Recipes, Recipes, Recipes

Do you remember my previous posts (here and here) about our church's Mother Daughter Luncheon? It was a ton of fun and the food was so yummy! My friend, Brett, who was in charge of the food, graciously shared her recipes for some of the salads we had at the luncheon. I just wish I had taken pictures of the food- I guess you'll just have to trust me when I tell you that it was amazing!

Healthy Chicken Salad

(tuna may also be used)

1 lg. can chopped cooked chicken (or 2 5-oz cans tuna), drained

8 sm radishes, thinly sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

1/4 C chopped parsley

2 Tb lemon juice

1 Tb olive oil

1/4 tsp salt & pepper

Combine & chill.

Chicken Salad

proportion according to taste

Chopped, cooked chicken

Romaine lettuce, chopped

Green & red grapes, halved

Apples, diced

Pecans or walnuts

Combine & mix with Miracle Whip. Serve immediately.

Broccoli Salad

Big bunch of broccoli, chopped fine

1/2 C red onion, chopped

1/2 C sunflower seeds

1/2 C golden raisins

6 slices bacon, fried & crumbled

Stir above ingredients together.

Combine:

1 C Miracle Whip

1/4 C sugar

Mix with broccoli mixture. Chill.

And.... as a special treat, Brett also shared her Crock Pot Hot Chocolate recipes. They are both amazing, but you HAVE to try the Snowflake Hot Chocolate.... so good!!!

Creamy Hot Chocolate

1 1/2 C Heavy cream

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

2 C milk choco chips

6 C milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir all together in crock pot. Cook on low for 2 hours, whisking occasionally.

Snowflake Hot Chocolate

2 C heavy cream

6 C whole milk

1 bag white choco chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir together in crock pot. Cook on low for 2 hours, whisking occasionally.

Worth A Thousand Words

For quite some time, I've been fascinated by photography. I have several friends who are amazingly talented photographers, and I'm always slightly in awe of the pictures they post. While I'm not planning on trying to become a professional photographer, and I'm pretty sure I'm not ever going to reach the same level  as those friends, I've decided that I'm going to at least try to learn some tips & techniques. I've been doing some research online & reading about different things- lighting, composition, editing, etc. One of the most repeated bits of advice is to practice, practice, practice. Sooooo... I've decided to give myself a challenge to take & post at least one picture a day for the next 365 days. We'll see how that goes.... ;)

My goal is to be able to take great pictures of family & friends- I want to be able to know what I'm doing, at least a little bit, so that I can take reliably beautiful shots that capture moments & memories. I think I'm going to try to convince Nathanael to do this with me so we can learn together... plus, he takes most of the shots for the daily style blog I write for, so the more he learns, the better my outfit pictures will be! *wink*

I've even set up a Flickr account so maybe I'll keep up with the daily photo posting. I'll try to share pictures on here at least once a week, too. And if anybody has any advice or tips for me, I'd love to hear them!

My first picture for the 365 day photo challenge:

Be Ye Kind

This last week, our church had our Mother Daughter Luncheon called "Our Mother's Apron" (read more about my crazy apron obsession here). I took several aprons down to the church to be used as decorations, and as I was ironing them, I came to my grandma's apron. I love that apron- not only is it beautiful, and well made, but it's a sweet reminder of my grandma. As I was ironing it, I started thinking about the legacy that my grandma left behind.

My grandma passed away almost 15 years ago. Logically, it seems like that might be a long time ago... but to all of us who knew her and love her, it seems like yesterday. We still talk about her often... we still tell stories about things she did or said.... we still have things she made or bought at a garage sale for 50 cents... I carried yellow roses at my wedding in her memory... we all still run into people who knew my grandma who tell us what a sweet and special lady she was. My grandma fought a long and painful battle with cancer, and I'm glad she's not suffering anymore, and I'm glad we'll see her again, but thinking about her always brings a smile to my face and a little tear to my eye. She was a godly woman, and obviously, one that her family thinks about often.

