Tuesday, August 29, 2017

How to make one pan chicken and orzo dinner

chicken and orzo recipe


I love cooking, but sometimes, like most people, I’m short on time.  So instead of heading for a carry out for dinner, I enjoy this quick and easy one-pan dinner of Chicken and Orzo. I put all the ingredients together in one pan so the clean up is a breeze.

And bonus!  The Chicken and Orzo dinner is delicious and healthy!  I always buy chicken tenders, which usually come already in strips and are perfect for making the one pan Chicken and Orzo. 

Leftovers heat up great and make a super lunch the next day too!

Chicken and Orzo one pan dinner

Ingredients:

1 can 14.5 ounces chicken broth
One cup uncooked orzo
Tbsp. olive oil
Chicken tenders, about 1 lb. cut into 1-inch pieces
1 clove garlic finely chopped
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1-cup zucchini cut into ½” pieces
½ tsp. red pepper flakes, more or less to taste
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Heat a tbsp. olive oil in a large deep pan.  Add the chicken, garlic, and mushrooms.  Cook on medium heat till browned stirring often.  (About 6-10 minutes.)

Next, add the uncooked pasta and broth.  Heat to boiling, then cover and lower the heat to medium.  Cook 15 minutes, stirring frequently till pasta is tender and liquid is absorbed.

Now stir in tomatoes, zucchini, and Italian seasoning and cook about 5 more minutes.  Finish by adding the red pepper flakes and top with Parmesan cheese.

Serve with a salad on the side for a complete and healthy family meal!

Please visit Make it easy crafts again next week for more quick and easy recipes, crafts, and so much more!

Note:  I know this is off topic but I just wanted to mention the issue with third party hosting on Photobucket.   As I am sure many of you know that I run this website free of charge and it takes a lot of work and effort to design, photograph, and write instructions for all the craft tutorials and recipes.  Factor in the monies I pay for a domain name, the fee for extra photos, photo editing, Microsoft word, supplies and more I am pretty much paying to run this website.  Now Photobucket wants $399.  They put a giant, ugly sticker over all of the Photobucket hosted images from your buttons from all of your wonderful websites. Whoever wants to visit them all you have to do is go to the link at the top of this blog for link parties and you will find them there.  I have removed all the Photobucket stickers and good luck to them!







Monday, August 21, 2017

How to quickly make a sweet little rock fairy house

rock fairy house


Painting rocks are fun and inexpensive.  I mean a rock is pretty much free right?  And with a little paint, you can make an amazing little rock fairy house.  You can easily paint this rock fairy house with one larger base rock and two small rocks that you glue to the roof after painting them to resemble chimneys. 

Wouldn’t you just love to open that door and go inside?  I’ve set mine up with my little painted rock gnome in a flower pot on my porch!



Rock fairy house



Materials:

Large rock for main house
2 smaller rocks for the chimneys
Acrylic paint in light green, dark pink, raw sienna, burnt umber, red, yellow, dark green, black, and white.
White Gesso
E6000 glue
Medium flat brush, liner brush, and spotter brush

Instructions:

1.     First, cover your work surface with newspaper.  Next, get your rocks, wash and dry them. 

2.     In order for the paint to show up well, use a medium brush to apply a coat of gesso on all the rocks and let dry.



3.     Next, apply a coat of light green paint on the entire large rock and let dry.  While the large rock is drying apply a coat of dark pink on the two smaller rocks. Let the paint dry.




4.     Now, using the liner brush and white paint, add horizontal lines all across the small chimney rocks.  Then, add vertical lines all along the horizontal lines to resemble bricks. Add a small area of dark brown in the center of the rock that will be on the top. (See photo) Set aside and let dry.





5.     Paint the roof tiles. Now, double load your flat brush, one side raw sienna, and the other side burnt umber.  Apply the paint in vertical strokes on the roof, reloading your brush as necessary.  Continue until you have added the tiles to the entire roof. Use the liner brush to add some black lines vertical and horizontal to accent the tiles as needed.



6.     Use E6000 glue to attach the two chimney rocks to each other and then attach to the top of the large main house rock.  Let dry.





