Jess Lynn Creations: June 2012

Lady bug is 3 Months!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

So I am going to play a bit of catch up with the next few blog posts. I was super busy this week and just didn't get around to posting what I wanted to earlier this week.

First of all, my baby girl turned 3 months old this past Saturday (3/16). I made her a special altered onesie for the day. I followed this tutorial that I found on Pinterest for a DIY screen printing technique.

It worked wonderfully!... until my two year old decided he wanted to touch it and smudged the letters! I was disappointed because it had looked so nice. I cleaned up the smudges the best I could and once it was dry I took a sharpie pen to it and outlined the letters. I saved it the best I could. I think it's still cute but it looks better in person.

And here is my little lady bug!

Can you spot the baby?! and yes, I do have a bed in my living room. Odd, I know, but her cradle doesn't fit in my room and it is a hassle to walk across the house in the middle of the night. Since we rarely have over night visitors, we just moved the guest bed into the back corner of my living room. Works for now, but it wont be forever.

Labels:Baby Girl,DIY | 2 comments

Current Crush: Kindle Touch

My hubby got me the Kindle Touch for Christmas and truthfully up until about two months I didn't really use it. Now it goes everywhere with me. I got this nifty case this week for it. It's got a light that pops out on top so I can read in low light. (the lack of a back light on the kindle touch itself is my only complaint.) I LOVE this thing! Its so convenient to be able to have the books I am reading in a compact device that fits in my purse. Plus, my two year old can't destroy my books.

This is my book case. I read a lot. I have a lot of books. These aren't even all of them.

My middle shelf even has a row of books stacked on top of each other behind another row of books. The ones in the back are Manga (Japanese comics) by the way. I sort of had an obsession with them when I was in High school.

And a small section in the middle of the bottom shelf for my kid's books. I will eventually buy a small shelf just for their books. A few Baby Einstein books, lots of Tag Jr. books, and few others. There was 5 or 6 more at one point, my my son and his cousin destroyed them. RIP Baby board books, lol.

And once he seen me taking pictures, he decided he had to jump in front of the camera so the world could see his "just rolled out of bed" look. Yes, he is very skinny. No, I don't starve him. He is just VERY active.

Labels:Books,Current Crush,Linky | 0 comments

DSLR Giveaway!

Seriously?! This is like the mother of all giveaways for me. I would die. I have had my eye on this camera since I decided I need a new one. This one or the Nikon cool pix (durability + water resistant). I haven't made up my mind. Heres to hoping I win! Unlikely, I know, but it doesn't hurt to try!

. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Labels:Giveaway | 0 comments

Recipe: Puff Pastry Chicken Pocket

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Puff Pastry Chicken Pocket with rice and mixed veggies

These are so tasty and very filling. I'm certainly not the first person to make a variation of these, I have seen several around the internet, but I will be sharing how I make mine today.

Fair warning, these take a bit of work and can be very messy to make. Its not that they are hard to make, they just take time. I usually make the filling the day before I plan on making them for dinner. You can also make a big batch of filling and freeze it for later use if you wish.

Ingredients:

For the Filling:

2 Tbs butter (you can use whatever type of oil or spray you want, but butter tastes the best)
One small onion (or half of a large one)
4 to 5 strips of bacon (I use Turkey bacon, tastes the same but its less fat)
1lb boneless skinless chicken (breast or thighs) cut into small chunks.
3 Tbs flour
1 1/3 cup chicken broth
Veggies (use whatever you want, mine have carrots, peas, and green beans, broccoli works well too)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt, pepper, garlic powder (you can use fresh garlic instead), and parsley

For the Pastry:

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry
3-4 egg yolks
Shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Chop onion and cook with the butter until they start to turn into a golden color. Also, If you are using fresh garlic instead of the powder, you would want to add it before you cook the onion and set it aside.	2. When your onions look like this, they are done. Dont over cook your onions, they will be returning to the stove later.
3. Place onions in a small bowl and set to the side, try to leave whatever butter is left in the pan.	4. Cook your bacon (or turkey bacon). You want to cook it until it is really crispy and will crumble easily.
5. Crumble the bacon and set on top of your onions. Leave the bacon grease in the pan.	6. Cook your chicken until all sides are cooked. Depending on how big your pan is, you may need to do this in 2-3 batches. You want all pieces of the chicken to touch the pan, don't just make one big pile because they wont cook evenly.
7. Put all chicken in the pot (if you had to do more than one batch) and coat with the flour until all the juices are gone. Add the onion and bacon in.	8. Slowly add the chicken broth and stir to make a creamy broth. (if you put all the broth in at once it is harder to mix up with out splashing).
9. Add whatever veggies you are using. Make sure they are cut up into small pieces or you will have a hard time putting them in the pastry. Cook on low for 25 minutes.	10. Add Heavy whipping cream and mix well. Add seasoning to your taste. Remove from heat and let it cool down. Put it in to bowl, cover, and set inside the fridge for at least 2-3 hours. The sauce must be stiff before you add it to the pastry or it will run and cause problems.
If you are in a rush and need it ready quick: put in a bowl and set it in your freezer uncovered. Check back every 5 minutes and stir until the sauce is completely set. I don't recommend this method but it does work in a pinch. The sauce CAN NOT be runny at all. Like I said earlier, I usually make the filling the day before.
11. While the filling is chilling (I can rhyme!) defrost your puff pastry according to the box directions. When the pastry is ready, throw flour on the surface and roll it out into a large square.	12. I cut mine into six equal pieces. Do one piece at a time because it will shrink as it sits. Take one square, flip it over onto the floured surface, give it a quick roll if it shrunk since being cut.
13. Start with 2 egg yolks, beat them well. If you run out of egg yolk, crack another. Don't throw away the yolk if you have some left over, you will be using it later. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.	14. Scoop some of your filling onto the center of the pastry. Take a brush and spread a thin layer of the egg yolk around the edges.
15. Add cheese.	16. Fold the corners up and pinch them together. Leave a hole in the center to vent the steam. Be sure to make a good seam or it can come apart while baking.
11. Grease your pan. (I just used a cooking spray.)	12. Cover thoroughly with egg yolk. If the two you used earlier are gone, beat 2 more.
13. Bake for 25-30 minutes on the middle rack.	14. When pastry's are done, let them cool for about 5 minutes and they will be ready to eat and enjoy!

