My top 5 Summer Must Haves

Summer is one of my favorite times of year, its so nice and warm, and there is always so much to do! Plus my Birthday is in June (YAY ME!) But there are some things that I think Summer just isn't as good without. These are my top 5 Summer Must Haves:

# 1

Every Summer has a soundtrack and Mine is no exception. I love having the latest jams or the golden oldies blaring in my house or car all summer long!

# 2

I love to read, Summer Reading is a absolute MUST for me. The more books I can read the better! I love nothing more than to sit in the sun and read a great book and loose myself for a couple of hours in a story!

# 3

I pour this over almost everything. It brings an amazing earthy and decadent flavor to everything! It makes a great addition to Macaroni and Cheese or if you can find truffle butter and it goes awesome on the outside of grilled cheese or a hot panini sandwich! YUM!

# 4

Long dresses to me are the best thing ever! Not only are they SUPER comfortable, but they come in so many different patterns! I love wearing them on Sundays because they look great at church and are comfy to stay in for a walk later!

# 5

A sun hat! Now those of you who know me know I love love love to be tan! But I definitely don't want a sunburn! These hats are such a fun and cute way to keep nasty sun burns off your face!

I hope you enjoyed my top 5 summer must haves! Let me know what you guys can't live without this summer!

XOXO

A Little Southern Education

So as you can see I posted a new recipe and picture in the right side bar. Now I know lots of you are going to be confused. Hush Puppies? What in the world is that? Not many people have had, or heard of these delectable treats! Which if you ask me is a cryin' shame!

So what exactly is a Hush Puppy? They are basically deep fried corn bread! They are most commonly found served at Barbecues or with seafood in the South. They get their name because back during civil war times cooks or farmers would fry up some corn meal batter and give it to the dogs to keep them quite during fish fries or cook outs. Also slaves would give them to the dogs of their owners in order to "hush the puppies" when they were on the run.

Basic ingredients include cornmeal, flour, salt, eggs, milk or buttermilk, and baking soda. Any number of other ingredients can be included such as green onions, peppers, whole kernels of corn or seafood.

So now that you know a little bit about them you should try the recipe to the right and let me know what you think! They really are delicious and just as southern as can be!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

xoxo

The Final Frontier

One of my favorite subjects when I was in school was science. I loved learning about geography and the oceans, tides, and especially space. My dad is a Scientific genius. He has such a passion for astrophysics and knows so much about space and the many amazing things that are out in the universe! A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the VLA at the NRAO facility in New Mexico. It was awesome! Now for those of you feeling a bit lost: VLA = Very Large Array, and NRAO = Nation Radio Astronomy Observatory. They look something like this:

Each one is the size of like 6 football fields. They are positively ginormous! They basically track sounds and pictures from the universe. Very cool! It was cool to be there and some of the information and things that they can see and hear from space are just amazing!

Anyway, the whole reason for this post is this picture:

My Dad took this picture through his telescope in our backyard. Pretty awesome? For those of you who don't know, that is the planet Saturn. I think its so amazing that we have the ability to get a glimpse into the amazing wonders of our universe. They are so beautiful and I just wish someday that we could visit all these extraordinary places and see them even closer!

Anyway thats my nerd posting for the month! haha!

xoxo

Argentina Beef Stew

This recipe is from my Grandfather. He was a merchant marine and did a lot of sailing during WWII. He picked this recipe up off the coast of Argentina and it has been a staple in my family ever since. Its easy and delicious. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients :

1 lb top round beef

1 small onion diced

3 potatoes peeled and cubed

3 carrots chopped

8 whole peppercorns

2 bay leaves

5 cups vegetable or beef broth.*

In a frying pan sear the outside of the beef until brown on all sides. Add the onion and stir for a few minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots, peppercorns and beef to a large crockpot. Cover completely with broth and add the bay leaves. You can use any kind of vegetable you would like. In the picture above we added some green peppers cause my husband was craving them. It is such a great recipe and very versatile. It is super hearty and delish when served with home made bread.

