Quick and Easy: Roast Red Pepper Tortellini

As a working mother, I am always looking for quick and easy dinner recipes.  I came up with this one tonight to give a new twist to tortellini - Roasted Red Pepper Tortellini

Ingredients:
-Frozen or refrigerated tortellini 

-1 jar roasted red peppers

-1/3 cup of milk (I used low fat)

-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

-1 fresh red pepper

-1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Instructions:

Prepare tortellini as instructed on the package.  Meanwhile, place the jar of roasted red peppers, milk, and shredded cheese and crushed red pepper in a blender or food processor and blend.  Once blending is complete, put the mixture into a bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes (until warm).  When tortellini is done cooking, dish into bowls and top with roasted red pepper sauce.  Top with additional cheese and crushed red pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Baby Jar Gifts

When I transitioned my second child to jarred baby food, it killed me to just throw away the beautiful glass jars that it came in!  After seeing how much glass jars cost, I figured I could certainly find another use for them (after putting them through the dishwasher first, of course).  

It was around the time of Valentine's Day and I decided put together little treat jars for my daughters' teachers, as well as my coworkers.  

I had my husband drill a hole in the top of each jar top.  I then spray painted the tops red and filled each jar with M&Ms.  I created a label for the jars (below) and adhered them to each jar.   

Finally, I made the lollipop flowers, using the tutorial provided by Skip To My Lou.  I didn't use the floral tape for the leaves, but rather just cut strips of green paper, glued the ends, and wrote the name of the recipient.  When I finished them all, I popped a lollipop in the whole of each jar top and...tada....a cute little gift! 

Playroom / Nursery Wall Art

I have recently become obsessed with pinterest.com.  I believe it is still an 'invitation only' site, so message me with your email address if you'd like me to send you an invite (simpleecrafted@gmail.com).  Anyway, I have found SO MANY cute ideas on the site and this is one of them...

I LOVE free printables and sure enough, each of these cute alphabet cards is a free printable!   This would be perfect for a child's nursery or playroom.  This could also be put together to create an alphabet book!

Thank you http://www.thehandmadehome.net for an adorable printable!