Archives for August 2012

Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole

August 17, 2012 by 1 Comment

We’ve made it to Friday my friends! I start looking forward to Friday beginning on Monday, don’t you?  I love Saturdays especially because there’s no rush to wake up and you can eat breakfast whenever you prefer. It’s always a good day of the week for a big breakfast since you can usually sit down as a family unit to eat without rushing off to work or school.

But who in the heck wants to slave over the skillet, or oven, or even microwave on a Saturday morning? Well that last one isn’t that difficult, but I must admit that I find it a little laborious sometimes. 😉 That’s when a slow cooker comes in handy. Making something up ahead of time to enjoy later is a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.

But for breakfast you say? Yep. Even breakfast. Your Christmas morning may never be the same again.

This is my version of a simple Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole. This is made with things that I had on-hand. Very cheap to make and best of all, simple. My favorite part? It makes a TON! I’m able to make more than just 1 breakfast out of this which saves time and hassle for a few days to come.

I love Save-A-Lot’s 10 for $10 sales. You can’t go wrong with turkey bacon for a $1.You could also buy precooked bacon to make life easier if you’re willing to shell out the extra dough. Otherwise, it’s just a matter of cooking up the bacon before adding it to the crockpot.

Enjoy your weekend! I’ve got a special giveaway coming next week. I can’t wait to share!

Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole
Recipe Type: Breakfast, Main Dish
Author: Pennywise Cook
Breakfast doesn’t get any easier than creating it the night before and have it wait for YOU in the morning!
Ingredients
  • 1 Package 24 oz Frozen Hashbrowns
  • 1 c. Onions, Chopped
  • 1 12 oz Package Sausage
  • 10 Pieces Turkey Bacon, Chopped
  • 12 Eggs, Scrambled
  • 3 Tbsp Chicken Broth
  • 1/4 Tsp Salt
  • 1/4 Tsp Pepper
  • 1 c. Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
  1. In a skillet, cook onions, bacon, and sausage until no longer pink.
  2. In slow cooker, place the hashbrowns and top with meat mixture.
  3. In a large bowl, scramble eggs and add the chicken broth and s&p. Pour over hashbrowns and meat mixture in slow cooker.
  4. Put lid on and cook on low for 4-6 hours. You can choose to stir it halfway through the cooking time if you prefer or leave it be. I did stir mine, but I think I’ll leave it next time.
  5. minutes or so until you plan to serve, sprinkle the shredded cheese over and replace the lid to let it melt.
Notes

If you’re making this overnight, you might even use the “warm” setting on your slow cooker to avoid overcooking.

I made this during the day (to have breakfast for dinner) and did not cook my meats through before hand. Mine cooked for 8 hours and I stirred halfway through.


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Filed Under: Breakfast, Crockpot, Kid-Friendly Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Coconut Poke Cupcakes

August 16, 2012 by 4 Comments

I want to preface this post today with a warning to my sister. If you are reading….STOP right here.

And for everyone else, you might wonder why I say this to my sister. It’s because I’m going to expose a little family secret today. One that in her undisclosed amount of years on this earth, she has never found out. My grandmother has always made this incredible coconut cake almost every year around the holidays. It usually marks a special occasion. My sister always requests it and it just makes her day when she gets a piece.

To my surprise, I was told this family “recipe” around her birthday this year. My mom shared it with a coworker who made one of these cakes just for my sister’s birthday. She thought it tasted exactly like my grandmother’s coconut cake. No wonder, it’s actually very simple to make.  I realize that many people don’t like coconut, but if you are one of the few that do, you’ll want to learn about this cake. It’s soooo yummy and soft and will definitely put a smile on your face. My grandmother usually makes this in cake form, but to narrow the portion sizes (I can’t help myself), I made them into cupcakes this time around.

It starts with your favorite white cake mix. Yes, that’s right. Save yourself the hassle and let Betty Crocker help you out for once. I actually used the Coconut Supreme version this time around to give it more coconut flavor. Bake the cupcakes according to the package and while they are still warm, use a wooden spoon to poke 3 holes in the middle of each.

Pop open a can of sweetened condensed milk (I use fat free) and drizzle some down in each of the holes in each cupcake. As you drizzle, it will absorb and will seem to disappear. Don’t go overboard though or you can cause the cupcake to get extremely mushy.

Place a dollop of whipped topping on each cupcake and even it out just a bit.

It’s time for the cupcake to take a coconut bath….

