Life of a Modern Housewife: June 2012

Friday, June 29, 2012

Fashion Friday: Red, White & You!

I'm off riding horses again. Hopefully I won't die in this awful heat, it's supposed to get to about 106 F here with humidity...yuck!

Anywho, this upcoming Wednesday is July 4th! So I thought I'd send you off with some fun, cute patriotic outfits to wear in honor of our nation's birthday! Enjoy!

1. Sailboat Dress: J. Crew 2. Graham Dress: Tory Burch 3. Lindsay Necklace: Design Darling 4. Leaf Pendant Necklace: Jennifer Meyer 5. Link Bangle White: Design Darling 6. Ragen Mid Wedge: Tory Burch 7. Dual Color Bead bracelet: Tory Burch 8. Plato Wrap Bracelet: Tory Burch 9. Tory Tote: Tory Burch 10. Woven Patent Clutch: Tory Burch 11. Vineyard Leather Flip Flops: J. Crew 12. Fadora: Barney's

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Italian Wedding Soup

Ina Garten is a great cook/chef. I love most of her recipes; she never fails. Sometime last year I was watching her show, Back to Basics, and she was making Italian Wedding Soup. It looked so delicious and easy to make. So I got on the Food Network website and printed off the recipe. This recipe is also in her book, Back to Basics.

The most time consuming part of the recipe is making the meatballs. The meatball recipe is so good; the hubs couldn't stop eating the meatballs before I could put them in the soup! They are chicken meatballs, so a little bit healthier than pork. The soup is in essence a vegetable soup with meatballs. Oh of course the hubs complained about there being spinach in the soup, and spooned out the spinach leaves that got into his bowl...what am I going to do with him?!

One of my favorite ingredients in the soup is the fresh dill, that you put in at the end. It gives it a light, fresh, summery flavor. This soup is a perfect soup for the summer; it's not heavy and light & fresh. Serving this with garlic, cheese bread would be a great combination with this soup.

Italian Wedding Soup:
Meatballs:

3/4 lb ground chicken
1/2 lb chicken sausage, casings removed
2/3 cup fresh white bread crumbs (I used panko bread crumbs)
2 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
3 Tbsp milk
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

2 Tbsp good olive oil
1 cup minced yellow onion
1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
10 cups homemade chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta such as tubetini or stars
1/4 cup minced fresh dill
12 oz baby spinach, washed & trimmed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For the meatballs, place the ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1-1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 40 meatballs. They don't have to be perfectly round). Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and sauté until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender. Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until just wilted. Ladle soup into bowl; sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

Recipe: Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Workout Wednesday #20

Happy Hump Day everyone. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I got a little busy and just missed yesterday. Whoops! But I did manage to get my butt to the gym. I had a fabulous workout with the oh so amazing Kristin Nunn; got my cardio in and then hit the weights. Here is what we did!

Dead Lift Combo: Plain Deadlifts & Deadlifts with Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 15 of Ea.

Inverted Row: 3 sets of 15 Ea

Dips: 3 sets of 15 Ea

Bench Press: 3 sets of 15 Ea.

Shoulders: 3 sets of 15 Ea.

Ab Combo: Crunches, Bicycle, Leg Raises, & Planks (3 sets of Each 30 secs 1 after another)

Monday, June 25, 2012

Motivational Monday #20

It's another work week, and I hope everyone has a productive & great week! I thought I'd post some photos of my potted garden (I live in a rental, so no permanent plants for me). I want to encourage everyone to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors God gave us. Whether it be from your own yard, or a park. It truly is a great way to relax and wind down. Grab a nice cold beverage and some friends and enjoy!

I love to garden, but since we are in a rental, I don't really have a garden for myself that I can spend my time in, so I just started potting lots of plants. I always do a herb/veggie garden, and to accommodate several of those plants, I used large tuperware storage bins as my pots--they aren't pretty but work. This year I've planted carrots (first time), okra, several tomatoes, jalapeños, banana peppers, fig tree, blueberries, lemon meyer, basil, mint, parsley, rosemary, oregano, lavender, thyme, and chives. I didn't do too many veggies this year. My blueberry bushes have done fabulously and my pup has enjoyed them immensely. She eats most of them off before I can get to them (at 1st I thought the birds were eating them, nope just Sadie Mae).

Do you have a garden? What's your favorite plant? Do you have a veggie/herb garden? If so, what are you growing?

Here she is eating them from the top of the pot

Tomato Plants: Cherry & an Heirloom

Heirloom tomato

1 of my blueberry bushes

peppers, fig tree, oregano, lemon meyer

okra, jalapeños & banan peppers

carrots

lavender

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Mark & Sandra: I Do, We Did!

Yesterday's ride was great! Had a fabulous time, and really learned a lot about myself and how to be a better horsewoman.

A couple of weekends ago, the hubs and I were in his hometown for one of his best friend's wedding, Mark. Chris was the best man. And let me start off by saying how honored we are to be a part of this special day!

The hubs has grown up with Mark and Sandra actually lived in the same town, but the hubs didn't know her. And of course how Mark and Sandra really met was in college at the bar that Mark worked at, Boarshead (which is where the hubs and I met--he worked there too). That's when we also got to meet Sandra, and she is one of the nicest and most fun girls I've ever met. We always have a great time when we get together. Mark and Sandra actually started dating a couple of months after Chris and I started dating; which I did not realize until the wedding. I can't believe I've known both of them for 8 years!

Mark and Sandra got married at this beautiful farm, Plantation Farms. The location is absolutely gorgeous! There are horse pastures, a couple of barns, and a cute house. It ended up raining, so the wedding was moved into the barn, which was where the ceremony was. It was gorgeous!! Rain is supposed to be a Good Luck omen (it poured on our wedding as well). I loved the way the wedding ceremony took place in the barn: you could sit in the rows of chairs, or at the tables (that were set up for the reception), or stand. The wedding truly felt like we were all family; it was very relaxed, intimate, and comfortable. I've never been to a wedding like that, and I loved it!!

Chris and I wish Mark and Sandra many long years of happiness and joy. We look forward to enjoying the next chapters in your life, and to our friendship! May we always be there for each other to build each other up and support one another!! We love you guys!!

Sandra did a fabulous job of decorating, not one detail was forgotten!! Sandra and her family made most of these signs, projects, etc. Arne't they amazing?? Enjoy these great pictures of this beautiful wedding!!