Awesome Potato Salad

An Easy Potato salad recipe that everyone will love.

(Ana's kitchen)

My husband loves potato salad so I'm always looking for good recipes!  This is a really great recipe that has a great combination of flavors without anything being too strong. This recipe makes a large bowl full of potato salad.

Awesomely Easy Potato Salad
6 large potatoes (or 8 medium)
1 1/2 cups mayo
2 tablespoons salad vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 jalapeno peppers (seeded and diced)
4 hard-boiled eggs (peeled and diced)
paprika


Boil the potatoes (you can boil them and then peel and dice them after,but it's faster if you peel and dice them first and then boil them).  For all of my vegetables I just use my ChopChop and that makes it really fast.  I use the larger setting for the potatoes and the eggs and the smaller setting for the jalapenos.

While your potatoes are boiling (don't forget to boil and dice your eggs too), mix the mayo, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders together in a bowl.  Set aside.

Add the boiled/diced potatoes, the eggs, and the jalapenos into a large bowl.  Drizzle with dressing and stir to mix.  Sprinkle with paprika and serve!

Hopefully you loved this yummy, easy potato salad!

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"The Pink Poodle" Poodle Skirt Pattern

 Poodle Skirt Pattern

We threw this delightful little Pink Poodle Party for my granddaughter's third birthday and all of the girls had there own pink poodle skirt--it was a big hit! The girls absolutely loved their poodle skirts--they sat there twirling, swirling, and dancing away to make them flare out and spin!  I made 8 different skirts: size baby to age 8.  I embellished the skirts with white poodles made out of a washed wool felt fabric and then added pearl leashes to the poodles for some extra pizzazz.  They turned out to be so charming!  You can download my poodle skirt pattern HERE to make a darling little poodle skirt for your own little girl!

For more fun party and pattern ideas

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Teacher Gift Idea "Teacher's Rule"

An easy teacher gift that measures up to any teacher's standard!

Download this easy teacher gift by clicking HERE 

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Crockpot Beef and Broccoli

(Ana's Kitchen)

Beef and Broccoli is one of our favorite Chinese dishes, and I had no idea it was so easy to make from home--especially if you use your Crockpot!  

Crock Pot Beef & Broccoli

The meat is a lot yummier if you marinate it first--you could marinate it overnight but all you really need is at least an hour!  Mix the following ingredients together in a Ziploc plastic bag and then throw your meat in, rub it around to coat, and throw it in the fridge!

• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (if you use normal soy sauce it will taste saltier)
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 – 1 ½ lbs stew meat (it comes already to go so it makes things easy!)

Once your meat has marinated, toss it into your Crockpot.  I cooked my meat on low over night and it was ready by lunch time the next day--it was super tender, fall apart in your mouth kind of meat.  Cover your meat in shallow water (and I added a little extra soy sauce too) and let it cook (10-12 hours on low, maybe 6-8 hours if you want to cook it on high--just watch the water so it doesn't get too dry).  A couple hours before serving (if cooking on low), add:

• 1 head of broccoli cut up into pieces (I even chopped up the whole stem and it was tender enough to eat after a couple hours in the crockpot--you could use frozen broccoli to make things easier)
• ½ white onion, sliced
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped finely

Mix together in a small bowl and then sprinkle on top:

• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp water
• ⅓ cup soy sauce

Serve over rice.  So yummy, so tender, and so easy!  If you want a faster beef and broccoli, buy flank steak and cut it into thin strips.  Marinate it according to the directions, then fry it in some oil with the onion and garlic until cooked through--then cover with the sauce and add the broccoli last!

Quiet Book Pattern "Princess"

I think that one of the best things that you can give a child is a quiet book, so I designed special quiet book patterns for each of my grand kids for last Christmas.  Quiet books are great for everything--you can take them to church to keep kids entertained without making a lot of noise, they're great to teach kids important skills (braiding, buttoning, zippering, etc.), and they're even a great way to keep babies entertained with the variety of colors and textures!  This princess quiet book is charming and oh so fun--you can braid Rapunzel's hair, magnet jewels onto a crown, tie the shoelaces on a princess boot, find the pea in the princess's bed, and much more!  There are pockets for coloring books, story books, and doll accessories--there's everything a little girl (or even a baby) could possibly need to play for hours!  I made these books for my baby granddaughters (all under one year old), and they love playing with them, but so do their older sisters!  Make something special for your daughter or granddaughter that they'll remember forever--all you have to do is click, download and print and this quiet book pattern is yours!

Click HERE to download the Princess Quiet Book Pattern

For more fun patterns and party ideas

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Party Ideas: Pink Poodle

When I asked my three-year-old granddaughter what she wanted for her birthday party, she said "pink!"  Like any grandma would, I of course obliged!  I decided that I would throw her a "pink poodle" party, and my daughter immediately said "then you have to make all of the girls poodle skirts to wear!"  How do I get myself into these messes?  So, like a crazy madwoman I ran to every fabric store to find enough matching fabric to make my nine granddaughters each a poodle skirt and then I sewed away!  It took a little work, but the party was absolutely adorable.  All of the girls dressed up in their skirts (my two grandsons who attended wore capes that I made them) and they had a Pink Poodle tea party accompanied by some classic tunes to groove to in the background.  It was a blast!  The girls loved their skirts and the moms couldn't stop snapping pictures of all the cuteness.  Like all of my birthday parties, I've included the downloads for these party ideas on my website.  You can download bottle labels, cupcakes tags and liners, silverware pouches, gift tags, the cutest little purses in the world and MUCH more just by clicking HERE!

I hope you enjoy!

For more fun party ideas, visit my WEBSITE 

Kids Easy Apron Pattern "Cupcake"

Want a FREE, easy, fun apron pattern for a little girl?  You've come to the right place! This kids easy apron pattern is adorable for any little girl--I used fabric from my stash to personal these fun cupcake aprons.  

This apron is easy to make and can be made even for little baby girls (works great as a bib since it's so full coverage!). You can adjust the size of the pattern to fit anyone, including babies.

We had a cupcake birthday party so we made an apron for each of my granddaughters and let them wear them while they decorated their own cupcakes--it was a blast!  

You can download this easy kids apron pattern HERE

For more fun patterns and ideas

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Giveaway!!!

Click HERE for info!

Someone is doing a giveaway for us and you can win our most popular SWEET SHOP pattern!!! We are also giving a free kid's apron pattern to all readers with the coupon code FREEAPRON. Go to www.lovelyliving.org to find out more details.

Cupcake "Minions"

Dan's Creations

Recently my daughter and son-in-law made these fun cupcakes for their daughters birthday.   It was not their original idea so I don't know who to give credit to, but they were just so darn cute that I had to share.  The minions are Twinkies cut in half and placed on top of cupcakes.  Black gel icing was used to make the faces and hair.  The candy eyes can be purchased in most cake decorating departments.  We bought our candy eyes at Walmart.