Creative Chaos

Pickle This!

2010-09-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Pickled Jalapenos!

Now I don't normally go for spicy, but these have a perfect balance of sweet and spicy. Due to my allergy I'm limited to one or two of these at a time, but man are they good! This pickling recipe can be applied to many different veggies, so don't let your fear of spicy hold you back! Especially if you love bread and butter style pickles. Just sub-statue the jalapenos for any of your faves, such as cauliflower, carrots, or the basics like cucumber and okra. Ok, on with the show...

Here is today's cast:

Jalapenos (Enough to fill your jar I used about 1lb.)

1 Cup water

1 Cup Vinegar of choice

(I recommend apple cider for a sweeter B&B pickle or just plain white distilled like I used for this version)

1 Tablespoon Pickling spice

1 Teaspoon mustard seed

2 Tablespoons Sugar

2 Tablespoons Dried Onions

3-4 Cloves Garlic

2 Tablespoons peppercorns. (I used black but any color will do.)

2-3 Bay leaves

Pack the jalapenos in your jar.
In a small saucepan, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 5 minutes. (This will bring out all those wonderful flavors in the spices.)
Pour the hot pickling liquid over the jalapenos and let it rest for a few hours. Shake it up a little so that the peppercorns and now re-hydrated onion are evenly distributed.
If you like your pickled peppers on the crunchy side, you can begin to eat them after only a couple hours. As for those who prefer a softer texture, let this sit for 4-5 days before enjoying.

That's it! Seriously, its just that easy. Now get out there and start pickling!

Perfect (& Perfectly Easy) Pizza Sauce

2010-09-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can Stewed Italian tomatoes.
1 Tablespoon dried onion.
1.5 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 Teaspoons garlic powder
2 Teaspoons sugar
1/2 Teaspoon salt
Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Ok, this has got to be one of the easiest recipes I've ever made. You can make this days or weeks in advance if you decide to preserve/ freeze your sauce, and it only takes 3 steps...

1.) Strain and crush the can of stewed tomatoes.
2.) Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to completly combine.
3.) Pour mixture into jar and store for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or up to a month in the freezer.

*Note: I have also used frozen whole tomatoes as an alternative for this recipe. After they go through a thaw I peel and crush and add some dried Italian seasonings and I cook them of the stove top for about 5 minutes or until they are mushy. It's not the same taste, but it's a great way to use left over tomatoes if you've had a huge crop this season.

Next time... we will work on spicing up our lives with some pickled Jalapenos!

Bassic Pizza Crust

2010-04-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

We love pizza in our house, but we DONT love paying for delivery. So, if your like me and you still want your guilty pleasures, I'll be posting my favorite pizza steps over the next few days. We will start with the bassic, and that is the crust.

Now, I know what your going to say "but bread making is hard!" trust me, you can do this, it's a lot easier than you think!

Lets get to it!

Here is today's cast:

# 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
# 1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast
# 1 1/4 cups water, at room temp
# 2 tbsp Cooking Oil, I used Veggie oil.
# 4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
# 1 1/2 tsp salt
# Cornmeal
# Olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing bowl
# 2-3 tablespoons dried Italian herbs
#1-2 table spoons dried garlic

In a measuring cup, measure out the warm water and add the Yeast. Let this sit about 5 min (give or take) until it's all foamy and bubbly... like this...

In a bowl, stir together the flour, salt, garlic, and dried herbs.

Once the yeast and water mix is ready add in the oil...

and add to the flour. Mix this well, I had to stop at the flaky point because I didn't have enough liquid, I added 2 tablespoons more water and started kneeing at this point.

See... all flaky, not quite "dough" yet.

Flour your surface, and kneed the dough until it's a soft and smooth ball. *This is the most difficult part to this whole process...
If your doing this step by hand it should take about 5-7 min
If your luck enough to be using a standing mixer, stop the machine around 4-5 min. (just about when the dough is trying to climb it way out of the bowl)

Put the kneaded dough into a well sprayed bowl and allow it to rise for between 1 and 2 hours. *You could let it rise in the fridge over night if you need to. Just make sure to put it in the fridge with a damp towel over the top or you will have a crusty dough monster on your hands... and no one wants to clean that mess up, trust me!*

Once the dough has grown to double in size, cut the dough into either 1/2 or 1/4 size balls, depending on how many pizzas you would like to make, and what size you would like them to be.

