Biggest Game of the Season

GOoOoOo Mighty Tigers!!! LSU is playing Florida tonight and its been a fun night at home watching the game with family. Krista, Zach, Ian and Kali came over with a delicious cheesecake for dessert, Deb made a yummy blueberry topping to go with it. Gotta have purple and gold on the plate to make everyone smile! Here’s a photo of Pop Dave and little Kali ready for the big game!

I baked a brisket yesterday for a little over seven hours and sliced it up really thinly and tossed it with barbecue sauce in preparation for our bbq brisket burgers for tonight’s supper. We had carrots and sugar snaps with ranch dressing for our appetizer, served green salad with our bbq burgers and crispy chips.

 

 

 

Krista enjoying her supper all dressed up in her purple and gold! Even our snacks were purple and gold in honor of our favorite LSU football team! Go Tigers!! The game’s still on, I’ve taken a little break and the Tigers are holding their own!

I got these yummy blackberry cobbler and creme brulee candy corn at Walmart this week, so pretty and so tasty!

Kali decided to wear her headband as a waistband tonight, the girl loves making her own fashion statement! Keeping our fingers crossed that the Tigers come out on top!!

Janey Shared a Recipe with Me!

While chatting with my sweet friend Janey this morning, I asked if she had a good bean soup recipe. You know she did, you know its delicious and we are suckin it up tonight! She said I can share her recipe here!

   

Hayride Kitchen Bean Soup (from Janey)

2 cans white navy beans

2 cans Trappey's Pinto beans with jalapeno peppers

2 cans Campbell's Bean & Ham soup

1 can hominy

2 cans chopped ham........

1 lg onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1 cup water........or chicken broth

Put all ingredients in a heavy pot and cook for 2 hr.  Serve with Mexican corn bread.

Hayride Kitchen used to be where Elvis Presley played here in Shreveport. After he died, they turned it into a restaurant.

Little adjustments I made to the recipe. I used creamed white navy beans, added cream of mushroom and split pea with ham soup, both by Campbells. I also added 1/2 cup of celery, 1/4 cup green onion, one heaping tablespoon garlic and Tony’s Cajun seasoning and some extra jalapenos. I used chicken stock instead of water. I garnished with chopped green onions. Thank you Janey, this dish is delish!

For dessert I made something super simple and delicious. I took fresh french bread that was baked late this afternoon at Simoneaud’s Grocery, sliced a few 1/2 inch pieces, toasted it lightly, topped them with cream cheese and a little of those blackberry preserves Deb made a few Sundays ago when they were visiting.

Enjoy and don’t forget to visit my dear friend Janey’s blog!

Sunday and little Saints Fans

The other day when I was making my regular errand run in town I found adorable little Saints “Drew Brees” jerseys for my three favorite little people. They had the right sizes so I was a happy shopper! So on the following Sunday Kali, Alex and Elijah came over for Sunday lunch and they all wore their jerseys. They enjoyed hotdogs ‘picnic’ style in front of the teevee and watched a little bit of the game together. Lets just hope and pray that our team keeps doing as well as they have been, Davey’s sure glad for it!!

The boys love it when Kali shares books with them. Here they are having a little apple juice snack together.

New School Shoes

Yesterday Kali got new school shoes, she’s growing like a weed and these were just so adorable that we had to take a photo of her. Her mama used to wear oxford styled shoes when she was little and now Kali’s following in the same tradition. Doesn’t she look proud of her new shoes!? I think they just finish off her little SES uniform perfectly and will be so cute with her school shorts or pants too!

She’s not a morning person, loves to sleep, but once she’s awake and has her sweet buttered toast and a cup of Ovaltine she’s as happy as a lark! Have a happy day at school baby girl!

Another seafood night at the Larson Home

Last night we enjoyed super scrumptious steamed crabs!~ Dave steamed them outside and we moved the party inside when the mosquitoes showed up uninvited. They’ve been just awful lately! That didn’t stop us from enjoying the succulent blue point crabs Daddy brought me when he made a trip to Forked Island to pick up fresh gulf shrimp. I’m so spoiled!

Yes, Janey… I thought of you and enjoyed them in your behalf! You didn’t have your crabs when you came down here, so that means you just have to come visit us again!

Shrimp for Supper

Tonight after de-heading and peeling about 35 pounds of shrimp, we came home from Dave’s warehouse and boiled 15 or so pounds! They were delicious and quite large, the container of shrimp pictured below is 9'”x13”, they were definitely two and sometimes three bites each! Dave, Alexa, Erica, Davey and I were stuffed! Tomorrow night I have three dozen crabs my Daddy brought to us when he dropped off the shrimp. He picked them up for us in Forked Island earlier today when he got the shrimp. There’s nothing like fresh seafood with a little of our Cajun mayonnaise sauce. I put a little ketchup in mine with a few teaspoons of Louisiana Hot Sauce with a healthy sprinkling of Camp Dog dry seasoning mix. Total Yum!!

I made a delicious stock with the heads and peelings that’s cooling on the stove now and it smells fabulous! It will be a great addition to my shrimp soups and seafood gumbos this winter! I reduced it a good bit so a few ice cube sized pieces will add a tremendous amount of flavor to the dishes!

This weekend is the gumbo cook off but I’m thinking I would prefer to make a giant pot of corn (I canned this summer) and shrimp soup!!  C'est bon!!

They got it right!!

