Chile a la Mexicana

Growing up, chile (not chile like for chile beans), but chile, you know, a la Mexicana style was a staple at my house. No meal was complete without homemade chile.  It wasn't picante sauce, or pico de gallo or tabasco sauce or any wanna be hot sauce sold in jars.  This was freshly made on an as needed basis which was usually every other day.  Sometimes the recipes would be changed up just a little depending on what was on the menu.  A hotter, "fire in the hole" chile was served at cook-outs.  This is the kind of chile that made grown men cry, and sweat and turn red in the face. 

A milder and gentler, "clear up your sinus" chile was served with day to day meals like steak with fries or bean burritos.  As a kid, I remember taunting my younger siblings to eat spoonfuls of the stuff for a whole DOLLAR...and many times I had to pay up and it was so worth it too.  

Today, chile is a staple in my house. My kids love to eat chips and chile.  They too have started to dare and taunt each other over who can eat more chile with their meal.  My kids are dare devils...not once have they backed down from a chile war.  

It is this chile recipe that has been passed down that I will show you how to make today.  

You will need the following:

1 Habanero Chile

6 Serrano Chiles

2 Vine Ripe Large Tomatoes

1 cup Cilantro (just the leafy part)

1/2 White Onion

2 Tomatillos

Salt and Garlic to taste

2 cups water

You might also want to have the following:

1 bag of  your favorite tortilla chips

1 glass of  cold milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and chop (into bite size pieces) the Habanero, Serranos, Tomatoes, Cilantro, Tomatillos and Onion. Place in a foil lined shallow pan.  Place pan into the oven for 30 minutes.  When time is up, pull pan out and let everything cool down.  Once cooled, put all ingredients into your blender with the water.  Blend away!! I usually just use the highest setting and blend everything until it has a smooth consistency. Pour into a glass bowl.  Add salt and garlic powder to taste.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Any left over chile should be refrigerated as well.

Enjoy with tortilla chips, or with your next meal...mmmm, sabroso y delicioso!!

Don't forget the milk... seriously, it really helps with the burning in your mouth.

Pretty in Purple

Here's, yet another, easy shirt refashion that I did for my daughter right before she went on vacation with her aunts.  It's your typical long sleeved, left over from last season, but still very cute and wearable Walmart shirt.

Cut off the sleeves and cut as many long strips out of both sleeves.

Fold strips in half and iron.

Take a folded strip and sew it onto the edge of the sleeve like you would bias tape.  This will add some sort of stability to the sleeve since I wanted to add a "heaviyish" box pleat ruffle to it.

Take a folded strip and box pleat it along the front and edge of the neckline.

Make sure to sew the raw edge facing down and that the folded part is facing up...confused? Just see next picture. This will just give the illusion of a ruffle of sorts...and it looks pretty.

To make it easier to sew, just pin, pin and pin some more.  Just remove pins as you sew along.  Repeat for the sleeves.

Done...

Now go find a long sleeved shirt and follow your Heart...err...this tutorial to make a fun shirt for yourself or your neighbor, or niece, or granddaughter, mom, aunt...anyone that likes a good refashion and box pleat ruffles...

"Willy Nilly" Shirt Refashion

Look up "Willy Nilly" in the dictionary, this is what you will find: 

something that is by compulsion or without choice; 

 something that is done in an unplanned or haphazard fashion.  

So when I thought about this t-shirt refashion, all that came to mind was to go at it "Willy Nilly".   

So with no real plan, I cut off the sleeves, opened them up and cut them into several long strips. The picture below shows where I made the cuts; I didn't actually draw the lines, I just guesstimated the width of each one.  I used both sleeves to make the strips.

Then I sewed one strip "Willy Nilly" and the rest followed. 

I also used two different colored threads instead on one. 

These are thread spools that I inherited from my grama many years ago. 

I just threaded my machine as I normally do, pulled two threads through the eye of the needle and sewed as usual.  

I also used a different color for my bobbin thread.  

So really, I used three different colored threads.  

As for the "ruffles", I just gathered as I sewed...no pins or premaking ruffles...

again, just "Willy Nilly".  

Then, I sewed down all the ruffles. 

See how the stitches look with the double thread? I love how it looks.

My husband double-dog-dared me to add this blurred picture of him while I was trying to get a good shot of the ruffles that I sewed onto the sleeves.  Here you go babe...

Sometimes the best things in life just come at you "Willy Nilly"...

Tooth Fairy in the House...

My son got his first visit from the tooth fairy last night.  It was unexpected but I was prepared. When he was about 5 months old, I found the cutest tooth fairy pillow at Goodwill. It was new and in a clear box.  I bought it knowing that someday we would use it.  

Josh was super excited to place his teeth in the pocket that he ripped the bottom. Gotta fix it for the next visit.

Monday night I noticed my son had "shark teeth". (In my defense, my kids were out of town for two weeks so I didn't notice this but apparently this "condition" or the teeth coming in happens really fast.)   His permanent teeth came out behind the still very much in place baby teeth, so he had two rows of teeth just like a shark.  

 See the resemblance? 

(Source)

Of course I freaked out all Monday night; searched and Googled all night regarding this.  Called the dentist early yesterday morning; begged to be seen earlier than their next available appointment of July 1st.  So after waiting for a little over an hour (not complaining) he was seen and the not so wiggly baby teeth were pulled out without a hitch.  

Now it's just a matter of time before the permanent teeth move forward into their rightful place. 

And all is right in his world now that the tooth fairy paid a nice price for not one, but two of his pearly whites. 

Joshua was sort of disappointed that he didn't get to meet the tooth fairy.  During breakfast he said that he wanted to make a trap for the tooth fairy for next time...and that he would release her once he met her.  Do I foresee a tooth fairy trap tutorial in my future?  Stay tuned. 

Simple JeansTurned Shorts Refashion

I can't pass up a bargain, so when I found these jeans for $3, I had to get them for my daughter.  Since she is growing by leaps and bounds, keeping them for the up coming school year would be pointless.  So I figured that she could use another pair of shorts for this record breaking, no rain in sight, Texas summer heat. ( I really need to remember to take before pictures before I get the scissors. It's not the first time I do this as shown here.)

So anyways, let's get back to this super simple way to "hem" a pair of jeans turned shorts.   Measure and cut the jeans to desired length.  No need to add extra length for the hem.

Using the part of the jeans legs that were cut off, cut and trim the inseam strip.

You will end up with two long strips like this: 

Here is a close-up view of the inseam strips.

Use a zig-zag stitch (remember to back stitch at the beginning and at the end of your sewing stitch) to attach the inseam strip to the edge of the jeans.  I used a denim colored thread so you can barely see the zig-zag stitch between the gold stitch of the inseam strip.

  

And that's it.

Close up of new hem

Now if it was just as easy to get some rain clouds overhead...sigh.