What I Learned Wednesday #12

Welcome back to What I Learned Wednesday #12!  Another Wednesday!  It comes so much faster when Monday is a holiday and I'm totally ok with that because it means we're closer to the weekend!  I have 3 fabulous features for you today!

 And if you haven't seen it yet, I'm doing a giveaway for an awesome book named Etude!  Click HERE to enter to win your own copy of the book!

Features

Homemade Donuts @ Bloom Designs Online

Monster Magic Bars @ The Farm Girl Recipes

Quick Photo Editing @ Accidentally Wonderful

And don't forget to grab a featured button!

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Homemade Pizza from Scratch!

My brother-in-law is a great cook and just likes to whip things up!  We've been over to his place a couple of times for family dinners and he's made homemade pita chips and homemade pizza using the same bread dough. And it's a great bread dough recipe that I want to share with you!

A few weeks ago, I made a homemade pizza for dinner using this bread dough recipe.  It's super easy and makes a ton so you can use it for more than one pizza or to make pita chips, bread sticks, french bread or anything else you can come up with!

Here's how my pizza turned out.

Preheat the oven to 440 degrees.  I started with the bread dough that I made earlier that morning.  It takes 2 hours to rise and then you can refrigerate the rest.  I floured the surface of my counter and grabbed about 1/4 of the dough.  The dough was a little sticky so I added a little more flour to it so it was easier to work with.  Then use a rolling pin to flatten it out as thin or as thick as you like.  We like our crust a little thicker.

Place the dough on your pizza pan.  Push it out with your fingers to get as close to the edges as you can without tearing the dough.

 Put on all your desired toppings.  I just used spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, green bell peppers, and olives.  As you can see, my husband doesn't like olives so they were only on my half of the pizza.  More for me!

Bake for 10-15 minutes until the dough begins to turn brown and the cheese has melted.  The time depends on how thick your crust is.

It was delicious!  We ate almost the whole thing that night and then made another one a few days later with more of the leftover dough.  Mmmm, so yummy!  

And here's the dough recipe:

3 ½ c lukewarm water
1 tbsp yeast
1-1 ½ tbsp salt
7 ½ cups flour (mine was really sticky so you may need a little more)

Mix all ingredients together and let rise for two hours (dough should be sticky but not so sticky that you can’t handle it.)  And that's it!  So easy!

And don't forget I have a great giveaway going on for the book Etude by Melinda Morgan.  Click here to enter.

- Alexis

Etude Book Giveaway!!!

"The cold rain drummed the memory of the horrible crash into my mind - mom dead, my hand ruined. Then a year later, coming out of a coma to realize my full-ride scholarship was gone and I'd never play the piano again.  But the worst of it was nobody believed me - the voices, someone holding me in the mangled car, mom being ripped away from me.  So here I am in Anderson, Wyoming, living with Uncle Connor while Dad's on assignment in Europe.  School started and I met Jonathan, amazingly handsome Jonathan.  He made me feel like life was beginning again - until I discovered that mom's death wasn't an accident, that a supernatural realm was trying to draw me into a coterie hundreds of years old, and that my friend Eric wanted to destroy me.  Not the easiest way to begin my senior year.."

This is the overview of the book entitled Etude written by Melinda Morgan.  It's a book that I just finished and could not put it down!  I wasn't sure I would like it at first.  I will admit, I have not read the Twilight books because I typically don't enjoy that type of reading.  But as I started reading, I got completely sucked in!  The characters develop and unfold in such a way that you want to know more about them and how their stories intertwine.  The "supernatural realm" mentioned in the overview is actually a really interesting topic that I haven't seen discussed very often in young adult books.  I was very curious to learn more and see what Melinda's ideas were.

This romance fantasy has received great reviews on Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Amazon.  You can find it on book websites as well as an e-version.  Etude is the first book in the Birthright Legacy Series.  Melinda is currently writing the next book Intermezzo which I cannot wait until it's published to  know what happens next!  

