Thursday, June 28, 2012

Rainbow Cake? Nailed it! (not really)

Hopefully my daughter will still love me after I post her craft fail.  In her defense it was moist, delicate, tasty, and her homemade cream cheese frosting was yummy.

My 18 year old daughter bakes when she can't sleep.  She decided to make a rainbow cake (like the lovely ones on Pinterest) and she started it at about 11:00 pm.  These pics were taken at 1:30 am.

First some Pinterest pictures:

Rainbow Cake #cake Rainbow Cake #rainbow #weddings

Then hers:




Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Wordless Wednesday - True Love

My daughter with Belle.  True Love!


All horses deserve, at least once in their lives, to be loved by a little girl.

Author Unknown






Monday, June 4, 2012

Greek Themed Picnic

I had a lovely afternoon picnic with my family a few weeks ago.  I decided that I wanted to go with a Greek theme, mostly because I had some wonderful spices from Symeon's that I wanted to put to use.

Our menu:
Grilled Greek chicken
Flat Bread
Greek salad
Greek orzo salad
Fruit salad
Chips
Drinks

I sliced chicken breast into strips about an inch thick and marinated them for 24 hours in red wine, olive oil, and Symeon's spices.  Then when it was time to eat I grilled them outside on my gas grill.  Because they were sliced they cooked in only about 10-12 minutes.

I also served some flat bread and pita that I picked up at the grocery store.  That was the one part of the meal that could have been better.  I wish I could have bought some freshly made flat bread.

One of my sisters made a wonderful Greek salad with romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives, and feta (I think there was more but I can't remember it all).  I mixed my Symeon's spices with olive oil and red wine vinegar to make a delicious dressing.

My other sister made a delicious tzatziki dip with cucumbers, sour cream, garlic, mint.  She basically followed this recipe but substituted mint for dill and she salted and pressed the cucumbers so it was nice and creamy.

My mom offered to make three bean salad and was met with a resounding No! : )  Instead she brought Bobby Flay's Greek Orzo Salad with Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette.   That was our first time trying this recipe but it's definitely a keeper.  (We skipped the shrimp that it calls for)

My mother-in-law made a refreshing fruit salad that was a nice compliment to the meal.

We had a lovely afternoon hanging out in our yard (pictures of yard below) had a delicious but relatively easy lunch that everyone contributed to.  Then in the evening we had a fire and roasted marshmallows.  I had a lot of fun and was able to enjoy the day.

I wish I had taken pictures!  Next time I will.  : )