The New Face of Pocket Full of Posies

Well, we’ve done it again!  We decided to kind of redo everything, AGAIN!  We just weren’t feeling the set up we had anymore, so we did a little face lift!  Our original address, www.pocketmealplanning.com, is now serving as our store, and this is our new blog site!  Yay!  We are super excited about the switch and hope it makes navigating a bit easier.  Don’t worry, we’ll be back to posting soon!

Welcome Boutique Shoppers!

Welcome, welcome boutique shoppers!  We are so excited to be a part of TWO online boutiques going on RIGHT NOW!  If you’ve found us through either Some What Simple’s Studio Boutique or Ucreate’s Holiday Boutique, we want to welcome you and give you a quick overview of how to navigate around our site!

First of all, we sell a unique pocket meal planning system that is designed to save time, money and keep your family consistently fed.  Our system is perfect for just about anyone who spends time in the kitchen!  The best part is that we’ve done all the work for you which saves you time AND money!

Here’s some quick links to help you learn more about us and our product!  And don’t forget to check out our store to see all the SUPER CUTE pocket designs available and all the great recipes too!

Who we are (The Pocket Sisters)

What we sell (Our Product)

How you can do it (Video Tutorial)

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy holidays!  And happy shopping!

-Cammie & Emily

WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY – Turkey Countdown

Ok, so in a little more than 24 hours, our house will be filled with 14 adults and 14 kids!  We’ll have 3 turkeys, pounds and pounds of mashed potatoes, pots and pots of stuffing, something like a dozen pies, rivers of gravy…you get the picture!  And I can’t wait!  It’s going to be GREAT!  Luckily, with this many people, the cooking is divided up!  So, I really don’t have THAT much to do!!

Meanwhile, Thanksgiving has snuck up so fast this year, I haven’t had a chance to do anything crafty for the holiday.  But, my son came home from preschool yesterday with cutest idea.  They had made Indian hats out of cardboard strips and feathers and a vest out of a brown paper bag.  

Easy and cute.  You can’t really tell, but he did color his vest!

Gobble gobble!

TASTY TUESDAY – The Best Part About Thanksgiving

PIE!  Pie is totally the best part about the Thanksgiving feast!  There’s so many different kinds, so many to choose from!  Since it’s the week of Thanksgiving, and this being “Tasty Tuesday” and all, we need pie!  But, as I was thinking about my favorite pies, I realized we posted all about it last year at this time!  So, here’s a recycled post, because this pie really is THAT GOOD!  Check out the BEST APPLE PIE recipe, Sour Cream Apple pie.  And you can use THIS PIE CRUST recipe too!  Happy Pie Day!

MANIC MONDAY – Thanksgiving Week

Seriously…it’s Thanksgiving week?!!  How did that happen??  Well, I don’t know about you, but I love everything about Thanksgiving!  I especially LOVE Black Friday!  Seriously!  Cammie and I have braved the crowds that past few years and come out with some GREAT deals!  I can’t wait for this year! 

Ok, though, Black Friday isn’t for everyone.  My mom wouldn’t even dream of leaving the house on Black Friday!  So, for those of you who want to avoid the crowds and crazy people (like us!), be sure to check back for the links to some GREAT online boutiques where you can find all the perfect gifts with great discounts!  We’re part of Somewhat Simple’s Studio Boutique AND Ucreate’s Holiday Boutique starting this weekend!  Can’t wait! 

 

What’s Up Wednesday – Our Thanksgiving Menu

So this is my Tasty Tuesday combined with What’s Up Wednesday!  Yesterday Emily and I got together with our sisters Liz and Becky and our mother-in-law to plan our Thanksgiving menu.  Here is our menu:

Regular Turkey

Barbecue Turkey (this is Becky’s family recipe…I’m excited to try it!)

Garlic Potatoes

Carameled Sweet Potatoes

Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce

Deviled Eggs (my in-laws are amazing!)

Cranberry Jello Salad

Veggie Tray with Dip

Fruit Salad

Green Bean Salad

Rolls

and the PIES:

Pecan

Sour Cream Apple

Pumpkin

Cherry

Pumpkin Cake

(we will use our Never Fail Pie Crust recipe too!)

It’s going to be such a great Thanksgiving especially because we get to spend it with Becky and Liz’s families and also my parents are going to join us! 

- Cammie

Manic Monday – Working away!

Today is truly a manic Monday!  Emily and I are working hard to get some new pocket designs and new recipe packs in our store!  We are shopping, cutting, laminating and typing away!  Why you ask?  Because it is that time of year again…Christmas!  We believe our Pocket System is the perfect gift for your loved ones!  Your mom, sister, girlfriends, mother-in-law, aunts, cousins, boss, daughters and just about anyone would love to pay less for groceries and relieve stress from meal planning!  Check back in the next couple of weeks for all our new stuff!!!

