Crafty Find: Stop Motion Books

This is a great little clip that I stumbled across a while ago and was recently reminded of it again. It's a stop motion video made at Type, a book store along Queen Street. It took more than 25 people to make and was filmed over four nights after the book store closed.  

City TV and CTV have both featured the video on their websites, and so why not share it with you today? I love the whimsy behind it, and the music is wonderfully cheerful. For those of you who love a good book, surely you'll love seeing them come to life. 

Enjoy! 

Recipe #34: Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Sometimes, I just don’t know what to cook for dinner. Originality can often go out the window when you’re busy or tired, and I’ll often resort to tested and true recipes that I know are quick and easy to make, and take minimal ingredients. That seems to be a key requirement for me these days when I’m looking for a new recipe. Are the ingredients something I already have in the house, or is the shopping list short enough that it’s not going to blow my weekly grocery budget?

While I love cooking magazines and cook books, I find myself turning to the Internet more and more. The magazines are certainly fun to flip through, but often there are only a handful of recipes that actually appeal to me. On the Internet, I just save or print the ones that I know I will make. I’ve mentioned it before, but here it is again: Pinterest. Along with crafts and DIY, it also has a great collection of recipes, and I find the most interesting ones on there.

I came across this one the other day and made it for dinner the same night. I just picked up the ingredients I didn’t already have on hand, and I was ready to cook. I love that everything is done in one pan, you pop it in the oven, and its ready to eat in 30 minutes.

I did make a few adjustments to the original recipe from Kraft, and that was to double the canned tomatoes and pre-cook the chicken by boiling it prior to layering it in the casserole dish. Some of the reviews I read said that their chicken was undercooked, and I didn’t want to take that risk. By boiling the chicken first, it retains all the juices, so it didn’t dry out at all in the oven. The top gets nice and crispy, and the cheese melts for that ooey gooey centre. It was definitely an enjoyable dish.

This recipe was enough for the two of us, plus leftovers for either lunch or dinner the next day.

INGREDIENTS

1 large can of diced tomatoes, undrained

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

½ cup water

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 tsp. dried basil leaves

1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

DIRECTIONS

HEAT oven to 400ºF.

BOIL chicken breasts for 15 minutes, then cut into bite-sized pieces.

MIX tomatoes, stuffing mix, water and garlic just until stuffing mix is moistened.

LAYER chicken, basil and cheese in 3-qt. casserole or 8x8-inch baking dish.

TOP with stuffing. Bake 30 min.

Fat Friday - Barque Smokehouse

On a lovely Saturday afternoon last summer, Matt and I headed out for a full day of adventures. This mainly included traveling to Roncesvalles to enjoy a much-talked-about BBQ dinner at Barque Smokehouse, followed by an evening with Brian Wilson at Massey Hall. Both of these things were high on our list of ways to enjoy the weekend.

We arrived promptly to make sure that we had plenty of time to enjoy dinner and still make it on time for the show. The place is really cozy and immediately we noticed how family friendly it was, with benches and tables for parents and kids to eat together. The smell of grilling meat and vegetables filled the air, and sunshine filled the room.

The menu has a variety of smoked meats and sides to choose from, but where to begin? We opted for the Barbeque Sampler Platter for two: a choice of three meats and three sides. We chose the beef ribs, the baby back ribs, and the brisket, with sides of smoked asparagus, Cuban Corn, and house made ravioli. 

While we waited for our food to arrive, we enjoyed the complimentary table snacks – spicy Cajun popcorn! It was a very nice and unexpected change from the usual bread or tortilla chips, and totally works with the rest of the menu. I think that bucket of popcorn alone sold us on coming back. But then our food arrived. And we ate our food. And we loved the food. While we have yet to go back (there are just too many new restaurants to try), I would recommend to this to anyone look for some good barbeque meats and vegetables.

We left Barque with full bellies and smiling faces, and the only way to top that dinner was to listen to the peaceful harmonies of Brian Wilson and his band. The show was fantastic. It was one of those concerts where the audience knew every song and often sang along; some even braved dancing in the aisles. It was a concert where the generation gap was obvious from the Hawaiian shirts mixed with the plaid shirts, but that made no difference. Brian Wilson is for everyone. Fingers crossed we’ll get to enjoy a similar concert this summer when the Beach Boys reunite for their tour. 

Crafty Find: Melted Crayon Art

I’ve seen some really creative artwork on the Internet lately, and this one caught my eye. Not only is it colorful and cheerful, but it’s also a great little piece of art work that would be easy for you (or kids) to reproduce at home.  All you need is a box of crayons, a blank canvas, some glue, and your hair dryer. Yup, a hair dryer.  I’ve even got the link to instructions if you want to give it a try.

At first, the ones I came across were pretty straightforward, just arranging the crayons in a rainbow effect and melting them, letting the wax drip down.  But why not mix it up? I’ve since seen others incorporating other images and make the melted wax part of the complete work. How about melting blue crayons for rain? 

No one says you have to mount it with the wax dripping down. Use different shades of green, pop on a few fabric flowers, and you’ve got yourself a little garden scene.

You could also try painting the canvas black and using the lighter shades of the rainbow. Finally those white crayons can come in handy!

And for a more artistic arrangement, complete a set of melted crayons. 

These all look so great, are pretty inexpensive to reproduce, and I think it looks like a lot of fun, don’t you?