Freezer Meals: Take 1

Yes, I have jumped on the freezer meal bandwagon and I am loving it! I made 2 family dinner servings of 5 different freezer meals. That's a total of 10 meals prepared and ready for the freezer or the crockpot in only a couple of hours!! How could you not love that?! Last weekend I had one of those rare nights when both kids were asleep by 7pm (I think it was all the geocaching we did that day). I figured I would seize the opportunity to start meal planning before I was ready for bed. Here is part of the outcome my couple of hours of hard super simple work...

The meals I made were:

Semi-Homemade Meat Sauce (1 dinner worth)
Homemade Meatballs (for either Meatball Parms or Spaghetti) (3 dinners worth)
My famous Sausage & Peppers (2 dinners worth)
Ring Around the Rosies's Teriyaki Chicken (2 dinners worth)
Homemade Sloppy Joes (2 dinners worth)

Unfortunately, when it comes to my own recipes for cooking I don't usual follow the "recipe" the same time twice. I do know though that I love finding new recipes to test out, so I will attempt to make some recipes for the meals I made.

ITEMS NEEDED FOR ALL MEALS:

 -Gallon Size Freezer Bags
 -Sharpie Marker

Note: I like to write the date, what is in the bag, time in the crockpot, and anything else that needs to be added into the crockpot

Semi-homemade Crockpot Meat Sauce (Freezer Version):

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef browned

2 16oz an of tomato sauce (i use Hunt's Basil and Oregano)

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp black pepper

Freezing Directions: While browning ground beef, Mix all other ingredients in a medium size bowl and divide in half. Put one half in a gallon size freezer bag, and keep the rest to the side for later (italian meatballs). After ground beef has been browned and slightly cooled add that to the freezer bag with other ingredients and gently shake to mix in ground beef.  If you do not want to freeze, skip the freezer bag part and cook on low in Crockpot for approx 4hrs

Italian Meatballs (Freezer Version):

Ingredients:

3lbs of ground beef

2 eggs

1/2 cup of milk

1 cup of breadcrumbs

1 tsp of salt

2 tsp of oregano

2 tsp of basil

1 tsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of ground black pepper

1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 Tblspn of oil

Crockpot Meat Sauce

Directions: Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand. Heat up frying pan with a Tblspn of oil. Roll meatballs into golf size balls (i like to use a cookie scoop to do this) and place in heated frying pan. Continue to turn meatballs in frying pan until cooked on all sides. Remove meatballs from frying pan and place on paper towels. Continue until all meat mixture has been cooked. Divide meatballs evenly (makes about 60) and place in 3 freezer bags. Put a 1/3 of reserved sauce from recipe above in bag with meatballs and gently shake to mix. When ready to use, cook in crockpot and add a jar of your favorite sauce (or create sauce above minus ground beef). Cook on low for approximately 4hrs.

Serve over spaghetti or on italian rolls with parmesan & mozzarella cheese for meatball parms.

As the week goes on I will figure out how I make my sausage and peppers and sloppy joes and will get them posted for you all. For now I hope you enjoy these recipes. You will definitely not be disappointed with them, especially the Italian meatballs, they are DELICIOUS!!

Happy Hump Day!

<3 Kris
Fabric Nerds

Fondant: (n) Adult Play-Doh

This past weekend I was super busy getting ready for my best friend's baby shower. We have been friends since the 6th grade and we are so similar in so many ways that I think we were separated at birth and just lived on different sides of town (my side being the better one ha!). She has done so much for me in the past that I wanted to do something a little special for her shower so, I volunteered to do the cupcakes, cake, and fruit salad. In the past we have always gotten together before a party that we are either helping with or hosting and bake up some delicious creations. This was my first solo run with fondant...ahh!  The theme of her shower was Peter Rabbit so I hopped on Pinterest and Google images to get some ideas of what I wanted to do. 

First I found these super cute cupcake liners on Amazon, and these adorable picket fence cupcake wrappers by Wilton at Michael's..

These two things got the vision in my head that I needed. So I headed to Michael's and Shoprite to buy my cake mixes and decorating supplies. I borrowed a beautiful cupcake tower from another friend of mine so I knew I wanted to make a cake to go on the top tier and then also 48 cucpcakes for the other tiers. For two days I attempted to make a 3d version of Peter Rabbit (umm yeah wasn't happening.) So finally I decided to go the route of "simply adorable" (simply the keyword)  and had fun making miniature size vegetables for Mr. McGregor's garden and this was my outcome...

My friend and her husband are not telling anyone the name they have chosen so I made a cute wooden sign and made it looked etched in with "Welcome Baby". I am quite pleased with the final result on my first solo project.

 A lot of people asked me at the party how I made the sign look like wood grain and it was actually quite simple. Here is my little secret...I used Duff's butter cream fondant from Michael's it has a creamy color look to it and as far as fondant goes actually tastes pretty good. I took a clump of fondant in the amount of much I thought I would need and took 2 toothpick scoops worth of brown gel colouring and then rolled the fondant into a fat log shape. Then I took the log and folded it in half and rolled it into a log shape again. Then I folded that log in half and rolled it into a log again, and continued with this pattern until I had a nice wood grain look and rolled it out. I took my back end of my knife and made little indentations in the fondant sign to give the effect of an old piece of wood. I then attempted to make the words look burned into the wood bydotting a brown food color pen in to the fondant to form the letters.

