Smell Good Shirts

The other day I was looking at a Justice catalog at my in-laws and came across these cute shirts. I love camping and we are going really soon and I thought this shirt just was calling me. But the only problem is, is that Justice is a teens clothing store and I am not quite a teen anymore. My sister said I could get it in a size 18 or 20 but I will need to try it on to see. Oh and the part I forgot to tell you about is the shirts smell, you know a scratch and sniff type shirt. This one is really cute especially since I am a Georgia Peach, born and raised in good ole' Georgia. It smells good too! So do you think I should try to get the camping is fun one?

Test Post

Hi Everyone,  I am posting with my new fancy phone.  I guess I will know if it works later.

Have a good Thursday.

Eat's of the Week ~ March 20, 2011

A Gar Keith caught last Sunday.

I am taking a break for the next two weeks from listing our meals. The past two weeks we have eaten out or off schedule every day. Spring is here and we are staying in the yard later than normal and our plans have been changing daily. I am not sure why but I have cooked about 3 meals in the past 14 days. I know that is awful and expensive but we need a grace period (next two weeks) to figure out the new normal.

So what are you eating this week?

Carrot Blueberry Cupcakes

Carrot Blueberry Cupcakes

Filling:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup finely shredded carrots

3/4 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)

Frosting:

1 package (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cups chopped pecans, optional

1. Beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; gradually beat into sugar mixture until blended. Stir in the carrots, zucchini, and pineapple. Fold in blueberries.

2. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

3. For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Sprinkle with nuts, if desired.

4. Enjoy!

Fishing w/ Family, Part 1

We were going to take my mom fishing Sunday but since my sister was in town we made it a family affair.

If you have read my older post you might be able to figure out that I am not a beach laying out kind of girl, I prefer to work in the yard and sweat that way instead of laying dead and sweating. But when you are out on the boat you have three choices, 1. Fish 2. Layout and get some sun or 3. Watch them fish. So the second option seemed to best fit the situation that day. My sister and I are laying on the back of the boat trying are hardest to not get our ear yanked off by my mom who was fishing for the first time in years (I am talking 20 years).
Me sitting still while we are going to another fishing hole.

Keith, my mom and sister while in route to who knows.

Keith and my mom fishing or should I say Keith fishing and my mom quizzing him about fishing. Just kidding Mom!

Cupcake Makin'

My sister got a wild hair and came home this weekend. She had a great little cupcake book so all day Saturday we made cupcakes and laid on the hammock and planned our trip to West Virginia that we are taking in a month. The sun was beating down hard and these little cupcakes were perfect! The ones above and below are 'Sunshine Cupcakes' , they have a lemon boxed cake mix batter with tinted vanilla frosting and are decorated up to resemble sunshine's. These were so cute nobody want to try them to see if they were good.
These yummy ones below have all the good stuff in them and are super yummy. I meant to get the recipe but I forgot. They have blueberries, crushed pineapples, shredded carrots and shredded zucchini in them with a cream cheese topping. They are so yummy and healthy!

Eat's of the Week ~ March 13, 2011

Valentine's Dinner 2011

Sunday

Chicken Fried Steak

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Something Green

Monday

Spaghetti Pie

French Bread

Tuesday

Leftovers

Wednesday

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Chips

Thursday

Beef Fajita Nachos (but with cube steak)

Friday

Breakfast or Homemade Pizza

Saturday

Dinner with Friends and Family

And The Garden Starts

I spotted a bird on the back patio sneaking a peak at me a few weeks ago. It does look like he is trying to see what's going on the house doesn't it?

Two weeks ago I got sweaty and dirty all while planting lettuce seeds, multiplying onions and radishes.
I might have made a mistake of planting the multiplying onions in a raised bed that I plan to use for other things through out the growing season. I made that mistake with some herbs last year and I now I have to get Keith's muscles to get them out roots and all so I can plant them in a container on the patio. Above is radishes and onion's popping out of the soil.

