Just because you might be at home more doesn’t mean you have more time to cook. Whether you’re working from home, helping virtual learners or homeschooling, it’s likely you’re just as busy as ever. I love using my electric pressure cooker for busy days. It’s like having someone cooking in the kitchen while I work on the million of other things needing done.
One of my favorite fast recipes is chicken and vegetable quinoa. It takes minutes to prepare, is super healthy and cooks fast, so it’s perfect for busy days. The basic recipe is really easy to customize, so it’s a good meal to use up odds and ends from the fridge.
Customizing your quinoa
Try it with beef, sausage, tofu, beans, eggs or skip the protein and add more vegetables. If you have leftover chicken, shred it and use it instead of raw chicken breasts.
If you have time to chop vegetables, clean out the produce drawer and use whatever you have on hand. Use up those veggies before they go bad!
Kale is another nice addition. Throw it on top before pressure cooking and stir it in at the end. Since it’s a hardier green, it holds up well to pressure cooking.
Change up the flavor by adding soy sauce, hot sauce or your favorite seasonings. For a mild dish, I like using poultry seasoning.
Don’t like quinoa? Use rice and adjust the cooking time based on your pressure cooker’s recommendations.
It’s easy to pack for lunches or take on picnics, too.
Instant Pot Chicken and Vegetable Quinoa is a quick, last minute dish that is great hot or cold. Customize it by swapping out the protein or vegetables depending on what you have on hand.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time1 minutemin
Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Servings: 6people
Author: sophiecls418
Equipment
Electric pressure cooker, such as an Instant Pot
Ingredients
1tbspoilolive oil, coconut oil or preferred cooking oil
1 medium onion, diced
1cup chicken breast, cut into bite sized piecesCould also use pre-cooked, shredded chicken
1 cupfrozen mixed vegetables
2cupsquinoa
2cupschicken broth or water
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Turn the pressure cooker to "Saute" and add oil.
Add the onion and chicken if you are not using pre-cooked chicken.
Saute until the onion is translucent and chicken is browned.
Press "Cancel" to stop sauteing.
Add broth, quinoa and vegetables to pot and stir.
Add salt and pepper, if desired.
Lock the lid and set cooker to two minutes on high pressure.
Allow pressure to release naturally when done.
Fluff with fork and serve.
Notes
The great thing about this recipe is it is easy to customize. Try it with beef, sausage, tofu, or skip the protein and add more vegetables. If you have leftover chicken, shred it and use it instead of raw chicken breasts.Clean out the veggie drawer and use whatever you have on hand.Change up the flavor by adding soy sauce, hot sauce or your favorite seasonings.It’s easy to pack for lunches or take on picnics, too.
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Shop sales!
For the entire month of September, all of my handmade soaps are 20% off. Shop handmade soaps here.
My machine embroidery files are also on sale all month for just $1 each! Be sure to check out my latest Halloween designs. Shop embroidery designs here.
I’ve had two striped knit dresses in my refashion pile for about six months now. One black and white and one navy blue and white. The knit is soft, and I like the tie dye stripe, but the shape is basically a tube with a ruffle on the bottom. They are so unflattering, I don’t even want to wear them around the house. There’s a good amount of fabric in them, though, so I decided to try turn one of the knit tube dresses into a t-shirt.
Here’s the original shapeless dress. Excuse the background, please.
Knit tube dress to T-Shirt Refashion T shirt Process
I wasn’t sure what I would do at first, but I knew whatever it was wouldn’t need the straps, so I cut them off. I briefly considered leaving it close to as-is at that point and turning it into a skirt. It still wouldn’t have been very flattering, and I really don’t need any more casual skirts, so I moved on to other ideas.
T-shirts are always something I need, so that was my next direction. I didn’t take any process photos, so I’ll do my best to describe it. Refashioning always requires a little improvising based on what you have to work with, so consider this more as a guide than a complete how-to.
Turn the dress into fabric
I find it’s easiest to see what I have to work with when I’m looking at deconstructed pieces of fabric. Unless I think I’m going to use an element intact, I cut or rip out all seams and remove elements like buttons so that I can see how much fabric I have to use.
For this project, I cut off the black cotton eyelet band at the top and cut off the ruffle from the bottom before cutting off the side seams. I left the ruffle intact by cutting just above the seam that connected it to the dress because I thought it might come in handy. I chose to cut, rather than rip the seams, because the seams were narrow, so I wasn’t losing much fabric.
