Good Food Friday!

Photo by Dana Gallagher.

We had guests over last night. Not just any guests, but the kind you clean up your house for. It was nice... to have good conversation, good food, and get to know some new people.

I decided against trying a new recipe for the main course~too dangerous. I went with an old standby, zesty chicken enchiladas. I had forgotten how much chopping was involved, but once I smelled and tasted the sauce, I forgot about the onion smell lingering on my hands. This is one of my favorite recipes, and will be staying in my binder forever.


I didn't get any shots of the finished product...I was too busy shoving piles of garage sale finds into closets and wiping the food crumbs off my clothes (note: I don't crumb upon myself. It is the child). But I did manage to get in this shot of the poblano pepper and tomatillos that are used in the sauce.

For dessert we had chocolate chip cookie pie. Again, these were new acquaintances for me, so I wanted to go with something safe. Who doesn't love cookies? And pie? It was delicious, of course, and pretty quick to make. About 5-10 minutes prep, then an hour to bake.


The before picture. I didn't get an after. Ours was similar to Julie C.'s pie, pictured below:
Of course, we topped ours with ice cream. Reduced fat, to balance out the large quantity of butter in the recipe.

Before I go, please tell me if it's annoying or convenient to travel to links for these recipes. If you don't mind either way, great. If you do, please leave a comment so I can make your blog reading experience more enjoyable.

Much love,
Robin

Barb is creative, not messy.

For those of you just joining us, Barb's posts, always crafty, always fun, always enjoyable, will always be in red. Or they will for now anyway.

I've had this saying hanging on my bulletin board for a long time, waiting for just the right way to use it in my craft room. I picked this wall hanging up on Christmas clearance. At first I thought about putting our last name on it and hanging it above a door, then I thought about that quote I've had hanging up. I glued paper on the inside and used craft paint for the border. Using my Cricut, I used the "Alphalicious" cartridge and cut the words out of orange vinyl. I added some stickers and a little bling to give it some dimension. One must embellish. It looks great above my magnet board (you'll see that soon!) and really sums up my craft room--cause sometimes it's a total mess. The before and after

You didn't think I'd let her post without putting my two cents in, did you? She's right--her room is sometimes a mess. That's what's so great about it--you don't feel bad letting your creative juices flow and adding to the chaos when you craft with Barb.

Even if you don't have a Cricut, you could do this with a word document, some transfer paper, and glue, or make it work your own way. Any kind of wall hanging will you--if you can find a way to glue on to it, you can "upcycle" it.

Sowing Dandelion Seeds

What kid doesn't love blowing on a dried dandelion, watching the pieces fly away? I know I did. Still do. To honor that childlike whimsy we decided to put up a vinyl in our bedroom with some common yard weeds:

We had a large wall space that called for something significant. We chose white in order for it to "pop" and it definitely does. It fits perfectly with the personality of our bedroom, but we had a hard time choosing just the right one. It took me a week to finally order it once we picked it out. I have commitment issues with online purchases. Not a bad thing to have, in my opinion.

We purchased it from an etsy shop. If you're unfamiliar with etsy, give it a shot. If you're one to get sucked into the Internet, proceed with caution.

The vinyl was not too tough to put up, but was a little time consuming--maybe an hour. It's a pretty simple process, and most dealers send excellent directions for applying. It's one of those tedious jobs that is kinda fun to do because you get instant results.

Here are some of the other options we browsed through before settling on our beauty. Key word=some. I could spend my days posting etsy vinyl decals, but that wouldn't be very exciting for either of us.

All of these designs can be purchased at etsy. If you are interested in these specific ones, once you arrive at the site, search "vinyl wall decals flowers."

Another Tech Tip Tuesday

That title's a bit cheesy, I know. It's my last ditch effort at alliteration. I'll stop soon, I promise. But for the next few times, I want to remind you to check back on Tuesdays for tech tips that I think you NEED. Today, a "do" and a "do not." The "do not" first, because it's funny.

1. Remember the techie husband I've mentioned before? Well, this weekend he decided to do a little cleaning. Not the conventional sweep/dust/mop kind, but a little keyboard cleaning. Seems essential, especially considering the constant upheaval of toys, clothes, and miscellaneous items strewn about our house. So to clean said keyboard, he puts it under running water. He tells me this is acceptable. I believe this. Turns out you shouldn't wash keyboards under water. There are exceptions, apparently, but I would just stick to a dry cloth or can of air.


