Domestic Arts

That’s wrapping paper?!

I don’t know about you, but we are still a young family- I don’t have a huge amount of disposable income to throw at all the beautiful home decor trinkets my heart desires. I don’t want to let that get in the way of making our house a home, so I am always looking at ways to make entertaining, celebrations and our home beautiful for less. One of my favorite things to use is wrapping paper! Let me share with you three different ways I utilize wrapping paper…

  1. As art!…There really are so much varieties of wrapping paper out there. I had been looking for a piece of art for my son’s room. We went to a boutique toy store and they had sheets of specialty wrapping paper. They had beautiful options! I loved it so much I framed it.
  2. As a table runner!… I’ve used rolls of wrapping paper cut into a table runner several times for different occasions. I don’t have a collection of beautiful linens I can pull out for several occasions, so using wrapping paper really opens up the options to create a beautiful tablescape. There are so many options on color schemes and patterns to choose from, and I know I can find beautiful rolls of paper at Tj Maxx or Homegoods. Click here to see details from this Thanksgiving tablescape
  3. To make party decorations… Specialty craft paper can be expensive, and paper decorations can add up if you want to have a big amount to make an impact. For my baby’s first birthday, I wanted to make paper decorations mixing and matching different patterns and colors. I found rolls of wrapping paper on clearance at Michaels for $0.75 a roll!!! I used it for table runners as mentioned above and to make the background for the cake table. I used the paper to make fans and wrap her name. The possibilities are endless all you need is a little creativity or Pinterest! Click here to see more from her first birthday party

Have you used wrapping paper for something different other than wrapping gifts or from the ways I already mentioned? Please feel free to share with me in the comments.

Why smoothies?!

Labor Day has passed and everyone has pumpkin on the brain. I, on the other hand, am holding on to the last days of summer. Officially summer doesn’t end till September 22nd. Living in the desert helps my attempts considering it’s 109 degrees Fahrenheit outside! The fashion girl inside me would love to wear plaid scarves and down vests and brown leather riding boots while holding a pumpkin spice latte. If I try that here, I am pretty sure I’ll DIE of a heat stroke- even if I do it to pose for a picture! Hahaha

So getting to the point of holding on to summer…so all summer and spring I drink smoothies for breakfast. Why smoothies?! My life goal is to be a healthy glowing girl with long wavy locks and hold off aging, you know like Gisele. Just radiate wellness because you have the discipline to eat plants except nightshade veggies of course, and sometimes fish, all day everyday. (I know, I know I am a dreamer considering I am 5’2″ and look nothing like her haha)
But right now you are witnessing my journey. I keep fumbling to say the least. Some days I hand make some gluten free, plant based concoction like veggie burgers, lentil tacos, and Thai vegan peanut noodles. …and then other days I am like, “babe let’s go eat street food, pizza or at a little hole in the wall.” You see I love food! I don’t drink-I don’t like it. So trying new food is my vice! Plus I love experiencing culture through food.

I know I’ll get there. I don’t want to do it as a fad. I have learned about nutrition through my chiropractors and through my own research. I do my research. I’ve tried it before for the sole purpose of loosing weight. I know about Atkins, low carb and ketosis. I lost 26lbs eating low carb when I was a teen. I’ve tried paleo recipes, and read about south beach, the Mediterranean diet, being vegan, and watched all those documentaries on Netflix. I have tried being vegan, dairy free and all organic, natural and eating no grains at all. I know I feel at my best when I am plant based , gluten free and dairy free.

I will build this life, not only to lose the extra “baby” pounds, but more than loosing weight I want to build a life of wellness. I want to learn about food and its benefits, not just for beauty but for its healing properties. I don’t want to live with restrictions but with choices. I want my kids to appreciate and respect good food, where it comes from and even learn about cultures through sampling cuisine. I don’t want food taboos just education and understanding. I.e. Why instead of eating something with ingredients you can’t pronounce, you look for the real deal.

Breakfast has been that one place where I have been able to establish consistency. I know there are many options for what is healthy. I personally have decided that I like drinking smoothies for breakfast. One of the things I have learned is, for optimal digestion it is best to eat fruit on an empty stomach since your body digests it quicker than anything else…Hence smoothies in the AM. I can make a variety of smoothies for the nutrients I need- I blend it out, pour it in a cup and attend to my kids. It’s perfect for me.

My favorite smoothies usually contain power greens, flax meal, gluten free oats (especially for breastfeeding), banana for natural sweetness, berries, and hemp protein. As fall rolls around, I don’t drink them as much anymore. The fruits I prefer in smoothies are not in season or when it does cool off I rather eat something warm in the mornings, but I want to try more seasonal smoothies this fall. Stay tuned I will share recipes with you, and tips on nutrients and nutrition that I have learned as I build this wellness for myself and my family.