Dip that baby into the coconut and let it settle into the whipped topping. Don’t push too hard, it doesn’t take much for the coconut to catch on.

Oh my heavens, that’s it! From the outside you can’t even tell that it’s got a gooey and yummy center. But the fluffy, white coconut top is enough to get me to dive in.

And when you do, you’ll see how moist the inside is. It’s like a fluffy cloud of coconut heaven y’all.

To my sister if you did continue to read on, I’m very sorry to have spilled the beans on this beloved cake. But I thought it necessary to share it’s simpleness with the world. It’ll be a blessing to coconut lovers like us everywhere. 🙂

Coconut Poke Cupcakes
Recipe Type: Dessert
Author: Grandma Johnson
This simple method creates a fluffy coconut cupcake made in heaven!
Ingredients
  • 1 Box White Cake Mix (Or Coconut Supreme if you’re feeling frisky)
  • 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1 8oz Tub Whipped Topping
  • 1-2 Cups Coconut Flakes
Instructions
  1. Cook cupcakes according to package directions. DO NOT LET COOL.
  2. While cupcakes are still warm, poke each about 3 times most of the way down. Drizzle some sweetened condensed milk equally among them all being careful not to overdo it. The sweetened condensed milk will be absorbed so it may not look like it’s going in, but it is.
  3. Place a dollop of cool whip on top of each cupcake spreading it out a bit.
  4. Place the coconut flakes in a bowl and dip each whipped topping covered cupcake in the coconut flakes to coat.
  5. Serve! And keep refrigerated.

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Filed Under: Cupcakes, Desserts, Holiday Tagged With: , , , ,

DIY Coffee Mug Holder

August 15, 2012 by 66 Comments

One thing that you may not know about me is that I have an obsession with mugs. No, not with faces, but with the ceramic formations that hold the most incredible substance that keeps me going every day, coffee. I only started to drink coffee about a year and a 1/2 ago and yet it sucked me in so fast that I didn’t even know what was happening!

I now enjoy scouring flea markets, thrift stores, and any other places finding the most unique and eclectic mugs that I can. I’d call it a “hobby”, but that would be giving in and I’m afraid that my obsession would deepen so I’m just going to pretend that it’s just something that I do. 🙂

When I noticed that there wasn’t any place to put regular glasses in my cabinet, I decided that something need to be done.

I needed a place just for mugs. After all, they are worthy.

So I thought up this mug holder idea and got to work. I knew that I wanted it to be inexpensive and semi-simple to make since I’m no carpenter. Brace yourself, I took a lot of photos for this one…

I started with cheap board from Lowes. I had them cut it to 2 feet so that it would fit on the side of my cabinet. I didn’t want anything too thick, but I wanted it thick enough to hold screw hooks well. I believe this board is 1 inch thick which turned out just right. I painted the board with a light blue before lightly painting over it with an off-white. Then I sanded it a bit to distress it.

And in the process I got paint on the garage floor. It needed some color anyways.

I found this fantastic technique for transferring text onto wood at Elm Street Life. It doesn’t get any simpler than your printer, a pencil, and a pen.

Print off the text of your choice from your printer. No need for reversing the text or anything. Cut out most of the white surrounding the text. Then using a lead pencil, color the back of each letter like the picture above. The need for a cheetah print pencil is not necessary, but it helps to make you feel awesome.

I may have gone a bit overkill, but here’s what it will look like on the back.

Tape your words lightly to your wood so it won’t try coming up on you. Using a pen, trace around each letter firmly. The lead will transfer to the wood and you’ll be left with an outline of your words.

Like this! Then you can use a brush (if you’re brave) or a paint pen to fill in the outline. They actually make an assortment of paint pens these days which is nice.  Just remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect. You can always sand it a little and if you’re going for a vintage feel anyways, it wouldn’t look perfect either.

Use your paint pen to go around the letters and then fill them in. When buying your paint pens, be sure to look at what kind of tip you are getting. Some are made for calligraphy and others for painting. I don’t suggest the calligraphy tips for this.

Tah dah! We have a board. We have text on the board. now we just need hooks and mugs for our mug holder!

You may have seen my post on Toilet Paper Roll Art. It’s quite genius and is so simple and fun. I used a paper towel roll to create this flower and then dipped it into some of my favorite aqua paint.

I gave the board a little detail with my flowers and I even added an orange one on top to give it some more color.

I let it dry and then screwed in the hooks in an unexpected way. Or at least it was unexpected to my husband. He thought I would have made it a little more uniform, but as I started hooking them in, it seemed to make more room with them being offset this way.