2. Now for the "do." Do you like to read?

Books are good, but I was thinking blogs. We are going to talk about a "Reader," another name for an RSS feed. If you read more than one blog, this may be a tool you can use. If you are a "Sweetest Pear Only" reader, we'll resume crafty, witty, regularly scheduled programs tomorrow.


I use Google Reader, so I'm going to focus mainly on that. Here's the short version:

• This is not for techies only. It's also for people who don't like to have a million unorganized bookmarks or those who have limited time to browse.
• This is not difficult, though it takes a little getting used to.
• Google Reader and other feeds are tools that take content from blogs or sites and keep them in one place
• The updates don't come to your email, but to your reader
• You go to one place to see all the updates for all the blogs/other material you read
• To access, you only need a Google account. If you already have Gmail, you're halfway there--just look in the top left corner and click on "Reader"

To set it up, get yourself a Google account. You can add subscriptions by searching. What I love to do is find a great site, then look for the little "feed symbol" in the address bar and click on it (It the orange thing above). Then I select "Google Reader" and voila! This seems to be a ton of info, so please email or post a comment with any questions.

What did we learn today? Water +keyboard=new online purchase and a new one coming soon. Until then, here's a water appreciation pic. the spouse took.

Blog Party

To honor the 2011 Ultimate Blog Party, let me share with you a little about The Sweetest Pear.

We are a mother-daughter pair, who share craft and decor tutorials, recipes, decorating inspirations and ideas, technology tips and tricks, parenting articles, and more. We fit in the "miscellaneous" category. More accurately, the "miscellaneous and fabulous" category.

Here's me, without the other half of The Sweetest Pear. I'm Robin. A mom, wife, teacher, crafter, techie wanna-be, and adorer of all things thrifty.

I have a beautiful one-year old who is the spittin' image of his handsome and charming dad. We love to do projects and share time together as a family. They especially enjoy when we try out a new recipe.


My mom, the other contributor to this blog, is photographically missing but will be present soon. She is all the things I've listed above, but add "amazing" before each one of those (not so much the "techie") and tack on a few more titles, such as grandma, seamstress, curer of the blues, and problem solver.



We are a baby blog, just starting out. We appreciate you stopping by and hope you'll come back soon!

Nifty Thrifty Pancakes

Weekends around here don't get too wild. Well, not in the traditional sense anyway. We like to keep it low-key, stress free, and messy. That messy part isn't really intended, it's just how it ends up...constantly. I apologize to visitors as they enter my disheveled home, but I'm beginning to think having a toddler is a good enough excuse for them to overlook all my housekeeping blunders. Works for me.

I wanted to share in pictures a glimpse of our weekend:

Hit up some garage sales with Mama Pear and the girls. My best buys of the day: a box chock full of zippers, seam binding, and rick rack for $1.00. FOR THE WHOLE BOX! I was pumped to say the least. My shopping companions were a little wary of my purchase, but I have big plans for these. Real big plans, and you'll get to witness it all.
I couldn't pass up some vintage division flash cards for a quarter. My students don't care what they look like and may not appreciate the aged look, but I adore them. I might have a hard time bringing the stack to school.
After numerous trials and bottles of syrup, the Andersons have settled on a pancake recipe. We are working on starting some traditions, and a weekend pancake breakfast seems like a perfect and tasty place to start. These are thick and fluffy, so if that's your pancake style, give them a try.

Clearly enjoying the meal. This kid latches his feet like that for every meal. I can't get enough, so I had to photograph it. Those little toes are irresistable .

We hope you had a great weekend as well. Come back and see us soon!

"Memo" Dash

On any given day, this is what my vehicle dashboard looks like:

Go ahead and laugh--my son-in-law and husband have. After numerous times of forgetting to buy milk or fill my gas tank, I decided to carry a pad of post-it notes in my vehicle. Thank you to whoever invented these. They have helped me to be much more organized. The next time you're at the store, you may want to grab a pack of sticky notes and a pen. You can have your own memo board on wheels.

Did you take note of that? Barb doesn't ever seem to forget a thing, so it might be worth a try. I'm sure you're up for some more memo boards, aren't you? Here are some links if you'd like to make your own:

Love the vintage look of this one from Chicy Creations.


Fun "knockoff" at Homemaker in Heels


Love me some bird print! Found it at You Seriously Made That?!