Crafty Me: I Love Labels!

One might wonder why a person who lives alone would need to have labels on 3 little bins in their closet. I'm afraid I can't really come up with a good answer for that. I would just have to say that I love organization. I love when a plan comes together. And I love graphic elements, fonts and consistency. Yeah. Crazy. So I already had a beautifully organized master/walk-in closet with matching, padded, canvas and wood hangers; rolling carts full of bins and wire drawers; wide PVC hanger bags for holiday clothes and seasonal linens; a wide shelf full of covered totes for dust protection; plenty of hooks, a full length mirror and, finally, baskets for additional sorting of clothes meant for handwashing, dry cleaning or donation. Now comes the really crazy part: adding labels to my finely tuned closet system. {LABEL NUMBER ONE}...I have a little clothing quirk: I only wear long, dark pants. No skirts, no dresses, no shorts, no white slacks. I have multiples of all kinds of dark pants: long, black, dress pants; short, narrow-leg, brown pants; wide-leg, cropped black pants; loose, comfy, weekend, black pants...well you get the idea. Thing is in the morning, with my eyes at half-mast and the sun nowhere near flooding in my closet, it's kind of hard to figure out which is which! So I made a big, retro-style label for each hanger. Now I can know at a glance where to grab the one I want. Love this idea! {LABEL NUMBER TWO}...Next up: totes and bins. This was an easy fix now that I had the hanger label design in hand! {LABEL NUMBER THREE}...The last problem that needed solving: to launder or not to launder? I read many years ago that you actually prolong the life of your clothes and preserve their condition and shape if, in lieue of harsh cleaning after every wearing, you simply let them air out once in awhile. Now after every other use or so I'll hang  each garment on a separate hook overnight. In these cases I like to mark the hangers before placing them back on the rack to insure I don't pack or store the item before re-laundering. I customized some old business cards with my new design, cut each in half and punched a hole in the center of each piece - star-shaped just for fun! I keep a bunch of these in a bowl in the closet and drop one over the neck of the hanger when I put a lightly worn blouse or jacket back on the rod. And there you have it - a peek into an obsessive-compulsive's closet dream!

Sweet Open Faced Pork Sandwich

Mmmm. Pig. The other white meat. This dish is one of my creations. I really like pork roast - tenderloin or fresh ham - both ring my bell. While the fresh ham is a bit more flavorful, thanks of course to the higher fat content, a pork tenderloin is easy and quick. And prepared with the right combination of flavor profiles, it can be just as enjoyable. I often like to buy the prepared pork from my food market's rotisserie and have it ready to go for several meals. Last weekend however I was feeling energetic so I made my own. Since this pork would be the base for a variety of recipes I thought I would use restraint in choosing my ingredients. I created a dry rub of five-spice powder, salt and pepper and some fresh parsley and thyme. I cut a tenderloin in half, coated all sides with the rub and braised the pieces in a fry pan over high heat with a little oil to brown on all sides. Then I lowered the heat and let them cook through.  Fruit is always a great choice to accompany pork and I love this particular combination of sweet and savory. So here's what I did: toast 1 slice of Ezekiel's Bread for Life Sprouted Raisin Bread. Once crisp spread with one tablespoon of Smucker's Sugar Free Peach Preserves. Top with 2 oz. of your beautifully roasted, thinly sliced Pork Tenderloin. Sprinkle with some Balsamic Vinaigrette-Dressed Spring Mix and 1 tablespoon of chopped Pecans. Chicken? Who needs chicken?

Crafty Me: More than Friends

C'mon, you know you want these! Did you go to camp when you were a kid? I did not. Did you have craft projects when you were in grade school? I did not. Did you and your BFFs share secret pacts and friendship trinkets when you were growing up? I did not. But then along came my BBF (best blog friend) Joy turning me onto this post at Honestly WTF and I was off! The hardest part was finding the Chinese knotting cord, which I ended up ordering online from the link Erica gave us. I already had these little silver bits from a past project. I only had to finish one before I got the hang of the right knot tension. I made 6 or 7 after that and all came out perfect! I love them - they are so cute and young. But they're still nice for us old gals - they don't look like we're trying too hard cause they're JUST FUN!

On The Way, Week 20

{1|} Mandevilla Vine, Mahwah, NJ {2} Old Time Truck Graphics, Suffern, NY {3} Home Sewing, Middletown, NY {4} Pumpkin Raisin Muffins, Whispering Hills, NY {5} Victorian Home, Goshen, NY {6} DIY Bracelets, Whispering Hills, NY

White Pizza

When I was younger pizza was all about cheese and tomato sauce. That's it. No variety. No crazy toppings. No choice of crusts. And I loved it! When I lost lots and lots of weight in a relatively short time some years ago, I got many compliments and some good-natured ribbing. Friends "worried" that I would waste away to nothing. My stock retort was "fear not - if you see that happening just shove some pizza in my face: problem solved!" I adore pizza. And I'm not a pizza snob either - I can totally get behind everything from wood-fired artisan pies to the English Muffin pizzas my Mom used to make on meatless Fridays. So it is nice to find a really, really tasty healthy version of my favorite dish. This one starts with a Thomas' Whole Wheat Pita Pocket. Turn the whole pocket upside down (the slightly concave shape will hold your toppings better). Brush with 1 Tablespoon of Pesto and sprinkle with fresh minced Garlic. Scatter 1/4 cup of Low-Fat or Fat-Free Ricotta in large spoonfuls over the entire pocket. Top with 1/4 cup of Organic Valley's Italian Cheese Blend. Broil for a minute or two until the cheeses melt and bubble. Indulge.

On The Way, Week 19

{1} Clouds, Chester, NY {2} St. James Episcopal Church, Goshen, NY {3} Healthy White Pizza, Whispering Hills, NY {4} Beach/Park, Ridgewood, NJ {5} Cornflake Crusted Chicken w Local Heirloom Tomatoes and Corn, Chestnut Ridge, NY {6} Historic Racetrack, Goshen, NY

Sizzled Shrimp and Heirloom Tomatoes

This is a dish I got right off the Prevention website and - oh! - is it ever full of summer goodness. I saw the recipe and planned to make it last week because I had an unexpected craving for shrimp. Happily I decided to stop by the local natural food co-op to pick up the few ingredients I needed and lo & behold I found absolutely gorgeous pints of mixed, locally grown, organic patio tomatoes - perfect for this quick and easy recipe. One serving of this recipe is only about 250 calories so you can add a nice bit of pasta or rice, a side salad or tortilla to round out the meal. I recommend you do whatever must be done to get real tomatoes - not those mealy, mushy, flavorless pink fruits sold year-round at the supermarket. Although a few sun dried tomatoes and sweet corn contribute a lot to the flavor, this dish really relies on farm fresh summer tomatoes to knock it out of the park!