Leftover Makeover: Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Soup

I might have already mentioned before that whenever we get asked by close family members from the U.S. what we want them to bring home for us when they visit we would shamelessly ask for Costco chicken (and yes, their apple pie too sometimes!). There are only three of us and the chicken is relatively larger than what we can consume per meal leftovers are, therefore, inevitable. Most of the time we save the leftovers for tacos, but here's another recipe that I love to make out of the leftover chicken.

Ingredients:
Leftover chicken
Carrots, roughly cut into large chunks
Potatoes, quartered
Squash, roughly cut into large cuts
Garlic head, halved
Onion, minced
Olive oil
Milk or cream
Salt and pepper

Procedure:
Combine vegetables and garlic. Drizzle olive oil over.
Roast in an oven heated at 350 F for about 30 minutes or until they caramelize.
Shread chicken meat off the bone. Keep the bones to make chicken stock.

In a stock pan, heat olive oil, add onions and cook until transparent.
Add shreaded chicken and roasted vegetables (make sure to remove the skins of the garlic).
Add chicken stock or water. 
Add milk or cream. Lower heat and  bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
With a handheld mixer (if unavailable you may use a blender) puree mixture until you get the desired consistency (smooth to slightly chunky).   
Season with salt and pepper. 

Refashioning a Mumu

Around summer time last year, I found this oversized, navy printed mumu at a local thrift shop (read: ukay ukay) and bought it for only P10.00. I don't wear mumus but I thought I could sew it into throw pillows for the living room. I kept the mumu in a basket (where my other pending projects are stored) and totally forgot about it until early this year when we did some spring cleaning!  

 

 

 However, instead  of sewing it into throw pillows I decided to turn them into  a pair of pants.

 

 

Old Sweater Makeover

I have been itching to make more stenciling projects like the ones that I did (as gifts) during the holidays. I have already finished working on ALL of Alonzo's (as well as hubby's!)white shirts and they literally do not have any plain shirts available thanks to my current crafting obsession (fabric dyeing comes to a close second). However, although this activity can be really addicting my mind still cannot convince my body to do the extra effort to go to Divi  -- where shirts (and practically everything else) are way cheaper -- and purchase them wholesale. 

 

 

This nagging obsession to stencil didn't spare mt Dad's old (circa 1984) sweater. It's so old that the neckline is all frayed. Anyway, the procedure for this heart stencil is way easier than having to use a cutter or X-Acto knife.

Step 1: Simply fold freezer paper (or in my case, sticker paper)in half and cut half half a heart.

Step 2: Unfold pattern, unpeel sticker paper and position in place over fabric of choice.

Step 3: Place a piece of newspaper or cardboard at the insides to prevent fabric paint from smearing through the fabric.

 

Step 4: With a brush or foam sponge apply fabric paint.

 



Step 5: Let it dry and unpeel.



Please pardon the stiff, awkward pose. Eekkk!

Yogurt Cup Predicament

From the time our son was a little less than a year old up to a few months ago he would consume 2-3 cups of yogurt a day 7 times a week. He liked it frozen and he ate it like ice cream. 

You may already know that we keep all yogurt cups and use them in many ways. Because of the amount that our son used to consume

you could just imagine how much yogurt cups we have collected over time. (check out this, this, this and this!)

About six moths ago, all of a sudden, he wouldn't take even a spoonful. He probably got so tired of it and decided on going cold turkey. Then just as abruptly as he gave up on his yogurt habit, a few days ago, out of the blue, he asked if we could have some.

 

Becasue it has been a few months ago since the last time I bought yogurt from the grocery I was surprised that Nestle yogurt has changed their packaging. 



Although I agree that the new look is better I am having a little problem on how to store them. Because the sides of the new cup are parallel (versus the former design which widens at the opening) they don't stack so well. We don't want to throw they away but I have to think of a better storage solution. 
  

Pet Peeve

Those who really know me know that I seldom come on time. That's because I try to always be early. Call me OC but this is how how I have been all my life. I've "won" the early bird award in our association several times that the officers probably decided to just not hand them out. It is almost embarrassing. If ever I do arrive exactly on time, say, for an appointment it must be a bad day for me. And if ever I do come in late, it must be a really bad day! I guess, you could say that tardiness is my pet peeve. Surprisingly, I am more tolerant towards towards the tardiness of others. Having a child also has made me a little more forgiving about how I manage my time. Speaking of time management,I really rely on my planner to help me keep my schedule in check and organized. I prefer using my trusty, old school planner over any tech-y electronic gadget. Those who really know me also know that I probably am the least tech-y person in the blogging world! Anyway, please check out an article I wrote for Yahoo! She on how to be punctual.

 

DIY DIp Dye T-shirts

Months before the holidays I ambitiously challenged myself on giving hand made gifts for Christmas for everyone...hand embroidered table napkins for my favorite aunts, chokers and bracelets (such as this, this, this and this!) for girl friends and bow ties for the guys etc.. my "grand" list went on and on. Needless to say, I failed in my self-imposed dare. What was I thinking???

Well, I did manage to make several hand made gift items such as hand drawn personalized mugs for

Alonzo's nurturers at playhouse,  stenciled shirts for my nieces and nephews, mini carrot cakes for friends and workmates (does that count?) and the bear pillow case for Alonzo.

 

Oh, I also made these dip dyed shirts as well. 

This DIY project is so easy and addicting (I would have made more of these had there been more plain white shirts around).

 

I asked my sister to get for me several packs of Rit dye from the states. I have only tried the Venus brand, which I think, is the only brand readily available here.  Not that I have any problems about the product...and it only costs P5.00 a pack -- what's there to complain about? But I simply want to check how other brands work. The Rit dye ordered from my sister, however, would have arrived a little too late for me to make my dip dye shirt project in time for Christmas. So I ended up using the same old, trusted Venus dyobos.

 

 

There's no need to use rubber bands to tie the shirt. Mentally divide your shirt into horizontal quarters and simply dip lower quarter on to the dye bath for several minutes. RInse well and dry.

Baked Potato Boats

Hello, everyone! How have you been doing? I have been wanting to blog about this recipe since the first day of 2013 but i had little technical issues with blogger (couldn't upload any photos! How annoying is that?). I figured out a way (whew! For a moment there I thought I had to move this little bog of mine somewhere else). Anyway, let us move on and finally allow me to share this recipe. Well, talk about favorites! This potato dish has been a crowd pleaser and a frequent potluck preparation since the first time I ever made this --- 20 years ago! Kids love it too.

 

Ingredients:

Large potatoes

Butter (about a tablespoon)

Salt and pepper

Grated cheese

Sliced mushrooms

Crispy cooked bacon

 

Procedure:

Boil potatoes. once cool enough to handle, cut in half and hollow out potatoes as such as you can without tearing the skins.

Mash potatoes to desired consistency (I like them on the smooth side but my sister prefer them to be a little chunky).

Add a little butter and grated cheese.

Season with salt and pepper. 

Scoop mashed potatoes back on to the hollowed out skins.

Top with more grated cheese and mushrooms. Sprinkle bacon bits.

Bake in a preheated oven until cheese melts.

 

Note: If you won't be serving them right away, add the bacon on the last minute to make sure it remains crispy