Thanksgiving

We had a really quiet Thanksgiving. With the busyness of the Advent and Christmas season right around the corner, I was very thankful for the restful and relaxed atmosphere!

We are incredibly, awesomely, unfathomably blessed!

My menu included cranberry bourbon turkey tenderloin, dressing, mashed potatoes, candied carrots, and brussels sprouts. It was all a hit, except for the brussels sprouts, which no one but me cared for. Oh well. It was worth a try. For dessert, I made pumpkin bread pudding. Yum.

We took the kids down to the Peabody to see the ducks march. It's kind of crazy - you wait and wait and wait and the actual march takes all of 5 seconds. But the kids thought it was the cutest, most exciting thing ever and spent a long time watching the ducks swim in the fountain.

Fail

I'll close with a little Thanksgiving entertainment from turkeys numbers 1 and 2. (It's kind of long - you'll get the idea after the first or second verse.)

Spring inspiration

My friend Brittany is always finding cute inspiration on Pinterest. She does such a great job of doing some of the things she pins. I realized that we had done a few projects around here that I had pinned, so I thought I'd highlight them.

We made large Easter eggs.

 

Source: familyfun.go.com via Emilee on Pinterest

I was certain that the girls would love this project. It was an invitation to make a huge gluey, sticky mess! Nope. They spent about 2 minutes participating. Kevin and I did most of the eggs. We had a great time.

For our Easter lunch dessert the girls helped me make some little bird nests. Yum!

Source: thecurvycarrot.com via Emilee on Pinterest

Here's ours, displayed on one of my most cherished heirlooms, my great-grandmother's Limoges platter:

Helen had to bring a snack to school a couple of weeks ago. It was "R" week, so we made a yummy rainbow. I don't think I officially pinned this idea, but I know my friend Laura made this snack. It was so fun to make and everyone at school loved the idea.

Valentine's recap

We didn't really do anything extraordinary for Valentine's Day, but it was still special in a simple way.

Kevin was off of work, so he got to go to Caroline's class party. They had a great time.

Helen got still for 2 minutes and awkwardly fell asleep.

Dinner was my personal interpretation of surf and turf. I took my friend Laura's advice and made this awesome shrimp chowder recipe. It is ridiculously simple. I kept thinking, "This is too easy. Is this all I have to do?" And it was so delicious. Thanks, Laura!

The girls loved every bite.

And no day is complete without getting a few of these from my smallest valentine.

 

Hope your Valentine's Day was just as sweet!

Cookies

Caroline came home with a paper from school that asked her what her favorite thing to do at Christmas was. She had written, "Make Christmas cookies." I immediately rethought my "no baking" declaration. Luckily, I have a super-easy sugar cookie recipe and I always have all the ingredients to make them.

We had a good time making cookies and then decorating them the next day!

My favorite thing about this recipe is that the dough doesn't have to be chilled. If I'm going to make cookies, I want to roll them out, use cookie cutters, and bake them right then! It's from Southern Living several years ago and I can't find the recipe online anymore. The frosting is a must!

No-Chill Cut Out Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla. Mix. Sift together flour and baking powder. Gradually add to butter mixture and blend well. Form dough into a smooth ball. Roll out on a lightly floured surface (1/4-1/8" thick). Cut out with cookie cutters. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. Cool and decorate.

Vanilla Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar
1 T melted butter
3 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Mix until smooth. Color if desired. (I love almond flavoring, so most of the time I use 2 tsp of almond extract and no vanilla extract.)

Halloween

The girls designed their jack-o-lanterns.

 
I try to make dinner on Halloween fun in hopes that the small people will actually eat something other than candy. It never works. (The recipe is from Southern Living several years ago. It's easy and quite tasty.)

Super girls to the rescue!

I'm so thankful for these three super children.

Loveliness

Happy Valentine's Day!


Craft time: Valentines for classmates, family, and friends


I added an embroidery floss tail and wrote "Have a MICE day!" on the back. Then Caroline signed them herself.


Sweet treats: sugar cookies with glaze, decorated with markers


Favorite: roses


Silliness: a "pacy" found in her safe-to-play-in kitchen cabinet

February fun

The weather has been so lovely this past week! We took a trip to the zoo with Elizabeth. Here are the girls at the sea lion show.


Caroline and I made conversation heart cookies to give to her friends. I ordered special food markers. I think I had more fun than Caroline did.


Caroline had a great time with the markers. (No pictures of her actually decorating...bummer. I guess I was trying to keep red food marker from getting all over her clothes. I'm not sure the markers are washable!)


And here's the packaging...

And today we went to a birthday party for a little girl in Caroline and Elizabeth's class at school. It was at this place with all these blowup activity stations for kids. I didn't feel like I should be bouncing and sliding around at almost 8-months pregnant. So I owe Bryn in a huge way...


Happy Valentine's Day to all! XOXOXOXOXO

Trick or treat

Caroline was really into Halloween this year. She had a costume party at school on Wednesday and got more candy than she did trick-or-treating tonight. We did some fun crafts here at home to celebrate. We carved pumpkins and even painted two little ones. I planned a spooky meal - mummy dogs, witch fingers, cobwebs, and ghost cakes. I was pretty pleased with myself over the silly meal plan. She had a great time saying, "Trick or treat! Happy Halloween!" at all the neighbors' houses. And then our little kitty helped hand out candy to the other kids.

