In Honor Of Cece in Paris

My sweet Mother has been traveling in Europe she is currently leaving Paris and traveling to Italy. She does so much for everybody else, I am happy she is doing something for herself!  She certainly deserves it!  I cannot wait to see her pictures when she returns but for now I have included a shot she sent from her phone.



HARICOTS VERTS A LA PROVENCALE

Small, tender green beans, 3 - 4 inches long, are best for sauteing.  Larger beans should be snapped and parboiled before being sauteed.

1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 lb small, tender green beans, top end trimmed
salt and freshly ground pepper
handful of dried bread crumbs ( I used Panko crumbs)

Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic cloves and, when they begin to sizzle and color, add the beans.  Cook, tossing repeatedly, for 4-5 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and grind over some pepper.  Add the crumbs and toss or stir with a wooden spoon only until the crumbs are crisp and begin to color. Enjoy!

Fried-Zucchini Spaghetti

 

by Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth's recipe was published in Food and Wine Magazine April 2011.

Ingredients:

1 pound small zucchini, very thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used about half this amount)
Salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound spaghetti (I used wheat noodles)
1 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving (I would use the Parm that you can purchase grated or if you have a hancy pants food processor you can do it your self.  I  shredded mine and it really did not incorporate very well.  I had  several melted clumps and alot left on the bottom of the pan)
1/2 cup torn basil leaves
Freshly ground pepper
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions:

In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini with the flour and a pinch of salt. In a very large skillet, heat half of the oil until shimmering. Add half of the zucchini and fry over high heat, turning once or twice, until browned and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the zucchini to a paper towel–lined wire rack and season with salt. Repeat with the remaining oil and zucchini.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Return the pasta to the pot (the next time I make this dish I will not add back to the pan as most of the cheese stayed there) and toss with the 1 cup of cheese, the basil and a generous pinch of pepper (I also grated lemon zest). Add the reserved pasta water a little at a time, tossing well to coat. Transfer the pasta to a bowl and top with the crispy zucchini. Serve right away with lemon wedges and additional cheese.

I have wanted to try this recipe for awhile.  Recently G-Daddy was kind enough to bring me fresh zucchini from his fabulous garden, perfect opportunity!  Honestly I rarely cook during the week anymore.  Between working, trying to exercise and watering the yard/gardens/containers I do not have the time.  If I am lucky, I am finished with these things around 7:30.  But I am going to attempt to be better about that.  Some rain would certainly help!  This dish was very good, SO different and easy!  It was not heavy at all!  Enjoy!

M.I.A!!

The past few months I have been totally MIA on the blogfront.  We have had a very sucky stressful couple of years and it has seemed to escalade as of late.  Also, I will admit that I became somewhat discouraged.  Friends and family members were often telling me that they read my blog, saw etc on my blog... but when noone ever comments you can begin to feel like you are typing/writing to noone!  But I began to think of why I started the blog in the first place, to capture moments of our life.  With a new nephew being born literally any minute  day now,  what a better time to pick things back up.  And I will try to remember that despite how few comments/followers etc I have, one day I will de able to look back and see what we were doing in June 2011 and that is the most important thing!

Wingers Sticky Fingers Wraps

Wingers Sticky Fingers Wraps

6 - tablespoons Franks Original Hot Sauce
3/4 - cup Brown Sugar
4 - tablespoons water
8 - Frozen Breaded Chicken Fingers
4 - Flour Tortillas (burrito size)
2 - cups Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 - cup Tomatoes, chopped
2 - cups Lettuce, chopped

Bake the chicken fingers according to package directions. While the chicken strips are baking prepare the sauce. In a medium saucepan heat the hot sauce, brown sugar and water over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and sauce is heated thoroughly. About 5-10 minutes. Remove sauce from heat and set aside until the chicken strips are ready.

Place cooked chicken fingers in a large plastic container. Pour the sauce all over the and shut with the lid. Shake until all the chicken fingers are coated with the sauce. Place two sauce-coated chicken fingers onto the tortilla. Add desired amount of cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Wrap up and serve. You can also just eat them plain and dip into ranch dressing.

Linguine Cacio e Pepe

Linguine Cacio e Pepe

Serves: 4-6

1 pound bavette or linguini fine

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 stick butter

3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cup freshly grated Cacio di Roma

1 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano, plus extra for serving

2 tablespoons Kosher salt

1) Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 2 tablespoons salt. Drop in pasta.

2) In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and butter over low heat until just melted. Turn off the heat.

