PROJECT LIFE 2015 : MARCH.

This year, I'm taking a less traditional approach to Project Life.  My process includes documenting the photos that mean the most to me for each month and then including words to complete my layout.

Here's a complete look at my layout for the month of March.

Here's a closer look at the left side.  I used the Project Life Photo Pocket Pages Design F.

Here's a closer look at the right side.  I used Project Life Photo Pocket Pages Design A.

I used the downloadable Project Life cards from the Studio Calico Odyssey kit.  Can't seem to find the link for that but here's a link to the physical kit.

I also used Ali Edwards downloadable 3x4 cards from the Great Story kit.

I can't even begin to describe how cute that face is.  That's our guinea pig, Brownie.

The 3x4 "currently card" was from the Project Life Seafoam edition, which is no longer available.  If you have any questions about this layout, just shoot me a message and i'll be more than happy to answer.

CHICKEN FAJITA PIZZA

Ingredients:

* your favorite pizza dough (here's my recipe)
* 2 cups shredded chicken
* 1 large onion sliced
* 1 green bell pepper, julienned
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp pepper
* 1 tsp chili powder
* 1 cup of you favorite salsa
* 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
* 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 500* F degrees

2. Roll out the pizza dough and place on a pizza pan or a pizza stone. (I like to cook my crust a little bit before adding the toppings.)

3. In a large skillet, sauté the onion and pepper in the olive oil until onion is slightly caramelized.  Season with salt, pepper and chili powder.  Add shredded chicken and toss everything together.

4. Spread salsa over the crust.  Top with mozzarella cheese.  Top with the chicken mixture evenly over the entire pizza.  Top with the Mexican cheese blend.

5. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

Enjoy!

MY GO TO PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE.

Here's my favorite pizza dough recipe:

* 3/4 cup warm water
* 1 tsp. white sugar
* 1 packet of yeast
* 2-2.5 cups flour
* 1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix water, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl.  Let sit for a few minutes until yeast bubbles and mixture becomes fragrant.

Add salt, flour and olive oil.  Knead by hand or on the low setting in a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  (call me craze but I love to knead by hand)

Leave the dough in a bowl and let it sit in a dry place for about 4 hours.  (I let my dough rise by a sunny window.)

When you are ready to bake, prep your ingredients and preheat the oven to 425*.  Our new pizza prep involves a pre-heated pizza stone and pizza peel.

Roll out your dough with a rolling pin and extra white flour.  To help keep the pizza from sticking, I rub on a little bit of olive oil on the pizza stone before I pre-heat it.

Here's the toppings I used for this pizza:

* your favorite pesto spread
* already cooked chicken and cut into small pieces
* fresh mazzarella  cheese

Helpful hint:

after you have pre-heated your pizza stone, I like to place my dough on it first and bake it four about 5-7 minutes before adding the toppings.  This helps the crust from becoming to doughy.

Enjoy!

BEING A TOURIST IN MY OWN HOME TOWN.

My daughter had track practice this morning, which meant I had two hours of free time.  I thought it would be fun to act like a tourist and go around photographing buildings, coffee shops, window displays, fountains and things I thought were just cool in my little town called, Ashland, Oregon.

MY 365 PHOTO PROJECT.

Who says you have to start a calendar project on January 1st.  I get some of my best creative ideas while driving in my car.  I was in my car on my way to pick up my oldest daughter from track practice.  Callie was in the back seat when this idea popped into my head.  I want to start a 365 photo project and I know exactly how I want to document it.  I saw these pretty red flowers and Callie was wearing her favorite shirt.  I asked Callie if I could take her photo in front of these pretty flowers and she was excited to do so.  So on March 10, 2015 my photo project begins.

 I'm using a 6x8 album that you can purchase here.  It's a light blue faux leather album.  I ordered 2 because I'm pretty sure 365 photos won't all fit into one album.

