Deep-Fried Dandelions (Weed-Eating)

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Busted Button

In preparation for my veggie garden, I took a look at my garden plot (aka a pile of dirt below the highway) and this is what I saw:

Well, apparently someone had planted some veggies without me knowing! I like the idea of free food not wasting usable things, and I remembered a little post I saw last year, so I decided today was the day that I was going to eat dandelions. And feed them to my children. >:)

So- I found a helper. Wow, my mouth looks so weird here! LOL!

Then we collected some nice big dandelion blossoms. I still need to figure out exactly how to prepare the greens/root to make them not taste like buttocks.

Then I rinsed them. Note the filthy magic eraser. I use those things up until they are so dead. And I am sharing that with you so that I come across as more relatable- thus gaining a broader audience and being one step closer to my ultimate goal (making money by making messes.) Just kidding. I’m just a lazy pig. 😉

Next I dried them for a bit and prepared them for their hot oil bath.

I was confused as to exactly which parts of the flower to remove, but I figured it out and I will show you:

Peel off any of the leaves that aren’t attached to the blossom. Then trim the stem. It took a couple of tries for me to figure out how far to slice without having the flower fall apart. Speaking of bitter greens, the whole time I was prepping the dandelions, I was singing this. Heheheheh.

Okay, and apparently I was in some kind of Gordon Lightfoot-induced trance that rendered me more useless than usual, because I didn’t take pictures of the battering/ frying process… I guess I will try to paint a picture in your mind…

Here is the recipe for the SOOOPER SIMPLE batter:

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Batter for Deep Frying:

1 cup flour

1 cup milk (I used almond milk)

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

pepper and paprika

Mix it up.

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Drudge the blossoms in the batter and drop them (carefully) into an inch or so of heated oil in a pan. Cook them until they are golden on one side, then flip em and cook em for another minute or two. Let them drain on a paper towel-lined plate.  Here are some tips on deep frying.

A.D.D pause! The first time I tried to deep fry something, it resulted in me getting 3 fire extinguishers for Christmas. But don’t let that scare you- I was 18 and stupid. Seriously. Who heats oil on maximum with the lid on and proceeds to try to put out the massive fire with a jug of water? It was 10 years ago, okay? :’O ANYWAYS…

Here are the little beauties. And 3 of my guinea pigs children. Serve the dandelions right away with a dip of your choice. My fave dip is a lil number I created, and I’m feeling extra generous, so I will share…

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Dot’s Chili Ginger Mayo of Love:

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce (the kind you’d dip Thai spring rolls in)

1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger (or 1/8th tsp dry)

one green onion, chopped finely

a pinch of black pepper

Mix it up.

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Oh golly, after sausages, this would have to be my fave food. It is perfect with yam fries. Or anything.

Grab a blossom like so, and dip.

Ingest. Digest. Enjoy.

These were so SO delicious. At first I thought they would probably be edible, tolerable, but I figured that since they were, you know, WEEDS, that they wouldn’t be amazing. But they were! They tasted like tempura mushrooms (but better cuz they weren’t slug-textured.) My neighbor hates mushrooms but she loved these. The kids loved em too.

I encourage you to track down some big ol’ dandelions and turn em into something delectable!

Thanks for reading, and happy weeding 😉 heeeheeee that rhymed!

Posted in Dairy-Free recipes, Recipes, vegetarian/vegan recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Antique Button Tree

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Busted Button

Today I am going to put my ‘I can’t post a tutorial until I get a new computer’ excuse on hold for a very special project. We all know I love a good button tree, but this one is prettttty extra special.

I needed to make up for this terribly awesome terrible present I made for my friend’s daughter after her tonsillectomy, and her room has an antiquey theme to it, so here’s what I did:

I took three 7×14″ canvi (heehee see this post for a description of these precious, endangered beasts) and I painted them using crackle medium.

I’ve never used it before and it turned out pretty cool! I started with a solid coat of pink acrylic paint. After that dried, I added a quick coat of the crackle medium and let that dry. Finally I put on a layer of cream paint, and as it dried, it crackled like magic.  Pretty nifty effect- and a big bottle of the medium was only 4 bucks at Walmart. 🙂

Next I painted a simple branch in a pale brownish color. When you’re painting on canvi like these, don’t forget to paint the sides as well. It looks so much nicer!

