The Pioneer Woman’s Summer Stir Fry

We’re Back!!  After a long and glorious trip up to Maryland for a visit with Mom Mom and GP, we are finally home.  Three weeks is a long time to be away….but I’ll tell you right now, I did not miss cleaning my house! =)  There’s something so refreshing and renewing about getting to do whatever you want…with no guilt!!!  But. More about our trip later.  I’m still getting caught up on emails, laundry and uploading pictures.  So, stay tuned for some highlights.

For tonight, I want to share a little piece of Heaven I made for dinner tonight…courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.  She is one of my many bloggy idols, and so when I saw her new cookbook in Costco….I splurged.  With vacation comes lumps….mostly in the tummy, hippy and bummy areas for me.  So I’ve been craving fresh and healthy.  So I decided to try Ree’s Summer Stir Fry (which I later also found on her blog!).  Here’s her original recipe.  I tweaked it a bit to fit my current veggie situation (and give a little nod to Maryland with some Old Bay!), so here’s my take on it:

Summer Stir Fry (Old Bay Style)

Ingredients:

2 squash

1 big ole zucchini

1 red pepper

2 cans (or fresh) of corn

3 mushrooms (because no one in my house likes them but me and there will be so many other veggies the others won’t notice!!)  *wink wink*

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Old Bay

2 cloves of garlic

about 1 lb of shrimp

some rice to put it all over if you’d like

 

 Dump 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp of oil in a really big pan over medium heat.

Dice all the veggies that you have.  Put them aside.

In the skillet, heat up your garlic and shrimp for about 3 minutes, or until they are opaque. Put aside.

In the same skillet, add the other 1 Tsbp of butter and oil, and dump your veggies.  Cook on medium for about 10 minutes.  If you are going to cook rice to go with your meal, do it now.

Add salt, pepper and Old Bay to taste….if you are from MD, that means a lot!! =)

I admit that I had no fresh corn…so I went the canned route.  Not bad….but fresh would have been better!

 Sidebar….my basil plant really missed me while I was in Maryland.

Remember when I taught you how to chiffonade basil in my recipe for pesto?  Yeah. Do that.

Add the shrimp back into the stir fry and heat over medium.  Sprinkle the basil and squeeze the lemon on top.

And….YUM.

And it’s even better with this.  Firefly (vodka) and Lemonade. What a fantabulous way to kick off the summer!  Thank you Pioneer Woman!!

Don’t Worry! I’ll Be Back!

Hello faithful followers!

Sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m doing some editing and moving my site around.  Please don’t give up on me, and excuse my dust!  I’m actually up in Maryland visiting Mom Mom and GP with the girls for the next couple of weeks, so hopefully I will have some time to get everything straightened out!  So, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my site (or “like” Palmettos and Pigtails on Facebook), so you can get a firsthand message when I’m back up and running!  And it’s a great way to stay connected and check out my latest Instagram photos too!

See you soon!

Amelia’s First Haircut!

My baby isn’t even 8 months old yet and we’ve already given her her first haircut.  Well, actually second….I cut off her rat-tail at around 4 months.  Why do my children have weird hair-growing patterns?!?!  But we finally got tired of having to deal with her sideburns (aka Amish man/Rabbi curls). I had no problem hiding them under massive bows and headbands, but she is kind of getting to that age where she pulls them off faster than I can put them on.  Which results in a major case of the fly-aways….

Which proves to be a big problem on windy days!!

So we took her in for her first salon haircut.  We see Ms. Kelly in town (and looooooove her!).  She is great with the kids, and Jayna loves going to see her because she can watch her beloved Beauty and the Beast while getting her hair trimmed.  Amelia did awesome…she too watched Disney while Kelly trimmed away.  She held really still and smiled the whole time!

It’s amazing how just trimming the sides made her look so different!  Isn’t she a cutie?!?!

