Dinner · Uncategorized

Refreshing Summertime Pasta Dish

In the summertime I love eating light pasta dishes.  To me that means sauces with fresh veggies that require little or no cooking.  

This recipe today is a new one from a recent Southern Living Magazine.  We loved it!  The marinated tomatoes take the longest amount of time, but that’s only to let them sit and absorb the flavors.  You could add grilled chicken to this dish if you wanted to add some protein.   

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Spaghetti with Marinated Tomatoes

Ingredients

8 ounces thin spaghetti
1/2 cup small mozzarella balls

Preparation

Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain and return to pot. Spoon in Mouthwatering Marinated Tomatoes and desired amount of vinaigrette; add mozzarella balls. Serve immediately.

Marinated Tomatoes

Ingredients

2 pounds assorted tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup loosely packed Italian parsley leaves

Preparation

Gently stir together tomatoes, minced shallot, crushed garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and set aside for 1 hour and 45 minutes, tossing occasionally. Stir in basil leaves and Italian parsley leaves. Serve immediately.

I added a popover and a green salad and it was a delicious and satisfying meal!

spaghetti 3

 

On a hot day when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen, this is the perfect recipe!  Add toasted garlic bread and you’ll have the perfect summer meal!

What dish do you love to fix when it’s hot outside?

With love from my country kitchen,

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accessories · home · Uncategorized

No-Sew Pillow Cover

Watch the video below to :

  1. See a simple no-sewBolster Pillow cover that I made recently.
  2. See the coolest (as in temperature) way to wear a scarf in summertime
  3. Hear about a fun activity I’m participating in this weekend!

 

Here’s the tutorial about how to braid a scarf.

Check out my finished pillows in the picture below:

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The fashion show in Jonesborough is on the back patio of Type A, 123 Main Street, Jonesborough.  If you’re not busy come over and see the cute things that will be modeled.  It’s free and it will be so much fun! It starts at 11:00.  Amber, who owns Type A will also be talking about Closet organization – something most everyone needs a little more of!  Come early so you can get a seat!

Stay refreshed,

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home · Motherhood

Don’t Wander

Look what I found in a bedroom window one spring…

I’m referring only to the nest.  The empty egg was found in the backyard.  This nest was abandoned.  Never did I see the momma that build it.  There are all kinds of interesting things in this nest – mud, twigs, even a piece of scotch tape!  The builder of this nest did some work to gather items to build a home for her little family.  I wonder what happened to her and her babies?
A read a verse in Proverbs 27:8 that the Lord spoke to my heart about yesterday.  It said,
As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a (wo)man that wandereth from his (her) place.
A bird that flies off and hops from bough to bough is exposed and unsafe.  A person who consistently wanders instead of staying home is also leaving their nest unprotected.  Matthew Henry said about this verse:

Those that love to be abroad leave their work at home undone. Let every man therefore, in the calling wherein he is called, therein abide, therein abide with God.

What about your little nest?  Are the eggs (your children) under your watchful eye, your listening ear, your teaching tongue?  They will do best that have their momma there to love and care for them, rather than frequently flying to be somewhere else. Even if you have your children with you, if you’re constantly on the run, it makes teaching much more difficult.

A nest is a secure place in which to consistently gather your brood.  Don’t abandon the nest; it’s God’s gift.   It’s a thought to ponder.

With love,

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Uncategorized

Celebrating With Our Favorites

If you’re planning a special anniversary or birthday it’s a great idea to first come up with a theme.  The theme for our day of celebrating our 35th was, “Our Favorite Things.”  Our day was full and overflowing with just that!  Let me tell you about it and share a few pictures.

I  am blessed to have a husband who is a romantic at heart.  He loves to surprise me with thoughtful and romantic rendezvous!  He is the best at planning fantastic events to create memories for special days.  Even after 35 years he still comes up with ideas and trips that blow me away!  Our 35th anniversary was no exception!

We decided that we’d just like to go away for the day and come home that night.  Beautiful places to stay the night are great, but when you love home as much as we do, you don’t care about spending a fortune on the luxury you don’t feel you need. Home is our favorite place, so with that much being decided, we planned to have a really special supper out in the evening in a favorite nearby city – Asheville.

We started out from home before 10:00 in the morning and headed to Wheeler’s Bagels for breakfast.  We ate at a table outside – which is our favorite thing to do!

From there we headed towards Asheville.  We went to another favorite place – Grove Park Inn and went inside the inn and simply  sat and enjoyed the view and enjoyed time to chat and relax.

Next came the Biltmore Gardens.   We sat in the shade on a favorite bench and were amazed at the quiet and the beauty.

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Late in the afternoon, we changed into our dinner clothes and made our way to the Inn at Biltmore where we would enjoy a scrumptious meal!

 

I wish I could describe our meal, but it was all so unique, I’ll just sum it up by saying, there was nothing we didn’t love about it!  We each chose different items for each of the three courses, so we could sample one another’s choice!  The salad pictured above was the chef’s take on the Caesar Salad – really different, but it was outstanding!

The dessert I chose was Raspberry Lemon and Mint – there was a shortbread cookie, lemon curd, sponge cake, Raspberry sorbet and blackberries and fresh mint.  I couldn’t finish it, but it was heavenly.

Anniversary dessert a

Through the day we also shared favorite memories, using 35 words I’d written down. Oh, to think back on our 35 years and the wonderful times we’ve shared.  We also talked about some hard things, and how the Lord brought us through those as well.

It was a day of tears, laughter, remembering and creating new memories at all of our favorite places, enjoying all of our favorite things – the greatest being time together!

If you could use a theme for your next special date with your spouse, what theme would you choose?

Thanks for coming by to read and share in our celebration!

With love,

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Uncategorized

An Anniversary Celebration Peek (and more to come)

Anniversary dessert a.jpg

Happy Tuesday, Friends!  A well-ordered life is about priorities.  Yesterday’s priority was celebrating  our 35th anniversary all day long!  We got home late and crashed, so this morning I’m sharing the above photo with the promise of some more special pics to come…tomorrow.  This dessert photo was from our spectacular dinner in Asheville where we ate at The Inn at Biltmore.  Oh. My. Goodness.  It was perfect!

I cant’ wait to share the rest of our meal, and the events of the day, but in the meantime, there’s VBS to prepare for tonight and a mountain of laundry that awaits.

Choose the most important of priorities today and leave the rest for another day!

Until tomorrow,

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