 I'm using these 6x8 photo pocket pages that hold four 3x4 photos.  I'm completely stocked up on these.  This is my opening page.  Simple.  Here's the journaling:  "I love, love, love taking photos.  I'm excited to be embarking on a new photo project that will commence on March 10, 2015.  I am going to take one photo a day for a year.  These photos will then get printed and neatly tucked inside this album.  On March 10, 2016, I will have compiled 365 photos that represent a little bit of me and my every day life.  So let's get started."

For the photos, I'm using a company called Persnickety Prints.  I'm having them printed as 3x4 poloroids.  The Collect app for my iPhone is where I select which photo I want to use.  Then I add the journaling.  Super easy.

Here's a look at my first page.  I'm hoping my oldest daughter will let me capture some photos of her for this album.  She's a teenager who's at this "please-don't-take-my-photo-and-post-it-on-Facebook-phase."  I know how to bribe her, so I'm very optimistic.

Here's a look at the left side.  I started by ordering a weeks worth.  I've never used this company, so I wasn't sure about the quality.  It's fantastic and I highly recommend them.  The 3x4 polaroids are little more expensive but I love the look and it's perfect for this project.    I plan on ordering a month at a time.  When this month is finished, I'll order the remaining photos.  I'm so excited to get this album filled with the remaining 358 photos that represent me and my daily life.

I've thought many times, wouldn't it have been so cool if my grandparents had access to all this technology.   I wonder if they would have been interested in documenting their daily life.  Sure they have photos, but what they lack is organization with dates and captions.  My grandfather has passed on but my 93 (she'll turn 94 next month) year old grandmother is still living.  48 years from now (if i'm still alive) it will be so rad to see all these photos I've collected for my girls (and their kids) to flip thru and enjoy.       

DAY IN THE LIFE / FEBRUARY 2015.

It's Tuesday, February 17 and I wanted to document a day in my life.  This is how my day rolled.

6:00AM / my alarm goes off.  wake the girls up.  callie gets up really easy, but my teenage daughter, mckenzie moans & complains about having to get up so early when all of her friends get to sleep in until 7am.  i fix callie a protein drink with a little peanut butter blended in.  she gets her dose of medication, vitamin D, flax oil and a probiotic chewable.  mckenzie always makes herself a bowl of cereal

 6:24AM / i make the girls lunches.  callie likes the berry jelly with her sandwich cut in half and mckenzie likes her sandwich with the mango jelly.  callie usually gets a cutie & some pretzel sticks with a juice box.  mckenzie loves apples.  i have to cut them up for her due to braces.  i'll toss in a protein bar, seaweed (she loves that stuff) & a juice box.

usually during this time i'm reminding callie to get dressed because she'll get side tracked and start playing with our guinea pig or playing in her room.  it's a constant battle.

6:53AM / i drive the girls down the road to catch the bus.  the mornings are getting lighter earlier, so i'm looking forward to walking the girls to the bus stop.  

7:00AM / then it's back home to wash the dishes left over from last night.  i try to have the dishes washed before bed but sometimes it doesn't always happen.

7:12AM / i reheated some left over coffee that was in my french press from yesterday.  i know this doesn't sound to tasty but when your tired, sometimes i really don't care.  i put a couple slices of bread in the toaster and spread some sunflower butter on top.

7:23AM / start a load of laundry.

7:30AM / out the door for a 5k run.  i love this part of my morning.  it's the perfect time for me to think about what i want to accomplish for my day.

9:09AM / showered and ready to work.

9:24AM / i have a love with my crock pot.  Anytime I can prep a dinner in my crock pot is a great thing.  tonight we had crock pot enchiladas.  a dish my family devours.  i make a huge batch so there's plenty of left overs.

11:24AM / made a reservation for our annual summer family camping trip.  we love camping at jedediah smith state park.

11:48AM / i'm usually getting hungry around this time, so i usually put together a smoothie in my blender.  throw a handful of spinach or kale, a banana and some frozen mangos and about 3 tablespoons of hemp seed or chia seeds.  blend it up in my vitamix & enjoy!

12:22PM / yep!  lots of laundry to be folded and put away.  i actually enjoy this task.  i find it therapeutic.  call me crazy!

