More fun cooking a delicious meal, this time with an assistant chef (so I could get more photography in!).  For today, just gobs of photos from start to finish… HT to Pioneer Woman for the recipe.

A picture is worth a thousand words:

In consumption mode:

Delicious and easy. 15 minutes prep. 10 minutes bake.  Yummy!!!

HT (and recipe): Pioneer Woman

P.S. I used a muffin pan in lieu of the custard cups in the original recipe; thus dialed down the bake time by a few minutes.

After Daddy built the loft beds for the boys, it was my turn to help decorate.  I got plain wooden letters from the craft store and then have the boys decorate each name.  They picked a fabric pattern of their own and then used Mod Podge to adhere to the letters.  I helped them cut the fabric to shape and they applied another layer of Mod Podge to seal the letters.  They proudly hung their names on their loft beds, attaching them with double-sided foam tape.  It was a fun project for them.

A while ago I successfully made yogurt in the crockpot.  I was very elated when the yogurt formed.  How fun and exciting it was to eat homemade yogurt.  Even though it was a bit runny, we didn’t mind it because we were able to drink it with a straw, thus, creating a drinkable yogurt.

I’ve heard about Greek style yogurt for some time but as always, I’m suspicious of the newest fad so I don’t pay much attention to it.  Then, I had one.  Wow, it was delicious!  Thick, creamy and tasty!  I should’ve looked in to it sooner.  So I quickly did some research online and found that I can make my own Greek style yogurt.  To my elation, it was much easier than I thought.  All I needed to do was to put the homemade yogurt in a cheese cloth in a colander and strain the whey out.  After couple hours, you have Greek yogurt!  I add honey and fruit to the yogurt

How easy is that?  I keep the whey, a yellowish liquid, and use it in recipes that call for milk.  I’ve used it in waffles and pancakes, but instead of using the whey in its entirety, I use half whey and half milk.

Our 3 quarts of yogurt produced this much whey after draining for two hours.

One satisfied customer!

There is no shortage of books in our house.

And likewise, there is no shortage of book shelves.

So imagine my surprise when Lois asked if I’d be willing to build yet another book shelf.

But when she pointed me to this blogger’s idea, it made sense: build a book shelf that doesn’t just hold books, but actually advertises the books in a way that encourages kids to read more.

Not that my “book worm” kids need too much help; but this is a great idea to use idle wall space all the same.

So I assembled and installed a rain gutter book shelf in our family room (aka school room) out of a vinyl rain gutter after we made a family trip last night to Home Depot.  I installed it just under our homemade white board.

And just to prove that reading isn’t just for little ones (or that we’re asking a lot of our little ones!), check out the book on the end:

It took over 9 months from start to finish.

Back in March 2010, I started building Matthew a loft bed based on the design of those sold by an online seller of “college loft beds.”

It stopped a few weeks later due to busy schedules.

I finally resumed in December with the encouragement and assistance of a handyman friend who also happened to own a very nice cup paint sprayer.

It’s now done.  And yes, as my wife commented upon first sight, it’s green.  Very green.

Here are a few photos of the construction/assembly/install from start to eventual finish:

Crazy drill-wielding kid o’ mine…

And finally, installed (though still needing a bit of paint touch-up):

Matthew’s younger brother actually got a bonus.  We converted their 2 formerly twin bunks into a mini-loft of sorts by removing one of the cross beams for the lower bunk:

My kids like omelette but I don’t like making it because it takes too long.  So, my husband makes the omelette for the kids.

Recently I came across Julia Child’s 20-second omelette through a friend.  I was stoked.  You can make an omelette in 20 seconds??!!!  We gave it a try and was sold!  Now we’ve been enjoying yummy omelettes 20 seconds at a time.

First time around we used a stainless steel pan but it didn’t work as well so you just have to listen to Julia Child and use a non-stick pan.

For your enjoyment and happy consumption, here is Julia Child teaching you how to make an omelette: