Newborn Crochet Vest- FREE!!

Materials: 4 ply yarn. Hooks: Sz J/6.00mm and G/4.25. Yarn Needle

Stitches to know: Chain (C), Double Crochet (DC), Slip Stitch (SS), Half Double Crochet two together (HDC2TOG), Ribbed Stitch. (Fpdc, Bpdc, repeat to end. Links are provided)

Ribbed Stitch helpful websites:

Explains ribbed stitching: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-crochet-poststitch-ribbing.html

Explains how to do front post: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-work-frontpost-doublecrochet-  stitches.html

Explains how to do back post: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-work-backpost-doublecrochet-stitches.html

The chain up will count as a stitch. Total stitch number will be in parenthesis at the end of each step.

WITH G HOOK:

1. CHAIN 40
2. Dc in the 4^th chain. Dc to end. Ch 2. Turn. (38)
3. Ribbed stitch into the Dc from previous step. Links posted above on how to do this. In last Dc in last stitch. Ch 2. Turn. (38)
4. Ribbed stitch again into the previous step. (Once you are done with your first row of ribbed stitching and turn, you will look at the stitches the way they appear. If it is now a Fpdc, you will do another Fpdc into that stitch. If it looks like a Bpdc you will put a Bpdc into that stitch.) Dc in last stitch. Ch 2. Turn (38)

* You should have 1 row of Dc. Then two rows of Fpdc/Bpdc.

5. SWITCH TO J HOOK: Hdc to end. Ch 2. Turn. (38)

6-10. Repeat step 5. (38)

11. Hdc 16. Ch 2. Turn (17)

12. Hdc2tog. Hdc 14. Ch 2. Turn. (16)

13. Hdc 13. Hdc2tog. Ch 2. Turn. (15)

14. Hdc2tog. Hdc 7. Ch 2. Turn. (9)

15. Hdc 6. Hdc2tog. Ch 2. Turn. (8)

16-22. Hdc to end. Ch 2. Turn. (8)

23. Hdc 7. Finish off with a slip knot. (8)

*Now work on the other side of the sleeve part.

24. Insert hook. Ch 2. Hdc 16. Ch 2. Turn (17)

25. REPEAT STEPS 12-23

*Back side of vest.

26. REPEAT STEPS 1-10. (38)

27- 29. Hdc to end. In step 29 ch 1 instead of 2. Turn. (38)

30. Sl 6. Ch 2. Hdc 25. Leave the rest undone. Ch 2. Turn (26)

31-39. Hdc to end. Ch 2. Turn. (26)

40. Hdc 7. Sl 10. Hdc 8. Finish off with a slip knot but leave a long tail to be weaved in. Attach needle. (26)

*Match up the front and the back.

*Photo below shows what areas need to be weaved closed.

*Helpful tip: Instead of cutting the long tail, weave it in and out of just one side of the vest until you get to the area that is need to be weaved closed.

41. SWITCH BACK TO G HOOK. Add ribbed stitch to each sleeve area. There will not be specific stitches that you are able to crochet in. You will need to use your judgment as to where to add a stitch. You will do one row of double crochet, then one row of ribbed stitching. Fasten off and do other sleeve. (I had approx. 40-45 Dc around sleeves.)

42. Single crochet around neck area. (Approx 60-65 sc)

*Buttons can be added.

*Please fill free to sell your item made from my pattern. I would love it if you would mention my site for others to view my love of crafting. However please to not share or claim this pattern as your own. Give credit where credit is due. Enjoy!

Easiest Cookie Recipe....EVER!

So are you ready for the easiest and softest cookie recipe EVER? Well here it goes. I got this recipe from Mr. Craig's mama and I absolutely love it. This will cook about 2 dozen.

