I haven't posted a craft project in a while and I wanted to share with you one that I just finished up. So today, I share with you my newest walk decoration of Majora's Mask. This took a weekend to complete because of the drying time, but is generally pretty simple to make.
Gear!
Corrugated Cardboard
Paper Towels
Decoupage Glue - Gloss
Markers
Acrylic Paints
Quest: Start by cutting your cardboard into a large heart shaped piece. Draw lines to determine where the base of the eyes will be and to divide the mask into four quadrants.
Cut out eye and mouth shapes to give the mask dimension. Also cut ten spike shapes for around the bottom and horns of the mask. Attach the eye and mouth shapes with glue on the top. Glue the spikes from the bottom side.
Cut paper towels into small pieces. Pour about a 1/4 cup of the Decoupage glue onto a paper plate. Dip the paper towel pieces into the glue and place, slightly overlapping each other onto the mask.
The first layer once dried does not look great. That is why I added a second layer. It also helps to develop the dimension of the layers that were added with the cardboard.
This is what the mask looks like with two layers and completely dry. The contouring comes out much better. From here, it's is about painting with the acrylic paints. Outlining the eyes and other detailing with markers. Add two more layers of Decoupage glue over the top to seal the whole thing.
Ta-da! I hope you enjoyed this craft and make one for your own Zelda den!
Eenie and Meenie's garden is looking pretty good these days. So today, I thought we could share a great vegetarian lasagna recipe that uses some great vegetables. Enjoy!
Gear!
2 small Zucchini Squash
8 oz. Ricotta cheese
4 T. Pesto (recipe here)
1 Egg
2 cups Mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups of Spaghetti Sauce
1 cup Roasted Red Peppers, chopped
2 cups Spinach Leaves
Box of Oven Ready GF Lasagna Noodles
Salt and Pepper Quest!
Slice zucchini 3/16 thick with a mandeline. Be careful to use the guarding to keep your digits safe.
Place zucchini slices on paper towels and set a side to dry in the refrigerator for about 4 hrs.
In the meantime, let's make some cheese filling.
Mix together, ricotta cheese, 1cup mozzarella cheese, Parmesan, pesto, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
In the bottom of a 8x8 pan place about 1/3 of sauce.
Add a layer of lasagna noodles.
Add a layer of cheese mixture.
Add another layer of lasagna noodles. Followed by a layer of spinach leaves.
Add a layer of zucchini slices
Add a layer of roasted red peppers
Add another 1/3 of the sauce.
Continue layering until you run out of room.. Top with remaining cup of mozzarella cheese.
From here you can freeze this delight and bake another day at 400 degrees F for about 45-50 minutes.
Or, you can bake it now at 400 degrees F for about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
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Cuccos - they help us float down and catch the rupees. They help us float to platforms that would otherwise be inaccessible to us. But once in a while, the cucco fails us or chases us in a large volume that makes us fight for our lives. With all these extra wings around, it is time to do something about it. So, today we will be dining on Cucco Wings. With two different sauces, there is lots to love. Enjoy!
Gear!
2-3 lbs Chicken Wings
Steamer Basket
Cookie Sheet
Paper Towels
Cooling Rack Sauce 1: Blood Orange Sauce
Juice of 1 blood orange - pulp is okay
1/4 cup apple juice
1 T. GF Hoisin Sauce
1/2 tsp tamari
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
splash of Tabasco
3 T sugar
Sauce 2: Spicy Wing Sauce
1/4 cup buffalo wing sauce
1/4 cup chili sauce
1/4 cup Asian BBQ sauce
1 tsp minced roasted garlic
Quest! First let's render some of the fat off the chicken. Set up a steamer basket over boiling water. Place a single row of chicken wings in the steamer. Steam for approximately 7 minutes. It may take several batches to complete this part of the task.
Once the wings are steamed, place them on a cookie sheet and cooling rack with paper towels underneath. to catch any excess moisture. Place in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Let's make sauces! For each of the sauces, mix the recipe ingredients together in a bowl. If too thick to coat wings, microwave for 30 seconds before coating wings.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Remove paper toweling and place in oven for 15 minutes or until skin is crispy.
Place half the wings in each sauce.
Toss wings in the sauce.
Enjoy with fresh paper towels.
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Summer is going strong here in Minnesota, which gets us out on the grill a lot more. I have been planning on doing Reekfish for a while now, but just didn't know what kind of reek we wanted to go with. Well today, I think I can finally share with you a recipe that has the right kind of reek that we can all get behind - garlic! This Twilight Princess delicacy is sure to please. Enjoy!
Gear!
2 Whole Red Snapper Fillets - Tails intact
Garlic Rosemary Compound Butter - recipe below
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Quest!
Compound butter is first . . .
In a food processor add 5 garlic cloves, 2 fresh sprigs of rosemary, 1 tsp course salt and 1 tsp black peppercorns.
Pulse together until garlic and rosemary is mince. Peppercorns may not fully grind. Add a stick of unsalted butter. Pulse together until butter is fully incorporated with ingredients.
