5 Minute Chinese Soup

There's a few things I like about winter, the first snowfall (the flakes of snow are usually big and almost flutter to the dry ground; it's really pretty), and the last snowfall (I'm too cold to think it's pretty anymore).  Also I really love soup!  It warms me from the inside out.  So when I seen this Pin for a quick Chinese soup I had to try it.

This soup called for baby bok choy but I had just used mine up, so I threw in a combination of spinach and kale.  It also called for 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce, I just had regular soy sauce, so I put two tablespoons of that in.

 

Basically chop up your bok choy and green onions (or in my case kale and spinach too), start to heat your chicken stock in your pot and throw everything in till your noodles are cooked.  I used  oriental style instant noodles for mine and they cooked within two minutes.

 

Spoon into bowls and enjoy!

Here's my version of the recipe for you to print.

Secret Hollow Book

I have wanted to make a hollow book forever now!  I love the idea of hiding something special right on your bookshelf.  I also have a slight obsession with antique books.  When I say slight I mean a serious obsession!  I have to be careful walking into the thrift store because I usually end up walking out with a vinyl record in one arm and a Dickens or Austen in the other.  But please don't worry, I didn't destroy an antique book for this project.  You may have noticed I tore out some pages from a Sherlock Holmes book for my DIY wall art project.  I had this in the back of my mind as a future project at the time.  And this book is by no means an antique.  I think it was printed in 1984 or something.  

Here is the link for the step-by-step. 

Here's what you need for the project.  Plus patience, lots of patience! 

First lesson learned from this project, DO NOT buy the 2 pack for school glue from the Dollar Tree.  It smells awful and the glue had separated.  I didn't even know that was possible! 

First step is to use plastic wrap to protect the cover and a few of the first pages from the glue.  Then you close it and brush glue all around the outsides of the pages.  I did this pretty liberally.  

The moisture makes the pages spread so you need to weigh it down while the glue dries.  In the tutorial they use a 5 kilo weight.  My stand mixer was the heaviest thing we could find.  I laughed every time I saw it!  

Now people, listen up!  The tutorial says to leave it to dry 15-30!  That is crazy!  There is no way the glue will dry that fast.  I let mine dry over an hour and it was still damp.  You'll see what happens if you don't wait.  Honestly, if I do this project again I will let it dry overnight! 

So, I don't have any pictures of the cutting of the pages process.  This is because it was incredibly frustrating!  It was frustrating for three reasons.  The first is that my knife was really dull, I need a new blade.  The second is that the tutorial suggests that you first draw the rectangle that you want to cut away, then use a drill to drill a hole in each of the four corners.  The corners were the hardest part to cut away so I can see how this will be very helpful.  Finally, the third reason was because my glue wasn't dry after the hour.  So I had sticky fingers and the pages were not staying together.  Also, the little shreds of paper got stuck to the outside of the book!

Once you have the hollow compartment cut away (you can make it as shallow or deep as you want/need) you need to glue the inside of the compartment.  You also have to take one of your saved pages that you protected with the plastic wrap and glue it over the hole.  This didn't make any sense to me until I got to this stage.  It's because you need to put glue in the inside of the book at this stage and you obviously don't want plastic wrap glued to the book.  You'll cut your compartment out of this page when everything is dry.  When you are all done, put your weight/stand mixer on the book again and let it dry overnight.

Here's my end result.  See the little bits of paper all over!  I was really disappointed.

My inside compartment isn't that pretty either!  Use a sharp, sharp knife.  You'll be glad you did!

Here's the book on my shelf.  At least it looks good from this angle! 

 I like this project!  I got the job done in the end.  But the tutorial really needs updating.  Give it a try, but don't do what I did!  LET THE GLUE DRY!

Warm Artichoke Dip

There are lots of artichoke dip recipes on Pinterest and this one is too, but only because I pinned it.  It's so fast and so good.  I'm pretty sure I've made this so often that every one of my friends has had this appetizer (maybe twice).  There is always someone asking for this recipe once they taste it.  I know you'll love it too.  I usually try to keep these ingredients on hand because it is such a quick and delicious appetizer to whip up last minute.

 All you need is a can of artichoke hearts, a container of cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, a little butter and garlic, a small casserole, and a quick sprinkle of paprika for color (optional).

 

Let the cream cheese sit on counter a few minutes to soften, this step will make your life a little easier.  Once softened spread whole container with the back of a spoon into your casserole dish.

 

Open and drain can of artichokes, chop them up into bite sized pieces. Mince a garlic clove (I tend to use one and a half cloves).  Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large measuring cup or microwaveable dish (I do this to cut down on dishes, but you could melt in a smaller dish and add to your artichokes later).

 Add artichokes and garlic to measuring cup and mix it around with the melted butter.

Spread the artichoke mixture evenly on top of your cream cheese.

Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese on top.   I don't measure here, so I probably end up with a bit more cheese than that.  I just try and lightly cover the artichokes with cheese.

 

 Then sprinkle with a bit of paprika (I used smoked but regular will do).  It's really just for a bit of color and totally optional.  When your ready to eat just microwave for 1 minute or until warm all the way through.  It's usually about four minutes for my microwave.  Serve with Triscuit thin crisp crackers or a nice baguette.  I guarantee this will be a hit at your next gathering.

Delicious!

Great on baguette

 

or on crackers

 

Here's a printable recipe for you.

Sweet & Sour Chicken with Sriracha

I've been on a bit of a Chinese chicken kick lately!  My husband keeps asking when I'm gonna stop.  My answer is always "when Pinterest runs out of Chinese chicken recipes for me to try."  This sweet & sour chicken pin looked really good but when I clicked through to the recipe I immediately started editing the recipe in my head.  Here's how it went...

