Please Help My Friend Who Could Use Some Help :-)

My blogging friend, Mrs. Connie, writes the Smockity Frocks blog. Anyway, her husband recently lost his job. They could use your prayers! It would also be a big help if you would read her blog :-) Mrs. Connie has a source of income from the blog because of the ads on the side bar. The more views she has to her blog, the more compensation she gets from the ads. So, please read her blog :-)

Leopard Print Love

I love leopard print. In fact, I consider it one of my favorite colors. So, when I saw this post at Uber Chic For Cheap I literally gasped with joy :-)

I think the Old Navy version will be in my closet pretty soon :-)

Is this something ya'll would wear? What's your favorite way to wear an animal print?

Crochet Pattern Central

Have ya'll heard of Crochet Pattern Central? This website is a directory of links to FREE crochet patterns! Instead of doing a web search, I start at Crochet Pattern Central first. I can usually find what I need there. I love it! You can browse by category or use the search feature to find just what you're looking for. Most times, I've found just what I needed.

I just found out that CPC is run by ONE WOMAN! And she does this as a labor of love! Seriously, if you've seen the site you'll know why this is so surprising to me. There's a little bit of everything on CPC. Check it out :-)

Spanish-Style Everything Rice

Last night we had Spanish-Style Everything Rice and a green salad. This is another great recipe from Rachel Ray! We loved it!

Spanish-Style Everything Rice

Ingredients

• 1 large red bell pepper
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• A generous pinch saffron threads, about 24 (saffron was too expensive at our grocery store, so we didn't use it!)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup orzo pasta or broken pieces of thin spaghetti (we used broken pieces of gluten free spaghetti since my mom, brother and I all have Celiac disease)
• 1 cup long-grain rice
• A small handful golden raisins (we didn't do the raisins)
• 1 tablespoon EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 pound Spanish chorizo, diced (couldn't find it at our Walmart, we used mild Cajun sausage)
• 1 large Spanish onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 fresh chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup large Spanish, pimiento-stuffed green olives, chopped (don't like olives, didn't use them)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon sweet or smoked sweet paprika, a palmful
• 2 pinches cinnamon
• 1/2 cup green peas
• About 1/2 cup dry sherry (didn't use this either)
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup dry-roasted Marcona almonds or toasted sliced almonds

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Yields: Serves 4-6

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Preparation

Char pepper over an open flame burner or under the broiler on high with oven door cracked to allow steam to escape. Once pepper is blackened all over, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let cool to handle, then seed and chop.

Heat stock and add saffron to allow saffron to steep. Do not reduce.

In a saucepot, melt butter over medium heat. Add pasta and toast until deep golden brown and very nutty in aroma. Add rice, stir, add saffron stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook rice 16-18 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, place raisins in a small dish and cover with very hot water to reconstitute – use just enough water to cover raisins.

Heat a tablespoon EVOO over medium-high heat in a large skillet. To hot oil, add chorizo and brown at edges. Once rendered, remove to a plate to keep the chorizo from drying out.

Return pan to heat and to the hot drippings add onions, chili pepper, celery, garlic, olives, chopped roasted red pepper and season with salt, pepper, paprika and cinnamon, toss and cook to tender crisp, 5 minutes.

Add chorizo back to pan with peas and heat through. Stir in raisins and deglaze the pan with sherry.

Fluff rice and fold into chorizo, peppers and onions. Top with parsley and almonds and serve straight from skillet at table into shallow bowls

The Best Yard Sale Deal EVER!!! : Lorrie Deb Vintage Dress

Today Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is hosting a Frugal Fashionista Fashion Show! This is my first time to participate in anything like this so I'm super excited!

Well, I must say, this dress is the best yard sale deal I have EVER made!

This Lorrie Deb vintage dress was a whopping $0.25!

These Gianni Bini heels were $1

The necklace was a graduation gift from my brother :-)

So the grand total for this outfit is $1.25!

And it happens to be one of my favorite outfits too :-)

Etsy Goodies

I love Etsy! Seriously this site is so neat. I could can spend a lot of time just looking at all of the beautiful things available. For those of ya'll who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, I'll fill you in :-) Etsy is a place to buy and sell all things handmade, vintage, or supplies to make all things handmade :-) Here is Etsy's "about" page. There is a little bit of everything on Etsy! The sellers range from amateur just wanting to sell a few things, to professionals who make their living from Etsy. Enough of my rambling. I want to share a few things on Etsy that I like :-)

These Sweet Cloth Baby Shoes are adorable and affordable at only $6.50! They can be found at the Hardy Party shop.

