Crock Pot Decorations

The school chili cook off is today. I am making this chili. I hope it's a winner!

In order to get all of our belongings back, they ask that we label everything. I whipped up these on my Silhouette!

On a side note these are the best invention. Quick and easy crock pot clean up.

Mac and Cheese with Truffle Salt

Sometimes cold winter days call for unhealthy comfort dishes.  I was really wanting some mac and cheese. I found a recipe that I really liked, but of course, didn't have everything I needed, and wanted it to be a tad healthier. SIX cups of cheese and TWO cups of WHOLE milk is a bit much!

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked macaroni noodles
2 T butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 cups mild cheddar cheese shredded
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon truffle salt, divided

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups panko
2 T butter

Directions:
Boil water for the noodles and preheat the oven to 400*.
Cook onions and garlic in butter until translucent.
Add milk, flour, and sour cream to onions and garlic.  Whisk together and keep stirring until thickened (4-5 minutes)
Add 2 cups of cheese (mix and match as you please), to the milk mixture.
Add cooked noodles to the cheese mixture.
Sprinkle in remaining cheese and 1/2 of the truffle salt.
Add macaroni to a greased 9 inch pan.
Melt 2T butter in microwave, and stir in panko crumbs.
Top macaroni mixture with crumbs. Sprinkle with remaining truffle salt.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Devour.

Smoothies

I have been pinning smoothies left and right, but am always missing ingredients! Today at the grocery store the Strawberries were beautiful, so I bought stuff for smoothies. I found this great smoothie builder icon and went off of it! http://www.superskinnyme.com/how-to-make-a-smoothie.html

Ingredients

1/2 banana (mine was frozen)
3 large strawberries
1 cup soy milk ( I used Vanilla)
4oz vanilla yogurt
1 packet of Splenda
3/4 cup Spinach

So, I sucked it down, and only have the pic of it without the sugar!

I used my immersion blender, if you don't have one, get one!

Rock Chalk Wreath

I made this wreath using scraps of fabric from my grandmas fabric stash, a wire hanger, and some Jayhawk ribbon. First I bent the hanger into a circular shape. Then I cut (actually ripped) strips of fabric about 1-1 1/2 inches wide and 6-7 inches long. Make them a variety of lengths and widths for added dimension. Finally tie them on using double knots! 30 minute project that is great for scraps!

Friday Funnies

"Miss Cremer, You only have glitter on one eye!" -- Yep I did that.

DC TRIP PICS

In honor of this weeks inauguration, here are a few pics from my trip to DC over Christmas Break. 

Jumping Pic- Thanks Mom for the nice hat! 

The whole crew

Sisters

Conversions

I love it when things click and my kids use the little tricks that I teach them.

For conversions we talk about small to big then you divide, big to small then you multiply.

I make them do hand motions, hands together small, stretch out big. Makes a division sign with your body.

Big to small they take their arms from stretched out (big) to a multiplication sign with their arms (small).  

I love to see them doing the actions as they are working these problems.  

I LOVE LAWRENCE!

Far above the golden valley 

Glorious to view, 

Stands our noble Alma Mater, 

Towering toward the blue.

Lift the chorus ever onward, 

Crimson and the blue

 Hail to thee, 

our Alma Mater Hail to old KU.

Far above the distant humming 

Of the busy town, 

Reared against the dome of heaven. 

Looks she proudly down.

Greet we then our foster mother,

Noble friend so true, 

We will ever sing her praises, 

Hail to old KU.

Lift the chorus ever onward, 

Crimson and the blue 

Hail to thee, our Alma Mater 

Hail to old KU.

Lawrence
1. A city of Northeast Kansas.
2. The greatest place ever in the
 history of the entire world. 

I saw this definition on Pinterest, and had to get to work! At first, I was just going use vinyl and put it on the wall.  Then as I got started, I didn't want to waste the stencil. I grabbed a piece of wood and used the stencil to paint.  

Then, I put it up to a Facebook vote, what to do with it. I decided I needed to stain it and distress it.  This is what I came up with.  

BUST!

I didn't love that, and it took too many steps. So I just put the vinyl right on the stained and distressed board! 

I know that a lot of my friends and followers will want one too! 

I have decided to sell the vinyl letters, so you can make your own sign, or put it on a wall. 

The vinyl cut outs are 16 inches long and 7 inches tall. 

They can be made in red, blue, white, or black. 

$15.00

 email me at aprilcremer@gmail.com to order yours today! 

