Creative cooking: thinking *inside* the can when fresh food betrays you and tries to kill off your country

With the big, scary drugproof e coli threat hanging over us, we had to get creative making a salad to take to a barbecue this weekend. They've gone from blaming unknown meats, to bagged salads, to Spanish cucumbers, to bell peppers to organic bean sprouts for the raging, superhero strength e coli over the last few weeks. And, since it doesn't seem anyone actually knows where the bacteria is coming from, we've been playing it safe and sticking to frozen veggies and canned fruits.

But, a pasta salad should be fresh! Unless it could kill you. So, we threw together oil packed sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, feta cheese, canned olives, marinated artichoke hearts (just for that extra germ killing kick) with tri-color rotini and a sun dried tomato vinaigrette.

And it was actually pretty good! Which taught me two things:

1. Pasta is magical. You can pretty much throw anything into a bowl as long as you add noodles.

2. I sneer at frozen veggies and canned fruits no longer. They could one day save your life.

A new challenge

Wow, my last post was in March!? I knew I'd been neglecting this poor little space, but wowzas! We've been to Paris, spent a week in Provence and done lots of other fun and some not-so-fun things in the meantime. Maybe one day I'll catch up on some of that here. But, not today.

A friend turned me on to the 30 Days of Creativity challenge, and I'm taking up the reins!

Yesterday, I finished off a pair of baby booties that I carry in my handmade accessories shop.

Source: None via Jennifer on Pinterest

Today, Day 2, I tackled a mini-project that I've been meaning to do for too long. This is what I love about challenges like this - just the incentive I sometimes need when my own personal motivation jumps ship. I covered two recycled cans with fabric to create pencil cups that the kids can keep in the living room.



I stitched hems around two Ikea fabrics, then added a little bias tape around the top (sharp) edge and along the base of the covering fabric. Easy peasy!