Quick and Easy

While cleaning up after the graduation party last weekend, I sliced and froze some leftover grilled chicken breasts. They came in handy last night for a quick and easy dinner using this BBQ Chicken and Chipotle Salad recipe that's been in my "Waiting to Try" file. Since the chicken was already cooked, this salad went together in no time. I'd never used chipotle chili's in adobo before. They are pretty hot, but one chili was fine for this recipe. I ended up using about a quarter cup more BBQ sauce and mayo because I think we had more than two pounds of chicken. It's one of those recipes that you can eyeball and adjust very easily.

I don't eat chicken so I relied on my family to rate this. Hubby and son give the recipe 4.5 and 4 stars respectively (out of 5) and both say it definitely qualifies as a keeper. Based on ease of preparation, I would have to agree. This was my dinner last night:

It's a brown rice and tofu dish that was shared here. Delicious! I used parsley, garlic chives, thyme, and rosemary from the garden. The herbs and the balsamic vinegar really make this outstanding. I'll be eating it for a few days (happily) since no one else in the house will consider even getting near a tofu-filled recipe. Works for me ;).

More Thrift Excitement

There are several thrift shops in my local area. These shops are great if you're looking for clothing or functional furniture to use in a college dorm or apartment, but they leave much to be desired in the way of vintage items or linens. What a difference though, if I hop in the car and travel just about twenty minutes west. It's not uncommon to find at least one vintage sheet or pillowcase with each visit, and sometimes I even find two! I don't use these linens on the beds, but tuck them away to use later in quilts that I'm dreaming about. I've made one quilt so far, using a favorite vintage pillowcase, and I plan to make many, many more. I stumbled across this blog a while back and just love her use of vintage linens. And, she shared the most amazing quilt-making tutorial. Inspiration at it's best! And look what else I found. How cute is this?

It fits right into my kitchen and looks like it's been there forever. I'm in love.

Coffee and Quilts

This has been my current obsession for the past week. Have you had Green Mountain's Island Coconut coffee? Yum. And when you pair it with Nonni's chocolate biscotti? Well, you'll just have to take my word for it. Heavenly!!

I'm working on finishing up a quilt that's been on my design board for a very long time. An hour or so a day and I think it will come together fairly quickly. What are you working on?

Fiddling

I love to move things around in my house and add new treasures to change it up a bit. The "new" things are mostly thrifted items that I've picked up here and there. It's not so much about the look, it's more about the feel. I'm very affected by my surroundings. Time slips away when I'm fiddling :: hours seem like minutes. Hubby and I chuckle about it (he's a good sport). He never knows what's going to happen while he's at work. Here's the end result of a little fiddling I did in the Great Room last week. There's too much glare on the glass to take a photo straight on so this view is from an angle and looks a little wonky. You get the idea though. The glare comes from this big window that's directly across the room. As you can see, the kitties love to lounge on the deck where they can be outside but still see what's going on inside. This little planter came from a flea market shop nearby and now lives on the coffee table. And here's a small bouquet that I put together using snippings from the yard. As most of my flowers do, this sits high atop the built-in cabinet safe from the furry creatures who live here.

Do you like to fiddle with your house too?

We Have A Graduate

This little guy.............

Graduated on Thursday.......

And Hubby and I couldn't be prouder.

We attended the ceremony, celebrated with a dinner out, cooked, cleaned and prepared for a party, celebrated again with friends and family and then........spent Memorial Day morning winding down at one of our favorite spots.

It's been a wonderful and crazy week. Congratulations Matt! We Love You!!

Mixed Up Priorities

We're having a graduation party on Saturday. There's lots to do in order to get ready and we'll be attending the commencement ceremony on Thursday. I should be getting some cleaning done :: especially keeping up with the mountain of cat hair that is accumulating each day as my kitties continue to shed their winter coats.

I also need to finish planting in the garden. There's lots of plants just sitting patiently, waiting to be tended to (and watered). But I've been doing that for weeks now. And the laundry :: oh my :: the laundry that needs to be done!

So instead, I got a bee in my bonnet to create a new arrangement of wall art and stitchery in the Great Room. This could so totally have waited until after the weekend when the party's over. Do you do that? Go into denial about the uninteresting tasks that need to be done and focus on something that is creative and new? Oh yes. I do that.

And that's exactly what I've been doing today.

The Princess and the Pea

I threw a few blankets on a chair the other day and found Molly on top of the stack. It was a photo I couldn't resist taking. The first thing I thought of was the Princess and the Pea. I'm sure it was on my mind because I recently saw this and this. So sweet, aren't they?

Pedicure or Lack Thereof

Most of the time my feet are in desperate need of attention. I am on them most of my waking hours :: walking, gardening, running, cooking or doing household tasks. I really should have regular pedicures but I have issues with being pampered by strangers (I really don't even like getting my hair cut - I know, I have issues). So, I do my own pedicures every once in a blue moon. I used to use this on my cracked heels (I've spared you the gorey heel photos): Until my friend Dawn introduced me to this fabulous product: Do you know about the PedEgg? It's works exactly like this Microplane kitchen tool:

Except it has a handy dandy little compartment to catch all of the "shavings". Ew, kind of gross when you say it out loud.

I absolutely love this little PedEgg. I got mine at Ross Dress For Less (I had to say it Dawn) for $6.99 and I think they retail for about $10.00. If you are interested in seeing it in action you can watch this YouTube NBC News review. Your feet will thank you.

