Bake or Die.

Herb Roasted Chicken, Curry Roasted Cauliflower, Baked Sweet Potato

I've been wanting to mod podge, paint, and sew all weekend and the most making I've done was dinner this afternoon.  Herb Roasted Chicken, Curry Roasted Cauliflower, and baked sweet potatoes.   I baked everything together at 350.  It took the sweet potatoes about 1 hr. 20 min., and the cauliflower about 45 min. Everything was delicious, and my house smelled wonderful. 

The baking times and temps. below are for baking dishes separately.

Herb Roasted Chicken

1 roasting hen

Herbs de Provence

seasoned salt

olive oil

fresh minced garlic

1 c. water

(Tip:  If you have a bulk dry goods section in your grocery store, get your herbs there.  I spent .78 cents on the same amount of Herbs de Provence that would have cost up to $7/bottle in the baking aisle.)

Make an olive oil slurry with Herbs de Provence, salt, garlic, and oil.  Massage slurry into bird, including under the breast skin.  Place herby bird in dutch oven (I used enameled cast iron), pour in water (don't pour over the bird), cover.  Bake at 350 for 2 hours.  You can also roast it open and it will brown, but I wanted mine "fall apart" tender.  I also baked the neck along with the bird to make a rich broth.

Curry Roasted Cauliflower--Ready to Bake

Curry Roasted Cauliflower

1-2 heads of fresh cauliflower florets

1/2 medium onion, large dice

curry powder or mixture of Indian spices:

     (turmeric, coriander, garam masala,

      red pepper, dried ginger, etc.)

salt or seasoned salt

olive oil

Put onion and cauliflower in large plastic zip-lock bag.  Add olive oil and spices.  Shake well to coat.  Bake at 350 to 400 until browned, (30-45 minutes) stirring once. 

I make my own curry mixture with Indian spices.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

Rinse whole sweet potatoes well to remove any dirt.  Pierce skin in several places with fork.  Bake at 400 on cookie sheet for 30 min., turn potatoes over and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Little Dresses for Africa and Easy Tube Pillowcase Method Collide.

Little Pillow Case Dresses for Africa
Girls 11-12, Toddler 3-4

This MLK weekend, I'm doing service work for others by making Little Dresses for Africa.  The dresses are constructed out of pillow cases.  You can use a store-bought pillow case or you can make a pillow case and turn it into a dress...that's what I'm doing.  See the Little Dresses for Africa link below (littledressesforafrica.org) for details and printable sewing instructions.  Patternless sewing, my favorite!  

I'm using my fabric stash, and spending a few dollars on low cost cotton fabric at Wal-Mart to make Easy Tube Pillow Cases--ridiculously easy, professional finish, FABULOUS.  Fun and funky pillow cases alone are a great gift to yourself or others.  To turn my pillow cases into dresses, I don't finish the top hem of the case but leave it open since this forms the neckline of the dress.  I center the seam down the back of the dress. 

Check out the links and if you are inspired to make ANYTHING, share here! What are YOU making?   

Little Pillow Case Dresses for Africa
Added Yo-You Detail, Toddler 3-4 

Making,

Martha

Little Dresses For Africa--MAKE to Help Others

Make or Die with Me.

Our Lady of Kaftan
Collage by Martha Stroud-Merry

I make stuff....a lot of different kinds of stuff.  I can't help it.  I can't NOT make.  At various times I cook, sew, photograph, paint--and other art mediums, collage, quilt, make jewelry and glass beads, etc., etc., etc.  I swear, I could be a centerfold for a Home Economics magazine.  I used to abhor the word CRAFT, I made ART.  Now, I don't care what genre I'm in.  If I see it and I like it or if I get an idea for it, I want to MAKE it....as soon as possible!!!

Making feeds me, and other people's making feeds me too.  I want to share my ideas, imaginings, hunches, and completed creations with you in this space and I want you to share yours with me (and the other two followers of this blog).  I believe that we expand our boundaries through collaboration and I hope that's what happens here.  It's not just about me having a place to show and tell, it's a place for YOU to show and tell as well...a place for all of us to MAKE new juicy creative ideas TOGETHER. 

When I'm not making, I'm either really busy or creatively I'm in that "dying" part.  If you're a maker, you're also very familiar the dying part.  It's that place where you get stuck, dried up, unmotivated.  You have a ton of things you could work on, most of them half done, but nothing is appealing.  It's like opening the fridge when you're hungry and nothing looks good.  It's that time when go out and buy (or assemble) everything for that fabulously exciting creative project, get it home and don't feel ready to start, so it sits...waiting.

My wish is that Make or Die will be a place where we can share about both sides of being creative, the making parts and the dying parts.  BOTH places move us forward and inspire new and exciting creations.  I can't wait to see what happens here!  Let's go!

Making,
Martha