Fruit & Veggie Art

Last week,  Rain’s Kitchen & Garden used fruit as an art prompt and this week it’s vegetables. Thinking about the first prompt, I came up empty handed until I remembered the Oat Bran Raisin Muffins recipe I made, except I made a loaf and I incorporated ideas from two other recipes.  I made a serious goof and didn’t take notes on what I did but I can share a picture of the final product.  I kinda think I know what I did and I’m happy to tell you but how accurate that is I can’t say for sure. I’ll give you the links to both recipes at Quaker and All Recipes. I basically followed the All Recipes recipe but added walnuts listed in the Quaker recipe.  The thing I can’t remember is did I use brown sugar and molasses? I think I did.  The recipe wasn’t sweet like I thought a muffin should be but it’s a nice change and it’s really good to toast a bit served with peanut butter. 

Wait for it now, aren’t you curious to see what artistic creation this recipe spawned?

a California raisin character!

In the 80s, the California Raisins ran commercials using animated raisins singing I Heard It Through the Grapevine. That song is gonna be stuck in my brain. The only way to cure that is to just play the song.

Hardees had a promo in 1987-88 giving away or making available for purchase a new California Raisins’ character for several weeks. I managed to collect four or five of them before our first was born but when I returned to work they were gone. I suspect one of my fellow employees’ kids took them but no one seemed to know nothing about it. I just left it alone. After all, I was only back to put in my two-week notice. I do wish I still had those little guys.

With my gears clacking and clanging, it didn’t take anytime before an idea for today’s prompt popped into my thoughts. The kid’s toy Mr. Potato Head inspired my next drawing.

This vintage toy was not only a part of our past but one that we passed to our kids. DH wanted to me to make a recipe we saw on American Test Kitchen, Roesti. I don’t have a subscription and can’t see the recipe on their site, so I did a Brave search to find this on on Food. The first pan I made and the one I photographed was too brown but the taste was really good. I certainly plan to make this again. I did want to share this picture, though.

This recipe was truly made with love. Look, a heart shaped potato!

I’m always thankful for life’s simple pleasures art, cooking, music, and good friends. Thank you for being apart of my day.    Next up is Monday’s Music Moves Me.  Come join the best dance party in blogosphere.  Theme or no theme, if you have music to share then you’re welcome to hit the dance floor with the crew.  This is CAAC signing off,  have a doodletastic day!  X💋X💋, Cathy

 

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25 thoughts on “Fruit & Veggie Art”

  1. Mr Potato Head! That’s awesome Cathy!! ♥♥ I remember having a Mrs Potato Head! You California Raisin did bring back lots of memories of those commercials, they definitely scream 1980’s!!! Love the heart shaped potato! ☺☺

  3. I remember those commercials..they were funny!. I love your drawings which you composed so well. Who didn’t have a Mr. Potato Head? I remember playing with them.

  4. Oh you bring back memories … who could ever forget “I heard it through the Grapevine”. LOL and we got to listen to it twice complements of you and Tom (who I don’t know). Mr. Potato Head was to me a boy toy but surprisingly we never had one at our house. My father’s favorite food was potatoes, so needless to say we had many potato dishes at our house… and yes with breakfast as well. Cute and fun, Cathy … Stay Happy and a loving Valentines Day to you 🙂

    Andrea @ From the Sol

  5. I enjoyed your post, Cathy! I loved the California Raisin commercials. I also loved Marvin Gaye’s “Heard it Through the Grapevine ~ Still do. I like to use molasses and brown sugar in baking. They produce a delicious flavor that’s not so sweet. Thanks for the memories. Have a fun weekend.

  6. Oh you gave me a good reminder to check on Rain’s Kitchen and garden too. Love your artwork and baking is an art itself! We here in the Ts household are not doing sugar for a while so will try to make some Paleo-ish non sugar baking alternatives soon.

    1. I understand the need to not do sugar. Besides making you gain weight, if you have tummy problems or allergies it can wreck your whole system. We see-saw on this one. For the last year, we’ve cut back quite a bit but since vacation, we’ve fallen back into eating more than we should yet not quite as bad, though. Thanks for dropping by, furriends!

