Item of the week-FUNKY NECK PILLOWS

We're just back from a week away from home. It was wonderful, visiting the Toronto area doing all kinds of touristy things for the first half of the week and then settling down to visit with family in Oshawa. My in-laws generously brought my family to wonderland and African Lion Safari. I had never been before and it was pretty cool. Thanks Doug and Karen for the wonderful trip.

In honor of such a "wild" vacation, Funky Monkey is offering funky neck pillows for $25 instead of $35. Email funkymonkeyoriginal@gmail.com to order or inquire.

Amy

Bowtie Pasta Bowl

I lived in Oregon last year with my family taking care of a great house and cooking for everyone in it. We often didn't have much variety int he fridge but I always managed to come up with something. If you've never learned to cook without a recipe, I dare you to do it. It is freeing to be able to take what looks like "nothing" and turn it into something. This was one of the family's favourite "inspired" dishes. I'm sorry measurements aren't accurate; I don't use the measuring cups but I'll guess for you.

Bow tie Past Bowl

Ingredients:

Package of bow tie noodles

package of mushrooms

About 3 tbs butter.

garlic

Fresh salsa (can be made up with small diced and fresh tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, little lime juice, red onion finely chopped and hot pepper finely chopped if desired) It might be easier to buy freshly made salsa. Do not use a packaged or canned salsa...definetly not the same taste. You need to go to the "fresh" section of the grocery store.

About 2 cups of Parmesan cheese.

1. Cook pasta while making sauce. Saute between 1/2 and the whole package of mushrooms in butter and garlic. Amount of mushrooms depend on how much you like them. I would use the whole package. We all love mushrooms.

2. Add package of fresh salsa to mushrooms when they are cooked. (I'm not sure the size in oz of salsa but the package will be about 4inX5inX3in. Hope that makes sense. Otherwise, just add as much as you want. I hope this recipe will help you get out of the recipe box and experiment and see how you do. Don't worry-enough cheese can hide any unexpected error :)

3. Heat sauce until salsa is hot. Don't over cook it otherwise it will become too liquidy and you don't want that.

4. When pasta is ready, drain, put in serving bowl or back in pot and add sauce. Mix all together. Start adding cheese just the way you like it. You may use only 1 cup but if you're like me...I'm a fan of those cheese commercials...can't have too much cheese. I would use all 2 cups but add little by little.

ALL DONE :D

COOKING TIP OF THE DAY:

Taste test ALL THE TIME! This is the best way to cook without a recipe. Get a spoon...or several if you don't want to wash them while you're cooking and every time you make a change to your food, taste it. Your taste buds will tell you what you need more of.

Appreciating your kids

I'd like to start off by reminding you that this weeks featured product are the memory quilts. Check them out. So, I have 3 beautiful little girls; 6, 3, and 1. The two older girls are at camp right now with Oma and Pappy and I'm not sure what to do with all this time I have. My 1 year old Pillar, keeps me busy but she still naps a couple of times a day. Well, over the last few days, we've had many conversations with different people, going for dinner with different people from church and our kids always seem to be the topic of discussion at least at some point during the evening. I'm sure you can relate that you lift your kids up so much when talking about them to others and we've noticed this a lot this week. Talking about the wonderful things they do, know and are capable of make me so proud of them and then I realised; does it take them being away for a week for me to truly realise how incredible they are? So I got thinking, sometimes I don't tell my kids these things that I often share with others. I thought it would be nice to surprise them with the most wonderful loved welcome they could imagine. With a "Welcome" banner hung high in their room and letter to each other them edifying them for all the wonderful things they contribute to our family, we are bound to strengthen an amazing bond those girls share with us and the Lord. I'll let you know how it goes. I just can't wait to see them!

Amy

Item of the week-Quilts

Every week we are going to be offering 10% off of a specific item. This week we would like to offer 10% off memory quilts. Check out some more of the photos in the photo Gallery. These quilts are not only great for little ones but order one with beautifully appliqued fabric photos of your memories with kids, grandkids, husband, wife, and use it as a centerpiece in your living room, thrown over the back your favorite chair. Of course the kiddos are going to love these too; with seams sewn on the outside, snipped all over and an array of colours, they are bound to fall in love with their blanky. Quilts are usually $100 and are 10% off this week until Tues July 19. If you order a quilt with appliqued photos, you'll receive an even greater discount: regularly $175, you'll get it for only $140. Check out the Quilts page for all details on the quilts. Email Amy for any further details and orders funkymonkeyoriginal@gmail.com Thanks for reading :)

Funky Monkey Is in Business

HELLO EVERYBODY!!!

We finally have something set up for Funky Monkey Originals and although this will not be the final product because we have a pretty cook site on the way, it will be here for you to check out our things, ask questions, order stuff and send people to.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at this blog. It means a lot and I sure hope you find something you'll enjoy :)