theirs a little differently, and I'm sure that many are excellent, but this is my usual recipe!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Box (16 oz) uncooked pasta
1/4 c Salted Butter
1/4 c flour
20 oz cheese (I like Jack and Cheddar, but smoked Gouda is really good, as is Colby)
2 c Buttermilk (regular milk or heavy cream also work, but I love the flavor of buttermilk)
4 Beer Brats
10-15 Ritz crackers
Salt and Pepper to taste


Step 1:  Bring a stockpot of water to a boil with a pinch of salt to cook the noodles.

Meanwhile...

Step 2:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 

Step 3:  Place cold butter and flour in a cold saucepan.  Bring the heat up to a medium temperature, slowly melting the butter and mixing frequently to create a paste with the butter and flour.  This is the roux and base for your cheese sauce.  This should be stirred and cooked until the roux begins to smell like peanuts, or for about 3-4 minutes once the butter is completely mixed with the flour.

Step 4:  Slowly add the milk to your roux.  At first, the cold milk will cause the roux to thicken quickly and it may look "curdled," but don't worry, it will smooth itself out!  Keep adding the milk a little at a time until it has all mixed in.  Cook over low to medium heat until the mixture is warm.

Step 5:  Pour noodles into boiling water.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is just underdone.  It should still have a bit of a bite to it, as it will cook a bit more once it is mixed with the cheese sauce and you don't want it to all fall apart!  Drain the noodles and set them aside.  No need to rinse or add oil.

Step 6:  Cook your brats.  I usually put them in my toaster oven on 350 and bake them for about 10 minutes, but you could grill them or boil them as well.  I'm sure microwaving is also an option, although I've never tried it for brats.

While you are waiting for that...

Step 7:  Shred about 2/3 of your cheese, or chop it into small pieces.  Slowly add this cheese to the sauce, while continuing to stir frequently.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I usually do about 2T salt and 1T black pepper or 1-1/2T white pepper, but a sharper cheese will require less salt and a smokier cheese won't need so much pepper.

Step 8:  Once you have a smooth cheese sauce mixture, take the sauce off the heat.  Pour about 1/3 of the sauce into the noodles and mix well.  This will coat all of the noodles and keep them from sticking together while cooking.

Step 9:  Cut your cooked brats into rounds or even smaller bite-sized pieces and mix into the noodle mixture.

Step 10: Pour all of the noodle mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish.  If you don't have one of these, the larger bowl-style casserole baking dishes work well too.  I recommend ceramic or glass, as I never seem to get quite as good results from metal dishes.

Step 11:  Evenly pour the remaining cheese sauce over the noodles in the casserole dish.  You may need to use a spatula to distribute the cheese sauce over the top.

Step 12:  Cover with foil and bake for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile...

Step 13:  Crush the ritz crackers into a mixing bowl.  You can use a food processor if you have one, or just use your hands.  Shred and add the remaining cheeses to the crushed crackers.  Mix these together well, using a fork, your hands or a food processor.  Add a pinch each of salt and pepper for a little added flavor.

Step 14:  Remove the casserole dish from the oven and remove the foil.  Top entire dish with cheese/cracker mixture to form a "top crust."  Leaving the dish uncovered, bake for another 15 minutes or until the crust browns (I like crispy mac n cheese edges so I bake for about 20 minutes.  The cheese will melt in about 10.).

Step 15:  I know it is difficult, but remove the dish from the oven and let it set for about 15 minutes.  This will make it much easier to scoop and I think it seems to make the top crustier.  Enjoy!