Tag: pinterest

September

How did we get here? I mean, I know how we got here, but really? September already?

*squeeeeeee*!

September means back-to-school and back-to-school means the end of summer and what comes after summer?!

(image)

Fall, snitches! My absolutely favorite season of the year.  
(image)

Fall means watching the leaves change. It means a little bite in the air in the mornings, and the promise of an extra blanket at the foot of the bed in the evenings.  Fall means football games, vests, chunky sweaters, and smoke tinged skies.  Fall means brisk days, longer nights, crunchy sidewalks of fallen leaves, and cranberry, orange, and golden hues that cast long shadows on the driveway.   Fall means cuddling under blankets, wrapping chilly fingers around warms mugs of something tasty, and of course, pumpkin.  Mmmmm, pumpkin.

I haven’t been on Pinterest yet, but I know there’s a pumpkin recipe out there that is waiting for me to discover it.  Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin bars? Pumpkin cheesecake in mini mason jars? Pumpkin martinis? I’m like the Bubba Gump of pumpkin between the months of Septemeber and November. Come December 1st, my pumpkin fixation goes to ground as quickly as it sprouted.  But I’m getting ahead of myself when I should be looking at the orange creamsicle tinged days ahead.

Every time I pull a fresh load out of the dryer, I squirrel away one or two of the girls’ summer tops and bottoms.  This past week-end, we had a mini fall preview of the clothes that had been stored from last fall.  The girls love the changing of the wardrobe; it’s a fashion show for them.  Once they’re all squared away, I turn my attention to my own closet and start pinching out things that won’t make it back into the rotation for the rest of the summer.  Yeah, I’m giving June, July and August the two fingers and a hearty “See you next year” as I throw open my closet to welcome back my sweaters and boots.  Of course, this being Virginia, it’ll probably been Halloween before I actually get to wear any of that stuff, but whatever. I’m excited. When I pull out the storage bin that houses my fall and winter clothes, it’s a reunion with old friends: Hello, corduroy pants! Well hey, cable knit-sweater! Look at you, tall riding boots. So glad I got you re-soled last spring! Yes, I’m a dork, but a well dressed, well heeled, ready for fall dork, thankyouverymuch!

Mmmmm, fall is in the air and it smells like pumpkin.

Continue Reading
IN: ON: September 1, 2013 TAGS: , BY: Hilary
Continue Reading

August Photo Challenge

Pow!  Here it is, your August Photo-A-Day Challenge.

(image)

For those of you unfamiliar with the Photo A Day Challenge, I’ve provided you with a list of prompts or suggestions for each day of the month.  On the designated day, you snap a photo of the suggestion or a photo of your interpretation of the suggestion and post it to Instagram.  You can add a caption to your photo, as well as the hashtag #hilarywithonel so we can keep up with you.  If you input #hilarywithonel in the Instagram search box, you’ll be able to see what others have already posted.  

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. It’s just a fun way to be creative.  No penalties for missed days, and no prize for hitting all the days – well, satisfaction is a prize in and of itself right?

Snap on, my friends, snap on.

Continue Reading
IN: ON: July 31, 2013 TAGS: , , , , BY: Hilary
Continue Reading
recipes

Recipe Friday

Is it Friday already? Is it Friday already? What a difference intonation makes, right? In the summer, the days roll together like puppies playing in the grass.  I find myself checking the calendar as if there is some kind of special delineation between summer week-days and summer week-ends.  When there isn’t any activity planned, there’s no delineation whatsoever. 

Like I said before, we have finished shuttling to and fro between camps and activities this summer.  We are taking each day as it comes, making plans as it suits us.  Today, we hit the Y, the playground, came home for lunch and are just lounging about.  Ideally, I’d be in the hammock in the backyard, dozing as the girls played on the swing set, but seeing as we have neither a) hammock or b) swing set, I’m sitting here at the dining room table while the girls slog through their tutoring.  Yes, I’m the mom that makes her children do math over the summer.  That’s why my kids will be the boss and the others kids will be desk jockeys.  I kid. . .or do I?

