Pizza Disaster

When I started this blog, I wanted it to be real. I wanted to give honest opinions about recipes and projects and give honest tips on how to do crafty and creative things easier without breaking the bank. Well, this is a good opportunity to be honest. I tried a recipe for a pizza dough after having lost my normal one I like a lot. Anyways, this seemed similar enough to the one I normally use, I figured it was close enough and would work. After following the directions exactly, I found the dough was really sticky. I couldn't use it like this, it was sticking to my hand every which way, so I kneaded some more flour in, maybe a cup or two. The recipe made enough for two pizzas so I froze one half of it. My mom has always made homemade pizza on a cookie sheet, so it was a big rectangle. That's what I always do also, makes me feel at home. :) So I greased the pan up, just like I have always done, and start stretching the dough. It was really difficult, more difficult then usual. But I stuck with it. When I got it to fit over the whole thing, I popped it in the oven at the temperature I was told to bake it at. I put it in there without any toppings first to get the dough to cook a bit more (this is what I normally do). Well, when it came out we could hardly get the edges off the sheet. It was terrible! I was so upset! I had already spread the pizza sauce and some of the cheese on before my husband got the ingenious idea to make sure it would even come off. So this is what we were left after that disaster.

I was so frustrated I left the kitchen and told my husband to fix it. And fix it he did. Okay maybe not the mess above, because that is just insanity, but he got the half of the dough I froze and put it on our pizza pan. He found online a tip of putting parchment paper underneath so it doesn't stick. Seriously. How ingenious is that? I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it. So thank goodness for husbands. I was ready to let us have PB&J for dinner. The dough wasn't the greatest taste though. I won't be making it again, parchment paper or not.

Sharing Time October 2012 Week 2: We Receive Ordinances of Salvation Through the Priesthood

Sorry this is so late getting posted. Things have been crazy at home with my son lately. There has been a pretty gross bug going around and it's required a good bit of my time to deal with him. Luckily my husband and I seem to not have gotten it. :)

This week my stake has Stake Conference. So we won't be doing this sharing time, but I still thought I would post a few ideas and thoughts for this week.

The church's outline this week reads:

IDENTIFY THE DOCTRINE (seeing an object lesson): Have one child hold an opened umbrella. Let a few children stand under it. Compare the umbrella to the priesthood. Point out that if it were raining, all the children under the umbrella would receive the blessing of staying dry, not just the one holding it. Similarly, God has provided, through His priesthood, a way for all His children to be blessed. Through the priesthood we receive the ordinances of salvation that allow us to return and live with God again.

ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (putting together puzzles): Write each of the following on a separate piece of paper: baptism, confirmation, priesthood ordination (for men), temple endowment, and temple sealing. Cut up each piece of paper into a puzzle. Briefly explain to the children what an ordinance is (a sacred ceremony or act that has spiritual meanings), and tell the children that some priesthood ordinances are required for us to return and live with Heavenly Father. Draw five steps on the board, and place a picture of Jesus Christ on the top step. Divide the children into five groups and give each group one of the puzzles you made. Ask them to assemble their puzzle and then share what they know about the ordinance with the rest of the Primary. Have the groups post their assembled puzzles in proper order on the steps on the board.

Now for my own thoughts. I looooove the idea of using an umbrella in the "Identifying Doctrine" part. I think it is a really cute and easy to understand way to illustrate how the priesthood blesses everyone, not just those who carry it. If I were doing this sharing time this week, I would absolutely want to do something with that. Buuuuut I don't have an umbrella, I know I'm weird. The rain has just never bothered me enough to get one. So for all of us weirdo's out there without an umbrella, what to do? Use a poster board.  You could make a big one with a poster board (less than a dollar), color it and make it fun. You can clip it up on the chalkboard and have really kids stand "underneath" it, or you could just print out some paper families. 

I created a little coloring page for you to use if you'd like. I thought it'd be neat for the kids to draw pictures of their families, friends, or just be creative under the umbrella. As if the umbrella is "protecting" them from the rain. They could even color in rain too. I think it's a cute reminder of the lesson today, plus they get to use some of their creativity. You can find the coloring page here. Again, let me know if you have any issues with this. I am still new to it.

Here is a link to Sofia's Primary Ideas. She has a really cute idea for this week that is definitely worth checking out too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spinach Chips Recipe

Okay, I know, this doesn't sound good. Or at least it didn't to me at first. I hope it sounds good to you. But after reading a bunch of really good reviews, and buying way too much spinach for my quiches a few days ago, I decided to give it a go. I figured, worst case scenario I have to throw it all away, I probably would have done that anyways. I am the worst at using spinach. And to top it off, of course it comes in the buy one get one free deals. So you have to get two. 

