Lemon Basil Hummus & Pet Squirrels

I may wear pencil skirts, high heals, and Jcrew on a fairly regular basis but deep down, I am a boots and jeans kind of girl. I wish I could go to work in then every day & well this week I could. Thank you Florida Citrus Expo.

This was my second year attending this trade show. My favorite part of the show? (besides the jeans & boots) Geoff is there! He spends most of the day listening to the various speakers but we still get to spend meals and slow time together. 

There are a bunch of different vendors displaying various equipment for the field, chemicals, insurance, packing houses, and orange juices brands.  

Geoff's family has their own line of juice: Nobel Juice & they provided my company with coolers to pass out at our booth. It is a very tasty way to get extra traffic to come by. I drank plenty :)

Every year there are drawings for the attendees to enter in & guess what?! Geoff was the BIG winner :) 

Geoff win = I win

The prize was a ceramic grill from Cabelas :) We have had our eye on one for years but neither of us could justify spending that much cash on a grill. My parents gave us one a few years back that was their old grill. My dad fixed it up for us but it is a few years past its prime and we are so excited for an up grade. 

I was informed that the new grill would be his and the old grill would be mine for MY vegetables. Marriage is less than 10 months away & he has so much to learn :) 

Geoff was in such a great mood (even after the 2 hour process of setting the grill up, it weights like 200lbs) and he said two things that I wouldn't have ever thought to come out of his mouth:

1. "Babe come out here fast. A baby squirrel just fell out of the tree. Would you want to keep it as a pet? I can get you a cage."
2. "This is the best salad dressing I have ever had. I think you need to make this more often."  

A pet squirrel? Pig, donkey, dog or turtle? Yes. Squirrel? In a cage? Wow. First off, I was told no more pets ever and second Geoff HATES squirrels. (They eat our avocados) If you were wondering I said "no thank you".

Now for the "best salad dressing ever". I didn't measure. I didn't really pay attention on measurements. I threw some garlic, mustard, maple syrup, red wine vinegar, olive oil and S&P in a plastic jar & used my hand held blender. Now the pressure is on to go back and recreate this dressing. I didn't even use this on my salad and only tasted a drop off of the blender to make sure it was eadable :) Instead I used my Lemon Basil Hummus that I have attemped 3 times before I was in love.

Lemon, Basil Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

1/4 cup basil leaves

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons tahini

salt & pepper to taste

Combine all items in a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste & season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.

This is good. Really good. Totally worth three rounds. I have eaten it on a salad, with carrots, and with a spoon. I hope there is some left when I get home tonight or I will need to go buy more chickpeas ASAP. 

Enjoy! 

Nicole. 

Dessert For Dinner?

Last night was just one of those nights that I HAD to have dessert and I DIDN'T want to have dinner first. This always seems to happen when I:
a.) have a spicy lunch 
b.) decide to cook Geoff something for dinner that I can't eat

Needless to say Geoff took me to get Mexican food for lunch after we went "shopping" (more on that soon!) and I decided to make Geoff a pizza for dinner. I always have wheat pizza dough in my freezer from Whole Foods because it comes in handy for so many different recipes, pizza included. Last night's pizza contained: mushrooms, scallions, red bell pepper, garlic, walnuts, ricotta cheese, Parmesan, and salt & pepper. Basically I cleaned out my fridge and it worked. He loved it & it was vegetarian :) Baby steps... 

So back to what I had for my dinner meal:

Pineapple Cashew Freezer Bars

Crust:

1 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts

1 cup oats (I used gluten free)

2 tablespoons agave

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling:

1 cup raw cashews

2 tablespoons agave

2 tablespoons coconut oil (melted)

2 tablespoons water (possibly more)

2 cups pineapple (fresh or frozen)

plus oats (they were an after thought)

Process the crust ingredients in a food processor until large crumbs form.

Press 2/3's of the crust mixture into the bottom of a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. 

Top with 1 cup of the pineapple, diced. 

In a high speed blender combine the cashews, agave, coconut oil, water and 1 cup pineapple and blend until a creamy consistancy is formed. More water may be needed. Spread the filling mixture atop of the pineapple. 

Top with the remaining third of the crust mixture. 

Freeze until firm, about 2 hours if you can wait that long. I only waited about an hour, it was dinner meal time :) 

What isn't to love about this recipe? No baking time, no refined sugar, and no gluten (if you use gf oats).

The two worst parts? Getting every drop of the filling out of the blender without cutting yourself & waiting for it to harden in the freezer... life is rough. 

I may of had dessert for breakfast as well... Good thing I ran first :) 

love the weekend

Weekends shouldn't be spent cleaning, doing laundry or working but spent with family and friends :) But we all have piles such as these:

I will admit that these piles have been ignored thus far and friends have taken center stage this weekend. 

Friday was spent at home testing out the new grill pan that Mama Pink String bought us. 

The head lamp is optional when grilling :) I think we need to add exterior lighting to our to do list, along with 2,549 other items. It actually works very well. The grilled vegetables were a mixture of zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots and spinach (added at the very end) tosses with olive oil and salt & pepper. Basically a great way to clean out the veggie drawer in the fridge.  

I will admit that I hate mushrooms. Its a texture thing. Dr Fuhrman has done the research and proven how powerful mushrooms can be for a female. So I have decided to start tasting mushrooms and adding them in small amount to recipes. I used to hate beans. Full on hated them. Once again a texture thing but I knew once I became vegan they would need to become an everyday staple in my diet. Beans are now my favorite favorite source of protein so lets hope mushrooms will be on my favorites list as well.

