Repurposing

Art Crawl on 84

This is an annual Labor Day weekend art crawl in northern Minnesota. It is a thirty-four mile stretch in the rural area of nine outdoor stops filled with fine art, fiber, sculptures, food, clothing, jewelry,  baskets and many more things too numerous to list. What struck me about this art crawl was the ingenuity and creativity artists showed taking used items and finding a new purpose for them. Think Steampunk Jewelry.

This was a lamp made with parts of a meat grinder and a strainer for a shade

Lawn art made with plates

Scarves made from men's ties

Now here is an item every lady needs for their shopping trip. It is large, sturdy and holds a lot. Not only is this a great conversation piece but no one would ever guess these were once chicken feed bags repurposed into an artful item. 

 Along the way we discovered... 

This interesting plant is called Amaranthus Caudatus or Love-Lies-Bleeding. It is annual easily grown from seed. The plant originated in South America and parts of the plant are edible and used by the natives. It is also called the Tassel plant,velvet plant or Foxtail amaranthus. 
What better place to stop and have lunch than at small local cemetery along the route. We found a shady spot to take a rest. You know shopping can be hard work!

The story goes that these wooden boxes are caskets of two Indians buried in this cemetery in the 1800's

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Revisiting Chicken Florentine Recipe

Cook's notes: This recipe was posted on  August 21.  I tweaked it a bit so here are some minor changes I made to the original recipe 

Chicken Florentine

Ingredients:

·        8 oz. dried bow tie pasta or pasta shells
·        1 small onion chopped
·        1 TB. butter
·        2 large eggs
·        1-1/4 cups milk (2%)
·        1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
·        ¼- ½ tsp. crushed red pepper
·        ½ tsp. Dijon mustard
·        2 cups cooked chicken (diced)
·        2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
·        1-jar 6.5 oz. artichoke hearts, drained and diced (I used Cara Mia product)
·        ½ package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (use a paper towel to squeeze out moisture)
·        ½ cup oil packed dried tomatoes, drained and chopped or 1-1/2 cup diced cherry tomatoes
·        ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
·        2 slices of whole wheat bread 
·        ½ tsp. paprika
·        1 TB. parsley flakes

Directions:

·        Cook pasta according to directions but cook al dente, drain
·        In a skillet saute onion in 1 TB. Butter and set aside
·        In a bowl whisk eggs, milk, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper and crushed red pepper and mustard
·        Stir in chicken, Monterey cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, artichokes, spinach, tomatoes,  cooked pasta and onions
·        Transfer to a greased 3 qt. rectangular casserole dish
·        Bake covered @ 350 for 20 minutes
·        Uncover and sprinkle breadcrumb mixture on top and bake 10 minutes longer, let sit 10 minutes before serving

Bread Crumb mixture-mix in a Cuisinart 2 slices of bread, then add parsley flakes.1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and 1 TB. melted butter