Let them rest for about 10 min, this will make them much more work-able, trust me this is a step you don't want to skip!
Preheat pizza stone in the oven to 500F (If you don't have one of these, you should soooo.... get one, they are worth the investment!) Once it's ready to go, Slide the pizza/calzone onto the pizza stone and bake 10-15min, or until the crust is golden brown, and the cheese is all melty....

From here you have a couple of options, you can stretch and roll the dough until you have 1/4 inch thick pizza rounds, or (one of our favorites) you can roll into ovals about 1/4 inch thick and make wonderful Calzones !

Tomorrow, I will post the marinara sauce that goes great with either of these treats.

Aaaahhh!! V-day is aproaching, and I'm not ready!

2010-02-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

So... the dreaded valentines day is quickly approaching, and I know a few of my guy friends who could use a little help in the "what do I get her?!?!" department. Relax guys, over the next 2 days... I've got ya covered. Rest easy, you wont have to do much shopping, if any at all. Most of what you will find you should already have, and I will suggest substitutions just in case :)

Tonight, we will start... with dinner. Now this is where most of you start freaking... well... don't. Seriously, it's super easy, like... lazy easy, just relax and lets get cooking...

Cast:

A few slices of bacon (2 for each chicken breast)

4 boneless skinless chicken breast

1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup (10.75-ounce)*I didn't have regular cheese soup, so I used broccoli cheese soup. Worked great and tasted the same to me :)

1/3 cup milk

Either Tabasco sauce, caned diced chili, powdered chili(what I used) or anything else you have around that will give it a kick. Heck even just some salsa will work.

Pinch of garlic, salt, pepper

Step One: Preheat the oven to 400Degres F, and slap some tin foil on a cookie sheet.
Step two: Rinse the chicken, and cut it in half. Wrap each half with a strip of bacon. and pop it in the oven. Set the timer to 20 min. **Note: You can leave it whole but it will take longer to cook and be uneven. (Translation: Your chicken will be burned on the tips and raw in the middle. I wouldn't eat that, but you can if you'd like...)
I can't wait to get a bigger cutting board. RME
Mmmmm... bacon and breasts... ahem I mean... oh you know you were thinking it too! About 20 min will do. :)

Step 3: While the chicken is cooking, Put the can of soup in a pot with the milk and spices. Heat on medium (half way point on the dial) and stir. Once it bubbles turn off the heat and cover with a lid.
*it will be very lumpy at first, but keep stirring and you'll get there.

Step 4: Once the 20 min are up, switch the oven to broil (the highest heat possible) and move the chicken up a little if it's low in the oven. Wait until you see this, This is where the bacon gets crunchier, you just let it in there for 1-2 min... Seriously, don't skip this step, soggy bacon is a sin boys and girls!
*Broil setting
Sorry for the fuzzyness, Seth is still working on his camera man skills... He's getting a lot better though LOL.
Keep the door cracked so the flame stays on...
Repeat after me "soggy bacon is a sin..."
Thats it... your done... it needs nothing more! Spoon some of the cheese sauce on the chicken and dig in. See, now that wasn't hard. It took you less than 5 min of actual work to make, and just wait until you see the resulting smile on your valentine. *If you think thats a good reaction... Do the dishes... Trust me, she'll be ecstatic! ;)
Right out of the oven... I wish you could smell these.
Great with any "steam in a bag" side veggies, and you can always pop a potato or two in the microwave for a super easy side in less than 10 min.
Thanks for stopping by...
Come back tomorrow for super easy bath salts and sugar cookies!

A few good times... *aka Hallows eve photos

2009-11-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

Happy very belated Halloween! Yea, I realize it's almost been a week, I'm lazy remember? So anyway, as usual... this is a pic heavy post. The pictures start with Friday at ServiceMagic, and continue into Saturday night at a party at Annies' place. Enjoy ;)

Feel free to contact me if you would like to order prints of any of my photos.

Good morning Dr. Annie! *Muwahahaha!!!

