Jill Can Cook: Mini Zucchini Pizzas

Well,it's that time of year again! The time of year where we spend more weekends with family and less weekends cleaning our house (which is why I look forward to this time of year!)

Now, don't get me wrong, I go to parties and/or have parties all year long. But for the most part, there is a lot of time in between large get togethers. This time of year, between Halloween and New Years Day, we have a lot of commitments, thus making it the best time of year to try to make new appetizers and desserts. It's more fun to make a crap ton of food when there are a crap ton of people to eat it, not just me and Joe, my husband.

This post will be the first of four recipe posts, all of which that I put together for my parents second annual Halloween Evening Of Horrors.. I just made that up, but I'm pretty sure I love it! (Hey mom, you like that name?! Maybe that's what we should call it next year!!!)

This appetizer probably sounds pretty boring because who wants to eat healthy at a party? My brother does, actually. In the last few years, he's cut sugar and gluten from his diet. Normally, I'd be quite annoyed to have to go out of my way to find and make a recipe for someone with such demands, but I'm starting to like the challenge. Plus I like the accolades (You didn't think I was selfless, did you?! Silly)..

So, here it is: The easiest recipe in the universe...

Mini Zucchini Pizzas

Adapted from DamnDelicious

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 zucchini, cut into 1/4 in rounds
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 grated cheese 
• 1/4 cup pepperoni minis
• 1 tbsp italian seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to broil
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, add zucchini and cook 1-2 minutes per side. Add salt and pepper to taste
3. Place zucchini onto large baking sheet. Top with cheese and pepperoni minis
4. Place in oven and cook until cheese is melted. 1-2 minutes
5. Sprinkle with italian seasoning and serve.

I can tell that I haven't blogged a recipe in about 4 million years because I never took a picture of my ingredients. It's not like I was rushed or out of practice even. I made a few other things this particular day. It just totally slipped my mind to take a picture of this recipes ingredients.  So, today we're starting with a picture of my cut up zucchinis.

I figured my bro would be the only person eating this, so I only used two zucchinis.

They cooked in one fell swoop in my new pan!

Laid out in the pan to bring them to the party.

This is how I transfered them to my parents house.

Picture Post: The Kids Fall Themed Half Year Photos!

My kid, Quinn, started school this fall and I'm still getting used to our new schedule. We now wake up a little earlier and get dressed every day. We take a nice walk to the bus stop, where Quinn gets picked up. Then Mitchell and I fart around for a couple hours, go get Quinn, run errands together or have lunch at home. Either way, we get back just in time for it to be the worst time to take nice pictures of the kids. It's just too sunny. And we've been busy most weekends so the kids photo shoots have not been a priority. 

Luckily, I found some time this weekend to take some pictures before all those beautiful leaves fall. Also, nearly every picture ended up coming out pretty well, so I have hardly any bloopers.... Just kidding. I still have a fairly decent amount of bloopers! Here goes:

Quinn's adult top tooth still hasn't come in even though she lost the baby one months ago.

As usual, I decided to take the pictures somewhere in our yard. The first few that I took, like this one, was technically in our yard, but the background is the neighbors yard. 

The neighbors yard will be covered in Christmas lights come December.

That orange colored tree was a vibrant red just a couple days ago. It bums me out that I missed taking the pictures when it was red because the background would've had a lot more fall colors.

I bought that overall dress last week for $3.00 brand new!

I moved the photo shoot to the other side of our yard where there were more leaves on the ground. And lemme tell ya; moving that big pumpkin around was a pain in the butt!

She did not want to sit on the ground in her pretty dress. It took a lot of convincing on my part!

Once I got her to sit on the ground, placed her hands on her knees and moved the pumpkins to better frame her, I knew the pictures I took would be gold. I just absolutely adore this one. I almost regret paying for boring pictures from the school when I have this picture for free.

I don't know if this one is my favorite or the next one...

It took a lot of coaxing to get Mitchell to sit on the ground. He really wanted to get up and run around. So, the when he finally did sit down, I snapped a couple of quick shots and this gem just happened to be first. His eyes are a little squinty, but other than that, I love how relaxed this picture is.

He looks pretty huge in this picture, even though he's a regular sized kid.

