MSM again

Ok, I felt bad about another monotonous recipe for Make Something Monday. I mean no offense to recipes, they're wonderful, but I promise I am allowed out of the kitchen. So, we're getting more creative this week. Since it was rainy, I had to think of things indoors. I do actually have manila paper and playdoh, but I thought I'd paint. I had an extra canvas from my birch tree painting just lying around, so I thought I'd put it to good use and forever honor my obnoxious pooch Apollo in painting. So therefore, this week, I am sharing a simple graphic art piece that can be done many ways to honor your favorite pet, without it looking like you worship them. (we're not doing oil paintings here)

For my piece, I painted the images onto a 16x20 canvas using acrylic paints. Since it was just black and white, it only took a couple of hours. (yes Apollo has a stick in his mouth, its rare for him to be outside without a stick in his mouth)

If you're a photographer, use your gift to have a photo shoot with your pet. If you can't get a light source behind your pet, because you have something other than a turtle, you can just photoshop/elements/whatever to get the desired effect. Get crazy and do an Andy Warhol homage. or not...I forgot for a second we're not going crazy overboard for our pet art

If you're a scrapbooker, cut images of your pet out of paper. You can do the simple one tone effect, or use pet paper. It's up to you!

If you have no abilities whatsoever, hire someone to do it for you

If you don't have a pet...um why are you still reading this? weirdo, go get one! :)

This is just something fun to help decorate a blank wall or it could even make a great gift for someone who is obsessed with their pets. What's great about this project is that it is quick, cheap and easy, as well as easily personalizable. (I don't even know if that's a word. I'm making art and words this MSM!)

summer plans

So, this summer I think I'll be taking the time to read these, since clearly I missed out during my childhood. As I'm reading, I'll be wearing these. Just so you know my plans :)

MSM

It's still Monday, and if you're weird you can still make something. Chances are excellent though, you won't see this until at least Tuesday...so I apologize for my tardiness. I won't make habit of it. Anyhow, I made a casserole (no a good one!) for dinner tonight, so I thought I'd share. It's what I do. (only on Mondays though) This recipe is really quick, budget friendly, delicious, good for you, and vegetarian, in case that is your thing you can't go wrong.

Chilaquiles Casserole

• 1 tablespoon canola oil (I used olive oil because I'm a rebel)
• 1 medium onion, diced (we omitted the onion)
  
• 1 medium zucchini, grated
• 1 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed
• 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 1/2 cups corn, frozen (thawed) or fresh
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• a dash of crushed red pepper flakes if you so please (which we did)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (also omitted)
  
• 12 corn tortillas, quartered
• 1 19-ounce can mild red or green enchilada sauce
• 1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion (or not) and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in zucchini, beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are heated through, about 3 minutes.

Scatter half the tortilla pieces in the baking dish. Top with about half the vegetable mixture, about half the enchilada sauce and half the cheese. Repeat with one more layer of tortillas, vegetables, sauce and cheese. Cover with foil.

Bake the casserole for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the casserole is bubbling around the edges and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes more.

MSM

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine passed along a recipe for doggie treats and the website from which it came. Usually, I like to make stuff before I blog you to make it, but I have to share this website with you now! It's www.budget101.com and it has recipes for dogs (my favorite title, great dane-ish) cats, people, household cleaners, beauty products and oh so much more! It even has a section on how to make knock off name brand stuff, like wheat thins. (MacKenzie posted not too long ago, her recipe which sounds really good, and I've been wanting to try it. At the time, we still had actual wheat thins...so I didn't make any more, but this week, I think I may!) This website is a really great source for tips on saving money and being more resourceful. I know I will busy myself making some of the things on there, and along the way I'll share what I've made (and blog you what I think) In the meantime, you should go check out the site and make some cool homemade stuff today!

back in the ground I go?

ok...I guess I'll try to keep two blogs, one of my personal goings on, and one for baking and decorating. That way, if you don't care about one or the other you can avoid the blog of your dislike ;) (I'm only kidding) I really appreciate the comments, I'm glad that you guys like to be part of my life, so thank you for voicing your opinion! I'll do my best to keep both up!

pulling out roots

I suppose I should have announced this instead of just deleting this blog. However, I am starting a new blog and leaving this one behind. I'll still make something on mondays, but the gist of the blog will be devoted to my pastry endeavors and not so much personal info. My life isn't all that interesting anyway ;) So, it will be titled "confections of a bakeaholic" to be found at http://flourgirlconfections.blogspot.com/ but for now is still under construction.

Taxing day

I know the title is a really bad pun, but it's me. It was a taxing day as well as a day of taxi-ing. I found out that I no longer have an internship with the bakery because the lady that hired me, up and quit today after a long battle with the owner. She really needed to get out of there, because she was grossly underpaid for doing around 60% of the work. However, it's really sad and I'm just trying to figure out what to do next. Anyhow, Brandon's training division held a spouse taxi day today, where we got to wear our husbands flightsuits (which yes, Brandon and I are about the same size, so I lucked out and wasn't swimming in the suit like some wives were) and got a custom patch with our names embroidered on it. We were given a brief where they told us about safety and just what we'd be doing in the planes. Then, we got to hop into a static display to learn how to strap in and what not to touch, and then got into a real plane with a training instructor and taxied down the runway. It was a lot of fun getting a teeny tiny taste of what our husbands go through everyday. It gets pretty darn toasty in those suits though let me tell you! It's like a sauna in those planes! All the husbands were really excited though, it was funny talking to the other wives about our husbands laying out our clothes for us like our parents on our first day of school and giving us the very long and detailed low down on all the knobs/switches/guages in the plane (greatly scaring us!) I think every husband had a camera too, and were taking pictures as we loading in the planes and took off and taxied and stood around. It was funny, but very sweet and a nice distraction!