Green Crafting

Yesterday I spent the morning at Archivers having fun. I did a couple of make & take projects, and shopped the sales. When I came home and began unpacking my purchases, I thought about all the packaging that has to be thrown away. I do as much recycling as I can (it's pretty easy here with curbside service). However, most of the plastic packaging is not marked with the recycling symbol and ends up in the trash. One of the packages was mostly flat rather than curved plastic. It occurred to me that I might be able to run it through my Bigshot Express die cutting machine. It worked quite nicely. The most difficult part was cutting through the plastic to separate out the parts that weren't completely flat. I ended up with several flower shapes - and people pay good money at the scrapbook store for acrylic embellishments! I also decided rather than recycle all the posterboard-type packaging I'd run that through as well. I always enjoy stretching those craft dollars as much as possible!

Happy creating,
Immi

Kitchen Experiments

I have been trying to clean out the freezer lately, so I decided to cook some boneless ribs tonight. I recently saw an idea in the Penzey's spice catalog, using one of their barbecue spice blends. The suggested method was to rub the blend on the ribs and cook 4-6 hours at 220 degrees. I covered the rubbed ribs with foil, and baked for about 4 hours. I then removed the ribs from that pan (a lot of liquid had come from the ribs - I guess it was mostly fat). I think they were done enough to eat at that point, but I wanted to add some barbecue sauce. I put them back in the oven for a couple of hours. The long slow cooking didn't dry them at all, and they tasted great.

I first thought of mashed potatoes on the side with a salad. I decided that instead of mashed potatoes, I'd roast some potatoes along with carrots and mushrooms (the mushrooms were languishing in the fridge and really needed to be used!). While at the store to get the potatoes and some lettuce, I was inspired to buy a small bunch of organic beets to roast with the other veggies. These beets were orange rather than red, with the brilliant green tops still attached.

Now, beets are not my favorite. I am not as fond of vegetables as my husband - I've never found a vegetable he doesn't like. However, in the last few years, I've come to appreciate certain vegetables more. The secret is roasting at high temperature. I've learned to like brussels sprouts this way. I am indebted to Barbara Kafka's cookbook, Roasting: A Simple Art. Following her guidelines, I roasted the veggies with some olive oil and kosher salt. They were fabulous, and I loved the beets!

Instead of salad, I decided to saute the beet tops rather than waste them - they're very nutritious. We love to have sauteed greens for a vegetable. I heat a little olive oil in the pan, and briefly saute some garlic, put through the press. Then I add the greens (we often use fresh spinach), and saute a few minutes until wilted. I finish with freshly ground pepper and a few pinches of fleur de sel. Fantastic - and so easy!