Faux Zinc Letters

If you've been hanging around Pinterest or the blogosphere, you've probably run across a few knock-offs of these fun Zinc Letters from Anthropologie.  (Like: here and here and here and here and here.)  This is understandable because, a) those letters are pretty cool and, b) they're also $18 a pop.  (Which is kind of pricey if you want to, oh, I don't know, maybe spell something with them?)

As much as I enjoyed those projects, I never really planned on making my own.  It just wasn't on my project radar, so to speak.   That is until one day when I spied these in Target's "One Spot" bins.  (Curse you, Target!  I cannot walk through your doors without getting sucked into the One Spot's vortex.)

The letters are three dimensional and made of cardboard.  They cost a dollar apiece.  The weirdest part is that there were exactly two left.  

And they happened to be my initials.  

If that is not a sign from the One Spot Gods I don't know what is.

I brought them home and they sat in the garage for awhile while I pondered their fate, but in the back of my mind I knew what I wanted to do.  You see, some friends of mine are having a little party.  It's a spray paint party.  And while I've already established that I am kind of a lousy spray painter, I also love a good party.  So I decided to start with a small project, something that would at least get my foot in the door.

How fortunate that I already had these cans of spray paint in my garage.  The one on the right is gray primer.  On the left  is a silver metallic.  

I poked some thumbtacks in the letters to keep them elevated while I spray painted.  (Yes, they left little holes.  No, I don't really care.)

Then I sprayed a thin, even coat of the primer.  Unfortunately there must have been some dry paint in the nozzle because the first spritz blasted my "E" with little flecks of paint.  I was able to sand most of them off but since part of the charm of zinc letters is their "imperfections," I wasn't too worried. 

After the primer I sprayed a few coats of silver....

And this was the end result.  (That spot on the left side of the E isn't as noticeable in person.)

I love them and can't wait to find them a permanent home.

Thanks, One Spot Gods!

Linking:

Nothing but Net

... dot.net, that is.

That's right.  I recently made a little change to the blog.  Thanks to my brother, a software engineer who is kind of the bomb, `a casarella's new URL is:

www.acasarella.net

You can omit the "www" if you want.

(We like to keep it casual around here...)

If you're used to typing in my old blogspot domain, don't worry.  Through the magic of the internet you will be automatically redirected to the new address.

And just to keep things neat and tidy, my email has also changed.  You can now reach me at elena@acasarella.net.

I feel like such a big girl blogger.

Thanks, Bro!

xoxox

Mediterranean Chicken

With school in session I'm betting that there are a lot of parents who are looking for quick and easy dinner recipes.  Below is a recipe I shared over at The Frugal Girls last spring.  It's one of my go-to dinners and I thought I would share it here in case you missed it back then.

I consider it a "go-to" because I frequently need quick and easy weeknight recipes.  In fact (and I'm a little embarrassed to admit this) sometimes I don't even know what we're having for dinner until about five minutes before I start cooking.

This is a shameful thing for a mommy-blogger to admit.  C'mon, you guys are on Pinterest, you know how organized we mommy-bloggers are supposed be.  I should have a cute, dry erase calendar made from paint chips and modge podge that proudly displays my dinner plans for the next month.  And it should be cross-referenced with the contents of my uber-organized pantry.

But to be honest, that's not exactly how things go down at my house--though I do have a pretty well-organized pantry.

And in that pantry I always try to keep the dry ingredients for today's recipe, a little something I call Mediterranean Chicken.  (I know, it needs a better name.  I'm taking suggestions.)

Here's how I make it:

First I gather the aforementioned pantry ingredients, seen here:

 

Then I reach for one of these, a Rotisserie Chicken.

 

I try and pick up at least one Rotisserie chicken a week.  I use them in all sorts of recipes. They tend to be less expensive than uncooked chicken breasts (and they certainly meet that quick and easy criteria).

 

I simply remove the skin and carve out the breast.

 

Then I shred it up with my fingers and set it aside in a bowl.  And lest you think that I waste the rest, be assured, it all gets used.  I save the wings and legs for my daughters to eat and frequently make soup stock from whatever remains.  

Next I slice up some Kalamata olives.  (The amount depends on how much you like them.)  Now I know the jar says "pitted," and I hate to be a negative Nellie, but do not trust them!  The jar of pitted Kalamatas frequently contains at least one pit--and I have the crown to prove it!  So take the extra two seconds to slice your olives and double check for pits.  Your teeth will thank me.

Next I drain a can of artichoke hearts.  I buy the ones that are sliced into quarters.  

Then I add the Kalamatas and set them aside.

While those are draining I pour a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes into a saucepan.  I don't drain them, though I suppose that you could. 

Next add the artichoke hearts and olives to the tomatoes.

