Real Italian Meatballs

The cookbook I mentioned in the last post had some great recipes.  I decided to make some meatballs from it.

These are not your average meatballs.  They're authentic.

They have potato.

Yes, Potato.

That's a big a potato.

Peel and cut the potato into small pieces and cook in boiling water until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop up the onions.

Mash the potato with a fork.

 

New Cookbook!

My step-dad was sick for a couple of days and stayed home from work, and my mom being out of work they were both home.  My step-dad being the big, sick baby that he his was driving my mom crazy!  So, when I came home from work the second day she asked me to go to Barnes and Noble with her to just do...something.

After rifling through the travel section, we headed to the discount section and I found:

It's probably the best cookbook I've ever seen and one of the best I've owned.

It has great stories.  And comes right from a "mama" in Italy.

She put in little tips and fun stories.  And recipes that make me gain weight just looking at them.  I love it.

The first recipe I've made from it soon to come!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

My grandma, Nan, got a cute little package to make Apple Cinnamon Muffins from some little party at Christmas.  She gave the package to me because she says I "like to make things."  Very true!

What a cute little package

Simple, simple

I decided to add some apples to the mix.

These were the easiest muffins and I think I'm going to buy mixes all the time.

Ok...no I'm not.

Num-num

Recipe:

Buy a mix!

Haha!  That's how I did it.

Jewelry

I made this necklace a while ago.  Then I got the jewelry-making bug.

And I happened to have a couple more rolled roses that I made.

This was the first necklace in my "latest series."  The earrings came a little later.

A friend of mine makes jewelry and gets "Bead Style" magazine on a regular basis, and after hearing that I've been making some jewelry of my own she let me borrow some of the issues.  I found a few things I wanted to make myself.  This necklace was the first I made.

I LOVE it!

This a version of another one I found in the magazine.  I got all the jewels together at Michaels.  Then I got the chain to match.  Of course since I had extra jewels I made some earrings.

The focal, I guess you would call it, was a brooch that I cut the pin off of.  Then I had chain leftover and I made this bracelet.

This was probably the simplest but not the easiest I don't think.  I just put the heart on the chain but the crystals hanging from it were kind of a pain the butt because it was pretty tedious.  But it was worth it.

You can buy one of these here.

Button Canvas

My friend, Sunnie, whom I grew up with in Ohio made these same things for her son and daughter with a K and an A.  They were so cute.

She got the idea from this etsy store.

I just decided to go colorful and not use just one color for the buttons.

I used a bunch of different sizes too.

I love this project.  Especially for a kids' room like my friend did.

I think I may make some pillows for my friends.

Pillows

I was going to use a white comforter on my bed here at my parents' and I decided to just make some throw pillows.  I hadn't been able to use my sewing machine in a while, so I was excited.

Then I got a new comforter too.  At TJmaxx, which I now LOVE.

Lots of colors.

An old skirt I made into a mini then I had some leftover fabric and made this.  And the ruffles are leftover from this cork board.

This fabric is from a dress that was mine then I shortened it for my sister.  It's really cute.  I cut some tassels too just to add something.

I think this one is my favorite.  I had these handkerchiefs from the Southern BBQ we did a while back.  I just cut them into strips and sewed them together.  Then I used the lining of an old skirt for the other side.  To do the whole thing with handkerchiefs would have been a little much.

I may tweak the red one a little.  I'm not sure if I like it or not.  But I'm excited to have pillows I made.