UPDATE: We hung this by screwing screws directly through the backside of the cabinet into the board itself. We used 4 screws total and it holds just fine.

And there you have it! A simple yet cute way to display your coffee mug obsession (if you have one) and to give your cabinets a little more room.

It’s not just functional, but it looks really cool too. We’re going to make one for my husband’s mugs for the other side too.

Happy DIYing!


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Filed Under: Crafts, DIY Projects, Kitchen Tips and Tricks Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Easy Mandarin Chicken

August 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

My girls have recently discovered mandarin oranges. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always loved fruit in any form. Even canned fruit strikes my fancy every now and then. I picked up a few cans of mandarin oranges the other day to see if my girls would enjoy it as much as I used to. I think ended up rekindling my love for the fruit myself. And as expected, they absolutely loved them. I really need to find myself a good sale to stock up on them.

In keeping with their latest obsession, I decided to make something that showcased two things that I know they’ll both like. Chicken and the new-found love, mandarin oranges.

To my utmost surprise, my ENTIRE family (including my incredibly picky husband and 5-year old) loved this meal! The 1-year old even cleaned her plate.  I cleaned mine and an entire 2nd plate as well. Hubby was really concerned about the sweet oranges being used with savory chicken, but when he was done he told me that he thought it worked really well together. SCORE!

I used edemame to kick up the nutrition and hid mushrooms with the onions. The mushrooms were quite stealth and the kiddos loved the edemame! In fact, Addie asked me at one point what kinda beans they were. I told her edemame and she replied “I really like edemame!”.

Those are words that I never expected to come out of my 5-year old’s mouth…

By the time dinner was over, I was floored. This was a meal that the whole family loved and it was actually healthy and good for them. That only happens in my dreams and on commercials doesn’t it?

Recipe adapted from 366 Low-Fat Brand-Name Recipes in Minutes Cookbook.

Easy Mandarin Chicken
Recipe Type: Main Dish
In just minutes, you’ll have a mouth-watering Asian meal with little effort!
Ingredients
  • 1 11 oz Can Mandarin Oranges
  • 2 & 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut into Bite-size Pieces
  • 1 Tbsp Canola Oil
  • 1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 Cup Chopped Onion
  • 1 & 1/2 c. Frozen Edemame
  • 8 Baby Bella Mushrooms, Sliced
Instructions
  1. Drain oranges, reserving 3 tbsp of the liquid. Mix together the reserved liquid with the soy sauce and set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a large skillet and cook chicken in the oil over medium-high heat until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from skillet. Add in the onions, edemame and mushrooms. Cook until onions are tender.
  3. Add the chicken back in along with the soy sauce mixture. Cook and stir to heat all of it through.
  4. Gently stir in the mandarin oranges right before serving.
  5. Goes well over rice!
Notes

If your group is not a fan of edemame, you can always use frozen snap peas in their place.

Teriyaki sauce can also be substituted in soy sauce’s place.

The addition of a couple drop of sesame oil would also make a nice addition.

Be prepared for a quick meal! This one takes no time at all to whip up!


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Filed Under: Chicken Recipes, Healthy, Kid-Friendly, Main Dishes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Slow Cooker Corn on the Cob

August 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

So I told you how I’ve been keeping things on the easy side the last few weeks. With Addie starting kindergarten and with family in town off and on these last couple weeks, the cooking has been a little out of routine. Out of routine meaning that I didn’t want to bore my guests with my food portraiture and involvement with my food. So I opted for easy yet tasty.

The other day I was talking to my mom about the Crockpot Baked Potatoes when she mentioned that she had also used her Crockpot to make up some corn on the cob. We usually just pop our corn on the grill when we’re grilling out, but it’s been so hot lately that we haven’t wanted to be outside for more than 10 minutes. Though, it’s FINALLY beginning to cool down just a bit around here. So to save a little propane and heat from the stove or oven, I decided to throw some ears in my slow cooker.

I seasoned them up with a little mayo concoction that I put together, then rolled them up in foil and placed them straight down into the slow cooker. I didn’t add water, I didn’t put anything inside to raise them away from the sides. I didn’t do anything at all, but just let them go. It worked great! The steam from the moisture in the corn is what cooks it.

With sweet corn being so cheap (in places not affected by the droughts), it’s an easy and tasty side dish for just about anything. Plus you can use corn on the cob to make up creamed corn, corn bread or muffins, and more. If you need cooked corn for a recipe and want it fresh, throw some ears into your slow cooker overnight and in the morning you’ll be ready with slow cooked and perfect corn!