Ah... yes... say it with me now the contractors wont get "nun" *Rolls eyes and giggles

This is Russle and Blane :D Great guys with a wonderful sense of humor :) They both work the early shift with me and make mornings A LOT more bearable.

Now since we had a Fred Flinstone (See pick above lol) we had to have a pebbles...

It had just finished snowing about 2feet the morning before... so yea... hence the jacket. Sooo cute tho :)
LOL I had to get a pic of this one to show my dad, he still says "Hello! McFly!" to this day! Such a great movie!

Loved Matts costume this year! Not what I would have expected for him... kinda makes you wonder :P

*Now... heres where we take a little break... I have a little back story to tell you. Technically all of the customer service teams (there are 4 of us) all had different costume themes... for example...

Aaron's team did pirates...
Yar!

Ahoy!

*giggle*

I love working for this company....

Robert's Team did Mario brothers...
Dustin and Scott :D They made a great Mario and Luigi

and my team... well... we were supposed to be rock stars, but only 3 of us dressed up...
A great shot of Maggie and I :)
*I just had to share that side story... thank you for listening... back to the rest of the photos lol

Scary clown!

At first I just walked right by him, but then I realized... well... peek-a-boo!
This was one of the best... I wish I would have gotten a better shot :(

This is my friend Dennis... well it's Jack but... well you get the point. Anyway, I helped make his costume... see that ginormous head? yea... I did that :D it was awesome!
And he had a grat time playing with it LOL
This is one of my favorites from that day :)

Later that night, Seth and I returned to ServiceMagic for the trick or treat walk. We had a very good time, and Seth had a blast dressing up as Frankenstein.

Mmmmm... snacks :D
Scotty went to a party dressed as a hippie... LOL love the outfit :P

On to Saturday!

Self portrait

Hooray Annie! I love this woman! She is just so much fun to be around *when I grow up I want to be just like her ;)

Everyone looooves standing in the kitchen... *one of my favorite shots of the night :)

Annie had the place all decked out! Found this guy hanging out on the fridge :)

These we a couple candle holders, couldn't really get a good shot for some reason...

This was my favorite costume of the night... Octomom ROFL
I told you it was one of the best movies! :) Hooray 80s flashback!

Lovely Ladies, with lovely costumes, one had amazing wings :)

And another was one of the hottest zombies I'd seen :)
And last but not least... These 3 costumes had me laughing all night and this was the best shot of them all :)

I really hope you have enjoyed this post :)

Snow day!

2009-10-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I'm a crummy Blogger. I've been working feverishly to get my Christmas baskets done in time, and I'm not even close :S I'll be posting some pictures of the contents of the baskes, and a toturial on how you can make your own this year. It's a great way to save money, and still give a thoughtful and indifvidual gift for everyone. :)

However; todays post... all about this beautiful snow we have been getting. Granted I can't stand driving in it, but its beautiful none the less. :) Hope my friends and family from other states enjoys these, and I can't wait to see you all over the holidays!! And now... on to the show... enjoy :)

You can't really tell, but this is a chair (1 of a set of 2) and a rolling cooler...
My back yard :)
The snow is getting so heavy it can't support it's own weight!
It looks so cool :)

The other chair...
It's so deep that you can barely see the top of my tomato cages!

Our beautiful outdoor thermomoter, Obviously it's not working properly, as it was barely 30 when I took this shot, but I couldn't resist sharing such a lovely photograph.

Soooo beautiful :)

Super Easy Smear Cookies!

2009-07-16T06:49:00.001-07:00

So, I have to admit. Even though I looove healthy food. Deep down, I'm a junk food junkie. On the plus side, I've been making a lot more of my junk food at home, and made from scratch. Translation: Less preservatives, and I can alter the contents to be healthier (If I wanted to haha). Now, no worries about this recipe being altered in any way. This is a straight up Pioneer Woman recipe, and those are very rarely altered by moi. :)

*For those of you who are not familiar with the Pioneer woman the link to her website is here. She is one of my idols, and one hell-of-a woman! :D

Today were making "spreads". For a link to the original recipe Clickie here .

First: Pre-heat your oven, to about 350Degrees , and prepare a baking sheet as normal.

