Curried Coconut Chicken

This my husband's favorite meal that I make. It is a little bit of work, but worth the effort. It is not as good as Take-out, but for homemade and for not having too many specialty ingredients, its pretty good.


Curried Coconut Chicken
adapted from this recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 chunks (we usually do 3 breasts)
1 t salt and pepper, or to taste
2 T vegetable oil (we use coconut oil)
2 T curry powder
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
1 (14.5) diced tomatoes OR 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
4 T sugar
1/2 peanuts (we like raw)
chopped veggies (we like potatoes, zucchini, bell pepper, whatever you have/like)

Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

Heat oil and curry powder in a large skillet over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Stir in onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes more. Add chicken, tossing lightly to coat in curry/onion mixture. Cook for 7-10, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Pour coconut milk, tomatoes/tomato sauce, sugar, peanuts, and veggies. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes or until sauce has reduced and thickened as desired.

Serve over rice.


The last time I made this, I added a ton of zucchini and it was so good. The zucchini soaked up the flavor so well that we could barely even tell it was there. It is even better the next day :)

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Family Ever After

Skinny Elastic Headbands

I recently got some of this cute 1/8" skinny elastic and it makes the cutest headbands. I crocheted up some flowers and made these little flower headbands and I think they turned out so adorable!

I've got a couple of them listed in my shop and will be adding more later.

I may or may not have dressed my son in one of his sister's old dresses and put a headband on him for these pictures. Its hard to admit, but he makes a really cute girl. Hes probably going to be mad at me for this later. 

My daughter makes a really good model too, and I think the headbands look cute on her, but I  think they make better baby headbands. What do you think?

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Creations by Kara 
Skip to My Lou
Family Ever After

Homemade Rapunzel Costume

 

One of my favorite things about Halloween is making costumes. I have never been a big fan of dressing up myself, but I love dressing up my kids. This year my daughter wanted to be Rapunzel from her current favorite movie, Tangled. I was so glad she chose her because her dress is pretty simple and easy to recreate. 

Originally I was going to do something totally of my own making, without using a pattern. I chickened out when it came time to do the bodice and instead used a pattern (Simplicity 5704) with some modifications. The skirt part was all my own though.

 I made it a little big for her for several reasons. First of all, it always seems to be freezing cold here on Halloween and I hate covering up costumes with big heavy jackets, so it is big enough that she can wear a sweatshirt and maybe even another layer underneath. Also, after Halloween it will join our "dress-ups" and I wanted it to fit for at least a year more and be big enough so she or her friends can put it on by themselves.

 For the sleeves, I just sewed pink ribbon stripes directly on the sleeve fabric pieces before they were gathered and sewn on. 

 The bodice is just ribbon sewn on, although for this time I waited until after the bodice was assembled, but before the skirt and bodice were sewn together.  The waistband is just wider ribbon sewn in the front and sides, but then left un-sewn in the back so it can tie.

We're going to have a hard time keeping this dress in the closet for a month!

I've started working on a wig too, so far, its been difficult, so it might just get scrapped. We'll see what I can figure out, at least I have some time still.

Linking up with these blogs:
http://bearrabbitbear.blogspot.com/
The Shabby Nest
Joyful Stamper
Family Ever After 
Skip to My Lou 
Creations by Kara

New and Improved Tiered Tulle and Satin Skirt

I finally got around to redoing the tiered tulle skirt AND taking pictures of it. I actually finished the skirt a few weeks ago, but just never found a good time for a photoshoot. If you don't remember the first version I did of this skirt, check it out here.

 I think it turned out way better this time around. It passed my daughter's spin test, its pink, fluffy, and girly so of course my daughter likes it. She likes the first one too, so that doesn't mean much.

This time, instead of sewing the tulle tiers to each other, I sewed them directly to the satin skirt lining. I used two layers of tulle at twice the width to give it more ruffle and volume. I also made a pattern out of tissue paper first for the satin lining and measured everything so it would be even. I  made it shorter so it hits right at the knee.

The hem is skinnier too and I took my time so it looks a lot better and lot less bulky.

For the waistband, I just did a simple elastic casing using double fold bias tape. Super easy.

