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Monday, January 11, 2010

Art is a Guaranty of Sanity

It's true. At least for those of us crazy people who have an artistic streak. I thought this piece of art in the Phoenix convention center was really interesting. A nearly three story mirror with this wonderful little message projected onto the bottom of it in red. (PS - note me and the cool pattern my flash made in the mirror.)

I have very vivid dreams nearly every night. I remember most of them, and they are ODD. Last night I dreamed I was on an art game show where I had to paint underwater. I didn't feel like I was holding my breath, but I kept floating away from my canvas - I woke up tired from the effort.

A Twitter friend - @mattiedog - told me that children typically have more of the protein in their brains that produces REM sleep and dreaming, but that some creative adults continue to have it, which led me to wonder if these creative adults sleep better than people with no creative outlet. I'm definitely more sane when I get some sleep, so maybe art really does guarantee sanity! Things that make you go hmmm. If only someone would give me a grant to study all these things!!

Anyway, I have one more picture for you from the boards at Leadership, speaking of creative. You know I love using trash to make art, and this card is made from trash! The large colored circles were made from the discarded piece you get when you use the Circles #2 die from the Big Shot. Just take the piece that's left and use it as a stencil to make the colored circles. Then she used Circle Circus to finish it off. Cool, eh?
Now, are you hungry from all this artistic effort?

As you know, my farm girl sensibilities dictate eating dairy products at every meal. So when I got the chance to test a recipe for Philadelphia cream cheese, I JUMPED on it! What's crazy is that the recipe called for putting that cream cheese in spaghetti. I was not opposed :)

Here's what you need, along with a pound of ground beef if you are so inclined.

All you have to do is add 4 oz of cream cheese to your spaghetti sauce while you're cooking it. It melts into the sauce and makes it all creamy and delicious, without that heavier feeling that cream adds to a pasta sauce. Never in a million years would I have thought of it, and it was insanely tasty! It also makes the sauce go a little farther. I was thinking this would make a super fabby pizza sauce.

You hungry? You know you want some.
Here's the recipe:

24 oz. spaghetti sauce
12 oz. pasta
1 lb. ground beef (optional)
4 oz. cream cheese
Parmesan cheese
Red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper

Cook pasta, and cook, season and drain beef. Return beef to pan and add sauce and cream cheese. Cook until blended. Add pasta and cook for a few minutes. Serve with cheese & peppers.

Now, why did I leave my leftovers at home today, darn it? :)

Loveyameanitbye.

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7 comments:

  1. WHA? You too, with the cooking on your blog? *off to check cream cheese supply*

    I totally agree that art is a guarantee of sanity, though non-artsy types still call me 'different'. I guess 'sane' is a subjective call. ;-)

    WV: disolet
    You disolet the cat out!

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  2. Ooohhh....cream cheese in spaghetti sauce?!?!? Sounds YUMMY!! TFS :)

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  3. love your blog and I love adding cream cheese to my pasta. You can also just use cream cheese & a little milk and make a yummy white sauce. (add spices to your taste)

    Quick & easy!

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  4. I loved that huge mirror! It sure made you stop and think didn't it. I must have grown out of all my creativity as I don't dream much and I usually don't remember them. LOL

    The spagetti looks great. I think I might have to make some this weekend. My DH had cooked so much while I was gone we have been eating left overs all week. My kids were not happy that I said I was not cooking agian today, I think they want me to leave again so dad will cook! Hee Hee

    Great to see you last week and thanks for all the great updates over here. I have been sending my friends here to read all about it!

    Maybe next time they should hire you to do updates over at stampin connection. You should see about that!!!!
    m

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  5. So, does having a crazy streak make us creative, or are creative people hardwired to be crazy?

    Just askin'.

    Also? With the vivid dreams? I have the most crisp, detailed dreams of anyone I know. Plus, I'm sort of a lucid dreamer. If I'm in the middle of a dream when it's time to wake up, I'll often drop back into sleep so I can finish a dream. Strangely, though, I don't necessarily feel better rested after a marathon sleep/dream episode. Like you, I sometimes wake up exhausted from the activity in my dreams.

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  6. are you calling me insane Lydia?
    Sue...your boat that passes in the night...

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  7. YUMMO! here I am cruisin' stamping blogs and come away with a new CREAMY spaghetti sauce recipe...gotta love it! thx for both the stamping ideas (stencil from big shot scraps) AND the recipe...keep it up! es

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