  7. I love your Marvin music and the California raisins. I wonder why they took those off the air. They were one of the better marketing campaigns. Your bread looks yummy too. I love how your mind works, going from the Cali raisins to Mr. Potato Head. What a great idea. And heart shaped potatoes don’t happen very often, so I think there’s some message the universe is sending you-smile. I hope you had a great Thursday and rest of the week too. hugs-Erika

    1. Erika,

      Oh yeah, the California raisins were an awesome marketing campaign. I wish advertisers would get back to more traditional, fun, even heart-warming TV spots. What’s on these days is stupid or embarrassing trash. That’s it, the universe was smiling on me sending me the heart-shaped potato. lol Thanks for visiting!

    1. Ellen,

      Yeah, I know you have a Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head but I didn’t know you collect them. I want to LA the Mr. & Mrs. I haven’t yet but looked for them on Amazon and spotted some collectibles. I got tickled when I saw the Bob Ross Potato Head. 😀

  10. I do remember those raisins, that was a fun series of commercials.

    Mr. Potato Head made for some great memories and an excellent artwork. It’s not often you get to actually make a recipe with something heart-shaped, is it.

    1. Iris,

      What’s this, you’re not into sweets? What planet are from? lol I like having a little something nearly every day. It’s more or less a bad habit but I love it all the same! DH is worse than me. Have pizza tomorrow night Who needs a special day for pizza? I think I could eat it every night for dinner. Well until I got tired of it. 🙂

  13. I so love this post. Molasses or brown sugar or both? You crack me up and I need a good laugh. Your art is so fabulous. Thanks for the links to the recipes too. Have a lovely day.

    1. Nicole,

      I’m glad I tickled your funny bone. When I was drawing these pictures I thought of your Face/Off weekly meme. I haven’t forgotten and I certainly do what to find opportunity to work this into my schedule. I haven’t figured that out yet. Thanks for dropping by, darlin’. I hope you feel better!! X

  15. Hi, Cathy!

    Happy Thursday Art Date With Rain, dear friend! I hope you are having a fine week.

    The colorful drawings you produced using this week’s fruit & veggie art themes have my mouth watering, because I love raisins and potatoes.

    I well remember the California Raisins ad campaign and TV commercial created for Sun-Maid Growers of California. The MTV station where I worked at the time played the California Raisins “Grapevine” video often:

    The ad agency that came up with the California Raisins campaign is FCB – Foote, Cone & Belding. Mrs. Shady and I worked with FCB when we had our own business as executive recruiters for writers and art directors in the creative disciplines of the advertising industry. This was after I left my job working in MTV. Your singing raisin character is colorful and whimsical and I love it. I didn’t remember that promotion allowing you to collect the various raisin characters. It’s a shame yours vanished while you were on maternity leave. They might be worth some money today.

    I remember playing with the Mr. Potato Head toy when I was a boy. I don’t think I ever had one, but my neighbor friend did and we played with his together. Once again, you have made a delightful drawing of the character, one that conveys personality and motion. I love potatoes no matter how they are prepared. That recipe for Swiss Potato Roesti potato cakes looks delicious. I will point it out to Mrs. Shady. I am also excited by the look of that oat bran raisin loaf you made and will tell her about it. She loves to make breads and baked goods and, as you know, she hit a homer recently by following the pancake recipe you shared.

    Enjoy the rest of your week and have a wonderful weekend, dear friend Cathy. I’ll be over to see you for 4M Monday and I will also be pubbing my Valentine’s Day (Week) post that same day. Take care!

    1. Hello Tom,

      I love raisins and potatoes, but not together, too! I enjoy these the best in their simplest form, raisins straight out of the box or potatoes simply baked or mashed salt and pepper to taste. Oven-fried potato wedges are a great weekend snack food. If I make hamburgers, that’s what I fix for a side.

      I don’t know if the Hardees California Raisin figurines would be worth anything but then I don’t know much about collectibles. The Roesti potatoes is a great breakfast addition to eggs any style. I’m looking forward to making more, as well the cornmeal blueberry pancakes since you reminded me. Yum!

      I’ll see you on Monday and will watch for your new post to publish then, too. Have a great weekend, my friend!

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