The Base Pattern
I thought about using a t-shirt as a pattern, but that doesn’t always work out as well. In my pattern files, I have a copy of the breezy tee from it’s always autumn, so I used that. I didn’t have enough fabric to make it exactly like the pattern, but it was a good starting point.
Laying it out
I squared up the main pieces of fabric and cut out the pattern. The fabric was too short for the pattern’s length, so I just focused on fitting in the top portion. I had to shorten the sleeves slightly because there wasn’t enough width.
Constructing the T-shirt
I serged (overlocked) the neckline folded it over and hemmed. I will probably regret not doing a banded neckline, because I’ve had hemmed necklines get wonky with wear. I can change it later if needed, though.
I serged the shoulder seams and then started thinking about the sleeves. The original pattern has pieces to create wide bands on the sleeves. I didn’t have enough scraps from the sides to create those bands. Instead, I decided to use the eyelet from the top of the dress. Honestly, I really wanted to use some of the ruffle to make flutter sleeves, but I figured that would be needed to add length.
I’m still not sure about this. I may remove it after wearing it a few times.
After attaching the eyelet, I serged the underarm and side seams, then straight stitched just inside the serged seam to reinforce.
The shirt was more of a crop top at that point, so I attached the ruffle to the bottom by serging and then straight stitching like I did on the side seams. Here’s the final result.
Finished, other than steaming the ruffle.
I like it, other than the eyelet on the sleeves. I’m not sure about that. It’s not tight, but it makes the sleeves snug. I’ll probably wear it a few times and decide if I just want to take it off altogether. Overall, though, it’s a cute t-shirt and definitely something more wearable than the original.
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Even the best meal planners have days where things don’t go according to plan. Fast food is convenient, but usually more expensive and less healthy than what you can make at home. If you have any dietary restrictions, eating out safely can be extra challenging. For those nights, I like to keep a few staples on hand that make it easy to make a last minute meal that’s healthy and frugal.
Here’s my list of grocery staples I like to keep on hand for last minute meals, along with ideas for how to use them. Depending on your tastes, you may not find everything I use helpful. Since we eat gluten and dairy free, my list doesn’t include common staples like bread or cheese.
Grocery Staples for Last Minute Meals
Proteins
Flash Frozen Boneless, Skinless Chicken – I always have one or two bags of frozen chicken. Because they are individually frozen, it’s easy to separate out just what I need. The pieces don’t have to be thawed before cooking, so it’s perfect for a quick meal. I alternate between breasts, thighs and tenderloins.
Eggs – Eggs cook in minutes for when time is short.
Ground Beef – It’s easier to cook ground beef if it’s thawed, but it’s not impossible to cook it from frozen. I like using my electric pressure cooker if I need to cook it from frozen. Place it on a trivet, add about half of a cup of water to the pot and cook under high pressure for about 20 minutes. When it’s done, drain the water, remove the trivet and cook with the saute function with seasonings to remove excess moisture and finish it if it’s still a little pink in the middle.
Canned Beans – Dried beans are cheaper and don’t take that long with a pressure cooker, but sometimes you need something fast. Canned beans are a great plant-based protein for quick meals or for stretching left over meat in stews and chili.
Lentils – Dry lentils don’t have to be soaked and cook in about 20 minutes. I love this Coconut Lentil Curry from A Couple Cooks for a fast meal.
Vegetables
Frozen mixed vegetables – Perfect on their own as a side, or add to soups, rice dishes, scrambled eggs, curries, etc.
Onion – Sauteed onion adds lots of flavor to just about any meal.
Potatoes – Potatoes are great as an ingredient, a side or bake them and add toppings for a meal on their own.
Frozen greens – I like freezing chopped kale to add to soups and curries because it’s hardy and freezes well. Spinach or other greens work, too.
Grains
Rice – Nice to have as a side, with curry or stir-fry or to make a quick jambalaya or similar dish.
Quinoa – Cooks quickly in the pressure cooker and high in protein. Easy Instant Pot Chicken and Vegetable Quinoa is a quick quinoa based meal that is easy to customize and a great way to use up leftover meats and vegetables. You can also make it with rice with adjustments to the cooking time.
Pasta (I buy Aldi’s gluten free or Skinner brand gf at Kroger. ) – Cooks quickly and can be topped with a variety of sauces, tossed with sauteed vegetables and drizzled with olive oil or added to soups.
