Martell Gazpacho

It's not blood, it's tomato juice!

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

When I was in Spain, my favorite thing to eat was gazpacho.  Even the grocery store gazpacho was delicious.  It is the perfect summer dish, in my mind.  After getting the vitamix, I vowed to make a delicious gazpacho once the weather turned nice, and I am happy to say I succeeded in my goal.  It's an incredibly simple recipe, and took all of 20 minutes to make (and that includes the time spent rough-chopping the vegetables).  And the best part?  The only clean-up required involved wiping down the cutting board and the vitamix.  Couldn't be simpler.  The recipe makes about 8 cups, so serve it as an appetizer for a summer dinner party, have it for lunch during the week, or let it be dinner for a couple of nights!

What you need:

• 2 lbs Tomatoes, stems removed and quartered
• 4 inch slice of French Baguette (and then you can eat the rest of the baguette with the soup!)
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 small-medium yellow onion, quartered
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 poblano pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• Salt & Pepper to taste. 

Other than chopping your veggies, the only other prep you need to do is to soak the piece of bread in water, and once it is saturated, squeeze the water out as best you an and throw it in the blender with everything else.  Start by putting the tomatoes, poblano, and cucumber in the vitamix, and let it run just long enough to liquefy everything and give you some more room in the blender (assuming the veggies have filled it up!).  Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend on high until it is smooth.  Don't let the soup get hot!  Pour the soup into a large serving bowl or pitcher and refrigerate for at least an hour, to be sure it is nicely chilled upon serving.

Rainwood: Beet Chip & Kale Salad

Breathe properly.  Stay curious.  And eat your beets.

Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

Happy (belated) Earth Day!  To celebrate, I decided to make a salad using one of the most deliciously earthy vegetables out there: the beet.  I love beets in every form, and for this salad, I tried something I haven't done before.  I recently bought a vegetable spiralizer, so I decided to make roasted beet chips.  Mixed in with kale and candied walnuts, the salad was a perfect blend of earthiness and sweet, all topped with a sweet and spicy dressing.

What you need:

     For the salad:

• 3 medium-large beets, peeled and spiralized (or sliced VERY thin)
• 1 cup walnut halves
• 1 large bunch Lacinato Kale, stems removed and torn into bite-sized pieces
• 3 tbsp 100% pure dark amber maple syrup
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

     For the dressing:

• 1 tbsp stone-ground mustard
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Heat the oven to 400.  After spiralizing the beets, toss them in the olive oil and then lay them out on a foiled and oiled baking sheet.  Let them cook for 20 minutes.

While they cook, put your walnuts into a skillet and cook on medium-high until they begin to brown.  Once they have started browning, add the maple syrup and stir until all walnuts are coated and the syrup is basically evaporated.  Remove from heat and pour the walnuts onto parchment paper to cool.

Next, mix together the ingredients for the dressing, and toss all of your torn kale into a large salad bowl.  I recommend massaging the kale a bit to soften it before adding the other ingredients.  When the walnuts have cooled and the beets are finished roasting, combine all of the ingredients, toss them in the dressing, and serve. 

The Lion & The Rose: Lion King Hyena Masks

Mufasa! Mufasa! Mufasa! 

The Lion King

For the most part, this mask-making process was one great big experiment. Luckily, it worked out!  Our initial idea involved sculpting the masks out of clay, covering the clay in vaseline, doing plaster of paris over the clay, and then somehow just pulling the dried plaster off while retaining the shape.  Yeah, that didn't work.  After failing miserably at our plaster attempt after sculpting the Banzai mask, we regrouped and started looking into other options.  Ultimately, we settled on Worbla, which comes in sheets and becomes mold-able when heated. 

The biggest concern after we got the worbla was how we were going to heat it and press it into the correct form without melting the clay.  Obviously, the easiest solution to this problem is to get clay that doesn't melt, but we had already sculpted the whole thing out of clay which, as it turned out, did melt.  Based on the fact that we had more problems with applying the worbla to the Shenzi mask, I would say that if for some reason you decide you want a challenge and go for clay that will melt, coating the clay in vaseline first helps tremendously (and this vaseline layer has other uses too, so we recommend using it no matter the clay you use). 

Putting the worbla on the Banzai form

To apply the worbla, you just need a heat gun.  We folded the worbla in half and heated it all up before getting to the application because one side of the sheet had an adhesive, and by "gluing" the two sides together, we ended up with a sturdier end-product.  If you were just putting the worbla onto a foam base (for armor or something like that), you wouldn't need to go through that extra step.  Once the two sides were put together, we just heated it up and molded it onto the clay as best we could.  Application of the worbla ended up being a bit tricky, just due to the weirdly-shaped mask, but other than a few seams and a few misplaced wrinkles, we were really pleased with the end result.

Worbla applied to Banzai form

Once the worbla was molded onto the clay, we used a spray primer to coat the whole thing.  We were hoping that this would help cover up the seams, but as it turned out we needed some additional work to mask those. 

Primered Banzai mask

Once the mask was sprayed with primer and dry, we got to work digging the clay out.  Once again, we learned that a vaseline layer over he clay was helpful here.  The clay came out of the Banzai mask much more easily than it came out of the Shenzi mask.  Once we had the Banzai mask all molded and spray-primered, we got to work on the Shenzi mask.  The process was basically the same, although we had quite a bit more trouble with melting, and ended up basically losing the entire sculpt on the left eye.  To fix it, we ended up with applying worbla on top in the shape we had originally sculpted.  I wasn't 100% thrilled with the result, but it ended up working out and looking fine once all of the paint was applied.