7.     Now add the extra little details.  Use the red acrylic paint to make a round door.  Add some vertical lines with white while the paint is still wet to resemble boards.  Paint the windows. Add yellow in the windows.  Paint some flowers with pink, white, and yellow on the windowsills, and all around the edges of the house.  Add other things like butterflies, bunnies, and more flowers as desired.




8.     Let dry and display with pride! And be sure and stop by Make it easy crafts again for more free craft tutorials!

rock fairy house


Monday, August 14, 2017

How to paint a fun crazy quilt rock

crazy quilt rock


I admit it.  I love quilts, but they take time and like many people have a limited amount of that!  So since leaving rocks has become a worldwide fad, I figured why not make a few quilt like rocks.  They are quickly painted and so much fun.  This crazy quilt rock is so easy and looks amazing when done!  You can leave your crazy quilt rock in a public place for someone to find, or just keep it yourself for a décor item or a paperweight.

Crazy quilts were quite a fad in the latter part of the 19th century.  They were made into smaller quilts for framing or lap robes.  They were a way for people to use fancy fabrics and decorate them with unique stitching.  Your crazy quilt rock has all the elements but no stitching required!!!

The crazy quilt rock is so easy and is a fantastic craft for camp, girl scouts, church and senior groups, and more!

Materials:

Rock from a creek or river
Acrylic paint in desired colors
White acrylic paint for stitch lines
Pencil
Small flat brush
Line brush
Paper to protect your work surface

Instructions;

1.     First, wash and dry your particular rock.  Next, draw sections all around the rock with a pencil.  These will be your quilt blocks.




2.     Now fill in each section with a flat brush filling in each block with a different color acrylic paint. And let dry completely.




3.     When your paint is dry load a liner brush with some white acrylic paint.  Then, begin making stitch marks all around each block, varying the design of the stitches.  Try little X’s, or U shapes, diagonal lines, etc. this is where you can be creative just like they did in the 1800’s.  You can even write a message on a block such as “love”, or “peace,” etc.






4.     Let dry and your rock is ready to spread the love!

crazy quilt rock



Be sure and visit Make it easy crafts often for more quick and easy craft tutorials, printables, and recipes










Monday, August 7, 2017

How to make an easy refillable travel duct tape wipe pack

refillable travel duct tape wipe pack


Flushable wipes have come a long way.  Many are safe for septic and sewer systems. And if you are concerned one can always use a trash can.  They usually come in packs of 40 but some stores sell small packs of 10 for travel. These travel packs of 10 are a little pricey when you consider how much a larger pack sells for. So I figured why not make a refillable travel duct tape wipe pack? 

Public toilets and porta potties at sporting events are often out of paper and unclean.  All you need to make this refillable travel duct tape wipe pack is some duct tape, a Ziploc sandwich bag, and the plastic top opener that comes on soft packs of flushable wipes. 

Materials:

Duct tape in your choice of color or print
Recycled plastic top opener
Scissors
X-acto or craft knife
Ziploc bag
Cutting mat
Piece of corrugated cardboard
Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
Ruler

1.  Cut off the plastic top opener from a used pack of a soft pack of flushable wipes and remove the entire plastic wrapper.




2.  Next, cut the bottom of a Ziploc quart sized storage bag to the size that will fit the wipes.  Don’t worry about it; you will be covering it with duct tape.



3.  Now working on a cutting mat, place a strip of duct tape across the bottom about an inch or so overlapping the bottom.



4.  Continue adding strips of duct tape across the bag until you have covered the entire side and reach the top (zipper) edge.  Now turn over and fold the sides and bottom edges to the opposite side. 



5.  Repeat step 3 and 4 or the second side.  Cover the entire back with duct tape.  Now cut a piece of corrugated cardboard the size to fit inside the bag.  Unzip and insert the cardboard. 







6.  Use a glue gun to attach the plastic opener to one side, center of the pack.  Make sure you only add hot glue to the edges around so that the opener will still open. 




7.  Open the opener and cut out the center duct tape area.



8.  Open the zipper area and fill with wipes. Take your refillable duct tape wipe pack with you wherever you go and fill it back as needed.