Tortillas or Taco Shells – These are especially handy because my kids love tacos. Putting anything in a taco shell increases the chances that they’ll eat it. Corn tortillas are also a cheap gluten free bread substitute.
Sauces and Seasonings
Simmer Sauces – These are the closest thing I use to hamburger helper. All you need is the sauce, a protein, a vegetable and rice for delicious last minute meals. Find a variety you like and turn it into an all in one meal if you have an electric pressure cooker if you’re super busy. This is one of my favorite places to use the frozen chicken. I cook it all together and cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces before serving. While it’s cooking in the pressure cooker, I’m free to catch up on housework or whatever else needs done.
Curry Paste – I love the flavor of curry, and adding curry paste to a dish is a way to add a ton of flavor.
Bouillon – Bouillon is another way to add flavor with little effort, or use it to make broth in a pinch.
Canned Coconut Milk – I can usually work around this ingredient with whatever milk or broth I have on hand, but I prefer it for curry.
Tomato Sauce and/or paste – Add to soup, stew or chili, or make a marinara sauce for pasta.
Salsa – serve as a condiment or add to chicken, ground beef or beans during cooking for flavor.
Commonly Used Herbs and Spices – My staples are salt, black pepper, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning. There’s plenty of others I keep around as well, but those are the ones that I use almost daily.
Last Minute Meal Ideas
I’ve provided a few specific recipes above. Really, though, as long as I have one or two things from each category handy, I can combine them to come up with delicious last minute meals. Here’s a few more of my go-to combinations:
Season and oven bake the chicken. Serve with vegetables and rice.
Saute onion using whatever oil or butter I have available until translucent, then add chicken and a little broth. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Cut into bite sized pieces and add a spoonful of curry paste, vegetables and a can of coconut milk. Heat until the vegetables are done, being careful not to boil. Serve over rice.
Saute onion in a skillet and toss in a handful of frozen greens. Once the greens are thawed, add whisked eggs and scramble.
Brown ground beef (or pressure cook) add onion and cook until the onion is translucent. Add tomato sauce, basil, oregano, garlic and a little salt. If you like your sauce thicker, add some tomato paste. To cut the acidity, add a spoonful of brown sugar. Serve over pasta. You can also make it with chicken, canned white beans, or skip it and just have the sauce and pasta.
Pressure cook ground beef and season with salt, garlic powder, chili, cumin and cayenne. Make Mexican rice ( I use this recipe). Serve with canned black beans or refried beans and salsa. You can make tacos with the meat if you have tortillas or taco shells, or just have the meat on the side or atop the rice. Shredded lettuce, shredded cheese and diced onion all make it even yummier, but if you’re limited to what’s on hand, it’s still yummy without.
What are some of your favorite last minute meals? I’d love for you to share them in the comments.
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If you search for refashioning ideas online, you’ll find tons of amazing examples of outdated styles being turned into trendy pieces that bear little resemblance to the original. (https://refashionista.net/ is one of my favorite refashion blogs to browse for inspiration.) It’s easy to get overwhelmed with ideas, especially if you’re new to sewing. The main goal of refashioning is to take a piece that is unflattering or unwearable and turning it into something that will be worn again. Sometimes a few simple tweaks are all that is needed to accomplish that goal.
The Dress
Before
This sundress is a perfect example. In it’s original form, it was breezy and comfortable for summer, except that it required a strapless bra to be flattering. Strapless bras tend to be uncomfortable in general. When it’s August in Texas hot, they’re almost unbearable. Having to wear one took away from the comfort of this dress, leaving it regulated to the back of my closet most of the time.
The refashion Fix
In order to fix the problem, I needed to add coverage and a little support to keep the cups in place.
First, I sewed elastic into the seams under the bust. I sewed it onto the seam allowance to keep my stitches invisible from the outside.
I cut the elastic a little shorter than the length of the seam and stretched it to gather it slightly. When worn, it doesn’t look gathered, but it keeps the cups in place.
For coverage, I took the cup inserts from a soft seamless bra and hand stitched them in place. I never use them in the bras, so I have several sets sitting around. By hand stitching, I was able to keep my stitches from showing on the right side of the fabric. Rather than sew all around the cups, I strategically tacked them to keep them secure but invisible from the front.
The result
After
Those two simple tweaks only took about twenty minutes. The final result is a smoother, more flattering fit that doesn’t sacrifice comfort.
