Capri Sun Lunch Bag Tutorial

I am so thrilled when I can actually use something I've been collecting for a while.  I always say about those items or potential throw aways, "I could do something with that!"...but you know how that goes.  :-P  Sooooooo....I broke out my grocery bag full of Capri Sun pouches. 

Before you do anything with the juice pouches, wash them first.  I puff up the empty bag in my hand and cut a slit in the bottom of the bag with an exacto knife.  A good rinse and a little soap does just fine.  Keep them puffed up and stand them up to dry.  Flatten them out to store or use for sewing when they are devoid of moisture.

Here's what to do to make a lunch bag:

1) Select 14 juice pouches for your bag.  Keep in mind, four will be on the front, four on the back, two on each side and two on the bottom.  Group them this way.  I try to avoid putting two pouches of the same flavor by each other.

2) Turn over two pouches you will be using for the front.  Using the line on the side of the pouches, place one bag just slightly over the other and secure with a piece of tape (you can remove the tape after you stitch if you'd like).

3) Turn the pouches over so that you are sewing on the front of the bag.  Select your zig-zag stitch and sew all the way down.

4) Repeat for the other two pouches to be used on the front.

5) Turn both pairs of sewn pouches over, and place them slightly on top of each other and secure with tape. 

6) Turn to the front side and sew together so that you now have four bags sewn together for your front.

7) Repeat steps 2-6 for the back side of your lunch bag.

8) For the sides, sew two pouches on top of each other in the same manner as you sewed the pouches above.  Do the same with your two bottom pouches.

9) Turn your bottom piece and line up its seam with the center seam of the front of your lunch bag.  Stitch to attach.

10) Add the back piece to your bag so now your lunch bag looks like this:

11) Turn the lunch bag over, and fold up the bottom piece that sticks over the edge.  Place a side piece standing up on your work space, and flush against that flap.  Secure with tape.  Turn over and sew to attach.  Do the same thing for the other side.

12) Now your lunch bag looks like this:

13) Add a velcro hook and velcro loop strip to the front of the bag.  This is so your lunch bag will fold down.

13) Add another piece of velcro on the back of the top piece of velcro that is on the front of your bag and on the inside of the back side of your lunch bag.  Make sense?  This is so your lunch bag will close.

14)  Pinch an edge of the front piece with the edge of a side piece together and sew together like you'd sew two pieces of fabric.  I still like to use the zig-zag stitch as it completes the look.  Repeat with the remaining edges.

15) Done!

I'm thinking this lunch bag will go to one of my Pay It Forward girls.  I really had it in my heart to make this person something else...not sure what...but, she did say she wouldn't mind having one of these a long time ago.  :-)

An Ode to Peanut Butter and Jelly

Peanut butter and jelly
Peanut butter and jelly
Oh how you fill my dear children's bellies
Creamy and cool
Evander will take you to school
And have a lunch that is swelly

Okay...so I'm not a poet. 

Peanut butter and jelly has been Emory's breakfast choice of late...but there are other (sweet!) ways we enjoy our PB&J! 

The first recipe is MY favorite muffin recipe..the kids love 'em, too.  It's from one of those "sneak vegetables into your food so that your children will eat them books."  I'm really not a fan of those cookbooks (thinking of one by Jessica Seinfeld and another by Missy Chase Lapine).  I just think it's a lot of work for minimal vegetable inclusion (in one or both, you need to puree a whole ton of stuff ahead of time).  You can see this recipe has 1/2 c carrot puree...divide that by 12 muffins and you see how very  little vegetable you are actually getting per muffin.

Anyhoo...here's the favorite muffin recipe!  I figured 180 calories per muffin.

PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY MUFFINS
from Decptively Delicious

1/2 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 c carrot puree (one baby food container works perfectly!)
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
2 T soft margarine
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 large egg white
1 c all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
jelly

Coat muffin pan with spray. 

Beat peanut butter, carrot, sugar and margarine with wooden spoon.  Stir in yogurt and egg white.  Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir just until combined--do not over mix. 

Divide batter among muffin cups.  Drop spoonful of jelly on each (press down slightly so it does not run off the muffin during baking). 

Bake 20-25 minutes in 350° oven.  Turn out onto rack to cool.  Store in airtight container at room temperature for two days or wrap individually and freeze for up to one month. 



All sorts of yummy goodness.


And a favorite peanut butter and jelly cookie:

PEANUT BUTTER & JELLY COOKIES

1 Butter Flavor Crisco stick or 1 c butter flavor Crisco all-vegetable shortening (I've only ever used 1 stick of margarine and they turn out fine)
1 c creamy peanut butter
1 t vanilla
2/3 c firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 c all-purpose flour
1 c strawberry preserves

Heat oven to 350°.  Combine shortening, peanut butter and vanilla in food processor fitted with metal blade.  Process until well blended and smooth (I've never done this!  Ha).  Add sugars; process until incorporated completely.  Add eggs; beat just until blended.  Add flour; pulse until dough begins to form a ball.  Do not overprocess.