My cupcakes I wanted to look like a carrot patch and a flower garden so I used a #233 icing tip which is a multi-opening tip. I put the chocolate cupcakes in the picket fence wrappers and the vanilla in the peter rabbit liners...

I was also in charge of the fruit salad and for anyone who knows me I can't just go simple for most things so I went on Pinterest and found this adorable picture of a baby in a cradle fruit salad. Here was my early morning attempt and I have to say it came out stinkin cute!

If you guys have any questions on how I did anything or where I got stuff please feel free to ask. I am not one to keep my techniques or were I found things a secret :)

Hoping you all have a wonderful week!

<3 Kris

A Plan (Thankfully) Interrupted

So as you all know my hubby was away this past weekend and I planned on doing a whole bedroom makeover for him while he was away. I had my mind set to finish our quilt and give our bedroom a more "grown-up" look and then I got ambushed by cuteness! How could I say no?!

So needless to say my bedroom did not get the makeover it so desperately needs but I am so completely happy that I got ambushed by this cuteness. It was a mini wake up call to chill, throw my to do lists out the window, and enjoy the weekend with my beautiful munchkins <3

Our weekend was filled with FINGERPAINTS...

OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES...

SPRINKLERS...

AND SMALL TOWN PARADES.

Kiddos with their Nana

 It was a terrific weekend for my family and I. A great reminder for me that sometimes I need to just throw out my to do lists/plans and just sit back and soak up the day and the freedom our military men and women protect and fight for us to have and enjoy. 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and continue to have a terrific week ahead :)

<3 Kris

**FQ BUNDLE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT** 

Our winner for the FQ Bundle of Savannah Bop was Beth Miller! Congrats to Beth! 

Memorial Day Savings

Open up the pools, fire up the grills, and start your summer sewing projects this holiday weekend. Save 15% off your entire purchase at Fabric Nerds until 5/28 using coupon code SUMMER15 at checkout.

Also remember, when you make a purchase in the shop during this week your name will also get entered in to the drawing to win a FQ Bundle of Savannah Bop. Retails at $21!! DOUBLE BONUS!

Hope everyone has a sunshiny, family filled, stomach stuffed Memorial Day weekend! 

A huge thank you to all of our troops both past and present who sacrifice everything to let us keep our freedom.

God Bless America!

<3 Kristyn

Go Big or Go Home

I have been working on my quilt for my bedroom makeover surprise I hope to complete this weekend while my husband is away visiting family. As I type that I hope he doesn't read this blog but I think I am safe because I would place my life savings that he doesn't even know what a blog is or reads anything I post on Facebook :).  I have completed a full row of 9 blocks only 81 more blocks to go..I can do this! I went off the pattern a little because I thought with all the different patterns in the fabric, the blocks would look cool pieced right together instead of having sashing in between them. Here is a quick sneak peek of what it looks like so far;

I have to give myself a pat on the back. I am quite pleased with how it is coming out for my first time attempting a BIG quilt. 

I have also been contemplating on what else to do in this bedroom makeover and think I have picked out the colors I want to do. With the quilt being so colorful and bold I want the wall colors subdued, so I think I am going to do khaki color walls with a accent wall behind our bed in chocolate brown. I also did some poking around in our garage attic and I found an old wooden shutter that I think I am going to paint a deep purple,  dark red, aqua , (ugh not quite sure yet) and upholster part of it with some extra fabric I have. 

I was also thinking of putting some canvases of us throughout the years above our bed. Having canvases made is not in my budget though so I found some awesome tutorials on Pinterest on how to make my own. Of course I can't do something simple :) so I have started playing around in my photo program with a vintage photo effect to them. here is a sneak peak, what do you think?

Well that is it for now. Let me know what you all think of my ideas or any suggestions on this makeover. Right now I better get back to some sewing while my youngest is actually napping, which is a rarity nowadays.

<3 Kristyn
Fabric Nerds

Diary of a Quilt Market Newbie

Thursday: May 17th:

Kansas City, MO

The only word to describe today's experience is just... WoW! Market doesn't officially begin until tomorrow but there were classes, lectures, and of course SAMPLE SPREE!!! Sample spree didn't start until 8pm but from talking to other shop owners on line, people began lining up at 1pm, just insanity. We got in line at 6:30 and this is what the line looked like...

See those 3 black lines going up in the back of the picture? Those are the escalators that brought us up to the sample spree. By the time 8pm hit, the line behind us was at least triple in length! Women were running up the moving escalators it was pure craziness, one of the escalators even broke down before we made it up to them :) I did not have any manufacturer/designer in particular that I was looking to get some samples from so I just walked around looking for things that caught my eye. 

