The Knight Costume- Simplicity 5520 Pattern Review

For Halloween this year, my son wanted to be a knight.  He picked out the pattern Simplicity 5520- view D.  At first he was drawn to the pattern because of the huge ax the child model is holding.  Props go a long way!  After a long discussion about how we would not be making the ax, he still wanted it.  Then I knew we had a winner!

No Fuss/ No Knead Bread

I was on Facebook last week when a recipe for "Crusty Bread" floated by. Normally i would just keep surfing, but when I saw that it was "No Knead Bread", I was intrigued. I have no need to knead!  Ok-sorry for the bad pun. But it is so true right now in my life. I need simple flexible recipes that can withstand dough being neglected and forgotten on the counter for an extra 5 hours while I tend to the needs of my 7 year old, 5 year old, and 7 month old. Even with my neglect, I still need the the bread to bake consistently delicious. Is that too much to ask????  With this bread, I get a resounding NO, it is not too much to ask.  

Consistently Awesome!!!

 With this ridiculously easy recipe, everyone (yes, even sleep deprived half crazy moms) can bake up artisan style quality bread that the whole family will "Ooo and Ahh" over.  
Can you tell Mama needed a win here?  

Let it Snow- Snowflake Shortbread Cookies

 

With all the concern in California about the drought, and it being the driest year in California's recorded history, I thought I would send out some "let it snow" ju-ju vibes with these gorgeous snowflake shortbread cookies my sister in law and I made over the holiday season.  Honestly, my husband and I wished to not have too much rain this winter because we are in the process of re-siding the house and indoor waterfalls are not a feature that I desire.  But drought conditions are definitely not what we had in mind.  So I hope that Mother Nature will grant us some late in the season snow for the Sierras and some much needed rain for us Foothillers. 

Ok- back to the cookies.  My sister-in-law, Sophia, does not bake much but wanted to make something to give to friends for a holiday treat.  When she asked for my help, I was so excited. We were able to carve out an afternoon where our schedules aligned during the busy holiday hustle and bustle. 

When planning we talked about a lot of different ideas including a the idea of a cookie plate.  Although cookie plates with the menagerie of sweets are wonderful to receive, it usually takes longer than an afternoon to make the many varieties of cookies needed for a proper plate.  So then we thought maybe a bold statement cookie might work where we could do something large enough so that there would be one per person. 

Two Ingredient Banana Oat cookies- NOT just for toddlers

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I don't know if you have seen this "recipe" floating around Pinterest, but when it popped up on the Food Network Blog that I follow, I just had to try it.  The post actually originally came from Foodlets and Charity from Foodlets credits Oprah.  Who knows where it started but I just have to say this mixture is GENIUS!!!

Peacock Felt Mask

One of my favorite parts of my daughter's halloween peacock costume was the peacock mask. It is probably because of the sequence- the more razzle dazzle the better in my book!