Friday, March 29, 2013

{trying out} my green thumb

After having a full year in our house (time flies!) I am now ready to try to tackle the yards.  I had great intentions last year to get the front and back yards in shape, but all the other little projects of first-time home ownership seemed to take precedence.
In the last couple of weeks though I've been motivated to at least make a little dent in the long list of outside projects I want to do on the house.
First one was planting flower in the front garden bed when you walk up to our house. 
 
 
While this may not look like anything spectacular, it has made me so happy to see a little color and smidge more curb appeal when you walk up to our front door.  I'm thinking of adding a few more plants to the flower bed soon, but for now I'm glad I at least have a start! 
 
My second project was to start a veggie garden!  I love veggies!  Ever since we moved into our house I figured I'd have an edible garden, but until 2 weeks ago I hadn't done anything to make that vision happen.   So with just over $20 and a lot of enthusiasm, I set out to get my veggie garden started.
 
 
 
I started several types of veggies both indoors and outdoors in hopes to at least get one or two types of vegetables to start sprouting. 
 
 
 
And after just two weeks, I'm starting to see some great progress!  I can't wait to keep these little guys going and hopefully get some delicious veggies as the season goes on!  
Crossing my fingers that I'll be able to keep this green thumb thing going so I can have a pretty (and edible) garden this year!

Monday, March 18, 2013

It's a green thing

Happy late St. Patrick's day!  I had good intentions of posting this over the weekend, but lost track of time...so better late than never, right?!  
While we didn't have corn beef and cabbage or do any big St Patrick's day celebrating, I did happen to make green rice crispy treats to take to my sweet young women at church and give to our neighbors.  Nothing says "I'm LUCKY to have you" more than food!  


With green things on my mind, I must share my latest thrift store find that I'm excited to put to use soon.  These kelly green and lemon-lime green bowls!  I happen to know a certain lady who loves green and has birthday around the corner, so these might be put to work as part of a table-top spread.  


And last but not least, I have this fun little vintage green book that was another thrift store find several months ago.  I love it and was shocked to find such an awesome vintage book at the thrift store.  Made me think, someone gave away this 1940s Girl Scout book?!  I couldn't pass it up.


Hope you enjoyed your St. Patrick's Day and maybe even found some green things to enjoy {whether it be green treats or green vintage finds!}

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

"Churched up" chicken

Anytime something is done up to be a little more pretty/dressed up than usual, Clint calls it "churched up".  If there is any food item that can easily be churched up, it's chicken! 
I'm a huge fan of chicken, it's relatively inexpensive, it's an excellent source of lean protein, and it can take on a vast array of flavors. 
Since I am known to make chicken the main dish in our dinners several nights a week, I recently decided I needed to add a new chicken recipe to my repertoire.  
And thus the scrumptious {and surprisingly easy} Chicken Cordon Bleu was tested and approved in my kitchen.  Before making this recipe the only memory I had of chicken cordon bleu was having it as a special dinner for a holiday, but it was pre-packaged and hardly home-made. 
With this simple recipe, home-made chicken cordon bleu can easily become a family favorite to have during holidays or a special celebration...or in our case, as a filling main course for dinner with friends.
 
pounding out the chicken in preparation to be "rolled"

baking in the oven...looks so tasty!

hot and ready to be served
 
 
 
The crispiness of the outside coating along with the creamy cheese is so yummy!  Yeah for chicken dinners with a little bit of dressiness {aka churched up chicken!}