Have Your "Me Time" and Eat it Too!

About once a year, my husband will go to a SEC football game without me. While I playfully protest, I am secretly excited for a little “me time”. I don’t know about you, but when my honey is out of town, I take that opportunity to eat all the girly things that he refuses to eat. Most items involve the word “salad”, (think broccoli salad, egg salad, etc.) and they all contain mayo, which he hates. That being said, it is probably a good thing that he hates these items so I don’t go through a jar of mayo a week. It is delicious, I don’t care what anyone says. Since I am one of those weird people that loves Greek yogurt, I decided to switch out the mayo in some of my favorite “me time” dishes to see how it compared. I have always heard that it is a great way to save on calories & fat while adding in protein. I was not disappointed!

I love Cobani or Fage plain Greek yogurt. Please do not confuse this with vanilla yogurt. For some reason so many people think vanilla is plain and I just don’t think these recipes swaps would work with a vanilla flavor.  ;)

TEST #1: PASTA SALAD

 

Rating 6/10: The great thing about pasta salad is that you can throw in whatever is in your fridge, mix it up with noodles, seasonings & mayo & it will be delicious. This swap was a really good choice. When the noodles were warm, the yogurt was smooth, tangy & the perfect compliment to the veggies. However, when I refrigerated it, it congealed in a really bad way. I couldn’t get the noodles to spoon out of the container without breaking apart. So, going forward, I will either use ½ mayo & ½ yogurt or I will only use yogurt when I intend to serve the pasta salad immediately

TEST #2: PIMENTO CHEESE

 

Rating 8/10: This one is a no-brainer. Delicious, creamy & for some reason held up in the fridge so much better than the pasta salad. It was a tiny bit thick but I would definitely prepare it this way again. I think if I add just a spoonful of mayo, I will be in good shape.

TEST #3: YUMMY SALAD

(this is how we decided to grow lettuce this fall...so far so good....and "hi" to Marlin in the background)

 

Rating 10/10: I have literally watched the Bethany show a sum total of one time for a sum total of about 15 minutes. I guess I went for quality over quantity because the tip that she gave is wonderful! She suggested mixing a small amount of ranch dressing with a vinaigrette. I only had fig-infused balsamic vinaigrette on hand so that is what I used. It was out of this world! I do love my ranch dressing, probably a bit too much so this is going to be my go-to when I am craving a salad with regular ranch dressing.

 

ENJOY and Happy "Me Time" to you!!

Trick AND Treat- Happy Halloween!

What is it about crisp air & the smell of apple cider that makes me want to decorate my house tip to toe in Halloween décor? I just love this holiday so much! I truly love answering the door for hours handing out candy, seeing all of your little cuties in their costumes. I already have my door-answering outfit planned & it is majorly cute! I saw a lot of great ideas of how to paint pumpkins and had a nice little plan in place, until I saw glow in the dark paint. Oh my, I couldn’t resist!


P.S. Glow in the dark paint comes in a spray paint version. You know how passionately I feel about spray paint but I resisted this time. Just thought I would mention it for your project needs though.

I kept it very simple with one live pumpkin

I ordered this off of Amazon & thought I was getting one bottle but

I actually bought a package of three...anyone want a bottle?

I generously painted two coats onto my pumpkin

Once it dries, it adds a very nice sheen.

What it doesn't do, however, is make your pumpkin glow.......

Do you feel like we were playing trick or treat & I tricked you? Yeah, sorry about that. I always love sharing when my projects go awry so you don't make the same mistakes that I do but I was pretty disappointed in this one. Luckily, since I accidentally over-ordered, I moved on to Plan B.

I have a nice stock of mason jars on hands so I decided to give them a try.

I really like how these turned out and at least I can re-use them next year.

The paint needs to cure in bright light in order to be activated. 

After a full day of bright sunlight, tada!

This project is cute, fun, easy & cheap....just don't paint a pumpkin ;)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my dear friend Shannon's company, Preppy & Co.:

http://www.preppyco.com/halloween/

She has the cutest Halloween (and Christmas & tailgating) items. You will love them!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Costume Ideas For Your Pet-Happy Halloween!

You are probably aware of the slight obsession I have with my puppy dogs. They are sweet & funny &, well, you get the picture. The little one, Mardi, has very short hair so, in the colder months, she wears a t-shirt or sweater. She absolutely loves wearing clothes & jumps around excitedly when she sees a new outfit coming her way, (we have that in common). Our newer dog, Marlin, kind of wears clothes all the time since he is a Golden Doodle. Regardless, I love having them both dress up for Halloween.

Last year, they went as Rod Stewart & Rachel Hunter.
http://pixiedustatlanta.blogspot.com/2012_10_01_archive.html

Their costumes were kind of lame & they kept them on for about a nano-second. Since they cost much more than I care to admit, I decided to skip buying them something cute this year......until I visited the Nearly New Thrift Store.
http://www.jlatlanta.org/?nd=nearly_new_shop

Nearly New is owned & operated by the Junior League of Atlanta, of which I am a member. As I was dropping off a donation, I took a look around because you never know what you will find, (they carry Ferragamo shoes, Lily Pulitzer, Hudson jeans, something for everyone). As luck would have it, they had an entire rack of children's & pet Halloween costumes. I probably picked out 10-12 that I liked, laid them out on the counter & had a volunteer & a customer helping me pick the perfect ones. (Thanks for the help ladies)


So, in the spirit of passing along a smart shopping tip, I am sharing my pet's Halloween costumes with you now. Enjoy!

Marlin The Fireman, cost a mere $5 and still had the tags on!! What you cannot see are the "doggle"s that he refused to wear on top of his head. He wore this for a sum total of 45 seconds.