Since this painting was special, I pulled out my vintage buttons which I’ve collected from various thrift shops and other glorious sources. I whipped out my trusty glue gun (umm, P.S. I just got a CORDLESS glue gun last week…this calls for a photo shoot…and some button graffiti (shhhhh) coming up in the future heeheeheee >:)

Here is a close up of the finished product- Notice how I used some buttons that have nubs on the back of em- if you are using those with your button projects, you can either snap off the backs with wire cutters, or cut a small hole into the canvas with an exacto knife, and place the gluey button nub right through.

Anyways, I just popped this into the mail today, and I can’t wait for it to land on its new owner’s wall!

Well, that was a short tutorial, so I am going to reinstate my ‘I can’t post a tutorial until I get a new computer’ excuse now. Let me just dig up one more photo to stick on the end…

OooOOH! Here is a good one:

 

It’s a Nightmare Before Christmas-themed button painting! I made this for my 4-year-old son as a birthday present. We actually had an entire themed party like this…but that is for another post. K fine, here is one photo from the party…because I can’t wait to show you:

OMG! Jack Skellington showed up! He is a big fan of Busted Button, you know.  I can’t wait to share the rest of the party with you! So many nightmarish decorations etc!

Until then, happy buttoning 😉

Posted in Button Art, Painting Tutorials, Showing Off! | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Rhythm Sticks (Flashback to 1993)

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Busted Button

So who remembers Rhythm sticks, A.K.A. ‘devil sticks’ A.K.A. ‘juggling sticks’? Here are a couple of pairs that me and my sis made last night:

I was the master, I tell you. So as soon as one of my sisters decided she was gonna make a pair, my hands basically started twitching and the muscle memory set in, and I just needed to experience these once again. And, Let me tell you, it was like riding a bike- my righteous skillz came back as though I hadn’t taken a 16 year hiatus from this awesome sport. Oh trust me, it’s a sport. The last photo is proof of that. But don’t skip ahead 😉

These were SO easy and quick to make. All you need is two different colored rolls of hockey tape, some vinyl (or an old inner tube if you want to be authentic), and three 2 foot lengths of 1/2 inch diameter dowels. The dowels I originally used for the control sticks couldn’t handle my awesome talent wound up being too thin, as you will soon see, so I think using 1/2 inch dowels for all of the sticks is a good idea.

Firstly you are going to take a few feet of hockey tape and roll/twist it up so that the sticky side is facing out. One website I saw called the finished product ‘sticky tubes’. Such a gross term. ANYWAYS…

Now take the ‘sticky tube’ and wrap it around one of the dowels like so. I thought my new shoes would be a perfect backdrop to this early 90’s craft.

Then make another tube and wrap it around in the other direction like this:

Find a random man to pose with your baby, and snap a picture.

Next you want to wrap some tape over your intertwining sticky tubes. Heh. ‘Intertwining sticky tubes.’ What the heck is going on?

Then you have to make the tassels, which, despite popular belief, are not just for decoration, but for balance. Cut an (approximately) 14 inch long by 4 inch wide piece of vinyl or inner tube and make a 3 inch cut every 1/2 inch or so.

Wrap the vinyl around each end of the rhythm stick, and secure with some tape.

For the control sticks, simply wrap them with tape, and then make a little nub at the tip. Wrap some extra tape around the other end where you are going to be holding them.

Then invite your brother-in-law to become a background for an amazing photo. What style! I suppose it is in keeping with our early 90’s theme.

And now to test them out. They were perfect. It felt so right, but something was missing… We needed a bit more passion…

… and passionate we got. It was really intense. Note my broken stick :’O

What can I say, I’m pretty excited about my rhythm sticks, and now you can be too.

Well, I’d say this is definitely my favorite tutorial. I hope you had a good flashback to a better time, where I could wear my baggy overalls without any flack. Those were the days.

 

 

Posted in Craft Tutorials, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments