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!

Teacher Appreciation Part 1

My daughters' school is having five days of teacher appreciation next week, with a different theme each day.  

While I am working on making the theme gift for "flower day" (which I will post soon), the first theme is "Munchie Monday."  As such, I am going to make homemade chocolate chip cookies for each of the teachers, accompanied with this adorable subway art in a frame.  To download, click here.

I Heart Faces - Slice of Life

Most of the pictures I take are "lifestyle" photos, as I try to capture my childrens' lives without posing them.  I love to capture their expressions, as I feel those are the most touching.  I found this picture that I never even realized I had taken over the summer and fell in love with it.  It's amazing how you can look at a picture months after you've taken it and suddenly realize the beauty.  I captured this momentof my husband and daughter watching fireworks on July 4th.  My daughter was SO tired, yet scared  of and intrigued with the fireworks.  I love it.  

 

Don't Cry Over Spilled Juice

Juice boxes are great...convenient, portable, and fun for kids.  However, my two year old always insists on squeezing the box to watch the laws of gravity squirt the juice out the top of the straw and then all over everything in a two foot radius.  A dear friend taught me this little trick...there are tabs on either side of the juice box.  Flip them up, tell your tot to hold those rather than the box, and you will should be mess free!  My daughter was the perfect model this weekend as she sipped on a juice box while we boated!

I Heart Faces - Best Face of February

This photo I'm entering into the Best Face of February is one I took of my husband and daughter one day when we were on a walk.  We happened to catch a lacrosse game at a school down the road and my daughter was completely intrigued.  I think it's such a sweet "father daughter" picture, even though you can't see my husband's face.  The natural light made my daughter's skin look smooth as ever - I did not use any skin smoothening filter on this photo.  As always, comments are appreciated.