Slow Cooker Corn on the Cob
Recipe Type: Side Dish, Crockpot
Author: Pennywise Cook (and Momma!)
Another shortcut idea that makes corn as simple as 1,2, 3 to make!
Ingredients
  • 4 Ears Corn on the Cob
  • 2 Tbsp Reduced Fat Mayonnaise
  • 1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/4 Tsp Onion Powder
  • Dash Salt and Pepper
Instructions
  1. Whip ingredients together and rub 1/4 mixture onto each ear of corn. Wrap in foil and place in slow cooker. Cook on lowest setting for 4-6 hours.
Notes

I used the low setting on my slow cooker, but if you have a “warm” you might consider using that for longer cook times.


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Filed Under: Crockpot, Kitchen Tips and Tricks, Meatless, Sides and Vegetables Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Life Is Like An Onion…

August 11, 2012 by 2 Comments

…you peel it off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.

A quote from Carl Sandburg and boy he wasn’t kidding! It’s almost impossible for me to cut an onion without tearing up. Well it just depends on the circumstances. If the onion is very small, sometimes I can manage to chop without weeping.

But the tears aren’t the only problem that I have with onions. My favorite grocery stores like Aldi and Save-A-Lot tend to have 2-3 pound bags of onions on sale a lot. I find that I need a couple onions for my meals during the week and then I don’t use the last 4 or 5 and they go bad! Then the very next week, I’d need more onions and I’d grab another bag and the cycle continued. The frugalista inside me won’t let me just buy how many onions I know I need so just buying a few isn’t an option.

But those days are over folks. This is one of those “duh” tips that I’m sharing today. Even if you’ve thought about it, this might just make you wanna go ahead and actually do it.

Go ahead, buy that bulk bag of onions and feel no shame. Know that not one of those onions will go unused. Know that you have weeks and even months to create a masterpiece with those flavorful veggies.

Bust out the food processor and pop your onions in. Chop them up to your liking and then place them in a freezer bag, making sure to remove all the air.

I measured mine into 1 cup portions since that’s the frequent amount that I use. After my day 30 minutes of chopping, I ended up with 12 cups of pre-chopped onions ready to place into a tasty meal. I’ve already used a couple of the portions and I didn’t even thaw them to use them.  Though some recipes may need them to be thawed.

So there you have it. A simple tip from a simple mind. Save your time, tears, and most of all MONEY.

And by the way, this would also work with anything other vegetable that you use frequently of course. 🙂


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Slow Cooker Pizza Dip

August 9, 2012 by 2 Comments

It’s almost football season. Are you jumping up and down? Or are you grunting at the thought of all the money you’ll be spending on beer and the time you’ll lose with hubby because he’s glued to the tube?

We are not sports folk.

My husband could care less about who is playing what or when the game is on. Frankly, neither am I. But there is one thing that I do enjoy and it’s game food. I love making snacks and treats for the big game even though I probably won’t even lay one eye on the TV set. I’ve even thought about having a mock football party just to make cute little treats.

Is that silly? Maybe, but not really if you know how much I love food.

This Pizza Dip is so easy. No crazy ingredients needed and your crockpot does all of the work. You may have seen recipes for Pizza Dip before, but most of them contain cream cheese. Nothing wrong with that, but often times it can add just a bit of fat and calories that aren’t always necessary. I’ve adapted this from the Fix It and Forget It Lightly Cookbook.

I made this dip recently for a gathering that I had. I had no idea what to serve it with, so I just grabbed some of those little toasts that you find in the deli section of the grocery store. They are like a $1 and are so incredibly cute! I think this is the absolutely best thing to serve this dip with. If you can’t find them, I think that little crunchy bread sticks would also do the trick.

The best part about this dip? It’s low in calories! Less than 100 calories per serving and you can feel absolutely no guilt for eating it. I even used turkey pepperoni to keep it lean. Top it with a little shredded mozzarella and it’s just like eating a pizza but without all of that breading to weigh you down.

It’s the perfect game day snack! Even if you’re not going to watch the game…

Slow Cooker Pizza Dip
Recipe Type: Crockpot, Dip, Side Dish, Appetizer
Author: Pennywise Cook
The satisfaction of pizza without all of the calories and perfect to make for a get together!
Ingredients
  • 28 oz Can Crushed Tomatoes
  • 1 Small Can Sliced Black Olives
  • 1 c. Onion, Chopped
  • 5 oz Turkey Pepperoni, Chopped (or the mini version)
  • 1 and 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
  • 1 Tsp Garlic, Minced
  • Shredded Mozzarella Cheese for Sprinkling
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 2-4 hours.
Notes

My crockpot tends to overheat things, so I have even made this and put my crockpot on warm before and it worked just fine. It also made it possible for me to cook it longer without overcooking it.