And the great news is, Melinda has given me a copy of Etude to giveaway to one of you lucky readers!  Here's how to enter:

Mandatory:

1. Like We Like to Learn as We Go on Facebook or GFC and leave a comment letting me know (or if you already do, just let me know in a comment).

Additional Entries:

2. Like Etude on Facebook and leave a comment letting me know. 

3.  Follow me on Pinterest and leave a comment letting me know. 

The giveaway will close Wednesday June 6th at midnight and I will announce the winner Thursday June 7th using a random number generator.  You can also browse the inside of the book here.  Good luck!

Gardening Tips 101

A few weeks ago I did a little presentation to a group of women on basic gardening.  Now I don't claim to be an expert at all, but growing up my family gardened in our backyard and Alan and I had our own garden at our local church building for the last 2 years.  Sadly since we moved, we don't get to garden this year.  Nothing beats fresh fruits and veggies!  If you have an opportunity to garden, DO IT!  It's totally worth it!

Here are some basic gardening tips to help you get started.

Q. When should I plant my garden?

Now is a great time!  For those who have a colder winter, usually the rule is to plant after Mother's Day.  To be safe and miss any weird late frosts that can kill your plants, plant after Memorial Day.  But do it soon!  If you're planting with seeds the frost won't affect them and you should be good to go!


Q. What do I do to take care of my garden?

If you plant your own garden, water every day for a few minutes.  If you plant in a community garden, sometimes they have a watering system or drip line which will take care of the watering for you.

Make sure you weed at least once a week!  The longer you wait, the worse it will get!  It’s better to get the little weeds each week than try to fight huge ones. 

Check on your garden at least once a week, twice if you can, so your vegetables don’t get too big before you harvest.  Otherwise you’ll end up with squash the size of baseball bats and weeds the size of zucchini plants.

This was the start of our garden 2 years ago.  We used drip lines through a water system provided by our church.

Q. How do I start my garden?

1. Use a hoe to loosen the soil.

2. Take out any weeds, rocks, or left over roots.

3. It's a good idea to use fertilizer, but if the soil is rich in your area, it's not mandatory.  We planted one year with fertilizer and one year without and we had great success both years.  

4. Plant seeds and plants in rows (read the directions on each package - it will tell you how deep to plant something and how far apart the plants need to be planted).

5. You can use starter plants if you're worried that your seeds won't grow.  If you want to plant tomatoes, I would definitely use starter plants for those because they take extra time and effort to get to the plant stage.  Most other fruits and vegetables you can start as seeds or bulbs and they grow pretty quickly.  Make sure you buy tomato cages to support your tomato plants. We bought the smaller cheap cages which work for a while, but the tomatoes quickly grow out of them.  I would suggest investing in bigger and stronger tomato cages.

6. Make sure you water well those first few days after planting!  Don't over water and drown them, but they need the water especially at the beginning to help them grow.

Q. What grows well in a garden?

I would suggest looking up gardening websites in your local area to know exactly what grows well in your part of the world.  

If you live in Utah or California, these plants typically do well: asparagus, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, eggplant, endive, kale, onion, parsley, peas, rhubarb, root vegetables, Swiss chard and tomatoes. I would also add squash, pumpkin, zucchini, and peppers.

Here's what we plant in our garden and have had really good success with:  zucchini, squash, tomatoes, pumpkins, bell peppers, and onions.    

If you plant zucchini, you'll most likely have it coming out your ears, so here's a great zucchini bread recipe that you can use to help use them up.

And it really comes down to trial and error as you garden - learn as you go!  Hopefully this can help you get started and after this year, you can see what would work better next year or be daring and try a new vegetable.

Good luck!  And Happy Gardening!

- Alexis

Embellished Letters and Gallery Wall

I finally finished the second gallery wall I've been planning in our new apartment!  This one went in the Bammer's room.  I had a lot of frames from her old room that were scattered around and I bought a few wooden frames from the Michael's which are only $1.  I painted the frames white and printed three prints from Naptime Delights.  She has some awesome free prints that worked perfectly for my daughter's room!