I am a member of my local Junior League chapter and yesterday we had a summer social to recruit new members at one of my favorite locations in my county: The Barn

The Barn sells antiques and furniture that the owners find while they are in Europe. My dining room table is from here.

The Stable sells home decor and gifts. The Back Yard Garden Shop sells various gardening decorations, tools and gifts. 

There is also a restaurant, The Back Porch Restaurant, and it is the perfect place to bring family and friends visiting from out of town and it is also ideal for casual meetings and socials. The food is ordered at a counter and delivered in baskets. The food is southern tea room, with various sandwiches, salads and desserts such as strawberry shortcake. They have a "create your own salad" option and that would be their only vegan option but the atmosphere makes it special. 

The new provisional chairs

The new chair on the left and my provisional leader in the middle. 

My shirt, skirt, & shoes are Jcrew. Typical I know. 

The festivities didn't end at The Barn but continued at my friend Megan's parent's house. They went out of town and allowed her to have friends over. Flashbacks to high school :) 

The view was as amazing as the company and the food. The guys grilled burgers and I made a grilled vegetable pasta salad that was gluten free & vegan and everyone loved it. Even the guys. I will be sharing soon. 

 The rain even held off for us to attempt a slip and slide. (flashbacks once again) 

Now it is time to be an adult and tackle the laundry, bathroom, and our bedroom.

Flowers, Quails, & Millet

Yesterday I tried my shot at floral arrangements.... and I actually enjoyed myself. In the past I have been very good at picking up the phone and ordering flowers but that is not a very affordable method. Don't get me wrong, florist do a beautiful job but spending $50 for a basic arrangement? I love my family & friends but no thanks.

After I decided that this is what I was going to do (a friend of mine just bought a house!) I needed to find fresh cut flowers. I wasn't so lucky & wound up having to go to publix. In Atlanta there were some of the most amazing places to buy inexpensive fresh cut flowers but I couldn't find that here.

Look what Daily Garnish found. I am very jealous.

Anyways: I bought flowers, bought a vase & decided to get creative...

With the help of some wedding supplies and Mama Pink String's sewing machine this is what I came up with & I almost wanted to keep it for myself :) 

Instead of ungifting the flowers I made myself dinner. Has anyone had millet before? I have had a bag of Edens Organic Millet in my pantry for a while and decided to give it a try. I thought it was delicious and a great texture. After Geoff explained to me that you feed quail millet to fatten them up, he thought it was very good. Millet even has 5 grams of protein and since I know I don't always eat enough protein that is good news. 

The rest of dinner consisted of Mama Pink String's Green Beans & Rosemary White Beans. Both of these are so simple and hardly require a recipe. It was a day of winging it :) 

Mama Pink String's Green Beans

Green Beans, ends trimmed 

Cherry Tomatoes

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil Spray

Salt & Pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Spray a baking pan with olive oil and toss on green beans and cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. 

Roast for about 20 to 25 minutes until beans are tender and start to brown. Once you remove them from the oven sprinkle with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and enjoy.

Easy, easy, easy.... & guess what is even easier?

Rosemary White Beans

1 clove garlic, minced

1 sprig rosemary

1 can white beans, drained & rinsed (I used cannellini)

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Over low heat saute garlic and the rosemary spring until garlic softens and is fragrant. About three minutes. 

Add the drained and rinsed beans to the same pan and warm until heated through. You may need to add a tablespoon or two of water if they begin to dry out.

 Now for the final product:

Millet, Rosemary White Beans, and Mama Pink String's Green Beans :) 

Where We Are Today: Laundry Room

The past few days we have made a push to finish projects in the laundry room that we have been putting off for weeks/months. We are not done in there by any means but everything we have purchased has been put in place so I thought I would start my house updates.

I gave a tour of the house as it was when we bought it here. 

The Laundry Room/Mud Room/Pantry/Office/Hide Everything Away Even Though There is No Door Room


I have to start off saying that this room did not exist. Where the laundry room is today was originally a back porch. Considering the view was the garage and the neighbor's house and we already had a much larger, screened in porch on the lake side it was a wasted space. The only plus? It had a concrete slab already poured which meant I could have an addition :)

Demo began:

Then construction started: 

Our dads decided to help "supervise" I still can't believe my dad drove all the way from North Carolina to work outside in the middle of the summer. He must love me :) or didn't want us to mess it up... 

We got most of the construction complete over the course of the week my dad was in town. We spent the next few weekends drying the addition in and putting on the roof shingles. It was exhausting but we knew that if we were going to be happy with the house it had to happen. Before the addition there was only a "laundry space" in the unattached garage.... 

This weekends project list included setting up the storage we bought at Williams Sonoma. Lets just say I never measured to see if they would actually fit.... 

My lack of measuring meant that Geoff had to come save the day and cut the corner pieces down 4 inches. Opps. It happens (pretty regularly).  Tuna was seared & all was forgiven. 

Now for the reveal:

Mama Pink String (Geoff's Mom) sewed these :)

Seed wrappers + art paper + frame = simple

Totally not a forever solution

I helped Mama Pink String sew this one

Robe hooks from Target

Curtain Rod & Hooks from Lowe's

Storage from W&S

Cart from W&S

I hope you agree that this is an improvement from the back porch :) 

We still have a ton to do:

• Put window casing around window
• Add storage on the wall above the washer & dryer
• Add desk(s) & storage where the plastic table is
• Add window treatments
• Show storage where the dog bowl sits
• A place to hang clothes to dry and and ironing board
• More art
• A rug
• Paint the door

This room is my favorite thus far and I love how it turned out. The green walls, tile floors, and fabric choices make me smile and that is what matters.

Someone wanted dinner...

Any suggestions?