My Own Experiment with Making My Own Zucchini Chips: Yahoo!

Good afternoon,

One last post -- due to a recipe for making your own zucchini chips.

One of the items I love to eat on my new diet plan are zucchini chips.  Buying them at the store is expensive, so I started looking around for some recipes on how to make my own.

On Pinterest, I found a link to

http://vittlesandbits.blogspot.com/2012/03/baked-zucchini-chips.html.  She has posted her method of making them.

I read through some of the comments, but there were too many.  Some people had success, while many didn't.  I had two zucchini in the fridge about 2 weeks old, and decided to give it a go.

I took the pictures as I went along, so here were the steps I followed.  (Pretty much what vittles and bits posted.)

FIRST THING OFF; PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO ABOUT 225 DEGREES F.  I wanted to make sure my oven temperature had reached full throttle to start.  (I preheated a little higher and then lowered it when I stuck them in.)

In picture 1:  I had to peel off the outside of my first zucchini.  It was showing a lot of wear and tear, but the inside was still moist and firm.  I sliced the slices very thinly.

My zucchini is really small.  I could almost close my thumb and index finger around it.  See the second untouched zucchini next to the peeled and sliced one.

2:  I laid my zucchini out on a paper towel on my cutting marble.  I had thought of this while I was reading the comments of the people who had tried to get them crisp.  Later, going back, I discovered that another lady had done the same.  What is that?  BLOTTING THEM HEAVILY!
 

 3:  I laid another paper towel on top and pressed and pressed my hands onto the covered zucchini.  A lof of the mositure came through on the top towel.

4:  After they were pressed.

5:  I laid parchment paper on a pizza pan, and very lightly sprayed my olive oil on it.  I sprayed in small, short blasts.

6:  I laid each zucchini slice on top of the olive oil sprayed parchment paper.

 

 7:  Zucchini LIGHTLY sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt.

 

8:  After 20 minutes.  (I preheated a little hotter; won't do that again.)

A little toasty, but still very tasty.

Even a light sprinkle of salt was too much here.

 

 

9:  I sliced the second unpeeled zucchini and sliced them a little thicker this time.

10:  I lowered the temperature this time, and here are 2 batches coming out.  The darker ones on the right were this brown after about 30 minutes.  I gobbled those up anyway; not enough salt this time.  And too late to resalt the rest.

The ones on the left are crispy, even though they didn't totally brown.  I found I had to take them out as they browned, a little at a time.  I ate those, too, even though they could've used a touch more salt.

 

11:  I picked up slices and hopefully you can make them out.  I wanted you to see their size (I have small hands)  But they are totally crispy!!  And YUMMY!

12:  The rest I removed as they either browned up or were crispy enough.

So ... today, I ate two zucchini!  Tears now; they were my last two zucchini, but I hope to stop on the way home from work tomorrow and pick up a few more.

To me, this experiment was totally successful ... and delish!

Because every oven is so different, I just think you have to play around with this to find out how it works for you.  And every zucchini is going to be a little different too.  Depending on size and the moisture inside, you're going to have to learn to play it by ear.  Each time!

But, it's worth it!  At least it was for me!

Good luck, and hope you great success should you try making these yourself.

And remember to check out vittles and bits blogspot for her instructions and all the comments.  There are so many, I only got about a quarter of the way through them before running off to try it myself.

Enjoy!

Cj

Snag this Mother's Day Card front for FREE

Good afternoon,

I'm on a roll!  My third post for today is a Mother's Day Card, completely snagable.

I made this a couple of days ago, and meant to post it sooner.  But there's still time to grab this picture and use if for the front of your Mother's Day, if you're into making your own.  The colors are incredible!

I plan to print a couple of these out smaller and make my cards.  The frame is a pink, so I will layer it onto a darker base and have several bases for the front.

If you print them, and make your cards today, you can get them in the mail tomorrow with plenty of time to arrive by next Sunday!

Have a great week, and I hope to post something new tomorrow, before heading off to work.

I'm presently making a huge kit to use, and some of the items will be offered here for free, in png format.

Till then, enjoy the rest of your weekend.  I'm off to do the same!

Cj

Luck with my new Diet Plan

 

 Good afternoon again,

My favorite magazine is Woman's World, as many of you know.  And every week, they offer a new diet.  I've finally found one I really like, and Dr. Oz thinks it makes a lot of sense.