And hopefully this little trim will stimulate her hair growth all over her head….evenly!!!  In the meantime, she still has enough hair for us to continue playing Salon at home too!

House Manager: Project Planner

Recently I’ve been feeling a little lost in our house.  Yes, it’s a much bigger house than we used to live in, but I’m talking emotionally lost here.  I’m overwhelmed by projects, chores, and the need for organization.  So I’ve been doing a little research on House Managers.  Although I wish it meant “Housekeeper” or “Maid,” it actually is a binder that contains all of a family’s important information.  It has everything from medical information for babysitters, to car maintenance logs, to project planners, to meal plans.  It can contain as little or as much as a family needs to stay organized.  It also is a great resource in case of emergency….one thing to grab with everyone’s information in it.

I think that the idea of a House Manager is fabulous!  And it’s so organized it makes me happy!  So I’ve decided to create my own.  I found a ton on pinterest and on various blogs, which gave me ideas on some of the sections I’d like to include….but overall, I wasn’t finding exactly what I was looking for.  So, I’m making my own.  Thought I’d share with you!  Because I’m making these for my own personal use, I’m gonna give you access to the files, but unfortuantely, you won’t be able to edit them.  But feel free to print them out and use them for your own personal use!  I got all the little buttons as free downloads from the digital scrapbooking site, Shabby Princess.  And I got the fonts (Pea Johanna) from Kevin & Amanda…also free.  So technically, you can make your own version of these as well!

My House Manager will consist of the following sections:

Family Information

Cleaning and Organization

Food and Meals

Emergency Resources

Car Maintenance

Projects and Blogs

Holidays

And I’m sure I’ll think of more as I go along!  To start off, here’s my Project Planner Template.  Enjoy!

Here’s where I’m linking up this week! 

and…

My entry into Craft and Tell @ Cherished Bliss is sponsored by Appliances Online and the Bosch Washing Machines

April Photo-a-Day Challenge

I wish I could consider myself a photographer.  I love to take photos.  I love to look at photos.  But unfortunately, I just feel like my job description can’t be “photographer” right now.  I struggle to even remember to take my baby’s monthly pictures (I will NEVER tell you that I just took her 7 month pictures just the other day….and she turned seven months on March 20th).  So I’m not sure if I will ever be able to complete one of these Photo-A-Day challenges.

But, I love the idea.  These creative types that come up with the photo ideas for each day of the month are oh-so clever.  Wish I had time to appreciate them more!  Here’s the Photo Challenge I’d love to participate in someday.  I think my goal will be to take ONE of these pictures this month….maybe I can work my way up!

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How about you?  How many of these can you commit to taking?  Which ones?

Attack of the Bunny Haters

So I was perusing my bloggy friends’ sites last night and came across Jon Acuff’s posting about Easter.  Now, I’m a bit biased since he is my BFF from Blissdom, but I really do enjoy reading his stuff.  He just has a way of grabbing your attention, and pulling you in to get a really great message.  In this case, here’s what grabbed my attention…and made me go to his site.

So at first, I was really afraid that this was Jon’s opinion about the Easter Bunny.  But, as I read on, it turns out a friend of his had gotten this picture as a POSTCARD from a CHURCH as an INVITATION to their EASTER service.  Hmmmm…as Jon pointed out, I really hope that the kids didn’t check the mail that day!

As a mom, I struggle with this concept as well.  I mean, I would never wish ill-will to any four-legged friend (especially a bunny….because they are just so stinkin’ cute!!).  However, how to integrate Jesus’ resurrection AND the Easter Bunny into one fun-filled holiday is a challenge.  Especially when you have a precocious three-year old who has a lot of questions.  Jayna and I had a little date yesterday afternoon.