Next: Gather your ingreedents (full recipe can be found at the end of this post...)
Begin mixing
First... Blend your butter and sugar, then add your egg...
blend it carefully now, no one likes a tough cookie haha!

Add the Flour...
Salt and Vanilla...
Mix until blended.
Spread the cookie batter on your baking sheet, spatulas help, but a regular butter knife would work too...
Bake for 15-20 Min. (Because I'm using a gas oven, I stick with a time that is about half way between.)
Once the "cookie" is golden brown, pull from the oven and cover with chocolate chips... this is where the ONLY variation comes in... Because I was using dark chocolate, I decided to sweeten it up a bit by tossing in some white chocolate chips.
Pop that bad boy back in the oven for about a min or 2 and watch as the melty doom ensues...
Once melted, smear the chocolate chips to coat the cookie evenly... I added extra white chips at this point for extra effect.

*Drool*
Once the cookies have cooled, cut into bars with a knife or a pizza cutter and enjoy :D
Smear cookies:

1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Margarine (No subbing butter now use the good stuff its much better, trust me...)
1 Egg
2 Cups Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
6-8 oz. Dark/ Milk Chocolate chips
3 oz. White chocolate chips.

Aspen! Happy 4Th of July

2009-07-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

*Warning this is a photo heavy entry, may take several min to load :)
Hope you enjoy!

I had an.... AMAZING weekend!
Left late Thursday, and spent a very warm weekend in Snowmass/Aspen with Scotty and his parents. :) They have a beautiful condo in Snowmass and its at the bottom of a slope. The photo opps were constant and, sadly alot of them were missed. My camera is busted... to say the least, and I had also forgotten to bring extra batteries.
RME

Here are some of the pics I did get. ;)

Water was everywhere! It also rained every day :)

Everything was so green!

More water :)

Scotty Driven through the water :P

The drive was beautiful!
Tee hee :) Hi!

The Trail

Starting with the 4th :) I love playing with the timing on my camera!

This one is one of my faves

*Boom!*

So calm the next morning :)

More Pics to come... Stay tuned

More 4-wheelin

2009-06-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Scotty and I were 'feelin some big city blues, so we decided to head up to the trails. I took my camera and tried to get some great pics. We took our time, and stopped many times along the trail. Usually we don't stop as much, but we were really enjoying the day.
Hope you enjoy viewing the photos, I had a great time taking them.
*click the images to see the photos larger*

Clouds drifting with the winds over the peaks. This was on our way back down on our way home. I put them in order of my favorite so they are out of time line but if you want to see all 130 some odd photos in order, I will be posting a link where you can find them all. :) I know I'm a dork.

Swirling winds, creating beautiful fluffy skies.

This is a shot of the town George Town from high up on the trail.
*hey! BUCKET! ha ha ha!*

Some of the fast moving waters. This was on the first stop where we rested, on the way up.
This was at the peak of the trail. We stopped for a while and enjoyed the sounds of the rushing waters.

More of the clouds swirling and whirling...

A great shot of the trail itself. This trip wasn't bad until the trip back when it started raining. Caused all the "little rocks" to stick out and create quite the bumpy ride haha.

I love this view of the Mountain, the snow looks like a zipper running right down the side.

This is my favorite of all the photos. This was back at the first stop along the waters edge. I thing I may play around with this one on photo shop a bit. I couldn't seem to get enough of the water. Of course, with all the run off this year, the sound of the rushing waters were amazing. :)

As I said earlier, here is the link to see the the whole set of images.

Click me

Cookie Cravings

2009-05-03T17:52:00.001-07:00

Scotty and I have just finished moving into our new house in Englewood. After 3 long days of packing, stuffing, and shipping all of our belonings we are now taking a day of rest. I was trying to think of a snack that would quickly pick up our spirits, and fill our tummies at the same time. As usual, I was using 2 sites at once to try and find something to strike my culinary fancy, Foodgawker.com and "stumble".

Through my clicks I came upon a wonderful little cooking blog run by a lovely young lady named Kim. www.lovintheoven.com, is the name of the site and it is full of tasty goodies and easy to make foods of all sorts (including 52 different cookie recipies *drool*) I decided to try my luck at her "Creamy Peanut Butter Cookies", the cookies turned out fantastic, and I decided I had to share them with you. Be forwarned, this post is a little photo heavy, so it make take a while to load.

