In the making...

I am a creator.  

Each and every day, I create; and the result is both seen and unseen-- tangible and intangible.  

I can show you the "house" that Lee and I built but you'd have to come and live with us for quite a while to experience the "home" we've created.  

You can touch the dresses and scarves I've made for my girls, but the confidence and quiet beauty I strive to bless them with is a little harder for the eye to dicipher.  

In my heart I know my unseen creations are far more important than anything that can be seen.  In this area, I pray that I am successful- for it is imperative that I succeed.  

I am not alone.  I live in a home and a world full of creators.  We are all creators, whether we realize it or not.  All of us.  We are each and every one created in the image of The Creator. Therefore, it's only natural that we create.

So let's create something beautiful today.  Whether it be a mood (an aura, if you please), a meal, or a nice piece of art, let's create something beautiful.  I promise we'll feel better because of it!

I plan to create "encouragement" today. Hopefully, I succeed!

In the tangible column of my recent creations, I've been having quite a bit of fun.  Probably too much!!

I'll share a few things I've been working on and leave you with an excellent recipe! 

Not yet finished, this quilt top is for someone very special.  I love the fabrics as they have a certain earthy, hippy feel.  If it matched anything in my house, I'd be tempted to keep it- or at least make another one for myself!!  Hoping to finish this bugger by the end of the week.  

When Jesus spoke of the white washed tombs with the bones of dead men inside (Matthew 23:27) He may have very well referred to my closets.  So many of us try to look good and perfect on the outside, but on the inside- where it really counts- we're a mess!!  So it goes with my house.  What you can see is in pretty good order.  It's what's behind the closet doors that will scare you to death!  So I've been working pretty hard lately on getting my closets cleaned out- and I started with this one.  Before I tackled it, you couldn't even see the bottom two shelves and you definitely couldn't walk inside.  Since cleaning this one, I've organized four more, but I still have a lot to do!  And I don't even wanna think about the attics...  

I attend a Life Group at my church called A Stitch in Time.  We have a really good time creating together.  This last week we made grocery bag holders.  I am loving mine!!  

Interested in learning to quilt?  Craftsy.com is offering a FREE Block of the Month class complete with videos and printed directions.  You make 2 blocks each month and then in November and December you put them altogether and have a quilt!  It's a lot of fun.  I've made 3 blocks so far...  

These blocks are all VERY easy to make.  And it's not too late to start!!  You can access January's lesson with ease.  If you want to learn to quilt this is the (free) ticket!

Before grouper season closed I sent my husband fishing and he delivered!  His mission was to fill my freezer so I could make Grouper Chowder all winter long.  We've never been big fans of frozen fish, but we gave it a try and it worked!  We're not planning on frying, baking, or grilling any, but it is wonderful for chowder.  

Want to make your own?

... and I'm sure any fish will do.

Grouper Chowder

Ingredients:

1 large box Chicken Broth

Chopped Onions (I use a lot)

Chopped Celery (2-3 stalks)

Chopped carrots (I use a lot-- we like carrots!)

6-7 Diced new potatoes

2 small cans Potato Soup

Tarragon, Sage, Parsley, Thyme, Garlic, Rosemary, Salt and Pepper

Milk (4-6 cups, depending on how thick you want it)

Diced Grouper (get all the "red" out of it so it doesn't taste fishy; we chop ours about the same size as a Chic Filet nugget)

Cheese

Directions:

In a larger pot, bring your veggies to a boil in the chicken broth.  Reduce heat and cook until they are soft.  Add in potato soup and stir until it's dissolved.  Next, stir in milk slowly.  Make sure to keep the heat on low as your milk can curdle (yuck!).  Throw in the fish and the spices and let it cook for about 30 minutes.  Excellent with Sharp Cheddar Cheese and scallions (which I always forget!).  

I have always used fresh veggies, but if you're in a hurry you could always used frozen.  I don't recommend canned.  An excellent cook named Alison gave me her recipe several years ago and I've slowly adapted it to make it mine.  I'm sure there are 1,000 ways to make this yummier and easier, so have fun with it.  Take mine and make it yours!

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I love comments!!  If this little post has inspired you to "create" let me know!  And if you try the chowder, I'd love to know how you like it.  It's a big hit around here!

Vintage Love

I love parties.  

I love weddings.  

I love vintage.  

Honestly, I love LOVE. 

Especially vintage love.  

As fitting for a self proclaimed lover of love, I was super excited to be asked to decorate for a vintage style wedding shower.  The bride is a classic beauty who looks as if she was plucked from the movie "The Notebook."  Her taste is nothing less than vintage-class. 

We are big Brittany and Josh fans here at the Lewis house-- making this event very important to me.  My kids go crazy over those two-- and they spoil them in return. 

Here are a few snaps of the party...

This chalkboard hangs in my kitchen and usually sports the kids' schedule for the week.  After the shower I put it back in its place without changing the message.  You'd think that after 5 different people have asked "What's in 62 days?" I'd change the message...  Maybe tomorrow.  