Here's your ingredients... The first obvious change I made was adding Sriracha to the sauce recipe.  The second was reducing the sugar.  The recipe called for a whooping 1 cup of sugar!  Let's not forget people that there is a ton of sugar in ketchup.  I reduced the sugar to 1/4 cup.  The last change I made to the ingredients was using garlic powder instead of garlic salt.  I never use garlic salt because I like to be able to control the amount of salt in my recipes. 

So the first thing you do is cut up your boneless skinless chicken breast into bite sized pieces.  In a bowl mix together 3/4 cup cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.  Add in your chicken and gently (to avoid getting hit in the face with a plume of cornstarch) stir to coat. 

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Heat up 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Break 2 eggs into a bowl and whisk until smooth.  When the oil is good and hot start dipping the chicken pieces into the eggs and toss into pan.  It's best to do this in 2 or 3 batches so you don't overcrowd your pan.  The egg causes the chicken to stick together.  Cook for 2 minutes per side until golden brown.  Place on foil lined baking sheet.

Put your chicken in the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes.  This is a little different from the original recipe.  I wanted it to cook faster and hopefully get the chicken crispy.  So I turned up the heat and baked it first with no sauce.

For the sauce in this recipe I strayed a bit from the original.  For starters I cooked the sauce a bit before pouring it on the chicken.  So in a small sauce pan combine 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup ketchup, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sriracha.  If you want to kick up the heat a bit more, add more sriracha! Go nuts!  Bring the sauce up to a boil for a few minutes, at least until the sugar is dissolved.

After the chicken has cooked for 10 minutes remove from oven and pour sauce over.  Toss the chicken until evenly coated in sauce.  Return to oven and cook for 5 minutes.  Toss and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve over rice.

We really enjoyed this chicken!  I really think the sriracha made all the difference.  If you use hot sauce a lot I definitely recommend giving it a try if you haven't yet! 

A bit of a warning about this recipe, the chicken really doesn't get all that crispy.  In the original pin the pictures really make the chicken look crispy.  But honestly unless you use a deep fryer you're never going to get that crispy chicken that you get from a Chinese restaurant.  If I find a way to do it without a deep fryer, you'll be the first to know. 

That being said, this chicken was delicious, I definitely recommend giving this one a try.  Here's a printable for my kicked up version.

Pinterest Tip Of The Day

Pinterest is so great.  You can scroll through endless recipes, DIYs and different ideas, pinning them to your specific boards so you can find them later.  But have you ever searched through your boards for that recipe that looks so delicious or that DIY you couldn't wait to try, clicked the pin to take you to the instructions and ... Nothing!?  The link either doesn't work, is spam, or there is nothing there.  So disappointing.  This is what happened to me just the other day.  I was looking for recipes to make for the week, making my grocery list.  I came across this delicious looking recipe.

Clicked the link to jot down my ingredients and...

Nothing, just a broken link. 

That is why my number one pinning tip would be to Click it before you Pick it.  Click the pin to make sure there are instructions before you pin it to one of your boards. This will save you a lot of frustration later on. Not to mention a little less clutter on your boards.  

Coconut Oil Hair Treatment

There's something about me you should know.  I love, love, love the smell of coconuts!  It reminds me of vacation.  Which kind of makes me sad because I haven't been south in over a year now and I won't be going anytime soon.  (Pause to look out the window at the deceptively sunny sky, the 5 feet snow on my front yard and my street that has not been cleared of snow since mid-November)

Sorry I got a bit distracted there.  The point is, I love the smell of Coconuts.  But, I hate the taste of coconuts! Actually that's not true.  I do love Red Lobster's Coconut Shrimp!  I'm a complicated woman.

This week I tried a Coconut oil hair treatment.  Tessa had told me it worked really well for her so I thought "why not?"  My coconut oil is also about to expire so I thought I should use it up.  Does anyone know if coconut oil actually goes bad?

All you really have to do for this treatment is plaster your entire head of hair with melted coconut oil, then wrap your hair in a towel or a shower cap. Leave it in for at least 30 minutes and shampoo it out 2 or 3 times.

Here is a before and after pic.

My before pic is from Wednesday.  I washed and conditioned my hair as usual and blow dried it upside down with no product in it with a round brush. For the record I usually use an anti-breakage serum when I dry my hair but I wanted to keep it simple so we could really see how well this worked. So, the next day I did the treatment.  I left it in for half an hour.  I shampooed my hair 3 times to make sure there was no oil left.  There is nothing worse than washing and styling your hair only for it to end up greasy!  If it happened to me I would have quit and gone back to bed.  I styled my hair the same way as the day before.  My hair was not particularly dry or damaged prior to using the coconut oil treatment but I still noticed a difference after I dried my hair. It just felt so much smoother and softer.  I definitely give this Pin a thumbs up. 

Give this one a try yourself!  Here is the link for full instructions.

Glow Bath

I've seen this pin a billion times, so when I saw glow sticks at The Dollar Tree today I didn't hesitate to throw them in my cart (especially since I have a sick little one at home who's been fighting bath time). He won last night...not tonight, I have glow sticks!!

I showed him what we were going to do, have a bath with our "special lights".  He got pretty excited so I started the bath water, turned off the lights and started to "activate" the glow sticks.  I turned around to what I thought would be a frustrated little boy, but he just couldn't get his clothes off fast enough to get in the bath (wow!?...since when have you acquired this skill of taking off your own clothes?...BUSTED!) I think I'll be buying more glow sticks sooner rather than later, I'm calling this a great success!!

* Bonus, the glow sticks were still bright enough to use the next day for bath again!