"Kim's Creamy Peanut Butter Cookies":

Cast:
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
"pinch" of salt
3/4 cup Creamy peanut butter
1 1/1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Med. eggs
about 1/4 cup plain sugar for rolling

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350 dregees farenheit. (I have been so excited to try my new gas range, this is probably the 4th thing I've baked since we moved in LOL) Also, line your cookie sheats with foil and spray with cooking oil.

Step 2:
Beat together the butter, peanut butter, and vanilla extract...

Mix in both sugars, salt, and baking powder.

Wheeee!!!!!

Step 3:
Start adding the Flour 1/2 cup at a time. Eventually it will become a semi soft and very workable dough. (almost like peanut butter play dough)

Step 4:
Add your eggs, one at a time.

When it's all done it should look something like this...

You should be able to pick it up play with it a bit, but be careful, too much handling and your cookie rolling will be difficult. Step 5 Is rolling into balls...
About 1 1/2 inches each should make perfect sized cookies.
(thanks to Scotty for helping me take some of these pics)

Roll them in Sugar (this helps keep them from sticking to the pan, and also gives them an awesome crunch)
Then Put the balls in rows on the lined baking sheet...

Using a Fork, Make criss-cross marks on the tops.
Bake for 13-15 min, untill they lighten a bit and expand slightly.
Ta da!!!! Crunchy on the outside but soft and oh so cakie on the inside. :) Thanks again to Kim for such a wonderful recipie, Scotty has a new favorite and I can't wait for Seth and Papi to give them a try! :D

Happy Trails to you...

2009-03-21T19:10:00.001-07:00

So, It's late, and we just got back from a long drive up to black hawk and back. We went off road through some of the back trails, and I wanted to share some of the pics. Hope you enjoy.

We drove through a ghost town on our way to the trails. Kinda gave me the creeps...

One of the houses in the old town. I believe it was called Nevadavile, but I'm not quite sure on that. We drove through it relatively quick, but I would like to go back and maybe spend an afternoon taking some great shots. There's a lot of black and white potential up there, especially this time of year when all the plant life around it is still sleeping.

A shot from the trail we were climbing. There were a couple of spots were it got kinda hairy...

A couple of spots... full of rocks, tight bends, and random missing road. LOL Scotty was having a wonderful time of course.

We stopped on this hillside for a break from all the jostling LOL. The view was amazing, and I can't believe all the beautiful houses up there. I was just trying to keep from freaking out in the tight spots :P In all honesty though it was wonderful :)

Some of the roads we were on were still covered in snow.

All in all it was a wonderful day, we ended up going to the buffet at the Ameristar casino on our way home. I didn't get any pics at that point becuase my batteries were kaput in my camera. It was a beautiful way to spend a Saturday.

I love a good swap!

2009-02-19T17:25:00.001-08:00

I joined a knitters online swap a few weeks back, and it was a blast! The group I joined was apart of the Raverly communities and I met two wonderful women! If your not familiar with a swap, I'll break down the basics....

A group of people with similar interests (in this case knitting and beverage cozies LOL) get together online weather in a forum or on a blog list, and the group moderator (the guy/gal running the show) sets up pairs of 3 and exchange goodies related to their interest. You typically are given one person to knit/crochet for and a separate person to knit/ crochet for you. It keeps it really interesting and it's a great way to meet a lot of really wonderful people! I hope I explained it right, it's really fun and if your a fiber addict it's a great way to get new yarns for your collection and its a wonderful way to meet new people. :) Here are some pics from my swap.

First the pictures of what I sent out. My swap buddy was a young mommy, like myself, named Jen, Shes about the same age as me and she has 3 beautiful little boys. They are trying for a third, (hoping for a little girl) and just found out they are expecting! :D Knowing that she was hoping for a girl, I tried to send a little girlie energy her way with my goodies and knits. First, the yarn I picked, It's a wonderfully soft Ella rae fiber. I wanted to pick something fun and colorful :)

Next.... the star of the show! Mr. Bunnymen the pink can cozy! LOL Seth thought it was hillarious and I've already made a seccond one for the lovely Mrs. X.

