Found: 1 Amazing, Green Look-A-Like Vase

Wow, not 5 minutes after I posted a pic of the vase I'm drooling over today, my co-worker Mendy comes in my office with a vase she had in her car that is a pretty close look-a-like! Love it!!!! Thanks Mendy for making my day :) This makes me smile.

Wanted: 1 single, beautiful, green vase looking for a loving home

So, this probably doesn't merit an entire blog post, but I came across this lovely piece today and just have to tell the world I'm obsessed. This vase is the perfect picture of beauty, delicacy, and just plain amazingness. Guess it doesn't take a lot for me, but I just had to share. If you run across one of these look-a-likes and happen to pick it up for me, you'd make me the happiest little lady on the planet!

Stuffed Squash with Pepper Relish

dOk folks. Tried something new tonight and it got a thumbs up from the hubbs. In an effort to use up the rest of what veggies we had from our CSA box, I created a stuffed squash. Yummy and summery :)

Ingredients:
2 patty pan or green acorn squash
1 cup raw pearl quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes
4 ears of corn shucked
1/4 onion diced
4 cloves garlic
small peppers (variety of colors)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
fresh herbs (I used parsley, sage and oregano)
course sea salt
black pepper

Pepper Relish
Chop up 4-6 small bell peppers of various colors if you can find them. I used reds and greens. Take out ribs and seeds, salt heavily (1 tbls) and set aside in a bowl for about 20 min. The salt will draw out the water from the peppers. Combine 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. You can use any vinegar really, but I used rice vinegar. After you've drawn the moisture out of the peppers, drain, then add to boiling vinegar and sugar. Bring down to a simmer.

Apparently this is called a gastrique. New to me! :) Let peppers simmer until the vinegar and sugar form a sticky glaze to create the relish. This takes the longest, so start this first. Will probably take about 45 minutes to reduce down to the consistency you want.

Now, heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut top off and scoop out seeds of squash. Drizzle in EVOO, course sea salt and black pepper. Roast squash in oven cut side up for about 30 minutes or until tender. Alongside squash, roast cherry tomatoes for same time or until they look slightly tender and blackened in parts.

Bring 2 cups chicken stock to a boil. Can use water instead, but stock will give you a richer flavor. Stir in quinoa and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Cut corn off the ear with a knife. Use the back of your knife to "milk the cob" or get the rest of the sugars and juices from the corn. Saute corn in pan with 2 tbls butter, onion, salt and pepper. When quinoa is done, combine in pan with corn. Add in tomatoes when done roasting in the oven. You're done!

Spoon in the quinoa, corn, tomato mixture into your squash and top with relish. Delish!

Bon Appetit,
Kellie

Potato Zucchini Frittata

Delicious recipe I found on The Kitchn.

Ingredients:
1 medium to large zucchini sliced
6-8 red potatoes sliced thinly
1 large onion halved and sliced thinly (I like Vidalia)
8 oz bacon cut into 1-inch strips
6 eggs
salt and pepper
1 cup grated cheddar
olive oil

Heat 3 tbls olive oil on medium in saute pan. Thinly slice potatoes and onion. I use a mandolin slicer for the potatoes and zucchini because it gets them really thin and uniform in size so they cook evenly. Saute potatoes and onion until potatoes are soft, about 15 min.

At this point, go ahead and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove potatoes and onion from pan and set aside. Add thinly sliced bacon and zucchini to pan and cook on medium high until zucchini is soft, about 5 min. Bacon won't be crispy, but cooked enough and will continue to cook in the oven.

Remove zucchini and bacon with slotted spoon and place into a bowl with potatoes and onion. Lightly beat 6 eggs. Combine eggs, veggies and bacon, grated cheese and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl together. Pour entire mixture back into saute pan and leave it to cook in pan just until the bottom sets and is firm, about 5-8 minutes. Transfer entire pan into the oven and let cook for about 10 minutes until the top is firm and set.

When removing from the pan, I like to do a flip and flip technique :) Yes, that is a VERY technical term. I cover the saute pan with a plate and flip. Then, I flip once more from the plate to the cutting board. This helps it to not break up when transferring. Your frittata is ready to slice and serve! Enjoy :)

Cucumber Melon Agua Fresca

Inspired by chef Mike Arnold at Viking Cooking School with my own twist :) Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 melon such as crenshaw or honeydew (peeled and cored)
2 cucumbers (peeled and cored)
1/4 cup sugar
1 lime
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint

Peel, core and slice into chunks 1 melon and 2 large cucumbers. I used a crenshaw melon because it came in my CSA box from Avalon Acres. If you have a juicer, run cucumbers and melon through juicer and collect juice in pitcher. If not, run melon and cucumbers through a blender and strain out the juice leaving behind the pulp of the fruit.