The stucco color is divine, today was very successful, we got the stucco finished to the point where the brick layer can start tomorrow. The roofing crew will be back to finish putting on the roof tomorrow as well. So by week’s end we’ll have a the whole house sealed and closed in for the most part. We’re still waiting on one door, which was ordered after I added it to the half bath going out to the patio. Good move, smart decision but it leaves me waiting. Here’s a few images of today’s progress on the stucco. Two views of the front upstairs and a view of the upstairs in the back of the house.

 

Here’s a photo of the front door all installed! Its covered with heavy plastic sheeting to protect if during the rest of the building process.

The door itself is six feet wide, eight feet at the tallest point and the ceiling of the living room is twelve feet tall. I love that it has glass on the inside allowing a lot of natural light into the room. Its an all bronze door and its awfully heavy, I just love it!

Here’s another photo of the brick, tomorrow we’ll have some up on the house! Exciting … you betcha!

Along with the brick layers and the roofing crew we’ll have the guys from Ricky Smith Audio installing the wiring in the house. Dave’s picked a fabulous system for the house, its sure to be awesome!

While shopping today…

I found a few beautiful things that I had to have. This pretty pumpkin will be lovely in our new kitchen. The cabinetry will be a lovely antiqued taupe color. I can already see this on the counter! Found this beauty at Hobby Lobby and bought a pair.

Then I went over to the new Paul Michael Company store, its located next to Fresh Market in River Ranch. I found some robin’s egg blue dishware that matched a set I’ve been collecting for a while now. I got a pretty round platter, two serving bowls and as luck would have it I found four pretty little salad bowls at T.J. Maxx today too! The serving bowls are eleven inches across and the platter is fourteen inches. I just love these!

Dave’s After Work Snack

This evening when I was getting home from a day of shopping I decided to make one of Dave’s favorite snacks. Guacamole and chips with loads of fresh chopped tomato and a little sour cream. I also made his favorite margarita on the rocks to go with it. Here are a few photos of Dave’s evening snack.

Dave’s Favorite Guacamole:

One large ripe avacado, one large ripe garden tomato, chop both into tiny cubes and mix together, add a teaspoon of Concord Foods Extra Spicy Guacamole Mix (I get mine at Walmart). Add a splash of lime and I usually add a little salt if my chips aren’t salted. Wedge of tomato, wedge of lime and a little chopped green onion for garnish. Dave enjoys this served with a margarita on the rocks. Have a fabulous evening!

Book Name Plates (Hybrid Project)

I made a few name plates for little Golden Books that we bought for the twins using Shabby Miss Jenn’s latest kit named Autumn Flea Market Volume 2. They were quick and easy to make and came out so cute! I read these two to the boys today and they really liked them.

Refrigerator Magnets

I’ve been enjoying doing a few little hybrid scrapbooking projects using digital kits from Shabby Miss Jenn. Today I made Halloween refrigerator magnets for Kali, Alex and Eli.

First I created these with Fotofusion and digital papers and elements by SMJ. I printed them, traced the rounded corner magnet shape onto them and cut them out, glued them onto the magnet and voila, a little Halloween treat for my lil punkins.

These are the finished products.

Here’s a photo of the magnets with a picture Kali drew. Have a happy Sunday!

Sleepover for Kali and Kayla

Tonight when it started raining I figured since we weren’t going to be going out to supper or having anyone over (the kids all had plans dontcha know!)… I decided to invite Kali over and let her invite Kayla to spend the night with her. They started out the evening enjoying a salad together, then had their bath with scrumptious lavender scented baby bath, I’ve got to say, they do smell amazingly sweet! They wanted to draw, so I grabbed some supplies out of the file cabinet and they drew pretty pictures. Here are a few photos of them having supper, drawing and playing together. Right now Dave’s at the kitchen table studying for his private pilot’s test, I’m cooking a gumbo for tomorrow’s lunch for all of our kiddos. I started it tonight, will let it simmer on low all night. You know gumbo is better the second day, so I figured I’d start the gumbo season out right! I hope everyone has a safe night in Acadiana, we’re expecting rain most of the day tomorrow, so be careful on the roads and highways and have a blessed Sunday!

Stucco and Brick

This week we have had the stucco company at the house working on putting the stucco on the house. We’re tweaking the color right now to get it just right, we need a bit more contrast between the stucco and the boxing. I love the color of the boxing and we need about two shades lighter to have a good contrast and to coordinate with the brick and roofing color. You can see the crown molding and a little bit of the window trim. the final coat of stucco isn’t on the front of the house so this photo doesn’t show the color it will be in the end.

The next three photos are of brick and supplies that have been delivered to the site as well. Our brick is called French Quarter and I adore the colors in it. The taupe color, brown, tan and salmon colors were what sold me on this particular brick. I adore taupe! The brick layer is going to be here in the morning to meet with the builder, Dave and me and we’ll schedule him for the middle of next week.

 

Christmas Nativity

When Dave and I were shopping in Lafayette a few weekends ago I dragged him into Hobby Lobby for a quick trip around the store. I spotted this pretty Nativity and can just imagine how pretty it will be in one of my niches in the new house. It’s almost twenty inches tall … Isn’t it just lovely?

Cool weather Rejuvenates the Flowers

Tonight I noticed at almost dark that the begonias are looking pretty, I think these cooler days we’re having are giving them a new lease on life.