I serve these with rice and veggies. For the rice, I replace the water with chicken broth and add a bit of adobo for seasoning.

My son and his father love these and asked me to make a beef version so I will be making those some time next week and I will let you know how they come out.

Also, sorry for the dramatic decline in picture quality half way through. My camera died and I didn't have any back up batteries so I used my Ipad to finish up.

My messy table after making these!

Labels:Food,recipe | 1 comments

Pinkapotamus' Under 300 Blog Hop 6.14.12

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Doesn't this look yummy?! This was dinner two nights ago. It is a puff pastry chicken pocket with rice and veggies. I will be posting the recipe for the chicken pocket soon.

So while browsing around I found a blog hop for Blogs with less than 300 followers. Since my followers currently fill 1% of that quota, I definitely qualify, lol...

To be a part of the blog hop, Pinkapotamus asked us to answer 4 questions...

1. If you were trapped on a desert island and could only bring 1 crafty item what would it be?

Yarn. Definatly yarn. I would use it to tie branches and sticks together to make some sort of shelter, clothing, and maybe even a fishing rod so I can eat something other than coconuts lol...

2. If your spouse (or significant other) made you chose between them and crafting .. what would you chose?

I would have to choose him. He funds my obsession. Without him, there would be no crafting! (Though in this case there wouldn't be any either, hmmmm.... might need to think more on this...)

3. What would be your Ultimate craft experience?

Being trapped, alone in a craft shop with the ability to use whatever I want. Yes, that sounds like heaven to me!

4. What is your favourite craft disaster?

I don't really have a crafting disaster, more like a supply disaster. I use to have my crafting area in a corner of my living room. I went to use the bathroom one day and when I came back I found my two year old up to no good. I wasn't gone for even five minutes! Paper everywhere, glue and glitter on the floor, markers on the wall. I lost a lot of good pattern on that fateful day. RIP craft supplies, you are missed.

| 1 comments

What's for Lunch Wednesday

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Lettuce with a small amount of Italian dressing, carrots with fat free ranch for dipping, cheesy potato slices, rice, mixed veggies, half of a puff pasty chicken pocket leftover from last night's dinner, and cheese cut into shapes.

I have a picky eater. It is frustrating with how picky he is. For a long while all I could get him to eat was chocolate milk, cheese, and Cheetos. Horrible. I know. I have tried almost every conceivable way to get him eat and try new foods. Most attempts were unsuccessful. It wasn't that I wasn't offering other foods, he just refused to eat them.

While browsing around a few kid's food blogs, I ran across Bento Boxes. For those of you who don't know, a bento box is a Japanese style lunchbox. To me, there really isn't any difference between a plate and a bento box except that they LOOK really tasty and fun.

So I decided to try it and went off into internet shop land and bought a few things from Bento USA. I just got a few things that looked fun - a $2.50 two tier bento box, a couple of shape cutters, an egg mold, and some food picks.

I started off with foods that I knew he would eat - like cheese and pepperoni - cut into shapes with cutters. Then I began adding similar foods like turkey, ham, chicken, and other types of cheese - food that he had refused to even try before - cut into fun shapes as well. I added carrots and bread, and he ate them! I gave him rice, beans, peas, lettuce and other things and he ate them! My picky eater - who would only eat a handful of different foods just two weeks ago - was eating REAL food.

Now when he comes to the table for lunch (I do bento boxes for dinner sometimes too) he is excited to see what is in his box and for the most part, he eats everything. I add new foods for him to try every few days. He still refuses to eat new foods at first but after a day or so of giving it to him, he warms up and gives the food a try.

I am amazed at how well this worked. Presentation changes everything in children's eyes. If you have a picky eater of your own, give Bento-ing a try. You don't have to go out and buy a bunch of fancy stuff, you can use a small Tupperware and some cookie cutters that you already own.

BentoLunch.net is a blog that I follow and they host a link party called "What's for lunch Wednesday." I will be participating in this from now on. Go check out what other people link up. I am new to bento so mine are rather plain, but other people make some amazing bentos. I wish I was their kid lol...