Again with the squinty eyes! I fear he may take after me and lose his eyeballs when he smiles. That's why I tend to not smile too brightly for photos. Anyway, he looks like a tween in this picture. He looks older than his 3.5 yrs. I don't know if it's the gelled hair or the pose or what. Gimme my baby boy back!!

I think the three of us were ready to be done taking pictures but just in case the earlier shots came out poorly, I wanted to take just a couple more of them together. So, I had them stand next to each other and smile. After a couple shots, I realized that Quinn was secretly tickling Mitchell on his neck to get him to smile for me. I just clicked away and ended up with some cute shots:

This last one was achieved by telling Quinn I'd have to start tickling her! It worked. Best smiles of the day! 

I love having new holiday and seasonal photos of the kids to display. I'm getting to the point in my kid photography that I change out the photos of them with the seasons. Pretty soon, I won't need to decorate my house otherwise, just with pictures I've taken. 

And a good bye kiss to end the post!

DIY: Big Red Shirt Into Little Red Shirt

Earlier this year I bought a big shirt and refashioned it into a peplum top. I really loved the result. I can never find peplum tops in my price range. Being cheap kind of sucks, but I deal with it.

Anyway, ever since then, I've been looking for another shirt to do the same thing to. I thought I hit pay dirt when I found this shirt in a bin at the thrift store for $0.20 =

Picture, why you so blurry!? 

I probably should've tried the shirt on in store. Had I done that, I would've realized that the neck hole was humongous. I wouldn't be able to turn it into a peplum top like I'd hoped. Oh well, not all was lost. I had an idea. It wouldn't be the most exciting refashion but it would salvage the shirt.

I turned the shirt inside out and pinned from the sleeves up to the neckline to create a new, smaller neck hole.

You can't really tell. Just take my word for it.

Sewing machine photo.

Bye bye excess fabric.

I forgot to take a picture of the next step. See that blob of fabric at the neckline? I cut it down, folded it over, and sewed it down. You're not missing much by not seeing it.

Anyway, I tried the shirt on at this point and realized that there was nothing left to do. It was perfect. It might have turned out better that what I originally pictured for it.

I need to clean the mirror! Didn't realize there was a huge smudge (looks like dirt on my pant leg).

 I ended up with sleeves in my favorite length, just long enough to cover my arm fat. And the rest of the shirt fits pretty well also.

Not sure why my eyes look so weird.

I threw on a thrifted suede coat to leave the house

As much as I love buying clothes that already fit and don't need any work, sometimes I really enjoy putting a little work in so that I can wear something that's "one of a kind!" Now, I'm back on the hunt for a large shirt to turn into a peplum.. Wish me luck!

Before                                                                                 After

I Had A Bit Of A Makeover: Another Funky Color!

Now that I blog (really inconsistently, I might add!!), I am able to keep better track of all the stuff I do to my hair pretty easily. Don't get me wrong; I know I like to change it up. I've been dyeing my hair all the (normal) colors of the hair rainbow for the better part of my life. But it's only within the last few years, because of the fact that I don't have a corporate dress code to adhere to, that I've really had the guts to go outside the norm.

If you recall last summer, I dyed my hair blue. I loved the crap out of my blue hair!! But, dang, if it wasn't the devil to keep up with! When I'd dye it, it would stain everything. I think I spent more time cleaning my shower/tub during the few months my hair was blue than the entirety of my life otherwise. And that's saying a lot because for about 10 yrs, it was my chore at my childhood home to clean the tub! 

Besides the cleaning aspect, there were several other negatives:

1. It faded very quickly.
2. When it faded, it faded to green and green is not my favorite hair color.
3. Because it faded so quickly, that meant dyeing it more often and that started getting expensive.
4. The blue photographed horribly. What looked great in real life, looked awful in pictures.

Even after all that, though, I still missed my funky hair. I spent the first few months of the year, dying my hair blonde, as it would need to be light so my next funky color would show up nicely. 

The color: Pink!

Right after Mother's Day, I bought a bottle of pink hair dye. I put it in my hair. I left it in for an hour. When I was done, I looked like this.

It's not awful, but not quite what I was looking for either!

So, that was a bust. My hair was only mildly pink; not full on blind your eyeballs pink like I'd hoped.

I waited a few days and dyed it again.

Hello, Perfect Hair!