I'm not sure how many trick-or-treaters we had this year. We always get a ton. Kevin got 1200 pieces of candy and gave out all of it - mostly two pieces at a time. I think he was a little more generous toward the end of the night.

Overall, it was such a fun Halloween for all three of us!

An al fresco recipe

Here's a perfect recipe for you to enjoy on your back patio. It's so easy and I guarantee it will be delicious every time (even if you don't like bourbon!). It's one of my Papa's favorite grill marinades.

Bourbon flank steak

1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c bourbon (Maker's Mark, Jim Beam, whiskey will do in a pinch)
1 flank steak

Mix brown sugar, soy sauce, and bourbon well. Put steak in a marinating-worthy vessel (sometimes I use a large ziplock bag). Pour over flank steak. Refrigerate and marinade at least 2 hours, turning meat once or twice. Grill steak to desired doneness. (We love ours medium rare. So that's about 8 minutes on each side, depending on how hot your grill is.) Let steak rest for a few minutes. Slice very thin and enjoy.

It will make your tummy so happy...

Holiday happenings

We had a little Christmas party at our house recently and I wanted to show you some of the ways I decorated and entertained our guests.

These apple candles were quite the topic of conversation. They are real Granny Smith apples. Kevin bought me a special tool last Christmas that cores out a hole perfectly for a tea light. I've used it on pumpkins and pears, but my favorite fruit of choice for candles are apples.


I love lime green (in case you hadn't noticed). So in addition to my lime green apple votives, I filled a vase and a candy dish with fresh key limes.


And this cake was really fun for me, a wanna-be pastry chef/baker. I saw it in Southern Living and thought it was so cute. It's a 3-layer red velvet/white swirled cake with peppermint cream cheese icing. The ribbon is made by using strips of "Fruit by the Foot" sprinkled with sugar crystals. (I had no idea what "Fruit by the Foot" was before I made this cake.) I think it added a very festive touch to the table. Who doesn't like an edible present?

And to top it all off, we all had a wonderful time at the party!

Low country

I was born in Charleston, and although we moved when I was little, the love of all things low country runs deep in me. I love magnolias, hot summers, sea breezes, sweetgrass baskets, spanish moss, palmettos, and shrimp and grits!

I remember the cafeteria at Methodist served shrimp and grits one day for lunch and none of my co-workers had ever heard of it. They thought it sounded weird.

This was my first attempt at shrimp and grits and I impressed everyone here at my house (even myself).

It's hard to believe something so delicious was so easy to make.

2 pounds frozen, peeled and deveined large shrimp
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup chicken broth, divided
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
Hot cooked grits

Thaw shrimp according to package directions.
Combine Cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning, and paprika; toss together seasoning mixture and shrimp.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add garlic, and saute 1 minute. Add shrimp, 3/4 cup broth, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce; cook 5 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink. Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon, reserving broth mixture in skillet.
Whisk together remaining 1/4 cup chicken broth and flour until blended; whisk flour mixture into broth mixture in skillet, and cook, whisking constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until thickened. Add shrimp, and cook 1 minute. Serve immediately over grits.

Makes 4 servings

Southern Living, NOVEMBER 2001

Alton in Memphis

Alton Brown's Food Network show Feasting on Asphalt will feature Memphis, TN, this Saturday night! I love this show (and Good Eats, too) and Alton is my kitchen hero. He'll visit the first Piggly Wiggly and eat at Interstate BBQ, Wile's Smith Drug Store, and Melanie's Soul Food - all good and "off the beaten path" choices for Memphis dining. Yum. I'm really sad that he came through Memphis and I was oblivious. I'll just have to catch him on TV instead.

Sweet corn

Any doubts that this girl is from the south? Yum!

We love downtown Memphis!

We had a very fun Saturday morning! We went downtown to the Memphis Farmer's Market. It was fantastic! Shame on me for not getting any pictures... I think it may become a regular Saturday morning activity for us. I can't wait to go back! We found food to create our entire Saturday night meal - goat milk marinated feta, organic steak, sweet corn, blackberry preserves, mini chocolate chess pies. I made some fresh bread for the preserves. The steak and the corn went on the grill. Our meal was fantastic! And I picked up some stone ground grits for later. Delicious!

After we had seen all there was to see at the MFM, we hopped on the trolley for a riverside loop trip. As you can see, we all love the trolley. It's one of our favorite things about Memphis. (You'll have to click on the slideshow to go to the album so you can see the video.)

Easter

The dress

The girls - both in lavender!

Caroline and Daddy ("DADA!")

Blowing a kiss - so sweet!

I love setting the table with our china. It always makes me think about the table Jesus has lovingly set for us. I know that my Savior has taken even more care and time setting his table than I take setting ours. I'm so grateful for that!

Roses from the backyard

Brined pork tenderloin, sauteed green beans, rolls, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs,

and cupcakes! I thought that since we girlies wore lavender, the cupcakes should have lavender flowers and sprinkles.

Caroline wound up with a happy plate, as did Mama and Dada!