And some chocolates I picked up from a little shop in old Downtown Littleton. MMMMM tasty
I also wanted to send her a special thank you for being so understanding, there was a slight delay in the package getting send due to.... well honestly I was broke LOL... so I picked up a little extra pink. ;)
I also "picked up" some local caramel and cranberry ice cream topping, but I forgot to take a picture of that before I sent it off, it was the last thing to arrive and the first thing in the box LOL.

And now... for my goodies, this partner was from Vancouver, BC. Her name is Melnida, she too has a couple of youngsters but they are almost all grown up at this point. She and I really connected and have alot of similar styles and tastes, not to mention chaotic lifes and goof ball sweeties. One of the little snaggs we ran into tho is I'm not a big soda drinker and so I asked her if she could make my soda cozy a coffee cozy... and boy did she!!! Not only did she send me a new coffee cozy but she sent me 3 new coffee cozies!!! Each one is soooo... beautiful! Almost like minni sweaters for my mugs :D
This one is my fave as you can see, It fits even my super tall travel mug in the mornings to keep that first cup extra cozy warm.
I haven't had the chance to use this one yet, It's really nice and thick, hopefully it'll fit a couple of my mugs :)
This one fit Scotty's tea mug great, (even if when you've got rum and coco instead of tea in it LOL)
She also sent me a beautiful photo album, full of amazing photographs that she and her husband snapped of some of their favorite places near their home. The photos were stunning and just took my breath away. (I'll try to scan in a few of my faves and post them later)
Inside the cover was a darling little book mark with a photograph of a coast close to her home.
She also sent 2 amazing balls of a rusty orange Italian Merino wool, I can't wait to make it into something, I can't decide what to make... it's killing me searching and searching, it' has to be the perfect... thing... maybe slippers, maybe some gloves, or a cute little hat :D hmmmm.... any suggestions?
And the last 2 items that came tumbling out of the green almost see through envelope... well they brought me to a mix of tears and giggles. One was a post card, with a lovely little note and an amazing shot of BC.
The note says..."Hi Melanie~ I sure hope you like your cozy swap package. I had so much fun making the different patterns and am really hoping one will fit on your favourite mug. Have to admit I caught the bug and have (made) my daughter a bodum cozy and 2 mug cozies using the Debbie Bliss pattern. Hopefully the album doesn't bore you to deth and the woll color is ok. Enjoy. Your swap partner, Melinda a.k.a Cluxewe"
Start the water works! Eyes watering... soo happy.... This is by far one of the best gifts I've gotten and it's perfect! The seccond item had me in stitches!!! It was...
The cutest turtle measuring tape!!! You tug on his left front foot and *click click click!* out comes the measuring tape then you push the little button on his belly and *zip* in it goes and he's back to normal! So cute!

I have to say, I'm really glad I decided to participate in this swap. I met two lovely young ladies, with stunning taste, amazing children, and a spark for life that resembles my own. :) I'm so excited I can't wait for my next swap!

I leave you all with a little food for thought for the day... be true to yourself, because you is all you truly have.

Oh happy Grammie days!!!

2009-02-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

One of my good friends at work has recently become a grandmother, and I wanted to surprise her. She has been really down on her luck lately, and I wanted to give her something to cheer her up. I decided to make her a hat and blankie combo for the new little cutie booty.

I hope she likes it :D
I think I'll make a couple more as back ups for last min baby showers
and Christmas/ birthday gifts. :D

So much energy!

2009-02-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

Monday night, Seth and I decided to play around with the camera, and see if we could get some cool action shots. I asked him "what action do you want to try and capture buddy?" and to my surprise "I wanna jump Mommy!" Sweet! This should be fun! :D Check out what came out of our little experiment..."Here I....""...GO!!!"
"Are you getting good pictures Mommy?" He says as he is still jumping up and down. LOL it was a hilarious sight I assure you. The only thing I could do to get him to stop long enough to catch his breath was to show him the pictures we had taken so far.
"OH! That's my favorite one Mommy! I look like I'm flying like superman!" :D I really love him, he keeps me really grounded sometimes, and reminds me that it's the more simple things that can really matter sometimes.

