Take a walk on the wild(flower) side.

I enjoyed a wonderful hike today with the family and snapped some photos of these flowers for your viewing pleasure.

The last picture was taken from a house down the street - not wild flowers but still pretty. Enjoy!

Harry Potter numero seven - part 2

Sorry I missed a few days of posting. Tuesday night I went to see the final Harry Potter movie with some friends, and last night I went for a run and a long bike ride with my child.  (Something I can now mark off my summer to-do list.)  I must say the Harry Potter movie was wonderful.  Have you seen it? Did you enjoy it?

I've heard some people were sad that it was the last movie, but I was neutral on that issue.  I think because it was strung out for so long, and I read the final book years ago, that I was ready for the final movie.  It didn't disappoint either.  I saw it in 2D and was not at all bummed that I didn't see it in 3D because I didn't need that added feature to enjoy it.  (I'm not a fan of 3D movies - sorry.)

I even cried. Yep - I had a 2 tissue incident when Harry was able to see Snape's thoughts. Cried so hard I had to blow my nose too - in a quiet movie theater mind you. 

Now I'm just holding out to watch another sequel movie that should be out in November. I'm sure many of you won't have a hard time guessing what it is.

Iced Cawfee

Yum - Yum - Yum. Just made my first batch of iced coffee.  True iced coffee is not the method of making a batch of hot coffee in your coffee maker and then pouring it in to a cup and adding ice. Trued iced coffee is done via cold brew method. Soaking coffee grounds in cold water for 8-11 hours. (Overnight on your counter top) It tastes SOOO good. Full detailed step-by-step instructions can be found on thepioneerwoman.com's website - titled perfect iced coffee.  I'm not at all going to try and re-create the wheel, but I will tell you what I've learned.

1) She makes 2 gallons worth of this dreamy concoction.  Yes 2 gallons - it lasts her 3 weeks. I was nervous to make that much so I scaled back the recipe to 1 gallon of water to approx. 2 1/2 cups of ground coffee (or 1/2 a pound - I weighed mine on a scale).

I drink decaf so I made an even small batch for myself based off an old article I found on-line.  1/3 cup of coffee to 1-1/2 cups of water. The first time I made it following that criteria it only made one cup, so the next night I made a triple batch - one cup of coffee to 4-1/2 cups of water. Much better and will at least last me longer than 1 morning.

2) Use the coffee she used - cafe bustelo - it's "espresso coffee" that is a rich, flavorful, dark roast, and ideal for cappuccino, espresso, or ICED COFFEE.  I found it at my local Wal-Mart.

3) Prepare for the mess.  Her photos are fabulous, but not realistic of my experience.  I made a huge freakin mess.  I bought a 'special' gallon bowl for this and made a rookie mistake. By the time you add the coffee to the gallon of water the darn thing was plumb full.  Plus the bowl I bought didn't have a lid or a pour spout. The pour spout is every important, otherwise you end up with this.

And that's my 'small' decaf batch. It was too frightening to take a photo of the mess the gallon made.

4) Unless you are super woman, have somebody help you with the pouring out the grounds step - so you can avoid the photo above when I tried to do it myself.

5) If you can, get good cheesecloth because it will make it much easier as you can then squeeze the cloth to get every last drop out. I tried a short cut this morning and use our coffee cone filter and a paper coffee filter. It wouldn't drain fast enough so I got frustrated and tried to squeeze the water out and then tore the paper and made the mess seen above.

6) Don't use regular ice cubes for your iced coffee or it will get watered down.  Freeze left over coffee (if you even know what that is, ha ha - that's for my die hard coffee drinkers who drink every last drop) and then use the frozen coffee cubes to add to make your iced coffee.

That's it. I hope you give it a try because it is totally worth it!  I'm too scared to try her version with the sweetened condensed milk. I figure my waistline has suffered enough lately after the knock you naked brownies.

Sunsets

Here are some recent sunset photos. As you can probably tell, I became obsessed with taking photos of the flag.  It's just so majestic and symbolic. You'll have to let me know which one is your favorite.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

There are probably close to 15 more flag photos, but I narrowed them down to the ones shown above. (That alone was tough.)  Please keep in mind that these haven't been altered or updated in anyway - they are straight from my camera to your computer. Enjoy!

My favorite kind of caviar - from a cowboy...

I made this recipe for a family gathering. To die for - and sooo easy!  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
1 (11oz) can white shoepeg corn, drained & rinsed
1 (15oz) can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 (10 oz) can Rotel tomatoes, with juice
2 ripe avocados, diced
2/3 c. red onion, chopped
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
2/3 c. cilantro, chopped
a few dashes of Tabasco (optional)

Combine all ingredients, adding avocados last, and toss gently. Serve with chips.
I normally don't use the Tabasco since the Rotel tomatoes add a little spice, but if you like extra spice...go for it!

Unfortunately after a long time searching the web, I couldn't find the original place I found the recipe so I am unable to give credit to whomever shared it first. Sorry!