The whole experience when we finally got up there, reminded me of one of those wedding dress sales where brides are shoving each other out of the way and grabbing things out of each other hands. I guess I didn't expect to need my claws out in the fabric/quilting world, boy was I wrong. I actually had a lady grab a fat quarter bundle I had from Moda out of my hands and say she saw it first. My mom always taught me to choose my battles and that was not a battle I had the strength to or was willing to fight :) I scored some great fabric bundles from Robert Kaufman and Andover and the whole event to me was quite comical...I left quite happy and entertained. 

Keep reading to see how you can win these great fabric bundles I scored! :)

Friday, May 18th

 Started off the day bright an early at a lecture by Laurie Hirsh called Every Penny Counts. Learned quite a bit on how to grow my business and gave me food for thought on how I want Fabric Nerds to grow.  The lecture ended at 9am and Quilt Market officially began at 9:30am so I waited around for awhile and talked to a few really nice shop owners. Looking around in the massive group waiting, I was definitely by far one of the youngest shop owners which in return made me have to beef up my game to be taken seriously :) I stopped at the Andover booths to look at opening an account with them and met Dennis who was the nicest guy and hilarious! I ended up purchasing Frippery by Thomas Knauer and it will be arriving in September.

Saturday, May 19th

Today also started off with a lecture, while I gained a lot of knowledge for when the shop has been open 5+ years, unfortunately I didn't take much for how to improve and grow my shop in the present. I did leave though with great future advice. After the lecture I decided to head back to the hotel for some breakfast and chill out and read my Kindle a bit before heading back to the Market. After I dragged myself away from an awesome book I was reading, I headed back to market and stopped by the Jennifer Jangles booth. I talked to the designer Jennifer Heynen (super sweet) a bit and set up an order to start supplying her handmade ceramic buttons in the shop...

She also has a line of fabric I love called Extraordinary World with In the Beginning Fabrics, that is coming out in the Fall which I am thinking of having in the shop also. 

After placing my order with Jennifer, I walked around a bit taking a few photos of some awesome booths. Here is one by Art Gallery for their Summer Love line. So cute!

 I ended my time in Kansas City with a movie, drink, and great food.  Highly recommend What to Expect when you are Expecting, very funny!

FABRIC BUNDLE GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

First up for in the giveaway is the Savannah Bop Bundle by Thomas Knauer for Andover Fabrics. 

The bundle consists of 8 FQs and retails for $21.00!!! How can you win this adorable bundle you ask? Easy...enter by making a purchase at Fabric Nerds (no minimum purchase required) between Mon. May 21st and Mon. May 28th and your name will automatically be added into the giveaway drawing. Winner will be chosen by random using random.org. Good Luck to everyone! ♥

<3 Kristyn

Quilt Along with Me...

My semester has finally come to the end and now I have 4 months of no late night studying, reading, or paper writing. To be honest for the last few days it has kind of been odd. I don't know what to do with myself. I have a few things on my bucket list for the summer one is to do some reading but for pleasure not school. I have been reading Fifty Shades of Grey, I am on the 2nd book and they just keep getting better! Highly recommend quick reads.

 Another thing on my bucket list is to make a couple of quilts, one for my daughter's bed and one for my bed. I have never made quilts of these sizes, in these patterns, or have attempted to machine quilt before, but I am getting excited to start. My husband is going away Memorial day weekend to visit family and I want to surprise him with a bedroom makeover. We have redone our living room, our son's room, and our daughter's room together and I think its about time we have a nice bedroom too :) So I have stepped up to the challenge. Right now it has barely anything on the walls, is in a boring pale yellow, cream curtains, and a on sale target comforter, not very romantic or relaxing. I will definitely be writing some blog entries with pics of before, after, and the progress once that weekend comes but the first step is to get this quilt started and hopefully finished by then.

I thought it might be fun to have a few of us to do a quilt a long together. Post our blocks and progress and give us some motivation to keep on going since we are "working together".  Any newbie quilters, or any level quilter want to join me in this adventure? While I am not a newbie to the fabric world or sewing, I am a newbie in the quilt world so do not feel that it might be too big of a challenge for you, we will make mistakes together ;)

This is the beautiful quilt that I decided to make for our bed. It's by Art Gallery Fabrics.  

Secret Garden Quilt

If you click on the link above it will take you to the quilt and the free PDF file. It's final dimensions I believe are 52" x 52", so I will be increasing the size for my quilt since our bed is a queen size, but I think this pattern will look absolutely gorgeous. 

These are the fabrics that I chose for my quilt. They are also by Art Gallery, their Bazaar Style Collection. 

Now as you can see, I don't have as many different types of fabrics they list but I have tons of yardage of 9 different fabrics. I think that is the best part of this quilt you can use as many or as little fabric designs that you want to use, purely personal preference. 

So I hope you all are up to the challenge of completing this quilt with me, I love seeing all the different fabrics and patterns people choose, gives me inspiration. If you want you can email me you pics of your fabric and progress at fabricnerds@gmail.com. and I will post all of our weekly updates. So excited!!

My goals for the night: Ironing and beginning to cut my squares out :) listening to Pandora: Gretchen Wilson Radio (for all you country fans, awesome station!)

<3 Kris
Fabric Nerds