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Filed Under: Appetizers and Snacks, Crockpot, Party Ideas, Sauces and Dips, Sides and Vegetables

Cake Mix Pudding Cookies

August 8, 2012 by 2 Comments

I’ve been on one of those simple kicks lately. You know, when you just want to make things involving little ingredients (and little money) that don’t take much time or effort? Yeah, those dishes make life so much easier. I posted some yummy Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies a while back. They are oh so incredibly yummy I must say.

Not to take away from their tastiness, but I decided to fiddle with that recipe a bit. I omitted the cool whip, egg, and powdered sugar. Then I replaced the egg and cool whip with cream cheese, and the powdered sugar with pudding mix! Much less time to prepare and the possibilities are endless.

I think my favorite part was that I could put it all in one bowl, pop them on a baking sheet and bake. You simply mix softened cream cheese (I use the 1/3 less fat one) with the pudding of your choice (I used sugar-free french vanilla). Just THINK of those possibilities. I’m so excited to try different flavors. Then slowly blend in the cake mix of your choice.

I went the strawberry route. I thought that the cream cheese and strawberry thing would make them like strawberry cheesecake. But I should have used cheesecake pudding mix. Will do that next time for sure!

The one tip that I will give you to make your life easier when making these, is to flatten them into cookie form before placing them on the cookie sheet. Treat this more like a sugar cookie. They will not rise or go far from how you place them on the cookie sheet. You could flatten the dough out on the counter and then cut perfect little circles out.

If you make a flavor of these, will you share it with me? I’d love new ideas for other kinds!

Cake Mix Pudding Cookies
Recipe Type: Cookies, Dessert
Author: Pennywise Cook
Serves: About 24 Cookies
3 Ingredients and 12 minutes later you have the best cookies with little effort!
Ingredients
  • 1 Box Cake Mix (Your Choice)
  • 1 Box Instant Pudding Mix (Your Choice- Even Sugar Free!)
  • 1 8 oz Package Cream Cheese, Softened
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together the cream cheese and pudding mix. Slowly mix in the cake mix.
  2. Form into balls and then into 2 inch flat cookies and place on greased cookie sheet.
  3. Bake 12 minutes or until they begin to brown.
  4. Let cool and serve!

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Filed Under: Cookies, Desserts, Kid-Friendly Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Sugar-Crusted Blueberry Muffins

August 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I’ve always been a fan of blueberry muffins. You’d never know it. I can probably count on 1 hand the times that I’ve ever made them from scratch. The box mixes just make life  so much easier don’t they? Sure, but do they give as much satisfaction as saying that you “made them from scratch”? Sometimes it really just doesn’t matter though. You’re tired, the kids are hungry, you just want a muffin!  A very sweet friend of mine mentioned how much she loved Perkin’s muffins the other day. There’s one in my hometown where we visit often, but there aren’t any around here.

Apparently their Mammoth Blueberry Muffins are to die for.

My sweet friend seemed like she needed a little pick me up, so I decided to check around for a copy cat recipe of their famous muffins and whip some up. To my dismay, none of them really seemed to sound like they actually mimicked Perkin’s muffins. I decided to shy away from getting them just like Perkin’s and come up with my own kinda muffins.

These turned out so absolutely fantastic! I really love when that happens. The stress of trial and error is surpassed with success. And boy were these a success. The breading part of these muffins is almost cakey thanks to a secret ingredient (which is not so secret anymore), sour cream. Not exactly something you’d expect to pair with blueberries, but tasty all the same. They boast a gooey blueberry jam filling and that’s in addition to the blueberries themselves, dispersed among the batter. What could top these better than a coating of sugar that has baked into a crust on top of the blueberry goodness?

A smear of butter while they are still warm, maybe.

Oh and I forgot to mention that these are in fact, mammoth. The batter only made 6 of a huge pan of muffins. So you’ll either have to make a second batch or prepare to share.

