Summer Picnic Salad

This recipe is perfect for all of those summer potlucks.  Cool, light and full of flavor, this salad is super easy to throw together and makes a giant bowl.  You could half the ingredients if you were making it for a smaller crowd.

Recipe
1 cucumber diced
1 c. grape or cherry tomatoes halved
2 cans black beans drained and rinsed
2 avocado's cubed
half of a red onion diced
1 16 oz bag of frozen corn
1 bell pepper diced (I used orange)
1 container of crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c. garlic infused vinegar
1/2 c. olive oil
2tsp. chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp. chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic diced

Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl and refrigerate or serve immediately.  I wouldn’t recommend making this too far in advance as the avocado starts to brown.  It tastes fine, I actually had leftovers for three days, but it’s just not as pretty.


Kim

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What We Wore

You will have to excuse the crappy background in these quick photos.  I forgot about that table being there. We had moved it to use for constructing my garden beds on.  Also my 7 year old took these so, yeah.  I wore this for dinner out in celebration of my SIL's birthday.

 

 

Outfit details:
Dress- Fashion Bug
Belt- Thrifted
Wedges- Chelsea Crew- from Lulu's
Earrings- Lia Sophia

--kim

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy today!

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Lately

Wow.  I haven't posted in a while.  Things have been so busy wrapping up the end of the school year.  I have a few things to post this week, but I thought I would do a quick photo dump from my phone to show you what's been going on.

























Top to bottom:
Delicious lunch with Julee at Please and Thank You
Pizza lunch with my buddy
Ducks at the park with friends
My favorite veggie sandwich at Panera
A guilty pleasure at Nord's bakery
Trying to curl my hair
Preschool graduation
My baby waking up on his 5th birthday
Dolled up for a wedding
Constructing my raised garden beds
Some art work that I made.
Last day of school lunch at work.

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**ENDED** Giveaway! Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

It’s giveaway day over at Sew Mama Sew and since we love a good party as much as every gal, we’re partying along by offering up a couple of sweet treats to give away.

One winner will receive this orange cupcake-appliquéd t-shirt (girls size small), and set of 3 coordinating(ish) hair clippies.  This set is perfect for summer fun!

 

To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this blog post telling us what you’re most looking forward to this summer. 
Contest closes on Friday May 25, at 8pm EST (5pm PST).  Only one entry per person, and please make sure your comment is linked to your email or that you include your email so we can contact you if you win.  US and Canada Entrants only.

Don’t forget, there are tons more great giveaways listed over at Sew Mama Sew for you to check out!

Congratulations to Libby for winning our giveaway!  Thank you to everyone who entered - we absolutely loved reading all about your summer plans.  We hope each of you have a wonderful summer!

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Insta-Friday–Eating Local

   

Considering that I spend copious amounts of time obsessing over food – the how, when, why, and where’s of what we consume – it’s not surprising that at least 50% of the pictures on my phone are pictures of what I eat.  Here are some of the local Louisville places I’ve been recently:

~The girl and I loving the tofu at Annie Café.

~The hubs and I stopped in at The Root Cellar for some local produce and goods this week.  The zucchini, cucumber, and tomato made their way into our dinner, and those super sweet and delicious strawberries were our dessert.  Raw honey and drinkable raspberry yogurt were saved for later.

~Kim and I met for lunch  for the first time in a long time.  Kim picked Please and Thank You for us to try and we were pleasantly delighted with our light lunch.  That’s an egg, pesto, and fontina panini with a  hot mystery sauce.  Super yum.

~Coffee isn’t technically an eat, but I can’t do a local roundup without adding a picture of my favorite Sunergos coffee.  This is either the white mocha or caramel latte – when I drink coffee, I want it to taste like a dessert.  Who's with me?

It feels great supporting local businesses.  Do you have a favorite local spot in Louisville or your own hometown?

I'm linking up these simple moments with many other bloggers over at Life Rearranged.

Have a great weekend!

~julee~

PS - If you're in Louisville looking for a great way to support local artists and businesses this weekend, check out the Buy Local First Fair on Sunday, May 20. Our friend Craft E Magee will be there with her adorable handmade dolls and other beautiful handmade items.

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May Birchbox Review

Apparently, the fine folks at Birchbox have pegged me as a geriatric.  I know this because three of my five beauty products this month are for the mature crowd.  And by mature, I mean old lady.

Let me just clear the air right now.  I totally signed up for Birchbox because I wanted to be cool try fun and cool beauty products.  Trends, if you will.  Neon polish?  Yes, please.  A bright new color of eyeshadow with glitter to replace the same boring pink Clinique I’ve been wearing for years?  Bring it, I’m ready.

But instead of exciting and hip, my May Birchbox shouted, “Slather on this neck firming cream and pipe it down, old lady!  Leave those funky fresh trends to the young cool cats you’re old enough to litter.”