Here we go. That's what I'm talking about. Scare-your-kids pink. You-must-give-me-dirty-looks-in-public pink. I-give-off-a-stripper-slash-druggie-vibe pink. I think I nailed it.

And when it fades, it's still oh so pretty.

It's been pink for about 4ish months now. I'm still working on the same $12 bottle of pink hair dye that I've been using since the get go. At this rate, I won't have to buy more dye for another 2ish years. 

I also got really into makeup in the last 8 months, hence my rockin' contour!

The pink is a lot easier to manage, considering it doesn't stain anything in the shower and when it fades, it fades to either light pink or a coral pink. Both of which I find very appealing. 

The one downside is that I have to dye my roots blonde before I can dye them pink. Otherwise, they won't pick up any dye. So,dyeing my hair is now a two step process. But..

What my hair looks like when the roots are freshly blonde, but not redone pink yet.

I actually really like the blonde to pink ombre that I get after dyeing my roots, that I tend to wait a week or two before I dye it pink. So, It's a constant style change back and forth with enjoyable results every time.

And I must say, the pink photographs a lot nicer than the blue.

I really do love my hair like this. I admit, I felt a little weird when I dropped my daughter, Quinn, off for her very first day of school (pictures and story for a future post!). I want to have my funky hair but I also want to be taken seriously, especially when it comes to anything involving my kids. 

It's been a few weeks since she's been in school and I no longer feel like the weird mom. It helps that there's a purple haired mom of a kid at the school. Funky haired moms unite!!

I'm thinking my hair will remain pink for a while, so don't hold your breath for another one of these makeovers... Well, unless I buy more wigs, but who'd want to cover up this awesome hair?!

DIY: Three Long Dresses Into Three Short Dresses!

The thrift store that I've been going to for the past year sells tons of great stuff in my size that doesn't need altering. And they sell it super cheap to boot! Because of that, I don't find too many clothing items to refashion for this blog. Lucky for you guys (and me, too, since I really missed the 3 of you!), I've actually found a couple dresses that needed some work before I could really love them. The only problem is that the dresses in question only needed to be hemmed, otherwise they were perfect. And cutting off some length and sewing a new hem is probably the most boring thing that I could possibly do.

Hmm.. How would I make this a tad more exciting and not bore you to death?!

I had an idea! I'd just put all three dresses on the same post because one hemmed dress per post = boring, but three hemmed dresses on one post = you guys will check back every couple of days to search for more of my awesomeness. I hope this turns out the way I'm hoping.

OK.. on to the dresses!

Dress One:

It's black with little white donut shapes on it.

Here's a closeup of the fabric.

Typical 90's style dress that buttons all the way down the front, has an awkward length, and a business casual-type collar. I was drawn to this dress because it would be perfect (once it was shorter) for the summer months and could be layered with a sweater or cardigan in the winter months. I love clothes that aren't automatically relegated to one season. Especially dresses! So, I grabbed it. It cost me $0.50.

Three little side notes:

1. In the interest of not taking a thousand years to blog this, I took all the before/after pictures in my mirror. I'm sorry for the horrible quality, but had I set up a tripod it would have taken me a million times longer to get the pictures and I probably would've given up.
2. In the interest of only mentioning it once, I cut between 10-12 inches off of each dress. They were all about the same length to start and I wanted them all about the same length when I was done.
3. I had to iron all the dresses. For some reason, they were all wrinkly even though they were hung up in the closet right out of the dryer. 

I'm pretty sure that the last time I used this iron was for this blog several months ago. I hate ironing.

I didn't take any picture of the process. If you would, please imagine that I cut off a portion of the bottom of the dress, folded the edges over, pinned, sewed, and then cut off excess thread. Easy?! Easy.

After all that, I ended up with this:

I cut off a few inches and welcomed this dress to this century!

It never ceases to amaze me that small changes to clothing can make a big difference. Just taking off a good portion of the length and belting it with a wide black belt, took this look from kinda frumpy and outdated, to cute, flirty, and in style. It's too bad that the summer months are coming to an end, but I plan to wear this at least once this fall. 

I probably should've used black thread but I'm too lazy.

Before                                                                                  After

Dress Two:

I'm embarrassed about how crappy this picture is.

Close up. The fabric kind of looks like a quilt.