This was one of my favorites of the group, I don't know why. Maybe it's his great big smile, or maybe it's because I was laughing so hard myself. Either way, It was an awesome night.

Deadly bacon bliss

2009-01-28T04:00:00.001-08:00

So, I stumbled on this a few months back, and Scotty has been begging me to make it since. I had a few hold backs (not including the health issues involved in eating one of these things!) Click here for a link to the blog were all this madness started.

Some of the other hold ups I was facing were the fact that I've never woven food before, it seemed kinda foreign to me but that was small potatoes as I knew it wasn't rocket science. Also, came the issue of not having a pan big enough to cook the monster in. I decided to make a slightly smaller version so it would fit in the pan we do have, I only had to cut it down by a slice in either direction.

So I finally decided to give it a try and bellow you will find the cheesy fatty doom that ensues....

Step 1:
Weave the bacon in a small square in a frying pan (make sure your pan is oven safe for both in the oven and under the broiler, because mine wasn't I had to swap pans at the end, it was messy, and I would suggest just using the one if you can)

Step 2:
Fry in the oven set at 400 degrees. There was no time line on the website, so I guesstimated (basically I stood there and kept a really close eye on it) Since ovens are a bit different I would suggest doing the same, Mine was in for about 15 min but I would still stick close so it doesn't get too crispy. (you want it still slightly chewy at this point as you want to be able to roll it.

Step 3:
Cheese! and lots of it! I decided to use some deli slices I picked up just for this, but if you have shredded cheese that works awesome too :D Layer it on and...

Step 4:
Roll that baby up! Stick it back into the oven and let it get nice and crispy (at this point I raised the oven rack a level, and turned on the broiler, I wanted a nice crispy outside layer and this method worked great!)A very happy Scotty pointing at his tasty tasty treat! ( on a side note, the next afternoon, Scotty said "baby, that bacon thing you made yesterday.... yeah... it tasted wonderful... but don't ever make it again... ok? " turns out all that cheese and bacon fat had wreaked havock on his whole body and he fealt soooo bad all day. Maybe next time I'll let some of the oil drain off before just inhailing it LOL that might make a difference)

Step 5:
Once crispy, slice up and enjoy! We decided to make ours a sammich, with a little bit of mayo and thats it, hope you enjoy, I know we did :D

*one last note, to prevent your tasty doom from ending up like this, use a sharp knife instead of a cheapo like I used.

Do penguins make great projectiles?

2009-01-22T04:02:00.000-08:00

I was bored, was sick of working on my other project, so I decided to add a quickie to the list.

Scotty is a BIG fan of the computer company Linux, we use it on all of our computers, spends alot of time in the tech rooms helping out all that cute nerdy stuff. Well the Linux mascot is Tux the penguin, I decided I was going to make Scotty a penguin, something he could take to work, and proudly show his Linux pride. :D

After searching for a couple hours, the only “tux” patterns we were able to find were all for sewing and (even tho I’m a beast at knit and crochet) I’m a HORRIBLE seamstress. Never made a straight row :P Scotty then stumbled across this little cutie and decided to give him a whirl….He's a free pattern on the Lion brand Yarn website, if you like him give him a try, I'd love to see your little penguins :D

Link to the Pattern

Now, I’m making at least one (hopefully 3) little penguins for my can cozy swap partners little boys. It’s going to get it’s real first test on strength and durability (or throw-a-bility as Scotty calls it) and if it holds up I’ll be workin’ away!

Crazy for cables!!

2009-01-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

I have been learning a lot of new stitches lately, and one of my favorites has been the cable stitch! I love the twisty, look that adds so much warmth, strength, and elegance to almost any piece. These are the pictures of a scarf I put together for a friend at work. Susan was one of the first people I sat with on the call center floor in training and has been a HUGE inspiration through out my time there so far :D

I have finished it! I'll see if I can sneak a couple shots of her wearing the finished piece. See, I keep forgetting to take photos of my stuff when I'm done, LOL I get so excited I can't wait to share it with the person it was made for :P

Treasure hunts gone awry...

