Summer Grilling {Kabobs}

These are so colorful and fun! The perfect summer meal. Fill your skewers with all sorts of vegetables in season!
Kabobs are easy, just a little time consuming with all of the cutting and marinating. I used green peppers, onions, and pineapple along with the beef and chicken breast.

Soaking the skewers overnight in water prevents them from burning when on the grill. Load them up with your favorite meats and veggies and grill to perfection!

I have a couple combinations for marinades that I think are keepers. Thanks for looking!

Our Beef Marinade
(I use this for roasts and steaks as well)

2 c. hot water
1/4 c. beef base
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. vinegar

Marinate 4-8 hours.


Our Chicken Marinade

1 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. Italian salad dressing
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Marinate 4-8 hours

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More Owl Wall Decor {my sister's!}

Look at this darling room!

My sister, Stacy, is amazing at arts and crafts. She can free-hand pretty much anything. My boys still have super cool trinket boxes that she painted for them when they were younger. She saw the tree that I made in Kaylee's room and made some for her children's room as well!

I just had to share her version. It turned out amazing and I love everything about it:

the color scheme, the size, the owls! I think it is safe to say that I like it better than my version!

Look at that super cute framed wall art!

She did all of this with one day to spare from the arrival of their new baby girl! What a beautiful room!

Summer Grilling {Squash}

Up until this year, I HATED squash. Any and all of it. We recently joined a produce co-op and were given some of this pattypan squash in our bag. I didn't want it to go to waste so I decided to grill it. The owner of the co-op told me how she did it. That night I went home and gave it a try.....wow. I am so glad that my taste buds have matured since I was a child. I'm not saying that I like squash 100%, but I do love GRILLED squash!
Thinly slice your squash into desired thickness. I did pattypan squash and zucchini and made mine VERY thin so as to cover the flavor with seasonings the first time, lol. Since then I have gradually made it thicker since I discovered that I like the flavor.

Brush with olive oil (on both sides) and sprinkle with sea salt and garlic powder.
Preheat grill to HIGH heat and grill until it has browned to your liking. I like mine nice and dark.

Jazzed Up Flip Flops

Kaylee LOVES flip flops. She is always wearing a pair of them...usually her own, but not always. I went to Target to get her another pair and they didn't have anymore in her size that were girlie colors. I love brown, so I went to the boy's section and got her a pair of brown ones and figured we jazz them up a bit.
I cut the back strap off because she likes to put the flip flops on herself. The back strap just gets in her way.

My friend, Lisa, gave me a bag of these fun little embellishments a few years ago. I'm not sure what they are called, but they are great! I've used them for cards, church handouts, a couple of scrapbooking pages, and I still have a TON left. They were perfect for these little flip flops.

I covered the strap with some permanent bond glue. It takes about 8 hours to dry, but those little pretties are not going to come off. Ever. Then I randomly stuck the embellishments on and let them dry.

How easy is that? I think I need a pair for myself. My brown ones have seen better days. I don't know why I hang onto them so long, they are cheap!

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Summer Grilling {Corn on the Cob}

Our family LOVES to grill out! We don't claim to be experts, but would still like to share some of our favorite "recipes" for the grill. Enjoy the season!

Grilled Corn on the Cob

We live in Ohio. There is an abundance of corn here in the summer and fall and that is ok with us! Last year Derrick started grilling it and we had it weekly. It is very simple to do and has great flavor.

Preheat grill to HIGH. Place desired amount of corn on the grill and cook for 5 minutes. Turn each ear over and cook another 5 minutes.

It will look like this and that is OK! The corn doesn't blacken on the inside. It steams while the outside chars. You can shuck the corn and place it directly on the grill, but we prefer this method. It keeps the corn moist and doesn't burn it.

At this point you can let the corn cool, then shuck it or shuck it while it is hot. Shucking it while it is hot is quicker. Just use gloves and have a bucket or trash can outside with you.

Place corn back on the grill and add your finishing touches. We like butter and Johnny's Seasoning Salt.

Grill, rotating the corn so that it doesn't burn, until a few kernels are brown. This gives it a wonderful sweet grilled flavor.

The perfect side to any summer meal!

(grilled squash....coming later)

Sharing this recipe at Somewhat Simple

Taco Pizza

Our family loves this pizza. Top it with your favorite taco condiments and pig out!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Brown 1 lb. or ground turkey or beef (we only use turkey over here, but it really doesn't matter). Add 1 packet of taco seasoning and cook according to the packet.

When it comes to pizza crust, it again doesn't matter, but here is our favorite.

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

courtesy of Allrecipes.com

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45
degrees C)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round.

Roll out your pizza crust and place on a lightly greased pizza pan. Poke holes in dough with a fork every couple of inches or so to prevent bubbles in the dough.

Spread 3/4 cup of ranch dressing across dough (this will be your sauce).

Top with meat, then 2 cups of shredded Mexican cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is golden on the under side.