Anyways, I found this recipe on Pinterest, and followed it closely. In it she suggests getting creative and using red pepper flakes, among other things. Well, Saturday I went to an Amish Market by us and bought a big tub of it for hardly anything. So I was waaay too excited to use it. My husband thought that and garlic powder sounded okay, so I did half of my cookie sheet just salt and pepper, 25% red pepper flakes, and 25% garlic powder. 

I was really excited to try the red pepper flakes, so as soon as they came out of the oven and cooled off a bit, I popped one of those babies in my mouth. Boy, did I have the wrong idea what that would taste like!! I thought it was like a green pepper, well, let me tell you, it was not. It was really hot. I am probably the only person in the world who didn't know that, so go ahead laugh at me, it's okay. But I won't be making that mistake twice. My hubs liked them though. So no harm no foul. I really liked the salt and pepper, to be honest I couldn't taste the garlic powder (perhaps I just burnt all my taste buds off), so I would suggest against that. But salt and pepper was really good. They were light, crunchy and I was sad when they were gone. I mean it. I never thought I'd say I wish I had more spinach anything. So there you go, if you have any left over spinach you need to use up, bake it in the oven, and make some chips out of it. I'm going to make some tomorrow night and try it with salsa. We didn't even get that far yesterday.

Now for how to do this. You can follow the link I listed above, which is essentially what I did, but I will include pictures below too.

I cleaned and dried the spinach. I drizzled about 1/2 tablespoon over it and mixed it with my hands. It spread really easily. Honestly, use less then you think you need. You can always add more. 

I think laid them out over a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. The parchment paper worked well for me. Wax paper would probably work too. I then sprinkled the seasonings on top. You can do this to your hearts content.

Bake at 250 degrees for about 20 minutes or so. The blog I posted earlier said to check on them frequently after 15 minutes, and that hers took about 30. My oven is kind of quick, so I think that she gave good advice. 

Shredding Chicken with a Hand Mixer

This is yet another tip I found floating around Pinterest. I was really intrigued by it and finally tested it out a few weeks ago. I've been making a lot of chili and soups lately in my crockpot. Well, a lot of the recipes have you throw the chicken in frozen or thawed, either way it is uncooked. So you pull it out 4 or so hours later to shred it, well it is HOT! Normally what I do it put it in a strainer and have cold water running over it while I shred it. That way it cools it off while I use my hands to shred it and I don't get burned. Well, let me tell you, this is even better. I don't cool it off. I don't rinse it off. I literally take it out (with tongs, because I'm a wuss), plop it in a bowl, plug the mixer in, and go to town. I never even touch it. It's wonderful. I use my lowest setting to do it, but I have a super cheap mixer that goes pretty fast even on the lowest setting.

Don't believe me? A picture is worth a thousand words.

General Conference Packet

I am so excited about this post! I have seen so many adorable pages that I really wanted to compile the best and include a few unique ones of my own to create a really fun packet to get children involved in General Conference. Unfortunately I've gotten really busy with work and family things going on, so I wasn't able to get everything together. I wasn't able to create a few unique pages like I wanted, just one. I'm going to start working now on April's and maybe I'll have it done in time. :) 

I have also spoken to a few moms to see what their kids liked and didn't like to try and weed out the ones that seem like a great idea, but maybe aren't. I've decided to list links to each of the pages individually in case you would rather not include one in your packet you won't have to waste any ink or paper.

The first one that I like is the one I've heard the most positive reviews about. This one has a picture of the prophet/apostles and a blank tie underneath so that they can color the tie to match what tie the prophet/apostle is wearing that day.This one is in the sugardoodle packet for this conference, which is really great through and through. I ended up printing out the whole thing for my Primary kids. They also have a cute maze that says "Follow the Prophet." So stinking cute.

This one is really neat because it is a chart of to guess the number of missionaries, branches, etc. there are, and then an area to fill in the actual number. I didn't find anything else like it, so check it out!

http://ladycreate-a-lot.blogspot.com/2011/04/general-conference-games-and-activity.html

Kids love getting new crayons. They're super cheap. Great mix? I think so. This one was really cute packaging that I think would really take it up a notch and get them even more excited about it.

http://fluffybunnyfeetdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/09/general-conference-packets-for-my.html

This is some coloring pages from sugardoodle.

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?id=8546&option=com_content&view=article

Also, check out my coloring page my husband made of  Thomas S. Monson!

Child Scripture Set DIY

Okay, I know these are not authentic scripture sets, but as I mentioned here, I wanted to create a little scripture "set" I could give my son to carry around, knowing fully that they will get destroyed. The purpose of this is to teach him that they are special. This way, he has his own he can learn from until he gets a nice set for his eighth birthday. After giving them to him I had him hug them and tell them he loved them. I told him they were special and we took care of them.