The promise of some screen time (laptop, DS, TV, whatever) dangles in front of them, the fattened worm before their gulping guppy mouths.  I’m buying myself 30 minutes of solitude to catnap, read a bit, put more things in my Zappos shopping cart or any combination thereof.  I’ve tried to entice the girls with Popsicles and the sprinkler, but if it’s not a regulation sized, chlorine filled pool with accompanying snack bar, they want no parts of it.  Sure, we hit up the pool pretty regularly at the beginning of the summer and they’ve been fortunate enough to have had my brother take them just about every day during our visit to his house.  The downside is, now that we’re home and with really nothing to do but go to the pool,  I can’t do it.  I’m about a month post-tenolysis surgery and despite my speedy recovery, the doc gave me a no go on chlorine for the foreseeable future. 

This sucks for several reasons. 
1. Swimming laps twice a week was really becoming my jam and not being able to do it is frustrating.
2. The girls really want to be at the pool and swim. I want them to become better swimmer and being landlocked isn’t helping their skill-set.
3. While I could take them to the pool, who the devil wants sit and watch while roasting rotisserie style on the deck, unable to cool off?

4. Hiring a sitter to take them to the pool or to stay at home with V while I take them to the pool is both expensive and still, not a lot of fun (see #3).
5. While the beach is an option, it, too, has it’s fair share of con, not limited to, but include sand in the cracks and crevices of the baby’s legs and in my healing incision.  Not going to the Vineyard this year hasn’t been lost on the girls, either.  They’re quick to point it out whenever someone else mentions their plans for going to the beach.  I’m actually surprised as how much I’m missing the beach myself, long drive, ferry crossing and all. 

So, we’re here in the house, with me extolling the virtues of the sprinkler and them shooting it down at every turn.  They’ll consider the pop-jets at the mall, but only if they can have dinner out.   The negotiations that I endure just to make it from lunch time to dinner time alone are staggering.  We continue our back and forth, I dig up some water balloons. They’re promptly filled and thrown in the time it takes me to clean up the mess from filling them up in the first place. 

So, back to my bag of tricks.  Out come the crayons, paper, scissors, stamps and ink.  They cut and paste, color and doodle. They move onto the library bag and I find them with their limbs artfully draped over the back of the sofa and the arm of the chair.  The baby is sitting in the laundry basket surrounded by stuffed animals, her mouth furiously worrying her pacifier as she squishes a stuffed dog to her chest.  All of a sudden, everything is calm and simple.  Everything is quiet save for the turning of pages and the soft sucking on a plug. 

Is it Friday already? Is it Friday already? I hadn’t even noticed. 

Seeing as we aren’t beach bound this year, I thought I’d leave you with a very summery, beachy recipe.  Happy Friday, y’all!

(image)


Firehouse Crab Boil
recipe found here

 
Note: We used a 60-quart aluminum pot with a strainer insert and did this over a propane burner outdoors. You could probably get away with a pot slightly smaller, such as a 45- or 50-quart pot, as we had about six inches of headspace left in ours. This is definitely doable indoors, but you may need to do it in two large pots on the stove and it will probably take quite a while for the pots to boil.
 
Ingredients

3 to 4 cups crawfish, shrimp and crab boil seasoning (recommended: Zatarain’s powdered form, NOT liquid or bag versions)
3 lemons, halved
2 or 3 large onions, halved
5 heads garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise
2 dozen live blue crabs
6 pounds new potatoes
4 ears fresh corn, shucked, silk removed and cut in 1/2
3 artichokes, stem end trimmed cut into halves or quarters
2 pounds smoked sausage
1 package hotdogs
1 pound mushrooms

Directions

One day before you plan to boil the crabs: If you have a heatproof, submersible vessel that will hold 1 or 2 gallons of water that may be frozen, fill these with water and freeze until frozen solid.

In a very large (40 to 60-quart) pot combine the crab boil, lemons, onions, garlic, and 6 gallons of water and heat over high heat, stirring, until the powdered seasoning has dissolved. Add the crabs, potatoes, corn, artichokes, smoked sausage and hotdogs. (Everything should be submerged in liquid – if not, add a bit more water to cover.) Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Cook at a rolling boil for 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the mushrooms. Cover the pot and let sit for 15 to 20 minutes.

