Dabbled

Make a yummy Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Dot — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:01:10 +0000

Flying Spaghetti Monster! Yum!

So… I decided to make a FSM (Flying Spaghetti Monster) out of a radical combination: Spaghetti and meatballs. No, these aren’t just stacks of spaghetti, with meatballs on top, these are true meatball creatures… suitable for your own Flying Spaghetti Monster, or whatever you’d like to create!

I used a technique similar to the one I used for the Halloween Cephalopods (thanks to Filth Wizardry for the idea!).

Ingredients:

Frozen Swedish Meatballs (I used the ones from Ikea), 2 per monster. (Defrosted)
Thin Spaghetti, dry.
Several tubular noodles (I had some elbows on hand, but this would probably work better with a larger type.)*
Green peas for eyeballs.

Instructions:

Fill your largest pot with water and place on stove to boil.
Stab a long noodle into your meatball. Stab a second meatball on to your noodle.
Repeat so they are stuck together.
Continue stabbing your 2 meatballs with 1/2 to 1/3 length dry spaghetti noodles (see pic). Leave some open areas for the meatballs to show.
Insert a tubular noodle into each meatball to serve as an eyestalk.
Place in boiling water until noodles are soft.
Remove, cool, and insert a pea (or a piece of a pea) in each eyestalk for the eyeball.

Organize on a plate, and enjoy! Add sauce as desired…

Caveat: I did have issues with the eye stalk noodles falling off. Perhaps they would have worked better with a larger diameter noodle. I’ll also be experimenting on alternate eye stalks!

The Hotdog Creature experiments

Dot — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:12:21 +0000

For Halloween this year, I tried a new idea, that I had gotten from the most excellent blog, Filth Wizardry. She did this as a fun project with the kids, and I thought it looked like a lovely and disgusting item for the Halloween buffet, especially for the kiddos. Now those of you who follow me on Twitter may remember this for the Dot Cooks “Live Tweet”, where I documented all my Halloween food prep (if not, you can see the summary here!).

So why am I showing you this now, since Halloween is a whole year away? Well, I think it would be a fun (though not overly healthy!) kids meal any time of year, and what an awesome food to serve at a kids party..!

Here is the tutorial/experiment! (And stay tuned tomorrow for an even weirder take on this!)

I decided they looked an awful lot like cephalopods or sea creatures of some sort , and figured we’d play around with different configurations of noodles and see what we got.

Exhibit A: Octopuses (now Jellyfish)

For the first batch, I used the ends of the hotdogs only, and stuck the noodles in one side only. I was thinking octopus, so 8 noodles per piece, each noodle being about 1/2 length. (For future, I would shorten the noodles to make them easier to eat.) Once I put these in to boil, I decided they were much more like jellyfishes than octopuses, especially the way the floated on the water, so that is what they became. (See pictures at the bottom)

Exhibit B: Tentacle Creatures (or spiders, or cephalopods)

These were the original version, with the hotdogs (slices this time, rather than endpieces) stabbed through with the dry noodle. So 4 noodles means 8 legs. The length of these legs was a little better than the Jellyfish, I think.

Exhibit C: Sputnik

As I was doing these, I was thinking worms, but with the dry noodles still sticking out of them they looked like a Tinkertoy, or maybe a Russian satellite! These really showcase the creepy aspect of the noodle just sticking out of the hotdog.

How-To

Not much recipe needed here: Just hotdogs (big fat ones) and dry spaghetti.

See the Notes below, and under each of the pictures for more detailed info.

Click on a photo below to see larger or to view as slideshow.

Notes:

Put your biggest pot on to boil FIRST! That much water takes a while.
And enlist the help of children if available, this can be time consuming!
Boil 5-9 minutes, according to pkg directions, or until your spaghetti is done enough for your tastes
For a more ‘adult’ version, smoked sausages might be a nice touch

The Final Flesh Face, from Halloween

Dot — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:26:32 +0000

2009 Flesh Face

Sorry for the light posting, I’ve been resting up from Halloween month!

I did promise a picture of the Flayed Skin cheeseball from the Halloween Party, so here it is. I added the mozzarella ball slices behind the olives for a more eye-popping look!

By the way, I wrote the how-to on this project up as an instructable, and it’s entered in the Halloween contest over at Instructables.com (great website!)- so if you like it, go vote for it!

And, here is an even more disgusting take on this idea that was left in the comments section over at Instructables, by jfearnside… I love this idea!