Fill the rest of the pitcher with cold water and ice. Add in about 1/4 cup of sugar. Squeeze in juice of 1 lime. Finally, tear up several fresh mint leaves and stir into agua fresca. Let it chill for a little bit then serve!

Move Over Martha- shower decor

...Ok, well not really. I am NO Martha Stewart, by any stretch of the imagination! But, I did study her crafty ways when I was took on the challenge of throwing a baby shower for my best friend who is having twins! Since the momma-to-be is having a boy and a girl, I needed to throw a fun and unisex shower, so I hit up Michaels to get some inspiration and supplies. Here are some of the decorations I came up with and it was actually fun to do!

Hanging Tissue Pom-Poms

These were just so fun to make and really added a lot to the vibe of the shower. I made a few big ones and several smaller ones and hung them at different levels. Of course, I was too busy running around at the shower to actually take pictures when they were hung (Doh!), but I snapped a few after I made them for you to check out. Check out Martha's How-To for these poms to make them yourself.

1. Pick out what colors of tissue you want. I chose yellow, gray and white for the shower.
2. Stack 8 pieces of 20''x20'' tissue and fold into 1-inch accordion folds.
3. Wrap an 18-inch floral wire (cloth covered wire) around center and twist off.
4. Cut ends off of tissue either rounded off or pointy.
5. Separate each layer of tissue carefully so it doesn't tear.
6. Attached clear fishing line to end of floral wire and hang!

Here is Martha's pic of the actual making of (which I forgot to take) and my finished product below:

Owl Shaped Cut-Outs

Of course Martha has a whole section at Michaels of different shaped craft punches. Once I laid my eyes on the embossed owl punch it was over. Plus, I believe the upcoming kiddos will have an owl on a wall mural in their nursery, so it was meant to be.

Here is a pic of the adorable punch I bought, and a link to where you can get one.

Polka Dots on Twine

I found a delicious color palette of card stock that fit the shower perfectly, so after making the owls, I decided to try making a long strand of twine with different colors of polka dots on it to string up around the room. It was a little time consuming, but fun and turned out really great! I just drank a bottle of wine, grabbed the Elmers glue and scissors and went to town. My sweet friend Kat also helped with these! Thanks Kat, don't think I could have done these without you!

1. Fold paper in half.

2. Find a bottle or something to trace circles to make uniform shapes and cut out.

3. Separate stacks of different colors so you can alternate on strand.

4. Glue one side with Elmers, then place both sides around twine and press til dry.

5. Keep going and alternate colors!

Mary, Mary quite contrary. How does your garden grow?

This year, I decided to exercise my Martha Stewart muscle and try my hand at gardening. Note, I am a VERY amateur gardener, but I am excited with the progress and how fun it has been to learn the ways of the soil! I've been documenting this experience with my trusty iphone and well, I guess it's time to put it out there for the world to see. Or well, maybe just the 3 people that read this :)

Gardening Patch: 8' x 10' area with plenty of sunlight (which I am learning is WAY too small, but I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew)

Best gardening tip received: WeedBlocker! This amazing black, permeable tarp has saved me from doing any and ALL weeding while my plants grow. Thank you Mandy Mann!!!

Veggies planted: romaine lettuce, zucchini squash, yellow squash, cucumber, broccoli, strawberries and 4 types of tomatoes ( Celebrity, Cherry, Roma, and San Marzano)

Herbs planted: parsley, dill, basil, oregano, sage and rosemary

So, here is my journey from day 1 and hopefully I'll have a blog soon of the delicious things I've been able to harvest!

Step 1: Hire strapping, young lad otherwise known as my little brother to dig up a garden patch and sift out the sod.

Step 2: Apply layers of compost and something called "moo-nuer" (clever huh?) and wonder product, aka WeedBlocker and arrange plants.

Step 3: WATER!

Step 4: wait

Step 5: take cheesy pictures on your iphone to post on blog later

Step 6: Start to enjoy delicious romaine!

Broccoli & San Marzano Tomatoes

Herbs & Cherry Tomatoes

More to come!