Add the frozen vessels to the hot crab boil and stir occasionally very gently to facilitate even cooling. This will prevent the crabs from overcooking and will also force them to absorb the seasoning from the crab boil. Let the crabs sit in the water for at least 1 hour before serving. You can let the crabs sit until completely cool, if desired, or you can serve the crabs warm.

Using tongs or strainers, carefully remove the crabs from the pot along with the onions, garlic, potatoes, corn, artichokes, sausage, hotdogs, and mushrooms and spread out on large platters or on newspaper lined tables for folks to enjoy.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/firehouse-crab-boil-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Continue Reading
IN: recipes ON: July 26, 2013 TAGS: , , , , , , BY: Hilary
Continue Reading

July Photo Challenge

Two weeks into the month and I’m only now getting around to putting up the photo-a-day challenge for the month. Let me clarify, it’s been up on Intstagram, but I was remiss in putting it up here.  So, here’s the challenge:

(image)

For those of you unfamiliar with the Photo A Day Challenge, I’ve provided you with a list of prompts or suggestions for each day of the month.  On the designated day, you snap a photo of the suggestion or a photo of your interpretation of the suggestion and post it to Instagram.  You can add a caption to your photo, as well as the hashtag #hilarywithonel so we can keep up with you.  If you input #hilarywithonel in the Instagram search box, you’ll be able to see what others have already posted.    For instance, today is the 14th and the word is love.  Here’s my photo:

(image)    

This is a big Tiffany & Co. box that I am trying to fill with love notes to my three daughters, a project that I started several years ago.  That’s a post unto itself, but this photo is my interpretation of love. 

So I challenge you to participate or check out my posts on tumblr (http://hilarygrantdixon.tumblr.com/). 

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day (or 14 because I’m a delinquent). It’s just a fun way to be creative.  No penalties for missed days, and no prize for hitting all the days – well, satisfaction is a prize in and of itself right?

Snap on, my friends, snap on.

Continue Reading
IN: ON: July 14, 2013 TAGS: , , , , , BY: Hilary
Continue Reading
recipes

Recipe Friday: Snack Attack

I do my best to make healthful food choices, but at the end of the day (literally) I cannot help but stuff my face with sweet treats once the girls are in bed and the sun goes down.  I know that I don’t bring the stuff in the house, then it won’t get consumed.  The thing is, I have a wicked sweet tooth, and he likes to come out at night.

(image)

It usurps my brain power when I’m doing the grocery shopping.  In my head, I see myself buying more fruit and veggies to snack on.  I see a plate with hummus and a few pita chips, maybe small bowl of raw cashews and almonds.  When I’m under the sale banners and fluorescent lights,  however, the sweet tooth takes over.

I’m not buying Tasty Cakes, Ding Dongs, and Little Debbie snack packs, but there are a few ice cream treats, gourmet dark chocolate squares, and the occasional piece of Ukrop’s cake in between the packages of free range chicken breasts and organic baby lettuces.

I’m on My Fitness Pal, a web and smartphone app that helps you track what you’re putting in your bod, your physical activity and so forth as you get in shape.  Several friend of mine are on it as well, and it’s a great way to see what you’re eating, how much, and how many calories are exchanged on a daily basis.  Right now, I’m working on maintenance, so my calorie alotment has been higher than usual.  Since I’ve not been working out, though, it dropped back down a bit.  Regardless, a typical food journal entry for me looks like this:

Breakfast
3/4 C Special K
3/4 Milk
Coffee with 1 packet of Truvia and 2 tbs. of Coffee Mate

Lunch
Big salad (at least 3 cups of lettuce, shredded carrots, grape tomato, sliced red onion, sliced english cucumber)
3 oz. pan seared seasoned chicken breast
1 oz. of chips, crackers or tortillas (I need something crunchy)

Snacks
AM: Navel orange
PM: Second cup of coffee and 2 graham crackers

Dinner
Usually same as lunch, while the Hubs and the girls get pasta, chicken with rice/potato/starch, or some other kind of #omnomnom dinner I’ve found on Pinterest.