*Let me introduce you to Better Than Bouillon. It is a base that is similar to bouillon but I think adds a much better flavor! Probably because they are made from actual meat and vegetable bases instead of chemicals packed into a tiny cube!! This is what I use. You just dissolve it into boiling water. Mmmm! I feel like it makes stews and soups less greasy as well.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the recipe! We made it this past Sunday for Mothers Day.

xoxo

OPA!

So I know this news will come as a shocker to some of you, but I have given up fast food. It has now been 4 weeks since I last had fast food. And really I don't miss it. My body feels better and I find I have more energy to take care of what I need to. What brought on this change some might ask? Education. I am an avid foodie and love watching anything and everything that Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, or Jamie Oliver can whip up and try to do it myself. So Jamie Oliver has been working hard in America to campaign for healthier meals in our schools. If you want to find out more about the Food Revolution follow the link: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Some of the things I learned about meat processing have turned me off of fast food forever. So thanks to Jamie for saving not only my health but also saving me a few pounds haha!

Anyway, so since I'm not eating fast food I have been more inclined to try and find some quick dinners that John and I can make when we would normally drive to McDonalds. This last Saturday night I had the pleasure of introducing John to Greek Food which is a favorite of my Moms. This potato recipe is hers that she made from scratch and they are delish paired with a flatbread gyro. SO! On to the recipe! (Just so you know I'm a dump cook so measurements are rare.)

Flat Bread Gyro with Greek Potatoes with Tzatziki sauce

Greek Potato Ingredients :

olive oil

peeled, chunked potatoes or yams

peeled, chucked onion

kosher salt and pepper

splash of water

Greek seasoning

squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice

Tzatziki Sauce Ingredients :

1/2 c sourcream or plain Greek yogurt

2 sm cloves fresh garlic, grated

good size pinch dried spearmint

1/2 to 1 tsp thick raw honey*

Directions :

Saute potatoes and onions in olive oil with salt and pepper for several minutes. Add good splash of water and cover, reduce heat and cook until potatoes are almost done and are tender to a fork.

While waiting mix all topping ingredients together.

Add Greek seasoning and lime/lemon juice, stir to moisten. Leave uncovered until almost all the liquid has evaporated - watch carefully 'cause when the pan runs dry it will burn. Transfer to serving plate. Dollop with the thick, creamy tzatziki sauce.

* A note on thick honey: thin honey is great for spreading over toast or beignets but it's too watery for this. Raw honey has a much thicker consistency and will make for a better sauce.

Gyro Ingredients :

flat bread or pita shells

finger steaks or lamb

greek seasoning

spinach

feta cheese

tzatziki sauce

Directions :

Gyros are pretty self explanatory its like a Greek burrito or taco. You can use any veggies you would like, and there are a limitless combinations. What makes it a Gyro is the greek seasoning on the meat, the feta cheese, and of course the tzatziki sauce. You can put as much or as little of anything you want on these. Just saute or grill the meat in a pan until cooked. I like to sprinkle the same greek seasoning used in the potato recipe for the seasoning but just salt and pepper would work great too. I like to spread the tzatziki sauce on the bread like a base and pile everything in and then put a couple dollops more on the top!

Like I said you can pretty much let your culinary freedom reign supreme as you create this part of the meal!

Enjoy and remember if it gets a little messy than you know its good eats!

xoxo

Glitter Toes

SO ... I learned a new trick today. And I thought I would share my knowledge cause I'm always looking for cute new trends. I went and got a pedicure Saturday! AWESOMENESS! Happy Mommy to be day to me! ( and no i'm not preggers , just ya know some day!) And I picked out my cute pastel (cause pastels are trendy this summer right?) green color and then the girl doing my toes asked me if I wanted glitter. Is that even a question? YES! So she took glitter and dusted it over my toes!

