Guest Post from Sweet Basil

Hi everyone!! I'm Carrian from Sweet Basil. I post about recipes I've found to be delicious or that I've created myself. I also work over at Simply the Sweet Life. A new magazine that is as beautiful as it is wonderful and I'm so excited to be posting on Monkey See Monkey Do! It's such a great site (Hello! Did you see the rocking chair re-upholstery? Awesomeness!) Jennifer was so kind to let me do a guest post and I hope it helps at least one of you out.

I think that one of the best ways to save money is to do smart grocery shopping. This could obviously be a huge post about couponing, shopping sales, staying on a budget etc, but we can talk about that another time. One of the best ways that I've found is to plan out my meals. Every week I post a meal plan on Monday so that you can have all week to get to the grocery store and buy your ingredients. Then at the end of the week (or beginning of the next week if you want to say it correctly) you use the meal plan.

I am a big believer in buying foods and then trying to use the ingredients and leftovers in other meals that week so you don't waste anything. Planning it out means less trips to restaurants, to the store and less over buying which in the end means more money in your pocket.

Here's just one example.

You buy a big ol' juicy roast. Bake it up on Sunday, eat yourselves silly, and have tons of leftovers.

Spice Encrusted Pork Recipe

Then on Monday or Tuesday you turn that delicious pork into Tostadas!!!

Pork Tostadas recipe

And then, if you are anything like my family you will probably have leftover tortillas, black beans etc. You could turn those into something that weekend like,

Simple Turkey Tacos

Red Enchiladas

This time things did end up a little on the Mexican side, but it doesn't have to be. Remember pizza one night could mean using the sauce and mozzarella for lasagna the next or a rotisserie chicken turned soup or chicken salad the next night!

Thanks for having me, Jennifer!! I hope you'll all stop by Sweet Basil and say HELLO!

Toddler Shorts Repurposed from Men's Shorts

I love to make things for my little boy. I wanted to make him some plaid shorts for the summer with a slight patriotic theme (since it is Memorial Day!)

Here's a preview:

I decided to buy a pair of used shorts from the thrift store. They had a missing button. I should've asked for a discount, but didn't. I paid $5. A little steep? Maybe.

Anyway, I used the pattern for flat front pants from MADE. (And I didn't do a whole tutorial, just a few highlight pictures from the process. So visit Dana's site if you want the whole scoop!)

I cut these so I could use the existing bottom hem for the new shorts' bottom hem:

Keep in mind that the front and back of shorts and pants should be a little different, even for kids. One exception is that usually newborn pants can be made with the same pattern for front and back.

Sew the crotch seams up to the waistband. Don't sew down the legs yet!

To sew down the legs, you'll attach the front and back pieces. (No picture for this).

This is what the elastic casing will look like:

Since I did the flat front version, there is no elastic in the front of the shorts.

Trying to get a good picture of my child is difficult. Even with a graham cracker bribe.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Recipe

I love to make cookie bars instead of individual cookies because it saves a lot of time over forming and dropping each cookie onto the sheet. I made a few tweaks in a recipe I usually use in a cookbook and think these are the best cookie bars ever.

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup

1/2 cup Demarana Sugar (you can identify it by its larger crystals)

1 cup butter, at room temperature (no substitutes)

2 t vanilla

1 large egg

2 1/4 cups flour (scant)

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

12 ounces milk chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Beat the sugars, maple syrup, and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Do not over mix. It is good to have some lumps of butter. Add the vanilla and egg and mix some more.

3. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt--again, do NOT overmix. Just make sure to incorporate all dry ingredients.

4. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

5. Using a spatula, put dough into an ungreased 9"x13" metal pan. To spread dough to all edges evenly, wash your hands well and then leave them wet with cold water. Use your wet hands to press the dough evenly around the pan. If it starts to stick, re-wet your hands.

6. Bake 15-20 minutes and cool completely before cutting.

7. Store in an airtight container with a slice of bread (it helps the cookies stay moist!) When the bread dries out, replace it with a fresh slice.

More Taffeta Flowers

I don't have any finished projects to show...but this is one of the things I've been working on lately. I needed some sort of accessory to go with my dwindling maternity wardrobe (I had to buy some new maternity things this weekend...) and am working on something with these flowers. I posted a tutorial on making these flowers here.

More Low-Budget Wall Art

I made these framed animals for my son's room. They match the fabric I used to recover the rocker (see here and here) and the color of the frames matches the bookshelf I painted for him (bookshelf seen here).

To make the shapes, I found the fabric online (called Zoo Pals Blue Print Fabric by Robert Allen), printed off a few of the animals at much larger proportions, and traced them onto my fabric or paper.

I used felt for the whales:

I used jersey knit for the rhino (it's a sleeve of an old t-shirt):

And I used scrapbook paper for the turtles. For all the eyes, I used holes from a hole punch. Then I used rubber cement to attach everything to butcher paper. The rubber cement didn't hold well for the jersey or the felt, but it held well enough to get it under the frame's glass. I spray painted the frames with the same color paint as for the bookshelf.