Sugar-Crusted Blueberry Muffins
Recipe Type: Breakfast, Dessert
Author: Pennywise Cook
Ingredients
  • For the Muffins
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp lemon extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 c sour cream
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • For the Filling
  • 1/4 c blueberries
  • 1/4 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 tsp sugar
  • For the Topping
  • 1/4 Tsp Sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Combine all muffin ingredients except blueberries in a bowl and mix well. Stir in1 c. blueberries.
  3. Meanwhile, microwave 1/4 c. blueberries with cornsstarch and sugar for 20 seconds at 50% power. Remove, much and stir and then continue microwaving for increments of 20 seconds until thicken and jam-like.
  4. Pour muffin batter in large, 6-ct muffin pan and create small wells in each.
  5. Using a piping bag or ziploc bag, fill each muffin’s well with filling.
  6. Sprinkle each with 1/4 tsp sugar.
  7. Bake for 22 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
Notes

Note- if you use smaller muffin tins, you may need to adjust your cooking times down.


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Filed Under: Appetizers and Snacks, Breakfast, Kid-Friendly Tagged With: , ,

DIY Large Graphic Wall Sign

August 3, 2012 by 2 Comments

Since my hubby was out of town for a few days, I must admit that I’ve been quite lax on cooking. It’s nice to take a break from it every now and then. In fact, our meals for the last few days have been mainly out of the most clever invention ever…..the microwave. I’m really not sure where I would be without it.

I’m back up and cooking now so you know I’ve got some good recipes on the way. But for now, I have a really cool DIY project for you that my husband and I did one weekend. I LOVE our sign! I look at it every morning when I wake up and every night when I go to bed. Shoot, I look at it when I walk in the room and when I’m walking out.

It demands attention. I love statement pieces like that.

I wanted to make one of these as cheap as I possibly could because 1) I’m just a cheapo and 2) because I like a challenge. I priced a lot of the materials at a few different stores. My main concern was the lettering. I wanted letters that weren’t too boring and I knew that I needed a lot of each. To my surprise, a pack with just 4 E’s was $8 bucks! And that wasn’t even a cute font either. There was no way that I was going to pay $40 for just the letters.

So I opened up Microsoft Word and went to work. 🙂

You may remember me mentioning one of my favorite Bible verses when I shared my Random Acts of Kindness. If not, here it is again.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

– Galatians 5:22-23

Those words pack a wallop don’t they? Can you imagine practicing each one every single day? Seems to me that I need a reminder because it’s just not easy. So I decided that those words would make a great sign for our bedroom wall. Here’s how we did it…

It all began with a very large piece of untreated white wood from Lowes. This one cost me approximately $13. It was a HUGE board and I even had 8 inches cut off of it to make it more rectangular.

Then we used a $3 can of white spray paint to be the base of the sign. It’s essentially what the color of the letters will be when we’re done. I considered using latex paint to do this project, but in the end I figured that spray paint would be quicker with more coverage.

See that arrow there on the right of the picture? That is where the newspaper became attached to hubby’s foot because he stepped in wet spray paint. Moral of the story? Don’t spray in bare feet. 🙂

I didn’t take any pictures of the next step because it wasn’t a happy time. Cutting out a billion paper letters including many with holes is not fun. I’ll spare you the sweet talk and be honest with you. It’s work, but it’s cheaper and highly worth saving $40. At least to me and my cheap brain.

So we cut out the letters and taped each one down using only tape on the backside of the letters. Sorry that this picture is so dark. By the time that we got the letters done it was dark. I knew this wasn’t exactly the best way to do it, but I also knew that I could try to make it work. Where there’s a will, there’s a way you know. 😉

The next morning, I got out my 2nd can of $4 spray paint from Lowes and went to town going over the letters. I loved this color. It Valspar Satin Interior called Thorny Brush. Perfect color for my bedroom. As I was spraying, I could tell that the spray paint was going under my tape a bit. There was definitely more work to be done…

Here’s a close-up of what the letters turned out like once the paint was dry. See the spots where the tape was? It really bothered me so I went over all of the letters with a small brush and some leftover white paint that I had.

That wasn’t a very fun process either. I totally forgot to take a picture of it. But I did remember to take a finished product shot! Here’s what it looks like all pretty and on the wall. We used plain jane screws to attach it straight to the wall. We’ve been having things with chain from the ceilings around here lately so that crossed our mind. But I didn’t want the sign just hanging and knocking against the wall, so we went with the easy route.

We aren’t professionals by any means so I’m sure that most could probably make theirs look a lot better. But for only about $20 and a little hard work, it’s a beautiful reminder on our bedroom wall! We LOVE it!

What do YOU think of it? I’d love to hear!


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