Websites for Students & Teachers

I am taking an online science class on force, motion, and the metric system. Part of the class is you have to share a lesson plan that includes a technology piece.  I just spent over an hour exploring the sites.  Here are the ones I liked.  I think some of these will be great practice for the Kansas Math Assessment!

http://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/metric-system-introduction.html intro to metric system, with quiz at the end- Good assessment practice

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/math/measurement/units-of-measurement.htm Video explaining Customary and Metric systems

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/index.htm Great site in general, quizzes, music, video, activities! Good for testing review

Metric Mania Game- http://www.sciencespot.net/Pages/classmetric.html#Anchor-23240

www.sciencespot.net great collection of science lessons

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/videos/totally-rad-ep-202/ videos

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/math-games/ games

  

http://science.discovery.com/interactives/literacy/newton/newton.html Laws of motion

www.watchknowlearn.org collection of videos to show to students or as teacher resources

http://www.mathplayground.com/howto_Metric.html explanation of metric system good information, but not as exciting as some

http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/ViewObject.aspx?ID=ABM4202 measurement practice

http://www.mathplayground.com/Decention/Decention.html Fractions, decimals and percents

http://www.mathplayground.com/HauntedFractions/HFGameLoader.html comparing fractions

http://www.mathplayground.com/Triplets/Triplets.html equivalent fractions

http://cemc2.math.uwaterloo.ca/mathfrog/english/kidz/metric5.shtml conversion practice

http://science.discovery.com/games/games.html space games

http://www.mathplayground.com/multiples.html pumpkin multiples

Storage Bins

I made these bins for my sister for Christmas because she asked for a clean house aka organization.

My Silhouette came through again and made these cute vinyl labels!

She loved them!

Meatballs

I made these meatballs with stuffing mix (the spices are already mixed in!)  They were great, quick, and easy.  They froze well too!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 cup STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix forChicken

1/2 cup water

1 egg

Directions: 

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Line a pan with foil. Spray with cooking spray. . Mix ingredients until blended; shape into 1-1/2-inch balls, using 1/4 cup for each.

Place the meatballs on the pan. Bake 16 to 18 min. or until done.

Princess

Baby Annie's goodies that I made her! I'm sure her mom is going to love that big bow. Annie better be wearing it whenever I see her!

I made the crown and name using a crown I bought on Silhouettes website, and then put the text on top of it. I cut it all out on the flocked vinyl. The bow was made out of pieces I found at Hobby Lobby. I hot glued them together and clipped it on a headband. This way she can wear it on a hat or as a bow when she gets in the princess stage!

Birth Announcements

These have been a fun gift to take to a new baby. In the past I made them in Microsoft Word, but this time I used my Silhouette. I liked their design software, Silhouette Studio, much better! I print them out in an 8x10 size on photo paper and frame them with frames from Hobby Lobby!

        

So many more design options in the Silhouette Studio!

Borax Snowflakes

Before break, we made these neat Borax snowflakes in science.  I had the kids predict what would happen when they put a pipe cleaner shaped like a snowflake in a mixture of Borax and water. They had to come up with a measurable change. We went through the entire scientific process.

1. Make a snowflake out of a pipe cleaner, as you can see we had a variety of snowflake shapes. 

2. Tie a string to the snowflake, and tie the string to a Popsicle stick or pencil. 

2. BOIL water and pour it into a cup or jar.  STIR in 3 Tablespoons of Borax per cup of water.  Be sure to stir it until it dissolves. 

4. Place the snowflake in the mixture over night! 

Friday Funnies

Me: Does anyone know what a hamlet is?

Student: It's one of those things my mom makes out of eggs.

Bike Tea Towels

Did you know I love my Silhouette? I bought this image from their online store and cut it out on my new flocked vinyl. Cut, peel away extras, and iron. 5 min project. My sister loved them!

Pizza Bites with Quinoa

I have been wanting to try these for a while, however, I never had all of the ingredients. So after my massive trip to the grocery store, I was ready to go. (Or so I thought, turns out I was out of pizza sauce, and they were still good!) These use Quinoa which is the latest "super food." Quinoa cooks like rice, you need 2 times as much water as quinoa. There are many variations you can make with these using the quinoa, egg, onion base!

Ingredients: (Makes 12)
•1 cups cooked quinoa (1/2 cup uncooked)


•1 large egg

•1/2 cup finely chopped onion

•1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

•1 tsp minced garlic

•1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

•1/2 cup chopped pepperoni slices
•Sprinkle of Pizza Seasoning from Penzey's
•1/2 tsp paprika

•1/2 tsp dried crushed oregano

•pizza sauce for dipping (I use Pizza Squeeze, in a bottle!)


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Mix all ingredients together, except for pizza sauce
3. Put 1 Tablespoon of mixture into each greased mini muffin cup. Sprinkle with Pizza Seasoning.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
5. Serve with pizza sauce

*Adapted from So Very Blessed-- She doubled it and used different spices. I didn't need 30 bites! :)

Truffle Fries

Yum. Fries are my favorite food. For Christmas I asked for truffle salt, pretty much just so I could make these!

Ingredients:
Potatoes, cut in any shape
Olive oil
Truffle salt
Pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 415*
Cut potatoes and place in bowl.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Toss all together until all potatoes are covered.
Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with Pam.
Cook for 20 minutes, then flip fries over, and cook for another 20 minutes.

Yum. I'm making these again for dinner!