Once I got all the frames and pictures ready, I also bought 2 big white letters from Michael's for my two daughter's first initials and here's what I did!

First outline the letters right side down on the paper you want which is also right side down.  

Then use a crafters exacto knife to cut out the letters.

Then mod podge onto the letter, place the paper cut out onto the mod podge, then mod podge over the top.   The paper rippled a little when I did it - I'm not an expert mod podger by any means.  Maybe it would have been better to let the paper to adhere to the letter first and then mod podge on top once it was dry.  I'll try that next time.

Then I embellished the letters with rosettes, ribbon, and buttons.  I hot glued them down once the mod podge had dried.  I made the rosettes out of an old white dress shirt that my husband was throwing out.  Upcycling!  Woot!

And here's a close up of the wall!  I'll need to switch out some of the pictures once our second baby is born, but I love how it turned out!

- Alexis

What I Learned Wednesday #11

I felt like this week went by so fast.  I can't believe June is right around the corner!  I'm hoping my baby will come in June even though she's due the beginning of July.  Knowing my luck she'll go all the way to her due date.  ;-)  But she'll come when she's ready.

I'm excited for another week of link ups!  It's really so hard to choose features because everything is so great!  Here are the features for this week.  And don't forget that they'll be on my pinterest board and to grab a featured button below!

Most Clicked (There was a tie!)

Cheap and Easy Shabby Chic Decor @ A-Hooah's-Housewife

Summer Fun Kit @ Crazy Little Projects

More Features

Boys' Reversible Cuff Pants @ Sew Easy Being Green

Cupcake Rose Bouquet @ A Baker's House

Popsicle Stick Art @ The Well Crafted Home

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Mother Knows Best, For Now

When my daughter first started crawling, I couldn't wait for her to walk!  No more dirty hands and knees and constantly wiping them off.  She could wear shoes so her socks wouldn't be dingy from the dirty floors.  She took a few steps for about a month, but once she decided to walk, she walked.  And now that's all she does.  And it's great most of the time, but other times...

So I was walking into one of my favorite department stores and realized they didn't have any carts where a kid could sit.  I know they have them, but there weren't any in the front of the store.  Bummer.  So I walked through the store with my daughter in my arm and thought she would be interested enough in the dress shirts I was going to buy for my husband.  Ha, boy was I wrong!

We walked to the men's department and she looked at a few shirts and then she started to get a little daring.  She would walk to another display area or behind a rack.  I would call her and she would look at me, but didn't get far.  But there's something you need to know about my daughter, it doesn't take long before she gets brave and wants to see and touch everything.

So I'm walking around, as is she, until I can't see her anymore.  A little fear and panic strike as I think of what she might be getting into or if someone has snatched her.  I walk around all the displays quickly and there she is, in the women's lingerie section.  For some reason she liked looking through the bras.  So I grab her and bring her back and she is not happy about that!  It really surprises me how strong she is as she kicks and flings her head into my collarbone which I'm sure hurts her just as much as it hurts me.  I try holding her, but with my pregnant belly, an enormous diaper bag, and trying to look at shirt sizes, I have to put her down.  And off she goes between the clothes racks.

Of course she thinks it's hilarious as I chase her around.  So I just make sure I can keep an eye on her and try to shop quickly.  Next thing I know I find her in the lingerie again.  We do this a few times before I decide I can't look anymore and what we have is just going to have to be good enough.  So I grab her and we walk to the front of the store as she kicks and screams.

And then when I got to the line, there was a woman checking out with a children's cart and no child!  I was like, seriously?  That could have saved me so much frustration and more time to look for the best deals and colors that would make my husband look like the attractive business man that he is!  Ah!

And I figure, this isn't the end of it.  As long as she lives under our roof, I'll be chasing after her.  Keeping an eye on her at all times and telling her to come home.  And although she may kick and scream and so want to be free, I know, for now, that I can see the potential danger ahead and I know that I'm keeping her safe.  And as she gets older, I'll have to let her be a little more daring as she ventures farther from her mother.  I'm sure it will be so hard for me to let go, but it has to happen.  As long as I teach her how to be safe and where she can turn to, I have to trust that she will make the right decisions.

