Simple "I-Don't-Have-To-Think-About-It" Baked Ziti

Confession time: I like cooking delicious dinners for Hubs and "Peep" (as my dad is calling her), but I hate having to constantly reference a recipe all the time.

I much prefer those times when I can just throw something together willy-nilly without thinking about it and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the end result will be amazing. This Baked Ziti does that for me.

Pregnancy Survival Kit

 
When my sister-in-law was pregnant with her oldest (my nephew, Jordan), I remember wanting to buy her something to commemorate the occasion. No, I didn't want to buy HIM anything; everyone does that. And, as cute as those little onesies are, what is a newly pregnant mom supposed to do with it when all she wants to do is sleep and stop feeling sick?

How to Plan a Perfect Wedding (in Half the Time!)

When D. and I got engaged on April 8th, 2007, I knew I was in for a whirlwind of wedding plans, but I had no idea how stressful it could be. It was my first wedding (and my last!), and all of the wedding timelines I found online were over the course of a year.

A whole year to wait until I was married? No, thank you. I wanted to be married NOW, danggit!

But of course I didn't want to get married over the winter when it was cold (even in Florida, we get pretty cold weather in January/February), and getting married too close to Thanksgiving or Christmas was out of the question. So that left October, which meant ::gulp:: 6 months to plan a wedding. Not a backyard wedding or an elopement with a little party afterward. A full-on, cut-the-cake, hire-a-band, wear-a-crinoline type wedding.

Can it be done?

Spoiler alert: It can. While working full-time.

Easy, Cheesy, Calzone Pizza

A few months ago, I added calzones into our dinner rotation. I used a great pizza crust recipe, I used ricotta and mozzarella cheeses like a typical Italian place, but there always seemed to be something...off. 

Either there was too much crust and not enough toppings, or the flavor was just too flat. I even tried dipping the calzone in garlic butter, but it wasn't the same as those amazing calzones we get from our local pizza place.

And then I had a brainstorm.

Homemade Goo Gone

Mason jars are mad popular on Pinterest.

Seriously, if you've spent more than 5 minutes browsing through Pinterest, chances are—amid the mustaches, baby pictures, wedding photos, and Nutella recipes—you'll see at least 6 pins featuring Mason jars. 

I love them, too, because I think storing pantry staples and greens in a Mason jar is a much more attractive option than a frumpy zip-top bag or dirty Tupperware container. And when your pantry and fridge are attractive, doesn't that make cooking (and eating) more enjoyable? 

But we don't have room in our budget for a pallet (Ooh! Pallet crafts!) of Mason jars...especially when you can get the same thing (basically free) from your recycling bin. 

I have now saved about 5 glass containers that held everything from pasta sauce to maple syrup. The only problem is the labels. Not only do they look ugly, they keep you from seeing what's inside and mentally throw you off when trying to take "what should we make for dinner" inventory. 

The solution? Homemade Goo Gone!

Chicken Apple Sausage

I'm so proud of myself, guys. I developed this recipe on my very own!

It was inspired by a recent trip to Cape Cod. (Sandwich, Massachusetts, to be exact. Yes, that is the real name of the town.) A breakfast place we went to offered chicken apple sausage instead of regular sausage, which always thrills us. We LOVE sausage, but no longer eat pork. You wouldn't believe how few places have turkey or chicken sausage on the menu. Even Publix's chicken sausage is stuffed into a pork casing.

I came home from that trip with total culinary inspiration and whipped up a batch of chicken apple sausage patties for dinner the other night. I took one bite and was SO proud of myself!

Do DIY Cleaning Products Really Work?

I like to think I hit a healthy medium when it comes to being "green." I drive an SUV (not even a hybrid one), but I get on my husband's case a bit for wasting paper towels and foil. So when it comes to cleaning, I'm all about DIY cleaning products because they're cheap and the ingredients are readily available. The whole "non-toxic" thing is an added bonus. But more important to me is cleanliness. After all, if you're not getting your house clean, does it really matter how much money you're saving?

Somehow, I stumbled onto Melissa Maker's blog over at CleanMySpace.com. And lemme tell ya. This lady knows her stuff. She actually owns a cleaning company in Toronto, but decided to put her expertise on the web where everyone can benefit. I trusted the cleaning maven to tell me that DIY products were the bee's knees, but also wanted to try it out for myself.