 There are so many different varieties of flavors you can do. Here's what I've done.
* White cake mix tastes like sugar cookies. I've added food coloring to coordinate with different holidays and also added sprinkles.Easy Peasy.
* Chocolate cake with reeses pieces in them.
* Strawberry cake with dried cranberries. It reminds me of a fruit loop taste.
* Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

All you need:
2 eggs
1 box of cake mix (ANY flavor)
1/3 cup of oil
any add ins- nuts, chocolate chips, reeses pieces, dried fruit.... SO MANY MORE to choose from.

Pre Heat oven to 375

Dump all ingredients into a bowl. Its going to look like there is not enough liquid to mix it. TRUST ME there is!

See I told you so. :) Its going to be thick like store bought cookie dough.

Roll pieces into about a 1inch ball. Your hands will get oily.

Put cooking spray on a cookie sheet. So they don't stick. I press down a little bit on each ball. Just a little so they still have a round shape.

I usually cook them using the ball method but for today I made them into hearts for Valentines Day.

Put them in the oven. For my oven- they cook for 8 minutes. I suggest checking them at 8 minutes and see if yours are finished. The bottoms will be a golden brown.

Like I said there is SOOO many flavors you could make. Hope you enjoy this recipe. I would love to hear the variations that you have done!!

"When in doubt put bacon around it" Recipe Redo- Bacon Wrapped Chicken.

Wondering where the quote from the title came from? YUP that would be from Mr. Craig as he was eating dinner tonight. Which was obviously the bacon wrapped chicken.

If you've followed me for a while now you've notices I 'redo' recipes. I don't know if Im just a rule breaker and being rebellious or if its just my creative side, but I can never follow a recipe 100% of the way. Im always switching something, I hardly ever measure (especially if its seasonings. Eye ball that shiznet) and I sometimes don't even use things that they suggest. I make the recipe MY way.

So tonight I made bacon wrapped chicken. SOOO GOOD. The original recipe will be shown below and what is HIGHLIGHTED is how I did it. This photo is not mine. I forgot to take a picture, because we ate it too fast. OOPS
Original recipe can be found HERE

Not my photo. Mine disappeared. :(

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - 2 Chicken breast (since theres only 2 of us)                       
• 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, sliced - Appox 1/4. It's really however much you want to add. So you choose!                      
• 4 slices bacon - I did use 4. 2 around each chicken breast. The more the better it will be. OBVIOUSLY.                       
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives- Did not use.                        
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup    - Used cream of celery instead. I have used cream of chicken in the past and it's just as good.    
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise  - DID NOT USE. This actually would gross me out.
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice - DID NOT USE  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper          
• pinch of salt       

• I ADDED GARLIC SALT AND  ONION POWDER FOR FLAVOR.
  
  Tip: pre-cook the bacon in a skillet until its brown but still flexible. After reading the reviews on the original website many people suggest this because the bacon was not getting cooked all the way.
                               

Directions

              

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

1. Pound the chicken breasts until flat. Put a slice of cream cheese and 1 teaspoon chopped chives (no chives) in the middle of each breast and roll up. Wrap each rolled breast with 1 (2) slice of bacon and secure with toothpicks. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, combine condensed soup, mayonnaise (Omit), milk, lemon juice (Omit), pepper and salt (add garlic salt and onion powder). Mix until smooth, then pour over chicken.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Since there is just two of us, we have a lot of the topping mixture left. So I usually pour about half of the mixture onto the chicken breast and leave the rest in the bowl that I mixed it in. Throw the chicken into the oven and get it started on cooking. When it's about done I cook up some egg noodles. I use the leftover mixture that I saved from earlier and pour that onto the noodles.

Don't forget to pull the toothpicks out before eating. Im pretty sure they wouldn't be very appetizing jabbing you right in the mouth. 

Enjoy!

Ice Ice BABY- Homemade vanilla icecream

Right now its winter time and people have a weird thing of not wanting icecream when it is cold outside. Me on the other hand can eat icecream while living in Antartica, in an igloo, sitting on a chunk of ice as a seat. Yes I love it that much and yes I will eat it at all times, ANY time and any where.