3) When pasta is about one minute short of package directions for al dente, turn the heat back on under the saute pan. Take 2 ladles of pasta cooking water and add to the oil and butter in the saute pan and bring it to a boil. Add a small handful of the cheeses and allow to melt into the butter.

4) Drain the noodles, reserving a few cups of the cooking liquid. Drop the noodles into the saute pan and toss with black pepper, using tongs. Add in 2 more ladles of pasta water.

5) Add rest of the cheeses, turn off the heat, allow them to melt into the top of the pasta, then toss well. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Keep tossing, adding another ladleful of pasta cooking water, until pasta is well coated and a sauce has formed.

6) Serve with additional grated Pecorino and freshly ground black pepper.                           

Enough Said!

Newest Obsession

I have seen restaurant.com's special for 80% off but never taken the plunge and purchased any of the gift cards.  Well we are REALLY tightening our belts as far as going out  We had gotten pretty lazy and been going much more often.  Although, as much as it costs to go out it is SO nice sometimes to come home after work and not worry with preparing anything and especially cleaning up!  Tadah reataurant.com is offering gift cards for 80% off!  That means you enter your zip code to search for participating restaurants and wahlah you can purchase a $25.00 gift card for $2.00!  How insane is that?  I even called one of the businesses to inquire wheter it was strictly dine in.  The man that answered knew exactly what I was inquiring about and said he would allow me to get take out if that is what I prefered! Amazing!  Can't wait to report back on our experience!

Wish List Please!

We love to entertain with good friends and delicious food.  And I know I have quite a TON bit of serving pieces but honestly in the 10 years that we have been married my tastes have changed a great deal.  Also, there are serving pieces for different occasions.  We have formal, Auburn, Christmas, other holidays, Seasonal, casual and the list goes on. I came across these  goods online and immediately wanted them.   At this point in my life I am most often not into buying more "stuff" but I love that these are clean and timeless.  One could honestly use them for years! These pieces are so organic, I just adore them! They are also an amazing price I think anyone would love to receive such an original gift (hint, hint) ;)

I think these garden stakes would be perfect!  They are totally durable and you are not commited to what is "written"on them as with most garden stakes.  You can change them every year, or if you are like me as often as something bombs  does not work out . 

Garden 2011

This weekend  Big T and I decided to get a jump start on our gardening.  We had a random circle of monkey grass in our back yard behind the driveway.  It is not visible from the street so I thought this might be a good place to expand our garden.  Especially since Monkey grass kinda gives me the creeps since you never know what is lurking within!  So we have ripped up the monkey grass and officially have another garden! We wanted to diversify/grow our garden this year.  I wanted to branch out from herbs, tomatoes, and peppers. Every year is a learning process for me.  I still have bags of frozen jalapenos from last year so I will not be planting those again and the tomatillos were so out of control last year for very little growth, they will not be featured either. I wanted to try some things that we use OFTEN.  For this bed. we decided to go with romaine, potatoes, garlic, onion and shallots.  I plan to plant plum and cherry tomatoes, bell peppers by the house.  Possibly okra and zucchini or eggplant!  For some reason I can not get me herbs to grow as well here as I did when we lived in Auburn.  So I plan to grow the parsley and basil in containers so that they can be moved into or out of the sun as the summer progresses.  Here are a few pics of our garden progress we will keep you updated!

Garden "Helpers"

New Recipes

It seems as though I have fallen off my recipe blogging.  Though not intentional, I guess I have not been trying many new recipes.   But over the past month  I have accumulated a few and will say the are all keepers!

I found this recipe from a Blog I follow kaitlin in the kitchen.  We made it to go along with grilled shrimp po'boys and it was fabulous!  I did not take any photos of ours so click on the link and you can receive step by step instructions with great pics!

Garlic Parmesan Fries

Ingredients:

2 Large Russet Potatoes

1 Large Garlic Clove

1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded

3 Tablespoons Butter

1 Tablespoon Flat Leaf Italian Parsley, chopped

Oil, for frying

-

Directions:

Wash your potatoes and cut into strips that resemble french fries. Place your fries in a bowl and add a drizzle of oil over them and cover with a microwave safe lid or plastic wrap and steam in the microwave for 3:00 minutes. While your fries are steaming, heat up your oil on medium high, it should fill a large pot about halfway full. Carefully place your steamed fries in your oil and fry until golden brown and then transfer to a paper towel lined cookie sheet or plate to soak up excess grease, and also season with salt immediately. Unpeel your garlic clover and slice it in half and put it into a bowl with your butter and microwave until melted, then remove the garlic clove. Place fries in a large bowl and pout butter over them and then the Parmesan cheese and parsley. Toss fries to make sure everything is coated evenly. Serve.

