Zucchini Pie

This post is for Chirsty and her large zucchini harvest.  Many years ago I worked at a sweet little school in Wyckoff, NJ and this was a favorite at our school breakfast pot lucks. Since then this has been one of my "go to" brunch recipes. I must warn you though, some men become very disappointed by the name "pie" so you may just want to call this "Zucchini Bake" and spare yourself some grief.

Zucchini Pie/Bake

3 cups diced unpeeled zucchini
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup Bisquick mx
4 eggs slightly beaten
3 or 4 T miced parsely
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients and bake in either a greased 9X9 baking dish or a 9" pie plate. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Have a great day!

Minimalist Class Party

"Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired." -- Mother Theresa



The words of Mother Theresa have been so comforting to me this year.

Without a PTA class parties at OFS fall on the teacher. I would say the school wide tradition is that the kids bring in a bunch of junk food. It makes me feel like a stewardess with 30 first class passengers. The kids like it.

This year I decided to change this game. Using the economic decline as my excuse. I told my students at Christmas time that we were going to limit our class party to one simple treat that I would provide. Oh sure, they fussed a bit, but I was able to convince them that the money their parents saved not buying treats for a class party would be spent on their own family celebrations. I made these disastrous reindeer brownie things that they actually loved.

It was a great party. Simple. No pig out. No mess to clean up.

So I used the economy again to push the idea of a very limited end of the year party. This time there was hardly any fuss. I told them that I would make a special treat and they trusted me.

Last year, I spent hours on the last day of school eve frosting tiny bear bikinis. 

This year I was very tired. I decided on something really simple. Dog paw cupcakes. They are made from a mix, a can and one Junior Mint and 3 chocolate chips. Again the kids loved them.

The biggest hit was the superlative awards I gave them. I made a very simple photocopied award and gave each child a silly award. "Most Likely to Be In the Bathroom" went to Magenta. The "Michael Jackson Style Award" went to Lime.  "Most Likely to Be A World Cup Goalie" and "Kickball King" went to two sporties. While the biggest talker got "The Young Oprah Award."  My aide and I collaborated for about 10 minutes on these and they were a HUGE hit.

I guess my takeaway from the recession has been just what Mother Theresa says, special gestures do not have to be extraordinary to be genuine.  This lesson has been kid tested and is teacher approved.

CSI Project: Dollar Store Wall Art

Hello there!

I am finally on vacation! Let the crafting begin...

This is actually my CSI challenge for last week's Dollar Store Challenge that I missed. Luckily for me, it is "Wall Art" week!

This pretty star started as a cheap dollar store 4th of July star.  I covered it with Christmas sheet music.

Yup, I am working on Christmas! Sometime last year I thrifted a book of Christmas music with a project very much like this in mind. Now that I don't really have a "white Christmas" I find myself craving white Christmas decorations. I could see this being a summer decoration with a few shell embellishments and some non Christmas music.

This project came together so easily I may have to go back to 99 Cents Only and get another star.

Here's how I made this Christmas Star wall art:

First off, the goods. Here is the before shot.

I primed the whole thing with gray spray primer. Then I fit the paper to the star by pressing the paper against a star point and creasing it along the edges with my finger.

You should be able to see the crease marks really well.
 

I cut around the crease mark leaving an edge at the bottom of the point. However, I cut exactly on the crease mark at the top of the point- the part that would be in the middle of the star.


I hope that makes sense. I put some notes about this over on the flickr photo.
Next, I held the paper in place along the point of the star an
d folded the extra under the edge of the star. I then cut little flaps to tuck and glue under the star.

I put Modge Podge on both the paper and the plastic. I fit one point at a time smoothing and adjusting as I went along. The top point has a hole for hanging. I wish I had paid closer attention to that point. As it is, the text is upside down. It's in a small enough scale that I don't think it detracts from the look. It's just I wish I had caught that. Oh well. I also added another coat of Modge Podge on top and dusted the whole thing with some clear glitter.


For the embellishment I took my 2" scallop punch and punched out 9 circles from the leftover music scraps. I folded eight of the scallops into quarters and then hot glued them onto the leftover scallop in a flower pattern. I used some leftover silver holly floral picks from last Christmas to finish it off.

Lastly, some ice blue velvet ribbon to hang.
There you go, not exactly Christmas in July, but close! Be sure to check out the other CSI Wall Art challenge projects.

Updated: I hope this solves the flickr problem. I reloaded them all.
Sorry about that.

Craft Club -Owls

Love these. They are loosely based on a paper machae birds tutorial from Art for Little Hands.
Craft Club was a huge success. Sometimes I had 15 students and other times I had about 5. Either way it always just worked out. I really enjoyed the laid back discussions we could have. I really believe more than anything else children want to have time to talk with the adults in their lives. When the craft project had a "just right" level of difficulty the children were engaged and also could make conversation. Those were the best days. I learned so much about their lives and minds.

While I relish having the summer off, I really do look forward to going back -refreshed- and ready for another year of fourth grade. Fourth graders are the best.

Tatertots and Jello: It's Time!!! Huge Giveaway {worth over $300}

Have you seen this? What a great giveaway. I never got into the Cricut because of the cartridge thing. This machine just hooks up to your computer. Super cool.


Tatertots and Jello: It's Time!!! Huge Giveaway {worth over $300}

the CSI project: Dollar Store Challenge

I really do try to come up with new things for these project challenges. For me that is the fun. I did try to get a new project done for this week's dollar store challenge over at the CSI project, but alas the last week of school is pushing me to the limits and I'd rather do a really good job than rush. So this week I am going to submit an oldie, but goodie.


It's a mini cloche made out of a juice glass from the 99 Cents Only Store. The base is a wooden coaster I had on hand. The nest is a wreath napkin ring. The eggs are made from a little Crayola Model Magic clay that I also got at the 99 Cent's Only Store. Sometimes they have really good Crayola products and when they do I stock up. The top is a wooden knob attached with the famous Gorilla Glue. The key to this project was finding a glass with a little rounded bottom.


Recently, I found a bunch of mini glass dome shapes at a garage sale. I think they may have been part of some sort of wrought iron candle holder. Anyway, they are destined to become mini cloches this summer too. It's one of those things, when I was looking for larger cloche glasses, there were none to be found. Now that I settled for the mini cloche, I have a whole stock pile.


Oh, and here is a sneak peek of the project I had hoped to enter...

This is a plastic Texas Star. (I used to call them "barn stars" or "folk art stars" but, after my trip to Houston, I stand corrected.) It looks OK in this picture, but it is not as nice looking in person the color is a little uneven. Anyway, I have it primed and plan to decorate it with scrapbook paper. Stay tuned!

Another Challenge to Try: Iron Crafter

I just recently discovered another crafty challenge-



Last month the secret ingredient was cans. I was so sorry I didn't find the challenge in time to enter. You can click over there to find out this months secret ingredient. Or just look at all these projects I have made in the past using at least some of the secret ingredient.


Can you guess what this month's secret ingredient is?  I have a couple of ideas for a new to me project using the secret ingredient. Stay tuned. Just three more days of school!