Masquerade

Ah Halloween! You must have your costume all planned and ready to go. But for those of you who don't know who you'll be on fright night, may I suggest a little blah to Tada!?

Pieces of cardboard...what a blah.

Turn it into a mask for an instant Tada!

Here's a little trick: use a pair of sunnies to estimate the size of the mask. Trace with a pencil and cut, cut, cut away.

Jazz it up as you please -- with sequins and glitter!

Or what about some feathers?!

Make a few extras for friends who arrive at your party without a costume and then have a blast at your own masquerade ball!

Please Come In!

We've got Halloween on our minds and I have a bunch of ideas especially for this red letter day!

Today's blah -- an old cardboard box, all cut up.

Just flip it over.
Now it's a blank canvas ready to be spruced up.

Paint it. Decorate it. Cover it with glitter.

Tada! A sign you can hang on the door of your house or apartment to alert all trick or treaters that they're welcome to knock and that you've prepared something for their candy buckets!

Hello Halloween

Happy Monday Everyone! If you're already doing a countdown, you know that Halloween is just around the corner. So for you who marks this as their favorite holiday, I'm devoting the next two weeks for some serious blah to Tada! Halloween ideas.

Today's blah -- old bill envelopes.

We'll use these basic supplies to turn it into a Tada!

By piling the strips of paper on top of each other,
Tada!, we've created a mummy envelope!

Use it to hold party invitations.

Or a Halloween greeting card.

You can also use it as an envelope for sweets, tricks & treats.

Please stop by tomorrow for another Tada! idea.

Hearth to Hearty

Ohhh bread! It's one of life's little pleasures, especially when we catch the baker taking out fresh loaves from the oven...such a lovely scent! We leave the store clutching the soft and fragrant baked treat, dreaming of toast and flavorful sandwiches.

But sometime in the week, our dear loaf is ignored and because it can't seem to get our attention, it becomes lonely and dry. Then we discover it in its sad state. We become upset, "What am I going to do with stale bread?", we say. Blah indeed.

As we've seen in my blog this week, stale bread can be a Tada! if turned into croutons, breadcrumbs, an easy breakfast and a filling snack. Here's another Tada! to add to the list:

Ribolitta! It's thick, flavorful and hearty Italian soup.

It's a party in a pot where pancetta, onions, garlic, carrots, celery, cannellini beans, tomatoes, basil, kale, stock and bread are invited. You'll find the recipe here.

It's a good way to use up stale bread and makes a
healthy dinner for a chilly night.

Have a nice weekend ya' all!

A Pudding for Autumn

I hope you're all having a wonderful Thursday!

Today, we're still turning stale bread from blah to Tada!.

And we're doing that by making bread pudding!

Here's the recipe I used (adapted from the Little Bread & Butter Puddings recipe in the Marie Claire Cooking Book):

1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced (you can use pears)
6 small slices of bread, chopped (I used a Baguette)
1/4 cup raisins
2 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sugar
dash of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two 1 1/4 cup capacity ramekins with butter. Place apples, bread and raisins in the ramekins. Whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Pour mixture over bread and let stand for 5 minutes. Place the ramekins in a baking dish and fill the dish half-way with warm water. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until puddings are firm. Serve as is or with a scoop of vanilla or caramel ice cream. Serves 2.

I like this because I get to use up my stale bread plus apples which are abundant this time of year. I can have this for breakfast or for a snack with a warm cup of tea. Hmmm-yum!

Itty-Bitty Breakfast

Stale bread is the star of my blog this week and while "stale" isn't the most appetizing description for one of our favorite kitchen staples, I promise you, we'll put the sexy back to bread!

Here's what we'll do: Remove the crusts from your favorite white or whole wheat bread. If they are too thick, flatten them slightly with several swoops from a rolling pin. Put the bread into a greased muffin tin. The bread will look like a tulip or bird's nest. Add a piece of ham or bacon inside each slice and some whisked eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 15 minutes or until the eggs are cooked.

Tada! Little breakfast cups that look like they came from a fancy brasserie. They're mighty yummy, too! You can easily substitute the filling depending on your diet. Happy eating!

Crumbled into Pieces

Turning stale bread from blah to Tada! is this week's theme. We really don't want to waste anything -- even if the bread becomes so hard, it's enough to be used as a weapon!

Slice the bread into cubes and put this in the food processor or blender. Give it a whiz until you're left with this:

Tada! We made breadcrumbs!