Place dough in a medium bowl.  Shape 1/2 tablespoon of dough into a ball for each cookie.  Place 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased cooked sheet.  Press thumb into center of each ball to create deep well.  Fill each well with about 1/2 teaspoon preserves.

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned and firm.  Cool on cookie sheets 4 minutes; transfer to cooling racks.  Leave on racks about 30 minutes or until completely cool.
 


Caught your hand in the cookie jar!


The only bummer about these muffins and cookies is that the jelly is wayyyyyyyy to hot and burny to eat right out of the oven.  Patience is a virtue...a fruit of the Spirit, actually.

Here's what we'll be doing for our next "breakfast for dinner" night:  PB&J Stuffed French Toast

After all of this jelly talk, I must confess that we use JAM on our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!!  Silly---I don't have time to stand around breaking apart clumps of jelly on a piece of bread!  Just look at that jam spread!

Curb Trash to Play Kitchen Treasure

There it was.  The beauty by the roadside.  My heart went pitter patter and I knew in an instant this entertainment center was for us!  But not for TV entertainment...Momma had it in her brain to turn this into a play kitchen for the kids.  (Hmmm...that's two blog posts in a row I've referred to myself as Momma.)

A few saw cuts, some paint and some screws later... 

Ta-da!  It's actually been done and in the house being played with for a few weeks now.  Just took that long to hang the dowel rod for the under-the-sink curtain.  :-P  I still want to make a window to put on the wall above the sink. 

I've been looking at play kitchens for a while, but I was just never a fan of the plastic ones.  From plastic to wooden ones, they range in price from $75 to a couple hundred dollars.  I knew I could make something that was a little more sylish than the plastic ones, for much less moolah.



Microwave with decoupaged button numbers done on my Cricut machine.




Stove top with sewn felt burners.





Oven with candle cup knobs and a pantry shelf.




Sink bowl with candle cup knobs and letter "J" faucet.





Under sink storage with curtain hung on a dowel rod.





Having fun with the play kitchen!!!

The entertainment center "came" with an extra shelf and door not pictured, so that was extra wood to cut up (thanks Nick and Dad!).  I used the hinges that were provided, so I only had to buy one pair of hinges for the microwave.  I splurged on the door handles, as I wanted them to look really nice.  I debated about the oven shelf.  I thought about making one or making one work from one of my cookie racks...but nothing that I could find laying around fit just right, so I ended up buying something. 

Here's the supply list:

FREE! - Entertainment Center
On hand - Wood glue, wood filler, screws, acrylic paint for knobs and faucet
On hand - Felt for burners
On hand - Bowl for sink...My favorite sized bowl from my kitchen.  Thankfully, it pops out of the play kitchen, so I can still use it if I need to.
On hand - Fabric for curtain
$5 - Gallon of Oops paint from Home Depot
$10.13 - Three door handles from Home Depot
$4.15 - Two small sheets of plexiglass from Home Depot
$2.17 - Two-pack of hinges from Home Depot
$2.39 - Candle holder cups from Jo-Ann's (eight in a bag!  Woot!)
$1.49 - The wooden letter "J" from Jo-Ann's
??? - Dowel rod from Jo-Ann's.  Can't remember the price and I threw away the receipt.
$3 - Shelf for the oven from Dollar General

So, the entire project was completed for less than $30.

And look what I saw while shopping for my niece's birthday present.  So much smaller and so much more money :-P:

The End of Optimus Prime???

I think not!  Momma's got the favorite boots duct taped to live another day!  These are the favorite boots that Grandma Cinder and Popper got Emory a year and a half to two years ago.  They have become all he likes to wear...although, we are currently waiting for them to dry out from playing out in the rain so much!

Emory is my dress up, role play guy.  I laugh when we watch Toy Story 3 and see Bonnie in her cape and in her boots...because that is Emory.  Each day is something new and the fun never ends!

Playing "baseball man" in Evander's uniform

The Halloween costume that keeps on giving

It's a football named Lilo!

Wearing his Lowe's stuff around the house

Super Why!

Ready to sweat and play!

Dry

It has been anything BUT dry in our neck of the woods for the entire month of April.  I tell myself I am okay with that, and I think I am...but it sure was nice to see the sunshine we saw alllllllll day today!  No rain!