 Everyone loves The Pioneer Woman Cooks and I could not wait to try this recipe. She has fabulous pics and tips on her blog!

Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi

 Ingredients

1 pound Angel Hair Pasta

½ cups Grated Fontina Cheese

½ cups Grated Parmesan Cheese

½ cups Grated Romano Cheese

½ cups Goat Cheese (chevre)

2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened

1 cup Heavy Cream

1 whole Garlic Clove, Peeled

½ teaspoons Salt, More To Taste

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Minced Fresh Parsley

Preparation Instructions

Heat cream in a small saucepan on the stove over low heat.

Rub garlic clove all over the inside of a large serving bowl.

Cook pasta according to package directions in lightly salted water, leaning toward the al dente side. Do not overcook! Drain pasta, then return to the cooking pot. Pour in cream, add butter, and add cheeses and salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine, adding hot pasta water as needed for consistency. Don’t overmix; if there are little clumps of cheese here and there, it’s fine! Taste and add more salt if needed. Mixing stage should happen very quickly.

Turn pasta into large serving bowl. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately with a nice medium rare steak.

*Can use whatever four cheeses you’d like!

**My 2 cents on this recipe.  I substituted feta for the chevre.  I am not partial to Goat Cheese, too bitter for me.  I decided , against my better judgement, to use Angel Hair as the recipe states.  I only cooked the pasta for 2 minutes  and by the time I added the warm cream and pasta water, it was a ball of mush.  The flavor was very good but from now on I will make this dish with linguini or similar pasta that can stand up to the cooking the cooking, and warm, ingredients and mixing without becoming an overcooked. DEFINETLY reserve the pasta water .  Without it this dish would have been impossible to mix.

I love Giada’s recipes and do not believe I have ever tried one that was disappointing.  Despite the being fried, the parsley and lemon giveit a light fresh taste, perfect for Spring!

Fried Smashed New Potaotes

Ingredients

Potatoes:

2 pounds baby or fingerling potatoes

1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra as needed

3 cloves garlic, peeled and halved

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

2 lemons, zested

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

For the potatoes: Put the potatoes in an 8-quart stockpot with enough cold water to cover by at least 2 inches. Bring the water to a boil over medium heat and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Drain the potatoes in a colander and allow to dry for 5 minutes. Using the palm of your hand, gently press the potatoes until lightly smashed.

In a large, nonstick skillet, heat 1/4 cup of oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly brown, about 1 minute. Remove the garlic and discard. In batches, add the potatoes and cook, without stirring, until the bottoms turn golden brown, about 5 to 8 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the potatoes over and cook, drizzling with oil, if needed, until golden brown on the other side for another 5 to 8 minutes.

For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, parsley, thyme, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Spoon the dressing over the potatoes and toss gently until coated. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl and serve.

Enjoy!

Awesome Deal

Heads up vegetarians and any of you that have considered purchasing meatless products.  Veggie Patch has an amazing giveaway!  And I do mean giveaway.  At first glance I thought this was simply a $1 off coupon.  Which is still awesome because coupons for these products are very hard to come by.  Anyway, after reading more carefully I realized the coupon was for FREE Veggie patch entrees!  Originally I only had 2 of the coupons so I immediately went to print as many as I could.  So far I have "purchased" 10 entrees!  Thats a savings of $42!  These meals really are good and good for you.  They are a great supply of nutrients and do not have ANY perservatives! Last night I had spagetti and meat balls! The coupons expire March 31, 2011!  Hey if you do not like, you are not out a dime! But I think that you will! Enjoy!

UPDATE!  Just went by my Winn Dixie and Target, neither carries these products.  Nor does Brunos for those few people that still have Brunos.

My Mantra

Or at least it needs to be!

13.1 Bucket list, check!

He did it!  Big T is officially a Half Marathon finisher, with the medal to prove it!   His race was  bright and early Sunday morning and he finished with an official time of 2:19!  SO proud of him!  He continues to amaze me by setting a goal and always accomplishing it! I just ask that the next one be in more of a vaca destination, unlike downtown Birmingham ;)

In honor of St Valentine

I just received an email on the top 25 Romantic Rooms.  So in honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I would post my favoites.  In reality if I could have an ocean view right now, I do not think I would care what the rooms looks like.  Can you tell I am ready for warmer weather?  I included the link below so that you can check out all 25 romantic spaces!

25 Romantic Rooms Enjoy!

Coastal Living Furniture Line!