- Cammie

TEACH ME THURSDAY – Bootie Cuties

We had a baby shower this weekend for a friend of ours.  It’s her first, so Cammie and I wanted to make her something cute.  (We can’t just be normal and buy something!)  I always LOVE making (and giving) applique onsies, but they needed a little something.  So, I came across this tutorial from Stardust Shoes for the CUTEST baby booties and we just had to give them a try.  Well, let me just say, once we started, we couldn’t stop.  We made 3 different matching onesies and booties for our friend, then 2 more for another expectant mamma, and 3 for my sister!!  Can you say obsessed!  Seriously though, they are SUPER easy and the result is SO CUTE!  You must give them a try, just take a look:

For the dog-lover…
Die hard Cardinal’s fan…
and Christmas baby!
(I don’t have pictures of the rest yet, sorry!)

You know you are about to download the pattern and get to work!  Here’s our suggestion with the pattern…make it a bit smaller.  All of the booties we made we made just a little bit smaller than the pattern.  Also, we used felt for the sole and covered it with cute fabric.  Other than that, the tutorial is great!  Get to work!

WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY – Daylight Savings

Usually, “falling back” an hour is the good daylight savings!  Well, I tell you what…it is taking FOREVER to get used to it!  It is bright as day way too early and way too dark way too early!  The day seems to last forever!  My kids are waking up too early and I want to put them to bed at 6:00!  I do not remember it being this annoying last year! 

On a happier note, my sister is visiting with her little boy for the week and we are crafting it up!  We have all kinds of fun projects going on!  This is also why my posts are pretty short this week!  Sorry!  Happy Wednesday!

TASTY TUESDAY – Pie Month

For those of you that have been around with us from the beginning, you may remember that November is “Pie Month” in my family!  My mom decided, a long time ago, that there are just too many yummy pies to make them all only for Thanksgiving.  So, she bakes new pies practically every other day through the month of November!  I love this tradition!  I mean who doesn’t love pie?  And all month long?!  I of course carry this tradition on in my own family :)  The best part of the tradition, though, is eating pie first on Thanksgiving day.  None of this stuffing your face with turkey and mashed potatoes only to find yourself leaving no room for pie!  Instead, start with the good stuff!  So, we eat pie all day (replacing breakfast and lunch!) and still have room for our turkey!  Of course, we still eat pie after Thanksgiving dinner too!  You can never have too much pie!

MANIC MONDAY – Ninja Turtle Comeback!

I know, Halloween is long gone and we’re well into November (if you can believe it!), but I had to share (like I promised) our Ninja Turtle costumes!  I LOVE how they turned out!

We are way cuter than the real ninja turtles!  It was a great Halloween! 

Teach Me Thursday – Bathroom shelf

Several weeks ago my son went to hang up his bathroom towel on the towel bar when the whole thing came crashing down.  We have been having lots of problems with the way things were installed in our house, ugh!!  I wish people would do things right the first time!  Well I decided the towel bar is sort of tricky for my kids, and I’ve been finding their towels lying on the ground more than hanging up.   I’m going to make a towel shelf that has hooks to solve my problem.   I just came across a great tutorial on one at The Idea Room!  How cute is this? 

- Cammie

What’s Up Wednesday – What to do with Halloween Candy!

The past few years I have tried several things to get rid of all my kids candy.  Sometimes I let them pick their favorites and giveaway the rest, one year I let them eat it all as soon as possible (that was a little crazy, but I was tired of them asking every 5 minutes if they could have another piece!) This year my kids got WAY too much candy, so Emily found this idea where the kids put give up all their candy and the Great Pumpkin trades it for a toy.  You can read all about this idea at Roots And Wings Co.  I think this is a pretty great idea!  What do you do with all your Halloween candy?

- Cammie

Tasty Tuesday – Pumpkin Cheesecake

Can you believe it is NOVEMBER???  October flew by so quickly!  I am still on a pumpkin dessert kick, so here is a Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe from delish.com!  Enjoy!

- Cammie

Manic Monday – Halloween

Halloween weekend was so much fun but very exhausting!!!  We had a ward party including a trunk or treat, then the whole broadbent clan came over to our house to hang out and have a pizza dinner, then we went to Emily’s and had a cousin Halloween party and did some trick-or-treating!  SO today both Emily and I will be cleaning up from all that fun!

Now you know you all want to see how cute my kids were all dressed up as pirates…

I think Cade is the cutest baby pirate ever! (I think his Nana would agree!)

