Friday, August 24, 2012

DIY Fancy Crayons


I saw a cute idea on Pinterest and I had to try it out for myself.

There were a few things I learned while making these: Using an ice cube mold doesn't work as well as a candy/muffin mold. The ice cube mold melts a little bit and the crayons don't release cleanly from the mold. See pictures below.

 I tried using some WD-40 in the ice cube mold, but the results were the same.

Also, it takes quite a while to melt crayons - much longer than the 30-40 seconds that the tutorial on Pinterest said. More like 5-6 MINS.  Check on them often to make sure they are melting.

 Thirdly: It pays to put the mold into the freezer before you try to remove the crayons. Just let them warm up a tiny bit before you try to remove them or (if you have little details like arms, legs) they will break.

How to:
Remove the wrapping from some crayons. 
Break crayons into pieces and place in mold.
Melt crayons in molds - Microwave 5-6 mins on High.  Check often.
Place molds with melted crayons into freezer for 5-10 mins.
After removing molds from freezer allow crayons to warm up and then remove from molds.
Ta da!  Fancy crayons!




This was an ice cube mold.  The crayons stuck to it.  Still cute, just not shiny and smooth.

Candy mold men.  Lots of colors!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Lazy Day Soup


I can't be the only person who reads a recipe that starts with, "Saute one onion and blah, blah, blah..." and I decide that I'm too lazy to cook today.   Seriously, sometimes you can be lazy and still want to eat something that doesn't come out of a box or bag.
You can use whatever you want to make this soup, but here is a recipe to get you started.

Lazy Day Soup
One bouillon cube
2 cups water
4 small or 1 large or 2 med (whatever size you want) leftover baked/grilled potato OR microwaved potato* cut into pieces
1/2 cup cauliflower - broken into pieces
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 cayenne pepper
good squirt of spicy mustard - about 1 tsp.
4-5 slices of sharp cheddar cheese (I used white, but you can use whatever cheese you have on hand)

Put bouillon cube in pot.  Add water.  Turn heat to high.  Wait until water starts to simmer.  Add potato, cauliflower, thyme, cayenne pepper and mustard.  Put cover on pot.  Shake pot around on burner to mix ingredients.  Yes, I am too lazy to stir soup.  After about 3 mins the cauliflower should be tender.  Remove from heat.  Add cheese to pot and replace cover.  Wait 3 mins and then stir soup.  Cheese should be melted into soup.  Eat it.

*Microwaved potato - Wash potato.  Put in microwave.  Microwave on high for 3-5 mins or until it screams (seriously, steam = screaming microwaved potato)

So there you go!  Yes, finally a recipe that doesn't require grating cheese.  I hate grating cheese.

With toppings - cheese bread and bacon bits