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Okay, first things first. I told you I'd follow up with you on the Dream Dinners Pork Chops. Well, I am here to tell you, they were a success! So tasty! They were quick and easy to make, they were flavorful, and they were good as a left over lunch! They came with a bag of veggies to steam. The steaming was easy and perfect. I have no regrets. Dream Dinners y'all. Dream dinners.

Now, on to this week's meal. PH and I were hit by an epidemic and so unpacking has gone much slower than I have wanted it to. However, we have gotten back all the food we had stored at my parent's house. We put all of our freezer food storage in their freezer until ours was plugged back in and cold (and didn't smell bad anymore. Why do they smell bad? Nothing is in there!) I digress. We had all of our freezer food back, and we were ready to get cooking, except we're still pretty exhausted, and now sick. So I wanted something quick and simple.

One thing that I love about the age we live in is all the modern conveniences at our disposal that allow us to eat healthy, and make cooking easier!

Exhibit A is the tortilla crust tilapia that we bought from Costco. It comes pre-breaded and once the oven is pre-heated you put your pan of fish in for 10-13 minutes and bam! You have delicious, flaky tilapia fish, ready to be devoured!

Exhibit B is our rice cooker! It is so amazingly convenient. Just follow the directions for how much water to rice ratio your rice bag requires. Throw it into the rice cooker and turn it on! This rice cooker is great because it comes with a little steamer tray. So we threw some frozen veggies on top. The rice will tell you when it is ready. It always comes out perfect.

That is really it for this Tilapia and Rice meal! Tilapia in the oven, rice in the rice cooker. Start the rice cooker first because it takes longer. When the timer on the rice says there are about 15 minutes left throw your fish in the oven.

​It is healthy and delicious. So go try it out, and tell me if you don't end up loving that rice cooker!

                 I have seen some really cute button projects on line recently and they have spoken to my button loving heart.  I grew up loving to play in my mother's button box.  It seemed more like a treasure box when I was a little girl.  I have my own button box, but it doesn't seem nearly as magical as her's did to me as a child.  (I think there were a lot more interesting buttons back then.)  When I decided to make this Easter Button Bunny, it gave me a good reason to buy more buttons!  Maybe my button box will become a magical thing for my grandchildren eventually.  My bunny came out pretty cute!  Here is how I did it.  

           I can't stress enough that you should print the shape in the color of button you will be using.  When you put round things next to each other, there will be gaps.  I guess just white as the background could work, but I didn't want to take the chance.

I was surprised to see the large assortment of buttons that you can get on Amazon!  Look at these!  They would really add interest to my button box!  Or, here is a pack of 105 multi-colored buttons! And, here is one more choice with Ladybugs, stars, bears and circles. 

         You can make your own yarn pom-pom, I just happened to have this one.  If you are doing a smaller bunny, like the white example, I found a bag of pom-poms at DollarTree that will work great! 

       Let the glue dry a bit, then put the picture in your frame.  Of course, you can't put in the glass because of the buttons and the tail!  I think it came out pretty adorable! 

                 So, go play in the button box and try your hand at a Spring-time picture!  You still have time before Easter!
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                Blackberries and strawberries have been alternately on sale the past few weeks, so of course I have been canning them because I love to can and I love blackberries and strawberries!  I usually just eat the blackberries, or make them into Blackberry-Lemon Marmalade, or turn them into cake, or Blackberry Lemon Bars.  This time I decided to can some to keep on hand.  

          Canning Blackberries is super easy because there is no peeling or coring. Here is how you do it in a nutshell.

• You just fill your jars with berries.(I used wide mouthed pints.) Fill gently, without squishing. Blackberries are a tender fruit! 
•  With the fruit in each jar, add 2 T. of lemon juice.
•  Cover fruit the rest of the way with simple syrup. (2 c. water with 1 c. sugar is the ratio.  Cook and stir until the sugar dissolves.)
•  Wipe the rims and add the lids.  
• Put into a water bath canner. When the water starts to boil, set the timer for 10 min. Then turn off the heat and lift the jars from the canner.
• Listen for the lids to pop! That means they are sealed!   Now you will have blackberries for pies, cobblers, ice cream or whatever your  heart desires, even when they aren't on sale.

             With the strawberries, I made a ton of Strawberry Jam.  I gave you jam making tips on this post. 

             One of the things that I have mentioned before is that instead of putting labels on the jars themselves, I like to put them on the lids that will be discarded anyway.  That way you don't have to spend time peeling them off of the jars when the jam is all eaten and you want to use the jar again.  I found some printable labels at Dollar Tree! They have round ones in the store, as well as square shipping labels.  You can't beat the price on these, for just a dollar!  I designed some simple labels to put on my jars and I decided to share them with you!  This is a small way for me to say "Thank You!" for all of your support on our blog!  This week we achieved over 31,000 views per month and it makes us so happy to think that the things we talk about have value to you.   
               To print the labels, click on the button to get the pdf file.  Then click print. Make sure you click the "fit to page" option.  There are some blackberry and many Strawberry Jam labels on one page.  You may only need one or the other, but you can always cut them off and save the ones you don't use.  These are designed to print on the Polaroid Round Adhesive Labels.  You can also find them on Amazon here.
​jam labels  jam labels

                      We have many more fun ideas to write about. I am having so much fun working on this blog with my girls. Thanks for your support. Keep coming back to see what else is in store! 

