Eggplant Parmesan Fries

Another great way to hide some veggies in something yummy that the family will eat!  These were really crunchy and breaded like fries and hardly tasted like veggies at all!

Adapted from Heavenly Savings
Ingredients:
• non-stick cooking spray
• 1 eggplant
• Croutons (any flavor)
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt (or any other seasoning you prefer)
• marinara or ketchup for dipping

1.  Peel the skin off the eggplant using a vegetable peeler. Slice it into thin strips to about the size of French fries. 

2. Pour croutons, seasoning and parmesan cheese into a plastic bag with a zip top.  Crush the croutons and mix well.

3. Pour a handful of eggplant slices into the bag and coat them with the mixture.

4.  Place breaded eggplant on a cookie sheet coated with non-stick cooking spray.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until slightly crispy.

6. Serve with dipping sauce or by itself is even delicious!

We loved them at our house!  Definitely a keeper recipe!

Sew a Giraffe Softie Baby Toy

I love making homemade personal gifts for baby showers because it's such a fun time in the mother's life.  One of my friends had a baby shower so I wanted to make her a little gift to go with the registry items I bought.  After looking at some of Connor's favorite toys from when he was younger, I picked something that I thought would have appealed to him. The neck and legs are really easy for a baby to grab, the toy jingles, and the little tags are always a hit with babies.


I cut out a giraffe outline that I drew from some images I found online.

Then I traced the template on some fabric for a front and back.

I pinned the two pieces with right sides together and left openings for the taggie ribbons.

This was probably the most difficult part. I cut some small loops and then tried to arrange and pin them so they would look good when they were overlapping.

I put the loops on the INSIDE of the giraffe so that when he's turned right-side out, the loops will be on the outside.

I sewed around the edges, but left a small opening to turn the fabric right-side out.

I filled it with stuffing...

...and then added a small pouch with some jingle bells.

A few stitches by hand will close up the hole and it's done.

Hopefully, the giraffe will be a lot of fun to play with once the little one is a few months old!
And it was a boy! (in case you were wondering...)

Healthier Broccoli Mac & Cheese

Mac & cheese is a current favorite in our house.  We all eat it and love it!  I try to find unique recipes with veggies hidden inside to make them a little healthier.  We all loved this recipe from Skinny Taste and I wanted to share it with you.  We followed the recipe almost exactly, but I doubled the onion and added a little extra broccoli.  So good!

Painted Bathroom Rules Signs

Now that Connor is getting to be a big boy, I'm starting to plan for the future.  He's going to be taking baths in his own bathroom and learning to brush his teeth.  We plan on renovating his bathroom/guest bathroom eventually, but for right now, I wanted to make it a little more fun and colorful for him.  I love the bathroom rules signs I've seen and he's going to be at the perfect age to start learning these things soon.

I printed out some simple images with text that I thought would look cute on the signs.  (Please forgive my crappy photos. The lighting must have been really bad when I was working on these.)  I bought four 12" x 12" canvases to transfer the art on.

This is my secret way to transfer art.  I take a pencil and scribble over the back of the paper that has the design on it.

Then I place the paper right onto the canvas and center it exactly how I want it to be.  Then, I use a mechanical pencil without the lead to trace around the design.  When I lift the paper, the design will be transferred onto the canvas!

I spent many, many hours watching tv and painting three coats on each canvas to make them really bold, but it was worth it!

I love how they turned out!

And since I'm matchy-matchy, the shower curtain colors go perfectly with the art.

And the comfy green rug matches too!

  I can't wait for Connor to use his new, updated bathroom!