Think you will have to go to a salon to get this look? Try the craft store! My girl let me in on a secret! All they do is get a ton of colors of fine craft store glitter like you would use for projects and take a makeup brush and dust it on top of the wet polish. Press it down lightly, then brush the excess off and put a top coat on. Voila magical sparkly glitter toes! With none of the frustration of glitter polish which is always thick and clumps!

Anyway the picture doesn't do how sparkly they are justice but you can best believe that when this stuff wears off i'll be headed to the craft store to start my glitter collection for doing my nails!

xoxo

Sunshine Award

Today I received the Sunshine Award from a dear friend. She is an avid blogger and I am honored she picked me! So thank you so much to Miss Gentri Lee Please read/follow her blog she does some pretty amazing things! But hey they always say that the best things come in small packages!

So in order to accept there are a few things that I need to complete!

1) thank the person that gave it to me - ThANKS GENTRI LEE!

2) Tell you something about myself

3) Nominate other bloggers

So some things about The Mrs.

- I have worked as a performer at Walt Disney World for almost 6 years

- I hate driving in the snow, but love driving in the rain

- My favorite drink is Dr Pepper !

- I have been on 5 cruises, and traveled to Europe 4 times

- I love to sing but can't stay on key to save my life!

Nominations:

Mrs. Allie Fullmer

Miss Britt

Mrs. Angela Gonzales

Miss Brianna Dance

Mrs. Brandy

Miss. Christyn Costley

I don't quite have so many followers to be able to nominate 10! But I think that these ladies are so exceptional that they count for 10! haha!

Anyway thanks again to Gentri Lee! I'm new to this whole blogging award thing but its exciting!

xoxo

What I'm cooking

I added a new recipe to the right! I know I'm horrible at updating them and I make far more yummy things than I actually post. This recipe is in honor of mothers day. My wonderful Mother In-law introduced me to this recipe and it is by far one of my favorites. I have made it a few times before and it is so delicious! The recipe even tells you how to make the divine strawberry syrup that goes with it. Hope you enjoy!

xoxo

Date Night!

Hello my lovelies! I am happy to report that I am feeling immensely better than I was when I last posted. What a rough week though! Jeez, I really have to tip my hat to people that have terminal illnesses or chronic illnesses because one little surgery and man it totally turned my world upside down. I still have my little steri-strip bandages over my incision.. and they itch like crazy! I can't wait for them to peel off, but I'm not excited to see the scar underneath. Sad day.

Anyway my surgery isn't the point of this post! Today is Friday and it is the very first Friday night I have had off in months! So because today was a stressful(more on that at a later date) yet awesome day(Johns pell grants came through and it was a pay day) we decided that in distraction/celebration we would have ourselves a wonderful night out.

We started off with a divinely inspired meal at our favorite Cafe Rio, and then went to Petco to pick up some toys for our favorite puppy, and then went to go see the movie THOR.

The movie was great, I mean really look at this hunkalicous viking that you get to watch kill crazy freezey aliens and make out with Natalie Portman.

Tons of action too so husband was pleased as well. haha! After the movie we went to get ice cream sundaes(peanut butter and chocolate NOM NOM) and then came home to spend time relaxing before the weekend and playing with our favorite little puppy.

I'd just like to take a minute and say how blessed I really am. My husband is an all star. He has been such an amazing help this whole last week while I have been so sick and sore. He vacuumed, cleaned the kitchen, took care of Carlos, got 2 job interviews, got accepted to a job internship expedition in Washington DC, annnnnd he took care every little thing I needed. Making me breakfast and cutting my huge horse pills so I could actually swallow them and rubbing my back and hugging me just cause. He is just awesome. I seriously don't have any clue what I would do without him.

Anyway now that I have gushed about vikings and husbands i'm going to go enjoy the rest of my Friday night! Hope you like the new layout and hope you all are enjoying the beginnig of your summers wherever you may be!

xoxo