So, what made her so special? What made her someone that is so sorely missed all these years after her homegoing? What qualities should I seek to cultivate in my life if I want to leave a legacy like she left? For me, it all boils down to one word: kindness. My grandma loved the Lord, she loved her family, and she loved people. My grandma was a beautiful, funny, smart, talented woman- but the thing that we all remember the most about her wasn't that she was gorgeous, or witty, or could make pretty much anything she saw in a book or TV (although those things are all true)... it was that she was kind. She lived out Ephesians 4:32: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Through my grandpa's job & political work, my grandma got to hobnob with some pretty fancy people, but she never treated them any differently than she treated her grandkids, or the teller at the bank, or the kids at church, or anybody with whom she came in contact. Before I got married, I worked at the newspaper in the town where my grandparents lived (my grandpa still lives there). Being a small town, people always asked me if I was related to anyone in town. When I mentioned that I was Bob Willis' granddaughter, 9 times out of 10, I would hear "Your grandma sure was a sweet lady." I even had one lady tell me that my grandma always made her day. What a legacy and a testimony to leave behind... 15 years later, that's what my grandma is remembered for!

Of all the ways that I want to be like her, the one I strive for the most is to exhibit her sweet spirit. I can't really control if I'm as pretty as her, or if I'm as quick witted, or if I'm as smart, or if I'm as resourceful... those are all things that, more or less, you're given by God- but I can work to be kind. Someday, I'd like the memory that people have of me to be that I made a difference in their lives because I was kind.

My grandma & grandpa- pretty, right?

My grandparents with my aunt, my mom, and my uncle

My grandparents, my grandpa's parents, me, Luanne, and Valerie

My grandma and me

My grandma at their house in Minnesota

My grandma and her mom

My grandparents & my great- grandparents

My grandma at the Grand Canyon

My grandparents

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. I Cor 13:13 

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. Psalm 16:6

Strings Attached

Our Mother/ Daughter Luncheon is coming up at church and the theme this year is "Our Mother's Apron." We're supposed to wear our favorite apron to the lunch, so, of course, I've been thinking about and "researching" aprons (I call spending hours on Pinterest looking at stuff "researching" so I don't have to feel guilty....). There are some really cute ones out there!

One of the great things about aprons (besides the whole protecting your clothes thing) is that they are relatively easy to make and there are tons of free patterns all over the internet. I like full aprons better than just the half ones, but that's because I'm an incredible messy cook (and eater, but we don't need to bring that up!). As you'll see in the pictures I posted below, there are so many ways to make an apron as fancy or as plain as you like. C'mon, jump on the bandwagon... you know you want to sit down and sew an apron right now! ;)

I actually own a couple of aprons already- I have a vintage one that my grandma made, one that I made, and a few from my sister's stint at Starbucks (she passed them along to me because I am addicted to, I mean, kind of like, Starbucks coffee). But, since I've been finding all of these really cool ideas and patterns, I'm getting together with a friend to sew some aprons for her and her daughters... and I'll probably end up making one for me, too. I can't wait to see what we come up with!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, is a round up of different apron styles and ideas:

Apron I made for my mom-in-law using scraps
of Nathanael's uniform

Vintage apron made by my Grandma

Ruffly apron I made from calico and some scraps of pink cotton 

Source: craftinessisnotoptional.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Ruffly half- apron from Craftiness Is Not Optional

Source: shabbyapple.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Cute apron for sale at Shabby Apple

Source: onjustacoupleacres.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Gathering apron from Reformation Acres

Source: nothingbutpennycandy.tumblr.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Vintage style apron with fun little accents- love the pom pom trim! From Pretty Little Things.

And if you're like me and just can't get your fill of aprons, check out my apron board on Pinterest!

30 Years of Love

So... I blew my New Year's Resolution of posting on here once a week... but I had a good excuse, I promise!! I've been busy planning a surprise get- together for my parents' 30th anniversary! It was TONS of fun to plan, and they were so surprised! It was pretty low- key, and it was just family, but it was a lot of fun to plan something to honor two of my favorite people. 30 years is a long time to stay together, and they are still very in love with each other. It's so neat to see how much they enjoy just being around each other now that they have the house all to themselves. I'm very proud of them & grateful for the example that they show!

I have to admit, I had to tone down my party planning OCD when it came to this little shindig... I love to try to come up with ways to "totally transform" spaces and make every single little detail "go" with the theme... BUT, my parents are not those kind of people. And... I didn't want to be really stressed out about something that was supposed to be a fun and relaxed time. So, I decided that we'd go with a green & blue theme (my parents' favorite colors)... and candy!! Lots of candy!! ;) The table ended up looking a little more "Easter" than I wanted it to, but I think it still was very pretty!

Something else really fun that we did was make a banner saying "30 Years of Love" and clothespinned it up with pictures and balloons. It turned out so nice! (My nephew Ryan helped me with the pictures, and my brother, Robert, and  my husband, Nathanael, helped with the balloons... and tons more, but more about that later!). I really love how it turned out!

