Easy Fast No Fuss Healthy Pasta!

I found this recipe on an Instagram post by @inspiredtobefit while looking for fast easy dinner ideas. It doesn't hurt if its healthy as well! This is seriously one of the easiest and most delicious pasta dishes I have ever made in less than 15 minutes!

Don't touch it's mine!

Recipe:
12 ounces of pasta (I used whole grain spaghetti)
12 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red onion sliced thin
4 cloves of garlic sliced thin
2 tsp of sea salt (or less if you want)
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 sprigs of basil pulled apart (thats means the top of a a basil cluster including about 4 leaves)
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil (I used organic canola oil because I was out of coconut and olive)
4 1/2 cups water

Place all of this in one large pot. Turn the stove on high and bring to a big boil. Once its on a full boil set the timer for 9 minutes and leave it on high. Stir every couple of minutes. At the end most of the water will evaporate and you will be left with amazingly tasty pasta! It does not get soggy btw. I was worried about that but the noodles were perfect!

Make It Mini!

So I have this dress that is just a little too big and a little too long and a little too conservative for me. But I love the print and the colors. Also the material is a stretchy fabric that doesn't fray. Win!

Hi kid! Hi dogs!

So first I stuck it on my dress form and pinned the sides in.

As you can see I forgot to turn it inside out. This meant I had to take out all the pins and redo! So just remember- always turn the clothing inside out! So once I turned it around and re did all the pins I was ready to sew those sides in!

RE DO!

Now you got it!

I don't like dresses that come to my knees so I cut off some of the length with my pinking shears.

CHOP!

Then I sewed a hem using the zig-zag stitch so the material could still stretch.

Zig-Zag!

And that was it! I tried it on and its super cute. It's a tad short though. So now I have to decide if I should make it even shorter and call it a shirt, or just leave it as is and wear it with leggings. What do you think I should do?

Yep, another headless "its not a good hair day" after pic!

So- make it a shirt or add leggings?

Once I make a final decision I will wear it out somewhere and add a new image!

UPDATE! Alright and here it is- with leggings!

BBQ Pulled Chicken In A Slow Cooker!

This is another easy to make recipe and super yum!

Goes great with pan-seared asparagus in coconut oil! Also- I used 1 cup of water and mine ended up less thick than I hoped for. Next time I will use a half cup. 

Recipe:

3 or 4 large chicken breasts
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
1/2 cup of water or chicken stock
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper (skip if you don't want it to be too spicy)
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 4oz can of diced green chilies
1/2 cup of brown sugar

Dump all ingredients into your slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. When food has about 30 minutes left to cook pull the chicken out onto a plate and use two forks to shred it into small pieces. Place back in cooker and cook the remainder of the 30 minutes.

Here is what my sauce looked like:

Spicy Taco Seasoning

I recently shared my taco salad recipe here. I felt the need to make a post with just the seasoning recipe so you can reference it for other cooking purposes so here it is!

For the meat (or meat substitute) seasoning:
1 tbs chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp crushed dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
1/2 to 1 and 1/2 tsp ground cumin (to taste- I like 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Taco Salad With Spice!

I loe making taco salad because it's really easy and fast to make. Its also spicy and filling and if you don't want salad just break out some taco shells for tacos!

This is without meat.

Recipe:

For the meat (or meat substitute) seasoning:
1 tbs chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp crushed dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
1/2 to 1 and 1/2 tsp ground cumin (to taste- I like 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

mix together with 2/3 cup of hot water

In frying pan cook thoroughly one package (about 1 lb) of ground meat. If you don't eat meat feel free to substitute or just skip the meat altogether! Once meat is cooked add the taco seasoning mixture from above and cook another minute to let the seasoning set in. Do not drain.

In a large bowl mix together 1 can of black beans (drained), one can of corn (drained) or one package of frozen corn, two large diced tomatoes, half of a diced red onion, cut up half a bunch of cilantro.

Spoon the veggie mix over a bowl of spinach, spoon meat on top and then sprinkle cheese on top. For extra juiciness and spice add a spoonful of salsa as dressing. YUM!

Operation Save My Favorite Tshirt!

I have this tshirt from H&M that I just love. I have had it a long time and one hot sweaty summer day I wore it to do the gardening. Afterward I left it in the dirty laundry for too long. So it got the dreaded awful nasty..... pit stains! I hate to even talk about it! I was so sad. They were barely noticeable so I thought maybe dying it would cover them up. I didn't realize at the time that that was a bad idea because the dye takes differently to the salty stains than the rest of the fabric. Here is what Im dealing with now:

GROSS!!!!! Im not even wearing this for a before shot. No.

I thought for sure this shirt was a goner and was about to throw it out. Then this morning I had an idea. So I got out the scissors and got to work.

CHOP! 

First I cut off the sleeves to see how much stain was left. Then I got out my pins.

After I turned the shirt inside out I pinned from the top of the stain in an angled line down until the pins met the side seams. Then I sewed that line like so:

Next I chopped off the extra fabric.

And thats it! No more stains! Its now my favorite tank top!

I have no head today- its a bad hair day!

Mumu To Summer Top!

I have this lemon and lime printed mumu that looks like a tablecloth but I admit that I love cutesy fruity prints. So I decided I needed to do something to save it!

Tablecloth? Curtains?

So I got out my pins and chalk and got to work! After sizing it on my dress form I layed it down on my floor and pinned it. I couldn't do it on the dress form or I would never get it off the form- there is no zipper!

Then I sewed those sides in and chopped off the extra material with my pinking shears.

Bye pockets!

I tried it on to make sure I wouldn't need to add a zipper- thank goodness I could get in and out of it!
Next it was time to take off all that length and hem the bottom.

CHOP! Don't worry- I have plans for the bottom of this dress!

PIN!

Then I sewed down that hem.

So with the bottom part of the mumu I made a sash- I just cut off the very bottom part that has a different lemon pattern.

CHOP!

And now my mumu is no longer! It has been transformed into a summer top!

Long Formal To Mini Mod Dress

Ok here I am making a dorky face in this long formal dress my mom gave me in a size 10.

Hi I'm drowning!

This dress is polyester and acetate. Easy enough to work with but doesn't iron very well! I don't have much use for super long formal dresses and this one was also just too big. I love the straight across neck line and the low back on this dress though. The finished version feels a bit mod to me!

I got to pinning.

What should I name my dress form?

And drawing lines with chalk, in case my pins come out!

See chalk is so much better than my material pencil!

 Then I sewed those pinned sides! Afterwards I tried it on and drew a chalk line where I wanted to cut the length off. I cut it off, pined the hem and sewed that. Tried it on. It wasn't as short as I hoped so I took it off and rolled the hem up some more and sewed some more!

Short

Shorter

After the hem was finished I tried it on and finally liked the results. I rarely cut off the extra material when I take the sides in BTW. Normally I don't feel the need to because I can't feel or see the extra material- and then if I ever want to take it back out I can!

Here is the after shot:

Refashion In Red

So you remember this little number from yesterday? Here is a quick reminder of the before in black:

Well I also have this in red! I totally forgot to get a pic of the red in its before stage but it is identical in every way but color. Here is the process I took to refashion it, this time making it a tad bit longer (and not cutting off the zipper this time):

High quality brand but too big for me

So Like the other dress I folded it in half length wise and cut it off so the hem would be even. Then I took in the sides about an inch. It has a liner on the top half- I just folded it up and left it as is. It didn't make a difference when worn.

Then I hemmed the bottom like so:

Pins!

Im getting better about sewing straight!

And all done! It was so easy I did both dresses in one day.