Felt Food

I recently finished a craft project that was a little different, but a lot of fun. I made felt food for a friend's daughter who just turned 2. Felt food has become really popular in the realm of "unique" toys for kids. The idea of having play food made out of felt rather than hard plastic is genius. I think it's much more realistic, inviting, and creative.

Here's how my felt food turned out:

Top to bottom: ruffle chips with bag, chocolate chip cookies, ear of corn, banana, orange slices, fried egg, strawberries, carrots, bread slices, crackers, tomato, lettuce, lunch meat, slice of cheese. I also made bacon strips, but they didn't make it into the picture.

Thankfully, I was able to find wonderful tutorials on how to make most of the food items.

Thanks to:
I used this tutorial to make the strawberries.
This for the fried egg and orange slices.
This for the sandwich and chips.
This for the banana and corn.
This for the crackers.
This for the carrots.
I didn't use a tutorial or pattern for the cookies or bacon strips.

Menu Plan Monday - Jan. 24

Review from last week:

Well, so much for getting back to a planned menu this week! I followed the menu 3 out of the 7 days. I started the week out doing well, but the end of the week didn't go so well.

I did make the biscuits and they were pretty good. I think I rolled my dough out too thin, so they were kind of thin biscuits. I made a batch again Sunday night and put in the freezer for the week.

I didn't get around to making the Dairy Free Chocolate Chunk Cookies this week, but will for next Sunday. I have a little buddy at church who has severe food allergies. I feel bad that there isn't a lot of food he can eat, so I thought I would try making him some kind of dessert.

This week:

Monday: Green Enchilada Casserole, Mexican Beans

Tuesday: Breakfast Ring

Wednesday: Taco Soup

Thursday: Roast

Friday: Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Rice

Saturday: Chicken Fajita Pizza

Sunday: Church - Chick-Be-Quicks, Dairy Free Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Supper - Frito pie or hamburger pie

Hope you have a great week! See more menu plans here!

Goals

This time of year has a lot of people making resolutions, goals, plans for the new year. I'm a "goal-oriented" kind of person. I like to make goals and challenge myself to achieve those goals. Sometimes I like to get specific with my goals. Other times I like to make more generic goals.

Some of my goals for 2011 are:

• read the Bible through (using The One-Year Bible published by Tyndale)
• eat more fresh fruits and vegetables
• send one handwritten note a week (not starting out so well on this one!)
• call my grandparents more often
• run 3 miles in under 30 minutes
• learn to knit
• read 50 books
• stick to a grocery budget
• intentionally save money

I have a few others that are a little more personal, but those are the main ones.

I'll be posting my progress on the books I've read and am currently reading on the sidebar of the blog. I'm on book 4 of 50 right now. Several of my books are by my favorite author, Karen Kingsbury. I've read most of her books, but I hope to read all of them this year. Also on my list are a few classics that I've never read, some current popular reads, and a few educational books. I have 3 purposes for this goal:

1). Do something I enjoy
2). Spend more time reading and less time watching TV or on the computer
3). Broaden my scope of literacy

We'll see how the year turns out and if I am successful with my goals.

Menu Plan Monday - Jan. 17

No worries, we have eaten since November 8th! I've even managed to plan meals. I just haven't managed to post about my meal plan. Hopefully, I'll be back to my normal routine soon!

I don't have anything too exciting planned for this week. I am going to try a new recipe for biscuits for breakfast. This recipe says you can make a big batch and freeze them. That's my plan. I will pull a few out for breakfast every morning.

Monday: Taco skillet, guacamole

Tuesday: Fried chicken, potatoes, peas

Wednesday: Pork chops, cheesy potatoes

Thursday: Sweet and sour meatballs, rice

Friday: Burritos, corn casserole

Saturday: Soup and sandwiches

Sunday: Church - Green bean casserole, Dairy Free Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas!

Well, hello there!

Remember me? Sorry I've left my few faithful readers for so long. My computer was a little under the weather, we've been traveling during the holidays, and sometimes I'm just lazy.

I hope to be back on the blogging bandwagon soon! I have plans for a few posts this week and we'll see how it goes from there!