Abundant Market

Starting the second Friday in June Tuscola will be holding their Second Annual Abundant Market.  They will feature; "locally grown produce, flowers, baked goods, locally produced art, quality collectibles, crafts, and more." They also may be adding entertainment and some of the downtown shops may extend their hours for those evenings.

When: The second and fourth Fridays from June-September from 4pm-8pm

Where: Downtown Tuscola at the Festival Plaza across from Dollar General

If interested in becoming a vendor the fee is $10 and it goes to the featured charity or organization of that day.

I can't wait to see what's there!

Happy Marketing!
~Tabitha~

Garage Sales

Garage Sale season is finally upon us. Now if it would only quit raining for a while so we can get out and enjoy them. The classified section is pretty much the only section I read in the paper but, as I was scanning the rest something stood out. There is going to be the first ever Garage Sale Trail held locally. The towns participating are; Tuscola, Arcola, Arthur, and Sullivan. All of these towns will be holding their town wide rummage sales from Thursday, June 10th- Saturday, June 12th. So, grab some friends, bring your Minivans, SUVs, or a flat bed truck (for the true garage sale queen) and hit up these local communities for some awesome treasures. I know I'm not going to miss it.

Happy Hunting!
~Tabitha~

Mother's Day Gift

I wanted to personalize our Mother's Day gifts this year. All of our moms like flowers so, I bought 3 sets of terra cotta pots with their plates. Then, lil man helped me pick out beautiful flowers. He chose Impatiens. Then, we picked out some paint. Of course that weekend had to be freezing cold and super windy so, these gifts truly were a labor of LOVE! Here's the finished product.

First, paint your pot and base. I chose white because it goes with everything. You can get as creative as you want. I applied 4 coats. Then, comes the hard part. I painted lil man's hands and put them on the pots. They definitely aren't perfect but, I think that's what makes them special. After the handprints dry spray them with a clear coat paint sealer. After all of that then we planted the flowers and gave them a good watering. We had my husband's family over for Mother's Day and we used them as the centerpiece on the table during lunch. I think they turned out super cute.

Happy Crafting,

~Tabitha~

What's for Dinner?

I don't know about anyone else but, I get tired and bored with making the same ol' things for dinner. So, every once in a while I come across a new and exciting recipe that I just have to try. I came across one of those yesterday and as luck would have it I had all of the ingredients.

Santa Fe Chicken

(Taste of Home, Busy Family Cookbook p130)

1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp butter (or 1 Tbsp EVOO extra virgin olive oil)
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup salsa
1 cup uncooked long grain rice (brown rice)
1/8 tsp garlic powder
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or mexican cheese blend)
chopped fresh cilantro, optional

In a large skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. Add broth and salsa; bring to a boil. Stir in rice and garlic powder. Place chicken over rice; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn chicken; cook 10-15 minutes longer or until meat juices run clear. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with cheese; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro if desired. Serves 4. Total time less than 30 minutes.

I added a couple of substitutions in parenthesis to make this dish a little more figure friendly. This is a very versatile recipe. If you leave out the chicken this makes excellent mexican rice that you could serve as a side dish. Another variation would be cutting the chicken into smaller pieces and then serving this on tortillas with a dollop of sour cream. Yum! Corn is a good side dish to serve with this. The corn makes the salsa taste sweeter. The best thing about this recipe is I only had to dirty ONE skillet. Less dishes for me!!

If you're like me and want to try new dishes head on over to your local library and check out some cookbooks or look online. I have a few links on my homepage that have wonderful recipes. Give them a try.

Happy Cooking

~Tabitha~

What's for Dinner?

It may look like plain ol' spaghetti but, it's nooooot! It's Spaghetti Squash and meat sauce. I got the recipe and fabulous idea from http://www.makeit-loveit.com/. Hers looked sooo good that I just had to try it.

Here's what the squash looks like after baking. You just dig it out with a fork and it looks like spaghetti noodles. It got an A+ from my family and added it to our menu. The hardest part was trying to cut the squash in half to bake it. If anyone has any suggestions or tips on how to make this easier I'd be glad to hear them.

Sun Hat

Boy has it been sunny lately. Little man and I have been visiting the park almost daily. We walk or I ride my bike pulling him in the trailor. I'm going to be BUFF by the end of this summer. I can't believe how much weight that thing adds to the bike. Well, the park is great but has one drawback. No shade at all! They have these lovely, huge shade trees all throughout the park but nowhere on the playground. I don't want my little one to get sunburned. Me that's a different story. I need some color. Anyway, he has a baseball cap but, that doesn't protect his ears. So, I took a trip to the Outlet Mall. They wanted $10.50 for a tiny hat! I came home frustrated and not willing to give that much for a HAT. So, I searched online for a tutorial. Gotta love the internet and other moms who want to protect their little kid's beanies. I ended up making my very first, very own pattern. That was crazy in itself.

You too can make your own pattern. For this project you need a circle for the top, a rectangle for the middle, and bigger circle for the rim.

First, measure around your child's head (circumference). Take that number and divide it by 3.14. This will give you the size circle you need for the top. Make sure to add 1-2 inches for seam allowance. You don't want it to be too tight.

Second, take that circle and make a second one that is 2.5 inches bigger around the perimeter. It will be a smaller circle inside the bigger circle. The bigger circle = the rim of the hat when you cut out the smaller circle.

To make the middle, I made a 4 inch wide rectangle that was long enough to go around lil man's head with 1-2 inches of seam allowance.

Then, sew all the pieces together. I worked from top to bottom. You can also make this hat reversible by making 2 of the hats and sewing them at the edges wrong sides together. I used leftover fabric from making him a backpack so, it didn't cost anything.

View from the top

Modeling his new hat. I love it. Now his little noggin and little ears are all safe and snug from that bright sun.

Happy Sewing!

~Tabitha~

Craigs List

So, I'm becoming a little obsessed with Craigs List. I usually have zero luck getting anything. Of course it's already gone when I e-mail about it. But, luck was with me recently. I happened to be on looking under the kids section and the first thing listed was: Free Swing Set to a Good Home. Well, what better home could it possibly go to? So, I crossed my fingers and sent a quick reply. To my astonishment the owner happened to be online and responded immediately. Within 10 minutes or so we even arranged for pickup! I was ecstatic! My great husband and father in law went and got it that week. So, I pushed my luck. I have been wanting a bread machine. I want to make my own bread because it's healthier and cheaper and less work than making it by hand. There happened to be 3 on there. Of the 3 the only one available happened to be the one I liked the best. My loving, oh so wonderful huband went and picked it up for me the next day on his lunch break. I rewarded him with of course, homemade bread. I got the thing for a steal $20. They start at $50. This one makes up to a 2lb loaf and has all of the wonderful settings like dough, etc. Here are my fabulous steals:

My little man swinging away the evening right after daddy put it together.

It is so happy in our back yard.

My new friend who is getting a lot of use already. I love the smell of fresh baked bread!

My very cute little first loaf. It was yummy.

If you like Craigslist you would probably like freecycle too. Check them out.

Happy Baking!

~Tabitha~