It's important that we teach our children correct principals and then let them figure things out.  Of course we start out in a controlled environment at home, but as they grow, they start to learn on their own and you have to trust them.  Teach them, then trust them.  Luckily I have at least 17 more years to teach my daughter, but I know it will go fast and before I know it, she'll be off on her own.

- Alexis

A Lazy Day

I woke up this morning and turned to my clock and I couldn't believe my eyes!  9:25!  It couldn't be...and then I started worrying about my daughter.  She never sleeps in this late.  I walked in her room and there she was, sleeping away.  So I went back to bed and just rested until she woke up about 20 minutes later.  It was amazing!  I don't think I've woken up on my own in the morning in the last year!  And it was a major blessing because Alan and I stayed up talking until 12:30 last night.

I'm now 33 weeks pregnant and I'm just getting so much more tired every day.  I can't even clean half the house without needing to rest all afternoon.  I just feel exhausted!  I'm assuming chasing and entertaining a 1 year old might have something to do with it also.

So today, I've just been taking it easy.  I was going to finish cleaning the house, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow.  I usually try to get the cleaning done before the weekend so Alan doesn't have to do it since he works so hard during the week.  But at least we only have half left and we'll do it together.  I really need to make a grocery list and and plan the meals for next week.  I'll do that next.

The Bammer finally fell asleep a few minutes ago.  I rocked her in my arms until she fell asleep.  I don't do that very often because I like her to fall asleep on her own, but I do love those few times I do.  It reminds me of when she was a little baby.

So today is a more lazy day, but I think you need those!  Especially when pregnant.  ;-)  I hope you're all having a lazy Friday too.  Maybe the rain has something to do with it.  

Animal Handprint and Family Tree

I wanted to show you the Mother's Day gifts that I ended up doing for my mom and mother-in-law.  I found both of the ideas on pinterest and was super excited to do them both!

First for my mom.  When my parents found out we were having a baby, they changed their workout room into a nursery for the grand kids.  They did a jungle theme.  My dad is really good at copying designs and repainting them, so he painted a huge monkey, giraffe, and elephant on the walls from the fabric my mom chose.  They had mentioned something about putting their grand kids' hand prints on the walls so I decided to start it for them!  The only animal sound my daughter can make is an elephant noise so I made her hand print into an elephant for them to hang on the wall.  

 First I mixed some gray paint.

Then I painted it onto my daughter's hand.

 Here is the Bammer's original hand print.

 We had to do it twice because the first one didn't come out quite as well.  But that's expected with a toddler. 

And here's the final result!  I love it and I think my mom did too.

For my mother-in-law, her posterity is growing quickly!  There are 3 grand babies being born within 4 months. So I decided to do a Mother's Day tree with the names of all her children, their spouses, and grandchildren.  I left some extra leaves to add the new names as they come, but I have a feeling we'll quickly run out of room.  Maybe by then I'll just need to make her a new one.  ;-)

 I found a tree and little birds on google images and printed them on colored paper.  I then painted the tree brown so it stood out a little more.  Then I printed all the names and "We Love You Mom" on pink paper and cut them out as leaves and glued them all on.  After I did this, I realized that the frame was 8 x 10, but my paper was 8.5 x 11!  So the outer leaves were being covered.  So I pulled up the edges and had the leaves overlap the matting.  I love how it turned out too!

- Alexis

What I Learned Wednesday #10

Wow 10 weeks I've been doing What I Learned Wednesday!  Time sure flies!  Thanks everyone for linking up every week and for all the new bloggers who are linking up.  We had our most link ups last which so far which has been awesome!  I love looking at everyone's amazing ideas.  Here are the features for this week!  And don't forget you can find all features on my pinterest board and to grab a button if you were featured! 