Use it as breading for chicken, fillers for meatballs and toppings for casseroles or macaroni & cheese. Put the left-overs in a resealable bag, label appropriately and store in the freezer.

See you again tomorrow!

Our Daily Bread

Hello there and happy Monday!

Do you ever find yourselves with stale bread in your kitchen? Please don't throw it out! There are many ways to turn stale bread from blah to Tada!. For example, we can turn them into croutons:

Here's an easy recipe I used from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa at Home Cookbook):

You will need:
1/2 loaf of bread, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 large garlic clove
2 tablespoons good olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Remove the crusts from the bread slices and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Crush the garlic with the side of a large chef's knife and discard the peel. In a medium saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, until the garlic starts to brown, and then discard the garlic. Add the bread cubes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat, tossing occasionally, until brown on all sides.

They make a perfect finish to a thick, warm soup.
Hope to see you again tomorrow!

Ribbon Recycle

It's Friday and the major blah this week was the closing of several magazines over at Conde Nast, Gourmet Magazine included. Really heart-breaking news! I mean, Gourmet is an institution! I'm going to miss it a lot together with their TV show "Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie" on public TV.

I hope those who've lost their publishing jobs band together and create something spectacular. Just like Lonny Magazine created by former Domino Magazine team members. Discovering it was a real Tada!

It's quite bittersweet that I'm transforming old magazines from blah to Tada! this week. I can't imagine the day when we've gone all electronic and flipping through a magazine ceases to exist. I can't bear the thought!

Now on to happier things...here's another craft project that I'm sharing with you and as I made them, I silently said, "Thank you for magazines!"

From bookmarks to bowls to framed art...there are so many uses for old magazines. Here's another idea: turn the pages into gift wrap & ribbon!

Black, white & ruffles spell elegance.

Bow tie and buttons for your favorite guy.

Find a colorful page.
Fold, snip, pile and glue together.

Tada! A fancy ribbon to dress up any package.

And finally, a pink page that looks like a pretty flower!

Hope these ideas inspired you for your next gift wrapping task.
Have a fun weekend!

Positive Thoughts

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! This week is devoted to re-purposing old magazines.

One can easily get absorbed in a good magazine -- intelligent articles, mouthwatering recipes, stunning photography and mesmerizing fashion! There's no doubt that you can find so much inspiration in this kind of publication.

When you're ready to get rid of a magazine, flip through the pages and cut out your favorite words and pictures. Glue them on a blank sheet of colored paper and Tada!:

You have your own piece of artwork!

Another option is to put together a list of positive phrases. Frame this. Hang it in your office. Look at it every morning. Use it as your morning pep talk. That way you can face the day with lots of enthusiasm and you can ignore any negativity that threatens you.

Sending positive energy your way! See you again tomorrow!

Keep the Change

This week on my blog, I'm finding new uses for old magazines.

Turn something blah into a Tada!

Okay, not so blah for Twilight fans out there if the stars are on the cover. But if you've read all the pages and turned photos of Robert Pattinson & Taylor Lautner into wall art, let's turn the magazine into something more useful.

A little bowl, perhaps?
Here's how:

Open it to the centerfold & remove the staple wires
binding the magazine.

Cut each page in half (lengthwise).

Fold each page into eight sections,
overlapping (not alternating) as you go.

Attach the ends together using clear tape
until you form one really long ribbon.

Tightly wind the paper ribbon into a spiral &
secure the end with tape.

Gently pull up the upper part of the spiral to turn it into a bowl.

Once satisfied with the shape, pour some glue on one side and spread with a foam brush to allow the glue to get into the crevices. Repeat and allow to dry. Do the same on the other side.

Tada! Your very own bowl!

It's a perfect way to store loose change.

Hope to see you again tomorrow!

Mark My Word

I have a magazine addiction and it isn't easy for me to get rid of old issues. I like to pull some out from a stack, look through them and find inspiration from its words and pictures.

If you look at it from a magazine editor's perspective, you'll know that so much blood, sweat and tears are involved in the creation of each page. While I really do have to move out old magazine issues from my home, I'm keeping some pages like fabulous fashion spreads. I glued them on a piece of cardboard and added some ribbon...

...Tada! And turned them into bookmarks!

That way, I can see my favorite looks everyday
without the extra clutter.

Make as many bookmarks for all your current reads and make a few more to give to your fashion-loving friends!