Thursday, April 15, 2010

StampTV CSS Alumni Blog Hop

It's time for another CSS Blog hop!


Several members of the CenterStage Spotlight Alumni team have gathered some of their favorite BBQ Picnic recipes together for us to make another cookbook!  The cookbook will be available for FREE over on the StampTV Freebie page for you to download and print at your leisure. 

Here is the cover with a peek of the yumminess found inside.



But, since we are paper crafters - we challenged them even further to make a project with their recipe in mind to share with us tonight on their blogs!  (The projects are also included in photos on the recipe booklet as well.)  

The recipe that I submited is called Foil Babies. I'm not exactly sure why we call them Foil Babies. Basically you throw a bunch of vegetables with oil or cooking spray and seasonings into foil and seal it up real tight.  Throw it on the fire or grill for about a half hour to forty five minutes and you have a genuine Foil Baby. Yum! Now, everyone in my family except me also includes a hamburger patty. I don't eat a lot of meat, so the photo I included with the recipe does not include the hamburger patty. Although I did include it in the ingredients of the recipe in the book. :o) You can use canned or fresh vegetables.  I used fresh for mine. And you can use any vegetable you desire. Also in the recipe I listed salt and pepper for the seasoning.  That is what we originally used until about a year ago. My mom decided one day to mix a bunch of herbs and spices together to use on dishes like this.  And now it has become a staple for her and I decided to make some to use for this recipe.  This is not in the book, but I will share what I used on my at the end of this post if you want to try it out. Here are photos of the packet before it went into the oven and then the steaming hot food on a pretty paper plate ready for me to enjoy.


So the challenging part of this project was deciding how to include papercrafting into the recipe. I thought about running the foil through the Big Kick with an embossing folder first. Um, maybe not.  Maybe stamp images on the foil with Stazon? Well, maybe not.

I finally decided that maybe I need to start a cookbook of all the recipes we use when we go camping. So that is what I am going to share with you tonight.  I took a small white binder that holds half sheets of letter size paper and covered the front with some paper that I've had in my stash for several years now.  It's layered on a piece of Pure Luxury (PL) Lipstick Red card stock with a strip of ribbon down the left hand side. I love the colors and the fun images on this paper.  I pulled out my Gina K stamp set, Happy Camper and stamped a little scene on PL White card stock. I paper pieced the sign by stamping it on the free woodgrain digital paper from StampTV.com and then I stamped the word "Camping" on the sign and then wrote "recipes" under it with a sharpie marker.  I cut it out and adhered it to the scene on the white card stock.  I colored the images with Copic markers and sponged with tan and green ink.  Then I matted it on some PL Lipstick Red card stock and adhered it to the front with a lot of Scor Tape.

For the recipe card I used Publisher to print the recipe text onto white card stock.  I stamped some fun images from Happy Camper directly onto the card stock with colored ink to match the images from the pattern paper.  I adhered the recipe to a piece of PL Lipstick Red and then PL Tan Leather.  I put it into a page protector so it doesn't get messy.  Now I am ready to add more recipes and I can take this along when I go camping with my family.




Please check out the links of all the participating designers and then download the Recipe booklet and let us know how you like them!

As promised here are tips for making the seasoning and herb mixture that I used when making my foil baby.
I combined the following:
   2 Tbs Onion Powder
   2 Tbs Garlic Powder
   2 Tbs Minced Onion
   2 Tbs Parsley Flakes
   2 Tbs Oregano
   2 Tbs Basil
   2 tsp Salt
   1 tsp Savory (my mom gave me this because she likes it in her mix)
   1 tsp Hot Pepper Flakes
I think that is everything I added.  I just put it in one of the larger spice jars that I emptied and shook it up really well.  I've also sprinkled it on buttered toast and used it on my fried eggs for breakfast.
You can use whatever spices and herbs you like. Experiment with different mixes and use less of each when you are experimenting. This is a great way to add flavor and use less fat in your recipes.

17 comments:

Tina said...

FABULOUS recipe layout!! LOVE it!!!

joy said...

What a fantastic idea! Can't wait to try your recipe out!

Theresa Momber said...

Great recipe, Melissa! I do something similar, but mine seems boring compared to yours. I think I'll be kicking mine up a notch and make it like yours (and now I have a name for it, too!). Love your gorgeous cookbook! What a treasured heirloom that will be someday!

Betty Neville said...

What a wonderful project! Will have to try your seasoning!

Unknown said...

Oh Melissa!! This is so fabulous and your seasoning sounds divine! Thank you so much for taking the time to not only make the recipe for us but also to design such a beautiful cookbook to share with us too! You ROCK!

redwasher1 said...

Your recipe looks wonderful and can't wait to try it! Awesome card!!

Dawn said...

what a cute,cute book!!! yum!!

Carla S. said...

What a great recipe book, Melissa! Fantastic design! Great recipe, too!

AKiteFlier said...

Love your recipe book - great cover! We used to camp 2-3xs per month when I lived in Calif and this would have been the perfect recipe book - alas, now that I live in the midwest with HIGHLY unpredictable weather we camp rarely. :-( I miss it alot. Your recipe is right up my alley - love it and I can make foil babies when the family has my foil potatoes!

Cheri said...

I love that combo of spices, Melissa and I love, love, love your cookbook idea. Can't wait to give these "babies" a try.

Colleen said...

Melissa,
I love this book, your projects are always so detailed and great. I will have to try that recipe too!

Sharri said...

Melissa, I love your cookbook! I have made foil potatoes but never with veggies. I have to give this a try and use your combo of spices!

Brenda said...

Melissa you potatoes look delicious. I make something similar, but this look and sound much better. Great recipe book and recipe card.

Lee said...

Oh that is some FUN dp and soooo cute with this recipe!! I totally need to try more veggie recipes!!!

Sue VanDeVusse said...

Your recipe looks and sounds wonderful! I love the cookbook idea and yours is perfect for camping recipes.

peggy wainman said...

Your altered binder is great

Jennie said...

Great book Melissa! Just love your recipe and looking forward to trying it.