I hear ya, Birchbox. I hear ya loud and clear.

There was a lot of hype over the Gossip Girl theme this month.  Gossip Girl.  Doesn’t that just make you know you’re going to get a box full of fun?

Other boxes had full size Stila cosmetics.  I got…mature hair care products and neck firming cream. Waa-waa.

Algenist firming and lifting cream, Kerastase shampoo and masque for mature hair, Miss Dior Parfum, Dior mascara, and a notecard/envelope set.

For mature hair.  Just typing that makes me want to shake my cane at a gang of whippersnappers.

I’m actually glad for the mascara, and I always appreciate stationary pieces (clearly preferring handwriting to texting, old lady style).  The Kerastase and Algenist are good quality products, and the sample sizes are really nice.   To be fair, I think this was a nice box worthy of my subscription cost, but the items are lackluster and not at all what I was hoping for.  Maybe they thought my poor old heart couldn’t take too much excitement this month.

Do you subscribe to Birchbox or a similar service?  How did you like your box this month?

~julee~

 

PS – If you would like to sign up for your own Birchbox subscription and want to use my referral link, you may do so HERE.

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Monday Magazine Challenge: Pasta with Spinach and Snap Peas

Thanks to Recyclebank, I was able to get a new subscription to Everyday Food.  My first issue came this week and we made this recipe the same day the magazine came in the mail. We were not disappointed.  Well, here’s a confession:  I hardly ever meet a pasta recipe I don’t like.  But still, this one was good.  Real good.  And a great way to add extra veggies to your meal.  Want to try it?

Recipe from Everyday Food:

• Course salt & ground pepper
• 3/4 pound short pasta
• 3 garlic cloves, halved
• 8 oz snap peas, halved
• 10 oz baby spinach (we only used 5oz, and though it was plenty, more would have been good, too.)
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 3 oz parmesan, grated (3/4 cup)

Cook pasta and garlic in a large pot of boiling salted water, 1 minute less than package instructions.  Add snap peas and cook 30 seconds.  Add spinach and basil and stir once to wilt.  Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water, then drain.

Add cream to pot and heat over medium-high until bubbling.  Return pasta mixture and 1/4 cup pasta water to post and cook, stirring, 2 minutes.  Stir in parmesan.  Add remaining pasta water if necessary.  Salt and pepper to taste.

 

What’s your favorite magazine for finding new recipes?

~julee~

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D.I.Y. Louisville Event–A Night with Copic Markers!

Copic Marker Sponsored Night!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012- D.I.Y. Louisville Craft Meet Up, 6:00 p.m. @ Sunergos Coffee, 306 Woodlawn, in the heart of Beechmont.

We are very excited to be hosting a special demonstration showing the many ways in which Copic Markers and Copic Airbrush System can enhance your art and altered journal projects! Copic has generously provided a wonderful assortment of products for our entire group to experiment with, and ooh and aah over.

Bring along your altered journals, sketch books, scrap or card marking supplies - this is going to be a fun night you don’t want to miss!

If you would like more information and some inspiration of the many ways in which you can use Copic markers and airbrush system, check out their online gallery HERE.

If you would like to join our event, please RSVP on our Facebook Event Page.

We can't wait to see you!

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Insta-Friday

I’m officially now on summer break, and I wish I could say the good times have just been rolling out my way, but meh, I think I’m still trying to catch up on all the sleep I missed during finals week.  Here’s a peek into my week:

~Andy Warhol, I am a fan of thee.

~How cute is this chopstick holder at one of our local restaurants?  Think it’s vintage?  Think it’s bad that I kinda want to steal it?

~Summer weather predictably means switching to iced chai lattes at the coffee shop.

~Dinner with my best buddy, and this postcard cracked me up.  Easily amused, I am.  Something about my husband never wanting to stop when we’re on road trips, maybe?

How was your week?

I’m linking up with more instagram fans over at Life Rearranged.

~julee~

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What We Wore

After months and months of wearing skinny jeans, it feels weird to be wearing something, well, not skinny. Nevermind the little peek-a-boo action – nice to know my hubby snapped 40 pictures and never once mentioned that the camera wasn’t the only thing flashing.   I recently purchased this top, and I love it, but I didn't realize that it gaped open at the buttons like that.  Oops.  I hope the staff and patrons at Jason’s Deli didn’t mind.

Not only that, but my hubby also asked if I purchased this outfit in a Florida retirement community, and what time I was expected to be at the hoedown, and when was I then I told him to zip it.  I'm not 100% certain that I love the outfit myself, but it did feel nice to hang up my skinny jeans and wear something different.

 

Top: Old Navy

Jeans: Gap, thrifted, old

Belt: Thrifted

Shoes: Target, old

Necklace: My daughter’s jewelry box. 

(Seriously, this kid has the cutest jewelry.)

