Crostini

We grilled some chicken on the grill one night, so I decided to try out some different flavors on top of  crostini.  Crostini is "little toasts" in Italian.  I bought a loaf of fresh French bread, goat cheese, avacado, and fresh salsa from The Fresh Market.  I also had some fresh blueberries from a local (NC) farm.

I brushed olive oil all around the french bread slices and delivered them to my husband, who grilled them along with the chicken.

The crostini with goat cheese and blueberries tasted like it had blueberry cream cheese, which was yummy, but not what I had expected.

What I really fell in love with was the one with goat cheese, avacado, salsa, and fresh cracked pepper.  I couldn't get enough.  It was so refreshing on a warm spring day.  My 7 year old even loved it!  My 4 year old wasn't quite as adventurous, who stuck with crostini with goat cheese, and blueberries on the side.

What do you love on crostini?

Spring Dinner Outside

We've had ridiculous weather this year, especially over the last couple of weeks.  Crazy heat, roller coaster temperatures, and I think there's been about 10 inches of rain at our house over the last 2 weeks.  But pollen season seems to be long past us, and today was absolutely one of the most beautiful days so far.  It was only 80 degrees outside in the hottest part of the day.  It wasn't humid, the bugs weren't out in full force, and the grass wasn't so wet that we couldn't walk on it.

So needless to say, we fired up the grill, put the umbrella up, tablecloth on and enjoyed dinner outside.

I did a very simple boneless chicken breasts in olive oil, onion powder and Italian seasoning, letting them sit for 20 minutes while the grill was warmed up.  My husband grilled them to perfection, along with the apricots.

 I whipped up a simple mixed greens salad, and some delicious strawberry lemonade.

Strawberry Lemonade

2 cups water plus 2 quarts water
Zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
2 pints of strawberries, hulled and rinsed
Juice of 5 lemons (about 3/4 cup)
Ice

First, warm the sugar and zest on high heat with 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan.  Boil and stir until the mixture is clear and the sugar is no longer grainy.

Blend your strawberries in a food processor.  Then in your drink pitcher, combine the berries, lemon juice, sugar water, and additional 2 quarts water.  Then add ice to cool it down.

Serve over ice.

Now sit back and enjoy the effort!

Patriotic Mesh Wreath

I like making mesh wreaths, but sometimes I just don't have the time to make the ones I imagine myself making.  I've been pondering the design and creation a patriotic wreath for months now, and haven't been able to commit the time.

It just so happened that (on our way home from camping last weekend) we were driving through the small town of Siler City, NC and decided to stop for dinner.  We pondered over where to eat, considering the slim number of choices , and then decided on a locally-owned restaurant that had a gift shop attached.  That is when I fell in love... with this wreath.

It was perfect.  Not exactly what I would have made, but better in some ways.  Simple, yet almost just like a large flag.  It's large, but with my tucked-in porch it is very visible from the road, which is what I wanted.  One less thing to worry about having the time to do.

Camping Trip - Memorial Day Weekend 2012

We had a lovely Memorial Day weekend.  We started early, by loading up the car and heading to the American Heritage Girls Inaugural NC Camporee.  We camped out in Carthage, NC at Camp Durant.  It was a nice camp and the kids had fun.  My oldest daughter got to shoot BB's, make a paracord bracelet, and learned more about first aid.  We all had our share of hiking and roasted marshmallows.  It was nice to have some down time, away from everything.  I used my smartphone as a clock and nothing else, disconnected from the world.

One of the things I took pride in during the camping trip was the food.  I tried to keep it camp-like, but still  good and healthy.  Here was our menu:

Friday dinner: 

Grilled chicken (marinated in Italian dressing)

Brown Rice (the pre-cooked in a bag kind)
Black Beans
Mixed Veggies
The latter 3 were cooked together in 1 pot for ease.

Saturday Breakfast:

Scrambled Eggs

Grits

Apple Slices

Saturday Lunch:

PB&J on wheat

Carrot Sticks and Red Bell Pepper slices

Chips

(Saturday's dinner provided by the camporee staff consisted of hot dogs and chips.)

 Sunday Breakfast:

Pancakes with Pure Maple Syrup

Fresh Blueberries

Snacks:

Trail Mix

Grapes

The food turned out great. The chicken and fresh fruits/veggies were all prepped in advance. We had more than enough room in the cooler for other things, and there was plenty of food to cover lunch on Sunday (more PB&J).  I also had in the cooler the Horizon milks that are individual-sized for both breakfasts.  We brought a separate water cooler and drank water and Nuun tablet drinks during lunches and dinners (we tried the pink lemonade, orange and fruit punch tablets).

Tip: You can keep pre-mixed pancake mix (ready to pour) in a cooler for several days.  I used the mix we keep on hand in the pantry, which has oatmeal, cinnamon, whole wheat flour, etc.  YUM!

Short Absence, Pussywillow Tree

I've been busy.  Besides typical stuff, I'm working hard preparing for a professional certification, which I'll be soon testing for.  I'm hoping to be posting more soon.  Until then, an up close and personal view of a picture I took this weekend, a pussy-willow tree.  Reminds me of my childhood, although I can't pinpoint a specific memory.

“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

John 4:48

Have a wonder-filled week!

Took time to smell the flowers today...

We went to New Bern, NC, today.  We visited Tryon Palace.  If you're local, you may like to know that they currently open up the gardens FREE on the first Sunday of each month.  We took LOTS of pictures, and here are just a few.  I love North Carolina, and how green it is most of the year.

Hope you can appreciate some of these beautiful pictures!

Have a wonderful Labor Day, and muffin tin ideas are next, I promise I've been working on that!  Also coming soon, a series of lunchbox pictures.

I have been VERY busy (Backyard Berm)

Here's what I've been working on for the last 4 weekends.  Adding a couple of feet in height to a "berm" which is a barrier that divides our yard from the wetlands behind us.  I added topsoil by the truckload (6 truckloads) using a shovel and a garden rake (see pic).  Then I covered it with about 3 truckloads of shredded hardwood mulch.  The pictures may not be breathtaking, but believe me, compared to how it looked before, I want to spend hours out back just soaking in the view.  I love the wall of trees, the sounds of many types of birds, and the sun/shade of this backyard.  This is one of the reasons we bought this house.  I love it.

Garden Rake:

Finished building up the topsoil:

Finished the mulch:

Now, if I decide, I can plant flowers or plants along that berm.  Right now I just need a break from it! 

Our backyard, even with the amazing view, came with many challenges.  For 3 years we had several huge gorgeous sweet gum trees that produced amazing shade, and a black gum tree that was just so pretty, but not thriving.  The downside was all the gumballs that took over every winter, and the inability to grow grass.  We had the trees removed, and have seen a world of difference, but still have a ways to go.

That's it for now.  Happy Mothers Day to all my readers who are moms!

Finally, a nice front porch!

I finally was able to put something significant on my front porch.  I always felt like it was so big when I was on the front porch, and wanted to make it feel welcoming.  This year was my year to do just that.  I finally settled on this wicker bench and chair.

What makes it even better are these AMAZING flowers that came from a farm about 40 minutes from my house.  I fell in love with so many of their arrangements, but settled on this one.  In the centers of the orange flowers are a splash of purple and white.
Here's a view of the bench (ignore the tags on the pillow, guess it's time to remove them):

And on the way to the porch, I added a pot with some more colorful flowers, close to where the geraniums are coming back from last summer!

I'm so in love with spring!  What's your favorite part of spring?