Salad for a Crowd

I made this Asian Noodle Salad from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, for my family and my quilting friends on Thursday evening. Hubby and Son both liked it and several people asked for the recipe so I think it qualifies as a "keeper". It is colorful, crunchy and packed with healthy ingredients. I followed the recipe exactly (except I didn't add the seeds and membrane from the jalapenos in case my guests didn't like spicy food) and thought it was fabulous as is. When I make it again I'll try the following changes to make it even healthier and to spice it up a bit:

:: Substitute agave nectar for the brown sugar in the dressing

:: Add some of the seeds/membrane from the jalapenos to spice the dressing up a little

:: Try soba or some other healthier noodle instead of linguine

This recipe made a HUGE amount. I used my large roasting pan to mix everything together and ended up with two very large bowls full of salad. The next time, I'll make a full recipe of dressing and then just throw in whatever fresh veggies I have on hand in smaller portions for the salad. In my opinion, the cashews, noodles and cilantro are key ingredients.

Some other recipes I've tried from The Pioneer Woman Cooks are:

:: Scrumptious Apple Pie - to die for, and

:: Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies - men love these and I've made them many, many times

If you have a minute, check out her blog. She shares loads of great recipes with step by step instructions and beautiful photograpy. And, she's super spunky and fun.

Lilac

Our dwarf lilac bush is in full bloom right now and it smells heavenly. It lives by the front walkway and we enjoy the beautiful fragrance whenever we come and go. I cut some to put on the table for a little gathering with friends last night and the whole room smelled wonderful! One of my friends said to smash the bottom of the stems with a hammer before placing them in the vase (to allow the water to soak up). I didn't know that tip, did you? It's great fun to walk around the yard and snip a few things to bring into the house. Our Rhododenron suffered a little wind burn this year, but still produced some gorgeous blooms. This one was perfect for the little glass vase that I keep in the basement powder room. Mmmmmmm, can you almost smell it?

Garden Party Napkins

This time of year when the weather is beautiful and there's garden work to do, my sewing room gets a little lonely. To fill my desire to sew in the little snippets of time that are available, I decided to make some napkins out of this gorgeous Garden Party fabric by Anna Maria Horner.

I'm pairing it with a fabric from Heather Bailey's Freshcut line that just seemed to coordinate perfectly. It may take some time to get all eight dinner napkins and eight cocktail napkins completed, but I've finished one and couldn't wait to show you.

I'm outnumbered by males in our home but they are really good sports when it comes to things like this. Hubby uses my girly cloth napkins without saying a word. He even appeases me when I ask for his opinion about the perfect size for a dinner napkin. My college student? He says something like this when he reaches for his napkin, "Aw Mom, are you serious?" and then proceeds to place it in his lap and continue on. I've said it before but I'll say it again. I'm a very lucky girl.

Weekend Recap

Wow! What a great weekend. The weather was fantastic and we packed in everything we possibly could.

My college student gave me this new book for Mother's Day. I've been eyeing it at Borders for quite some time and hubby was tuned in enough to remember (thanks honey). It's loaded with photos and basic instruction for learning all kinds of sewing techniques. We tried a new restaurant on Saturday evening. It was just O.K., but the dessert we had later in the evening was scrumptious! I had a slice of this. Do you think it was fattening? :) Yesterday we worked in the garden. Would you like a little tour? We made the rounds at our local nurseries, gathering plants for the window boxes, containers and potager garden. This will be our fourth gardening season in our "new" house and we're beginning to get it down to a system. We know what works well and what survives the windy weather, and we're sticking to it! There's still room for some creativity and play but the basics are covered.

This area is just about finished. A few more annuals and a final layer of compost and we can sit back and watch it grow.

Last years' oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary are doing well, and I planted some basil, parsley, cilantro and pinapple sage.

This is called Kim's Knee High. It's a dwarf coneflower and one of my favorites.

I'm off to do some more planting this morning. Have a wonderful day!

My Mom

:: Three Generations, 1955 ::

My mom was sixteen in the photo above (she's in the center). Three years later she became a mother for the first time. She is, without a doubt, the most selfless person I know. By age twenty-three, she had three children.

She was a stay-at-home mom, and was really good at what she did. Can you imagine having three young children at the age of twenty-three? My mom became a "Granny" to her first grandchild (our son) at the age of forty-six. I'm not sure what I would have done without her that first night I brought my new baby home. Today, she has seven lucky grandchildren who have grown up knowing that Granny's door is always open. And, she makes the best darn Scotcharoos you could ask for!

:: Photo Compliments of Hubby ::

Happy 50th Mother's Day Mom. I Love You!

Not So Healthy But Really Good

Last week I needed something to take to a get-together and was looking for a recipe that called for basic ingredients I had on hand. This Apple Bread recipe fit the bill. It comes from the Puffin Inn in Ogunquit, Maine by way of Recipezaar. It's so easy to throw together and it makes two loaves. I took one loaf to my quilt guild gathering and the other loaf to my grandmother. Based on everyone's feedback, it's definitely a keeper. If you decide to try it, don't be concerned that the dough is super thick. The recipe says to pour the batter into the pan, but it definitely isn't pourable - it's almost as thick as a yeast bread dough. I think I might try making this again and freezing it. It would be great to have on hand when you need something quick to serve with coffee. I love Recipezaar!!

Christmas In May

Look what the UPS man delivered! Two flats of perennials from a great little company in Mecklenburg, New York called Graceful Gardens. Everything arrived in perfect condition which is amazing to me since the plants are smooshed into a box, sealed shut, and shuffled around from place to place.

I ordered the Cottage Garden Sampler and the Sunny Side of Life Collection and will be planting them in the potager garden. This is my second time ordering from Graceful Gardens (once long ago in our previous home) and I've been delighted with their plants. The collections are wonderful because they take the guesswork out of the selection process for novice gardeners like me.

For now, the plants are still in the pots soaking up the rain but as soon as there's a little break in the weather I'll be outside putting them in their proper places.

We can hardly wait!