Sunday, June 27, 2010

Yes, I think I remember this. . .

Once upon a time I really loved to cook. . . and I vaguely remember being fairly good at it.

I used to be inspired to cook fresh tasty things regularly.  Nowadays it takes a minor miracle to create enough energy to inspire me to try to wrangle the two Littles, during "witching hour", and cook.

Thursday my friend Sonya and I were at the Lake City Farmer's Market.  (Oh, how I love summer in the Northwest!)  One of the vendors there, Patty Pan Grill, makes the most incredible veggie quesadillas which have no "no no for Duchess" veggies in them and the grill dude will happily make it w/ vegan cheese for me!!!  I LOVE THEM!

It occurred to me that I needed to eat these more often than my farmers' market budget allowed.  So, I was gonna hafta cook.

Friday afternoon I went to my fridge and pulled out every veggie in there.

Patty Pan's veggie mixture (as far as I can tell) is : some sort of wilted green leaf, carrots, parsnip or maybe rutabaga, onions, garlic, cauliflower, beets

My mixture was a little different:
My wilted green leaf was hearts of romain, carrots, cauliflower, orange pepper, onion, sunflower sprouts (So Good, try them) garlic, tomato.
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I think you could probably put any fresh veggie in and have it be good, although, I did purposefully go light on the peppers.  I didn't want them to dominate the dish.
The key is, you need A LOT of veggies.

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That's my largest bowl in my generic nesting bowl set.  Probably 8 cups.

And you need them sliced/ chopped very thin.
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This little device was very handy in preparing this dish.  I picked it up at a garage sale a couple weekends ago.  I'm not much of one for kitchen gadgets.  I figure if you can't do it w/ a nice knife, a wooden spoon, or a spatula, then it shouldn't be done.  This gadget, however, I will make an exception for.  It proved itself highly useful.  I could not have sliced those veggies that thin with a knife.  I also used it to grate my cheese and it worked like a charm.

Next, I fired up my grill.

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Here are the veggies fresh on the grill, they take up my entire two burner griddle. I also noticed the dude from Patty Pan's sprinkle some red spice on at this point. I don't know what it is, but I guessed from the color and the very slight taste, that it is probably cayenne pepper. I added some of that, some paprika, a little cilantro and salt.

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Let them cook for 5-6 min, then throw a tortilla on the grill, add cheese, add your veggies and cook just long enough to toast the outside of you tortilla.

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Then, cut it in triangles and eat and enjoy. The Duke and I sure did. All those veggies made 4 quesedillas. I must say, though, one fills you up very well.

I can't wait to make this with fresh veggies from the market!

Friday, June 25, 2010

When I should be doing boring things, like laundry. . .

I can often be found doing something else. . . ANYTHING else.

Recently it was entering two logo design contests. Why did I think I should enter any logo design contest? No other reason than I have laundry that I don't want to do.

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Click on the logos to visit the respective sites. I love them both!

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Mania Continues

The Duke and I were the grateful recipients of a well used table and chairs 9 years ago when we were married. The table and chairs are solid wood, but frankly, their function was much higher than their form. They were probably made in the 70's and looked like it. "A New Kitchen Table and Chairs" had been on our proverbial "list" for about 4 years. I finally came to the conclusion that this particular item was not going to make it to the top of the list for a very long time yet.

Enter my manic creative/ decorating/ nesting phase. . . a couple of weeks and good amount of paint, glaze, and polyurethane later. . .

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And we have a "new" table and chairs.

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They aren't perfect, this was my first crack at painting a piece of furniture, and I made a few mistakes.

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But over all, I am very happy with them!


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I love how they look in my kitchen! So much so I even deep cleaned (half) of my kitchen.

Hey, I can't do it all. We are out of milk, diapers, eggs, bread. . . come to think of it I haven't been to Costco in about a month. . . I'm off.

Getting Inspired and Sharing @

Monday, June 07, 2010

Soxs the Dog

The Duke gave me this adorable book for my birthday a couple of months ago.  I showed you the bear I made for Little Lion and of course, Little Sir had to have a cute toy too!

Meet Soxs the Dog.  He is actually made from a pair of my unwanted socks as well as one of the Duke's partner-less socks. 
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His patch, nose, and vest are made of felt.  He doesn't have eyes, as of yet, because I'm not sure what I want to do yet.  Any suggestions? 
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Eyeless or not, Little Sir loves his new puppy (and honestly, so do I!)