And dontcha just love that picture in the lower right corner...

I love the photo in this shot, too...  So fun...  Such love.  Young, fresh love!

I didn't make the veggie bouquet, cake pops, or the strawberries, but they turned out lovely so I wanted to share.  The strawberries were amazing- and I was happy to see the leaves left on.  I adore the pop of natural on the platter.  

I did make the cupcakes and they were yummy!  The bottom tier is a yellow cake with a cream cheese frosting.  It's my own little concoction of the moistest cake you'll ever eat and I rarely share my recipe.  I took the best advice from several seasoned cooks and smushed them all together (yielding one amazing cake).

I also whipped up a batch of chocolate mint cakes that were yumm-o.  They were okay the day I cooked them, but after sitting for a few days... oh my!  You can find the recipe here.  I did not fill these cupcakes, and there was no need--- they would have been too good.  Like shoot yourself in the head good.  

On a side note--- it may be the recipes, but my cupcakes taste their very best when they are 2-3 days old.  

I adore the drink table!!  It was such fun.  Piled in the old suitcase are jelly jars wrapped in a vintage style ribbon.  And the lemon-mint water was just beautiful, if I do say so myself...  I love a pitcher of beauty.

As a gift, my sister in law and I teamed together and filled a huge galvanized container with cleaning supplies.  We threw in a straw broom and a mop and set Ms. Brittany up to clean like a pro.  We also threw a few things in there for Josh...  a pair of leather work gloves, a hammer and screw driver.  That bucket must have weighed 60 pounds!  

We told her this was the most spiritual gift of the day.  The Bible instructs us in Titus to be "busy about the home" and if Brit uses half of the stuff in that bucket, she'll succeed!

Here she is...  Beautiful Brittany...

I do love a good party.

And Brittany, I love you, too.

Congratulations! 

Rum Cakes: Don't Eat and Drive!

Enough said!

Cater Me Cupcakes!

A few months back, at the suggestion of a great friend, I started selling gourmet cupcakes.  Tons of fun and tons of work!!  I decided to name my little endeavor

Cater Me Cupcakes!

After all, who doesn't love to be catered to? And everyone loves a good cupcake!

So far, my biggest hits are the Key Lime Pie Cupcake and the Mile High Strawberry Cupcake.  I've also gotten a very good response from my Chocolate Caramel and Rum Cream Cake.  All my cupcakes are filled, frosted, garnished, and super fattening.  Oh, and they taste fabulous.  And since I've got a great taster, you can take that to the bank!  

This week has been a very busy week in the kitchen...  I had orders for over 7 dozen cupcakes.  Whew!  I've inhaled enough powdered sugar to almost send me over the edge. 


 

I'm very excited because tonight I'll have a tasting session with a bride and groom!  They'll be sampling Traditional Wedding, Key Lime Pie, Mile High Strawberry, Rum Cream and Chocolate Caramel. Bound to be a lot of fun!

More pictures to follow~  I have several dozen cakes waiting to be adorned for a party tomorrow.  Now if I can just keep from snatching a few for myself...

Around the Table Weeks 5 & 6

Week 5:

Monday, Thursday and Friday:

Spaghetti made with ground deer and turkey.  Very yummy!!  Although I never dreamed we'd eat it 3 times this week, we did.  I was planning on freezing some of it for later, but...

Tuesday:  Steak with Green beans and a salad.

I bought a few BOGO steak packages from Winn Dixie a couple weeks ago and separated them into freezer bags.  I doused them good with Worcestershire, salt, and pepper, and froze them.  They grilled up nicely and the flavor was wonderful. 

I have no clue why this picture is sideways.  Errr. 

Wednesday:  we all ate at different places.  

Saturday:  Gotta love a good sandwich!

Week 6:

Sunday and Monday we ate at the coast with my in-laws so no cooking for me.  Though I did make a batch of rum cupcakes that were out of this world!!

Tuesday:  Peruvian Spinach Soup.  Also known as "ugly soup."  This is the most amazing soup in all of Peru AND every other country you can name in 15 seconds.  It is green, hardy, and distinct!  All of my kids eat it and 1/2 of them are happy about it.  Liliana had 3 bowls.  Yup- its that good! Want a closer look at all that green goodness... 

The rest of the week was totally downhill after that.  

Wednesday:  Take and Bake Pizza from Sam's.  Probably won't be buying this again.  

Thursday:  Smoked Chicken, Green Beans, and Rice and 'mater Gravy

Friday and Saturday:  Lee and the kids were on their own.  I was with a super group of ladies from my church at a women's retreat.  Praise God for good friends, good times, and a great husband!  

And because I have a super cool friend named Tara who said I could spread the love and share her recipe...  Here is it:

Ugly Soup 

(Peruvian Spinach Soup)

8 ounces spinach

6 cups vegetable broth

36 sprigs fresh cilantro

2 tbsp oil

1 med onion

2 med potatoes, peeled & diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

10 ounce pkg frozen baby lima beans, thawed

2 tsp cumin

Tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1/3 cup quinoa (or millet, or couscous)

6 ounces feta

In a blender, combine half of spinach with half of the broth and the cilantro.  Blend smooth.

