Back Label Recipes

How many times do you notice a recipe on the back label of a jar or can and think to yourself, "That would probably be pretty good!" .........but you never end up trying it?  I have done that a gazillion times!!

I posted a monthly menu calendar on my old blog so if you had the chance to see it, you know that I have at least 30 different meals to cook.  Even then, we grow tired of it!  For the past few months, my hubs and I have been talking about why we haven't tried these back label recipes and followed it up with a review.  So today I was writing up my grocery list and noticed we had a couple of cans of Cream of Broccoli by Campbell's Soup.  Why I originally bought them? I dunno! I can't remember! BUT... I peeked at the back and I decided to try that back label recipe!

Here's the label with all the info on the recipe: (click to enlarge)

CHICKEN   BROCCOLI   DIVAN

1 lb. fresh broccoli, cut into spears or 1 pkg (about 10oz) frozen broccoli spears, cooked and drained.
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey
2 tbsp. dry bread crumbs
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Campbell's Condensed Broccoli Cheese Soup
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

1. Place broccoli and chicken in 9" pie plate. Stir bread crumbs and butter in a small bowl.
2. Stir soup and milk in small bowl until mixture is smooth. Pour over broccoli and chicken. Top with cheese, if desired. Sprinkle with bread crumb mix.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F. about 25 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

Results:  It was pretty good!

The label states that each can serves 4 people.  There's four in my family and we had my nephew over for dinner last night so I had to use two cans and double my batch.  Good thing I did because we ended up with only one serving left!! My sons, nephew and hubby really liked it!  This is not something that I would want to cook once a week though.  I think I would tire of the broccoli cheese taste.  I did do a couple of things different.  I can never follow a recipe to a tee...  I put more milk in the soup than the label called for.  I wanted it a little more runny than thick.  I also added more butter (1/2 stick).  Next time I think I'll add more bread crumbs for more of a crunch!!  I served it over white rice and although I added broccoli to the mix, we ate them all so I added a few fresh ones just for the photo ;o)

Have you ever tried a back label recipe? I'd love to hear about it!



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Refashion a T-shirt

Hello Monday...

So, my hubs gave me a couple of t-shirts to donate a few days ago and I thought, why not try to refashion these?  There are so many ladies that refashion old, ugly t-shirts into adorable tops!  There's a site I used to go to that belonged to a young girl that refashioned just about EVERYTHING! She made bikinis, underwear, dresses, skirts and shorts out of old t-shirts! I tried to make a bikini last year but I felt that the t-shirt material was too thin and there was not enough support for my girls... I'm having trouble finding her blog as it's been over a year but I did run across another gal that has made some really cute tops out of t-shirts.  Her name is Christie at Sew What's Happening?  Check out her site!

I'm not going to post a tutorial on my refashion because like I said before, I am not an experienced seamstress and I was kinda just figuring it out as I went.  I tried to follow Christie's photos but there are a few extra steps that I had to take...

Here is a before photo. I was going to leave it just like this but then I realized that there were a couple of large stains towards the bottom.  But I didn't want to cut it there because then the shirt would be too short.  I decided to bleach the bottom half!! Yikes! I've never done that before so I didn't know what to expect!

 

I wasn't sure how long to leave it soaking so I did a quick "google" and found that if you leave it in too long, the bleach will start to eat away at the fabric.  I figured I'd better take it out.  After I washed and dried it, this was the result.

 

Not too bad.  Those crazy stains didn't come out but at least they're not so noticeable.  Looks like it's suppose to be that way! Haha!  Here is the finished result...

I cut off the sleeves and the neck, sewed it all up and added an elastic band to the bottom.  I wore it with a white tank top underneath because I don't like my bra straps showing.  I'm not "in love" with the results but it turned out ok!

Have you ever refashioned a t-shirt?

Canyon Lake

The end of summer vacation is nearing! So bummed! I feel like I ran out of time to do things with my boys.  The weather forecast for yesterday read that we were going to be having thunderstorms.  The weather is kind of tricky in Arizona.  They might say we are having a storm and it'll sprinkle for about 5 minutes and it's done.  Mother nature loves to leave us longing for more!

I'm an Arizona native so I know that a few clouds doesn't mean a thing! We packed up some lunches and headed to Canyon Lake.  It's been years since I've been there on a weekend.  It's gets packed pretty quick and we got a late start but we were fortunate enough to score the last picnic table under one of the ramadas.

Watching the kids splash around in the water brings back so many memories of my childhood.  My parents used to take me there before my little brother was born (we are 8 years apart). I've always loved the water and I was never fearful of venturing out a little deeper than I should.  My mom would get so scared so my father decided to tell me that there were sharks in the lake and they would get me if I went out too far. That story stayed with me until I was 19yrs old when my hubs (he was my boyfriend at that time) laughed and told me there were no sharks in this man-made lake! I felt like an idiot.  Daughters always want to believe what their daddy's tell them.........

