The Cookbook Project

I have been wanting to organize my recipes for a very long time and I'm finally getting around to doing it. I have started to document and format my recipes into a cookbook style binder. I want to created this cookbook from recipes that I have made many times and are "family favorites". I am photographing my dishes and organizing them as I cook them. 

The Cookbook Project

My goal for this project is to make a cookbook that can me pretty enough that I can give it as a gift to my family and friends. I'm creating each of the recipes in a standard word document layout and turning them into PDFs. I made a page on the Dieter Family site to keep track and they can be downloaded and printed out whenever needed. Let me know if you have problems with Google docs, because I have never used it before. How do you organize your recipes? Does it help with meal planning?

Blue and Gold Banquet

The Blue and Gold banquet happened this Tuesday and all of the boys got their awards for their book achievements and for their popcorn sales. This year the Blue and Gold was held at the Elk's lodge and was very nice place and layout. Max really liked the banquet, mostly because he gets to hang out with his friends. Truth is the boys were playing video games the whole time before the party started! I'm glad when they actually get some face time with their friends. Sorry some of the pictures are a bit blurry, it was sort of dark and boys don't sit very still for photos.  

Roses are Red

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! My boys got me roses today and chocolate (which I shared of course). I had to take a picture of my two little loves today since it has been a while since I have taken a picture of them together. Riley has on the monster hat from Grandma Jo. (Thank you!!!) Max had a great day of celebrations with his class and everyone liked each other's valentines. Hope your day was nice and filled with love.

Playing Card Heart Garland

I made this garland last year for an Alice in Wonderland party, but I thought it works wonderfully for Valentine's Day too. The garland is super easy to make, just get a few packs of playing cards and pull out the suite of hearts. Then punch two holes in the top of each card and thread ribbon through. Tie the ribbons together with a double knot and your done!

No Candy Valentines

Valentines Day is going to be here in just a few days so this weekend Max and I are making valentines for his class. Max's school has a no junk food policy, which means no chocolate or candy as part of holiday celebrations. So it was time to get creative...and a trip to the dollar store. 

I found these glow bracelets and decided to do cards with those. Five to a pack is a pretty sweet deal plus some foam heart stickers and some computer print outs and you have easy valentines. I printed "Your friendship BRIGHTENS my day!" landscape style with three to a page. (Seven and eight year-olds are very sensitive to love and like so I avoided saying anything embarrassing.) I folded the ends back and cut two slits in the paper to slide the bracelet through. I scotch taped the back flaps to make pockets to hold it securely. Finally, we added the foam heart and foam fletching so that it looked like an arrow. 

Super easy and fun valentines with no candy! 

Crochet Heart Pins

February is already here and Valentine's day is just around the corner. I love tiny hearts because they are so sweet and simple. This weekend I made these crochet heart pins to put on scarves, coats, or anywhere to make you smile and feel you are loved. Crochet hearts are easy to make and you can make a bunch of these quickly.

There are many patterns on the web for these, but this is how I made mine.

Start with a Magic Circle. 

Chain 4

Triple Chain 2 into circle

Double Chain 3 into circle 

Chain 1

Triple Chain 1 into circle

Chain 1

Double Chain 3 into circle

Triple Chain 2 into circle

Chain 4

Now tighten and close the magic circle (should look like a heart)

Slip stitch one into the circle and pull and cut. Tie the two tails together and trim.

On the back of the heart lift up two thread and push a safety pin through, making sure not to split the yarn.