Most Clicked

Baby's Room Redo @ Third Time's A Charm

More Features

The Twirl Factor @ Howling at the moon

Edible Chalkboard @ Hungry Happenings

I Spy Puch @ simply this and that

Big Sibling Kit @ Ducks in a Row

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Penne Rosa with Shrimp

The recipe I tried making this week was the Penne Rosa with Shrimp that I found on pinterest from a blog called Back to Her Roots.  I love shrimp in my pasta so this was a great dish and it has less calories since it uses Greek yogurt and lots of vegetables!  It was inspired by the Penne Rosa that you can find at Noodles and Company.  My sister loves that place.  Probably a good idea that she's been working there the last 3 summers. ;-)  So here's the recipe of the week that we tried!  Today I'm making a homemade pizza with a great dough recipe that I'm excited to show you next week!

Penne Rosa with Shrimp
Source: Back to Her Roots

Ingredients

12 ounces penne pasta 

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes

8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

2 medium tomatoes (about 1/2 lb.) chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 cups fresh spinach

10 ounces medium raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined (I just used ready to go frozen ones)

1/2 cup marinara sauce

1/3 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cook penne according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.
2. In a large skillet with a lid, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add in garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for 2 minutes or until garlic begins to soften.
3. Add in mushrooms, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to release their water. (Mine were from a can so I just cooked it more for about 3-4 minutes)
4. Turn heat up to medium-high and add in shrimp. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and opaque.  (Or if frozen, until they are warm) Remove from heat, add in spinach and cover skillet. Let spinach wilt for 2 minutes.
5. Remove lid and place skillet back over low heat. Add the penne, Greek yogurt and pasta sauce. Stir until sauce is mixed well and all pasta and veggies are coated. Heat until just warmed through. (The spinach will wilt more as you continue to warm the dish) Divide into pasta bowls and serve topped with parmesan cheese. 

Enjoy!

- Alexis

A Great Mother's Day!

I hope all you mom's had a great Mother's Day and if you're not a mom, that you still enjoyed a day of womanhood recognition and made it a great day for your mom.  We spent the weekend with mine and Alan's moms and Alan made Sunday a special day for me!

Sunday morning he made me breakfast - french toast, homemade caramel-type syrup, strawberries, vanilla ice cream, and whip cream.  It was soooo yummy!  He also took care of the Bammer most of the day so I could just relax.  He did all the morning dishes and made me a wonderful gift that I wanted to share with you!

He has his handprint, the Bammer's hand print, and we're going to put our baby's hand print on it once she's born too.  He also wrote the poem on it which is amazing!  I didn't realize I had married a natural poet until I saw some of the things he's written.  Wow!  I am terrible at poetry.  It just doesn't flow for me.  But Alan is great!  We're going to hang it in the Bammer's room as soon as I'm finished with the collage.  It's almost done, I'm excited to get it up and show you!  But here's Alan's poem that I hope you enjoy as much as I did.  The first stanza is about mine and Alan's hands and the second is about mine and my children's hands.

Mom's Hands

by Alan Tanner

First touch pinkies

Then hold

Eventually interlock

Sometimes squeeze

Always flirt

Nervously pray

Happily receive a ring

Sacred embrace in a special place

Before you know it there are hands inside

Then outside

Tiny hands clasp bigger hands

Gently caress

Tirelessly feed

Patiently wipe

Instinctively comfort

Lovingly teach

Tirelessly entertain

Patiently wipe

Knowingly correct

Lovingly teach

Endlessly clean

Eternally love

Quietly worry, wonder, inspire, and pray

There is still a lot in store for these mother's hands,

but our six hands would be nothing

if it weren't for your two.

We love you!

- Alexis

Playing with Chalk

I always loved playing with sidewalk chalk as a kid so I thought my daughter would enjoy it too and she does!  It took her a little while to figure out that you use chalk to draw with and not to eat...and she's still working on that.  But she gets really excited when I get them out to play with!  We head outside our apartment and draw together and I have to remind her not to stick them in her mouth.  But it's a lot of fun and fun activity for her!  And sometimes she crawls in it and it gets all over her clothes, but at least it comes out easily!  Here are some pictures I took a few weeks ago.

     

                         

 

Enjoy the Springtime!

- Alexis