We went to the playground and talked about Jesus.  She asked me about his life, what he looked like and who he played with.  We talked about how Easter is the celebration of Jesus  going up to Heaven to live with God and how much he loves us.  I told her that is the biggest reason we celebrate Easter, but that we honor Jesus’s life by celebrating all new life.  Which would include all things spring….flowers blooming, baby animals, etc.  We listed some baby animals, and she was able to make the connection between the baby chicks and eggs.  So hopefully I did a good job at trying to integrate both Jesus and the Easter Bunny while still keeping the emphasis on Jesus.  We’ll see, and I’m sure that with every year will come new questions!

But for now,  Jayna knows how much Jesus loves her (which is the most important thing for her to know right now, I think) and we can continue to be Bunny Lovers in this house too!

How do you deal with Easter Bunny confusion each year??

Spring in our Step

Happy Easter!  What a wonderful week we’ve had in preparation for Easter.  My parents came in late last week to enjoy the Flowertown Festival and the beach with us.  Luckily, the weather has been beautiful (some showers, but mostly cloudless skies and 80 degree weather), so we were able to spend a lot of time outside.  Jayna has always loved the beach, and I think Amelia will end up being a fan as well!

Although we don’t usually decorate for Easter, we di add a few Spring touches around the house.  Of course, there was the paper wreath I made, but I also added a Hydrangea and  Easter Egg centerpiece in our dining room.

And despite our diet, I also made Zucchini Cookies (without the frosting, so they are healthier!!)  And some chocolate covered strawberries for Jayna’s Easter party at school.  Jayna did her part by bringing home some lovely Spring-themed crafts, including dyeing eggs at school!

I also have been busy finishing the bowling ball for Jayna’s Easter Bunny Bowling Set, and making a taggy pillow for Amelia.

And of course, the true reason for the season….Although they mostly just cover Jesus rising and the celebration in school, Jayna had a lot of questions about the cross this year.  I didn’t really think I needed to go into too much detail yet, as she is so little and so sensitive.  But I did tell her that the cross is a symbol of Jesus’ gift to us.  He died so that we could live and be forgiven.  She seemed to kind of get that….she said, “like when I am bad and then I say sorry, you forgive me and God forgives me.”  So I left it at that.  We went to the playground and got some sticks to make these little crosses.

But, little girls will be little girls…she was still really excited to see the Easter Bunny too!  Jayna got to participate in three different egg hunts….one with her class at school, one with the church and one in our backyard.  The church’s celebration also included a visit from the Mr. Bunny himself, and a delicious spread of cookies!

Jayna was very concerned about all of the gum and other choking hazards, so I assured her we would leave them for the Easter Bunny, who would swap them out for kid friendly candy.  And sure enough, he left eggs filled with jelly beans all over our yard!  He also left tracks all over our house!

After a heavy scrutinizing, we discovered the tracks lead to the girls’ Easter Basket!  Filled with Bunny Bowling, Easter Veggie Tales, a taggy pillow, and a couple of Reese’s Peanut Butter Bunnies.  Jackpot!!

What was in your Easter Basket?

Happy Easter!!

April Cleaning Calendar

Happy April!  Sorry ths is a few days late….I’m sure you were on the edge of your seat waiting for it, right? =)

Click here for the full document 

Miss a month?  Catch up with us!

January Cleaning Calendar

February Cleaning Calendar

March Cleaning Calendar 

 

 

I was Featured! (and A Spring Wreath Tutorial)

Happy Tuesday!  I’m so excited to tell you that I was featured on My Favorite Finds this week (for sharing last week’s tutorial on my Upcycled Brown Paper Basket).  It was super easy to make….you should try it!

Here’s something else that is easy to make…

I was challenged about a month ago, by my mother, to make a spring wreath. And because I have nothing better to do, it kind of got pushed to the bottom of my To-Do list.  But then, I remembered that I would much rather craft, than wash windows.  So, it got pushed back up to the top!

I saw lots of cute spring wreaths on pinterest, and decided to keep it simple, with materials I already had.  After all, I didn’t want to blow my new budget already!!!