I LOVE this vintage top! So feminine and would look great with a pair of jeans or dressed up with a skirt. I would wear this with a tank top that is a bit higher, though. This top can be found at the Ande Mönster shop. At $20 this shirt is a good deal :-)

This floral crown was featured on Etsy's homepage a few months ago. I love the elegant simplicity of it! I think this would be lovely worn by a bride in place of a veil. This can be found at Whichgoose's shop and is $55.

These dolls are just precious! The actual dolls aren't for sale, but the patterns are. I think I might make one or two of these for my boyfriend's youngest sister's 8th birthday:-) And I'd love to have Belle for myself! These patterns can be found at KawaiiGurumi's shop. The cost is $30 for this set of 7 patterns. Patterns can also be bought individually for $5 each. Note: I don't like the "shells" that Ariel wears in her mermaid form. If I made these for myself or a friend I'd try to figure out a more modest top for her :-)

These are just a few things that I love on Etsy :-)

My Projects: Baby Fun!

I've been on a baby item kick lately. Probably due to the fact that 3 of my cousins and 2 of my friends are having babies within the next few months! Also, I love simple projects that are easy to personalize and are fast to make. These hats and bibs definitely fit in that category :-)

Believe it or not, all three of these hats came from the same pattern! The pattern is the Best Baby Cloche from Aesthetic Nest. I used Peaches and Cream 100% cotton yarn. All of these hats are size 0-3 months. On the first hat, I followed the pattern exactly, only omitting the flower and threading the ribbon through the eyelet edge. On the second hat, I followed the pattern exactly. On the last hat, I followed the pattern exactly up to Round 11. On rounds 12 and 13, I just hdc in each stitch around. These hats were SUPER easy to make and took an hour to an hour and a half to make.



I made these bibs using this pattern from the Bernat website. I also used Peaches and Cream 100% cotton yarn for both of these. On the first one, I used a denim blue yarn and a yellow yarn. I changed colors every two rows. On the second bib, I used the same multicolored yarn as with the multicolored baby hat. The third bib is one of my favorites! The eyes of the duckie are very simple. I ch 2 and then did 6 sc in the second chain from the hook, join with a sl st to the first st. Join white yarn, 2 sc in each sc around, 12 sc. Fasten off leaving a long enough tail for sewing the eyes in place. On the bill I used a burnt orange color from Red Heart. I just made the pattern up for the bill, but I don't remember off the top of my head how I did it! On the last bib I used a denim blue yarn and used the surface slip stitch to stitch to free hand the "R" on the front. All of the buttons came from my Moma's or from my button stash. I believe some of them are vintage but I'm not sure.

Bacon, Leek and Tomato Spaghetti

   Occasionally, we like to watch the Rachel Ray show. I really like the last half of the show better because that's when she cooks the meal :-) Anyway, a few weeks ago she made Bacon, Leek and Tomato Spaghetti; ya'll, this is good!!! Moma and I were saying that the smell and taste of canned spaghetti sauce just isn't appealing to us anymore, now that we've tasted this!

Ingredients

• 3 leeks (we've substituted green onions when we didn't have leeks on hand; I haven't tried it, but I think celery would be tasty in this recipe as well) 
• 2 tablespoons EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 slices center-cut bacon, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced or chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 28-ounce can Italian whole tomatoes in purée (fresh tomatoes work well too)
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 pound spaghetti (we use Gluten Free)
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• A handful of fresh basil, thinly sliced or chopped

Yields: Serves 4

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Preparation

Trim tough tops and root ends of the leeks. Halve them lengthwise and thinly slice. Fill sink or large bowl with water and wash leeks, separating layers and swishing them around in water. Dry in a salad spinner or on kitchen towel and reserve.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Add bacon and crisp. Add reserved leeks and garlic, cook 2-3 minutes to soften. Season liberally with black pepper.

Add tomatoes and purée to pan and mash up tomatoes. Bring up to a simmer and let thicken over low heat while you cook pasta. Stir in parsley.

Salt pasta water and cook pasta to al dente. Drain pasta and toss with sauce for a minute or so. Serve in shallow bowls with cheese and basil on top.

Here's the link to the recipe on Rachel Ray's website

Best Baby Cloche

   Recently I was looking online for a simple baby hat. Nothing fancy, just a simple cloche. In that search I stumbled on the blog Aesthetic Nest. This blog is is absolutely lovely! Check it out! Also, here's the link for the Best Baby Cloche pattern :-)