Ahhh, summertime!

Squash Croquettes

2 cups yellow squash, finely chopped
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
vegetable oil
In a large bowl, combine squash, onion, egg, salt and pepper. Mix well. Stir in flour. In a skillet, heat ½-inch oil over medium-high heat. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls into oil. Cook about 3 minutes per side or until golden brown, turning once. Drain croquettes on paper towels.
http://farmflavor.com/squash-croquettes/

I didn't chop my squash finely, but they were still so good. Since my squash is doing NOTHING, I bought some from the local farmer's market.

No grow squash...

 May was just way too busy. Both boys had program after program, parties, picnics, field trips and more. I barely sat down, let alone stopped to edit pictures. We've been frying squash and zucchini twice a week, eating fresh cucumber and tomato salads and enjoying sauteed green beans weekly. My uncle gave us two stalks of Brussels Sprouts to clean and eat....too much work, but the end result was delicious and I had plenty to share. I'm waiting for his buckets and buckets of tomatoes to make salsa. My jalapenos are plenty and HOT. I made poppers for our Father's Day dinner yesterday.

I have been busy watching my SPURS in the semi finals and finals and hosting RUF students, cousins and more. I hope life will slow down a bit, but I doubt it.

 In late May...

 This morning...June 16

Happy tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans!!! 

 This was our Memorial Day trifle...yellow cake, vanilla custard and whipped cream layered and topped with berries to make a flag. It would be perfect for July 4th!!

I hope this finds you well. I plan on blogging more often this summer!

Easter Brisket turns to Carne Guisada

 I will be the first to admit when I don't like my own cooking. Texas Barbeque masters do amazing things to a hunk of brisket by smoking it low and slow. I don't have that talent. I personally thought half of the brisket I made for Easter was too dry. There was a lot of moist meat, so I left the driest part away from the buffet and wondered what to do with a big hunk of meat. 

Carne Guisada. Perfect. 

In a dutch oven, with a bit of EVOO, I sweated an onion and a handful (read 5-6) small sweet peppers, sliced. I added 3 cloves of chopped garlic, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce and about half a box of Organic low sodium chicken stock. I added my own salt, pepper, and parsley. Bring it to a boil and then stick in in your oven at 275-300 degrees until it falls apart. My dry brisket became a moist and tender, beautiful meal, perfect for tacos.

 The boys loved it! I topped theirs with sour cream and cheese. I added avocado to mine. YUM! 

Thank God for second chances!

Easter Bynto & Cupcakes

Simple Easter Basket cupcakes for a sweet kindergarten party...

Top with buttercream, jelly beans or other candies and a Bunny Peep. 

Happy Easter Bynto for both boys

Easter Snack

 A couple Easter flower PB&J sandwiches, along with a clementine flower, fruit snacks, and a Clif Bar.

The boys ate this after their swim lessons today.

These boxes are from my local grocery store, as is the frog cup. The egg pick is from Dollar Tree.

Corn Avocado Salad

This was heavenly with our tacos tonight. I usually make this salad with black beans and spicy peppers, but I didn't have either, so I tried something a little on the sweeter side.

2 large avocados diced

Juice of 2-3 limes

1 bag of frozen corn, thawed

4-5 small peppers sliced

3 green onions sliced

garlic powder

parsley

salt and pepper

Mix together and enjoy!

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Both boys had the same lunch today. 

A carrot egg (Dollar Tree!) filled with carrot sticks,

a jumbo muffin cup (World Market!) filled with apples, 

strawberries and oranges with a bunny pick (Dollar Tree!)

A bunny and flower ham and cheese sandwiches and baby chick cheese and a little Pirate Booty.

Garden, Lunch, Cupcakes...oh my!!!

I have an established garden that I keep Texas natives...plants that won't pass out in our HOT summers...I love the beginning of March when everything pops back out. My garden is lined with herbs that I get to use all year long!

My raised beds are for my vegetables. My 5 1/2 year old helped me plants seeds. We have green beans, chives, cilantro, parsley, cucumbers and basil sprouting up. The wooden trellis is for the beans. The black one is for the cucumbers. We're hopeful!!

  My serranos and jalapenos survived our mild winter, so I cut them back and now they seem very happy! 

I've seen this Angry Bird made from Baby Bell cheese ALL over Pinterest, so when it was on sale at Costco, I thought I'd give it a try. The boys LOVED it!! 

Simply, cut the bottom off, cut a thin piece of baby carrot into a beak, add candy eyes and a couple pieces of olive for his Angry eyebrows!

 Wednesdays are half days for Adrian, so we ate outside in the beautiful breezy sunshine.

Tomorrow is Mrs. Elliot's birthday! She is Adrian's sweet, sweet kindergarten teacher. One mom is bringing flowers, so I made flower cupcakes. Adrian is in a class with 5 other boys. 

 Dinner is served!

Two easy meals...pasta with bacon, grilled chicken and cream. If I had had mushrooms, I would have sauteed them in a heartbeat! Pioneer Woman has a recipe similar to this. It's heavenly!

Pulled Pork Sandwiched with slaw and good Texas Beer!

 Sorry for the hiatus. My allergies to ceder and ash have made me miserable for a few weeks off and on. I feel like I had the flu, but no fever. It's awful! Then my oldest got sick too, then the little one, then life happens and before I knew I hadn't posted anything in a month! I hope to take more pictures of lunches if I can get over the time change and go to sleep earlier...

Easter is coming, so I'll have a tablescape up soon too.

blessings to you all