My tunes for June and the drummer I am marching to are all about cooking, crafting and hacking life! How about you? Share with me what you’re up to in the comments. Let me know how you are playing your particular tunes this month!!
Recipes – the music of food
Pea Salad *saltysidedish
- 1 large bag, 16 oz, frozen peas, thawed and drained
- 6 strips bacon, cooked and cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 cup real mayonnaise
- salt and pepper
- In a large mixing bowl combine peas, bacon, onions, cheese, and mayonnaise and mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
- Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Mix well before serving.
This is great as a side dish for a picnic in the summer. It was super easy to make and delicious!
White Chocolate Clusters
This is a vintage recipe that fell out of a candy recipe book from the 1920’s which I bought at a household sale years ago. They were delicious and super easy!
I have chosen to post a copy of the original recipe rather than type it out. I like the way it looks and it is clearly written. * I used the microwave in 30 second intervals to melt the chocolate and also used parchment paper rather than waxed paper. Those were the only, insignificant, changes I made.
Lasagna Roll Leftover Hack
Shared by Shannon. Thank you!
She was making homemade lasagna and had leftover ingredients. She cut the leftover noodles in half and spread filling on them and rolled them up. Then they were placed in a casserole dish with sauce and baked. This reminded her of manicotti. Great job Shannon and thanks so much for sharing and even including a picture!
Crafty Tunes
Since my last post I made a doggy dress for my littlest one, Isobel Jemima. It was very easy to do.
First I purchased a baby’s bib for a dollar. I then used some ribbon, Velcro and tulle that I had on hand. I gather bunches of tulle in 3 various pastel colors and stitched them in a straight line across the wrong side bottom of the bib. Then using Isobel’s chest measurement I cut some cute ribbon so that it would overlap on her chest. To the ribbon I attached Velcro. I then sewed the ribbon onto the right side bottom of the bib.The whole thing was finished off with a cute bow. The result is below. Where the bib fastens around the baby’s neck it was fastened around Isobel’s neck too. (Don’t be distracted by the pink harness under the dress.)
You can find directions to make one similar to this but with fabric and not tulle at swoodsonsays.com
Memorial Day morning I decided I needed a little more patriotic stuff going on for my porch. I put together a couple of quick projects with items I had on hand.
First I made a nautical type wreath. For the wreath you need;
a foam wreath form
red ribbon either burlap or cloth
off white ribbon either burlap or cloth
hot glue and gun
I wrapped the off white burlap ribbon around the form and secured it with hot glue.
Then I wrapped the red burlap around but spaced it so that the off white was showing.
Viola!
The second project was a windsock. For this you would need;
hot glue and gun
strips of fabric in white, red, blue (they can be patterned or solid)
Some sort of toggle so the windsock can twist freely
twine
8 inch embroidery hoop (this project doesn’t ruin the hoop so you still can use it once you no longer want the windsock.)
I began by ripping approximately one inch fabric strips. For the blue I used old denim. I chose real white and not off white for this project. You could use either but personally I would go with one or the other and not mix them. The off white would give more of a vintage well worn feel to the windsock. I was really torn with choosing because, you know me, I like vintage but I happened to have more bright white fabric so I went with that.
Once the strips were ready I started putting them around the embroidery hoop. If the fabric was thin and wouldn’t bunch too much I looped it over the hoop which helped to cover the hoop and meant I didn’t need to glue. With the rest of the fabric I glued. I also was not fussy about the length. It was not my intent to have them all the same length.
When I was satisfied that I had enough fabric on the hoop I tied twine on the hoop in four places on the hoop trying to evenly space them. I then knotted the four pieces together and attached with a strong knot a small length of chain and a toggle that I had from a previous windsock that bit the dust.
The whole project took maybe 45 minutes from start to finish once I had gotten my fabric from the tote in my craft room.
Living and Hacking
I was having problems with my propane gas grill. Before I went further delving into the reason for the trouble I wanted to make sure that the issue wasn’t the gas canister was low. There is no gauge. I knew that I could way it since a tank typically weighs 17 pounds and the propane weighs 20 more when full. However, I had no desire to lug the gas tank upstairs to my scale.
Doing some research online I found another way to test it. I was unsure of it working but it sure did. So, I have decided to share with you.
First unhook you tank from the gas line (making sure your valve is shut). Then take a pitcher of warm water and pore it semi slowly down the side of the tank. Wait 5 seconds ( I counted) and then run your hand down the side of the tank. Since the propane will absorb the heat from the water you poured the tank will feel warm to the touch until you get down to the level of the propane. There it will be noticeably cooler to the touch. I had better than a third of a tank of propane. Cool, right?
I had some wooden palettes in my basement that I had brought home probably 6 years ago to make a bar for my deck. I never did get it done but I found a tip online which showed me how to use one of them. Beyond crafty projects I also like to organize things and this use for the palette immediately attracted my attention.
I put it by my side door where I keep rakes, shovels and the like. They were always just standing up in the corner but I like this a lot better. The best part was that all I had to do was put it in place where I wanted it. I would have had to remove the top board on the palette on one side so that there was more room to grab onto a tool when I wanted it but that piece was already kind of hanging so with a little effort on my part it came right off.
I usually by hanging plants every year to put on Shepard’s hooks at the head of my driveway. I water daily, for the most part, but the water just pours through the bottom as I am watering since there is no tray. I solved that problem by taking the plastic lid off of a to-go cup and placing it over the drain holes at the bottom. I place it so the underside of the lid was next to the bottom of the pot. This way there is a little reservoir for the water. I secured it with strong, wide tape. It is not air tight so the water still does drain but there is that little bit left in the lid and it also passes through a little slower which allows the soil to absorb more water.
I gave myself an A+ for that little diddy!
Please comment and let me know what you think. Have a wonderful June!