Anyways, You're here to get a recipe huh? and not for my love of icecream. I know Im getting to it.

Well my mom gave me this recipe just a few days ago and Im not sure where she found it. It is just so stinking easy though for me not to share it with you.

Here you go. Have a pen ready to write it down? Just kidding it's super short and easy.

2 cups of Heavy Cream
14 oz of Sweeten Condence Milk- (I bought the low fat kind, and it doesn't make a difference in taste)
1.5 tsp of vanilla
Blender or a Mixer.. Could possibly be mixed by hand if you have neither of those items. BUT Im NOT positive.



Im not 100% positive on how much it makes. My guess is about 4 cups and thats with adding some oreos.

Pour it all into a blender and mix on high until it becomes thick. I had to take the lid off to check on it. Didn't take but just a few minutes of blending. Pour it into a container that can go in the freezer and has a lid. You'll most likely have to use a spoon to scoop it all out of the blender. It can get a little messy on your hands, but you'll survive. Just lick it and move on. Freeze for at least 8 hours. AND BAM you're done! Eat up kids.

What it looks like all mixed up in the blender

YUP  THAT'S IT! Im sure anything would be wonderful to add into it. M&M's, Reese's, Nuts.....The list goes on and on. Well let me take that back, Not everything will be good in it. I mean, I wouldn't add things like...ketchup. Let me rephrase that, ANYTHING THAT IS YUMMO IN ICECREAM would be good in this. ( ps  yummo is not a typo, that would be a Ninaism. I make words up)

I wanted some oreo chunks. First I used the blender to have some very finely chopped. Poured into my container. Then I used my hand and broke up some more oreos  and used a spoon to mix it in.

Now how simple was that. The freeze wait period is the hard part. I just want to dive right into, but I guess I'll wait until I finish dinner.

I couldn't wait any longer. RIGHT after dinner I made myself a small bowl. OH MAN IS IT YUMMO!!!!!

Hope you love it and I would love to know if you added anything into it. Im willing to test out your ideas for business purposes.... PSSSSSSSSSSSSSH who am I to kid, its because I want to make them and stuff my face with more icecream. DUH

Peace out my 'Grandkids'!

Quick & Easy

I thought about making a smart remark about the title of this post, but I'll leave it at that. You get my drift....ha
I haven't posted in a LONG time. Life has been a little hectic and I am sure it will not slow down until the school season is over. Since moving to Florida I have decided to substitute teach. That way I can see how their school districts and curriculum are like. Im still trying to get used to it all. The other day my wonderful cousin in NJ sent me a picture of the snow they got the night before. I asked my students who has ever seen snow. Majority of them have not. Obviously I went around and showed them the picture. THEY LOVED IT!

ANYWAYS .....So since it has been a while since my last post, this post will be dedicated to several recipes that I think you should definitely try out. Hope you enjoy them.  Check out my food board on Pinterest. I have 2. One is recipes that I want to try and the other is of recipes that I have tried and liked.

1. Sour Cream Bake- Pioneer Woman
This is SO good and leftovers are just as good. Mine doesn't ever come out of the pan this pretty, but golly it is just as good.

2.  Pepperjack Cajun Chicken
This asked for frozen spinach. I used spinach leaves from a bag. Ya, know in the produce isle by the bags of salad. It was less messy doing it that way. I found the cajun spice easily at Walmart.

3. Salisbury Steak- Crockpot
ANY recipe that I can start before work and come home to the house smelling YUMMO and dinner being done makes me a very happy person! What I love about this site you can make the serving sizes larger or smaller and they will give you new measurements.

4. Pepper Steak
This one is soooo stinking easy, it's not even funny. It has great flavor and is even healthy for you. Ya can't go wrong there.

5. Black Bean Tacos
This was really simply but also it got a little tricky. Be careful when flipping over the tacos, because the beans will fly everywhere.... TRUUUUUST MEEEEE. We usually always buy flour tortillas but this recipe calls for corn. So the change was really nice and delicious of course.