 We arrived around noon yesterday, just in time to eat our lunch.  It was slightly cloudy until about 2pm.

More clouds started to roll in and it started to get a bit windy.  The boys didn't seem to mind at all because the waves picked up too!

After a couple of hours of swimming and unsuccessful fishing, we decided to head out when we spotted some lightening east of us.  I was hoping to get some good shots on our drive down the windy mountain before the rain caught up to us.

My goal was to get some daytime lightening shots.  I pulled over when we got by the beautiful Superstition mountains just outside of Canyon Lake.  The sky to the west of us was glowing light but the sky to the east of us was quickly turning black.

I waited here for about 10 minutes, hoping for some lightening........ Score!

Drove down a little ways and ran across this little church... it was starting to rain, lightly, but the rain drops were huge!

You can see here that the rain was sweeping its way across the Superstition Mountains as they are hardly visible anymore!

Monsoon season in Arizona is so beautiful.  Besides the Fall season (which doesn't last very long), I have to say monsoon season is definitely my favorite!

What's your favorite season where you live?

Refashion Summer Dress

Yesterday I went through my closet and found some dresses, shirts and T-shirts that I no longer wear and I tried to figure out how I could refashion them.  One of the dresses I selected seemed to be the easiest fix... I bought it a couple of years ago and it goes down to about mid thigh..  For some reason, it seems too short to me now so I didn't wear last summer and I haven't been able to wear it this summer either.  I love the print and the blue is really pretty and I knew for sure that I was not ready to give this dress up!

 

It's a Mossimo dress I bought from Target

but I can't remember the price.

I decided to cut off 10 inches, hem it and wear it as a cute shirt instead!

I am far from being a seamstress so believe me when I tell you that I was a bit frustrated at times.  I have a very difficult time sewing on a curve.  I know that there's probably a trick to it but I've never been taught and I've never asked.  I'm amazed I followed through with it because I'm that type of girl that wants to get it done quickly and easily!  I do have to say I was pleased with the results :O)

Have you ever cut the bottom off one of your dresses and worn it as a shirt?

iTechnology!

I'm a pretty basic gal and if it wasn't for my techy hubs, I'd probably still be writing checks to pay bills and watching T.V. with a foil antenna.  I see new gadgets all the time but I never long for them.  My hubby and I have been together for 22 years, met in high school... he's the one that introduced me to ATM machines, cell phones, computers, and Cd's back in the early 90's.  I finally broke down and let him get me a laptop for the first time about 4 years ago only because my dinosaur of a computer had finally quit! Later on came the iPhone which he forced me to play with at the Apple store and, of course, I fell in love with it because of how beautiful your photos look on the display.  He then surprised me with an iPad this past Mother's Day... not your typical gift, I know.  It was very difficult to accept and I begged him for a week to take it back!  Now my four year old Dell laptop is on it's last leg and he's trying to convince me to let him buy me an iMac. Ay-Ay-Ay!

Now if you took my iPhone and iPad away from me I think I'd die! It's nuts how we so quickly depend on these items for everything! But thanks to my iPad, I felt motivated to dust the cobwebs off my desk in my craft room and start creating again.  My newest obsessions, pinning like crazy on Pinterest and creating affordable outfits on a site called Polyvore. I know I'm not actually "creating" anything but Polyvore is a fun fashion site that allows you to put outfits together and you can even buy the items if you'd like.

Today I will be refashioning a dress that is a bit too short and turning it into a cute shirt.  Wish me luck, I am an inexperienced seamstress!

Have a wonderful Friday!

Such-a-Quitter!

Yes I admit it! I'm a quitter... or, is it considered quitting or just putting it on the back burner til it peaks my interest again?

What am I talking about? Everything.... photography, painting, drawing, sewing, crafts, jewelry, cooking, fashion, nail art, scrapbooks, pretty much everything artsy that I've jam packed my craft room with. When I discover something new, it completely envelopes me and shortly after, I'm moving on to the next thing. But I do have to state, that eventually I circle back to my other hobbies.

 

So here I am, attempt number "Quatro" at blogging.  I quickly grew annoyed by my other blog's name.  I hated saying it and I hated having to spell it out.  I also think it was hard for people to remember.  I wanted it to be simple and I decided that I didn't want my name in the title of my blog.  I needed a new name and there is one that has stuck with me for the past three days... Hello Monday.  How did I come up with that?  I get a bit impatient when I get an idea. I'm not the type of person that says, "I'll start Monday" or "Maybe next Monday".  Monday's always seem to be the best day to start something for most people even though it's the most hated day of the week.  Fortunately for me, I'm a SAHM so I can start any day... So today, is my Monday!

So out on a limb I go!  I'm posting to nobody and hoping that somebody finds my little corner and becomes my first new follower.

I promise to share with you my roller coaster life with photography projects and jobs, art projects, new discoveries, holiday crafts, and everything in between.

Cheers ;o)