DIY Elmo Themed Party

Our dearest daughter recently celebrated her 2nd birthday.  Since she's a big Elmo fan, it's understood that we'd have an Elmo themed party.

I noticed that Disney Princesses now dominate the party industry and Elmo is now out of the limelight.  There were very limited Elmo items so the next option for us is to DIY.  I searched Pinterest to get ideas and patterns to use for our party and I wasn't disappointed.

Birthday Bunting & Backdrop  -  I got the inspiration from this website. I used MS Word to make each letter and printed it on colored board paper. I added a yellow trim to brighten the banner, Elmo eyes and nose to some of the letters to keep up with the theme. Here's a photo where I got the idea of adding eyes and nose.   As for the backdrop, I just cut crepe papers and taped them on the wall.  

 

Photo Credit:  Jaqui Del Rosario

Difficulty Level:  1 ( It's very easy to cut shapes to make a bunting.)






 Invitations -  I got the idea from this photo.  I didn't have a big puncher to make the round cut-outs so I drew circles on colored boards and cut them individually.  Good thing I only had to make twenty-five of these babies otherwise I'd end up cutting circles for an entire week!

Difficulty Level: 1 (I don't have a circle puncher so it took me some time to cut all the pieces.  But overall, it's a very easy project to make.)

Name Tags -  I downloaded free Elmo graphics and used MS Word again (I know what you're thinking...I need to learn basic Photoshop!).  I just bought sticker paper from National Bookstore to print on.
Note:  I bought the matte  sticker paper and the name tags looked a little dull to me so I suggest buying the glossy kind  to make the colors brighter.

 

photo credit:  Jacqui del Rosario

Party Hats -  I found the pattern on First Palette and just printed the it.  It only has three special steps and so just like Special  Agent Oso, I print, cut and decorate! Unfortunately I ran out of time and didn't push through with this project.  But I was able to make a sample and made our Luna wear it for photo op.

one happy customer

Difficulty Level:  2 ( I had a little bit of difficulty in following the line where you're suppose to fold the hat.  No matter how careful I was, I still ended up with a wrinkled hat.)

 Just send me a message and I'd be glad to send you the templates I used for the invites, name tags and thank you cards.

Homemade Play Dough (play-doh)

I've been wanting to make one for our toddler for the longest time. I searched the net for the best recipe but most of them require cream of tartar, an ingredient that I don't normally have in my pantry. Then I came across a gluten free recipe on Messy Preschoolers that only has four ingredients, a simple instruction and numerous positive feed backs from those who have tried it already.

So this morning, my daughter and I raided our pantry to make play dough. The recipe requires a cup of cornstarch but to my dismay I only had half a cup so i tweaked it a little and added flour instead. I also can't find the bottle of red food color so we used a packet of Tang for the coloring.

Homemade Play Dough Recipe

2 cups baking soda
1/2 cornstarch
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup cups water
1 packet of Kool-Aid or Tang for color


Mix all the dry ingredients and get rid of lumps using a fork then set aside. Dissolve an entire packet of Tang in water and slowly pour to the dry ingredient.

Tang dissolved in water

Stir constantly over low heat until the mixture becomes really sticky, sticky enough to form a ball. Let it cool and let your toddler have a blast.

 

The consistency is like of a thick mashed potato after cooking.

The dough became flaky on some parts after it has cooled. I added a few drops of olive oil and gave it a lot of kneading to get the right texture.

Here's a photo of Luna having fun with her play dough

Difficulty Level: 1 ( I didn't encounter any problems except the cleaning up part.  The dough will stick everywhere.  Our living room was littered with specks of dried up dough for days!)

Menu Planning & Freezer Organization

One of my new year's resolutions for 2013 is to eat out less to save our hard-earned moula and to eat healthy. You see, I never did weekly planning menu in my four years of married life.  I just think of whatever I want to prepare when ever I'm grocery shopping ending up with a cart full of snacks and only one or two ingredients for the week's dinner. With only 2 dinner meals in the freezer, we usually end up driving to the nearest fast food for some fries and burgers. It has already started to eat a big chunk of our monthly budget and worst is both my husband and I are getting bigger and bigger!

So I decided to start the year right by managing our weekly menu and grocery shopping.  I followed a weekly menu plan that i found on the Heavenly Homemakers website, wrote down the dish for each day and the ingredients under it.  After completing the menu, I checked our pantry for available ingredients and made a separate list for my grocery shopping.

 At the grocery, I made sure I'd stick with the list and not to go around all the aisle to prevent me from buying unnecessary items that will only end up at the back of our pantry.  Armed with my grocery shopping list, I first went to the meat section to check if the items I wanted were all available.  I had to adjust my menu when 2 of the items that I wanted were not available.  (Note:  make two or 3 back up dishes in case this happens.) I proceeded with the rest and was at the check-out counter in an hour!  That's a record breaker for me since I'm notorious in strolling along the aisles for hours. The best part of this trip was I didn't go overboard our budget and no tempting chips to munch in my eco-bag.