“In mine I made some eyes using mozzarella balls and painted then with food coloring. I then took a really sharp knife and cut a slit where the eyes should be and scooped out some of the cheese ball underneath and popped in the eyeballs. Then pushed the “skin” back down to make eye lids.”

Great Job, sir!

While you’re off voting…

(You can also vote for my creepy bottle labels – Original Post Here. Vote for the Instructable Here)

I really should post some more pics from halloween… the party was a big success despite the rainy weather and the fact it was actually on Halloween night. I’ll try to do that this week!

Cheers!

Dot

Planning for the Holidays

Dot — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:52:36 +0000

November means we’re getting close to the Holidays… So here’s a reminder on some simple steps to help you plan ahead to have a handmade holiday, from Rachel at the fabulous blog, One Pretty Thing. (And check out the interview with Rachel the other day @ Craftypod!

Hassle-Free Handmade Holidays

By Rachel Klein of One Pretty Thing

Photo by tilaneseven

If you’re anything like me you think the same thing every year. “This year I’m going to make all my own gifts/bake the desserts from scratch/grow all the decorations myself! It’s going to be awesome!” It sounds so festive, so heartfelt. But how many of us actually have time to do it? It’s taken me a few years but I’ve finally got my handmade holiday system down to a science. A schedule of crafting and planning that starts in the summer allows me to create the handmade gifts that bring me so much joy, as well as save me money and stress in December. Sound overwhelming? New to handmade holidays? Pick one or two of the following ideas to try this year, then add another the next. I’m going to share ten hassle-free handmade holiday organizational ideas you can get started on now. I’m a Christmas girl, so these ideas reference that holiday, but are easily applicable to any holiday you might celebrate.

Gather your organizational supplies! I like to keep an inspiration folder for each holiday on my desktop. My Christmas folder has lists of menu ideas, decorating ideas, and gift lists. Set your folders up in advance and you’ll be able to find that beach-themed Christmas tree picture later.

READ THE WHOLE THING!

Fall Entertaining: Have a “Soup Night”

Dot — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:19:37 +0000

There is an old tradition among our group of friends called “Soup Night”. As the weather gets colder, and there aren’t as many outdoor activities to bring us together, it’s great to have an excuse to get together with friends for fun and fellowship. Thus, “soup night”.

To do your own soup night, pick a core group of friends to host for the next (say) 4-6 weeks (skipping for holidays as necessary). It’s best to pick a consistent night, like every Wednesday. Each household hosts one night, and provides the main meal, some form of soup. Other guests chip in apps, bread, wine, beer, desserts, and it’s a pretty cost effective gathering. It’s not a late night event, since it’s a work night — plan for after work (6ish) to around 9. People get there when they can, and the dinner is out for everyone to graze on throughout the evening.

The host invites the core group, and maybe a few extra friends to expand the circle and have everyone meet new people.

Inspired? Try one!

Need a soup?
Try Dabbled’s Favorite Carrot “Vichy”! Super Easy and Yummy. (Photo-recipe here)

Some others:

From Craft: Split Pea Chowder by Indie Fixx
How about Spiced Butternut Apple!?
Or the Best Chicken Soup from No Recipes..
Pink of Perfections’s Mulligatawny
Your favorite chili or black bean recipe would also be ideal!

A “I Miss Summer” Salad

Dot — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:36:19 +0000

This salad is one of my favorites for the Summer, when the cucumbers and tomatoes are in abundance, but it’s great anytime you can get the ingredients and need a reminder of summer! This is quick and versatile .. it can be done as a side salad, or modded to be a great vegetarian main dish. The key to this is my favorite secret ingredient, seasoned rice vinegar.

Easy Peasy Instructions:
Slice up:
Tomatoes (If not the season for fresh, I like to use grape tomatoes)
Onions (Sweet, like Vidalia)
Cucumber

Put in bowl, and pour on seasoned Rice Vinegar about half way up the vegetables.
Add Salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.

Toss together, and refrigerate for at least an hour, but overnight is perfect. Toss occasionally to make sure everything has time to marinate. (Alternately, you can marinate in a plastic bag.)

To make it a main dish, think about adding:

Cannellini Beans (White Kidney Beans) + Chunks of mozzarella cheese
Lime juice + either Tilapia or shrimp for a fabulous ceviche like dish

Make a big batch for a side for dinner tonight, then have it with one of the additions for lunch tomorrow!
Enjoy!

PS – Calling bloggers (or wanna be bloggers) who cook, for a upcoming top secret project. Email me if you think you might be interested in contributing to a food related group blog, and I’ll send you the details!

