I created a little layout using a photo shared with me by Claire’s mom Beki of the twins with their cousin Gabe. The boys adore going to the camp with their Pop and cousin Gabe, this photo shows their catch from May of 2013. My how they’ve grown!
Shabby Miss Jenn Designs: Kit: Great Outdoors
Click on the image to find the kit in her online digital scrapbooking store.
David has been watering our fig trees this week and we picked our first ones this past weekend. This evening when my BFF Missie and I came back from a little shopping trip in town we picked a few before it started raining really heavy. She picked about a gallon to take home and snack on and I picked a 13 cup container that I brought into the house and tipped. I am going to go out and pick enough to cook a nice batch of preserves tomorrow and hopefully my Daddy will come over and pick the rest.
Ms Janey, don’t you think you should take a drive down south to pick some fresh figs for your own self!? Come on down!
Last night we had a little change up of plans, we were dining out with dear friends, but have moved our reservations to next Saturday, same place, same time, same good friends. So with this little alteration in plans I decided to cook something at home instead of dining out.
I had crawfish and Portobello mushrooms in the fridge and the makings of a delicious salad so I got to work on the menu. What I came up with was crawfish stuffed Portobello mushroom with Havarti cheese with dill, crawfish and pesto served over roasted spaghetti squash and a spinach, strawberry salad with feta cheese, walnuts and a home made raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I purchased a few of the spaghetti squash, those are the more yellow skins shown below, I got one from a neighbor and it was much more of a cream color, that was the only difference I found in them, they both cooked up deliciously and tasted the same, the lighter one was just a tad bit lighter once cooked.
I cut the spaghetti squash in half, took out the seeds and rubbed butter all over it, sprinkled it with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt and put it in the oven for 35 minutes at 375 degrees.
I didn’t get another shot of the cooked squash before I scraped it out into a bowl but it was golden brown on top and tender enough to scrape easily with a fork. I fluffed it up as I scraped it to give it a nice texture to it before topping with crawfish and pesto stuffing. I sprinkled a little more salt and black pepper on it before serving.
The crawfish mixture was very easy to make, I heated a little less than 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan along with 1 tablespoon of butter, I added one large clove of garlic that I chopped very fine and a half of a yellow onion also chopped finely. After cooking that over medium heat for about six minutes until the garlic an onion were clear and golden brown, I added in the crawfish and sauteed it until it was fully cooked, which took about five minutes over medium heat. I seasoned with black pepper and sea salt before adding 3 to 4 tablespoons of half and half and cooked another minute, the milk, butter, oil and crawfish juices made a nice little sauce. I turned off the heat and added 1/4 of a block of Philadelphia cream cheese, I mixed until the cream cheese was dissolved completely. I spooned it into a bowl and let it stand while I got my mushrooms prepped and made my pesto. I’ve been told that you shouldn’t add the salt to seafood until you’ve cooked it because it causes the natural waters in the seafood to drain out of it and make it rubbery, so that’s how I always cook mine.
While my squash were roasting I was also prepping my mushrooms before filling them with the crawfish mixture. I removed the stems and brushed the tops of the mushrooms clean before placing them on a foil covered baking pan and sprinkled them with olive oil. I allowed them to cook for ten minutes in the 375 degree oven, I then removed the pan and using paper towels I absorbed all of the juices that collected in the centers and replaced them in the oven for an additional ten minutes before removing to repeat the juice absorbing process again. After I’d patted them quite dry I set them aside while I made my pesto and sliced the Havarti cheese to top the stuffed mushrooms.
The next thing I did was make fresh pesto using the same recipe I used earlier this summer which you can find on HERE on my blog. One thing I did this time was leave larger pieces of shaved parmesan cheese in the pesto.
The next thing I did was spoon two heaping tablespoons of the crawfish mixture into the mushrooms. A little more or less depending on the size of the mushroom.
Next I topped them with a few strips of Havarti with dill cheese slices.
I then popped them back into the oven which was still 375 degrees for about two and a half minutes until the cheese was all gooey and melted on the top. The smell at this point was truly divine!
While those rested I put together the salad, I’d made the raspberry dressing earlier with fresh raspberries, sugar, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. It turned out very nice, light and fruity, more fruity than oily or vinegary.
Assembling the salad was quick and easy. I just tossed the baby spinach into a bowl and topped it with the berries, walnuts and feta, we drizzled the dressing on as we served our individual salads.
I mixed about two tablespoons of pesto into the remaining crawfish mixture before spooning a heap of it onto the top of a bed of spaghetti squash. The flavors were really good together and it was a light but filling entrée.
We enjoyed a little Moscato wine with our supper and it was a nice addition to the meal.
If you have any questions about the recipes, or need/want clarification just leave a comment below and I will answer asap. I hope y’all all have a very happy Sunday!
If you have not tried this subscription box for $21 a month you don’t know what you’re missing. This month I have received my fifth Glossy Box and it keeps getting better and better. Each month you get five surprise luxury beauty products in deluxe sized samples and some times full sized delivered to your doorstep to experience. I’ve found some of my favorite beauty products through this subscription service and have loved most of what I’ve gotten. It comes beautifully wrapped and the products always arrive in outstanding condition and never broken or damaged. This month was a red, white and blue themed box full of goodness and I’ve can’t wait to try these new products.
