Fried Okra

Southern Food is definitely near and dear to my heart. After all, I was raised in Georgia. Today, I want to show you how to make a side dish that is sure to complement a variety of meals. Last night, we had lemon-peppered pork chops, with broccoli casserole and FRIED OKRA! Check out my video blog to see just how simple this side dish is to prepare. And, enjoy your little taste of the south.

West Coast Peaches Returns

Well, it's been close to 2 years since my last blog. I won't even begin to attempt to play catch up with all that's happened in those two years, but I will mention a couple of really awesome things. First of all, our oldest son Caleb and our oldest daughter Abby both accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives. I can't begin to express how excited that makes Jeff and I and how exceedingly grateful we are to the Lord for calling them to Himself. They are truly amazing kids and I can't wait to see what the Lord has planned for their lives.

Secondly, we are expecting our 4th child (3rd daughter) in just 2 weeks! We are all so excited and can't wait to meet her. I feel like I get to hold her every day, but I can't wait to hold her in my arms and kiss her sweet face.

I was blessed with a mother who loved to cook and taught me at an early age value and skill that I've used throughout my life when preparing meals for my family and friends. Now, I want to pass this on to you as we share together our love and passion for cooking. Here's what this blog is going to look like:

- original and family recipes

- cooking tips

- pictures of selected dishes

- categorizing of main courses, sides, etc.

- and a section called "cooking common sense" In this section I will address those little quick tips that most cookbooks never mention. Those little things that the "experts" assume we all know but when executed make the biggest difference in presentation and taste.

From time to time I will be featuring your recipes as well. So, let me hear from you! I want to answer your questions, help you be creative, and hear your thoughts and ideas as well.

Father's Day

It was a fun father's day this year. We had a great time of worship at church and then my good friend Gretchen and I went to her house to get lunch cooked for the guys. We had steak, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, and cheesecake parfaits for dessert. That's not even mentioning all of the yummy appetizers we had. The best part of the day was after the meal. We didn't have evening services, so we just sat around all afternoon watching golf and talking. It was great. Then we went to see Kung Fu Panda. It was by far one of the funniest cartoons I've ever seen in my life. (except for Shrek; I still love me some Shrek) It'll definitely be one to add to our home collection.

Rocker Chick

I thought everyone would enjoy just a little glimpse into the performance we saw Sunday night. Our middle child, Abby, and the choir were singing for us for Mother's Day. They all looked so sweet and cute. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, Abby saw herself on the screen and it all went downhill from there. She went from singing in the wrong place and giggling about it through an entire verse, to striking the rocker chick pose at the end of the song. It was funny, but also very, very embarrassing. Ahhh, children.....ya gotta love 'em.

It's been a while....again

Well, I know it's been a while.....again. To sum up the past few months, the kids are doing great. Caleb is doing well in 2nd grade and Abby absolutely loves kindergarten. She seriously goes into fits if she can't go to school. Ella turned 2 in March and is growing like a weed. She talks all of the time now and has a really cute personality coming out. Abby has signed with a new talent agency that will hopefully result in some modeling ads. We'll see. Caleb is taking mixed martial arts. I told Jeff in a few years Caleb will be able to beat him up in the daily home wrestling match.
My family is coming out this summer and we'll be heading over to Yosemite. I'm excited and anxious about this trip. Excited about the family coming out part (I can't wait to see them), but very anxious about the camping in a cabin with bears part of the trip. I believe it's going to be a trip we'll talk about for years after, and the kids will love it. And I know it's going to be absolutely beautiful there.

One of those days....

Well, today started off pretty good. The weather was nice and cool with a great breeze coming through and I got the kids off to school. Ella and I stopped by my friend Gretchen's house to look at some things and then we went to try to get some early Christmas shopping done. I did get two presents bought which brings our total to 7 family members being bought for. I'm pretty happy with that considering I usually don't get anything accomplished until after Thanksgiving. We're planning an awesome trip to Keystone, CO for our 10 year anniversary. The place has skiing, snowmobiling, ice-skating on the frozen lake!, sleigh rides, and lots more. It's gonna be so much fun! And we're flying home to Georgia for Christmas so needless to say, we're really trying to watch our $$$. Well, my sweet Caleb came home today so excited b/c he had gotten to go to the treasure box at school for being the best table last week. For those of you who know Caleb, that's something we really celebrate around here. So all is well and then, of course, I notice something strange about Caleb's "cool, new, one of his nicest, shirts". It's got a huge hole in the front and in the back. I asked him what happened and he says "an accident". Then he proceeds to tell me it was the type of accident where his mind forgot to tell his hands not to put the scissors to his clothes and cut away. At what age does this get better? I probably wouldn't have gotten so upset except that we're watching the moo-lah and I can't just go out and buy another shirt. Oh, well; one of those wonderful childhood moments that I'm sure I'll have many more of. Oh, and this is not the first time this has happened, just the most scissor damage. Any advice mothers out there?

Forever!

Okay, so it's been forever since I've posted anything on here. I would play catch-up but that would take forever. So to sum it all up, it was a crazy busy summer, but a great one. I thoroughly loved having my parents out to visit (of course it went by too fast) and I enjoyed having the kids home with me. We went to the pool alot! We had out air go out during a heat wave (nice timing) and that was about the end of the summer. The kids are back in school; Caleb in 2nd grade and Abby in kindergarten. They have great teachers and they are really enjoying it.
I absolutely love this time of year. I get into the baking mood and unfortunately, the shopping mood. When it's cool outside, I just can't wait to get out in it. I've actually done really well so far getting some Christmas shopping out of the way. And the kids haven't found anything! Caleb usually comes across all the surprises, but not this year! I tried a new dark chocolate truffle recipe yesterday and it was "delicioso". I'll post a couple of new recipes when I've tried some more new things.