-Cammie

FREEBIE FRIDAY – November Calendar

Can you believe it’s almost November?!!  What happened to October?  Here’s  a calendar!  Happy Halloween!

Click HERE to download!

TEACH ME THURSDAY – Homemade Donuts

This is the easiest treat to make with kids.  They’re fun to make and so yummy!  I LOVE me some donuts in the fall (ok, any time really!) and these are fast and delicious!  All you need is refrigerated biscuits and some hot oil!

Step 1: Open and separate biscuits.  Lay flat.

Step 2:
Poke or cut a hole out of the center of each biscuit.  We used a medicine cup, because we wanted donut holds too!

Step 3:
Heat vegetable oil to about 350 degrees.  I used an electric skillet with about 1/2 an  inch oil.  You could do it in any skillet on the stove.  You just need enough oil to cover the donuts half way.

Step 4:
Flip the donuts when they are slightly browned (mind are a little over browned!  I should have flipped sooner!)

Step 5:
Remove donuts and let cool on paper towels.

Step 6:
When the donuts have cooled a bit, choose your topping!  I used cinnamon and sugar for some and powdered sugar for the rest.  If you use powdered sugar, it works best if the donuts are completely cool, but with the cinnamon and sugar they can still be warm!  Cinnamon and sugar is my fave!

Step 7:
ENJOY!  Yum!

WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY – Halloween Costumes

Last week I finished our Halloween costumes, and I love them so much I can’t wait any long to share a little sneak peak!  My 3 year old (YIKES he turns 3 TOMORROW!!) loves, loves, LOVES the ninja turtles.  So, guess what he wanted to be for Halloween?!  Rafael!  Well, since there happens to be 4 ninja turtles, and we have 4 in our family…guess what we’re all going to be?  The Ninja Turtles!!  I was shocked and surprised to find a $12 Rafael costume at Target, but it was a bit big and needed a few things.  And for the rest of us, well we needed everything!  So, I got a little creative.  However, you only get to see my boys’ costumes-Rafael and Michelangelo- because they are too dang cute not to show!  You’ll get the whole bunch, including Donatello and Leonardo, next week after Halloween!  So here we go…

Introducing Michelangelo, complete with nun-chucks!

And Rafael, with “Rafael swords” as this little guy calls them!

We have quite the busy Halloween weekend…can’t wait!!  We LOVE Halloween!

TASTY TUESDAY – Apple Crisp

I know it’s a little past apple season, but I found my favorite apples, Honeycrisp, on sale yesterday and had to make an apple crisp!  So, I must share!

 

Apple Crisp

4-5 apples, peeled and chopped
2 sticks butter
1/2 C. white sugar
lemon juice
vanilla
1/2 C. oats
1/2 C. flour
1/2 C. brown sugar
dash or two of cinnamon

In a large skillet, melt 1 stick of butter and sauté apples until tender.  Add white sugar, vanilla and a dash of lemon juice.  Cook a bit longer.  Pour cooked apples into a 9x9 cooking pan.  In a separate bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Cut in remaining stick of butter.  Top cooked apples with mixture.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Serve warm over ice cream.  YUM!

 
(I am not a very good food photographer!)

Enjoy!

MANIC MONDAY – Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

Yup, sick.  Blah!  It’s that time of year, and it’s hit me again!  The only thing different this year, is that you now have to have a prescription for the good Sudafed!  WHAT?!  Unfortunately, I spent most of the weekend on the couch complaining to my sweet husband, who also doesn’t feel that well.  So, all I have for ya today is my sad story!  The worst part is that this week is one of the busier weeks!  Perfect timing!  Hopefully you all are skipping the yucky head cold/sinus infections!  Happy Monday!

Teach Me Thursday – Keep Calm and Carry On Poster

We’ve all seen these Keep Calm and Carry on poster floating around on the web.  You’ve also probably seen some other versions of this poster around too.  Well I found a site where you can create your OWN version of this poster!  Its called Keep Calm-o-matic!  Now if you want to make your own poster its as simple as going to their website and filling in the info you want your poster to say!  How cool is that???  Go check it out and create what you want!

- Cammie

What’s Up Wednesday – Uptown Girl Shoppe

Emily and I have some really great friends here in MO town, and two of them, Christine and McCall (mother and daughter) just launched a cute store in Etsy selling unique headbands!  These headbands are ADORABLE!  Christine started off by making them for her and her daughters and after getting compliment after compliment they decided they would sell them!  If you have a daughter, sister, mother, friend, or if you are a girl yourself you MUST check out

Uptown Girl Shoppe!

- Cammie