Then comes the post-bedtime routine cool-down.  The sun has set, the house is quiet, the washing machine is chugging in time with the purr of the dryer.  The counters have been wiped down, the floor has been swept and I’m flipping through the channels in search of something that has nothing to do with Housewives, Baby Mamas, Pregnant teenagers or Honey Boo-Boo.  My sweet tooth and my tummy text each other and the next thing I know, I’m standing in front of the pantry looking, looking, looking for the Holy Grail of snacks to quell the borborygmi reaching a full crescendo in my tummy.

My sweet tooth is nocturnal.  That’s not to say I’d turn down a cupcake or a piece of chocolate during the day, but I”m more likely to pass on it when the sun is out than when the moon is high.  Besides, the idea of salty snacks before bedtime doesn’t really go with the idea of “Sweet Dreams”.   Here’s a dish of potato chips, dear! Salty Dreams! 

Anyway, most nights, I end up with two squares of Lindt’s Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and a glass of wine.  Some nights, I add two of those yummy hazelnut pirouline cookies instead of the chocolate. Some nights I add the cookies in addition to the chocolate.  I’m wild.  Some nights, I got back after I’ve already eaten two squares and two cookies and get two more squares and two more cookies.  I tell you, that sweet tooth just has been in it’s grasp.

 It’s just so sweet!
(image)

How can I resist? 
Sure, I could leave you with a healthful recipe that involves fruit or something, but let’s be real.  I could do that and still be in the pantry looking for the chocolate come 8pm tonight.  So instead, here’s a recipe for a  frozen treat that is calorie friendly, provided you just eat the serving size.  Baby steps, little grasshoppers.  Baby steps. 

recipe found here
(image)

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) container fat-free cool whip
1/3 cup reduced-fat creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup fat free chocolate syrup

Directions:
1. Mix cool whip and peanut butter together until well blended and smooth.
2. Drop into a 12 cup muffin tin lined with foil liners.
3. Drizzle chocolate sauce on top of each cup with 1 teaspoons of chocolate sauce.
4. Best served cold, so chill in freezer for 30 minutes.

Happy Friday, y’all!
Continue Reading
IN: recipes ON: July 14, 2013 TAGS: , , , , , , BY: Hilary
Continue Reading

Lists

(image)

You know I loves me a list.

I have had “BLOG” on the top of my latest batch of lists for the past few weeks.  Immediately following that, I have had “Get Your Shit Together”.  Seriously.  There are so many projects that I want to tackle and I just keep getting sidetracked.  I’m not even talking about the regular ol’ household, parenting, and so forth.  I’m like one of those birds flying along, sees something shiny and is instantly like “Oooh, shiny!”

Here are a few ways that I’ve been wasting repurposing my time:

1. tumblr.  Come follow me, though.  It’s fun to look at pretty pictures.

2. Pinterest.  Do I really need to explain? Of course, I have been on it in search of some easy, budget friendly summer activities for the girls.  When I offer to turn on the sprinkler for them, I get a full body eye roll that would make Liz Lemon proud.  Really? You’re kids. It’s summer.  Sprinklers are fun. I don’t see why this math isn’t adding up.

3. OPB (Other People’s Blogs).  I’m a blog stalker.  I hardly ever leave comments, although people are super kind enough to leave them for me.  I read posts, I look through photos and all that stuff, but I never have anything to add to the comments that hasn’t already been said.  Of course, who doesn’t like to hear an additional, “You’re right!” or “Great post!” or other accolade.  Note to self: leave comments on what you read, even if it’s just the written equivalent of a high five.

4.  reading books on my new fangled iPad mini.  I know, I know, I said that I would never, never, never cross to the darkside that is the e-reader, but I can’t help it!  The Hubs gifted me with the mini for our anniversary last month and I started getting a few samples of books here and there.  My first sample was “Divergent” and well, it’s been downhill from there.