Side view of Shenzi sculpt

Shenzi sculpt

Worbla on Shenzi, Banzai covered in primer

Primer applied to Shenzi

Once we got both of the masks coated in primer and realized that the seams were still pretty visible, we purchased a jar of modeling paste, which let us fill in the seams and then sand the dried paste down to create a smooth form.

To help us cover, up the seams

Seams covered in Liquitex

Seams covered in Liquitex

Sanded Liquitex

Sanded Liquitex

There were, admittedly, still some errant wrinkles on the lips after the molding paste was applied, but we were sufficiently happy (and not sure how fixable they were) and decided to move forward with the paint job.  For painting, we used createx airbrush paints, and mixed together black and white to create our desired shade of gray.  We settled on the createx because it also works on fabric, and we wanted to be able to color-match our body-suits to our masks.  We opted to go a hair lighter than the hyenas were in the movie, just because we figured the features and other paint would stand out more in person if we weren't a super dark gray. 

Airbrushing Banzai

Masks drying after getting their first coat of gray

Faces being painted

Once we got the masks painted, we added on the final touches of teeth and hair.  For the teeth, we just used foam strips, which we hot glued into the mouths and then carved to look like teeth.  Once the carving was done, we added white paint to the foam to make the teeth pop.  For the hair, we used roving wool, which I simply rolled and then hot glued to the masks.  For Shenzi, we just needed the forelock.  Banzai needed a tuft on top of the head and some bushy eyebrows.

Finished Shenzi Mask!

Banzai nearly finished, just needs his eyebrows in this one

Add caption

Finished Banzai mask!

Summer Islands: Chicken and Tomato Salad

You know, elf tastes just like chicken!

Mystery Science Theater 3000

It has finally gotten warm and wonderful here in Tennessee, and as such, I have been on a huge salad kick.  The most recent salad was a smorgasbord of delicious, summery things, including chicken, corn taken straight from the cob, tomatoes, avocado, thyme and parsley fresh from the garden, and a "ranch" dressing which was augmented to be a little lighter on the calories than a regular ranch.  The result?  A filling, refreshing dish for 4 (or in our case, 2 nights' worth of meals for 2). I think the only thing that might have improved it would have been having the ability to cook the chicken, corn, and onions on the grill.  That said, the oven did a fine job for me.

What you need:

      For the dressing:

• 1/4 cup 1% milk
• 3 tbsp nonfat plain greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

     For the salad:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 yellow tomatoes, sliced
• 2 red tomatoes, sliced
• 1 small container cherry tomatoes (the container we bought had a little over 1 cup of tomatoes)
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 2 ears of corn

To start, mix together all of the ingredients for the dressing and set aside.  You can go ahead and stick it in the refrigerator to keep it cool.

Next, brush the chicken breasts with oil, place on a baking sheet, and broil on high for about 6-7 minutes a side, or until it is cooked through.  Set aside to cool.

Turn the broiler off and set the oven to 450.  After shucking the corn, brush each cob with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, wrap each cob in foil individually, and bake for 20-25 minutes.

While the corn is starting to bake, slice the onion, place the slices on an oiled baking sheet, and place in oven when there is about 11 minutes left on the corn's timer.

As the onion and corn are finishing up, slice your tomatoes and avocado, and dice up the chicken breasts.

When the corn is done, cut the kernels off of the cob.

Mix everything together in a large bowl, divide evenly between four plates, drizzle with dressing, and serve.

House Tully: Salmon Tacos

Never underestimate how much assistance, how much satisfaction, how much comfort, how much soul and transcendence there might be in a well-made taco and a cold bottle of beer.

Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume.

These tacos were easy to make and absolutely delicious!  I'm a big fan of salmon and fish tacos, so I opted to use salmon as the fish.  If you are not a fan of salmon, a milder fish like Tilapia would also work.

What you need:

• 1lb Wild Alaskan Salmon fillets, skin removed
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 20 baby bell peppers
• 1 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt
• Salsa (just enough to put on 8 tacos)
• 8 small corn tortillas
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 4 tbsp lime juice

To start, oil a baking sheet and spread out your peppers on it, making sure they are lightly oiled, as well. 

Broil on high for about 3 minutes, flip the peppers over, and broil another 3 minutes.  

After the peppers have cooled, slice into strips.

Next, mix together the chili powder and paprika and rub the fish fillets with the mixture.  Broil your fillets on high for 4 minutes on each side, or until your fish is cooked and flaky.  Flake the broiled fish with a fork and put it in a bowl.

Mix together the yogurt, lime juice, and garlic.

Spray a skillet with cooking oil, heat over medium-high heat, and cook your tortillas one by one.  Just cook them long enough on each side to get them lightly charred.

In your corn tortillas, assemble the fish, peppers, yogurt, and salsa.  Any salsa will do, but I used some fantastic Cowboy Caviar from Trader Joe's.

At two tacos each, this will serve four people.  I made some spicy rice to go with it, and it made for a very satisfying dinner!