Assuming that you're worried this "time off" won't look to good to future potential employers, I think you've got the wrong attitude. People will have different opinions on it, but my advice would be to create a business entity for these projects, then just list and talk about your employment/operation of a business like any other work experience. Don't frame it to potential employers or others as "taking time off"; you're not taking time off to screw around, you're going to be working. It's productive business time, tell it like it is. You don't have to call it a start up, but after the fact, if you'd like to get back into the BigCo world, say you spent a few years running your own development shop for the experience.

Along with setting up a business, make a website and run a blog with it. Highlight the products you release, and give anyone who searches your past a clear idea that you were being productive and successfully managing a small business. Keeping it looking respectable is all about how you frame it and portray it.