5.  physical therapy (again).  The saga continues; I had tenolysis surgery on the 28th and spent a week recouperating in Chesapeake at my parents house. The up-side is that I was out of the boot in a week. I’m walking on my own, but things are stiff.  I’ve got the gait of a suburban Frankenstein.  Still, it’s way better progress than the first time around.  Fitting PT in two to three times a day with the young ones underfoot is a challenge, but I gotta do it, man because. . .

6. Las Vegas!  My sorority sisters and I are going on a much needed girls getaway to Vegas next month. Can I even tell you how excited I am about this? I’m pulling clothes from the closet, putting new clothes and bathing suits in various virtual shopping carts around the internet, bombarding my line sister with pictures of myself in various bathing suits to make sure I don’t look like the chaperone while we’re out there (and yes, I owe her a huge stack of gift cards to retailers of her choice for putting up with me with that).  I’ve got a Las Vegas list of sorts going on, too.

There are always lists.  I keep a notepad and pen in the bathroom with my make-up because inevitably, I think of something that will leave my head before I get downstairs to the kitchen to write it down.  I “borrowed” a mini legal pad at my parents house to write things down as they came to me so that when we got back home, I could just get started.  I’ve got another folded up piece of paper that I pulled from some random pile of stuff to be sorted so that I could remember what songs to add to my work-out playlist, what odds and ends I needed to pick up from the grocery store, who I had to call, who I had to email, and what activities to look up on Pinterest. Vicious circle, vicious, vicious circle.

And really, my ideal list would include taking pictures, writing stories, having a good long nap, being totally and thoroughly (and uninterruptedly) romanced by my husband, and that’s it.  Well, I’m sure some bacon, wine, and chocolate would be involved in there, too, but you know, that goes without saying.

Bacon, wine, and chocolate. . .need to put that on my grocery list.

Continue Reading
IN: ON: July 10, 2013 TAGS: , , , BY: Hilary
Continue Reading
recipes

Recipe Friday: Paula Deen Edition

I know I’m a day late on getting this post up, but I’ve been laughing my buns off at the way the Twitter-verse has been skewering Queen of Southern Cuisine, Paula Deen. 

For those of you who don’t know, earlier in the week, news media outlets broke the story that Paula Deen, lover of butter and all things fried, had admitted in court to using the N-word, and planning a “slavery themed” wedding.  Not surprisingly, Deen found herself in hot water with her fans and non-fans.

Twitter and Facebook nearly shut down as social media was flooded with racially charged jokes and a hashtag (#paulasbestdishes) aimed at Deen.  While racism is never funny, I couldn’t help but get the giggles over some of the creative ways Deen has been raked over the coals. Here’s an amuse bouche of tweets: Massa-roni and Cheese;  Klan Chowder; Reparations Rice; Separate But Equal Fruit Salad; Cotton Pickin’ Peach Tea; Colored Greens; We Shall Overcome Crumb Cake.

I don’t watch the Food Network. I don’t have any Paula Deen cookbooks.  I can’t withdraw my support from her because she never had it in the first place.  While she’s probably scrambling to save her crumbling empire, issuing repeated apologies and such, I keep thinking, “She sure can’t unscramble this egg.” 

So, with all this sugary, butter, Southern-fried goodness in mind,  here’s today’s recipe.   I have yet to make this – I’m a Yankee, afterall, but it is going to get added to the roster of comfort foods, for sure. Happy week-end, y’all!

Buttermilk Spoonbread

Buttermilk Spoon Bread courtesy of Baking Bites
1 1/2 cups milk (low fat is fine)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
1 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour an 8-inch square casserole dish.
Combine milk, buttermilk and cornmeal in a medium saucepan and bring almost to a boil, stirring regularly.
Once it has reached a simmer, turn heat down and cook for another minute or two, until mixture is thickened.
Stir in butter and salt, then transfer to a bowl to cool down to near room temperature. once it has cooled, whisk in egg yolks.
In a medium bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks, gradually beating in sugar. Fold into cornmeal base, working in two or three additions. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until spoon bread is set, but still slightly jiggly, and the top is golden brown.
Serve warm.
serves 6.

Continue Reading
IN: recipes ON: June 22, 2013 TAGS: , , , , , BY: Hilary
Continue Reading
1 … 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 … 14