This is going to be one of those recipes where you want to double it - trust me on this one!

Checking off our check list. Attempt #1

Today we got to check a few things off of our summer to-do list. Go for a bike ride - check. Go for a hike - check. Run through the sprinkler - check!  What a great weekend.

Here are some photos from our adventures.

Which way do we go George, Which way do we go?

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

We even made some friends on the trail.

Cute little buggers, aren't they.

It's still hot outside so time for sprinkler action....

See ya later!



When breakfast and dessert are done before dinner....

Confession time - I have a flaw. Ok, I probably have several flaws, but the one I am sharing today is my desire to multi task too much when it comes to cooking and baking. Instead of making one dessert, I am notorious for making three.  Tonight was one of those nights.  At exactly the same time I started the water to boil pasta for our spaghetti dinner, I also started making overnight blueberry french toast, knock you naked brownies, and a spinach salad.  The inevitable happened and I had to postpone dinner so I could finish the brownies (who were half baked waiting on melted carmel) and beg my husband to help me with the overnight french toast.  Finally the brownies were back in the oven, french toast in the fridge, and spaghetti back on again.  (Aka: breakfast and dessert were done before dinner.)

Lucky for me, dinner was amazing.  It was simple spaghetti (made with my husband's homemade sausage), garlic bread, and Jennifer Steven's spinach salad recipe.  This salad is to die for!  My husband hates spinach with a passion but he tried it and even got a little more for seconds.  The kids even had seconds.  The best part about the salad is that it is easy to make: spinach (get the plastic box full from Costco), hard boiled eggs, big chuncked bacon bits, and green onions. It's the dressing that really makes it though - one of those sweet oil and sugar kind of dressings.

Dressing:

1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
approx 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce.  (can put extra)

Here is her comment about the sugar:   I have also made the dressing with truvia or splenda and it turns out great as the sugar content is pretty high in this dressing. If you omit one of these products for the sugar, just make sure you dissolve the vinegar and sugar substitute together before adding any other ingredients...I also throw in some green onion or dried onion for a little extra kick!

My additional advice is to go special on the bacon bits. Not the old all red small stuff we ate as kids.  Here is what I used: 

Now I am patiently waiting on the brownies.  Unfortunately they recommend cooling them, and then putting them in the fridge for several hours so the carmel can set. Soon I will be able to let you know how they turn out. (Tick tock tick tock.)  If you want the recipe and step by step directions then click here.  (Courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com site.)  One of the reviewers said they microwaved the carmels instead of using a double boiler. I tried that and it was a pain so next time I'm going to go with the double boiler method.  I love her idea of forming the square ahead of time for the second layer, instead of trying to make the layer on top of the hot carmel. Definitely a trick I will use more often. 

UPDATE: I just tried the brownies - and they worked. 

They straight up knocked me naked - mainly because I had to run and put on a larger pair of pants - ha ha.  These brownies are VERY sweet and LOADED with carmel - so definitely feed them to a crowd that likes the ooey gooey goodness of carmel!  Also make sure you use a big girl knife to cut them - they were thick and a wimpy knife would not cut it!

As for the overnight blueberry french toast - you will have to wait until tomorrow for my review because they are still in the fridge waiting to be cooked.  You can click here for the recipe and photos. Courtesy of chef-in-training blog.

UPDATE: Breakfast was amazing - and a real treat because I went and ran a 10K this morning and came home to them ready to eat. Very good!!!  I've made over night stuff before that never turned out so I was pleasantly surprised that this recipe worked. The sauce was especially tasty!!

Let me know if you try any of these. :)

Amateur Photos Part 1

After drooling over some of the fabulous photos my friend Andrea has taken, I've decided to try and put my camera to good use and take photos with it how they are supposed to be taken. Quality over quantity.  Instead of trying to capture a memory (here's us at the lake) I want to try and capture more of the moment...photos where you can feel the love.  Basically photos that look like a professional has taken them instead of an amateur like myself.  So here's my first stab at it. Hopefully along the way I will have more to share.

First up is a photo of my doggie, who is a horrible subject to photograph because she doesn't listen and won't sit still. :-)  Lucky for her - she's cute.

The next batch of photos were taken at my MIL's 60th Birthday Party.  My first real attempts.  Please keep in mind that I haven't photo shopped these in any way, but probably should.

The first up is the flag on July 4th weekend. I love what it represents.  The second photo is of the flag actually blowing in the wind, but it was at night so the photo wasn't perfect. However, I do really like the way it depicts and abandoned play ground (empty swing set, randomly left behind ball and bucket) and shows the only thing still standing is the flag.

Bug on a flower.

Daisy #1 and Daisy # 2 (I couldn't pick a favorite)

 
More flowers

Flower buds

Night time.  (I think the 2nd is my favorite.)

I feel like in this one (below) the fence is making its own frame.

Bad lighting, but cute concept.

Confession - I didn't take the photo (below) but somebody used my camera to take it, so I should get some credit (right???).