Chicken Pot Pie

Ugh, today my computer is being buggy, so I have to write this post on my tablet. Not the most fun use of my tablet, for sure. Anyways...

One of my favourite go-to dinners is chicken pot pie. It’s is quick and easy, it’s a one-dish meal, it’s delicious, it’s freezable, and it’s in single serving portions. 

The recipe I used is an adaptation of Kraft Canada’s recipe. I like this recipe because the crust is crispy on top and gooey inside, and it’s super easy to put together. The crust is absolutely my favourite part of the dish... It’s good stuff... I would eat it all by itself if I could. 

Bedroom Updates

I’ve slowly been trying to make my bedroom look a little more put together; giving it a unifying style as an attempt to class up the joint. I wish I had a before picture. It looked a little granny, and a little 80’s. But that is slowly changing! I’ve decided to go with black and white furniture and accents, because that way I can paint my walls with an assortment of bright colours, and everything will still go. 

The process started with getting rid of my bed frame, then I made my headboard, and then I made my toilet paper roll wall art with an awesome salvaged frame. You can see those projects here, here, and here, respectively. 

Rather than taking on the big project next, I decided to start accessorizing.

Make Your Own Shrinky Dinks!

Have you guys tried out shrink dinks?

I’ve wanted to try this fun, cute, and easy craft with the kids at daycare, but haven’t because the kits are pretty expensive. Especially when you consider what they actually are... pieces of plastic that you colour and heat to shrink. 

Then I read on this blog that you can make your own shrink dinks out of any #6 plastic! That’s the type of plastic most take-out containers are made out of. I picked up a few containers for free from the Meals-to-Go section at my local grocery store. Just ask the person behind the counter, they should be ok with giving you a couple containers... unless they’re a jerk... then I suggest you find a new grocery store. 

Spaghettizza

I tried out a new recipe this week that I found on Money Saving Mom I’m calling it spaghettiza, but it is essentially a spaghetti based lasagne with pizza on top. Which is awesome.

 Looks yummy! 

DIY Four Square Scribble Art

Hey look! I received some advice from my social-media-savvy cousin this weekend, so you can now subscribe to my blog via RSS or email. Still available are the previous options of following my blog on Pinterest or Liking it on Facebook. So many ways to find out about new posts! They're all right over there → 

So today we're going to do some artwork. Here’s an easy art project that doesn’t take a lot of time or skill, but makes a big impact on a bare wall. I call it my Four Square Scribble Art.

Get Those Good Habits Rolling!

Let’s get in to some healthy habits. I don’t know about you, but I find starting up a new good habit to be really, really hard. I feel motivated and accomplished for about four days, but then I get lazy and revert back to my old ways. A month later I look back at my failed attempt to better myself and feel like an undisciplined underachiever. 

I think this is something everyone goes through sometimes. 

While studying in psychology, I took a class entitled Motivation and Emotion. It was one of my favourite classes, actually. One of the things covered in this class is the difference between instant and delayed gratification. It occurred to me that I was having so much trouble forming new good habits because there was no immediate reward, only hopes of a better future life. 

Beef and Broccoli over Rice

Life is back into full summer swing. Working full-days with my kindergartens, helping out in the toddler room, melting for hours on end when I get home. 

Oh ya, my apartment is regularly hotter than the outdoor temperature. I can’t open my windows because I have them sealed off to keep the mud wasps out. I have an air conditioner, but I don’t run it all day so that I can cut back on hydro consumption. So, it’s hot. I pity the pig, who has no escape from my sweltering living room. 

 That’s Molly. She’s a hedgehog, but I call her piggy. You know, hog... pig... Anyways. 

When it’s so hot, turning on the oven is simply not an option, so this week’s cooking was done in the slow cooker. I love my slow cooker! This week’s recipe is based off the one found on Key Ingredient: Beef and Broccoli over Rice 

Ingredients: 

•  1 lb stewing beef 

• 1 375mL can beef broth 
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 
• 1/3 cup brown sugar 
• 1 Tbs olive oil 
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder 
• 2 Tbs corn starch 
• Fresh broccoli florets – as much as you like, I used one stock 

Directions: 

I used my 3qt slow cooker, and it is the perfect size. Put the beef in the crock. In a bowl, mix beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, olive oil, and garlic powder. Poor that liquid over the beef in the crock. 

 

Cook on low for 6 hours. 