What simple refashions have you done that made a huge impact on wear-ability? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.
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In the past, I often featured handmade or vintage shops on Fridays. Over the years, the world of crafting and blogging has changed dramatically. I would love to resume Feature Fridays, but with a broader scope.
Handmade shop and websites are still welcome. I also want to feature guest writers sharing tutorials, tips, advice, recipes, etc. Categories that I feel are a good fit for this blog are crafting, sewing, sustainability, refashioning, healthy living, parenting, hair and beauty tips for busy moms, homeschooling and homesteading. I am open to other topics as well, so if you are interested but don’t quite fit into one of the above categories, please contact me anyway with your idea.
Guest posts will be promoted across my social media sites frequently throughout the week they are published and then periodically after.
Handmade shop/website features
For handmade shop/website features, answer the questions in the following list and email them to csloan@s696056323.onlinehome.us. I will contact you before your shop is featured and if any clarification is needed. You can give as much or a little info for each section as you are comfortable with sharing. Be sure to include links to your shop, web page and blog, if you have them. If you sell your products in a brick and mortar store and would like to include that info, you may include that as well.
I also choose a favorite item from your shop on the week that you’re featured and briefly tell why I like it. The first image from your shop for both your favorite item and my favorite item will be included in the blog.
Name and Business Name
Tell us a little about yourself and your business.
What made you get started in your business?
Anything else you’d like to share?
Tell us about your favorite item listed in your shop.
Links to your shop, website, blog, etc.
Email address (This will NOT be published)
Guest posts, tutorials and everything else
Please contact me at csloan@s696056323.onlinehome.us with your idea. If you already blog, a link to your blog or site where your writings are published is also helpful. Newbies are welcome, too. I’m also not opposed to reposts if they are a good fit and your own work.
If I think your idea is a good fit for SubEarthan Cottage, I will let you know and we will work out the details from there.
I finally got around to refashioning the green knit dress that I found at Goodwill over a year ago.
Green knit dress
What I did to the dress
I decided to shorten it to mid-thigh and take in the top for a better fit. In order to keep the pretty stitching at the bottom, I took the excess length from the middle.
I took the top in a little at the sides, but not enough to make it too fitted. It’s hot, so loose and breezy isn’t a bad thing.
To join the two parts, I added elastic to the waist of the skirt and then reattached it to the top.
Refashioned green knit dress.
End result
Here’s the result. In retrospect, I wish I had made the elastic fit a bit tighter. Right now, it just hangs fairly straight. I may go back and redo that some other time.
As it is, it’s comfortable to wear over leggings, so perfect for hanging out at home with the kiddos.
A note for homeschoolers
I’ve been cleaning the office and getting our homeschooling supplies ready for our official start to the school year. If you’re new to homeschooling, or just looking for new ideas, I’ll post photos of our setup, as well as other homeschooling tips next week.
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Making soap is like magic. Seriously, think about it: You take stuff that makes things feel greasy, mix it with stuff that would eat your face off and, if you do it just right, the end result is a wonderful bar of non-drying, skin-loving, fluffy-lathering soap.
Soapmaking is fun, but safety is a priority when dealing with sodium hydroxide, aka lye, aka the eat-your-face-off stuff. This is just a brief overview of the soapmaking process I use. Please do not use this as a complete how to guide. If that’s something you’re interested in, please, leave a comment and I will direct you to some more thorough resources on soapmaking.
Melting the Oils
Creating soap takes two basic things: oils or fats and an alkaline solution. In order to combine the oils and alkaline solution, the oils have to all be in liquid form and uniformly mixed. So, step one is measuring and melting the oils. For precision, all measuring is done by weight. Since I use a Crockpot for my hot process soapmaking, I add all my weighed oils to the Crockpot, then melt and mix them in the pot. For soapmaking, I generally use the low setting, but if I need to jump start the melting process I will start it on high then turn it down after a few minutes. This Crockpot is similar to the one I use.
Melting the Oils
Measuring the Lye
While the oils are warming in the Crockpot, I weigh the lye. It is important to be very precise when measuring the lye. Too little and the soap will be too soft. Too much and the soap could burn your skin. This is also why you need to be very careful about the soap recipes you use. If they are not correctly formulated, the end result could be dangerous.
Before I measure the lye, I measure the water or other liquid for the lye solution, also by weight. I do that first to limit the time I have the lye out.
Weighing the Lye. Gloves and goggles on.
