Summer Veggie bake

Elliott and I came up with this a few weeks ago when the garden was abundant and we were in serious Couples Fitness Challenge mode (maybe a post to explain that later). Anyhow, I was doing the low-carb thing and we both wanted something hearty and flavorful so to the garden we went.  After a picking of eggplant, tomato, squash, zucchini and my favorite herbs, I got to chopping.

Basically it consisted of:
3 eggplants
1 squash
1 zucchini
1 large heirloom tomato
3 small creole tomatoes
2 small lemon boys (yellow)
Small bunch of rosemary, oregano, thyme, and basil
Fresh parmesan and mozzarella

Slice all the veggies and lay in large baking dish...

Top with herbs and cheese...(as much as you like)

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes

And Enjoy!

For those not doing the low carb thing, this would be great to mix with pasta-bake the veggies/herbs and add the cheese once you mix with the pasta. Enjoy as a side dish or add ground meat for more protein. We used ground venison before and it was delicious!

it's project time!

I have seen this concept many times and knew it was a project I could take on AND I had everything I needed which made it even better! 

It only took a few hours start to finish and now it counts as a piece of "art" on an otherwise empty wall in our bathroom!

Blueberries

My in-laws property used to be a blueberry farm.  They have at least 100 bushes and over the years the boys have cleared out the brush and overgrowth, trimmed the pine tree's to allow more sunlight, and bush hogged the rows to make them accessible.  I LOVE blueberries and it seems that each year there are more and more! There are family jokes about my ability to pick blueberries to maximum capacity! Years ago, my dad and I would go around Father's Day each year and pick blueberries from a local farm.  Now, we can pick as many as we want during the short season they are ripe! Usually the end of May is when you can start picking and they're pretty much done by the end of June. Not much time to pick enough to stock my freezer for the year ahead :) I have my favorite go-to recipes but also love to throw some in my oatmeal in the winter or make smoothies in the spring.  I'm so grateful I get to have blueberries year round! 

I love this recipe because I always have the ingredients at home and it's such an easy, quick treat to make!

Frozen Blueberry Lemonade

In a blender combine:

 3 cups ice

1 1/2 cups blueberries

1 cup lemonade

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Puree until smooth

Garnish with mint sprigs

Blueberry Poundcake

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 pint blueberries

Cream butter and sugar in blender until smooth. 

(I do this for a long time...I usually start the blender and go do laundry or check email. 

I let it mix until the sugar is barely grainy.) 

Add eggs one at a time. Beat until light and fluffy. 

Add vanilla. Sift 2 cups flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add to cream mixture.  Dredge berries in remaining flour.  Fold berries in gently.

I spray my pan and coat with flower to prevent sticking. There's

nothing worse than a broken pound cake. 

Bake at 325 for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Happy Sunday

"The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land" Song of Soloman 2:12

Weekend in NOLA

Last weekend, I headed down to New Orleans for a bachelorette trip for my best friend from high school, Jennifer (who totally embraced the whole "bachelorette" title!)

 It was a blast but Sunday when I got home, I was reminded of why I don't go out like that anymore! It has taken almost all week to get back on track!

We stayed at Hotel Le Monteleone on Royal Street and went to the Carousel Bar in the hotel while we waited for Jenn's late flight.

After Jenn's arrival and a few drinks we headed to Rock N Sake for a LATE dinner and then went out. We stayed out WAY past my bedtime but had a blast dancing like we did in college!

Saturday morning we slept in and hit the spa around noon. After a much needed pedicure,

we headed to the rooftop pool and spent the afternoon lounging in the sun.

  That night we threw Jenn a surprise lingerie shower which she was VERY excited about.

We had dinner at the Bourbon House followed by the piano bar at Pat O's which I LOVE! We submitted a few requests including "Here Comes the Bride" and "Callin' Baton Rouge."

While I could have stayed there all night, we thought it was most appropriate to head to The Cat's Meow for some much needed karaoke. We sang "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" and loved every minute of it!

In the wee hours of the morning after dancing and singing our booties off, we headed back to the hotel. Sunday was a lazy morning complete with brunch at Palace Cafe. After brunch we headed home and I finished off the weekend with a Sunday afternoon nap!

(the Mardi Gras masks were a fun prop appropriate for a party in NOLA...the bunny ears...well, I wasn't too thrilled about-as you can tell, mine are off in most of the pics but it was all in fun and made it easy to identify everyone in our group!!)

Limeade

 I love all things tart so I am naturally a fan of limes! A few of my favorites include Key Lime Pie (this began as a child visiting family in Southern Florida), Cherry Limeade Slushes from Sonic (a high school tradition), and Mojito's (extra lime, of course)!

After our trip to the beach, we had some extra limes from the wonderful Margarita's Todd made and somehow I ended up with them.  So on this day, when life handed me an abundance of limes, we made limeade!

I was at my sister's and she has this citrus juicer:

We're not sure if it's missing the spout or didn't come with one (this was a wedding gift to my sister almost 6 years ago and this was her first time using it) and needless to say, the juice just dripped down the side instead of pouring smoothly into a cup. So, I ended up juicing by hand...

which was a little more effort but worked just fine since it was a small amount.

I think it yielded about 1/2 cup juice (give or take some)
Then I made a simple syrup with equal parts sugar and water

My sister uses organic sugar. I buy great value at wal-mart. We'll see who lives longer :)

I added the simple syrup to the lime juice and added a few cups cold water and ice and we enjoyed our fresh squeezed limeade treat!

A Day at the ZOO

While on our most recent trip to Atlanta to visit my sister and her family, we decided to take my oldest niece to the Zoo.   Elliott and Mary Stewart bonded instantly as he picked her up high above everyone to see every exhibit.

She loved pointing at the animals and talking to them (which was mostly squeeling).

 She ran all over the zoo and behaved so well! She especially loved the petting zoo and wasn't afraid to touch the animals!

After a great morning, we decided to let her pick out a treat.

We think she loves her new panda!
Oh, and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Ashley and Matt...love y'all and your beautiful girls!

Beach

We have been throwing around the idea of a beach trip for a few years and finally made it happen! Together with some of our sweet "married friends" we headed to Orange Beach for a great 5 day stay at Turquoise Place (http://www.turquoiseplaceresort.com/?gclid=CKyS57ii36kCFYtb7AodIQ8eYQ). We had the greatest time spending time together on the beach, at the pool, in the hot tub (guys!!), and on our fabulous balcony. The condo was so nice and definitely exceeded my expectations for a low key beach trip! We made fun beachy drinks (and non alcoholic versions for our 2 pregnant girls!!), ate great food, hit up the outlet mall, and played games each night. Baby James was a stud in the pool and Emma Kate had a ball in the sand.  Such great memories with our friends and their sweet kiddos! Upon arrival (and being impressed with our set up) Trey said he met the condo owner next door and got his number to book both condo's for Saturday-Saturday next year...more friends and at least 2 more babies next year!

Emma Kate and James playing together

James and Uncle Cody

Blake and Kimberly

intense game of Chicken Scratch

Lee, Me, Kim, Rachel

*Unfortunately Not pictured: Meredith, Todd, Lauren...I'm trying to get better with taking pictures but my camera didn't make it out of the bag until the last 2 days!