After 6 hours, carefully remove about 3 Tbs of the liquid from the crock and put it in a bowl. Thoroughly mix the corn starch with the liquid in the bowl, then poor the liquid back into the crock. 

Add your broccoli florets to the crock, mix everything, and cook on high for 30 minutes to one hour (depending on how smooshy you like your broccoli). The liquid needs to boil in order for the corn starch to make it thicken, so remember to switch the heat to high! 

Pair this deliciousness with a rice of your choice. 

I’ve made this dish about four times, and it has tasted different every time. I’m not sure why. I must be changing ingredients depending on what I have in my kitchen. Or the fact that I don’t measure any of my ingredients. Hmm. Ok, I guess I know why it's different every time. 

The original recipe called for soy sauce rather than Worcestershire sauce, but I use the latter simply because my soy sauce bottle is fused closed with dried sauce, and I’m too lazy/cheap to get a new bottle. Worcestershire sauce is essentially just soy sauce with a few extra ingredients anyways, right??

Apartment Hunting, and a Little Shakespeare

This weekend I took a road trip to The City to find a place to live when I start back to university in September. 

I’m not going to lie, I have a small housing budget for my 8-month stay in The City (actually, I have a small everything budget... It’s going to be a tight 8 months), but I was feeling optimistic about finding a place. 

I went online and found 18 ads for decent-looking apartments within my price range, so I started calling to make appointments. Of those 18, 4 were immediately out of the running because they were looking for someone for August, not September. Another 6 were eliminated because they wanted a one-year lease, and I was looking for month-to-month. 4 of the people I left a message with did not return my call. That left 4 apartments with which I was able to make an appointment. 

So off I went to The City to check out these 4 places. 

Whitening Linens with Lemon Juice

Who here has had a terrible cleaning experience with bleach? I know I have. Bleach is harsh, and really destructive if not used properly. For this reason, I use anything other than bleach as often as possible (unless there are some hard-core bacteria that really need to be killed for good). 

A lot of materials, like white linens, say on their care labels that they are not to be bleached, despite the fact that they are white. Apparently these materials have a tendency to turn yellow if bleached, rather than being whitened. I was surprised to find that out, because I associate bleach with white things, not yellowed things, but I didn’t want to chance it. 

I had some white bed sheets that got peed on by this girl: 

Of course, I didn’t find her golden gift until it was well dried and set. Seeing as they were relatively new sheets, I was a little peeved. I Googled how to whiten sheets without bleach, and found the easiest, no-scrubbing, already-had-supplies-at-home method was lemon juice. 

The shaving cream painting that didn't work, but then did!

I recently went through a replace-all-the-store-bought-wall-art-in-my-home-with-my-own-artwork phase. It was a lot of fun trying to come up with a variety of pieces that kind of flowed, but weren’t repetitive. 

Ok, maybe they don’t all flow. But they’re in different rooms, so it's ok. 

Above my TV was a 2’x3’ Ikea print of some sort of flowers in a black frame. It worked for some inexpensive art when I bought it five years ago, but it has served its time.  Here's what it looked like:

Now this is above my TV: 

Another flower! But this one was made by me! Here’s how... 

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

I love soup. I never liked it when I was younger, but I’m enjoying it more and more with each passing year. I know soup is normally a winter comfort food, but I like soup in the summer because it’s light and doesn’t make me feel stuffed and lethargic.

This week: Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Teacher Home Supply Station

I used to stay up late. Not crazy, all-night late, but 1am and I were not strangers by any means.

Consequently, I also used to get up late... like, sleep in ‘til noon every chance I got. 

Then I became a daycare teacher... 

All of a sudden, my day started at 5:30am 5 days a week. I needed to be on the road by 6:00, and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by 6:15, when my program opens every day. I hated it. I loathed my alarm clock. Especially in the winter when the sun doesn’t even rise until 7am. But in the past two years I’ve gotten used to it. I even find myself chipper in the morning... singing along to the radio, having conversations with my cat. What has happened to me?? Have I become a morning person? *shudder* 

DIY Dry Erase Paint Chip Calendar

Being a teacher, through and through, I am pretty much in love with planning, organizing, and scheduling. For example, every Thursday night I stay up a little bit later than usual to write out my weekend to-do lists (yes, that’s plural... one list for Saturday, one list for Sunday).

Today’s post caters to the scheduling side of my neuroticism. Inspired by Pinterest, I made a paint chip dry-erase calendar.