Tuesday Food Day

Seriously about to share the best Zucchini recipe EVER!!!!!!  I hope I'm not repeating myself here because I know I have written a lot about zucchini in general this summer.  

Pan Roasted Zucchini + Lemon Vinaigrette

2 sliced Zucchini in round pieces

Salt + Pepper

Olive Oil

Roast in the oven about 20 minutes on 400

When they come out, immediately toss in the lemon vinaigrette

1/2 lemon

1 garlic crushed

salt + pepper

olive oil

Once warm zucchini is tossed topped with grated Parmesan + fresh basil

This is my favorite Parmesan from Whole Foods!!!

 And once again I had to incorporate my pan roasted okra as a side item!

Vegetariam meal for moi!

Don't be fooled.  Big R had a huge piece os salmon on his plate.  Sometimes he will go along with my all veggie supers, but not every night of the week.

(Are y'all salmon lovers?  I wish I were because I know it is super good for you but it is just too fishy for me. I can't do it.)

Oh and I almost forgot to mention I put the zucchini on a bed of arugula, Israeli cous cous with arugula pesto, feta and tomatoes.  Sounds complicated but it really isn't.  I will post the recipe for arugula pesto next week!

And for dessert. OMG!!!!  This stuff is amazing!!!  I know I told you before the coffee flavor was my favorite of the Atlanta Fresh Frozen Yogurt.  

I spoke too soon.  

This Ginger Peach is out of this world good!!!!  And no fat, low calorie and high protein!  

Beat that.

Beach Week

I have a bad habit of disappearing from the blogging world with no warning whatsoever.  

I'm sorry if you are a follower. 

 Priorities, Priorties.  

We went out of town (sort of) and I just decided to take a little break.

We just spent another great week with my husband's family at the beach.  Lucky/not so lucky us just drive about 7 minutes to that vacation spot.  I say not so lucky because we are in the same town, which means we are close enough to still work, which means the "vacation" really isn't a full vacation from the daily grind but awesome nonetheless.  We tried making the most of every moment we were there.  Starting most mornings with a some paddle board sessions.  Perfect conditions in front of the house, wouldn't you say!  

Sad attempt at getting the three boy cousins all together.  This  pretty much captures exactly how typical  the whole week went!  Lots of bed head, silly dancing, water gun fighting, laughing, crying boys!!!

Water guns for each boy in the house thanks to great aunt Annie Boo!!!

Back home now and hoping to get back to my routine of regularly blogging!

Switching gears here to 

LIGHTING

Anyone out there in the market for a ginormous (approx 30" diameter) glass globe pendant light?????

It's for SALE and I'll give you a great deal!!!  Email me if you are anywhere near the Charleston, SC area and interested in this beauty.

Another view

Long story about this light but it is virtually brand new.  I bought it (from Ferguson) to hang in a different room but it was WAY, WAY too big.  So, while my kitchen/ living room lights were on backorder I decided to hang it in our kitchen temporarily (2 months) until my new lights came in. 

And they finally did!

Squealing with excitement!!!!!!

We have a duplicate pendant in the living room which connects to the kitchen.

Will try to get better pictures of these spaces... geez so grainy!!!

(and don't worry, we clipped the pull cord on the sconces:)

 So, any takers on the glass globe?????

Tuesday Food Day

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Butter Sriracha Shrimp

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons Sriracha
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 pound head-on shrimp
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh mint
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh basil

Preparation

• Whip butter with Sriracha and melt in skillet.
• Sauté minced garlic in it and toss in shrimp. Just before they're done, add lemon zest and mint and basil and let them wilt.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/06/sriracha-buttered-shrimp#ixzz21Z805JVM


Y'all know how much I love Sriracha and love to feel the burn!  I am so weird about spicy things and love to pile on the hot stuff until my eyes water and I can't feel my mouth!!!  Big R asked me if I was trying to sabotage him for something.  Had he done something wrong because this dish is so freaking spicy???!!!!!  Ha Ha!
 I would seriously consider cutting the Sriracha down to 3 tablespoons instead of 6 if you are worried about it being too hot.  Big R could barely eat it but I was loving every bite!!!!I found this recipe on none other than Pinterest.  It is a recipe from Bon Apetit and has 25 recipes using Sriracha.

