Projects

Growing up I loved to do projects. Projects could be as simple as sticking stickers or as complex as creating and painting custom shirts. When I started babysitting, I would make sure to bring along projects to keep the kiddos busy. Now that Peachy is getting older, it is fun to come up with projects for her to make. When we were working on barrettes from Pinterest, Peachy kept busy with a project of her own. Someone on Facebook had recently mentioned that their child had loved putting beds on pipe cleaners. I knew I had both beads and pipe cleaners and stashed away the idea for a special day. Peachy kept herself occupied for almost an hour filling up pipe cleaners with wooden beads.

Pin It! Barrettes

Have I mentioned my love for Pinterest? Oh, I have, well, I just thought that I would mention it again. (By the way, if you would like to follow me, you can find me here: Bowl of Cherrys at Pinterest I know that I am not the only one, either! I have introduced a few of my friends to Pinterest and we all love it. In fact, I think our husbands may need a support group for spouse's of Pinterest addicts. We have actually started to get together a couple times a month to work on our Pinterest projects. While the children happily play, us moms get down to the business of crafting. We all try to pick a similar project to work on so that we can share supplies. (Quite often we also bring Pinterest recipes to share.) So far we have done wreaths, coaster, and most recently barrettes. I will try to get pictures of everyone else's projects, but for today here are the barrettes that I made along with the Pinterest link.

1. and 3. Cereal Box Bow
2. Ric Rac Flower
4. Flower Barrettes from Make Bows and More
5. Pinwheel Barrette

Garden Shed

I am not the only one who creates around these parts. Mr. Cherry enjoys building and working with his hands as well. Unfortuantely, he spends much of his time at work, which does't leave much time for playing in the workshop half of the unheated garage. Last summer he was able to build our deck almost single handedly. (See here, here, and here.) This summer he took on a project of a smaller scale, literally. He built a small shed to fit under the deck. It houses our grill and tools along with various gardening equipment. I think that it is cute, but don't tell him I told you that!

Foodie Friday: Taco Pizza

I love the Pioneer Woman. I love her writing style. I love her down-to-earth attitude. And I LOVE her recipes. I saw her taco pizza recipe and my heart was hers. I have made this pizza two times and it was like falling in love all over again. (Although I think this time may have won out because I was able to use lettuce, tomatoes, and cilantro from our garden!!) Thanks, PW, I love you!

Taco Pizza ala Ree
Ingredients

• 1 batch crust (Instead of using PW's crust recipe, I went with my old stand by.)
• 1 can (14 Ounce) Black Beans
• 1 teaspoon Taco Seasoning (prepared, Or Make Your Own)
• 1 bag tortilla strips (Instead of frying my own tortilla strips, I bought mine in the salad section of the grocery store.)
• 1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar
• 1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 head Green Leaf Lettuce, Sliced/shredded Thin
• 2 whole Ripe Tomatoes, Diced
• ½ cups Cilantro Leaves
• Spicy ranch dressing (Ree makes her own sauce with sour cream and hot sauce. We have this dressing on hand, so this is what  I used.)
• 
  
• Directions
• Make dough according to directions.
  Pour black beans into a saucepan. Add seasonings to taste and heat up beans over medium-low heat. Use a potato masher to mash the beans to desired texture. Continue cooking/heating beans over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until no longer runny (should be the texture of refried beans.) Set aside.
  Place oven rack in the bottom position in the oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  With hands, spread pizza dough on an oiled baking sheet, making sure it’s relatively thin. Spread layer of refried beans all over pizza crust. Sprinkle mixed grated cheeses over the top. Place pan in the oven (in the bottom half of the oven) and bake for 9 to 12 minutes. Watch it to make sure crust doesn’t burn.
  Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle on shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and cilantro leaves.
  Drizzle pizza with ranch.
  Sprinkle with tortilla strips. Cut into squares and serve immediately with good quality salsa.

Red Letter Mail Day

 When I went to get the mail the other day the mailbox was very full. It was so full in fact, that I had to think if I had gotten the mail the previous day. I had. It turns out that three random packages all arrived on the same day. The best part about the packages was that they were all freebies.

The goods: a box of cereal, two diapers, and an energy efficient shower head.

Not a bad haul for one day.