Summer Corn Salad

I made this for a dinner side tonight.  I used 2 ears of corn, a medium tomato, 1/4 cucumber, 1 cup edamame.  Toss with olive oil, salt, lemon pepper and juice of 1/2 lemon.  Serve chilled. 

Rosemary Garlic Roasted Veggie Salad

 

On a warm summer day, a cold rosemary garlic roast veggie salad is a crowd pleaser.  Simply slice your veggies of choice.  Toss with fresh rosemary, minced garlic and roast in the oven at 500 degrees for 15-20 mins on a baking sheet.  Serve chilled. 

Custom Photocards

I made these for all occasion use!

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Scallop Dinner

I bought some scallops from Farmers Market a couple weeks ago.  I've always been intimidated with cooking scallops.  My sister told me a while back that they're super easy to prepare so she never orders it at restaurants anymore.  Prompted by my sister's claim, I gave it a go.  The vendor told me no more than 4 mins total, 2 mins on each side.  He suggested cooking in the pan with butter and white wine.  I added an orange glaze I made with orange juice.  It was yummy.

Sauteed mushrooms with just a little bit of olive oil and oyster sauce for flavor.

Brussels sprouts were microwaved for 2 1/2 mins covered with a little water and balsamic vinegar.

Target

I don't generally post about my little girl since this blog is suppose to about my crafting.  However, I DID make her!  She's made appearances here as my model.  She's been working in the biz now for about 2 years.  Her most recent is this week's Target mailer...you know the ad in the Sunday paper.  She can be found on pg 2 (the one in the purple).  She shot this back in March at Zuma Beach.  She recent shot another ad with them a few weeks ago in LA at a private home.  I'm assuming it will be out sometime in July, but they didn't give us a firm date.

I love Target and shop there nearly every week.  While in store this week, I found this awesome fedora for only $3.88.  Now, you just can't beat that. 

I took a picture of myself to see how it looks on and I'm thrilled at how flattering it is.  I'll be sporting this hat all summer long : )

Hawaiian Shirt

 

 

Gardening

Here's my humble attempt at gardening.  I've got this container of herbs with stuff I usually cook with.  I bought these at Farmer's Market a couple weekends ago.  Then I picked up this wine box from Costco, drilled holes in the bottom and planted.  Since I won't be doing a drip system, I just have to remember to put ice out for them every day which will be kinda the same.

 

More Spa Water

Another cup of refreshing summer spa water.  In a pitcher, I added sliced lemon, a couple strawberries and mint.  Pretty and tasty.

Artichoke Chicken Dinner

Dress up your chicken breast with tapenade.  Last night's dinner was sauteed asparagus drizzled with lemon juice and chicken breast topped with artichoke tapenade with roasted garlic.  I had picked this up in at Viansa Winery in Sonoma a couple weeks ago.  So healthy and bursting with flavor.  

 

Baby Shower Details

Here are the details for the baby shower I helped plan.  We hung tissue paper pom poms from the second floor.

The party was at my friend's mother in law's house.  She ordered tables, chairs, table cloths and centerpieces.

 

Here's some of the dot garland I made.

I also strung the white canvas bunting on the mirror in the background.

Mother in law made these cute little said boats.

I couldn't get my flash to work...you can't really see how pretty the table was.  More pom poms, garland, and bunting.

 

Star and anchor necklaces were the favors for the attendees.

 

 

 

I totally forgot to take a picture of the mimosa bar and the fruit pizza bar!  Every one left completely stuffed!

Refreshing "Spa" Water

For a refreshing glass of "spa" water, simply add a few slices of cucumber & lemon and toss in a few mint leaves.  Let it steep in the refrigerator for 30 mins and enjoy!

Felt Dot Garland

It has been soooo long since I've done any crafting.  We've been so busy with work, kids, family and friends, I can't hardly find time to even work out!  I am co-hosting a baby shower for one of my girlfriends this weekend.  I made some multi colored felt dot garlands for her in addition to paper pom poms and a bunting. 
I used 5 shades of blue and white felt and cut them down to 1 inch circles.

Then I fed them through the sewing machine rotating colors.  I chose to leave some space between each dot, which I like a lot more than having them touching (like the ones I made for before)

Here's what they look like hanging on my office door.

Ideally, these would be hanging from ceiling.  So I took a picture from the bottom up to get a sense of what it might look like at the party.  I love it!

Look at what I found on Pinterest

Source: janieandjack.com via Adrienne on Pinterest

Someone told me to type in the website where the Piggie has done work on Pinterest to see if anyone out there might have pinned her picture.  Well, someone did!

Edamame Chicken Wraps

Made these wraps over the weekend for our Duffy cruise in Newport Harbor. Easy and delicious...this would actually fall into the category of semi-homemade. All ingredients were all picked up at Trader Joe's. This came from my sister-in-law who got it from their in-store demo:

1 box of Just Chicken
1 pack of flat bread
1 pack of Baby Spring Mix salad
1 pack of Parisian cucumbers - sliced
1 med tomato - diced
Champagne vinaigrette dressing
1 box of Edamame Hummus

Toss salad, cucumbers, and tomatoes with dressing. Spread edamame hummus on flat bread. Wrap with desired tossed green salad and chicken. Enjoy!

Healthier Pancakes

These were made with apple sauce and soy milk. I used a basic pancake recipe and substituted apple sauce for oil & sugar and soy milk instead of regular milk:

Ingredients:
1 C flour
1 Tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg beaten
1 C soy milk
2 Tsp applesauce

Directions:
1. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt
2. In another bowl, combine egg, milk, and apple sauce
3. Add liquid ingredients to dry, stirring until combined. Let mixture rest for 30 seconds
4. With a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour onto greased skillet (I used a mist of olive oil)
5. Cook until bubbles appear on surface and flip.

Extra Credit:
I like to add mini chocolate chips, coconut shavings or sliced bananas.

Gavin on Finley and Oliver: What He Wore: BOY style

Gavin is featured on today's post over at Finley and Oliver: What He Wore: BOY style: I am excited to introduce you to our super cute guest for {BOY style} this week! Meet Gavin - 2 years old. This little guy belongs to Nancy...

Raspberry Merlot Brownies

I concocted this for a party we went to over the weekend.  It was inspired by a cupcake I had a couple weeks ago...more on that later, here's the recipe I'd like to share:

Raspberry Merlot Brownies

2 sticks butter

7oz  semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 ¾ cups light brown sugar

4 eggs

1 2/3 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup merlot

2 cups frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter and chocolate over low heat (stir until smooth).  Beat sugar and eggs until smooth.  Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, merlot and chocolate.  Stir well.  Pour into pan lined with parchment paper.  Sprinkle raspberries on top.  Bake 50 minutes. 

Back to the inspiration.  I went cupcake tasting in Santa Barbara a couple weekends ago with my friend Tania.  We tasted all kinds of goodies from Alison of Sugar Cat Studio - Winner of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network.  Alison is super nice and her cupcakes are to die for!  If you're ever in the Santa Barbara area, make sure you stop off at one of the retail locations that sells her cupcakes.  Check out her website for all the different flavors.  Anyway, we got to taste 6 different cupcakes and my favs were the White Chocolate Coconut, Blackberry Syrah, and Cookies & Cream. I happened to have an opened bottle of merlot when I baked the brownies and thought why not. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. It turned out very good : )

Play Mail

I saw these on Pinterest and thought it was a wonderful idea to get rid of some of my left over felt.  I made it with a velcro closure in the back.  I personalized one for each of my kids and made a bunch with zig zag stitch.

Below is a template for your use.