This month there were five super products and a Gift Card from C Wonder store, the card says Every Card is a Winner, just have to bring it in and find out what the deal is about, there’s a new C Wonder store in New Orleans at the Saks mall, I’m going to have to get over there next time I’m in the city. Camille Beckman Platinume’ Gold Imperial Repair Hand Therapy that smells divine. Two nail polishes from Strange Beautiful Library o Color Colorbloc in red and navy, just in time for the 4th of July. Champagne Eye Shadow Pencil by Sumita Beauty that’s lovely. I love dry shampoo and this Rusk Texture Dry Finishing Spray sounds right up my alley! And the last thing was Patagonia Body Butter that is as smooth and creamy as any I’ve ever tried, its going to come in handy since our beach trip dried out my arms and legs quite a bit and my skin is drinking up everything I put onto it.
Yesterday while I was blogging, scrapbooking and fiddling around online I got a little hungry and it being just ten thirty in the morning it was just a little early for lunch. I decided to make myself a little cup of tea and a snack.
I gathered up the necessary goodness from my pantry and refrigerator. Decided to make my favorite Stash wild raspberry herbal tea, I’d already had my caffeine for the day in my morning coffee so this was perfect. Being one who is subject to lots of sleeping issues I figured I didn’t need any more caffeine for the day. I used my trusty Keurig coffee maker without a K cup in it to heat the water to the perfect temperature and that worked fabulously and quickly. I added a little bit of lemon and French Vanilla creamer to it, I don’t really know what the ‘proper’ cream may be for tea drinking, but I’m all about making tea to suit my own taste and this worked perfectly. I sweetened it a little bit with half a package of “Swerve” sweetener that I was introduced to while at a Food Festival at the French Market in the French Quarter in New Orleans last year. I like that it has no after taste at all.
The pretty color of the tea once I added the cream to it was a lovely light mauve and was visually appealing to me as it coordinated with my lovely little cup and saucer. I added crackers, cheese and fresh raspberries to my yummy snack plate and headed to my office to do a little reading and blogging.
The cheese is Dubliner and the crackers are Breton’s sesame seed crackers. Just a few of these make for a really delicious and filling snack. The raspberries were plump and very pretty at Sam’s Club this week when I did my shopping and you could just taste the freshness right now because they are in season.
The pattern of these dishes is 1950s Norway Rose by Cunningham & Pickett, Inc. of Alliance, Ohio. C&P Inc. were distributors of the pattern and most of them were manufactured by Homer Laughlin China Company. I adore the pattern and the color of these dishes so very much and always have my eye open for new pieces while antiquing and vintage shopping.
It was a very delicious and satisfying snack, I love using pretty dishware when I’m home alone during the day (and for that matter at any time) it feels a little bit fancy and la-tee-dah. The girlie girl in me adores that feeling and the feminine flair it adds to my day. Indulging in a visual treat is always a pleasure for me and and the combination of these dishes, flavors and snacks make me happy!
Have a very lovely day and remember that you CAN make your day as pretty as you want it to be! Don’t ‘save’ those pretty dishes for a some day. Use your beautiful things regularly and often and enjoy them!
A few nights ago after a little shopping trip to my local Sam’s Club I made a yummy and very easy Caprese Salad. The mozzarella cheese came pre-sliced in a package and made it super easy to use in our salad and definitely inspired this dish.
The ingredients are few and simple and include tomatoes, I love the vine ripe tomatoes that were available at Super 1 Foods this past weekend on sale for a mere .98 per pound, fresh basil from my garden, raspberry balsamic vinaigrette dressing, mozzarella cheese, golden cherry tomatoes from my garden, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
The fresh basil from my garden is so delicious and beautiful right now. I just can’t get enough of it!
Assembly was super easy since the mozzarella cheese was pre-sliced at my local Sam’s Club store.
First I sliced my tomatoes into nice thick meaty slices, halved all of of the cherry tomatoes and stacked and cut the basil into thin strips. The reason I added the halved cherry tomatoes to the dish was because they are a little bit sweeter and paired well with the more acidic red vine ripe tomatoes, they added a nice sweetness to the dish. They just started ripening and the two plants I have really are going to yield quite a bit of yumminess from our garden this summer. The grandkids love picking and eating them fresh off the vine.
I stacked the slices of tomato and mozzarella, sprinkled the cherry tomatoes and sliced basil around the serving plate, added a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and lastly drizzled the vinaigrette over everything.
This delicious and easy to make salad was a nice addition to a simple supper for Dave and me that I served with a little corn and beef tomato soup I’d stored in the freezer earlier this spring that was made with corn from our garden and beef that Dave raised. I served peach tea with frozen peach slices and garnished with a little nectarine sliver, I didn’t have fresh peaches in the house so that substitute was perfect.
I hope everyone is having a simply yummy summer filled with good food and making great memories with friends and family!
