I'm here in Tennessee once again visiting with my family. My days have been full of wine, jelly, kids, creeks, and some great Blues music.It has also been full of heat. It's hotter 'an a match! - that's what my brother would tell you. It's been in the upper 90's all week and other than a couple hot dogs or grilled cheese sandwiches, we have not wanted to heat up the kitchen ...
Green Chicken Pie
Maybe...just maybe....my kids have finally reached that age where if they make it, they will eat it. Like the majority of mothers out there, I sometimes have a hard time getting them to eat what I put in front of them. Getting them to eat anything that isn't a potato chip or a cookie after nearly 2 weeks with grandparents and in-laws is nearly impossible. My kids are culinarily ...
Pasta GIVEAWAY and Lemon Shrimp in a Spinach-Basil Pesto !!!
I am finally back from a long and wonderful vacation. While I was gone the springtime breezes turned into summer's sweltering heat. Heat like this means dinner will be much lighter fare for us. A light and flavorful pesto pasta dish fits the bill nicely. Lucky for me, Amalia from Garofalo Pasta sent me a free sample of their amazing pasta for me to try out. Now, one of the ...
Cheddar Fried Squash
Cheddar Fried Squash is an easy and delicious way to jazz up your fridge full of squash or zucchini! Kids love it too! You know summer is in full swing when the squash and zucchini starts coming in. I have memories of mysterious 5 gallon buckets full of zucchini and summer squash showing up on our back door when I was a kid. While my mother always welcomed free ...
Old Fashioned Whoopie…Pies
What a weekend! I am back from a fantastic time in the North Georgia Mountains. I cheered on my husband and my brother in their second BBQ competition in Young Harris, Georgia. They did well, 3rd in ribs! Then my hubby and I got some much needed R&R for our 6th wedding anniversary. Then we drove back to reality after picking up the kids. I want to give a big shout out to ...
Make Ahead Whole Wheat Refrigerator Dough
I'm heading out for a nice long Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day weekend also happens to be our wedding anniversary. Our 6th as a matter of fact. We always try to spend some quality time together for our anniversaries. It's funny how the meaning of "quality time" changes as you progress into a relationship. For example, when we first got together, quality time was all ...
No Knead Artisan Bread
Back during the 2008 recession, I slashed our grocery budget down to bare bones. At the time I was running on about a $70 per week budget that fed four of us (granted the kids at that time didn't eat much) and diapers. That meant I had to get real comfortable making my own bread. For a good period of time, I became somewhat obsessed with breadmaking and this no-knead artisan ...
Homemade Yogurt Blue Cheese Dressing
Now, I know I have told you about my dislike of salads, so I hope you are not shocked by a large wedge of iceberg on my plate. I really don't like salads as a meal. Side salads are fine. Nothing but a salad is not fine. Anyway, I have found that one of the downfalls of making a salad at home is that good salad dressing is hard to come by. You want to keep it relatively low ...
Shrimp in a Mustard Sauce over Crispy Potato Cakes
My heart breaks every time I pass the seafood counter in the grocery store. The devastation that is inevitable at this point is so depressing. The gulf coast can't seem to catch a break these days and I feel for all of those who rely upon it to carry on with their lives. My blogging buddy, Drick, is witnessing first hand the looming disaster and has written several times about ...
Easy Creamy Salsa Verde
Happy Cinco de Mayo! I hope everyone is having tacos for dinner tonight to celebrate! I also hope that there is a margarita in your near future. I know that there is with me! Me and Jose are like this*. Well, we used to be. He's not as nice to me as he used to be. In honor of Cinco de Mayo here is a seriously kick butt recipe for Salsa Verde. I made it myself. I was trying ...
How to Make Homemade Strawberry Jam
I have a lot of childhood memories related to strawberry jam. My parents owned a business that involved suppling lots of factories with nuts and bolts and stuff. For Christmas, my mother and I would give all the workers a basket full of cookies, candies and strawberry preserves. They had lots of customers and during the summer, we made LOTS of preserves. 20-30 cases I think. We ...
Chicken Zucchini Pasta
Don't you just love an easy summery, pasta dish? Something you can throw together in a flash and it taste delicious? Me too! This super simple chicken and zucchini pasta is just one of those meals. You can even make this with leftover cooked chicken if you've got some lying around. If you don't have Herbes de Provence, feel free to substitute Italian Seasoning instead. ...
Simple and Delicious: Chicken and Rice with Peas
The last few days has been nuts. Just plain nuts. My husband turned 38 and we threw a little birthday party for him ( blog post coming soon). We had more barbeque than you could shake a stick at. We also had lots of friends and lots of kids and lots of fun. I don't think the hubby ever thought 38 would be so much fun. So, the leftovers from this party have been with us since ...
Tasty Tuna Burgers
I have a little confession. I LOVE tuna patties. Love them. I know. It's weird, but I can't help it. I also love cole slaw and I have been a bit of a cole slaw kick lately. So it seemed natural to me to put those two things together on a bun. Oh dear, it was such a good idea. I'm probably going to do it again soon. The best part about this meal is that it is quick and ...
Roasted Red Pepper Pseudo Hummus
Ok, I've got a little secret to tell you. We had our gas cut off the other day. We woke up to nothing. No heat, no hot water and no gas stove. It seems that my gas payment literally got lost in the mail. Oh sure it was a little late anyway, but really I sent the check for the whole thing like 2 weeks ago and they never got it, so Georgia Natural cut us off. The worst part was ...