2009-01-20T17:58:00.000-08:00

Seth and I are big fans of treasure hunts. We like to pretend to be pirates and we make maps (usually with crayons and some colored construction paper) and we set off with a list of things to find... or errands to run ;) (makes my day 10 times easier if he thinks its all part of the game :D).

We decided to have another hunt this weekend but this time we wanted to do a photo scavenger hunt... our target... things that a pirate might like if he were living today. Basically, I thought it would be fun to walk around the mall taking pictures of pirate-ity things. Well... it went great!

We started seeing things before we even go in the front door. Used his new camera and he did most of the shots himself. Things like a large fish sculpture made of recycled bicycle parts, some hand built replica ships at an art shop, and he even got the idea of taking a picture of his lemonade... "they didn't want to be a...mmm... what was it again?" LOL "limey buddy"

We had a great time! We ate dinner, made a couple of laps around the mall, and had some me and him time :) Then.... we get home and try to take the pictures off his camera. Apparently, the cheapo camera I picked up for him for Christmas is indeed just that... cheapo. It appears that the batteries sit in there just a little loose, and when it gets jostled even just a little, it resets and wipes the memory on the camera. His poor little heart was broken, as was mine :( we had a great time! and he was really hoping to have pictures to share. Were going to try again next weekend, but I think were going to bring a different camera. I'll keep you posted, and I have some finished projects to post too!

On that note, I have finished all but one of my projects... so naturally I have started another LOL. I'm working on a hat for Scotty and it's gonna look awesome :D... if I can ever get the pattern strait... *rme*

Wholy knitting maddness!!!

2009-01-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

So, I have been knitting almost non stop since late September, and its been a whirl wind of yarn and fibers. I've made 4 scarfs (working on a 5th as we speak) 2 hats (working on a 3rd LOL) 1 shawl, and started a back pack for Seth. PHEW!!! Hopefully, I'll remember to take pictures of everything as I go along. I'm really starting to get the hang of this whole cable thing, and it's really encouraging that I'm getting all of these projects done so fast!

It's kinda silly, but i am starting to feel funny if I don't have either needles/a hook in my hand, or keys under my fingers. I love the online comunity I joined, www.ravlery.com loads of free patterns, feed back, and all sorts of tips and tricks! If you are a knitter, or just love looking at really neat home made projects check it out! :D

Is it seriously 2009?!?!

2009-01-01T10:18:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

Welcome to 2009 and may each and every one of you have a great new year. :D

I have finished the loooong scarf this morning :D First project of 2009 was also the last project of 2008 :P Love it when things work out all silly like that. Scotty and I are staying home and relaxing for the most part, Spending lots of time looking for my next pattern, and stumbling in between.

Hopefully you all have a wonderful day as well, I will be posting pictures of the completed Lawng scarf later. For now, I'm off for breakfast and some photography.

Lawng scarf is Looooo...ng

2008-12-31T15:50:00.000-08:00

So… Last year for Christmas, I received this beautiful soft and lightly colored acrylic yarn. I had received quite a few crochet based gifts last year and decided to try a crochet pillow cover with this batch. Well… it was one of my many unfinished projects and I have since decided to give it a new life.

After hours spent unraveling the previous piece I had about 5 baseball size balls. It’s a simple scarf, with a very simple pattern which I will post later once it is done. I have been working on it for about a week now and I’m down to the last ball… So I decided to finally post it. I will post more pics once it is finally complete. :D

Welcome!

2008-12-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

Hey there, and welcome to Creative Chaos. :D

So, a little about myself as an introduction. I am 26 living in beautiful downtown Denver with my boyfriend and my son (and I am sure both of them will be popping up through out the blogs to say "hi"). These boys are the stars of my life and both of them keep me as sane as possible. I work in Golden and LOVE living in Denver. Downtown can be quite... insane at times, but if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger right? If you stick around, you may just get to know a little about me, and hopefully a little about yourself too ;)

I'm hoping to post regularly, but I make no promises LOL. I'm going to use this blog to share new knitting projects, and also as a way to keep family and friends up to date on my goings on as sometimes I can be quite the anti social creature (me? wha? serious? pish!) So, stick around, I'll be posting patterns, photos, recipes, cool new sites to try and all sorts of other neat odds and ends.