Less Than Creative in My Free Time

This week, when I am normally creating I've been doing other things.

I've seen 2 movies in the past week. I don't usually go to movies... In fast the last one I saw was True Grit in 2010. (Double Take, this is 2012!) But I went with a gal friend to see Magic Mike Friday. Hubba Hubba! Then last night a hubby, a couple other friends and I went to see Ted. Bother movies were good.

Tonight, its July 4th. A day I dont normally do anything on but work, in the past or stay home with the doggies. We are going to a 51's Baseball Game! Something else we don't normally do- in fact I have not been to a game since I was a kid and mom got Angels n Dodgers tickets from work... But My friend who I went to see Magic Mike with said we should go and so we were all easily persuaded. There will even be post game fireworks. Fireworks are something I have grown out of but whatever...

I made a round of Bento boxes, no pics sorry.
Then when I was grocery shopping I got chicken breasts cheap(er) and came home to follow this link and made 6 varieties of marinaded chicken breasts, threw one in the fridge for thursday, and the other 5 in the freezer as recommended.

I was going to get creative a couple days ago but i stepped on something I couldn't see in my studio and decided to clean it up instead. I never got around to making anything in here tho. I did switch placement of my ironing board with my cutting table. Since I keep some bins and plastic drawers under my cutting table, the bins are moved now too and the room feels a little more open.

Friday Doc said I'm ready to go back to work and gave me a week.  So...How on earth can I make a living from my crafting so that I may ALWAYS craft...

Bento Style Lunches

You should know 2 things and us, if you don't already. First: We keep a Swing Shift schedule, even on days off. sleeping the afternoons away and up all night and morning. Second: We don't eat when you expect us to because of our schedule. Breakfast is around 8pm...yes PM. Lunch is around 2am...yes AM. and dinner it around 6 or 7 AM.

With that in mind...


For maybe 6 months lunches on work nights were a homemade made ahead salad. Every week I would prepare 10 salads in advance in airtight plastic containers. Dressing in tiny 1 ounce Tupperwares. Salads go to be mentally less than desirable or not enough or both.


I recently mentioned I wanted to eat lunch Bento style. I searched the shops for the perfect bento box that both Hubs and I could agree on. We almost looked at each other like this was a futile hunt. It's not like I wanted a Hello Kitty one, nor was I threatening to get him a Spongebob one. But the choices either seemed too big or too clumsy. He wanted his to git in his messenger bad. I hadn't thought far enough in the future to how I would carry mine once I was no longer on disability from my knee surgeries. 


Later, when we went grocery shopping we stopped to see what was in the semi-disposable/recyclable (GLADWARE) storage containers. And we found shallow 3 compartment lidded "airtight" containers. We bought 2 sets (4 containers), I later bought another set because we tent do do things in 3, plan 3 days of food out at a time.


We both stumbled upon a few website with ideas for things to put in these lunches and how. Thank you Pinterest for the leads!


The 1st 3 days was less than exciting, but interesting. And it has since evolved.
Day one:

(sorry for the sideways view, I need picture editing practice on iphone)

Light string cheese, Half Nutella and Honey Sammy, Seasonal Strawberries, and carrot sticks stuck in some Ranch Dressing/Dip.

I also did, with out photos, BLT wraps in whole wheat tortillas with similar sides; Hand and string cheese rolls with fruit n veggie sides; and a few other plain Jane beginner ideas.

THIS WEEK:

I pulled out all 6 containers, almost everything fromt he fridge and pantry that was lunchbox worthy and splayed it all over my countertop, after looking at more ideas online and having a sleepless night.

I  mostly wanted to raid and use up remnants before they went bad.

Heres what I came up with:

Left:

 Whole grain Tostito scoops, Wholy Salsa, Hard-boiled egg, Colby-Jack cheese slices and some Kiwi wedges. I separated the cheese and egg in foil when I closed the container.

Top Right:

I had 1 last whole grain burger bun floating around the fridge so I utilized it with some sliced natural ham, muenster cheese, mayo n deli mustard vut into 4 wedges, down the center is a pickle spear wrapped in foil, on the side is some cottage cheese and pineapple as well as baby carrots cut in half length-wise and a tiny tub of hummus.

Botton Right:

PB & banana half sammy made with the heel/last piece of whole grain bread, Red grapes, Ham smeared with cream cheese n rolled up, and then some cauliflower drizzled in balsamic vinaigrette.

