Just Make Yourself a Dang Quesadilla!

It is a total crap shoot as to whether Jack will eat what I am making for dinner. One night, he will scarf all the chicken and the next spit out anything that even touched chicken. Forget about beef while marinara sauce is ok if he dips his pasta into it. To avoid going crazy, I always keep a back-up in the fridge. Something that I can pull out if he decides nothing on his plate taste good. Right now, that something is whole-wheat broccoli and cheese quesadillas. (I know this looks incredibly easy, and it is, but a friend of mine thought this was the best idea ever. So I am putting in up here just in case you haven't thought of it yet.)
Whole-Wheat Broccoli and Cheese Quesadillas
2 whole-wheat tortillas
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (feel free to mix up your cheeses...mozzarella is also big at our house)
2-3 Tbsp. frozen broccoli, broken up into little pieces

Heat the pan on medium heat, throw the tortilla down, sprinkle some cheese, place to broccoli over the cheese, sprinkle a little more cheese (this creates a lock so the broccoli stays in and won't fall out), top with the other tortilla and heat until everything is melted. Then cut it up into small triangles and serve warm or cold. This is a great travel food too. Enjoy!

Homemade Upside Down Tomato Planter!

Now that we have our lovely egg-laying, plant-scratching, fertilize the world chickens, growing anything on the ground is a challenge. It takes a total of 5 seconds for one of my lovely ladies to rip out a plant and scratch it all to shreds. When it came time to plant some veggies around the yard, I had to get creative.

I have seen commercials for the Topsy-Turvy tomato planter but at $20 a pop (for a plastic bag and a sponge), making my own was at the top of my list. Soooo here we go!

First, find a hanging planter that does not have a drip tray attached. I found some at Bi-Mart for $6. With a utility blade, cut a hole in the bottom that is just big enough to get your tomato plants through without breaking off leaves. Mine was about 2" in diameter.

Pause, and flex for your husband so you can show off your big muscles from carrying around the kid all the time. Please no sneaking peaks at all the other projects in the works. Also, please don't mind my rolled up sweats from 10 years ago and tie-dye doo rag. Really people...I am playing in dirt.
Next, after you stop admiring my whiteness, thread your tomato plant through the hole cut in the planter. Use the edge of a table and your knee to prop it up while pushing the leaves through.
This is the only part that is tricky...and not "oh it is hard to do tricky" but "what the heck can I use here instead of a sponge tricky". I tried some leftover weed barrier that I had laying around but I am almost positive that you could use a plastic bag as well...or anything else that would help the dirt stay in the planter. Cut a slit in one side of whatever material you are using (like you are making a Pac-Man shape) and wrap it around the stalk of your plant. Make sure to overlap the cut so no dirt is showing through the bottom.
Then fill it with dirt and hang it up! On that note, make sure you have everything ready to go so you can hang it up as soon as you fill it with dirt. Once your plant is in...you can't put it down.
The plant on the right was planted a couple of days before the other two. The tomatoes will try to right themselves but will eventually be weighed down by the awesome amount of tomatoes they will produce. I can't wait!

Total cost: $18...3 planters at $6 a piece, tomatoes were free from the Rock Garden Nursery here in town. They were getting rid of all their veggies before they moved. Score one for the big girl.

Check Out That Rack!

You are all such perverts. I, on the other hand, was referring to this plate rack...

I love the rustic feel of it but am wondering if this would ever really work in a house. What do you guys think? Too "why the hell is there a pallet on your wall" or CHIC! CHIC! CHIC!

Michael Jackson

I know he was a strange-plastic-surgery-addicted-maybe-child-molesting-chimpanzee-loving man BUT before he was a punchline...he was the original Michael Jackson. Just try listening to Billie Jean without bouncing your foot up and down.

I remember watching MTV with my older brother Brian and the "Thriller" song came on for the first time. Oh the good ol' days of music movies. I swear to God I did not sleep for the next week.

As a tribute to him, here is the Thriller dance broken down on a chart so we can all learn it in time for Halloween parties.

Lookey What I Found

The kids that grew up in our house stopped by a few weeks ago to see the place. It was so much fun showing them the house and then having them tell us how things used to be. Apparently, the last time they stopped by the place (I believe they said early 80's) the basement was covered in velour and when they first moved in the stairs were painted red, white and blue. How patriotic of the previous owners. We are not going to be doing that. Anyways, here are some pics they sent us from when they lived here (roughly 1960-1970)

Before:

Now (picture taken before we moved in):


I am definitely leaning towards opening up the porch again. We also really like the look of the house without the little tin overhang on the bay windows sooooo we are going to eventually do away with that as well. What do you guys think? Likes? Dislikes?

Spice, Spice Baby

Ever since we moved into our house, I have been extremely unhappy with my spice storage situation. There were some spice shelves left over from the last owner but not all my jars fit in the little spaces. Plus, if I didn't cram things in just right, the door would not shut. Blah. As you can see from the pic below, there was mass chaos in the cabinet...
...and on the wall across the way. I have a lot of spices.
So what to do, what to do. After spotting this spice shelf at the Traveler's Lunchbox, I felt inspired to get all my spices in order. I settled on an old wooden cola crate that I picked up at the Sumpter Flea Market for $6. Next I found 4 oz. metal tins at Bella's Market in Baker. For those of you that don't have a Bella's Market nearby, I also found these little guys that would work too. Labeled and put into place, the spices look pretty sweet hanging on the wall. They are also really easy to scoop a measuring spoon into. Big plus.


I still have more spices to label when I get a chance. If I need to get another box, I think it would be cool hanging somewhere near this one. What do you guys think?

Happy Father's Day!