DIY Christmas Ornament: Toilet Paper Roll Flower

This is another installment of The Pintester Movement: Ho Ho Ho Edition

I know it's a little early still to be talking about Christmas, but really it's the Pintester's fault, not mine. This time around, we were challenged to do a pin of a DIY Christmas ornament from Pinterest. After browsing for awhile, I decided on this one, because apparently I have a thing for toilet paper roll crafts. So does E, and this one was a really easy and fun one to do with her. 

I already had the toilet paper rolls, of course, and the paint (we used acrylic paint that I had lying around), so I just had to run to the craft store for some twine and tacky glue.

Supplies

1 toilet paper roll per ornanament

Scissors

Tacky glue

Craft paint (I used my acrylics)

Twine, ribbon or string

Anything else you want to use to decorate it with (we left them as is because by the time we were done painting, E was bored)

Step 1: Squash the toilet paper rolls flat

Step 2: Cut roll into six equal(ish) pieces. Don't let your preschooler convince you that she can do this part by herself.

Step 3: Start gluing.

Step 4: Let dry for a few hours. Find another way to entertain your preschooler while they dry or she will constantly be checking them and actually hindering the process.

Step 5: Paint!

Step 6: Once the paint is dry, cut a six-inch length of twine per ornament, and attach. Tada!

Now E is continually asking me where the Christmas tree is, because why on earth would we make Christmas ornaments if we weren't going to put them on a tree? But we stayed busy for an afternoon and now I have a cute flower that she made to hang on the tree once it's up, so I call this a win.

Happy (early) holidays, all!

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Chicken & Pumpkin Cream Sauce Pasta

When I run out of actual planned meals for the week, but haven't made it back to the store yet, I like to play a version of Chopped with myself. I find a protein and a starch or grain and see what I can whip up with them. This week, I was left with a pound of chicken breast and some whole grain pasta. I also still have a ton of pumpkin left, and thought maybe I could incorporate it into a chicken pasta dish. So I scoured Pinterest for "chicken pumpkin pasta" and came across this pin of this recipe.

I glanced at the ingredients and figured I would have everything I needed. As it turned out, I didn't have any chicken broth or heavy whipping cream. But I was able to find substitutes for both of them, so I forged ahead. And then I realized I didn't have any sage, so I looked up spices that typically accompany sage and used the ones I had from that list instead. The recipe you see here is a result of all those substitutions, a sort of Frankenstein's monster of mish-mashed ingredients that I figured would be "good enough."

Don't worry, unlike Frankenstein, this story has a happy ending.

Ingredients

8 oz whole grain linguine 

2 Tbsp butter

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch strips

2 cloves pressed or chopped garlic

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup water + 1/2 Tbsp olive oil mixed (sub for 1/2 cup chicken broth)

1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup melted butter mixed ( sub for 3/4 cup whipping cream)

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions: 

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.

2. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in 12-inch skillet until it sizzles, then add the chicken and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through (8 to 10 minutes). Add chicken and garlic to pasta.

3. Combine the pumpkin puree, chicken broth (or substitute), whipping cream (or substitute), herbs, spices and salt in medium bowl. 

4. Pour over pasta mixture and stir to coat. Heat everything up over medium heat until heated through (3 to 5 minutes).

The end result was actually pretty good! My husband said it was "surprisingly good" (a glowing recommendation if ever I've heard one). It was pretty devoid of color, though. If I were to make it again, I might try it the way it was originally intended. But without having the original version to compare this one to, I think this was a pretty good substitute.

This has been another installment of The Pintester Movement, where I pick a pin and just go for it, win or lose. I'm counting this one as a mostly-win, since all of the substitutions didn't render the dish inedible!

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Pin Re-Test: Corn Dog Mini Muffins

Do you guys read the Pintester? If you don't, you should. She tests pins from Pinterest and usually messes them up pretty royally, but even if she succeeds her blog is always good for a laugh. 

Anyway, she's started something called The Pintester Movement, challenging people to get out  there and try pins without regard for whether they succeed or fail. I didn't have a blog for the first Pintester Movement, but I do have one for this one so I was excited to participate! This time around she challenged us to try a pin she's already tested. I chose to do one that she messed up, because I'm somewhat competitive and I was sure I could succeed where she failed (you know, in the name of science, or something). 

So without further ado...

Corn Dog Mini Muffins

makes 8

You will need:

• muffin pan
• non-stick spray
• box of Jiffy, plus eggs and milk as the box calls for
• hot dogs

Directions:

In true Pintester fashion, I chose to do this pin because I already had the stuff I needed for it in the house. That is to say, I had a box of Jiffy in the cabinet and leftover already-grilled hotdogs from the 4th of July party that I needed to get rid of. I also thought my kid would enjoy them.

All I did was follow the instructions on the Jiffy box (including letting the batter rest for a few minutes before pouring), spray the muffin pan with copious amounts of non-stick spray (Sonja, the Pintester had issues with sticking), cut the hotdogs into thirds, and stuck them in the middle of the batter, like so:

Then I just baked them as the Jiffy package directed, pulled them out and let them cool for a bit, and...

 

Tada! Not a single one of them stuck. The only "fail" part of this recipe was the fact that E would not  eat them. She has this thing about eating two or more foods put together, even if those foods are things she likes, such as cornbread and hotdogs. They were a big hit with the adults in the house, though. (I ate four. Oops.)

You can read the original recipe here, and the original pin test here. I'd rate mine as better than the Pintester's, but nowhere near as good as the original. Hooray for mediocrity! And science.