               If my labels are too simple, here is a link to some really sweet choices on Etsy! They aren't free, but if you want something a little fancier, there are some really cute things there.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! 

           I really did think about doing a St. Patrick's Day post today, but we have already said about as much as we have to say on this post.  It really isn't too late to incorporate some of the ideas that Alicia shared. We will be eating corned beef and cabbage, as well as Key Lime Pie.  I hope you enjoy this fun day! 

            A different event that I have been looking forward to is happening today! The opening of the live action version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson!  I can hardly wait to see it! 
Have you seen the trailer?
             I have been a Disney girl all of my life, and with the excitement of this movie coming out, I was inspired to make today's Friday Fave question be...

Which Disney Princess is Your Favorite?

               Two things that you may have notice about our tip image:

1. My 2 beautiful Princess Granddaughters!  Those pictures were taken a few years ago when they were going to a Princess Ball with their grandpa.  They love Disney Princesses, and they are our guest Friday Favers today! 
2. The cute Disney Princess artwork! That is available from my DIL Jessica's Etsy shop!  She has awesome pieces on there, many pop culture images and also LDS Temples that you can download and use as art in your home.  Her shop is called LastYesterday, and you can click that link to get to it.  The prices are amazing and she has even been featured on some well known websites! (Buzzfeed for example!)

         So, let's begin with princess #1, Shyanne! Shyanne is 8 years old and tells me that her favorite Princess it Ariel, from the Little Mermaid! Shyanne has always loved to sing. I have the Disney Karaoke for the Wii.  I can hear her sweet voice now singing, "Under the Sea!"  My personal favorite is, "Kiss the Girl."   Little Mermaid is a great movie.  Who doesn't go around quoting it? It has such great phrases like, "Zut alors, I have missed one!"  We have all heard the rumors that the VHS version of the movie sells for hundreds of dollars on eBay.  I have checked, (because we have one) and yes some are LISTED for that, but there are others much cheaper.  But, really, just get it on DVD and enjoy it all over again.

               Princesses #2 are both Alicia and my 5 year old granddaughter, Jayda.  These two both chose Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  Jayda also loves to sing, plus I think the idea of the Beast speaks to her adventurous little heart.  This movie came out when Alicia was a little girl.  When she was 3 years old, for Christmas she received a cassette player with a sing-along microphone and the soundtrack to Beauty and the Beast.  She went all around with that thing singing, "Be Our Guest, Be our Guest!..." over and over again.  It is one of my favorite memories of her as a child.  Now, Alicia says that she loves Belle because she is smart, loves to read, brave and she sticks up for herself.  She also believes in giving people second chances, or in other words, she is forgiving. I think that one of my favorite songs for this movie is the one about Gaston because it is so funny.

              I knew what Princess #3, Madalynn would be.  She made me stand in line with her at Disneyland when she was 18 years old to get her picture taken with Aurora, Sleeping Beauty.  I was going to put the picture up, but I looked and looked and can't find it!  If I come across it, I will add it.  Madalynn loves Aurora's voice and range.  It is beautiful and lilting.  Just think of "Once Upon a Dream" and you will realize it is true. Plus, Maddy says, " Aurora loves to sleep a lot, just like me!" My favorite part of the movie is at the end when the fairy godmothers are arguing about whether her dress should be pink or blue.  As she twirls with her prince charming around the floor of the ballroom, they keep changing the color back and forth.  It was always magical to me as a child.  (I liked blue.)

             Lindsey is Princess #4.  She chose Mulan because she loves what a strong, brave and loyal woman she is portrayed to be. Lindsey says, "Mulan is wonderful, beautiful and deals with insecurity like most people but she finds out that it's okay to be different as long as you are always trying to do the right thing." She says that the scene when they are singing, "Be a Man" and she goes up to retrieve the arrow always makes her cry. Plus, there are also some other great songs in that movie!  I have always love the song, "Reflection". 

               That makes me Princess #5, (but I am really the queen, sometimes Maleficent.) I had such a difficult time choosing!  I mean, I grew up with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.  I loved them all! But in the end, I finally chose Rapunzel from the movie Tangled! You can rent the movie on Amazon, or buy the DVD here.  I love that Rapunzel is klutzy like me, and romantic and that she just plunges into things wildly, (like me).  Plus, the song, "At Last I See the Light" is amazing. 

                  I know that the trend now is to make the live action versions of the classics, and I am super excited to see Beauty and the Beast, but I will always love the animated classics!  Sometimes, it is just time to watch them with your children or grandchildren, And also, to sing the songs together! There really are good messages to be gleaned from them, but mostly, just some great entertainment! 
                  Don't forget to stop by LastYesterday and download some awesome decor items.  Look, here is one last example of her work, the Phoenix Temple Silhouette!  You can't pass that one up!