For this you will need:
Index Cards (or card stock)
A ring to put it on (I used one you would put keys on)
Stickers to decorate (optional)
 Hole puncher

Cost wise, it really couldn't be any better. I bought the cards at Wal Mart for .48, the hole puncher for .97, the ring I already had (Wal Mart had 6 of them for 2.00), and 2 packs of stickers at 1.00 each. I probably had stickers I could use but I didn't feel like digging around for them. I would HIGHLY recommend laminating these. Especially if you are giving this to a young child. My son is 20 months old and will probably destroy these in 5 minutes. He's a little crazy though. I don't have a laminater, but after seeing how easy it is for him, I will be using my mom's next time I am over her house. Until then, close supervision! I don't care if he messes them up in general, but 5 minutes is too short for it to last in my opinion. If you don't have someone who has one you can borrow or use, you could go to Kinko's or Staple's. I believe they do it there cheaply.

The first thing I did was pick what I wanted to be on there. I chose the story of Noah's Ark (Because I could animal stickers), Daniel and the Lion's Den (Again, all about the stickers), my favorite scripture, and my husband's favorite scripture. I wrote a sentence or two on each one until the story was told. I punched a whole in it and let him put stickers on. I did have to rearrange some of the stickers so they weren't covering up words. Then I put them on the ring, voila! 

If you laminate them (again, highly recommended), do it before putting them on the ring. Maybe even before stickers depending on the kind of stickers you use too. I used puffy one's that probably won't go through a laminater. So I will have to peel them off or chose different ones. 

These were pretty easy, but in case you have issues shortening the stories, I will write out what I did, to at least get you on the right track. I love the idea of putting their favorite stories, or one's you've talked about recently in there. My son is too little to have this work for us, but maybe it'll work for someone else. The joy of this too, is you can always add on to it. 


Noah's Ark:

The Lord told Noah to build a big boat because a flood was coming. Noah built the boat and everyone told him he was crazy. After he built the boat he put two animals of every species in it. So two turtles, two cats, two puppies, two elephants. The flood came just like the Lord promised.

 Daniel and the Lion's Den:

Daniel was a prophet who refused to stop praying. The King threw him in the lion's den. Angels calmed the lions and Daniel was saved.

 Let me know what you do with yours! This would be great for Sunbeams, Nursery, or FHE.

Nursery Behold Your Little Ones Lesson 23: I Love the Scriptures

My son is in nursery and he has a really great Nursery Leader. He gets to take home his coloring pages every week discussing showing what he learned. Normally I would just stick it up on the fridge or file it away in his "baby book," but I got the idea today, while I was struggling with what to do tonight for FHE, what if we revisit his Sunday lesson tonight? The more I think about it, the more I like it. It reinforces the lessons and gives him a second exposure to it. Plus, there aren't a ton of things to do for FHE that keep a 20 month old's attention. Anyway, the more I started researching different ideas to reinforce these lessons, the more I realized there isn't a ton of helps out there for our Nursery Leaders. It's sad because it really can be a fun calling. You have the opportunity to make so many fun crafts and cute snacks, but sometimes it's hard to get brainstorming. I figured if I was going to be doing it anyways, I would put up any thoughts or ideas I had to help.

The lesson they taught yesterday was Lesson 23, I Love the Scriptures. I'm not sure if there is an official church wide schedule to be on, or what other areas are doing, but this is what they taught.

The lesson can be found here. There should be a link there for a puppet project that they can do. I like that idea, but I would probably print it out on card stock and laminate it before hand. Little ones can be hard on regular paper. ;)

The idea I had that was a little bit different is to make a little scripture thing for them. This would be theirs. They could protect it and keep it safe. It would be a good practice for having their own set of scriptures one day. My original thought was maybe 4 or 5 pages with a few scriptures and pictures to coordinate on it. I still like that idea but I think I found a better finished product here. I think I am going to get some index cards, write a few scriptures on a few different ones, poke a whole in them and put a ring in it. If you have a laminater that is probably a brilliant idea, I don't so I'm not going to worry about. To me, this is going to be the set he can practice on. He can get used to bringing them to church, learn not to put them on the kitchen table, etc. I'm going to teach him that they're special and he needs to take care of them, and that's true. But between you and me, I won't shed any tears if they get too messed up, because they're cheap and easy to replace, unlike the set he'll receive when he's 8.

When I go home and make them, I'll take pictures so you can see how I did them. I'll link it up when it's finished.


UPDATE: I just finished the tutorial on the practice scriptures. You can find it here. I hope you guys like it!