Monday, April 27, 2009

Dinner Recipe




Avocado-Mango Chicken
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons adobo sauce (from canned chipotle chiles)
2 limes
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4 oz each)
1 large mango, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons sea salt
4 white-corn tortillas


PREPARATION
Mix Worcestershire, soy and adobo sauces with juice from 1 of the limes in a bowl. Place chicken in a sealable plastic bag and pour in marinade. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine mango, avocado, cilantro, onion, salt and juice from remaining lime in a bowl, then refrigerate. Transfer chicken and marinade to a baking dish and cook until tender and no longer pink, approximately 20 minutes. Remove chicken from oven, place each breast on a plate and top with 1/4 of salsa. Serve with 1 tortilla each.

Simple Pleasures for 4/27/09

Simple Pleasures

1). waking up rested after a long night's sleep
2). cleaning
3). receiving an unexpected gift from an unexpected person : )
4). HOPE
5).

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Simple Pleasures for 4/21/09

1). a hot breakfast of toast and eggs
2). going to class and learning something
3). spending time with friends
4). a basketball game on the radio
5). reading a new book

Monday, April 20, 2009

Simple Pleasures for 4/20/09

Simple Pleasures Today

1). A long nap in the afternoon
2). An unexpected email from a friend
3). A cup of hot tea
4). A surprise gift of earrings from a friend
5). Waking up to see a beautiful blue sky and sunshine

Friday, April 17, 2009

Simple Pleasures for 4/17/09

My Simple Pleasures list is something I would like to start as sort of a "gratitude" journal of the little things that make me happy. I have read that we should stop daily and try to remember and be grateful for 5 things that made us happy that day. It is so easy to be negative and bitter and complaining but it is so much more joyful to focus on the positive things that warm our heart and help to make us a better person.

1). the new issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine
2). A trip to the library and coming home with a new stack of books : )
3). a spring breeze
4). a gentlemen who held the door open for me at the post office
5). freshly laundred bed linens

Special Moments to share...

Yesterday Mom and I and our special long time friend got together and had a "ladies day out." We started our adventure by sharing a beautiful lunch at a local tea room. We had finger sandwiches stuffed with chicken salad, pimento cheese, a pumpkin bread with rich cream cheese frosting, hot baked potato soup that was so rich and creamy, and a strawberry dessert that was so heavenly and whipped. I had Chai Spice hot tea served with my own personal white tea pot and cup and saucer. The tea room is called Charleston Tea Room. As you enter it is a gift shop and the dining area is in the back. It is decorated so lovely and you just feel as if you could be in Victorian England having an afternoon tea. We noshed and shared our lives with each other. After lunch we proceeded to make our rounds to our favorite little shops and nooks and crannies along the way, laughing, talking and picking up special little treasures as we went. It was visually stimulating and so much fun and very special to me as I love these ladies very much and they are so important to me. In this day and age as everyone is so busy, special times spent with friends and family become more precious to me, and means so much more than my "to-do list".

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Dinner Anyone?




Quesadilla Pie

Ingredients

1 10-ounce can green or red enchilada sauce
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 8-inch flour tortillas
2 cups (8 ounces) grated Monterey Jack, plus 1/4 cup for the top
1 3 1/2- to 4-pound rotisserie chicken, shredded
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 cup salsa
1 avocado, diced
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves


Directions

1Heat oven to 400° F.2In a small bowl, combine the enchilada sauce and cream. Spoon 1/4 cup of the sauce mixture into the bottom of a shallow 2-quart casserole or 9-inch springform pan. Top with 1 tortilla and a third each of the cheese, chicken, onion, and zucchini. Repeat twice to form a total of 3 layers. Top with the remaining tortilla, sauce mixture, and cheese.3Cover loosely with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes more. Slice into wedges and serve with the salsa, avocado, and cilantro.
By Sara Quessenberry, March 2007

My Spring Reading List

Books I plan to read for Spring Reading Thing 2009

1. Sunday's At Tiffany's - James Patterson
2. A Homemade Life : Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table- Molly Wizenberg
3. Oolong Dead - Laura Childs
4. Love Your Life: Living Happy, Healthy, Whole - Victoria Osteen
5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- Jean Dominique Bauby
6. Summer at Tiffany- Marjorie Hart
7. Redeeming Love- Francine Rivers
8. American Wife - Curtis Stittenfield
9. The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
10. Love or Something Like It-Deidre Shaw
11. Lady in Waiting- Jackie Kendall
12. The Great Gatsby -F. Scott Fitzgerald
13. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
14. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
15. Henderson the Rain King- Saul Bellow
16. My Stroke of Insight- Jill Taylor Ph.D. 17. My Guy Barbaro- Edgar Prado
18. Frill Kill- Laura Childs
19. Consider the L ilies- Elizabeth Buchan
20. Gift From the Sea- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The books I complete are in italics.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

My favorite bedroom rugs!

I have two of these, one on each side of my bed and I love the design!
Would really like to continue the scroll theme in the room as well.

This is a picture of a picture I made. I started out with an empty picture frame, added scrapbook paper and some favorite quotations and Voila! Instant Art!! : )









This is my wall of faith/inspiration, in order so that I can see it when I come in and when I go out..








I have a black and white duvet cover, it is just not in the pic and I have a piece of art I have my eye on to go above my bed... this is just the beginning but a little change will do you good.

My Room Redeco Part 1 !!

This has been a while in the making but I am finally redoing my room!
Here is some of the work so far...



Before...


After!


Before...


After!



Of course, this is a work in progress. I would love to paint soon...I am trying to decide on colors right now... oh which shade of green shall I choose?

My color scheme I am going with is black, white with an accent of green. I am adding French and Parisian accents with wrought iron, hopefully some architectural art, etc... I am excited with the change already though!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Inspirational quotes



“If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.”
Nadine Stair quotes