365- February 16

Avery has been busy making spell books! One for her and one for an equally Harry Potter crazed friend! This girl makes my heart happy!

365- Feb 16 (Italian Wedding Soup)

Tonight we made Italian wedding soup for supper- our first foray into this dish. Avery had a friend visiting, who stayed for supper. Their conversation went something like this:

Friend, "What are we having for supper?"

Me, "Italian Wedding soup. One of Avery's favourites, but this is the first time we have made it ourselves."

Friend, "You guys always have food that I've never heard of before! I'll try it!"

Avery, "We eat stuff that no one has ever heard of because my dad never makes the same thing twice! He tries something out, and then BAM! we are done with that food!"

(Luckily both kids seemed to like it- and so did the big people.)

I mentioned on facebook that we made Italian wedding soup for supper and a few people asked for the recipe.  Which there is not one, because that is how we roll. So here is our made up recipe. Not sure if this qualifies as a good Italian Wedding Soup recipe, but we certainly enjoyed it.  No measurements, just go with your tastes. And we have been making our own stock for soups lately. It works out good because you can infuse the stock with flavours that complement whatever it is that you are making. One rack of chicken bones= enough soup for one supper!

Italian Wedding Soup!

Soup Stock: Throw a chicken carcass and any leftover ugly bits into a big pot with onion, celery, carrots, half a lemon, parsley, basil, peppercorns, salt. Cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer until it looks soup stocky and the veggies are barely holding together. You have officially drained the ingredients of their goodness. Strain out the ugly bits and reserve the lovely golden stock! Pop it right back into the pot.

Meatballs: Ground beef (and pork if you wish- we didn't), basil, garlic, pepper, parmesan cheese, an egg, breadcrumbs (which would be normal, except we didn't have any bread, so we used cooked quinoa instead). Mix. Ball (smallish ball), bake.

Soup: While your balls are baking, throw some carrots, celery, and mini pasta (like orzo to be italian, or alphabets to be like me!) into the stock. Cook. Don't fill the broth too much, because remember you still have to fit the meatballs in there! When the meatballs are nearly done add some spinach (you leave this for the end because over cooked spinach is yucky!) You could also use sorrel, curly endive or escarole in place of spinach. Whatever floats your boat! Add meatballs and dish out. Top with parmesan cheese.... mmmmm!

365- February 15

My Friday face!

When did I start looking so old?????

365- February 14

My forever Valentine!

365- Feb 13

What's for dinner?

365- February 9

This birthday rocked! A reason to call my friends together followed by a surprise birthday dinner:0)

Canadian Scrapbooker and Kaisercraft!

See this prize package? It could be yours!!!  Just hop on over to the Canadian Scrapbooker Blog for the details on how to win.

I had lots of fun using these papers to make my husband's birthday card:0) Super easy with the die cut sheet!

365- February 7

Lunch Date:0)

365- February 4

365- Feb 3

Avery got her wish, and now has a desk in her room. Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is now in her bedroom:0)

Thinking of You Card

(And 365- February 1. Look at me multi-task!)

I don't know how many of you have a Pinterest account, but I have to say that I am loving mine! It is the perfect solution to keeping links to all those interesting tidbits you find on the internet whilst out searching for something relevant.  (Why yes, I totally did use the word 'whilst'). You know, like when you are looking for a supper recipe and you have artichokes and apples to use, but find a rocking recipe for a dinner with avocado and parsnips that you think you will remember where to find when you need to use those items, but of course you never see it again.  If you 'Pin' it, you have a link saved for all eternity without making your bookmarks file into a novel! Brilliantly simple. Why am I telling you this? Because this card was inspired by another card that I pinned! It had a cool technique that I wanted to try out.

Start by stamping a background onto some cardstock, using waterproof ink. I used Clearsnap's Archival Dye inks for this step. I stamped two images in the background (the small dots are a Hero Arts for Doodlebug Designs stamp, and the script is by Stampin' Up!).

Next comes the fun part! I took a used dryer sheet and cut it into 2" squares, and spritzed them with three colours of Smooch Spritz. Once they were dry, I mod podged them over top of the background I stamped earlier. Once it was dry, I tore off edges and tied some ribbon around it before attaching it to an embossed background.

I punched the butterfly out of a double sided adhesive sheet and applied some Clearsnap glitter to it, then attached it to the ribbon.

Last step was stamping the sentiment (with a Close to My Heart stamp) and attaching it with pop dots.

 Supplies Used-

Ink: Clearsnap Dye and Smooch Spritz

Cardstock: Bazzill

Stamps: Hero Arts for Doodlebug Designs, Stampin' Up!, Close to My Heart

Adhesive: Stix 2 Cool Tak, 3M, Glue Arts

Punch: EK Success

Glitter: Clearsnap

Ribbon: May Arts