Left:

Slices up cauliflower, baby carrots, and radishes, Hard Boiled egg, Ham n String Cheese roll-ups, Hummus n feta for the veggies, then some greek honey flavored yogurt topped with a drizzle of honey, sliced banana and granola.

Top Right:

Apple n PB stacks, apple wedges, Lemon Newton Wafers, More sliced veggies n Hummus/feta mixture.

Bottom Right:

DIY Pizza Lunchables! 

Pita Bread wedges, Pizza Sauce, Mozzarella shreds, Sliced ham, also an organic cup of applesauce and a tiny midget tupperware with some cinnamon-sugar for the applesauce.

Cookie Brownie Evilness

I pinned this on Pinterest.
Hubby later mentioned it, twice.
First, he told me there was something evil he wanted but didn't... that he saw on Pinterest. After he explained it I said I already pinned it. We laughed about that. A week or so passed and it got filed in the  back of my mind.
A few days ago I mentioned to him I wanted to make our friend "Eeyore" a birthday cake. Hubby interjected and said I should make the Cookie Brownie Evilness.
One of my eyebrows raised as I questioned his sanity, since he has us on a whole foods, health food lifestyle. But special occasions like dear friends' b'days and fathers day have seemed to be more important that health lately. HA!

So... This morning I was making my normal grocery shopping run which I hate to do anyway, I decided to grab the things I needed to do this. I cheated, I admit. There are no "from scratch" components here.

Trying to avoid as many artificial crap in my food as possible, (like it matters in this evil recipe) I found Pillsbury Simply... Cookie Dough. Chocolate Chip, of course.

I Also found this the perfect time to put the Perfect Brownie Pan to use. The pan had more nooks than the dough had dollops to I divvied it up manually.

Worked out well I think. The 6 side nooks are a bit smaller.

So In the Smaller nooks I put half oreos, but in the other nooks an oreo fits perfectly.

More Healthful efforts: Fudge Brownie Mix that needs no eggs or butter, just yogurt.

Perfect! Sounds easier too!

We keep this yogurt in the fridge constantly for smoothies. It's the Honey Flavor. and Greek Yogurt is suposed to be more healthful also.

Ok, so then I dolloped brownie batter over every nook. Then put 2 lil chocolate chips on top of each one to be 'cute' :)

OK, looks good all baked up, well from here it looks like brownies, but hey thats good right?!

One perfectly extracted Brownie, 1 of few!

1 perished. I saved it from it's humiliation by eating it immediately...

This is also a product review on the Goddamned "Perfect Brownie Pan" I had a horrendous tine 'extracting' these from the pan. For something thats suposed to be non-stick... thats bull-shit! I may have to Good Will this pan after this experiment and cut my brownies the old fashioned way.

I hid the not as pretty ones under the prettier ones.

see how there are 17, not 18 pieces.

Oh, see the corner one, you can see Oreo Cream!

I am a terribly messy chef, cook, baker.

Ricky is a wonderfully helpful cleaning crew of one.

See here, he's mopping up all of the crumbs n crap that fell on the floor.

I wish he would stand up and do the dishes for me now.

Cooking: Tacos & Homemade Taco Seasoning

Thanks to Pinterest, I am setting out once a week to make my own mixes and get it in a well labeled canister.
This week I am starting with Taco Seasoning. Then I am going to use it in home make tacos for diner one day this week.

Make your own taco seasoning, no MSG or additives!
Equal Parts:
chili powder
ground cumin
garlic powder
onion flakes
1/2 part red pepper flakes
1/8 part sea salt

Just dump it all in your fancy schmancy canister and shake until well blended. I plan to use jumbo mason jars!

Don't forget to bake the canister! This site has some wonderful printable labels, just get some label paper and print away!

Southern Strawberry Sheetcake

I figured I would make a cake for Hubby for Father's Day.
I've been drooling over a recipe I pinned on Pinterest.
I know, I know it is totally against the diet,
but ...
I used wheat flour instead of white, coconut oil instead of canola, turbinado sugar instead of white, cage-free eggs, and almond milk instead of cow's.

It looks delish!

I won't even make him wait until Sunday, he can have some today!

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In the meantime, the mailman brought me some crafty supplies I'll have more scrabble pendants up soon and some other goodies!