My Secret Formula for Perfect Homemade Pizza

I've been trying out homemade pizza a few different ways lately, trying to see what the best/tastiest/easiest method would be. We tried it on the grill (HARD!), on an upside-down baking sheet (like a DIY Pizza stone) and on a pizza pan. I tried different recipes and different methods of stretching out the dough.

Ladies and gentlemen...I've discovered my secret formula!

Christmas Decorations!

I spent ALL DAY decorating for Christmas yesterday. And when I say "all day," I really mean it. I started around 10am and finished decorating the tree around 9:30pm (with breaks for cooking meals and eating and watching old episodes of '30 Rock' on Netflix, of course). Much of this time included a lot of pre-planning for organizing my decorations a little better when I put them away at the end of the month. Our guest room closet is literally just the Christmas decoration closet because there is no room for anything else. I thought if I put things in clearly-labeled plastic totes we could put everything in the attic and leave the closet free for guests. Now we only need some attic stairs....

How "Doctor Who" Changed My Life

When I first started watching the long-running BBC series "Doctor Who," it was—how do I put this?—a tumultuous time in my life. I had just lost my 4-day-old daughter, I was recovering from a C-section and couldn't drive. So once my husband had gone back to work, I had a lot of free time on my hands. Now, normally this would be a blessing. But when you're grieving, free time is the enemy. I now had plenty of time to think about how sad I was, how much pain I was in, how my future was completely blank. I wish I could say God pulled me through (and I guess, ultimately, He did and will), but at the time, I was still super angry at Him and we weren't quite on speaking terms.

I had seen a lot of buzz about Doctor Who on Pinterest and figured it might be something I was interested in, so I gave it a shot. The first few episodes were a little (okay, a lot) cheesy, but once it hit a stride, I was hooked. And I think it was more than the plot or the characters...it spoke to me where I was and taught me some things.

Three-Ingredient Caramel Apple Spice

Several years ago, my friend Jennie got me hooked on the Caramel Apple Spice from Starbucks. As a non-coffee drinker, this heavenly nectar is like the balm of Gilead during a time where Pumpkin Spice Latte fans take over. My then-boyfriend worked at a coffee shop and asked why I didn't just start making them at home. "It's so easy," I believe he said.

It so is.

How to Use Pinterest to Make the Holidays Less Stressful

There are only 12 more Saturdays until Christmas. You're lying if you say that doesn't freak you out.

But wait a second. Christmas should be the most magical time of the year! With sugarplums and fairy lights and sleigh rides (although here in Florida, our "sleighs" have wheels cuz no snow). I love Christmas and I love being able to fully enjoy the season. But for me, December 1st is when the alarm in my head goes off and I start to think, "Ack! Christmas is only 3 1/2 weeks away! I need to go shopping!" and every spare minute is spent either driving from store to store or racking my brain thinking about what to buy.

I always tell myself I'm going to start shopping early, but let's be honest. That NEVER happens. This year, I decided to use some of my favorite things to help me plan WAY ahead of schedule: Pinterest and my favorite word processing software.

DIY Laundry Detergent

I realize I'm probably the last Pinterester on the planet to tackle the project of making my own laundry detergent, but if you've ever researched it yourself, you'll forgive me. There are a TON of laundry detergent (sorry, laundry soap) recipes out there, and each of them had their pitfalls. I got so confused and frustrated over the couple of days (yes, days) it took me to sift through the information (and I'm still probably missing out on something). So, to make it easier on you, I broke down my search into manageable bites.

DIY Belt Day!

I had decided earlier this year that I wanted one of those wide elastic belts to wear over a sweater or tunic dress. I had found a cute one with flowers on it at the mall for about $10, but decided against it, for whatever reason.

Then, I found Pinterest. Hallelujah.

How to Create a Cleaning Schedule that Works for You

Now that I have a lot more free time on my hands and needing to be distracted from my internal monologue (that's another post for another day), I came up with my own little cleaning schedule. If you're a Pinterest addict like me, you'll have seen one or two of these. They're all different, but basically the idea is that every day you have a small list of things to clean in your house that allows you to cycle through a week or month and keep your house sparking and shiny.

These are great, but the problem I kept coming across was having the schedule not apply to my house. Besides, in a house with only two people, I found a lot of the "daily" tasks a little excessive. We don't need to vacuum every day or take out the trash every day. So I decided to make my own. I'll include my list below, but first I wanted to show you how to do your own. I found a ton of different cleaning schedules, but nothing with a tutorial.