If you've ever visited my other recipes, you know that I come from a long line of non-measurers.  Today I have decided to be polite and at least attempt to measure my spices.  First I add roughly a tablespoon of dried oregano...

...then about a teaspoon of garlic powder.

I also put in a little freshly ground pepper but that picture seemed to have disappeared.  

(I don't add salt because the other ingredients are pretty salty on their own.)   

Next I add some capers 

(a task I could not do without the little jar opener doo-hickey pictured below).

Want your own doo-hickey?  See the "Products" tab above.

I'd say that was one heaping teaspoonful.

Then I stir the ingredients over medium heat until they're heated through.  

Yeah.  I probably should have used a larger pot...

While those are warming I make a cup of rice.

At this point I gather the rest of my ingredients: the chicken (which I reheat) and some feta cheese.

 I put the rice in the bottom of a large bowl...

...cover it with the reheated chicken...

...add the tomato mixture...

...and sprinkle with Feta cheese to taste.  (I'm from Wisconsin; I like a lot of cheese.)

And that's it!  Dinner is served.

 It's quick, it's easy and most of all, it's tasty.  

So perhaps you might consider adding it to your paint chip calendar?  I'd be so pleased if you did.

Lunch Box Smoothies

My older daughter just started sixth grade.  That means, not including this year, she has been in school for six years.  At roughly 180 days per school year, that comes out to 1080 days that she has spent in school so far.  And the number of times she has bought her lunch in those 1080 days?

Once.

That's right, I made the other 1079 lunches.  Her sister, who's in second grade, has also bought only one time, bringing her homemade lunch total to 359.

Needless to say, I'm always looking for ideas to spice up their lunches.

So I was intrigued when I happened upon this post from Jessica at Stay at Home-ista:  One Week in Kindergarten Lunches.

I love her lunch ideas and recommend that you go over and check them out.  I was particularly intrigued, however, by her choice of packaging.  She packs many of her daughter's snacks in Ball Freezer Jars, the type of jar one uses when making freezer jam.  

I sent her an email asking about it and this was her reply: "I love the ball jars since they are dishwasher, microwave, freezer safe and they keep things from getting squished."

Well it just so happened that I had some freezer jars tucked away from a little freezer jam experiment of yore.    (Did you know that I have a peach tree?  And that the peaches all tend to ripen within a four week period?  And if you don't pick those peaches they go splat all over your patio?  Well they do.  And thus, my moderately successful attempt at making freezer jam.  But that's a post for another time.)

And those little jars got me thinking.  They're so... cup-like.  And that made me think of drinks.  But these are cups that you can freeze, so that got me thinking about frozen drinks, like smoothies!  (Because my daughters' school really frowns upon Pina Coladas...)

And that's when it hit me:  I could make smoothies, freeze them in the Ball jars, put them in my daughters' lunches in the a.m. and they would likely be defrosted by lunch.

Yesterday was my maiden run.  

My smoothies include Greek yogurt, OJ, frozen berries and bananas.  I would give you measurements if I had them.  I tend to eyeball it.  One Magic Bullet's worth of smoothie fills two 8 oz. Ball jars.  I made two batches and sent each girl to school with a smoothie. 

The verdict when they got home?  An enthusiastic thumbs up.  Both smoothies were perfectly defrosted by noon and my girls were the belles of the lunchroom.  

So--what are your favorite lunch box ideas?  I'd love to hear them.

('Cause by my calculations, I still have over 3000 lunches left to go...)

(I had to include pictures of both lunch boxes.  Fairness is everything...)

Pumpkins that are Blingy (Not Stringy)

Sometimes it's the simplest ideas that are the most mind-blowing.  

Like the fact that you can decorate a pumpkin without actually having to carve it.  

This was quite the revelation for me.  H-U-G-E.  

You see, I have a serious aversion to pumpkin guts.  Just the thought of those stringy innards sets off my gag reflex.  

(Shudder.)

So last year, when I started seeing uncarved pumpkins on Pinterest--pumpkins that had been painted, bejeweled, Sharpied and more--I filed those ideas away for this fall.

Then, last week, as I walked into my local grocery store, I saw these little cuties just waiting to be bought.  I wasn't 100% sure what I wanted to do with them so I threw them in an old vase until I was ready to make my move.

And frankly, they looked quite pretty just the way they were, but I wanted to do more.

A day later I found myself at Michael's where the "Recollections" line of embellishments were 50% off so I picked up  few packs of "Bling on a Roll." 

Which I really want to rename "Bling on a String."  

Because it rhymes.  

And because I've got a string theme going on here.

Working with this stuff was so much easier than working with individual sticker-gems...

...at least it was easier for my purposes:

I just wrapped them around my pumpkins for a little fall pizazz...

...no pumpkin guts required!