Let cool 10 minutes then top with your favorite taco fixings!

Adding a Little Style to Kaylee's Room!

Right before Kaylee was born, I painted her room a really pretty green. Celery green. It matched the shabby chic rose bedding that I bought for her crib, but that's as far as I got with any sort of decor. I've been wanting to do owls in her room for a long time and when I saw this idea on Brittney's Budget Crafts, I got started!! It was perfect! We are a military family and one thing that is certain about being in the military is that you are going to move.

I didn't know that you could use spray starch to apply fabric to a wall. It worked great! I sprayed the fabric for the tree until it was SOAKED, applied it to the wall (it's a little tricky, but straight pins help hold it into place) and let it dry completely. To remove it, just peel it off! My boys thought that the tree needed a hole in it for an animal. So I hot glued a piece of black felt on it. They want a squirrel to live in it, but I haven't figured out how to make a cute squirrel to put in it...yet. They also thought I should add a few little birds. I think I might later on. I love having input from my kids!

Brittney cut out her tree in one piece. I used brown scraps so mine is actually several pieces. The branches are all serperate and just over lapped. You can kind of see that in the photo above.
 

These little owls are made with my Peel & Stick Decals trick that I shared on my blog a couple of weeks ago. They are made with cardstock and contact paper. Removable as well. The pattern for the owls is actually a pillow pattern. I just cut out the pieces using paper instead of fabric. The only change I made was to add wings. The pattern didn't have wings and I thought my little owls needed some. I put the owls together using a glue stick, then mod podged them onto some contact paper. When they dried, I cut them out and they became peel & stick decals!

I had some fabric that I bought awhile ago. JUST ENOUGH to make a little valance. Barely.


I think it is looking really cute so far! And I haven't had to spend any money except for that piece of fabric that I bought a couple of months ago. Eventually I'd like to make her a blanket for her toddler bed, but since she is still in a crib, that can wait.

Chocolate Cream Angel Food Cake (Fat Free!)

I haven't done much in the way of blogging lately. We had family visiting from Alaska and Oregon and had such a great time. The previous posts were things that I had scheduled to just randomly post. Things I was saving for a "rainy" day. I have a few more lined up to post throughout the summer months as we will be in and out of town and playing at parks, local farms, the zoo, etc.

But I do have something new to share. It is a recipe that I made last week while our family was here! This cake is amazing!

Chocolate Cream Angel Food Cake---Fat FREE!

Yes, that's right. Just look at all of that guilt free chocolate cream! I first saw this recipe on my friend Brooke's blog. It looked amazing! I knew I wanted to make it while we had company.

I came up with my own spin. A simple fat free version which makes more room for a big scoop of death by chocolate ice cream next to that slice of cake ;)

The original recipe calls for heavy whipping cream. I wanted to use cool whip just to simplify things. Brooke and I weren't sure how the cool whip and cocoa would work out...if it would be sweet enough or the right consistency. But it turned out great! Yippee!

Chocolate Cream Angel Food Cake

1 angel food cake (I made mine from a boxed mix)

12 ounces fat free Cool Whip

1/2 cup baking cocoa, SIFTED

Gently fold baking cocoa into Cool Whip until it is completely incorporated. Frost angel food cake with cream and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Chocolate curls are optional. I went a little crazy with them, lol. They are just fun. Simply peel a Hershey's bar with a vegetable peeler. I think I only used 1/3 of a chocolate bar for the cake.

This cake received rave reviews from everyone. I will keep this idea for easy chocolate cool whip in the future for recipes like my cream puffs, etc!

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Pie Crust Cookies

To me, pie crust is the best part of the pie! If it is GOOD pie crust! My mom used to take the dough scraps and make cookies out of them. I still like doing that.
Roll out the dough, cut into shapes, spray with butter flavored cooking spray, sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar and bake @ 425 for 6-7 minutes. My kids like these just as much as I do! :)

Fun & Funky Seat Organizers!

Tutorial HERE.

With 3 kids, things like long road trips are getting a little more uncomfortable. We are gearing up for a 3500 mile road trip this next week and so I thought I'd make the kids some funky seat organizers to hold some of their things. It doesn't create a lot of extra space, but I thought they'd be fun and functional for the kids.

I found a fantastic tutorial online and got started!

I love this fabric. Our friend in Kodiak, Shelley, made the boys travel pillows for our trip to Ohio last year. She sent me the extra fabric. There was enough to make each of the boys a seat organizer. I added a layer of orange fabric that I had to make them a little more sturdy. They are going to be holding a lot of toys!

I sewed on the pockets, and divided them accordingly. I followed the exact measurements for the one in the tutorial, but you can make as many pockets as you need.

The finished product! I hope the kids like them!

There is a band of elastic that goes around the seat bottom so that they are kept away from dangling by the kid's feet and I made button holes so that they attach under the headrest. Taking those headrests off was a two person project. Why didn't they make the release buttons on those ones? Yikes!