I Love Coastal Living Magazine for its laid back, yet classic style and also the yummy recipes that are  included with each issue.  So I am very eager to see this Coastal Living Inspired furniture line!

COMING SOON TO PARTICIPATING RETAILERS. Choose from a range of colors in the Cottage and the new Resort styles, and receive introductory savings from your nearest Coastal Living® Collection Retailer. Check it out, visit stanleycoastalliving.com.

My Mantle Inspiration Frustration

Hmmm where to start...  We have been in our current home almost 21/2 years!  It truly is amazing at how time flies.  I was not thrilled with the fireplace and mantle when we moved in and continue to loathe  feel the need to make changes to it every time I walk past it.  Which by the way is about a hundred times a day depending on the day of the week. Anyway, my goal is to reenergize the mantle as CHEAP  thrifty as possible!  I seriously stare at this mantle every day and can not get inspired!  No matter the different season and the decorations they bring, I still go back to my boring mantle.  Symmetrical? Asymmetrical? Mirror? Art? And it infuriates me that its design evades me!  So what do we do now when desperate for answers, Google.  When all else fails copy be inspired by others!

Love this! May I have the entire room please? 

An article I found on the subject:


Whether your mantle is large or small, fancy or plain, there are a few key basics you must keep in mind when choosing decorations.
Balance – The fireplace mantle is more often than not, the focal point of a room. Find a good mix of both large and small items to place on your mantle to create a balanced look.

Mantle Size – Choose items that are proportionate to the size of your mantle. Very small items will virtually disappear on larger mantles and very big items will look out of place on smaller mantles.

Overall Room Décor – If the room in which the fireplace exists is decorated in an Art Deco style, you don't want to place Victorian style antiques on your mantle, they will look out of place and throw the entire look and feel of the room off completely.

Number of Items – You may want to display 100s of your favorite things on your mantle but please, resist the urge. The beauty of each individual item will get lost in the clutter, not to mention, the overall look will be messy and disorganized" (LoveToKnow).

The rule of thumb when grouping accessories is to work in odd numbers. On a relatively narrow space like a mantle, that will likely limit your accessories to groups of three or five. Group similar accessories together rather than spacing them out across the length of the mantle. This way, they will have more impact and a more artful appearance.

Fight the temptation to fill up every inch of space on your mantle. One of the most important rules in design and decor is to edit yourself. Leaving some blank space is a good thing! Not only will this keep your mantle from looking cluttered and unfocused, it will allow the eye to appreciate what is displayed. If you have too many items to choose from, consider changing your accessories out periodically so that you can enjoy all of them, just not all at the same time.

Candles are a great accessory for a mantle, and they have even more impact when they are placed in eye-catching candle holders. Try using glass holders in varying sizes and shapes.

The use of sculptures can give dimension, and adds to the overall visual interest of your space. For an eclectic look, use a mixture of different elements in varying textures to decorate your mantle. Combine sculptures with framed pieces and add grasses in woven containers. For a traditional look, try topiary or vases filled with flowers on either end of the mantle with a round clock in the center. If your style is more modern, decorate with vases of different heights and shapes that are painted in the same color.

Remember that accessories on one side of the mantel do not have to mirror what is on the other side. As long as the visual weight is equal, the groupings will work

Read more: Great Ideas for Decorating a Mantle | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5132452_great-ideas-decorating-mantle.html#ixzz1DTvF0yoY

It's a BOY!

I am please to announce we will soon have another nephew!  Allison and babe are doing great! No word yet on the name stay tuned!

As you can see these two are quite pleased! Good Luck Baby, you are going to need it with Thing 1 and Thing 2 :)

If we could all live this way!

Top 10: Suzanne Kasler Designs

When Suzanne Kasler launches a product line, prepare to fall in love. The multitalented Atlanta designer fuses Continental inspiration with new-world presentation for a look that's equal parts refined and relaxed. Yet Kasler insists that her creations are "ultimately just things that, at some point along the way, I needed and couldn't find." She explains: "I don't necessarily try to make the most intricate or complicated things, because in the end they're not supposed to be about me. I want to make thinks that are relatable. When you put them in your home, they should be about you." For more of Kasler's signature fashion-meets-function style, pick up the January/February issue of Veranda.  Check out this link Top 10 Products  and see what is your favorite design!  Though completely diffferent I love both the sconce and the industrial bookshelf!

Where are you Spring??

As I drove today through sleet, again, I declared, "I'm over it!"  this weather has got to go!  I hope that everyone gets home safely this evening and has a warm and cozy evening!  I found this image at Don Freeman Art and hope it will bring you some hope inspiration about the Spring season that is surely around the corner!