Another Halloween is over…!

Dot — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:33:52 +0000

Thanks for joining Dabbled for Halloween 2009… hope you enjoyed it!
You can see all the Halloween projects & posts here: www.dabbled.org/halloween.

I also wanted to point out one last cool costume..
Check this one out posted by Mod Mischief! Several other really good ones, and how-to’s there, too.

I’ll stick a few more pics from Halloween out on flickr in the next few days, too, and try to post some of the final party food pics.!

The Perry The Platypus Costume

Dot — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:17:10 +0000

I promised better pictures of The Boy’s Agent P Costume, and some instructions, so here ya go!

Here are some basic instructions, pictures follow.

Body:
At it’s simplest, you can do this with a green hoodie and sweatpants. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t find a green hoodie, so I made a simple one out of fleece, by tracing around a current sweatshirt. (see pics below) I added a few pieces of ‘hair’ with black embroidery floss.

Bill:
The Duckbill was very easy! 2 pieces of craftfoam, cut into a bill shape. The bottom piece is slightly smaller than the top piece. I used a hole punch to make breathing holes on the bottom, and to make the holes for the elastic cording. Just tie the pieces together, and they go nicely over the nose, or even over the nose and chin (which is how The Boy liked to wear his).

Feet:
Very simple. A webbed foot cut from craft foam. Then I slid a scrap piece of foam through the shoe lace on his shoe. I placed duct tape behind it (see pics) and pressed the foot shape on top!

Tail:
The tail totally made the outfit. I cut the tail shape out of brown fleece, and sewed it together, leaving an opening at the top. I then stuff it VERY lightly with a little fiber fill. Then use pins to mark the tail into equal sections, several inches apart (see pics). Then sew in a zigzag down the tail. At the end, repeat the process in reverse, making the quilted x’s. Attach the tail to the bottom of the hoodie.

Hat:
Um, is a fedora.

Here are some other pictures, and some shots of “the making of Agent P”! Click to see big/slideshow.

I’ll have a few pics of the halloween party and other Halloween links as a final wrap up of Halloween 2009 tomorrow!

Dot Cooks! “Live” Halloween Party Food Prep

Dot — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:53:28 +0000

Yesterday I did a “live-tweet” of my cooking/prepping food for the halloween party. Which basically consists of me taking cellphone pics of whatever I’m cooking.

So, if you don’t follow me on twitter, here’s what I posted!

Twitter for #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: I’ll be ‘live-tweeting’ party food prep this morning, for real this time! Follow along at #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nit53 – Anyone wanna guess what this is going to be? #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/niwzq – Anyone have a good recipe for leftover bits of olives? Tapenade maybe? #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nj4bq – Two of these eyeballs will be the eyes on the flayed skin face #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nj5n1 – New for the kiddies this year.. “Live octopuses” in progress #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nj9q2 – In hindsight, this was a very time consuming project – I should have waited for 4 year old helper #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: Sorry for the lack of updates on the #dotcooks livetweet – I’m making boring stuff like hummus right now

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/njl9j – Tentacled Edibles: which one is your favorite? #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: More to come in #dotcooks, but I gotta go pickup The Boy from Pre-K, and clean the kitchen, before I start on Round 2

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nkrbx – Cupcakes – some are a little wopty due to assistant’s filling the cups himself #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: Soaking the tapioca pearls – making this: http://bit.ly/VVwcX #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nks2w – ‘Bubbles’ soaking for the creepy bubble cocktails #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nkz1k – A blueberry pie. Shaped like a jackolantern. I dislike pumpkin pie! #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nlbb3 – Monster mouth cupcakes! #dotcooks

DotatDabbled: http://twitpic.com/nlkc0 – You never know what is going to float up in those pies #dotcooks

Agent P! The Boy’s Perry the Platypus costume

Dot — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:30:15 +0000

I spent several hours yesterday making The Boy’s Perry the Platypus costume. My twitter friends will recall my desperate search for a green hoodie sweatshirt, which I never did find, so I made one out of fleece. The platypus tail (made of fleece, and quilted!) is the crowning touch, I think. We were running out the door to the Halloween festival, so I didn’t get any good pictures, but I’ll take some tomorrow so you can see the full effect. I also took photos of the process, so I’ll get a tutorial up too!

Agent P (taken with my cell phone... better pics tomorrow!)

Now, off to continue the Halloween party preparations! I’ll be making lots of stuff… and Tweeting along the way if you’d like to follow along: http://twitter.com/DotatDabbled