Easy Halloween ghost craft

I needed a quick and easy craft and here it is!

Take some form of material, stuff it with something, tie it off and hang it up!

I cut up a Halloween table cloth that was getting mangey. I made different  sized squares (for mommy, daddy and baby ghosties!)

I stuffed the 'heads' with plastic bags I had been stock piling. I used my daughters cheapie hair elastics to tie them off.  Next I used a hole puncher to get the string hole. I threaded some twine I had and voila! Easy peasy Halloween craft for pennies!

EASY Holiday leftover ham and potato casserole

I always seem to be the lucky one who gets to keep the leftovers. Probably because of my love for creating new recipes out of whatever I have left in the fridge. 

Ham is one of my favorite leftovers to nab. It last for days, freezes beatifully and is undeniably tasty!

I threw this casserole together last night and it did not disappoint. 

Here's what you need:

1 cup leftover ham

7 medium potatoes cut (peel if you feel sassy) boiled til soft

1 diced onion

1 cup of any veggies you like (I used broccoli, green pepper and carrots) 

1 can of cream of something soup (I used celery)

1cup shredded motserella 

1/2 old cheddar

Salt and pepper to taste

EZ

Place veggies veggies and ham in a pan and cook them til they soften. 

Add potatoes, then the cam of soup.

Once that's all blended, mix I the cheese.  Just for a sec. 

Transfer into an oiled bakiing dish. 

Cook at 350 for 25-35 min. 

You can make any substitution or use a GF soup and this is a GF recipe!

Eat. 

Friendly English muffin face for kids

Continuing on my quest for healthy eating, I made this English muffin face for my daughter. She's really into the show 'Super Why' and this is supposed to be Wyatt! The likeness is uncanny I know...

Kids Halloween Breakfast

My daughter loves Halloween. A great way to encourage her picky eating has been making themed foods. I call this the 'goblin hand' made using avocado and toast. She loves it and gobbles it up!

Lemon dill hot dogs

Nut Crumb muffins

I recently bought those insanely addictive Coconut Crusted Cashews from Costco. My family managed to crush the huge tub in 3 days. 'What' I thought 'a waste of those yummy crumbs at the bottom of the container'.

So you know what I did? Dumped those little bad boys into a container and put them in the cupboard until inspiration grabbed me. 

My niece, daughter and I were making muffins yesterday and guess what we sprinkled on top? Yep, nut crumbs!

We made very easy blueberry chocolate chip coconut dusted muffins! The girls just loved sprinkling on the coconut dust, they felt so fancy!

Adorable teeny Hamburger cupcakes

For my daughters 2nd birthday, I wanted to something fun for her cake. I have an obsession with things that are smaller than/larger than real life. These cuties are not only delish, but they are adorbs!

The best part of these little guys is you can use any recipe for cupcakes and brownies, it all how you decorate. So if you are short on time, just use store bought cup cakes, brownies and icing. 

What you will need for a dozen 'burgers':

12 cupcakes

6 brownies (made in muffin tin)

1 cup of shredded coconut

1 cup of white icing (any icing recipe will do or you can just buy a tub of it)

Red food coloring

Blue food coloring

Yellow food coloring 

12 tooth picks

1/4 cup seasame seeds

How to:

Slice cupcakes in half. Lightly moisten the tops with wet fingers, and sprinkle on seasame seeds, set aside. 

Create green food coloring by mixing blue and yellow. Mix into shredded coconut to make 'lettuce'. 

In 2 separate bowls mix red food coloring 

and icing in one ('ketchup') and yellow in the other ('mustard'). 

Begin building your burgers by placing the brownie on one half of the cupcake ('the bun'). Place a dollop of lettuce on the burger, the drizzle with ketchup and mustard. Top the burger bun slightly off center, secure with a tooth pick. 

The cuteness is too much!

Tomato & basil summer pizza! Fast & healthy

This is too easy for words. At heart, I'm a vegetarian, so when my caveman husband is at work, I indulge in my favorite combos. Tomato, cream cheese and basil are ridiculous together. 

Ingredients for 1 'pizza':

1 piece Naan bread

1 Vine tomato 

2 Basil leaves

2 tablespoons cream cheese

Cracked pepper 

Pinch of rock salt (any salt will do!)

Pop naan bread in your toaster. Smother toasted naan bread in cream cheese, places sliced tomatos and torn basil leaves on top. Crack pepper and add a pinch if salt. Boom. Healthy, fast and tasty!

Hanging basket pretty fix

I wanted nice hanging baskets for my backyard. The ones I like were too expensive so I decided to amp up some cheapies from Walmart. 

I bought a  plastic table cloth from the dollar store, and cut 3 big squares large enough to cover the baskets. I cut a hole in the center. Next, I used a spray adhesive on the baskets and wrapped each one with the table cloth. I tucked in the edges. All I did next was tie a pretty red ribbon around the basket and Voila!

Why short cut

I'm busy. Everyone's busy. My problem is I like to multi-task, have many irons in the fire, and flail around. I actually like it-I know, it's sick! Buzzing around makes me feel alive. As a result of this, I often have the need for short cuts to finish all my loose ends before my husband comes home to find a happy wife but the house, kids and dog a mess and nothing done!
My next problem is I like nice things. I like beautiful food and getting outside. Usually people who take short cuts have lowered their standards. I have not.
Everything I do, I assess the level of effort to get er done-ness. The end game to all my short cuts is to get the results I want, doing it the way I feel like.
Welcome to the short cut.