This is the lettuce above, this is the first time it has shown some green so fast.

On the left we have the multiplying onions (I bought them last fall and didn't know if they were any good, I guess they are) and some radishes. I can't wait to eat them and try out a radish salad recipe I just found.

This is the multiplying onions and radishes and a oak tree that is trying to claim this bed. I again needs Keith muscles for this removal.

Have you thought about your garden this year? What might you plant?

Horchata

Horchata per Wikipedia

While in some countries the drink is usually tan and "milky", some recipes call for milk, and others do not. Other ingredients often include sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Though horchata was once typically homemade, it is now available in both ready-to-drink (shelf-stable or refrigerated) and powdered form in grocery stores. Horchata, together with tamarindo and jamaica, are the three typical drink flavors of Mexican agua frescas.
In Mexico, horchata is made of rice, sometimes with vanilla and always with cinnamon.

The How To

3 cups uncooked white rice

15 cups water

3 cinnamon sticks

Pulse rice and water together in a blender until rice breaks up.

Soak rice, water and cinnamon sticks together for at least 3 hours at room temperature.

Strain rice and cinnamon sticks from the water.

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups sugar

Add the above to the strained rice water and mix thoroughly. Chill and serve over rice, ha ha serve it over ice. (makes 1 gallon)

This is a very yummy healthy alternative to soda's and high in sugar and corn syrup fruit juices.

Carrot Cake and Peach Cobbler

Around the first of February I was clearing out my vegetable garden. I was getting rid of all the dead plants and mixing up all the soil getting it ready for the first plantings. When I got to an area that I had planted carrots in I found some enormous carrots.

My niece, Jamie suggested we make a carrot cake. Since I have never tried one I got this recipe from my mother-in-law.

We chopped the leaves off and shredded the carrots and Jamie mixed it all together.

It was really yummy!!!

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The other night I made a pan of blackberry cobbler. I had some of the topping mix left over so my mind got to thinking outside of the box.

You know those individual serving of peaches??? Well, just drain some of the juices off, dump it in a souffle dish and top it with your favorite cobbler topping. What a quick way to make a cobbler for one or two.

Boating Days

Keith has the boat all ready for the 2011 fishing season. We had to do some minor repairs that my handy husband was able to do but it is good to go and like new again.

I don't care to much for fishing for hours on end but what I do love is spending time with my husband, allowing him to do something he loves, watching nature and enjoying the beautiful weather not worrying about what needs to be done at home.

Before when I was working I hated going on the boat. It was boring and I had a million other things to do. But now all those things can wait as I have learned that my husband comes first above sweeping the floors and the world will be okay if the laundry isn't folded as soon as it comes out of the dryer.

Here are some photos from 3 weeks ago on Lake Harding in Georgia.

I hope you are able to find something that you love and do it with no thought of what could be done. It truly feels great!

A Different Kind of Gift

With every holiday that involves gift giving, I try to think out of the box. I like to give gifts that are meaningful to the recipient, frugal and homemade if possible. In the next four months, we have five birthday's coming up. I am thinking of giving an actual gift and a homemade sweet treat for that person to savor for at least a week unless they share them all.

My sister-in-law Brandi likes Key Lime Pie so I might make these Key Lime Cupcakes. I will be giving her six that are fresh and ready to eat. Who knows I might give her a dozen. I just found this awesome Mason Jar Frappuccino and Brandi loves coffee in any way, shape or form so I might be giving her a case of mason jars. For my nephew Mason who orders coffee at the Waffle House and eats anything chocolate I will probably make this Mystery Mocha but into cupcakes or make them in mini disposable cake pans.

My brother-in-law Kevin likes it all. I am a little stumped on his sweet treat. I have a couple months but I am thinking these Apple Fritters or these Orange-Marmalade Rolls.

Jamie my niece who is a cute little girl that is growing up to fast. She is such a sweet girl that would love making these Springy Flower Pot Desserts with me. I can see us now lined up in the kitchen getting everything ready and doing each one step by step, then going outside and picking some flowers to top these great treats off. Therefore, for her I will make these with joy and love.

