Frugalista?

I have a really bad habit of paying all my bills in the first 2 weeks of the month. Actually- revise- the first week of the month.

Which is why today is the 7th and I have no money. I payed All my bills. For the entire month.

What was I thinking!?

And this seems to happen every month. But part of starting this blog was about reinventing myself as a productive happy person. A person who does things. All the time. And is happy about it.

Part of being broke is that you can't go as many places- but certain things are already paid for. I can (and do) call my mother to talk for hours- the bill is paid! Hulu is certainly a much needed present. And my house is full of crap. Strike that- potential craft materials!

So, Martha, I took pictures of my lunch today which I will post with the delicious recipe (Fall Pasta with an onion, leek, butter ricotta sauce over whole wheat tortellini!) at a later date. But today, on my brokest of days, I was stupidly awesomely productive.

Today I:
-cleaned out my craft closet!
-Sold things on craigslist!
-Listed a ton of things on craigslist I didn't sell! But might!
-Baked a white cake with hand-shaved chocolate flakes inside and a chocolate ganache topping
-Baked banana nut bread
-Made an amazing lunch
-Watched a lot of Hulu
-Watched a lot more Hulu with my best friend Jenn
-Started an incredible fall wreath using recycled magazines (pics to come of this too!)
-Ate dinner with my favorite man (he cooked) and roped him into helping me work on my wreath
-Spoke on the phone with several interesting people

That feels very productive.

Martha Stewart, I can make broke into glam and crafty and productive- let's hang out!

Fall Foods- Polenta!

So to start... I learned a lot about cooking polenta today!

By doing it wrong!

So I'm super excited to tell you my new favorite ways to eat polenta that don't taste icky.

I started by pan-frying the polenta. Cook a little chunk at a time at first- cut off just a bit of the loaf (yes, loaf!) and test temperatures. It should crisp on the outside and get a little transparent but it should not be see-through (that's when you know you're doing it wrong! Turn up the temp!)

Toss a thin layer of oil (I used plain old vegetable oil because I wanted to taste the polenta not a heavily flavored oil like rich olive oil) in a pan that's big enough to hold a few slices of polenta but not so tight that you don't have room to flip the polenta with a spatula. Test your temps. If you over cook it you can use a towel to pull some of the oil out but it's still greasy polenta.

My new favorite way is to broil it! I tossed it on a layer of foil in the pan and broiled the polenta on high. When the polenta gets a round puffy top that is lightly toasted pull it out and flip it and toss it back it. The polenta will get a little airbubble between the polenta skin and the inside and it's awesome.

I tossed a ton of butter (really, when you've added 2 tablespoons... you might as well add 2 more!) with spinach, onions, mushrooms and basil and caramelized. The sauce is from a jar (Classico was on sale!) and tastes so good with the other flavors. I also like to cold with the warm polenta and veggies. Nice mouth contrasts.

Martha Stewart- this is day two of my petition: Invite me to New York, let's make a MSL episode and have fun! I can cook, dance, and am a hell of a lot of fun!

Starting Fresh

I spent too much money last month on eating out.

I love eating out.

My new goal is to reinvent myself as the urban crafter that's inside, rather than the super glamorous lifestyle I was trying to afford. And to keep me motivated, I want Martha Stewart to invite me to visit her in NYC and have me on her show.

My reasoning is that short term goals are good, and this one is particularly achievable.

So I am doing 15 crafts/recipes a month from Living and posting all of them, and all my side projects, here! These will be done to the best of my abilities (and intentions, which are sometimes different) and meant to keep me busy, happy, productive, creative, constant, entertained and entertaining.

As a 22 year old retail manager for everyone's favorite big box retailer living in Seattle I have a different point of view from Martha- so expect my take to be inspired by, but not copies of, my idol's.

So 365 days begins today and ends October 3, 2011. I expect a lot to change between now and then...