BBQ Meatball Sliders

So this weekend was our daughters first birthday. See here. Since then, we’ve had several requests for the BBQ meatball recipe. Not even my mom knew how we had made these. It’s so funny how simple they are and slightly embarrassing to give out our so called “secret” recipe, but I am never one to hold out on recipes. It’s so fun to share and learn from each other. I always love learning easy tips especially for gatherings and parties. Let’s be honest, it’s not always we have hours on end to slave over the food to feed over 70 people – the easier the better!

That’s exactly what we needed for this party… simple hearty food to feed a big crowd. Instead of making the more predictable marinera meatball sliders, I wanted to make something different, so I wanted to make BBQ meatball sliders. I chose Hawaiian bread rolls because I knew the sweetness of the rolls would compliment the smokiness and sweetness of the BBQ.

So here it goes!… To make these meatballs you need to buy the Costco beef meatballs and the KC masterpiece original private stock BBQ sauce. It has to be this sauce! We bought it at Costco too. I included a picture.

You put one bag of frozen meatballs and one bottle of sauce in a large crockpot. You then remove the crockpot container from inside the crockpot and refrigerate the meatballs in the sauce all night. I think this helped the flavors marry even more. The next day you take the container out, put it back in the crock pot and cook on high for 2-2.5 hours. During your party or gathering keep them on low/warm to stay warm. They are amazing!!

There you have it the simplest recipe ever! Hahaha not homemade, but so good and easy for a party.

First Birthday Shenanigans

Our little curious girl turned one! We wanted to celebrate her life with a birthday bash that would reflect all that we love about her. She is incredibly curious, active and determined. Her personality is bright, joyous, loving and loud. Really all of that is crammed into our petite little one year old!

The theme I chose was ice cream and popsicles. I did it all in a labor of love and to be honest to nurture my love of design and party planning…I hand made fans, popsicles, ice cream cones, tulle table skirts, circle garlands, flower centerpieces and also created chandelier type hanging decor. My hubby made cake pops in the shape of popsicles and an adorable “melted ice cream cone” smash cake.

Her birthday was a shower of love over her…as those nearest and dearest to us contributed by helping my hubby and I put up the last little details, or by preparing a dish or by bringing the most beautifully decorated sugar cookies, by trying their best to corral and lead wild kids to play games, by setting up music, or by being in the kitchen cleaning and replenishing the food table. We are blessed to have a village.

I hope you enjoy the party details.












Invites and decor: Made and coordinated by me. I found blank cards at Michaels and turned them into invites.
Centerpieces were flowers in ice cream
paper cups with pictures of Aila and a little popsicle or ice cream cone and also an ice cream cone base with a ballon, set on a paper runner.

Menu: BBQ meatball sliders, mini BLT’s, Croissant chicken salad sandwiches, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, spinach dip, onion dip and salsa. The drinks were tea and different flavored punch in drink dispensers.

Desserts: popsicle cake pops funfetti flavored, ice cream sundaes with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and sprinkles, and frosted sugar cookies in the shape of cones and popsicles.

Entertainment: games and a piñata

Favors: the sugar cookies and bubbles in the shape of a popsicle.

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Around here, when it comes to food (and everything for that matter), we try to make the best healthy choice that fits our lifestyle… In other words, whatever an almost 3 year old will like too. Because let me tell you, my boy started out eating hummus, and baked salmon amongst other healthy dishes we placed before him, but now he loves to throw around the word “Yucky.”

For him it’s not a matter of not liking something, but not being in the mood. He’ll eat greenbeans one day, and the next, they will be gross! Although he won’t touch hummus anymore, there are some dishes that he loves any day, and I can’t complain because he loves quinoa and broccoli and smoothies. He loves oatmeal, and he loves these oatmeal cookies.

These are great to make ahead and take with you on the days you can’t sit down and eat a bowl of oatmeal. You can eat them room temperature, or we like to reheat them in our toaster oven.

These are super tasty. I found the base recipe on Pinterest-it was 2 mashed ripe bananas and 1 cup oatmeal. You drop the cookies on a cookie sheet and bake for ~15 min at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can add anything to this base recipe. I’ve made them by adding different ingredients…like applesauce, nut butters, chocolate chips, trail mix, chia seeds,cranberries, raisins, etc. You can make so many different combinations. (A little side note when you add more wet ingredients like a nut butter or applesauce you need to add a little more oats) The recipe I share here is our favorite go to combo.

 

 

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups of gluten free oats
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter (our favorite taste is with peanut butter)
  • 2 ripe mashed bananas (the riper the better)
  • 1/4 honey (sometimes we leave the honey out, the bananas add enough sweetness for our liking)
  • 1 cup of raisins
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees  Fahrenheit.
  2.  In a mixing bowl, combine mashed bananas and oats.
  3. Mix in the peanut butter. I use a soft spatula to mix everything together.
  4. Mix in the honey and cinnamon and finally the raisins.
  5. Grease your cookie sheet or use parchment paper.
  6. Then use a cookie batter scoop to drop  batter onto cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. These cookies don’t expand much if any. If you don’t have a cookie batter scoop, drop about 1tbsp of batter. (We like smaller almost bite size cookies)
  7. Bake for ~15 minutes, let cool and enjoy!