When Keith's birthday rolls around in September, I will be cooking Murphy's Hot Hamburger up for everyone. Keith and I like to have a family birthday dinner at our house so this will be perfect and I am sure if help is needed he would not mind at all.

I know I said five birthday's but I know my mom reads this blog so I will not list her sweet treat.

Do you give out of the box gifts?

Eat's of the Week ~ March 6, 2011

The chickens (Bonnie, Blondie and SaSa) are really chowing down on this salad. It was gone in 3 hours.

I am going to start having one of two choices every Friday. Since it is the end of the week and time to get ready rest all weekend or do yard work all weekend I am going to simplify cooking on Friday's. We will either have Breakfast food or Homemade Pizza, Keith's choice. Maybe you should incorporate something like this into your hectic or relaxing night of your week.

Sunday

Vegetable Beef Soup

Monday

Salmon Patties

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

Corn on the Cob

Tuesday

Shepard's Pie

Wednesday

Galatians Discussion (we will eat their)

Thursday

The MM Sandwich, PW Style (but I am serving it over rice)

Buttered Bread

Friday

Breakfast or Homemade Pizza

Saturday

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Tomato Soup

A Trip to Tennessee

A few weekend's ago I went visit my sister for four days. The meals were all pre-made for Keith, the house was spic and span and his work clothes were ready to go. So I was off for a girls weekend of spending money, eating awesome food and doing new things. Friday we went and ate at Souper Salad, a neat soup and salad buffet. Then it was off to a painting party at Gogh Paint N Party. The whole trip was planned around this event.
There was a group of 20 something women all in their late 20's to late 50's and one man. Everyone painted the same thing in the same colors except for me. I needed this to match my living room or else I had no idea where in my house it would hang so I changed it up a little bit with the help of our awesome teacher Leslie. The whole time we were painting she had fun music playing and we were all singing and dancing in our seats.

After the painting party we went to The Melting Pot for dessert. I had purchased a $10 gift certificate from restaurant.com for one dollar so we had a chocolate fondue dessert.

On Saturday, we woke up early did some yard selling and I got some great deals. Remember when I said our reindeer were stolen? Well, I was able to get two more at a yard sale for six bucks. I also got two cute and fancy skirts, a nice pair of black pants and a Bible dictionary cause if you ever tried to read the Bible you need some explaining ever now and then. Then it was off to a little bakery and the famous Kingwood Pharmacy. We spent over an hour looking around this store, I bought some new fuzzy slippers and some other little goodies. Then we had lunch at Taco Roc and drank Horchata for the first time and I had them write the recipe down for me I liked it so much. For dinner we went and ate sushi at Sushi Nabe again I had a $25 gift certificate that I paid two dollars for. I mastered chop sticks and ate a yummy squid salad. After dinner we walked over the famous Walnut Street Bridge and then had some coffee.

On Sunday we went to church and had lunch at Five Guys Burger and Fries. I don't think I have eaten there in the past but this place was so yummy. Even so yummy that I got some fries on the way home to take to Keith. We discovered a new walking trail by my sisters apartment and then made the yummy shrimp quesadillas.

Wrapping up the trip on Monday we went to a yoga class that morning, an international market where I got the cute dessert tarts that are all gone and the lovely McKay's and World Market. A trip to Chattanooga is not complete without going to World Market and McKay's. McKay's is this really cool used bookstore. You can take your old gently used books, dvd and cds and they will pay you for them. If you read or like to think that you read (I am in that phase right now) then you will be in book heaven if there is a such thing. We have a VCR still so I bought some classic movies for as little as 15 cents up to 95 cents. Then I got another Bible dictionary and a few other books from authors that I like. This store just rocks.

After that it was home to pack and load my car up. I had tons of bags and my car was loaded down.

This was such a great trip. Thank you Amy for hosting me and feeding me!!!