Normally, I just put all the meat that I bought in the freezer in their original plastic bags and take out whatever I plan to cook for dinner.  This  process of taking out a bag of meat includes stabbing a knife in between the packs that are piled on top of each other.  Does this sound familiar? Haha.

Since I'm organizing everything this year, I included my freezer to my long list of "to organize".  I first separated the meat according to the dish I plan to make them with.  For this grocery trip, I bought 2 whole dressed chicken, asked the butcher to chop "adobo" style and divide them to four packs. Four because I have "tinolang manok, adobo, arroz caldo & fried chicken" on my menu.  I put them in brown paper bags and labeled them.  Dividing the meat in smaller quantities will prevent the risk of spoilage.  I  used to thaw an entire chicken, cook half of it and put the rest back to the freezer.  I know, this is a no no...I'm a changed person now so please be nice to me. =)

My freezer with all the items labeled.

 The picture shows how my freezer looks like now. It's easier to pull out meat because paper bags don't stick to each other. The labels also help in reminding me on what to cook for the day. 

 All in all, it looks better,  cleaner and no more frozen blood that dripped from the bags of meat.  The husband is also happier because we were able to save and he can now check the freezer and tell me what he wants for dinner. No more fattening take-outs for us.  This is a good way to start the year.

 Happy New Year everyone!

Funnel Cake

We recently had a long weekend and it gave me more time to try new recipes. Usually, we have hotcakes for weekend breakfast but I thought of making something different to serve my family.

  I got the recipe from A Taste From Home website.  I just added a tablespoon and a half of Vanilla in the mixture for extra flavor.

I find using a squeeze bottle easier and a lot less messier than funnel.  I just cut the tip to of the the nozzle to make it bigger and squeeze the mixture directly to the hot oil. Fry until golden brown and drain excess oil on paper towel. 

Made a small one for our little Luna

Dust your funnel cake with powdered sugar and cinnamon or brown sugar / cinnamon mixture.  I like the latter because it has more texture and the brown sugar somehow melts on the hot funnel cake. 

Enjoying her Funnel Cake with orange juice

I always have a pre-mix of this in the pantry for a quick breakfast.  Just mix together all the dry ingredients and store it a jar or a zip bag.  It's preservative free plus it's cheaper than the ready made mixes!


Difficulty Level: 1  ( Three simple steps: MIX, SQUEEZE & FRY)

Paksiw na Pata (slow cooker recipe)

I never knew how to cook this until my husband and I accidentally added too much vinegar while preparing Chicken Adobo.  To balance the flavor, we decided to put in more soy sauce.  Unfortunately it became too salty so we kept on adding sugar until we ended up with Chicken ala Paksiw na Pata.

Again, a very simple recipe.  If you know how to use a measuring cup and squish garlic, then you can make this for dinner.

Ingredients:

1 kg. pork knuckles (ask your butcher to slice it crosswise)
3-5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 pack dried banana blossoms
1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 - 3 pcs. dried bay leaves
 whole pepper corns

Place dried banana blossoms at the bottom of your slow cooker and put pork knuckles on top of it.

In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic and stir. Pour mixture in the slow cooker.  Add bay leaves and pepper corn.

Set slow cooker on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

*notice the dark spots on the meat?  Those are the parts that were not submerged in soy sauce/vinegar mix.  I will add water and adjust soy sauce/vinegar mix the next time I make this to make sure there's enough sauce to cover the meat.

Chunky Creamy Chicken

This chicken and cream combo can be eaten as an open-faced sandwich (just add lettuce), make it a pasta dish or like me, I just eat it as is.

Ingredients:

oil for sauteing
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 pcs. boneless chicken breast, cubed
1 small can of sliced button mushroom (Shiitake mushrooms can be used)
1 tetra pack all purpose cream
3-5 tbsps. oyster sauce ( amount will depend on your taste)
salt and pepper

1. saute and sweat garlic
2. add chicken pieces until slightly browned
3. toss in the button mushrooms
4. mix in a pack of all purpose cream
5. add the magic ingredient, oyster sauce and stir well.

Easy Tuna Pasta

I prepare this dish whenever we have unexpected guests or I'm too lazy to whip something up for dinner.  It's fast, easy and budget friendly. 


Ingredients:

• 2 cans of tuna in oil ( i use a combination of one can spicy  and one in original flavor ) 
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• butter
• olive oil
• fresh or dried basil 
• pasta noodles

Cook pasta according to package instructions.   Drain the canned tuna and save the oil.  Saute garlic in butter and olive oil then add tuna.  Let the tuna absorb the garlic flavor for about 2 minutes then stir in the cooked pasta.  

Sprinkle basil and grated  cheese before serving.  

* i forgot to buy a new bottle of basil. Hence, the lack of green specks.