Me and many of my family members have food allergies.  I've always felt a lot of the problem was due to all the engineering they do to our foods now.  As soon as I remember it starting, I felt it was going to be trouble.  No one can't perfect what God has already created perfectly.

The issue I'm talking about is the April 15, 2013 issue, page 18 and 19.  It's called, "Dr.OZ reveals Your hidden fat trigger!"

The picture above is my picture that I took of MY BREAKFAST just THIS MORNING.  Of course, I edited in my graphics program.  The second picture, also taken by me, is straight out of my camera.  That's a 12 oz. glass you're seeing.

The smoothie calls for only a half cup of coconut milk, but for days my thick smoothie would hardly come out of my blender, so I decided to add more to thin it down.  I am lactose-intolerant, and was a little unsure of trying coconut silk, but I love it!  And I love my morning breakfast now.

The diet also calls for 1/2 cup of grapes, but I've found grabbing a handful is fine for me.

One way to cut food bills is to know what you're going to eat each day.  If you can stand to have the same thing for one meal a day, this will truly lower your grocery bill.

You do follow a set menu for 20 days in the full version of the plan, but in the Woman's World version, they put together a quick mini-version lasting only 3 days.  I weighed myself each day, and lost 3 pounds.

I made a list of the acceptable foods which were the ones I was eating the first three days.  I then was allowed, after the third day, to add one to my menu.  I found a plain baked potato did not affect my weight adversely at all.  In fact, I dropped another 4 oz.  I weigh daily to see how different foods affect me.

If a food doesn't affect my weight, I can it to my skinny list.  If it causes weight gain, it goes on my fat list.  I can still eat it occasionally, but I know to keep it small and not eat that every day.

To find out more about the diet, find a copy of this Woman's World or buy the book for the full version.

Me, I'm just keeping on with the mini version.  I feel so good, and I'm seeing results I like.  I am almost never hungry either, which is terrific!

My husband and I also love Chinese food, although I am eliminating soy from my regular diet.  But on Saturday, we love to order carryout from a place locally, and on this diet, I've discovered that I can eat it (a smaller version of it though, which is fine), and still drop 2 oz.  Wow!  I love this diet.

I know that salmon causes me to gain 14 oz. the next day.  So, although I love salmon, it's only on my menu 2x a month.

Just thought I'd share this plan with you.  Perhaps it will work for you, too.

Have a great day!

Cj

Finally, my Little Handmade Sock Dolls

Good afternoon!

Shame on me ... for again being so late.  Apologies to anyone waiting to see the little handmade sock doll I made for a friend last month.

Above are two handmade sock dolls I made.  I found the original idea on pinterest, but I changed her pattern to fit my own needs.  I wanted to have little arms off to the side, and this left a tummy in the middle too. (I'll have to see if I can find that pin, as she has the instructions for making the sock dolls already written out.)

The bigger doll is made from a regular girls sock.  The smaller doll is made from a ruffly toddlers sock.  I like things in mini scale.  You know that if you've seen my sculpey's.

I crocheted a little scarf to go around them.  On mine, a small purple ribbon adorns her hat, and on the small one, the pink yarn made into a bow for her hat.

Both handmade sock dolls have movable eyes glued on them.  The small one is sweet because her eyes have blue lids with lashes too.  I forgot to take a picture of her closeup.

As I like to do for all of my creations, I had to tube it and use it in my artwork as well.

And this picture is my finished creation for my artwork.

Since I usually make flowers, I had my sock dolls placed on a stack of them.

I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back shortly to post a little more.

Cj

P.S.  Due to finances being extremely tight (my husband lost his job), I've had to take down my website at EasyAsPieDailyGraphics.com.  It's okay.  I had been thinking of taking it down anyway.

Anniversary Project Up Close

Continued from my previous post: Here is a picture of my little sculpey owl.  He was originally made to make into a pin.

Carelessly, I dropped him, and his right wing broke off.  I could not find the piece that fell in my office where I do my art.  Someday, it will turn up.  I had a little blended color from the original project, so I made a new wing, baked it, and glue it on; then glossed it. 

The eyes are movable eyes, the kind that move when you shake them.  I glue those on after my projects are baked and cooled.

Here is my little sculpey flower I made.  I made two of these, and never used them, so I thought I'd add it here.  You can see the wired pearls in this closeup.