There you go. You now have 5 new recipes to try out. Hope you enjoy them, because they really are scrumptious. 

Recipe Redo- Taqueria Style Tacos - Carne Asada

Who doesn't love TACO's! I could eat Mexican food every single day. We have this resturaunt we we like to go to because they put this amazing, creaming, mushroom/pepper sauce on top. It is possibly my favorite. Having a margarita along with it makes it even better!

Original Website HERE

• 3 pounds flank steak- Eye of round steak
• 1/3 cup white vinegar- 1/4 cup
• 1/2 cup soy sauce- 1/3 cup
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
•  
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
•  
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped -
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped- Had jalapenos that are sliced up in a jar already so I used those instead.
• 1 white onion, quartered
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 4 dried New Mexico chile pods- Did not use
• 1 pinch salt and pepper to taste
•  
• 1 (32 ounce) package corn tortillas- Flour tortillas
• 2 cups grated cotija cheese (optional)- Did not use
• 2 limes, cut into wedges- Didn't have any, but I am sure it would be great

Directions

1. Lay the flank steak in a large glass baking dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce, 4 cloves of garlic, juice of two limes, and olive oil. Season with salt, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, cumin and paprika. Whisk until well blended, then pour over the steak in the dish. Turn over once to coat both sides. Cover with plastic wrap, and marinate for 1 to 8 hours.I marinated for 24 hours.
2. In a small bowl, stir together 1 chopped white onion, cilantro, and the juice of 1 lime. Set aside to use as a relish for the tacos.
3. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Toast chile pods in the skillet for a few minutes, then remove to a bowl of water to soak for about 30 minutes. <---Did not do.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
4. Place the tomatoes, 1 onion, jalapenos, and 4 cloves of garlic onto a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, until toasted but not burnt. 15 minutes. Place the roasted vegetables, and soaked chile pods into a blender or food processor, along with salt and pepper. Puree until smooth.
5. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cut the marinated flank steak into cubes or strips. Cook, stirring constantly, until the meat is cooked through and most of the liquid has evaporated. I cut them into very fine cubes.
6. Warm the tortillas in a skillet for about a minute on each side to make them pliable. Used microwave. Tortillas may also be warmed in a microwave oven. Arrange two or three tortillas on a plate, and lay a generous amount of beef over them. Top with a sprinkle of the onion relish and a large spoonful of the pureed salsa. Add as much cheese as you like.  Garnish with lime wedges, and serve. <---- Did not add these.

Warming Hearts- One blanket at a time

As some of you know I do something every Christmas to give back. Earlier this year I started "Warming Hearts" and donated to a cancer treatment center. Well this year for Christmas I am creating blankets for an outpatient hospital here in Lakeland, FL for children with cancer. So if anyone would like to help out please let me know! You can help with squares, create blankets, or donated money to buy yarn. Everything Helps!

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE SQUARES. THE RULES: NORMAL GRANNY SQUARES. 12in x 12in
SOLID COLORS SQUARES (the square in one solid color!). In the Shades of RED, BLUE, GREEN, PURPLE, PINK, YELLOW, and ORANGE. 
Granny square example

This is how I am doing it. Each blanket will have a color theme. If it is RED then that blanket will be made up of different shades of red. The blankets will be about 36in x 48in. 
My plan is donate them in December. I am starting now so I am able to donate as much as I can. 
If you are wanting to help you will mail me your items and I can add put it all together. Thank you all!

I created a registry to raise money for "Warming Hearts". Please take the time to check it out and spread the word. http://warminghearts.mydagsite.com/

Please contact me: nlamort@hotmail.com 

 

I decided I am not doing all of them in granny squares but I am still sticking with the color themes. I got tired of doing granny squares after the first blanket :) You can still donate squares though and I will still put them together.