This and That

My blog photography *might* get better soon, because I read THIS.

I'm going to make THESE candy corn cookies in October, because they are so cute and probably taste 150% better than actual candy corn.

Fellow crafters, you should check out Craft Gossip.

Chorizo Pasta Bake

Do you ever watch Chopped? I do.  Well, I do when I visit home; because my roomies and I are cable-free (not because we are TV snobs, but because with a combination of Netflix, Hulu, and ESPN online we can see almost everything we want, albeit on a small screen sometimes.)  On Chopped there is always some poor chef who doesn’t devein his shrimp or something and the judges say things like “I can’t believe this.  This is shocking. How could you not devein your shrimp?” as though it is the worst thing a human could possibly overlook.  I guess if you are a professional chef it is a big deal that you didn’t devein your shrimp.  However, I have the luxury of being a semi-regular person, and I have failed to devein my shrimp before.  I mean, if I was serving shrimp at a fancy party or making shrimp creole on Christmas Eve (which is a tradition in my family) I would definitely devein them.  But for a low county boil? A meal which is often eaten OFF OF NEWSPAPER? No. I am not deveining shrimp for that.  Consider it my rebellious return to nature (I like camping, but I’ve never been “primitive” camping).  

I think the point I was trying to make, but in fact was aimlessly circling around in the above paragraph is that I am not a chef so if I went on Chopped I would probably lose. I perhaps know more than the average bear about food/cooking (I’m not actually comparing myself to a sentient bear.  That was a Yogi Bear reference and I got scared no one would get it.  He’s “smarter than the average bear,” remember?) because I double majored in “dietetics” (which to many people sounds like “not eating anything good ever” but does not mean that) and “consumer foods” (when I tell people this they say “consuming foods? I could do that!” and then we all laugh but that isn’t what that means either) in undergrad and am currently attempting to become a “MASTER OF SCIENCE!” in “foods and nutrition”.

Please accept my humble apologies for my excessive use of parentheses and quotation marks. The internet is a wild, unregulated place.

Back to chorizo.

Chorizo is pretty yummy.  According to my copy of The Prentice Hall Dictionary of Culinary Arts it is “a Mexican sausage made from fresh pork, seasoned with garlic and powdered chilies, usually cooked without the casing” or “a Spanish sausage made from smoked pork, seasoned with garlic and powdered chilies, usually cooked without the casing”

We will be operating with definition 1 for the duration of this post.

As I said before, it is a pretty tasty food, especially if you are a fan of pork (yes) and spicy things (also yes).  Like most sausages, it tends to be rather high in fat, which is why it’s nice to use it as more of a flavoring type ingredient instead of a star-of-show kind of thing sometimes.

Court’s Chorizo Pasta Bake

This is my new favorite casserole dish. The lid (to the right) is also a PIE PLATE!)

Servings: 6 

14.5 oz Whole Wheat Penne (aka a box of penne)

1 can Rotel tomatoes & chilies

2.5 oz chorizo (2 links out of a 6-link package, in my case)

2 cups red/green/yellow bell peppers

½ c onions, chopped

1 T garlic

2 cups jack/cheddar cheese, shredded

Cook pasta, drain, set aside.  Cook the chorizo and garlic in a nice big frying pan, then add the peppers, onions, and Rotel and let things simmer for a while, about 10 minutes.  Layer the pasta, vegetable/chorizo mixture, and cheese in a casserole dish in whatever order pleases you, but make sure you come out with a layer of cheese on top for added melted-cheese beauty.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Put some foil on top if your cheese gets too brown!   

The judges on Chopped would probably give me  negative points for "plating," I'm afraid.

Nutrition Facts! Thanks to caloriecount.com

Side notes:

I’ve been looking at Regretsy a lot this week. As a crafter, I find these craft-misadventures sometimes hilarious and sometimes horrifying.

I just arranged for dictionary.com to send me the word of the day via text everyday! How awesome is that?  Also, you should play Word Dynamo on there! Love it.

Chiffon Part Deux: Let it Burn

and other things.

 A while ago I posted about some chiffon flower hairclips I’d made (Check it out here). I had picked up a whole yard of chiffon in the remnant bin at Hobby Lobby.  I think it’s weird to call an entire yard a remnant.  I thought the whole point of a remnant was that it was less fabric than anyone would conceivably want to purchase, which is why most remnants are less than a yard.  It’s not like Hobby Lobby is selling chiffon in great quantities.  Oh well, I shouldn’t complain, because I got it for half-price since it was a “remnant”.  After making the two aforementioned flowers, I had quite a bit of fabric left. Not enough to make any clothing, of course (besides, I don’t have a serger and chiffon looks sad when you hem it the regular way).

I made another flower with the remaining selvage-side, like last time.

Expect the photography to go downhill from here, okay?
And yes, I totally got this sweater at target. 

And then I thought “I must seek out a new, more challenging method!”

With this method, you cut out somewhat concentric, somewhat circular shapes and then burn the edges with a lighter until they curl up a little.

Concentric Circles!

I don’t usually bring fire into my craft projects.  Hot glue? Sure.  But fire? That seems a little risky.

Cut to me, sitting cross-legged on my bathmat, holding a piece of chiffon in one hand and my super cool 3-way candle lighter in the other, tentatively touching the flame to the fabric all while learning over the bathtub, which I’d partially filled with water in the event that everything caught fire and I had to drop it.

It all went very well, really.  I only had to blow out tiny little fires once or twice and the precautionary bathtub of water was quite unnecessary.

I really need to take a photography class or something.  

The first flower I tried was small, cream-colored, and I used a button for the center. (I attached the layers with a few small stitches prior to adding the button)  For the second flower I was feeling a bit more adventurous (more adventurous than FIRE, you ask?), so I pulled out my watercolors and painted the chiffon before burning (singeing?) the edges.  I fixed the layers together with fabric glue this time and left off the button. (but I did put a cute little bird holding a letter in the middle)  For both of them, I glued a felt circle to the back before adding a hairpin/regular pin

Painted Concentric Circles!

It looks better in person. I hope.

I’ve still got a fair amount of chiffon left….so….let me know if you’re in need of trendy accessories.

AND NOW FOR MORE THINGS!

Hey, I was on a kick today, and I couldn’t stop.  I finished up (almost) all my schoolwork like a good girl so I could enjoy (almost) all the weekend, so as soon as I got home I reached for my sewing box. What’s that? You’re laughing at me for spending my Friday afternoon sewing? Well, whatever.  We all have our things.

Here’s some more pins and clips made with the leftover fabric from my Scottish Hipster shirt.  

Also, I finally broke down the steps for how to make this kind of flower- and they are as follows:

1. Cut out a circle
2. Fold the edge over ever so slightly, and do a basting type stitch along the folded over edge.
3.  Pull tightly and gather.
4. Sort of push it into shape, and tack it down with a few stitches.
5. Add a button. Or don’t. I just like to add a button.

I love these sweet little flowers, I use them in projects all the time.  Like this shirt I made last summer:

"Hey, Take a picture like I'm just casually sitting here" "But you are just casually sitting there" 

AND NOW THE LAST THING

I bought some new stamps the other day, further expanding my custom-stationary horizons.  How precious are these birds?