These past couple days, I've felt emotionally, spiritually, and creatively...dry.  Used up.  Did you know that a Mommy cannot be "dry"???  Whether it happens, or not, your kids make it impossible to remain in any sort of stagnant or negative state for too long.  I think that's a blessing.  I suppose having to be "on" all of the time for your kids is a good kick to practice this:

1 Thessalonians 5:15b-18:

...seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.  Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

So, today, the boys and I went through a thankful list.

Evander said that he is thankful for (in the order that he said them):

• Flowers
• His bird book (he's been into drawing and writing books lately.  I'm also thankful we've moved on from dinosaur and volcano books...at least for now)
• Pine trees (we planted some trees at my niece's birthday party recently)
• God
• Us
• The plants that grow
• Jesus
• Bumpa & Barbie

Emory is thankful for:

• Jessie the Yodelin' Cow Girl
• Woody
• Buzz
• Books
• Nana (after Evander asked, "Are you thankful for me, Emmer?")
• Mommy's apron

That last one was certainly one of those look around the room and see what I can come up with things.  Just like Evander named his Pillow Pet "Closet Door."  Ha.

I am thankful for:

• God's love for me
• My family
• Cheese (trust me...I'm putting together a week's worth of Vegan meals. I miss cheese already just thinking about not eating it.)
• The most beautiful bread I've ever made with my bread machine.  Must be the fresh yeast I bought.

In case you couldn't tell...I labeled it for you.

• The sunshine today, of course!!!  Wow!  It even reflected off of things.  I forgot it did that. 



Ahhhhhhhhh!



Resurrection Cookies

A friend introduced me to these cookies last year and I thought they were such a neat idea to celebrate Easter with the kids.  I had never heard of them before and definitely wanted to make them with my children.  They are meant to be done the night before Easter, but we couldn't wait!

INGREDIENTS
1 c whole pecans
1 t vinegar
3 egg whites
salt
1 c sugar
Bible



And yes, my Bible looks like a furry animal.  Doesn't yours?


Preheat oven to 300°. 

Place pecans in ziploc baggie and let the children beat them with a wooden spoon.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested, he was beaten by the Roman soldiers.  John 19:1-3




Spoons are going wild!!!


Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put it in a mixing bowl.  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.  John 19:28-30

Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life.  John 10:10-11

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  Luke 23:27

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add sugar.  Explain the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to him.  Psalm 34:8, John 3:16

Beat with mixer on high speed for 12-15 minutes until stiff peak forms.  Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Isaiah 1:18


The beauty of this mixer.


Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet covered with wax paper.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.  Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven off.  Give each child a piece of tape to seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.  Matthew 27:65-66



No pecans are going to escape this oven!


Go to bed!  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the over overnight.  Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  John 16:20 & 22

On Easter morning open and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Matthew 28:1-9

I just wanted to peek in the oven so bad after the kids went to bed!  Like the yogurt in the slow cooker, I was so excited to see, "Did it work?  Did it work?!?!?"  It worked.  :-)

And look!  Resurrection Bread!

Eggs-tra Fun!

One thing I look forward to each Easter is fussing with eggs!  Here's what I painted this year:



Toy Story eggs



My goal is to paint at least three eggs each year with something that the kids are into at the time. And when they are older and have their own homes and families, we will give them each their eggs.  So, I started last year with Thomas:




Thomas & Friends eggs

 

And I discovered THE BEST way to blow out eggs.  Simply poke a small pin hole in the top and bottom of the egg, and then use an ear bulb syringe/snot sucker thingy, they give you at the hospital for having a baby, to squirt all of the guts out.  Amazing.  My poor mother used her lungs to blow the contents out for many, many years.

Painting eggs is something we always did when my sister and I were little.  We always had an Easter egg tree to display our craft on.  I tried last year:

It looked more like the Charlie Brown tree, and since then the branches have gotten destroyed.  I didn't get one cut this year.  :-(

Here's a pic of some of the eggs from over the years that my mom still displays:

There's a couple old old ones at the top there, but most of these eggs are from throughout the 1990's...it's strange, there seems to be a lack of eggs from the early 2000's.  Oh yeah, that's when I was a college student and college sucked all of the creativity out of me.  :-P  I've also lost a few that I did when Nick and I were first married...they were cool with embroidery floss wrapped around them and candy foil Mod Podged to them.  Haven't seen them since we lived in an appartment.  :-(

These are some of my favorites...I should do more.  They are at my mom and dad's house:


Quilled eggs



The boys and I have been doing all sorts of things with eggs this year.  Of course there's painting:

Paper mache eggs...very cool:

Scuba eggs...on a beach of lentils:

His face when I told him he'd have to hold the egg there for five minutes straight:

Gospel message eggs:

And of course, Jell-O eggs!

I just love decorating eggs.  Can you tell?  There's so many different things to do with them, and they are nice and small so you can complete what you're doing fairly quickly. 

I hope this has inspired you to have some egg fun!