Lye Safety
I make sure to measure the lye into glassware and all containers and utensils that come into contact with lye or the lye solution are reserved solely for that purpose. Once the lye is out, I never leave it unattended. Lye crystals resemble table salt, which would be a potentially deadly mix-up. That’s also why my soap production has slowed since Thaddeus was born. Until they are old enough to understand the importance of staying out of the room and can be trusted out of sight but in earshot for the time it takes to get the soap cooking, I only make it when they are either out of the house or asleep with Chris there to tend to them if they wake up during the process.
Mixing the Lye Solution
Once my lye is measured, I add the lye to the water and stir with a wooden spoon until dissolved. Lye fizzes up when mixed, so it is important to have the liquid in a container with plenty of room. The solution with also get really hot and put off fumes, so be prepared. I like to have a window open or fans and the vent a hood running. Some soap makers mix the solution outside, but I like to stay close to my work space to limit the chance of spills.
Blending the Oils and Lye Solution
For cold process soapmaking, it is important to have the oils and lye solution at about the same temperature. With the Crockpot hot process method I use, I find I can mix the lye solution into the warmed, melted oils without having to measure the temperatures first.
When you first add the lye solution to the melted oils, the color will change from clear to opaque. In order to properly combine the lye and oils, I use a handheld stick blender. You can stir by hand, but it is much harder to get everything properly blended and it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r. I have had a stick blender die in the middle of making a batch of soap and it is a crazy long arm workout. I do not recommend it.
Adding the Lye Solution
Goal of Blending
The goal for all the hard mixing is called “trace”. Basically, I’m wanting to be able to lift my blender out of the mixture and trace a design on top. With cold process, there are various stages of trace that guide when to add any fragrance, essential oils or other add-ins. Since I use the hot process method, I add almost everything after the cook. Because of that, I can mix my batches to a full, hard trace where my traced design doesn’t melt back into the mix. This limits the possibility of a false trace, or the mix seeming to quickly come to trace when it isn’t thoroughly mixed. When that happens, it might separate or have lye heavy spots.
Hard Trace
Once it is at a hard trace, I stop mixing and put the lid on the Crockpot. If the mix seems too hot, for example, I had a false trace that I had to stir through, I will either turn the Crockpot to warm or off for a few minutes. Otherwise, I make sure it is on low and busy myself with cleaning up, lining my soap molds, and preparing essential oils and other additives.
Cleanup
Any lingering lye solution or soap mixture on the blender is still a risk for lye burns, so I’m cautious with the cleanup. For the whole soapmaking process, I keep a good amount of water with vinegar and a bit of dish soap ready in the sink. The vinegar helps neutralize the lye, so anything that comes into contact with lye goes directly into the vinegar solution, and I use a similar vinegar solution to wipe down my soapmaking area, just in case.
Stages of Saponification
During the cooking, the soap mix will change from an opaque, milky color to a shiny, translucent gel like texture. A pool of liquid also forms on top. that pool of liquid is glycerin, a byproduct of the saponification process. This transformation starts at the edges of the pot and happens in a wave moving towards the center. I find it really fun to watch.
Soap Waves
Finishing the Batch
When the entire soap mixture is translucent and the consistency of mashed potatoes without lumps, I turn off the heat and stir the soap by hand for just a couple of minutes to let it cool. At this point, if done correctly, the mixture completely transformed to soap. I don’t want it to cool too much, or it would be hard to add the essential oils, but too hot and it will burn off the scent.
Glycerin Pool Forming in the Middle
I then add any essential oils blended in my chosen carrier oil and any other add-ins I’m using in that batch, stir thoroughly by hand, and plop it into my molds. Since it is thick, I generally have to tap my molds on my counter firmly to eliminate air pockets.
Adding the Blended Essential Oils and Carrier Oil
Curing the Final Product
Because the saponification process is completed during the cooking, the soap is totally safe to use as soon as it is cool enough to touch. It needs to cool in the molds for 12-24 hours or so to hold it’s shape, though. Once it is firm enough to cut, I cut and wrap the bars. While not necessary, hot process bars still benefit from curing for at least a week or two to allow excess moisture to evaporate. As I discussed in my Proper Care and Feeding of Your Bar Soap post, the firmer and drier a bar of soap is, the longer it will last. That’s one of the reasons I wrap my soap in cloth rather than plastic. Cloth allows the soap to continue to harden for a longer lasting bar.
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