This is during preparation

While cooking.  It just looks like it's hot as fire doesn't it?!

And of course I put everything on a salad!!!  I made some Quinoa and black beans to put with the shrimp and it was delicious!!!!  Definitely a thumbs up for this recipe ...that is if you can take the heat!!!!!

Loves

There are just a few things that I must share with you today.  Let me start by saying everytime I walk in a store for something I come out with something else.  Happen to you?  Thought so.  So my list here are things not on my list of needs, but rather wants once in the said store.  Glad I took a chance.  The first being this ridiculously perfect Divine Oil body spray by Claudalie.

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Have you smelled this?  Pure heaven.  Reminds me a little of the Kai body oil.  Just love this stuff and not that much considering how much you get!  The scent stays around all day too.  A win win!

Next up, Eye Definer by Sonia Kashuk at Target.

Totally obsessed with this stuff.  Cheap and very easy to apply.  The pencil is not hard and goes on very smoothly.  Easy to smudge too if thats the look you are after.  Thank you Elizabeth for introducing me to this stuff! My favorite shade so far is "Blue Denim" but definitely want to try out a few other shades.

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On to the face.  Not sure what the deal is, but my face has been looking horrible lately!  I am 34 years old and still getting bumps all over my face!!!!  WHY!!!!!!  Ugh!  Well, anyway, just discovered this face wash and am loving it so far. Has a wonderful grapefruit smell too and really feels like you are getting your skin clean!

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This next one is  a DIY that my neighbor informed me of after our late night rendezvous in the cult-de sac.  Wondering why I said  "CULT de sac"-well it's a little nickname we gave ourselves after my husband's brother moved in two houses down from us.  So we have one neighbor in between (our age) which equals some late nights of wine drinking after the kiddos go to bed.  So back to my point, after one of these said nights, I spilled red wine all over this dress.

Arg!!!  Only worn it twice and I thought it was ruined!!!  

Here is the picture of a small area of red wine spilled before.

Well on to the awesome combo of ingredients and......

 during the process....

Voila!!!!!  

Y'all this combo really works!!!!  I didn't even deal with the situation that night either.  This is the next morning I decided to give it a try.  Can't believe it but I am so happy!!!!!

Tuesday Food Day

Do you fall into a routine easily?  With food of course.  I have a terrible habit of eating the same things over and over and forget to make some really yummy recipes that I have stashed away!  Because I feel inclined to post what I've been making lately, I'll show you two easy as pie salads I had this week.  The first one incorporates butter beans, which if you follow this blog at all, you know how obsessed I am with them!  I always use frozen and just throw them in salted boiling water.  I make a whole small bag or 1/2 a large bag at a time so I can have leftovers for my lunches during the week. 

Yarra Valley Feta + Pickled Okra + Butter Beans   

Lemon Dressing

So easy and so yummy!  

Yarra Valley Feta-marinated feta in olive oil and spices. 

 The most delicious feta and it's spreadable too so you can even put it on a cracker!!  I don't know if it can be found in all stores?  I found it at Whole Foods in the refrigerated section near the cheeses.

Pickled Okra- You can find in a jar at any grocery-at least in the South!!!  

Found these in the same section at Whole Foods as the feta

Butter Beans-cook in salted water for at least 10 minutes

Bibb Lettuce

sliced Heirloom tomatoes

Salt + Pepper

Lemon Dressing

1/2 Lemon

olive oil-a few dashes

Salt + Pepper

garlic-crushed optional.