 

Mardi The Princess was also just $5! This is actually a child's costume but Mardi really has no idea that she is a dog. She prissed around in this for an hour. Do you like her over the shoulder pose? I swear she does this when she sees me coming with a camera.

 

 

This is the way to go friends. $10 for two pet costumes, you can't beat it!

 

 

 

Confession time; I saw this lion costume that looks just like the one my nephew wore when he was a baby. It was $2. That's right, $2!! While this is not either pups official Halloween costume, I could not resist seeing them in this adorable getup. And did I mention it was $2?

 

Marlin, looking ticked, to put it nicely

 

After I snapped his photo, he ran straight to daddy for help! 

 

While this didn't quite fit Miss Mardi.....

 

She decided to channel the old Hollywood glamour of Marilyn Monroe.... 

 

But I think she looks ultra-modern like the models from the Gaultier winter show. Work it Mardi!

 

 

So, please share your pet and kid Halloween pics with me and don't forget to shop your favorite thrift store!

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FRIENDS!

 

 

 

 

 

When Marlin Met Mardi

"As Harry puts it, men and women can never be friends because the sex part always gets in the way."

                                                                                                       -When Harry Met Sally

September 16th marks one year since sweet Marlin joined our family. My first impression of him was that he was much larger than I anticipated and quite a little mop-head. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with this smart, cuddly horse of a dog. When I tell him to "love mama", he rests his head sideways on my shoulder. He seriously knows how to work me! Mardi, on the other hand, took a little convincing......

WHEN MARLIN MET MARDI

Marlin at the aiport waiting to travel to Atlanta where everyone fell in love with him

Including the lady that weighed him

(P.S. Did we earn frequent flyer miles with this ticket?)

At first, Mardi kept her distance

She wouldn't even let him in her house.

If she had thumbs, she would have written a sign in big letters that said KEEP OUT!

But then, Marlin started enticing her into games of tug of war, fetch & the like

Soon, Marlin showed her that he loved to lay on the ground while she "attacked" him, much to her delight 

While she wasn't used to playing with another dog, muchless one twice her size,

she eventually warmed up to him.....literally :)

And now they are BFF's

"I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"

                                                                                                                -When Harry Met Sally

BONUS: FUN WITH HAIR!

Sometimes when I am bored, I like to style Marlin's hair. Truth be told, he loves it. Seriously, he does! I guess it is a good thing that I always have projects lying around waiting to be finished so I am not bored too often. :)

Bed Head

 As Rod Stewart

 

Mad Scientist Marlin 

Impersonating a wolf

Showing his quirky side  

The Marlin Mowhawk, aka a Mullett

Daddy got his own pair of clippers so....  

The Blowout

Taking a Joy Ride

Marlin the Lion 

A Beauty Shot 

Isn't he beyond adorable? We certainly think so :)

A Spicy Non-Party Potato Salad

For the past several years, my husband & I have hosted a crawfish boil. It is great fun but, for some reason, I just wasn't feeling very festive this year so we decided to skip it. In lieu of a big party, my husband got a small sack of crawfish and, very last minute, invited 7-8 friends over to "help him eat it". I put that in quotations because this is actually how this all went down:

March- party plans begin, very large invite list sorted out, date selected

April- realization that there are quite a few parties around the same time with basically the same group of  people.

Late April-party officially cancelled, though e-vites had never been sent. husband mentions that he may get a small sack & invite over one other couple

May 9- I receive a text from a friend asking what she can bring on Saturday. My question, "what's Saturday?" Her response, "your crawfish boil." I called my husband who explained to me that he may have ordered a slightly larger bag and perhaps also invited more than one couple. He assured me that I wouldn't have to do a thing because "this wasn't a party". I also receive a snarky comment about how easy it is to organize a get-together and how he doesn't need my assistance to plan this non-party,  or fancy table clothes or a bunch of dips (insert rolling of eyes here). Verbatim, what he said was, "NO DIPS!" Um, who is in charge here? We may need a re-train, jk!

May 11- after going to the grocery store (twice) for things my dear husband forgot, including more crawfish boil packets and ice, a handful of couples arrived at my house for a very lovely non-party crawfish boil.

The food was delicious but we had tons of leftovers. The next day, I decided to make some potato salad with the leftover boiled potatoes. I could not believe how fabulous it turned out. If you want to make a potato salad that has a little kick you have to give this a try!

 Original photo from non-party crawfish boil

To make the recipe at home without all the party/non-party hassle of a crawfish boil, simply boil your potatoes on the stovetop with a fabulous crawfish boil seasoning.

(By the way, a packet this size would never be sold in the state of Louisiana as it is embarrassingly small)

For eight small potatoes, I used 1/3 of a cup, which is about 1/2 of a packet

Try using a potato masher to get your potato salad really smooth

I added mayo, yellow mustard, hard boiled eggs & diced pickles.

I need to credit Ree Drummond because I am using her suggested ingredients, plus or minus a few things. I really love how she uses pickles instead of relish and how she leaves the eggs large.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/06/fourth-of-july-week-perfect-potato-salad/

I forgot the scallions from her recipe, (which I love), so I just added them to the top.  It kind of has a sweet heat flavor that will knock your socks off. Trust me, you can't get flavor like this after the potatoes have cooked. It is delicious!! Thanks honey!

Even though summer is nearly over, you still have time to squeeze in one more perfect summer lunch: Oven-fried chicken, sliced watermelon, non-party potato salad and strawberry lemonade. Enjoy!

Oh, and I'll see you all next year at our very large, very festive crawfish boil where there will be tons of laughs, great food and so many dips the grocery store will have to re-order cream cheese! ;)