So, I decided to use some foam (from Lowes) duct-taped together to make my wreath form, and some left over packing paper from our move.  My goal was to use the paper to create some shabby-chic-ish southern inspired (Magnolias, perhaps?) flowers.

I crinkled up the paper and wrapped it around the wreath form to completely cover the grey color.

And then I cut the paper into strips.  I folded the strips accordion style width-wise, so I could cut more circles out at a time.  I cut three sizes of circles.

My circles were a little sloppy and uneven, but it didn’t matter at all in the end. And as I worked, I decided that my mom’s wreath needed a little color.  But I still liked the idea of a white base to the wreath.  So I decided to color just the edges of each of the circles purple (perfect for the Lenten Season!).

After coloring ALL of those circles, I started crinkling.  I actually got Jayna’s help…she crinkled and reopened my flowers, and then I glued the three layers together.  Then I topped it with a little crinkled scrap of paper in the middle to be the flower’s stigma.

I used a hot glue gun to glue each flower onto the wreath form, in close proximity to each other, so they kind of all scrunch together.

And I left a little gap at the top, so that when my mom hangs it, her wreath hanger won’t squish the flowers.  I put a little smiley on the back so it would be easy to find.

But then I decided that I needed a bow to make it look a little more complete (and elegant!).  I had a hard time finding ribbon that I liked, so I bought some thick, crocheted lace instead.  I made a bow and tacked it in place with hot glue.  Perfect….shabby chic!

Here’s where I’m linking up this week!

Cooper River Bridge Run

I’m exhausted! I was up late on Friday night picking up a friend from the airport, and then up early Saturday (4am to be exact!) to prepare for Charleston’s Annual Cooper River Bridge Run.  No, you didn’t miss the part where I became a runner….I volunteered!

You may remember that I work with an organization called Camp Happy Days (who help kids with cancer).  Remember when Loo Loo and I participated in Ansley’s Attempt and got in the Guinness Book of World Records?  All courtesy of Camp Happy Days!  Well, CHD is one of the beneficiaries of the funds raised by the 10K in Charleston, The Cooper River Bridge Run.  It’s a really famous race and we have people from all over who come to run it (including a handful of Africans who almost always sweep it!).

Photo courtesy of www.bridgerun.com

Loo Loo, our friend Danielle, and I volunteered for the race on behalf of Camp Happy Days.  We were given a little yellow rope and a strip of caution tape and told to keep our section (about 1,500 people out of the 44,000 total runners) in place.  I held a tall sign that told our section whether to WALK or STOP.

We arrived at 5:30am, and by 10:00 am had slowly guided our section to the starting line.  Where our 1,500 continued to attempt to push through the caution tape wait patiently until we were instructed to start the race.  They had a staggered start so it wasn’t a mob scene.  It pretty much was anyway, once they told our group to start running!

While we were waiting, we made lots of friends and saw lots of hilarious and clever costumes!  Sure, there were your groups of girls in tutus, masses of people in bunny ears, matching shirts/pants/socks/wigs, etc.  And then there was the larger than life Pac-Man characters that took off chasing each other toward the finish line.  And the Green Fairy…in his skin-tight, neon green outfit and pixie wings.  I’d post a picture, but to put it politely, he had NO PANTY LINES!!!! =)

One of my favorites was the Flinstones, complete with their car!

But our absolute favorites were our Southern Belles!  Loes, Marilyn and Glenda were standing right behind our caution tape and so we struck up quite a little friendship while we were waiting.  They were from Anderson, South Carolina and were part of a Senior Follies group there.  They were wearing costumes from one of their variety shows…..I even got a preview of their Can-Can!  I might just have to take a little road trip to Anderson some time to see them!

Once the race began and our duties were over, Loo Loo, Danielle and I did walk over the bridge and back, but decided that we needed a beverage at Red’s IceHouse rather than walking the whole race!! =)

What did you do this weekend?