I am addicted to spicy things so I always put a healthy amount of Sriracha on my salads to rev up my metabolism too!

 I know most people drink white wine in the summer but I am a stickler to red wine all year round.  Particularly Pinot Noir.  You know, this is pathetic to admit, but I think one of the main reasons I like it so much is it doesn't turn my teeth red. Ha!   From that comment alone you can tell I know slim to none about good wines.  I usually go for "Two Buck Chuck" at Trader Joes or for Crane Lake-$4.99- at Whole Foods.  It seriously tastes good to me!  But the other day I was feeling crazy and decided to try "Meiomi" Pinot Noir-mostly because it was on major sale for under $20.  For those of you in Mt. Pleasant/Charleston it was on sale at both Whole Foods and Bottles for $19.99.  It is delicious and doesn't break the bank!

The first course of supper last night.  A little "Make Your Own Caprese" salad.   I topped this with the same lemon dressing as I used on the above salad and it was delicious.  A balsamic would have been better but I have to admit I was feeling a little lazy and didn't feel like dealing:)  Yesterday was a Monday of all Mondays.  

Hope y'all enjoy your week and please do share some yummy recipes with me. 

 I'm clearly in a rut!!!!!

Weekend Happenings

We have had a very busy past couple of days!  It's what we call around here, BIRTHDAY WEEK.  Not mine of course, but the hubs.  He makes a point to celebrate for at least a week around here, which is fun and exhausting at the same time!  This was a big one (35) so we skipped town for a night to do a little R&R.  It was absolutely perfect.  Just what we needed.  We were able to stretch one night away into two days which was even better.  

Really missing this place right about now!

Getting ready for the birthday dinner

Finally got to wear these new kicks.  Thank you Lauren for convincing me these were a good idea:)

I tried to find a link for them, but they are sold out online probably because they are last season.  I found these at the Tibi outlet in St. Simons, so head there f you are in the area and looking for some awesome deals!

Ha!  I felt like we were on the Bachelor or something.  Somehow they caught wind that we were celebrating a big birthday...somehow???  Ha Ha!

Heart of Roses

Seriously??!!!

We came back to celebrate again with Big R's family and out of the 25 photos I took of the boys, this was the best one.  Oh well.

This was the best...blowing candles out on the birthday cake.  

Hope y'all had a great weekend too!

Matchbox Parking Lot

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I have gotten some of the best ideas from Pinterest over the past year.  Especially for the kiddos.  Here is a prime example of a fun learning activity for the little ones.  This blog is full of fun activities so be sure to check it out here.  

Little R is starting kindergarten in the fall and I have heard from so many parents of past kindergartners, "if only we had kept up the momentum over the summer between preschool and kindergarten, maybe it wouldn't have been such a huge transition?"  So, here is my late attempt at getting back on track before school starts in about 5 weeks-yikes!!!  We haven't quite gotten to sight words yet so my rendition was just reviewing basic numbers and letters in our "parking lot"  Here are the steps I took:

Supplies needed:

Poster Board

Marker

Ruler/Business card

I used my business card to draw out each "parking space" and then filled each space with a capital letter or number.

While I was doing that, Mr. Big was working on his own masterpiece

And big brother was practicing his letters on this awesome gadget.

Here's the "lot" all ready for the game to begin!  I would call out a letter or number and Little R would drive the car to the appropriate spot.  We would talk about words that started with the letter while he was driving around too.  If he was stumped by one we would just skip it or I would give him hints about where the letter may be hiding.  

I will admit, boys will be boys sometimes, and this game did not last forever.  We did get through about half of the letters and numbers and we plan to play again later in the week.  I definitely don't want to turn him off from any of these learning tools so just trying to go with the flow.  After all, it is summer right?!!!!!

And in case you are interested, here is another great site chock full of activities for children, 

75 Kids Activites

And if you live in a house full of jokesters like I do, then you may appreciate this link, 

Pranks