Nutella Banana Bread

When your husband is working on a Sunday there is only one thing you can do. Bake yourself something. With some super ripe bananas begging to be used in a not so healthy way, I decided Banana Bread was the way to go. This is the ultimate banana bread. Bananas and chocolate hazelnut butter are a match made in food heaven. I used Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut butter. Speaking of Justin's I'd like to say "you're welcome" to anyone who likes it because I have singlehandedly bought enough of the stuff to make the price drop $3! I also subbed in whole wheat pastry flour for 1/2 of the flour in order to trick myself into thinking it would be "better" for me. 

The time listed in the recipe was way too long for me. I went with the shortest time and still I think it should have cooked 5-10 minutes less. My oven is a little fast, but I'm just warning you to be careful.

Chicken Pot Pie

We love it. Here are three ways we like to cook it.

This is the easiest way. Slow-cooker Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie complete with an adorable round puff pastry. I am learning to believe in and love my crock pot. This recipe takes 30 minutes max to prepare.

I don't have pictures for the next two, but you HAVE to try them. They are definitely labor intensive, but they are so.worth.it.

Annie's Eats Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Crumble Topping. I am pretty sure I made this four times in a matter of a few weeks. Every time I've made it, I've forgotten to put something in it, and it still turns out amazing.

I'm sure I've told you about Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits. It is really more like a pot pie filling than a stew. We leave out the weird little onions. 

DIY Ornament Wreaths

I really liked some DIY ornament wreaths on Pinterest. After reading mixed reviews about methods of making them I decided I could figure out a better way. I invited a couple friends over to make them as my Christmas gift to them.

Here's what you'll need:

Wire*
Wire cutters
Strong husband for wire cutting and bending
Approx. 75 shatterproof ornaments in at least 3 different sizes**
Ribbon/ bow

A couple notes:
*Stringing the ornaments on a wire works best. I found some 14 gauge galvanized utility wire at Lowe's for around $8. I didn't measure the length we used, but it was longer than using a metal coat hanger. The ornaments will get heavy so don't get too crazy. And gluing the ornaments to a styrofoam wreath will not work unless you are hanging it inside and not storing it in the attic.

**Be careful with the quality of ornaments. One blog said they used Dollar Store ornaments with the plastic caps but they kept popping off so they had to hot glue the caps on. Hot glue will not hold up to heat/ cold. Living in south LA this is not an option. Unfortunately the only shatterproof ornaments I could find in bulk all had the plastic caps. I bought some from Wal Mart and they were very secure and none popped off the wreaths. I did buy some more decorative ornaments from Michael's for the smaller sizes. They had the metal caps with prongs. They came in tubes of 6 or 8. These worked great. I also bought a large container of ornaments from Michael's with the metal caps but they were not secure enough and some popped off the wreaths. So you can superglue the caps on to be safe. But you're looking at using at least 75 ornaments.

To make the wreath:
String the ornaments on the wire, alternating sizes. It's a little trial and error, but it goes pretty quickly.

To finish bend one end of the wire back, bring the other end through the bend and pull it tight bending it to secure. Basically my husband handled this part. This will be where you hang the wreath. I got some super cute glitter bows from Big Lots for $1 each.

It's a pretty fragile wreath, but it will stand up to hanging on a front door.

I ended up not making one for myself because it was a little small for my window on my porch. I attached garland to my Halloween wreath form and then added the leftover ornaments.

Scones

A couple weekends ago I needed to run several errands. Michael stayed home with Will. I got my flu shot all by myself and figured I'd reward myself with a tall decaf cinnamon dolce latte. I went inside Starbucks to order and these cute mini vanilla bean scones beckoned me to try them. Y'all. They are so yummy! They're like the cupcake of the biscuit world.

Pioneer Woman has a copycat recipe. I am now in possession of vanilla beans and I am itching to make them. The most exciting part is that you can freeze the dough (since, like biscuits, they should be enjoyed the same day) and make them whenever you've got the envie.

So I wrote this in November. I did make them and they are phenomenal. They froze well, too. I am looking forward to trying Smitten Kitchen's strawberries and cream biscuits as well as Annie's Eats' cinnamon roll scones.

High Chair Cover

I told you that I found a vintage high chair. I wish you would have told me just to get a new one. I was going to be all crafty and make a cushion for it. And two broken needles and one awful sound from my sewing machine later I did make one.

I used this tutorial. Couldn't find laminated cotton in a print suitable for a boy so I tried some iron on vinyl. Because making the seat slippery was exactly what I needed to do. It didn't really hold up well to my horrendous stitching. The good news is that it peels off easily.

Michael helped me make a harness which has been successful in keeping baby from sliding out of the chair. I think the tray isn't latching properly. At least it's cute, right?

T-Shirt to Shortall Mardi Gras Edition

I have had a child's size large Mardi Gras shirt for quite some time. I found this tutorial on Pinterest to turn it into shortalls and decided to give it a try. In hindsight I should have taken the easy way out and made the long sleeves into pants.

However I think I learned some valuable sewing lessons. The main ones being: stop trying to "wing it" and yes, it's probably a good idea to double check things before you cut. Long story short- the shortalls are now a shirt. Here's how it would have looked as shortalls with super skinny leg holes.

Here's the finished product:

It was fun repurposing this shirt, and I'll definitely try it again.

I MADE CINNAMON ROLLS

I've only made a couple recipes that called for yeast. Somehow the pizza dough I made worked perfectly, but the king cakes I tried were hit or miss. So I gave up on yeast and decided it wasn't meant to be.

Until a friend of mine moved to North Dakota and started cooking all kinds of new delicious looking things and gave me the courage to try again.

I was gonna do it big. Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls to make and freeze for the Christmas holidays. I did have a thermometer to use which helped tremendously.

They were so unbelievably magnificent with their maple coffee icing. Maybe 4:00 am with a sleeping fussy teething 8 month old is not the time to be thinking about these rolls. Anyway I did it! And I was so super proud of myself!