 

The only thing I wish I would have done different with the waistband is sewn the top tulle layer into the lower casing stitch line (does that make sense?). I was worried that the top layer would look too short if I did that, but I think it would have looked fine. I just looks unfinished and tends to stick out a bit too much.

 

 

  

We still love it and I am happy with how it turned out. 

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Creations by Kara

Any guesses?

I purchased some material to start making my daughter's Halloween costume. I let her choose what she wanted to be this year. Her answer was no surprise to me and I am actually really excited about it. Any guesses?

Freezer Paper Stenciled Collegiate Shirts

My husband and I both graduated from BYU so we are big BYU fans around here. This Saturday is the big Rivalry game between BYU and the U (University of Utah) and I decided we need some gameday attire to support our team. I am too cheap to buy anything, so I decided to make some using freezer paper. It is so easy and cheap!

 

Here's how you can make your own:

You need:

Freezer paper

Fabric Paint

Brush

Cardboard (bigger than your image)

Iron

Image of your college logo

pencil

xacto or craft knife

First, you need to find a digital image of the college logo that you want on your shirt. Then you want to size the image and print it off so that you can trace it onto the freezer paper. I am cheap and didn't want to waste ink so I lightened mine up a ton.

Trace your image onto the dull side of the freezer paper. If you are having a hard time seeing the image, use a sharpie to outline the image and then try tracing again.

Using a craft/xacto knife cut out the image from the freezer paper, placing a piece of cardboard beneath it.

Iron the freezer paper to the front of the shirt, making sure the edges adhere to the shirt so none of the paint will seep through later.

Place a piece of cardboard inside your shirt and then use fabric paint to paint inside your stencil.

This is what mine looked like after one coat.

 You will probably need to do 3-4 coats, letting them dry for about an hour between each.

When you are done painting, peel off your freezer paper and let it dry completely.

To keep your paint from fading in the wash, I sealed the paint by ironing it (don't touch the paint directly with iron, place a cloth over it) the next day. I recommend you wait a few days to wash it too.

There you have it. Simple and easy. 

Go Cougars!

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Felt Flower Headbands

 A week or so ago I made my daughter this felt flower headband which she loves. It was so easy and fun, that the last time I went to the craft store, I went a little crazy and bought all kinds of felt to make more. I have a bunch of FOE (fold over elastic) that is perfect for these too.

I modified the flower a bit to make it a little easier to cut out. I also changed out the single pearl for three smaller ones. I really like how they turned out!

 It was fun to mix up the colors. I have white, brown, pink and blue pearl beads as well as white, black, blue, pink and purple elastic.

 They are all available in my shop where you can pick your colors and sizes. Check them out here and you can check out all of my items here.

Something for Me- Black Crocheted Headband

 I finally made something for me. I really love the white headband and rose that I made for daughter last spring and had been thinking, I should really make one for myself too. I was a little afraid that it might look silly on me. I am not the most "trendy" person and my style is usually very simple so I wasn't sure I could pull it off.

 I went for black to be nice and safe. My hair is pretty dark, so it doesn't stand out too much.

 I really like how it turned out. I think I can pull it off. Not too silly looking right?

 The best part is that I made the Rose separate, so I can take that off and wear it on its own or the headband by itself if I want to.

I also thought that having it tie in the back instead of using elastic like I did with my daughter's makes it a little more grown up looking.

If you want one, they are available in my shop. I can make them any size you want in black or white (more colors to come) with tie backs or elastic. Buy one for yourself or your little girl or both!

Tiered Tulle Play Skirt

 Yesterday, I had a little free time, so I made this little tiered Tulle and satin skirt. I did it pretty quick, so it has some issues (like how the hem is TOTALLY not straight or even), but for a play skirt, it is just fine.

 My daughter loves anything pink or princess related, so she loves it. It has an elastic waist so she can just pull it on over whatever she is wearing when she wants to play dress-up

 The spin is not as much as she would like, but next I will make a fuller one.

 Its a work in progress and I plan on doing another one, (I'll actually take the time to measure next time) and the next one will hopefully turn out well enough to be worn on Sunday.

I'm even contemplating making a dress, but still not sure if I am up for that challenge and the time that would take.