Spread butter onto plastic wrap. Form back into a stick shape. Place in the refrigerator for 2+ hours. Use within about a week or freeze and it will keep for about 2 months.
Let's make Fish! Today we are using Red Snapper, but you are looking for a nice fresh firm white fish that still has skin and a tail to keep things together.
Get the grill started! You want the grill nice and hot. Today we are using gas, but charcoal should work fine too.
Open your fish up and pat dry with paper toweling - do this on the outside too. Check for bones by running your fingers over the flesh of the fish. Pull out any bones with clean pliers.
Take 2-3 tablespoons of that lovely compound butter we made earlier and rub it into each inside part of the fish. Be sure to really rub it in to get the flavor penetrating. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Close the fish back together again. Brush the outside of the fish skin with olive oil. We used garlic infused olive oil in order to add even more garlic the party.
Place the fish onto the hot grill. Cook the fish about 5-6 minutes aside or until the fish is flaky. The outside skin should begin o blister and give good grill marks.
Enjoy this very garlicy fish with potatoes or Hylian Shroom Polenta!
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I am super excited about the new LOZ: BotW game coming out. This has been a very exciting E3 week in general. So to kick things in the right direction. I am sharing a recipe we really enjoy in our house and also celebrates the introduction of the Hylian Shroom to the repertoire of ingredients found in the newest addition to the Zelda family. The wheels were definitely turning as I watched all the Treehouse footage this week - and the possibilities are looking pretty good. Anyways, if you haven't seen the trailer - where have you been? Get on YouTube and watch it! I hope you like this recipe/ Enjoy!
Gear!
8 oz sliced mushrooms -I recommend using a variety of mushrooms for this because it really brings out the mushroom flavor.
2 T butter, divided
2 tsp salt
1 cup uncooked polenta
1 cup heavy cream
3-4 cups mushroom broth
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Quest!
In a sauce pan, melt 1 T butter and add mushrooms. Cook together until mushrooms start to develop good color.
Add a 1 tsp of salt cook another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat onto a plate for later.
In the same saucepan, add 1 T butter, polenta, cream, 1 t. salt and 3 cups of broth.. Bring to a near boil, stirring regularly to keep it from stick to the bottom. Add more broth if the polenta is still uncooked, but had absorbed all the liquid.
When is done, it will have absorbed most of the liquid and be a nice creamy consistency. This takes about 18- 20 minutes.
Add grated Parmesan and mushrooms into the done polenta.
Stir together until melted and delicious.
Enjoy with pork, beef, or just by itself. Leftovers are amazing the next day.
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It has been a few weeks since the last post, and it has been eventful indeed. I just attended the gluten free feast in Minneapolis last week and there were a lot of different things I haven't had before. Both good and bad, GF products certainly run the spectrum of taste. It made me think about things I really used to enjoy before being diagnosed with Celiac and French Toast certainly made that list. The flavors are pretty generic and GF; however the bread is usually an issue. GF bread does not have a great reputation for being awesome. I have found some really horrible bread and some decent. Now, today I am using a brand that I have latched onto because I like it, but I am not being sponsored to use it. I hope you have options in your area and that you have the ability to try different ones to find what you like. Enjoy!
Gear!
8 Slices of Hearty Artisan GF Bread - such as Schar
4 Eggs
1 c.Half and Half
1 T. Cinnamon
1 T. Maple Syrup
1 t. Salt
1 T. Vanilla
Powdered Sugar
Strawberries
Quest!
In a throwaway aluminum pan, crack your eggs, add cinnamon, maple syrup, vanilla and sugar. Beat together until it comes together.
Add half and half to the mix and beat together.
Add the bread to the mixture. I dip the bread and stack it on top of each other, so that it all gets a start on the soaking process. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
In the morning, a good deal of the mixture has been soaked up. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake in the oven for approx. 20-25 minutes.
The baked toast will be golden and delicious. As an added bonus, the remaining soak becomes custard that is super tasty.
Serve along side some bacon. Top with powdered sugar, Triforce cut strawberries and more maple syrup.This brunch should give you the Power to get through another lazy Sunday.
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Catfish is absolutely delicious. There seems to be an abundance of it now that Catfish Maw has been defeated. Let's dig in and coo...
About Us!
The Legend of Zelda is by far my favorite video game. You could say that I am obsessed. Even hearing music from the game (even if I am the one humming it) makes me want to go home and play. I also enjoy cooking but was diagnosed with Celiac in 2014. This blog has become a great way for me to try new things with my new eating habits along with sharing my love for the Legend of Zelda.
I hope you enjoy the blog and even try making some of my creations for you family and friends. Welcome to the Zelda Gourmet!! Enjoy!
BTW ... Sad as it may seem - I don't own the Legend of Zelda :(
Start by cutting your cardboard into a large heart shaped piece. Draw lines to determine where the base of the eyes will be and to divide the mask into four quadrants.
