from yard waste and beach combing finds to woodland fairy house

Since I have a three year-old girl, it's not too surprising that we have our share of fairy play around here.  She got a Tinkerbell set in her Easter basket, so she naturally needed a proper house for Tink and her fairy friends.  The next day, we set out to find what we needed.  We took a special nature walk for the occasion, but lo and behold, the best finds were in our own backyard.

Now, she gets to happen upon this scene when she goes outside...



a fairy hideaway made from nature

with tiny details like a window made from a knot that had fallen out of a hollowed out piece of bark,

an empty nut shell serving as a bowl for pixie dust,

beach pebble tables for fairies and their tiny bug pets,

shells as flower vases and fire pits for tiny twig fires,

and a dried up weed as a fairy-sized broom.  Pixie dust just seems to get everywhere!

from veggie leftovers to clean-out-the-fridge-frittata

I rarely run out of eggs.  I always say that as long as I have eggs, I will have a meal to throw together.  I also never like to waste food.  I love figuring out ways to get multiple meals to coordinate with the same ingredients.  Enter the clean-out-the-fridge-frittata!

Here are my leftovers.  Zucchini and potatoes-both grilled with onions and garlic...and a little bit of leftover bacon (and do I see mushrooms in there?).

I arranged my grilled potato slices in my hot, oiled skillet.  Sometimes I use torn up pieces of bread.

I whisked 6 eggs with a little bit of milk.  I've got some hungry mungries I need to feed.

I recruited some small hands to crumble up the bacon for me.

I have 3 small kids who eat some veggies pretty well, but, for added assurance, I often puree their veggies into our meals.  I used my immersion or "stick" blender. 

I mixed it into the egg mixture.

I poured it on top of the potatoes in the skillet.  Then, when the bottom of the eggs started to set, 

I sprinkled parmegiano-reggiano all over it and

put it into the broiler to finish it off.

I may have had to change one too many diapers after putting it in the broiler and let the cheese get a tad too browned.  It happens easily around here.  

It made a great dinner, though.

The best part is that our leftovers weren't forgotten about or wasted!