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...

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!

Cooking: Paleasagna

Ok, so it's like lasagna but you use sliced zucchini and or squash.
We made this today (2nd time) and it is freaking awesome yummy!
I used cauliflower instead of broccoli, and I added a little parm on top.

Ingredients:

1/2 white onion, diced
1/2 pound of extra lean turkey
1/2 15oz can diced tomatoes, low sodium
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 tbsp Italian spice blend
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 pound of zucchini and/or yellow squash, cut into medallion rounds
1/4 cup raw goat cheese, shredded
1 cups Greek yogurt
1/2 head broccoli, roughly chopped
1 egg

Directions:

In a large skillet or sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the diced onions. Sautee on medium-high until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the ground turkey, canned tomato and tomato paste, spices, salt, pepper, and crushed garlic. Continue to cook all ingredients until the turkey is cooked through. Set aside when done.
In a medium bowl, combine raw goat cheese, Greek yogurt, broccoli pieces, and egg. Mix well.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom of a 9 x 9 Pyrex glass baking dish. Place a layer of zucchini and squash rounds evenly across the bottom, making a sort of liner.

Add a layer of turkey-tomato sauce on top of the zucchini. Top that with some of the broccoli and yogurt mixture, as shown above. Continue with this layering process until you have used all of your ingredients.
Top the entire dish with more shredded goat cheese, if desired.
Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 2

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