Giveaway from Kelly the Kitchen Kop

There is a giveaway on another blog I follow that needs to be shared with more people! 

Enter HERE, for an online course giveaway about 'real food' and pregnancy. For all the moms and couples thinking about having children, it is a great source of knowledge for preparing the body before conceiving. Don't worry if you already have a baby on the way, still enter because every little thing you do for your body and the baby's is extremely important! If you are a friend or family member and know someone that wants children, try winning it as a gift for them too! Hurry though, the giveaway ends Monday, October 17th, 12pm EST and the winner is announced Tuesday, October 18th.

If you do not know already, I feel nutrition is very important and I want to study more about this field going on for my Bachelors. There are health problems in my family and I believe food can heal many problems - just it has to be the right foods. Since I do not have the full knowledge about traditional foods and I am still learning, I recommend blogs such as Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Cheeseslave, or Food Renegade, and the list is growing, even Keeper of the Home is pretty good. I also recommend reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon or going to the WAPF website for articles and more information. Also, these sites have great recipes such as this Egg Drop Soup recipe on Kelly the Kitchen Kop:

This looks really good!

Even if you feel like you do not like the idea of real, traditional foods, I challenge you to try it. That, or just having that knowledge is very important! You are the consumer and I feel it is a powerful thing when you are empowered to know the differences between ALL options so you can make the right choice! I do have my views, but all I can do is share my views and hope that someone else's life will be changed because of that. So, with that, enter the contest, read up some good knowledge, and eat and live well.

Shabby Apple :)

If you have not heard of Shabby Apple yet, let me enlighten you :) Cute dresses and skirts plus accessories = awesomeness! Check out their site at http://www.shabbyapple.com/

I pretty much have about 13+ dresses and skirts I like....yeah, that could be a problem picking one haha :D
My list is (not in any order):
 Veni Vidi Vici, Bonheur, La Tour Eiffel, French Quarter, Ingrid, West Coast Swing, Lincold Square/Madison Ave, Tanglewood, Co-Ed Skirt, Trevi Fountain, plus other skirts and dont forget the bathing suits :)



Other than that, wow has it ever been busy!

We have had so far 2 weddings out of state we drove to (one last weekend, the other a couple weekends before that one), plus we moved, have school work and regular work, scholarship recognition, tests, and still trying to organize from the move! My goodness!
Plus side, I got a vehicle so I can come and go to work/school w/o the husband having to drop me off :)
Next weekend there are 2 more weddings - one in town, other out of state. Both of them will be attended, but Nick and I will separately attend each, and hopefully we can take a break for a little while.

not gone, just away

so i am still going to be away for awhile simply because i am taking a summer course for college. i just finished the first summer session with art appreciation and intro to anatomy and physiology. the second summer session is anatomy and physiology 1. it has been intense, but i have appreciated the learning - although, i am ready to get back to crafting and free time! until the second week in august, i hope everyone is having a great summer!

xoxo

~jen

Country Inspired

Country Inspired by starveil featuring crystal jewelry

Yummy Recipes for a Bridal Shower

 

Today was our friend’s bridal shower and I brought a cheese log, cheese spread, Crasins, cheddar cheese and crackers.

For the cheese log, this was the recipe I followed:

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted Pecans, divided
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Mix cream cheese, Parmesan and 1/4 cup nuts.
2. Shape into 8-inch log. Roll in combined remaining nuts and parsley; press gently into log to secure.

I did not toast the Pecans like they said; to form it into a log, use plastic wrap. Source of recipe: http://www.kraftbrands.com/philly/recipes/Pages/Recipe-Detail.aspx?recipeId=107845

 

The other recipe I followed came from this website and was shared by a woman name Janet: http://southernfood.about.com/od/cheesespreads/r/bl30629z.htm

Ingredients:

• 6 fresh basil leaves
• 3 medium cloves garlic
• 1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• fresh basil leaves for garnish

Preparation:

In food processor, process basil and garlic until finely chopped. Add cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, walnuts, and olive oil; process until smooth. Transfer spread mixture to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

Both recipes were really good! The Basil Cheese Spread is basically a pesto made with walnuts mixed in with cream cheese. I thought about putting carrots and celery with this one too. I did not have time, but I am sure that would have been a hit.

3 garlic cloves blended in the food processor does release a good amount of their oils. That being said, if you want to get by with 2, it can certainly work. The dip by itself without a cracker has a garlic punch to it (which I personally find it amazing in taste). When you add a cracker or something else, it tames the garlic and does not seem as strong. Again, it is up to the person making this, but I found everyone really liked the dip as is.