A BIG part of any Perkins family gathering is food... and this food was delicious!! My brother grilled steaks and hot dogs, my sister made potato salad, and I made a couple of desserts (apple pie and Tom Selleck). It was all kinds of delicious! Plus, we all ate more than our fair share of the candy scattered on the tables, so we were all so stuffed!

After dinner, we moved to the carport and watched a slideshow of pictures from my parents' lives together. The slideshow was 15 minutes long, so I'll spare you the extended version, but here's a little sample of the "movie." The original had tons more pictures and even a video, all set to some good ol' bluegrass music.

It was a great night! It's always fun to get together with family, but it was especially sweet to be able to honor my parents. I can't wait until their 50th!

A HUGE thank you to Robert & Amanda for hosting the party at their house... especially since Amanda is about 7 1/2 months pregnant... with twins!! They did a bunch of work and preparation to make our little get- together possible. Robert did the grilling and did a bunch of setup work, and made sure we had the projector all ready to go.
Thank you to Amanda, Luanne, and Valerie for sending pics and video for the slideshow (and Noni for letting me "steal" some pics off her facebook). Also, thank you to Valerie bringing the potato salad & chips- yummy!
A BIG thanks to my husband for putting up with weeks of obsessive worrying about whether everything would go smoothly... and all the work he did at the actual party... and for taking the pictures!

Like I said, it was so much fun, and I know my parents enjoyed themselves. I even saw my dad crying a little during the slideshow... ;) I'm so glad that we could all make this sweet memory together!

New Recipes for March

For my two new recipes for the month of March (part of my resolutions for 2012), I tried some Irish food... or at least food inspired by Irish food. I'm not sure how "authentic" it actually is, but it was DELICIOUS! For St. Patrick's Day, I didn't really go too crazy with decorations, etc. (although you can see here that Nathanael and I both made sure to wear our green). We just had a nice Irish dinner while we watched IU beat VCU (go Hoosiers!).
My original plan was to make "Irish Sammies" (like sandwiches) using Irish soda bread. The bread ended up being a little too dense to use for sandwich bread, but we made open faced sandwiches with pastrami and cheese. For the bread, I used this recipe. It was super easy, and it was delicious! Like I said, the bread was on the denser side, and a little sweeter than normal bread, but we really liked it!

I also made Colcannon using this recipe. I did change it a little, using green onions instead of leeks. It's basically just mashed potatoes with bacon & green onions. This recipe did call for half & half instead of regular milk, so that made the potatoes extra creamy... yum! Here's a picture of the meal put together. This is my plate, so I have more turkey on it since I'm not a big fan of pastrami. It turns out that pastrami and corned beef are basically the same thing... the only difference now days is that pastrami is smoked after its brined... Either way, I'm not a big fan of either of them...

For dessert, we had something that I'm pretty sure is not traditional Irish fare... Nathanael and I came up with an idea and he put it all together himself... we call it "Irish Peat Bog." Sounds tasty, right? ;) Nathanael made instant vanilla pudding and added green food coloring and poured it into a dish. Then, he crushed up mint Oreos and folded them into whipped topping. He finished the dish by spreading the whipped topping mixture on top of the pudding and then sprinkling some coarsely crushed mint Oreos on top. It was delicious!!! 

Oh my goodness! I was so stuffed from all that food! It was a delicious meal & we had a lot of fun making it together!

Luck O' The Irish

Top o' the mornin' to ya! Are you ready for St. Patrick's Day? I know most people don't technically count St. Patrick's Day as a "holiday", but those people must not be Irish! ;) My family has always told stories about our Irish ancestors, and recently, I've been doing some work on Ancestry.com and found that we do actually have several links to Ireland!  Éire go Brách! There's just something about knowing that you have Irish blood that makes you feel like Ireland is calling to you... ;)
I've always celebrated St. Patrick's Day with fanfare & revelry (how are those for some big words?). This year, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite stuff for St. Patrick's Day:

This Veggie Tales video about St. Patrick's Day is hilarious! I know it's a wee bit long, but it makes me laugh!





Here's an outfit I put together for the style blog I write for:

Source: polyvore.com via Jessica on Pinterest

The website for Ireland's tourism board- beautiful pictures! Someday I'll make it there!


An interesting article about the things that Patrick believed and preached.




However you chose to celebrate St, Patrick's Day, I hope you have a great one filled with fun, love, and laughter! I leave you with this traditional Irish blessing:

May the light always find you on a dreary day

When it's home you need to be, may you always find your way

May you always have the courage to take a chance

And may you never find frogs in your underpants!