Minimalist Botanicals (DIY Wall Art)

Last week involved a convoluted series of events in which I was working from home, had to flee my apartment for 2 hours to move my car to avoid the street sweepers because thanks to construction there are zero parking spots these days, so I had to find a coffee place with a parking lot, and next door to this coffee place with a parking lot was a Michael's, where they had a huge display out front of 3 for 1 canvases.

Naturally, I couldn't resist. Inside, I also found a giant pack of tissue paper. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, but I figured at the very least my present wrapping needs would be taken care of for years. With some very long winded googling, I found a few pieces of inspiration: this one, and this one.

Still not sure what to do,  armed with canvas, tissue paper, and glossy ModPodge, I took a kind of aimless approach, and took one sheet of each color of paper and cut some large-ish petals (those were ultimately used in the red flower). I sorted them by color, and started messing around.

Before doing any gluing (mod-podging) I laid each of them out. This was really hard- I had use something to nudge them into place, and if I exhaled too hard, tissue paper went everywhere! I ended up taking pictures with my phone anytime I got something i liked, just so I could recreate it.

The important thing to remember is that the tissue becomes quite transparent, so you can't plan to have a light colored petal on top of a dark one and expect to see it (I learned this by practicing first on a piece of paper). That's why the outer pink petals are light and the top yellow lotus flowers are light. Once I had figured out the layout, I took everything off, and then one at a time put ModPodge on the canvas, and then again on top of each leaf. Be VERY gentle, if the tissue rips it is a real pain to get it off.

You can see my workspace, complete with most of the season of Walking Dead playing in the background. Nothing sets off floral art work like some disemboweled zombies.

Here are closeups of each one. The purple was the hardest, getting everything spaced out, but I think it's my favorite. I wish the yellow flower was a bit darker at the top, but I like it as well other than a few wrinkles that slipped in. Something about the way the tissue paper is so thin really makes the leaves look like they're almost painted on.

Now to find a place to hang them!

This could really be done with almost anything - these are, loosely a lotus, lilacs, and a dahlia. Give it a try!

A New Blog to Check Out- "Healthy, Con Gusto!"

I have a list of blogs on the sidebar, which rotates according to which ones were most recently updated, but I just wanted to take a minute to highlight this brand new blogger, "Healthy, Con Gusto!".

She has a lot of healthy recipes, with a lot of Peruvian flair. A few that I'm excited to try are a dairy free arroz con leche and a healthy-fied version of Lomo Saltado, which is a delicious beef dish.

Go on over and check it out!

Refreshing Kale Peanut Salad

This weekend it was FINALLY (finally finally finally) actually, legitimately warm.

I'm talking this kind of warm:

and this kind:

and best and most fabulous of all, this kind:

In celebration, I decided it was time to start busting out the summertime salads. I found this one over at Once Upon a Chef which also was the source of the very delicious Thai Quinoa salad, which actually had a similar flavor profile. My version is below:

The Stuff:
Kale, a few large handfuls
1 cooked chicken breast (or equivalent; optional)
half a cup sliced almonds, toasted
half a red bell pepper, chopped
3/4c carrot pieces (mine were chopped baby carrots)
handful of cilantro, roughly chopped

dressing:
1.5 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 garlic clove
chunk of ginger (or about 2 teaspoons minced ginger)
.5 tablespoons soy sauce
1.5 tablespoon sesame oil
juice of half a lime
red pepper flakes or chili sauce
pinch salt

What to do with it: 
The dressing is easy, basically take all of the ingredients and blend them up in whatever way you like best (mini food processor, blender cup) or just chop as finely as you can with your own two little hands, and mix very well.

For the salad itself, first prepare the kale. Remove the hard spines, and then the key is to hold a bunch of leaves together in your hand and cut them in small strips (chiffonade). If your strips are a little on the large size, as mine are you should massage it, which just means to squish it in your hands a bit so it is softer. Then, add the other ingredients, toss with dressing, and there you go!

It was very refreshing, plus, I'm a sucker for a good peanut sauce. The nice part about this one is that it's peanuty but really not to heavy. The other nice thing about kale salads is that they really hold up in the fridge, and even though this is half the original recipe, there are lots of leftovers. This is definitely going into the summer rotation!

Avocado Lime Pesto

I've posted before about my obsession with zoodles (zucchini noodles), so I'm always looking for something new and exciting to put on them. One thing I love is pesto, but since it ends up being mostly olive oil, nuts, and cheese, it doesn't always feel like a healthy option... LUCKILY,  I found this recipe over on Cara's Cravings, always a reliable source.

Unfortunately, bright green noodles aren't 100% photogenic, so I had this twice before I got around to trying to blog about it!

I made this whole thing in the smoothie cup of my Ninja blender, which is possibly the best thing I have ever purchased for myself. Besides all manner of green smoothies for breakfast, it makes things like this super fast, and the smaller volume of the smoothie cup works better for small batches than a large food processor does.

This is what you need for the pesto:

- 1/2 avocado

- a BIG bunch of basil, washed very well

- 2-3 cloves garlic

- pinch salt

- half a lime worth of juice

- a little water to help it blend

Basically it could not be easier- dump that all in the blender, hit go, and wait until it's smooth.

I had the pesto multiple times on zoodles- once with mini thai flavored turkey patties (mixed with basil, cilantro, fish sauce, ginger, and grated carrots) and once with a piece of frozen tilapia from Costco, which I marinated in lime juice and herbs. But in addition to the zoodles, it was awesome on top of eggs, on top of chicken- basically, on everything I ate that week! It's much brighter and more refreshing than typical pesto, and would be perfect for all kinds of summer dishes. Try it!