We can’t forget about the amazing basil! Yummy! We have leftovers too, so tonight’s dinner should be some pasta and basil :D

Add some Crasins, cheddar cheese and parsley to garnish and you are all set! The Crasins tasted really good too with the cheese log on a cracker. Basically it’s the same concept as fruit (grapes, wine) and cheese, just with cranberries and cream cheese.

Hungry?

A Little Surprised & confused

I was looking at Young House Love’s post today: http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/04/thanks-in-bloom/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YoungHouseLove+%28Young+House+Love%29
They had a link in there to a pillow from ZGallerie:

So I followed the link and came across some pillows that is " practically the same...just a different color" as my sister says instead of what I wrote: look just like mine!!
I bought this pillow last summer 2010

Well, actually I bought 2. I got them from Home Goods for maybe $15 each or less than that? I don’t really remember now.
Anyways, I am a bit surprised as it turns out that they are selling these pillows at ZGallerie! (If you have ever walked into their store, love <3 at first sight)
Look:

http://www.zgallerie.com/c-7-pillows.aspx?pagenum=0
Pretty similar right?? Their pillows go for $49.95 each! (Yeah, I saved about $70 for 2) and it seems they just have those two colors.
Now my question is when did they come out with these pillows because I don’t remember seeing them but I got mine a year ago. Maybe someone out there will let me know if they ever sold those green ones. I don’t remember my pillows ever having a tag on them for that store either.
The other ones on their site are amazing too! So while I’m at it, here are the ones I like (including those posted above):

Yeah. I would go broke
I like their texture, embroidery, silks, fun prints, luxe feel, and for some of them a warm beach day feel or Mediterranean. Well, at lease that’s what I get out of it! :)

A Day Out At Baylor (Heavy Image)

Earlier this afternoon, Nick and I went out to a King James Bible Exhibition. I think why the exhibition is here is because it was a part of a conference that they held on campus for this weekend, up until tonight (Saturday). Which of course I must brag on Nick…he presented a paper at the conference and his topic was recorded and will be used for a radio news feed in Australia! I think the station is ABC, but for them, it’s like our PBS here. The whole point of the King James Bible’s celebration is for its 400th year mark! Crazy!
We have a gorgeous library on campus that is also a museum. It is the Armstrong Browning Library (here is their site if you want to look at it http://www.baylor.edu/abl/index.php?id=45905 ) and it is dedicated to both Elizabeth Barrett-Browning and Robert Browning by the late Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong. Pictures do not do it justice, but here are a few of my favorite room! (Also, we ran out of time so I couldn’t take any more than I did from today)

Just imagine that urn being about an average women’s height and then compare that to the rest of the room’s grander.




Alright, I won’t gush over the room anymore :)
For the exhibit we were not allowed to take any photos, which made Nick really sad (that’s alright though…I was just impressed that he was reading all of the ancient Hebrew scripts and scrolls…smarty :D ) This is the description they had on the site though:

Over 100 rare and ancient Bibles from one of the world's largest collections of Bibles and related documents of the Judeo-Christian tradition will be on display to enhance the international conference, The King James Bible and the World It Made, 1611-2011.

There were some really old relics in there! Including a small portion to the Dead Sea Scrolls and cuneiform writings in stone; found this on Google for you as an idea, but the ones we saw were much smaller in writing and not as polished looking as this one: http://megkaminski.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/cuneiform-and-the-sumerians/
I also learned about the Wicked Bible! :D  Apparently, in the 1630s they were trying to make so many copies of the King James Bible that there were a few screw ups. I think they had to revise it like 40 times! Anyways, in Exodus 20, where they list the 10 Commandments, verse 14 should read “Thou shall not commit adultery.” Well, they forgot ‘not.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible
BTW, to read that, all of the lower case ‘s’ looks like ‘f’ and were ‘f’ is supposed to be, it still looks like a ‘f’ so “false” looks like “fafle." Just thought that may be helpful.

There was also a P36 P39… apparently it was a letter written by St. John (I believe his own hand written/original) Although, I don’t remember it b/c it was crowded in there and I didn’t ask Nick that many questions because it was a bit over whelming with the people and our time constraint; so even though he told me "it is really cool to see this while we are here," I didn’t know until I was in the car going home what it actually was…bummer!

This is apart of the museum and I am allowed to take photos of these.


Now for the gorgeous day!

Famous Baylor University building. The top dome is made of 24k gold! Crazy, but pretty!