 

 

We’re linking up with What I Wore frenzy over at The Pleated Poppy.  If you’re stopping in from there, don’t be shy and drop us a comment!

~julee~

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Three Pea and Tofu Stir Fry

I’m going to call it, this is my current fav meal.  I’ve made it twice in the last week and eaten leftovers for lunch twice.  It’s one of those meals that tastes as good if not better than something you can get at a restaurant.  The flavors together are super yummy, it’s a relatively quick meal to make and it’s healthy and meat free.  I saw the idea for a three pea, tofu and cashew stir fry in an Eating Well Magazine, but I heavily altered this recipe.  I made my own sauce, and switched pressed tofu for Trader Joes teriyaki tofu.  Even my kids love this recipe!

Recipe: feeds 6-8
1.5 cups of sugar snap peas trimmed
1.5 cups of snow peas trimmed
1 c. frozen green peas
1 block teriyaki tofu (mine is from Trader Joes)
2 c. cooked brown rice
Chopped cashews for sprinkling on top
2 tbs all natural peanut butter
Sauce:
3/4 c. lite soy sauce
1/2 c. unsweetened coconut milk
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs chopped basil (  I used frozen)
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp dried minced onion
(optional red pepper flakes if not serving to kids, we put ours on top after just for the adults)

In a hot pan coated with 1tbs olive oil cook the tofu until lightly browned on the outside, add the three kinds of peas and the garlic and basil.  Cook until peas are bright green and cooked but still crisp.  Add the peanut butter and stir.  In a separate bowl mix the sauce ingredients.  Pour over the stir fry and mix until incorporated with the peanut butter.  Cook for 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens.  If the sauce is too thick you can add a little more coconut milk.  If the sauce is too thin you can add a little more peanut butter.  Serve immediately over cooked rice, sprinkle chopped cashews over the top right before serving.

Kim

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Monday Magazine Challenge: Vintage Tea Towel Bread Bag

My sewing machine has had a long winter break, and I’ve been itching to get her out, dust her off, and start some new sewing projects.  While browsing the latest Martha Stewart Living, I saw a little mention of a company that sells lovely vintage tea towel bread bags and I knew making my own would be a quick and easy project.

I love vintage linens, but I never know what to do with them.  I can’t use them in my kitchen because my husband thinks any towel within grabbing distance is fair game as a mop, grease cleaner, car washer, and a whole slew of other blasphemous uses.  So my little stash sits, lonely, just waiting to be given new life.

This is a fairly straight forward sewing project, but I took a few pictures of the process to make a little a tutorial to help any new sewers that would like to try this.  Using the existing seams of the towel makes this super easy.

You need:

Sewing machine, linen tea towel, ribbon or similar.   (The ribbon length you need is 2-times the width of the top of your towel, plus at least 6-inches, or more.)

1) Fold the short ends of your towel 1-inch.  Press.  Pin if needed.

2) Sew this down using a straight stitch.  Using the existing seam as your guide, sew your stitch right above that line.  Do both ends.  This is your ribbon casing.

3)  Fold your towel right sides together and use a straight stitch to sew up the sides.  Start at the stitch you just sewed for your short ends.  Do not sew all the way from the top as this will close your ribbon casing.  Turn your bag right side out.

4) Use a pin to push your ribbon through your casing on both sides.  Using a pin will allow you to scrunch and pull, scrunch and pull the ribbon through the casing.  Once your ribbon is through both sides, knot the ends of your ribbon together.

5)  Stuff your new bread bag with a handmade loaf of delicious bread, and cinch the bag closed to keep it fresh!



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Now it's your turn!

Share your magazine projects with us, old or new! We would love to check out what you’ve been DIY’ing. Our favorite submissions will also be featured on our Facebook & Twitter feeds.
Monday Magazine Challenge is a new feature we are starting. You can read more about why we’re doing it HERE. A Magazine Challenge is any recipe, craft, DIY, tip, etc. from a magazine that has inspired you. If you would like to link to your own magazine challenge, please use the linky tool below. It would be mighty kind if you’d help us spread the word by linking back to us.

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Insta-Friday: Friday Favs

  

I love Evon-Von's post on her favorite things this week, so I thought I would play along for a Friday Favs.  Here are a few of my favorite things from this week, captured on my phone:

~An awesome night at the balloon glow; just one of the many many many Kentucky Derby festivities we’ve got going on around here.

~Sunshine! Vitamin D! A new skirt! My most favorite shoes in all the land!

~The hubs brought home cheddar and caramel popcorn from Garrett Popcorn in Chicago.  This is one of my favorite indulgent treats ever.  Initially, this mixture of flavors might sound gross, but it tastes like a sweet/salty party in your mouth.  For realz.

~The very best part of my week?  I wrapped up my next-to-last semester of college.  One more to go!  One more to go! One more to go!

I’m linking up this week with Life Rearranged.

What are your favorite things this week?

~julee~

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