In a large soup pot, heat oil over med-high heat.  Cook onion until golden.  Add potatoes, garlic.  Cook, stirring until well coated, 1-2 min.  Add the remaining broth, the blended puree, lima beans, and seasonings.  Cover and cook until the potatoes and limas are tender, 15 minutes. Add quinoa and remaining spinach, cooking 12-15 min.  Serve with feta cheese crumbled on top!

Around the Table week 4

This week was pretty disappointing in the cooking department.  Although we've eaten together every night this week, with the exception of Friday and Saturday nights, I didn't cook very much.  So here it is...  our week in review:

Sunday:  Leftovers from Saturday night

Monday:  More leftovers (we cooked way too much chicken and steak)

Tuesday:  Rotisserie chicken (yep, I'm sick of chicken ), baked potato, spinach salad

Wednesday:  Leftover chicken and whatever else was left in the fridge.

Thursday:  Fried Backstrap, Rice and onion gravy, and Green beans.

Friday: The girls and I were at a party and the boys got take-out.

Saturday:  Zeb and I went on a date.  We ate Popcorn and Nerds for dinner.  I'm not sure what Lee did with the other three, but I'm sure it was a lot healthier than what Zeb and I ate.  

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I'm pretty disappointed in myself this week, but no-one went hungry, we spent time around the table,  and we didn't waste much; so it wasn't a colossal failure .  I know we'll have weeks like this, and I need to be okay with that.  

I'll leave you with a great way to cook green beans... a favorite for my family!  I think this is a Paula Dean recipe.

Fancy Green Beans

Cook frozen, long green beans in water in a frying pan.  

Drain most of the water when done.  

Add in 1/2 stick of butter, around 1/4 cup honey, and 1/4 cup teriyaki.  Simmer for about 15 minutes and enjoy!

You can also add in chopped cashews and it's wonderful.  Yumm-O!

Around the Table week 3

Lots and lots of yummy food this week!  Kudos to Lee for doing a good bit of the cooking.  We had friends over after church on Sunday and decided to do hamburgers with all the trimmings.  Check out that tray of beautiful fixins!  We also had Baked Beans (pictured below) and Crack Dip (Thankyou, Michelle!).  Crack dip is my drug of choice.  It's fairly easy to eat it until you pass out.

I decided to float sliced onions on top of the beans while cooking and they were excellent!!  They looked like roses and tasted like Heaven.  

This is my plate...  I sliced my burger in two long ways so I could get it all in my mouth.  Mmmm...

Monday:  Kings Pie (aka: Shepherds Pie) and Spinach Salad

Tuesday:  Blackened, Stuffed Redfish, Spinach Salad, and leftover sides.

Zeb caught this Red Fish on Saturday and it fed us twice!  Good job, Zebby!

Wednesday:  Leftover King's Pie

Thursday:  Blackened, Stuffed Fish,  Broccoli,  Spinach Salad

We had unexpected company so this was a fun meal...  They walked in to a lightly smokey kitchen, a lot of noise, and a really good meal.  We had just enough and it was even better than it was early in the week.  

Here's a close-up of the fish after it had been stuffed and broiled. 

Friday:  Date Night!!!!  Fun, but nothing could touch the blackened fish earlier in the week so eating out was just okay.  

Saturday:  Steak, Chicken, Alfredo with Pasta and a Spinach Salad.   This was Henry's first time eating Alfredo and he LOVED it!  I think he wears it well. 

I tried a new cup-cake on Friday and they were sooo good!!  I gave most away, but stuck 6 in my fridge for the weekend.  They were barely cool when the phone rang and someone wanted them... and I was happy to oblige.  This is a gourmet, filled, Snicker-Doodle Cupcake.  It has a zillion calories, but is worth every one of them.  Remember, if you're gonna eat something fattening, make sure it's good!!

My kids are really good eaters.  I take full credit for that.  They eat Spinach Salad most every night.  Do they want to eat their salad?  Half of them don't, but do anyway.  Boy, the benefits of being a Mom!  People do what I say.  At least 4 little ones.  

Hope you are sharing good food, good stories, and good times Around the Table!

If Cupcakes Were Gold...

... I'd be rich.  Too bad they're not.  Here's my fridge at the moment.  

Here's the fridge door.  

Here's my newest invention:  a fool proof way to keep the kids out of the gold mine.  (One in particular will sleep eat-- or maybe he is truly awake at 4 a.m. when he makes waffles.)  This is the first time I've ever done this... couldn't take a chance.

Here's an up-close of the cupcakes.

Here's the inside of a Key Lime Pie Filled Cupcake.  If you look very closely, you can see the filling.  The strawberry filled (although much better tasting) was not so photogenic.  Shux.

Here's to a busy, busy night.