When My Plate Needs Something Green

Thanks to Ina, the Barefoot Contessa, I have a go-to, can't miss, side dish.  It's the perfect combination of easy seasoning with fresh veggies.  Some recipes, from my favorite stars on my favorite network with food, can be hard to duplicate.  This is not one of them.  The ingredients are easy and straight forward and could already be sitting in your home.  

I will include the recipe below but for the original and to read other reviews here is the link.  

Ratings for this recipe are hard to ignore...

 5 out of 5 stars.  It's a winner!

Fresh and easy ingredients.  (This was for a large Mother's Day crowd so I doubled the recipe.)

Ready to be tossed in olive oil & seasoned with salt & pepper.

Blanched & drained & ready for their ice water bath.

Roasted goodness.

Almost forgot to snap a photo of the finished product! 

 It was time to eat & I was ready so this is after my first helping.  

Ina's French String Beans

• 1 pound string beans, both ends removed (she calls for French string beans, I use whatever I can get my hands on like in my photo above of green beans - close enough?)
• 1 red onion, large diced (after roasting this is my favorite ingredient)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, large diced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, large diced
• 2 TB good olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Blanch the string beans in a large pot of boiling salted water for 4 minutes. Drain immediately and immerse in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. 

In a large bowl toss the onion and bell peppers together with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for about 15 minutes, toss occasionally for even roasting of the veggies.

Just before serving, reheat the string beans in a large sauté pan drizzled with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and arrange on a platter. Spoon the roasted vegetables over the string beans and serve hot or at room temperature.

Enjoy!!


Linking up with Farm Girl Paints for Feed My Family Friday!

Hello Monday

Monday, Monday...


My first Monday linking up with Lisa Leonard - "Hello Monday!"

Hello afterglow of spending a wonderful Saturday afternoon 

with fun cousins.

Hello Mother's Day gifts - a total surprise! 

Can't wait to spend time with both.

Hello grocery store to pick up ingredients for a new veggie burger recipe.

(First to decide what recipe to begin with.)

Hello healthy breakfast.

Hello sink full of Mother's Day dishes.

(How did that happen?!)

Hello Survivor on our computer while I clean. 

(Am I the only person still watching this show?)

Hello Monday!  It's going to a busy, busy week.





                                                                 

A Shout Out

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day to all my mil spouse peeps!

It can be a hard life but with grace and determination we forge ahead.  Thank you to all who have been there for me as I walk this road, it's never one we walk alone is it?  You have taught me patience, independence, and how to mow my own lawn, darn it.  You have been the village to my children during long deployments, you have left cookies on my door step on those trying days.  You laughed with me when I, out of shear exhaustion, put my 4 & 6 year olds to bed at 6:30 pm.  Thank you, all of you for being there with me along the way.  Thank you, all of you, for allowing me to do the same for you.  I am stronger because of this community and I wouldn't trade it for a moment.

May God bless you all.  May God keep your loved one safe, whether here at home or over seas.

There's just something about a man in uniform.

Official White House appreciation proclamation.
                                                             
                                                                   

My Grandmother's Lemon Cake

I can't believe I'm about to do this!
This feels crazy to me, giving out the recipe for our family cake.
Sure, I've jotted it down on recipe cards for friends but this, this is going out there on a limb for me.  It's so good though, I really should share.

What is the best way to post a recipe?  Is it Pioneer Woman style, step by step pictures?  Is it a simple recipe typed up with a picture of me scarfing down a piece of the beloved cake?  Maybe it's something in the middle - I'll go with that.  (Are you enjoying my internal dialogue?  That is really what it sounds like in my head.  Ha!)

It was Hubby's birthday Monday, meaning it was time to make the favorite cake.  It's not from scratch but there are enough tweaks to make it better then boxed.

Better write up to follow at the end of the post.

This is my personal recipe card though, scribbled while talking with my 

grandmother on the phone many years ago.

Ingredients collected.

Four eggs, more then the normal box recipe.

That's a lot of oil, I didn't claim this would be health food!

 Prepping the baking dish the old fashioned way, butter then flour.

Secret ingredient added - Lemon Pudding mix.

Water and cake mix added, beat for four minutes.

Once baked poke holes, I didn't have a tooth pick so I used a BBQ skewer,

not the prettiest way but I was out of time to run to the store.

Glazed with the powder sugar/fresh lemon juice icing.  So good.

Again, not pretty to look at but trust me, you'll get past it.

Just one night later, yes those are crumbs everywhere, even on the mixer.

It's what happens when I leave the house for an evening meeting.

Grandma Elma's Lemon Cake

• Yellow Cake Mix (preferably with pudding in the mix)
• Lemon Flavored Pudding (this is where I vary from the original - Grandma uses a small Lemon Jello mix)

             I used 3/4 of a large pudding mix box.

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup oil
• 3/4 cup water

Mix all for 30 seconds then beat for 4 minutes, prepare baking dish and bake at 350 until golden and your tooth pick (or skewer) comes out clean.  You can loosely follow the box directions for baking time.

Once done let rest for 5 minutes while you mix

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (don't skimp & use bottled, that would be just wrong)

Poke holes over entire cake and drizzle icing.

Enjoy!

Linking up with Farm Girl Paints!!



                                                                    

Go check out my talented cousin and aunt at Canvas and Canopy (link below photo).

BTW this is my grandmother and me at another cousin's bridal shower,

 do we have the same smile?

Sombrero Party

Turquoise Summer Lovin'

If you could take a look at my beach towel stash and daughters swimsuit collection(s) you would notice a common theme - turquoise baby!  When it comes to summer I can't get enough of any shade of that sweet blue/green combo that reminds me of crystal clear water.

Today while waisting time in Target (such a bad place for me to go with time to kill) I stumbled upon these plastic cups.  Perfect for my summer time iced tea.  I also found the shade of nail polish I've been searching for since spotting it on another blogger.  Score!  Now my toes are ready for the "May Grey" to burn off so we can hit the beach in style.

Target cups & Essie "Turquiose & Caicos" polish

Being a Good Sport

In life I find it easier (much) to talk about being a good sport then actually putting it in to practice.  I think this is a natural, human issue.  We all desire our hard work and effort to pay off with a big win.  One problem with that... there can only be so many winners.  Second, third, fourth and even last place have to be filled by someone.  Sometimes that someone is us.

At church I help lead a group of kids that just built and raced pine wood derby cars in a five church competition.  Each kid, no matter what their game face said, wanted their master piece to come in first.  Some of our kids placed within the top three in their category, most did not.  I encouraged each kid to congratulate the other, to cheer loudly for their friends, even if they were beat by them.  They are a great group of kids and they all did just that, they encouraged and clapped.  I could tell though, it was a somewhat bitter pill to swallow.

 Does anyone else have this problem?

Even if I understand the news I'm given it's hard to swallow if it's not the news I pre-designed in my head.  (Could I be any more elusive?!)

Times they are a changin' in this household.  (Not to worry, the family structure is not what this post is referring to.)  This is when we put our words of faith in to action - when we hit our knees and truly put our faith in God.  This is when we will need to clap loudly for those holding the trophy and trust that God has our prize, He just is holding it until we are ready.

He is carving us, much like our kids carved their cars.