Day 5

Today was a busy day! Work was NUTSO because it was the first day back after the holiday. I was so exhausted from my relaxing long weekend that I slept straight from 3-5:30 yesterday afternoon! I didn't really get to eat very much till about 6:30 when my friend Audra and I were decorating for her husbands surprise party we made a pizza. YUM CPK Sicillian. BAH! But anyway this post is supposed to be about my breakfast. Seeing as how totally epic it WASN"T. I had 2 fruit leathers for brekkie. Yum. They are good, but not filling. And aren't big on the energy boost either. Oh well. Can't have the breakfast of champions every day can ya?

xoxo

Day 4

Todays challenge was clouds. It was a challenge indeed because up until sunset it was a pretty much cloudless day! Which was awesome for the fourth of July. I loved the sunset over the Snake River in Idaho Falls today. It was great! Especially this angle I took this picture at I almost felt like I was in the south again. Only 2 1/2 more weeks!

xoxo

Day 3

Hands. Aren't our hands amazing? We do everything with them! Create, comfort, protect. I am so grateful for my hands! The cutest thing happened today in nursery. We only had two kids there because of the holiday weekend. However they were so great and played so well together. While we were eating snack they wanted to give each other a high five and were sitting on opposite sides of the table. They couldn't quite reach across and it was so cute seeing their little hands reaching across the table for each other. I wish I could of taken a picture of their cute little hands but couldn't get my camera in time. So there is my hand above. Kind of a lame picture. This was a hard assignment!

xoxo

Day 2

It literally has taken me alllll day to try and figure out which pair of my shoes I love the most. Because I have favorites for each category; comfort, dress up, casual... etc. BAH! It was so hard picking just ONE pair! Especially when I have more than 20 pairs of shoes! However I kept coming back to the pair shown above (fancified by picnik.com). These are my Corso Como's. My gosh they are beautiful. I love them. Beautiful cheetah print, silver/gold snake skin and made out of the most supple soft leather. They have the most amazing support and cushioning inside. Well worth the price I paid. Oh and a little known feature which isn't pictured above is the diamond insert in the bottom! Just kidding its probably a rhinestone but still it makes them super unique and gives them a bit of bling which I love.

xoxo

Grillin' it up!

Last night (Friday) John and I thought we would start the holiday weekend off right and grill out for dinner! (Can you tell we love our grill we got??) We had pepper jack steaks, caesar salad, cheesy cayenne potatoes and banana boats. YUM! It was delicious and I made the recipe up for the cheesy cayenne potatoes from scratch! I'm going to post the recipe so you can try and see what you think! I'm also posting the banana boat recipe cause a) super easy b) best dessert you will eat all summer! Enjoy and get grilling!

Cheesy Cayenne Potatoes

Ingredients

Red potatoes

Olive oil

Pepper

Salt

Sour cream or Greek yogurt

Cheddar cheese

Cayenne pepper powder

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Basil

Pasta Sprinkle (Penzeys spice blend)

Directions

Cut the potatoes like you would for scalloped or au gratin potatoes. About 1/4 inch thick. Then chop into fourths. Put into a pan with olive oil and saute with salt and pepper until potatoes start to cook. Add a splash of water and cover. Watch closely that the water doesn't run out before the potatoes are tender. If needed add more water.

While the potatoes cook, mix 3 good dollops of sour cream or greek yogurt with 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, and other seasoning to taste.

When the potatoes are tender to a fork and water is about evaporated dump potatoes into the sour cream/cheese mixture and stir while still warm. You don't want a lot of extra water going into the mixture so make sure you don't add too much to the potatoes while they are cooking.

Fill small oven safe custard dishes with potatoes and top with a little extra shredded cheese. Stick under the broiler until cheese melts and starts to bubble and brown. Let cool for five minutes and enjoy!

Banana Boats

Ingredients

Bananas

Chocolate morsels

Peanut butter or Butter scotch morsels

Mini Marshmallows

Directions

Cut a wedge out of a banana while the skin is still on. Fill the cutout with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and mini marshmallows. Put on a warm grill just long enough for marshmallows to puff up and crisp slightly and morsels to soften and lose their shape. Eat while hot!

xoxo

Day 1

Here we go! Day 1 of the 30 day photo challenge! I can't promise they will all look this crafty. I happen to have a lot of time on my hands this afternoon so...ya. Oh! And don't forget to check out my new recipe below!

xoxo

What are you grilling?

Just found this awesome recipe in the Food Network Magazine! And you better believe I will be grilling this up sometime on this fabulous holiday weekend! Let me know what you guys are cooking up this weekend!

Ingredients:

1 1-pound ball fresh mozzarella, halved and thinly sliced

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Kosher salt

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil(plus a little extra for drizzling)

3 large tomatoes (I'm going to use sauce or paste)

12 no-boil lasagna noodles

8 cups baby spinach (5 ounces)

1/3 cup low-fat ricotta cheese

1/3 cup chopped fresh herbs (basil, mint and/or parsley)

Directions

Preheat a grill to medium. Combine the mozzarella, parmesan, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon satl, and all but 1/4 teaspoon garlic in a bowl; drizzle with olive oil and toss. Season the sliced tomatoes with salt.

Lay out 4 double-layer sheets of nonstick foil. Drizzle each with olive oil, top with 1 noodle and sprinkle each noodle with 1 tablespoon water. Divide half each of the spinach sliced tomatoes and mozzarella mixture among the noodles. Repeat to make another layer of noodles water, spinach, tomatoes and mozzarella mixture. Finish each stack with a noodle. 1 tablespoon water and a drizzle of olive oil. Bring foil together and crimp tightly closed to make 4 flat packets.

Grill the packets, covered, until tender, about 10 minutes per side. Let rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the grated tomatoes, a pinch of salt, the reserved 1/4 teaspoon garlic and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a bowl. Open the packets and cut the lasagna in half, if desired. Top with the tomato mixture, ricotta and herbs.

Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

Happy Grilling,

xoxo