This dress, as you can see, has a lot in common with the first dress in regards to fit and style. Although, I can't button the top two buttons on this one. Also, the fabric is not as cool as the first dress. I'm not even sure what attracted me to the dress other than the fact that it was $0.50. 

I've had this dress a lot longer than the other dresses. So long, in fact, that I've actually worn it out of my house as is. Crazy, I know!

Anyway, I worked my magic on it and after a little styling, ended up with this:

That quilty fabric made me feel country, like a cowgirl.

I always feel a bit like a bad ass though. Here's my bad ass pose.

I admit, I look a lot cooler and trendier in the dress now than I did the last time I wore it. This dress, styled this way, is perfect for the fall. The greatest part is that these refashions take almost no time at all! I was really looking forward to the third dress though!

Before                                                                     After

Dress Three:

I took this picture before I ironed the dress that's why it looks horrible.

The perfect pattern for spring!

The ugly lace collar.

Another $0.50 dress. When I was thumbing through the clothes in the thrift store, I was immediately drawn to this fabric. I love the large flower pattern on the muted sea green. It reminded me of spring wedding or Easter. It had a very feminine feel to it. I couldn't believe it when, after I tried it on, found out that it fit me perfectly!  I had to have it. And I had to get rid of some length and take that lace collar do-hickey off!

Once that was taken care of, I was left with the dress I'd imagined:

No idea why I look so upset. I was very pleased with the outcome of this dress.

Oohhh Summer!! Please come back for just one day so I can wear this dress!

Look at this cuteness!

This is my favorite of the three and the one I'm most thrilled about. I love the fit and the shape (and the length!). I think babydoll/skater dresses are pretty flattering on my body shape (which is slightly apple shaped, I guess), as well as very comfortable to wear. 

Before                                                                                   After

So, that's the end for this post. I hope you all enjoyed the minor fixes I made to a couple dresses in my collection. I know I say it all the time, but even though I'm not making huge changes to these clothing items, I am still pretty proud of my end results! Now if I could just will myself to pull something else out of my laundry basket of clothes to refashion/upcycle in the next few weeks. I'm really hoping to get into blogging on the regular again!

DIY: Desperately Seeking A Gold Jacket!

Two really random things happened to me this week:

1. A friend called me "Madonna" on a picture I posted to Instagram.
2. I found a gold/glitter shirt circa the 1980's at the thrift store.

It doesn't sound exactly like fate or destiny, but I had Madonna on the brain when I saw the shirt in a bin at the thrift store. It instantly reminded me of the movie, "Desperately Seeking Susan."

In the movie, Madonna plays "Susan," who has this awesome sense of style and I want every outfit she wears. She starts out the movie wearing this iconic jacket. That is, until she needs this equally amazing pair of boots and trades the jacket for them. Rosanna Arquette swoops in and buys the jacket, leaving Madonna jacketless, in NYC, in what appears to be somewhat cool weather. For the rest of the movie, Madonna wears this very sleek jacket. It's a totally awesome movie with lots of great outfits and surprisingly good plot line.

Anyway, so, I saw this shirt:

All the pictures on this post are awful. Just letting you know in advance.

It was a cool mix between the two jackets Madonna wears in the movie, but it needed a little tweaking.

A close up of the very '80's fabric.

I'd have to take off the buttons and also that black fake shirt thingy.

And they're off.

The jacket also had a slit on the sides that I closed up by sewing the slit together by hand. I really didn't feel like rethreading my sewing machine with black thread to sew a total of 4 inches of fabric together.

There's the slit before I close it up.

And that's it. I grabbed a dress that I'll probably never wear because it's too short and the straps are really loose. I also grabbed a pair of boots that I'll never wear, that my niece gave me a couple months ago because the heel was too high for her. Well, the heel is too high for me, too.

I'm glad I put this outfit together because now I know I can get rid of these two items to free up some closet space.

Desperately seeking awesome!

I don't think the jacket/blouse is enough of a match to make for a good Halloween costume. I'd consider it more "inspired by" the movie. Although, styled this way really makes me feel like Susan.

Quinn kept snapping pictures and not very many came out nicely. 

That was kind of a lackluster refashion, but I did have fun getting to play dress up for a few minutes. It also gave me an excuse to blow off doing the laundry for a couple hours, too. That's a good enough reason for me to do anything.