Recipe Round-up

Even though I haven't posted any recipes in awhile, I've actually been cooking/baking quite a bit. Lately its been all about trying out new recipes.  So today I thought I would share a few that have been popular around here.

Tuscan Lemon Muffins - What makes these muffins unique is that they're made with olive oil and ricotta cheese.  They're moist and not overly sweet.  Next time I make them, I want to try adding a little rosemary.  (Tuscan Muffin pictured above)

Green Smoothie Cups - The beauty of these smoothie cups is that you make them in portion size and store them in the freezer.  When you're ready to make your smoothie, all you need to do is blend two of the frozen cups plus coconut water.  These are perfect for summer.  I recommend making a couple batches at a time if you like them.  There's a lot of prep so it's easier to do it all at once.

Rhubarb Yogurt Cake - This cake is easy to make and isn't overly sweet.  This would be perfect to make for a brunch.  My children didn't care for the rhubarb (thought it was too tart).  So if you plan on serving it to children, you might want to replace the rhubarb with blueberries or strawberries.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork - Recipes don't get much easier than this (only four ingredients).   We like to make sliders with the pulled pork and eat it with Kings Hawaiian bread.  

Try any new recipes lately?  Have any good ones to share?

How to Fold Origami Diamonds

This craft came about from a Twitter conversation I had with Marisa (Omiyage).  She mentioned she was on the hunt for some neon origami paper.  That instantly sparked my interest and had me pondering all the cool things one could make with neon origami paper.  Marisa offered to send me a sample of the origami paper so I took her up on the offer.  The original plan was to make a shoe but somehow that got derailed and I ended up creating origami diamonds instead.  You know how that goes, one craft project leads into another project which transforms into yet another project.

Supplies:
Origami six inch square paper - If you're interested in neon origami paper, you can find it at Marisa's online shop Omiyage.

For this origami fold, we're basically making the traditional water bomb with a few alterations.  If you already know how to fold a water bomb, you may want to skip down to the last steps.

1.  Start with paper wrong side up.  I took the photo of the paper right side up by accident.  Just pretend that top square is white.

2. Fold paper in half.  Your paper should now look like the bottom picture.  Fold the paper on dotted lines and unfold.

3.  Bring the bottom left corner of the rectangle over to the right bottom corner.

4.  Flatten it down so it looks like the bottom picture.  Turn paper over and repeat on opposite side.

5.  Your image should now look like the top photo.  Fold bottom left and right flaps up and fold on dotted lines.

6.  Your paper should now look like the bottom photo.  Turn paper over and repeat on opposite side.

7.  Your paper should now look like the top photo.  Fold left and right flaps to meet in the center on dotted lines.

8.  Your paper should now look like the bottom photo.  Turn over and repeat step 7 on opposite side.

 9.  Pull down top left and right flaps and tuck them into opening where arrows are pointing to.

10.  Your paper should now look like the image below.  Turn paper over and repeat step 9 on opposite side.

At the bottom of your paper is a little hole that you will blow into just like a balloon. Your paper should puff up into the diamond shape.  If you have trouble with it blowing up all the way, you can use a toothpick to push out all the corners.

Now I feel like singing Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.

Printable: Paper Cone Dolls

Photo Credit:  Mr. Printables     Via: Sweet Tidings

Where were these cute paper dolls when baseball season started?   These really could have come in handy to distract my youngest when we sat through my son's two hour game.  I suppose there's always next year. 

Want to make a doll set to entertain your child (or inner child)?  Stop by Mr. Printables for the free download.  While you're there, check out The Adventures of Peg Dolls.  It will have you asking, "Why didn't I think of that?!".

I have a fun origami project planned for next week.  Stop by Monday to see what I've been up to.

Washi Tape inspired T-Shirts

Dear mt masking tape, how I adore you.  Let me count the ways,

your pretty prints

your craft tape

your T-SHIRTS!

Uniqlo and mt masking tape have teamed up to create these washi tape inspired t-shirts.  Uniqlo has a US site but there's no sign of the collection in the shop yet.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the collection will make its way to the states soon.

Letting Go to Go To Camp

I've got a confession to make, I'm somewhat of a helicopter mom.  My husband says I'm in the 90th percentile but can these things really be measured?  Lets just say I fall somewhere down the middle.  The reason I'm telling you this is because summer camp is rapidly approaching and I will be sending my children off to camp for the first time ever! I've never really been away from them that long unless they've been with relatives.  I help out at their school, stay to watch baseball practices, I even volunteer at VBS to keep an eye on them.  So the idea of sending them to camp with strangers kind of freaks me out a little.  I even almost passed up the opportunity over my protective tendencies.   Here's the story. . .

A while back Galileo Learning contacted me, asking if I would like to review their camp in exchange for a free week of camp for my children.  I checked out the site and really liked what the camp had to offer but was not so sure if I was willing to send my children there free or not.  I tried to stay open minded and decided to meet with the staff at a luncheon. 

When I first arrived at the headquarters I was really surprised by the space.  It was blooming with creativity from two headed lamas made out of newspaper to hanging decorations from the ceiling (picture Anthropologie meets camp headquarters).  It was obvious this was a fun and creative place but I needed more.

Next, I met the staff who were all very friendly.  As they talked about Galileo Learning it was obvious how passionate they were about the camp.  And what really came through was their genuine desire to teach children to be innovators.  This wasn't just another babysitting opperation.

But what really sold me, was their staff hiring process.  All applicants go through a four round hiring process which means only about 10% of the applicants are hired.  Also, all lead instructors are college graduates.  And many of the staff are educators in the school year. This was the reassurance I needed.

And to top it off,  I discovered I could find out online who the staff would be for my child's camp. That's right, they give full names plus credentials.  So now I think I'm ready to let go and let them go to camp.

To learn more about Galileo Learning, please visit the official site. You might also want to check out my post about Galileo's innovation approach.