Wooden Spoon = No Boil Over ?!?

My friend Kelly was at my house a while back. We were making macaroni and cheese for the kids. We discussed a pin that we'd seen that says if we place a wooden spoon over a pot of boiling water that the water won't boil over. We tried it and it worked! Just the other day, I did the trick again, but to my dismay, I had a boiled over mess! I did have the burner on full blast though! I say that the wooden spoon helps, but isn't 100% effective! I'll keep using it!



Here's the pin: http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/2011/10/did-you-know.html

Christmas Cake Pop Presentation

I made a bunch of cake pops for a Christmas party. I was thinking of ways to present them, when I remembered a pin my sister found on Pinterest.

Here's the pin ... http://pinterest.com/pin/40391727877680655/

It took a few tries to get it right, but I did it!

Power Strip Labels

I saw this pin and immediately knew that I would follow through! The pin shows cords plugged into a power strip that are labeled with bread tabs.

See pin here ... http://pinterest.com/pin/250794272968770534/

I thought this was a very clever and easy idea. I mean, who hasn't struggled to figure out which cord needs to be unplugged!

My power strip before!

I saved a bunch of bread tabs and used my awesome brand new markers (a Christmas gift) to make my own labels!

The end result still looks cluttered, but at least I know which cords go to what device!

My Power Strip After!

Warning: The bread labels are a choking hazard for small children and pets.

Re-Purposed Cupcake Holder / Ornament Holder

I thought this was such a great idea! I have a cupcake holder that gets used at best a few times a year. What a great idea to use it as a centerpiece for the holidays. The most time consuming part of this project was locating the cupcake holder. I eventually found it in the way way back dark corner of a kitchen cabinet. I then took a few ornaments off my tree and filled in the cupcake holder. Voila, I had an instant dining room table centerpiece. I decided to sprinkle a few extra ornaments around the centerpiece. This was so simple!

Here is the link I found on Pinterest: http://livingwithlindsay.com/2009/12/my-home-christmas-ified.html

The Best Broccoli of Your Life

This is my very first post! Yay! Please forgive any misspelled words and my sub par grammar. Writing is not a strength of mine.


Okay, so I saw this posted on Pinterest a few times and decided I had to try it since broccoli is my favorite vegetable. My daughter, Sophie (she is 4), loves "trees" too and I thought she would love this!

Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/11/the_best_brocco.html

I did alter the recipe, so here is how I made it!

I read that the broccoli should be very dry, so I washed it about 2 hours before I wanted to bake it. It was actually still a bit wet, so next time I won't wash it at all. The recipe says that the heat will kill any bacteria. Okay, I'll buy that!


I preheated the oven to 425 degrees.

I cut the florets off the bunches and placed them in a large bowl. Since I only had about 1 pound of broccoli (the recipe calls for 4-5 pounds ... holy broccoli), I only used 1 T. of olive oil, 1/4 tsp. of minced garlic, 1/4 tsp. ground pepper, and 1/4 tsp. sea salt to coat the broccoli.


I transferred the broccoli to a foil lined baking sheet and roasted in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the broccoli had a nice brown crispy look to them. I brushed about 1/2 T. of olive oil, and dropped lemon juice on each floret. The recipe calls for the juice of a real lemon, but I didn't have one. I excluded the pine nuts, basil, and Parmesan cheese as I didn't have any of those either. Regardless, it turned out great! I loved the crispy texture. My daughter wouldn't even take one bite because there was "brown" on it. Kids!