And last, but not least ... the butterfly was bought at Michaels or Joanne's.  They come in a set of two, and I hadn't used either, so dedicated this one for this project.  The flower was made from kleenex/tissue paper.  I used an ink pad to get the darker rose color on the edges.

That's pretty much it.  I didn't show you the butterflies or bling gems.  They are standard fare that you pick up for scrapping projects.

I plan to make more of this type of project, but in small sizes.  Perhaps for a birthday or other gift.  This particular project is about 8.5 x 11 just for the photo.  The base extends out beyond that, so it is a fairly large project for me, but perfect for hanging on a wall to show it off.

Saving with thrift store items, such as the nightgown I purchased are cheap and fun to use on projects like this.  This was a huge-gal gown, and it has ruffles and lace on it, which I also plan to use.  Its wonderful.  (I didn't know how big this nightgown was until I got it home, and tried it on.  OH MY!  It fell right off!)

Hope you enjoyed these projects.

Have a terrific Sunday.

Monday and Tuesday, I hope to post the two gifts I sent out yesterday.

Bye for now.

Keep crafting!

Cj

Anniversary project

Good morning,

I'm back with another quick post.  I have NOT been idle.

This top picture is my digital project for my husband.    I showed you this flower pattern in the previous post and offered it as a png.

Here is the first picture I took and edited in my graphics program. I put it on a dark background here, so you could see it better.

I added lots of items to it.  A sculpey owl I made is in the upper left corner.  A sculpey flower is the lower left corner.  There's a butterly at the top, and I left a place for the hole to hang it.  I made the paper flower below the top butterfly.

Added throughout the rest of the project are stick-on butterfly, glued bling gems, in different colors.

It was printed on photo paper, so the colors came out great.  Not as easy to see that here though.

It is attached to a cardstock paper.

The base is two cutout cereal boxes glued together for firmness.  The board was cover 2x with a beautiful pink nightgown that I bought at a thrift store many moons ago.  The back of the picture is smooth, with the front being where I glued the fabric, which is hidden by the picture.

I topped off the finished project with wired pearls.  They are larger than I normally use for my small projects, but were just right for this one.

All in all, it turned out well, and he was pleased with my efforts.  He is very supportive of my art efforts.

Here is the picture again, hanging on my wall.  I did use a sticky dot on the back bottom to hold the picture straight on the wall.

It will hang here for a time, until I have another items to take its place.

I took some closeups of different items, but failed to post them originally, so that will be in my next post.

See you in a minute.

Cj

Sunday Color Me Flowers Fun!

Good morning!

It's Sunday morning, and its been awhile since my last post.  I'm still been creating though.

The picture this morning is one I call give me flowers or color me flowers.  The picture above is a jpg, and it is a flower design I created yesterday.

The big flower was reduced 50% and then 50% more to get the small flowers.  On the two small flowers, I added to layer effects to get the changes.  I love playing with layers.

The above picture shows the flower big!  This is a png, and free for you to snag.  Isn't it pretty?  Can you find a spot for it your scrapbooking projects?

Another png, this time, making a border out of the big flower which has been reduced.  This shows the versatility of using these pngs.  You can take them and make additional items with them.

My husband and I just celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary, so next I'll post the wall card I made for him.  It is now hanging on our wall in the kitchen/dining room.  We celebrated a quiet day.  For dinner, we ordered in some Chinese food, which was delicious.  We spent the evening watching Netflix movies.  All in all; a very good day.

I also sent out 2 packages yesterday.  One to my mother-in-law, and one to a friend I correspond with and make little gifts for.  She's a widow, and a very kind lady.

I will be taking down my website at Easy As Pie Daily Graphics dot com.

My husband lost his job at the end of March after 12 years with his company.  His company fought his unemployment request.

He found a job with a temporary service, so he worked for four days, and then trained on a Sunday for another week-long job, which he just finished.  He's starting a permanent placement by the temp service tomorrow morning.  Unfortunately, they did not tell him where to go, and he tried to reach them on Saturday.

He will get ready tomorrow for work, and call them until he finds out where he's going.  He has a general idea, but they didn't give him the details.  He may be a little late, but it is due to the temp agency.

Our income has dropped, so things are a little tight right now; hence letting my website go.

I'll just keep blogging along, which thanks to blogspot, is free.

Take care, and I'll be back with several posts to show you some of the items I've been creating.

Cj