12:50PM / quick mexi bowl for lunch.

1:10PM / i'm never walking around our property in sandals in mid february.  i'm usually knee deep in snow around this time of year and there's never daffodils about ready to bloom until mid april at 4500 feet.

1:56PM / i usually pick the girls up from school on tuesday's.  tuesday's mckenzie has violin lessons at 3:30.  i love to hear her play but i made a long over due appointment with my chiropractor, so mr. m picked them up and took miss mckenzie to her lesson today.  i need to remind myself to do this more often.  it's ok to ask for help occasionally and take a self care day.

4:02PM / after my appointment i made a quick stop at my grocery store to pick up some ingredients for a salad and also this satisfying kumbucha drink.

4:36PM / the rest of the family hasn't arrived home yet, so i'm taking this time to prep a little salad for dinner tonight.

5:01PM / family dinner night.  an extra bonus of lit candles.  poor mr. m. he's thinking would you just take the damn shot so i can enjoy my dinner now.

6:21PM / mckenzie is showing her sister how to properly crack an egg.  we're making brownies for dessert.

it's callie's turn to crack an egg.  not to bad.  only a few shells i had to dig out.

6:45PM / bath time for miss callie.  she's a ham for the camera.

7:05PM / she loves giving her guinea pig lots of cuddles before bed time.

7:54PM / everybody gets to enjoy a brownie before bed.  i love drinking a cup of hot tea with mine.

8:04PM / i brush and floss calllie's teeth.  yes!  she's 9 and i still brush and floss her teeth and i'm very proud of that.  i did the same thing for mckenzie until i was confident she was able to do a proper job.  i remember my own father brushing my teeth at this age.  proper oral hygiene was always important to him.  his dad was a dentist and it was always at the top of the priority list for him.   i'm so grateful for this because at the age of 45, i have never had a cavity.  my girls have virgin teeth and i hope it stays this way for their lifetime.  then miss callie gets lots of hugs and kisses before i tuck her in bed.

10:14PM / i'm showered and almost ready for bed.

10:28PM / one last cup of hot tea before i call it a night.

ps. all shots taken with my iPhone.

HOW I MAKE SPAGHETTI SAUCE.

This recipe really doesn't take a whole lot of prep time.  But I really enjoy slicing, cutting, chopping & dicing.  I know.  I know.  I'm kind of weird like that but it's kind of theraputic for me.  I think in 2014, I really started to enjoy cooking.  I think it all started when I found Pinterest.  It really simplified cooking and baking for me.  The world of recipes was just a simple click away.  I could type any key word into that search box and a plethora of cooking and baking recipes were just ready to be made.  

So here's how I make the most scrumptious sauce...

What you'll need:

•  1/2 cup finely chopped onion
•  2 Tab olive oil or coconut oil
•  1 pound grass fed ground turkey
•  3 cloves finely chopped garlic (I use a garlic press for this)
•  1 chopped green bell pepper
•  2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
•  2 15 oz. cans crushed tomatoes (I use the tomatoes from our garden that I prepped & had frozen in our freezer.  Of course I defrosted them over-night)
•  fresh mushrooms.  This is your call.  Add as many as you like.
•  1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (I cheat and use a large handful of the dried stuff you can find in the spice aisle)
•  1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
•  1/2 teaspoon cumin
•  salt & pepper to taste
•  1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
•  4 bay leafs
•  1 cup cooking sherry or red wine (I use an entire bottle of cooking sherry)
•  1 small can of sliced black olives
•  1 small jar of green olives (I cut them in half)
•  1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
•  1 teaspoon lemon juice
•  2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese

In a large skillet heat I heat up my coconut oil.  Add the chopped onions, bell pepper and minced garlic and salute until golden brown.  Add your ground turkey and continue to cook until meat is throughly cooked.

When the meat is finished cooking, add it to your crock pot along with the remaining ingredients.

I have my crock pot set on low heat and let it cook all day.

Top spaghetti sauce over your favorite pasta.

PS.  I swear if you have left overs, they taste even better the next day.

Enjoy!