Oven fried Rutabaga

I’ve had these rutabagas (sometimes called yellow turnips) for a while. (They keep very well) I got these in a vegetable box along with fresh kale, collards,turnip bottoms and a couple other things which slip my mind at this time. They are difficult to peel and these are small which presents even more problems.  Most rutabagas in supermarkets  are one large root enough to feed several people.

Since they are difficult to peel, I decided to wash and boil them to soften them up.



Only one turnip in the group because  the others had been consumed a good while back. 



Here are the rutabagas and lone turnip after they have been boiled.



I've peeled the rutabagas and can see now why they are called yellow turnips.








The turnip is missing because I ate it. Turnips take less time to cook and come out sweeter and more tender than the rutabagas.










Notice the white fibrous tissue inside? Something tells me I kept these
a little too long or either I didn't store them correctly.

 I've peeled and seasoned turnips in the past put them in the oven and let them oven fry. I'm doing this with the rutabagas.


Rutabaga in bag with seasonings
























These look really pretty after being cooked and coming out of the oven.



BUT! Looks can be deceiving.

Unfortunately after a taste test they were not good. The white part in picture number four above before cooking turned out to be tough. I have yet to research what caused this.

I have baked root vegetables together before and they turned out great. A blend of turnips, rutabagas, and carrots makes a very nice medley.

Since this recipe didn't turn out the way I expected ,I consoled myself by finishing up the blueberry crumble I'd made the day before.

Yummy!

The oven fried rutabaga went the route of  all other refuse. In the trash.

The oven fried rutabaga in the garbage along with its peels and an empty fast food container from Captain D's.

THAT'S IT***

Calendar To Envelopes

Two calendars from 2012

There’s been more than one tutorial I’ve seen showing the recycling of old calendars into envelopes. Most times the calendars I buy are from the Dollar Store printed on lightweight thin paper. Since I also recycle office paper, I used that to line the envelopes to give them some stability. Simply Rebekah has a great tutorial. I used many of her directions.

And, before I forget let me say that I took both sizes of envelopes to the post office to make sure they were OK to use for snail mail. I suppose I should have done it before finishing them all but had they not approved I would have used them as gift envelopes.

Gather the crew

Materials: old calendars, used office paper for lining envelopes, paper cutter, mailing labels, scissors, glue stick, envelope template.


At the top you can see the envelope I steamed open. To the left is the cut calendar page. To the right is the office paper being recycled for the lining.

I steamed open a purchased 3 5/8 x 6 ½ in envelope to use as a template. I laid it on the calendar page of choice and traced around it with a marker.

The envelope cut and the side that will be showing

After cutting it out I measured from top of the closing flap to the bottom flap to get measurements for the lining. I wasn’t trying to be exact with this only approximate.

After cutting out the lining I placed glue stick over the entire back of the printed side and stuck it onto the envelope. It’s important to get the glue on the edges , otherwise the lining will separate from the envelope.

After allowing all to dry, I trimmed off any bits of white lining peeking out.



You can see on the left where I've placed a line of glue that I will spread to cover the entire side flap.
The right flap has already been glued.

Now the folding begins. Using my template and a ruler I precreased the sides where I would be gluing the envelope. I preferred to use white glue for this part make sure all parts of the flap had glue so that it wouldn’t lift up while enroute to someone.
Seeing an address on a graphic envelope would be near impossible so I used self stick address labels.

2 x 4 inch labels were used in the ‘TO’ section and 1 x 2 5/8 inch labels were used in the ‘FROM’ section.

They looked stark so I decided to give it some color by drawing around the labels.

I've really got to learn to operate a camera. These came out really pretty but who can tell with all of this frost?

As a second thought I cut some of the 1 x 2 5/8 into threes and placed a squared in the POSTAGE area. (I'd already taken the picture before I put the postage square on)

ALMOST

SQUARE

 ENVELOPES

The second set of envelopes were closer to a square measuring 5 x 5 ½ inches. I suppose these would be more suited for cards.

This might be a good way to recycle greeting cards discarding the second page, saving the cover and writing on the back of the cover.

I didn’t use a template for these nor did I line them. There was quite a bit of folding it into itself making it sturdy without a lining. And this was also the Dollar Store calendar which had larger pages. I probably should have used a template but I was in the zone and didn’t want to stop.



On these you can see where I put the postage square. Up top you can see where I made one of them business
size. I quickly let go of that notion.



By folding the sheet into a triangle (I should have used Simply Rebekah's method) it caused the picture to become somewhat distorted. I don’t have photos of my progress with these, just the finished work. I used transparent tape at the bottom of the envelope as well as glue stick.

This calendar page started out as a picture of mountains peaks and snow. It's really hard
to tell that from the picture. I will perfect my methods.

It was my intention to make decorative self stick labels on the computer for the 'TO' and 'FROM'sections. I couldn’t quite get it the way I wanted it so I did my own sketches with ink pen , Sharpie markers and colored pencils.

I'd seen a recipe for envelope glue but I have opted not to use it. In order to seal them I'll be using glue stick and/or doublesided stick tape. 

I’ll be using these as my own personal stationery.

THAT'S IT***

Return of the Crafting Groove

My name isn’t Stella but I finally got my crafting groove back. It took an incident to send me back to the studio in order to calm and relax myself through crafting.


I’d been saving a couple of empty cardboard tape rolls to make bracelets. I got my inspiration from craftyluna at crafster.org


craftyluna



Elizabeth Abernathy How cool is this?

The one at Elizabeth Abernathy really peaked my interest.

I took out my supplies


cardboard rolls

acrylic paint

sandpaper (not shown)

Egyptian wrapping paper

Pictures from National Geographic

White Glue(not shown)

High gloss decoupage sealant

Brushes, rag
I didn't take photos as I went . I was trying to calm myself and didn't think about it.

*In order for the paper to adhere to the cardboard I sanded it inside and outside wiping the dust off with a damp rag.

*I painted one cuff inside and outside with Kelly Green and the other with a copper metallic. I gave each cuff three coats of paint allowing them to dry between coats.

*Being an eager beaver I dried them in the oven on 200 for 20 minutes between coats.

*National Geographic always has beautiful colorful photos. I randomly tore underwater scenes and glued them onto the cardboard overlapping the pictures.

*For the Egyptian bangle I used wrapping paper that I have had for over 15 years that was sitting in my stash of some-day-I’ll-do-something-with-this box.

*I put two coats of sealant inside and outside the bangles allowing them to dry. I used the oven for the first two coats but found that it was a little sticky when it came out needing a little extra time to cool down.

*After these coats dried I dry brushed (actually wiped with a rag) the bangles with acrylic Chocolate Bar paint to give it an antique/worn look.

*I repeated with three more coats of sealant about every 4 to 5 hours. The coats were pretty thick. I allowed these to air dry.

As you can see they are very shiny almost glassy looking.

They turned out great. If it looks as if some white is showing through, it isn’t, it’s just the shine.
THAT'S IT***