Squash Casserole

Another one of my favorite dishes from MawMaw.  Mine never tastes exactly the same as hers (I think she's got some kind of magic potion in there) but it is nevertheless very tasty.

Squash Casserole
5-6 yellow squash, sliced thin
4 pices bacon, diced
1 white or yellow onion, diced
3 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil

Cook the bacon and drain the fat.  Remove bacon and set aside. 

Meanwhile, chop the squash.  Don't worry that it looks like a lot - it's like spinach and it will cook down.

Cook the onion in the same skillet as the bacon and use a little chicken broth to deglaze the pan.  Once the onion is tender, add the squash and enough chicken stock to cover the bottom of the pan.  Let the squash and onion cook down and continue to add chicken stock as needed to keep a light layer at the bottom. Once the squash is cooked down, add the bacon back in and let simmer for another 10 minutes.

Transfer the squash mixture to a baking dish and top with cheddar cheese.  Bake for about 20 minutes until cheese is melted and browned on top.

Saturday's Side Dishes

Husband made his delicious ribs last night.  Instuctions and recipe here. 

I was in charge of the sides.  I tried to keep a Southern theme to go with the ribs.  Nobody does sides better than my grandmother, MawMaw.  She can't remember her recipes too well these days but I attempted her green beans with as much as she could tell me about them and they turned out delicious!  I put a twist on our usual mashed potatoes by roasting a head of garlic and using skin on red potatoes.

MawMaw's (as close as I can get it) Southern Green Beans
1 pound string beans (I used a package of fresh french cut ones and they worked great)
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 strips bacon
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 cups water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine (I know for a fact she didn't use this but I did and it was good!)
salt and pepper

Dice the bacon and cook in a little olive oil until crispy.  Drain the fat and set bacon aside.  In the same skillet, add the onion and garlic with a little more olive oil.  Cook until tender and then add the white wine to further deglaze the skillet of the remaining bits of bacon. 

Add the green beans, beef boullion cubes and water.  Let simmer for about 30-40 minutes.  Add the bacon and salt and pepper to taste and let simmer for another ten minutes or so. 

Roasted Garlic Red Skin Mashed Potatoes
1-2 pounds red skin potatoes, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup fat free half and half
1 full head of garlic, roasted
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a piece of tinfoil, place entire head of garlic, coat with olive oil and seal tinfoil packet.  Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about half an hour.  Remove from oven and let cool.   It will be all roasted, carmelized and delicious!

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in water until tender.  Drain in a collander and return to the pot.  Squeeze cloves of roasted garlic into the potatoes.  It should come out easily from the skin.  Add butter, fat free half and half and generous amount of salt and pepper and mash with a potato masher. 

Twelve Dollar Makeover: Front Porch Bistro Chairs

My Dad and Stepmom gave me some starter furniture years ago when I first moved out on my own.  One of the things they gave me that I still really love are a little wood and wrought iron set of table and chairs.  In my old condo we ate at this table every night but in the current house, there just wasn't room.  So, I set them on the front porch.  It is the perfect spot for them except because of the outdoor elements, the fabric on the chairs had seen better days...

I found some fabric online that I loved and decided to recover the chairs.  It is the Robert Allen Kiki Pinata and I ordered it from fabric.com.

I love how it turned out!  Springy and fun!  Just need to find some scotch guard to protect it.

The other thing that became blaringly apparent to me after doing this project is how badly we need to organize our tool room.  It took me ages to find everything I needed and it is a mess down there!  A project for another weekend though.  Off to lunch!

 

Drift Away

Insane day at work today.  I'm exhausted.  Partly because it used up a lot of brain power, partly because I did a lot of running around and partly because my friend Liz is a bad influence and insisted that we have A glass of wine last night.  Riiiight.

Anyway, one thing I was thinking about when I was driving home from this long day of work was my pretend beach house.  You know, the one I started decorating here.  I don't know when I'll get said house or where it will be but man you better bet with all of these years that I have to plan out my decorating regime, it is gonna look GOOD.

I love when designers use driftwood in design - even if it isn't in a beach house.  Here are a few pieces I've seen recently that I'd love in my pretend beach house.  Or any house for that matter. 

awesome driftwood table with glass top from Pieces Store in Atlanta, GA

Coat and hat rack from Viva Terra

Fish made of driftwood from Outerbanks Trading Company

Driftwood leaf tray from Outerbanks Trading Company

Roasted Asparagus Risotto

I came up with the idea for this little beauty the other day when I was in the grocery store.  I love asparagus but have gotten a little sick of doing them on the grill like we always do.  So, since you can basically make risotto with anything in it, I decided to roast the asparagus and then add them to risotto.  Oh my goodness - YUM!

Roasted Asparagus Risotto

3/4 cup arborio rice
1 yellow onion, chopped fine
2 large cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup dry white wine
1 bundle fresh asparagus
2 Tbsp olive oil
Approx. 4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the hard ends off of the asparagus and then give them a rough chop (I cut mine into thirds).  Cover a baking sheet with alumnimum foil and spread the asparagus out onto the baking tray.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and olive olive oil and roast at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes to get them nice and crunchy! 

Meanwhile, cook the risotto:

Add 1 Tbsp of butter, onion and garlic to a large sautee pan and cook until transluscent.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  Add rice and toast it for a minute or two (careful not to let it burn!). 

Add 1 cup of white wine and stir rice gently until all of the wine is absorbed.  Slowly add the chicken broth (about 1 cup at a time) until the rice has absorbed all of it.

You may need more or less than 4 cups but that is an approximate guess.  When the rice has absorbed the liquid, add last Tbsp of butter, roasted asparagus and romano cheese. 

We had ours with some grilled pork chops last night.

Z Gallerie Prints

I would say I only found out about Z Gallerie a couple of years ago (I know, I am kind of in the dark sometimes).  That said, I am always looking at their catalogs or in the stores at the furniture.  I got an email today with some of their new products and I found myself on their website and randomly was looking at their art.  I mean, duh, with the word "gallery" in your store name, I guess I should've thought of this before.  Love some of their prints.  And very affordable.

Nuff said.

Okay, okay.  I'll quit with the dog pictures but really?  So sweet.

I love how the people are blurry.  There is something magical about this one.

They have this Suzani print in lots of colors.  They could look really cool in a grouping of four.

I've been kind of obsessed with Koi fish for the past couple of years.  I want to do something with koi fabric but haven't figured out what I'm gonna do yet.  Love this picture.

Hello little boy's room.  Do you see the lady bug?  How happy is that green?

Cool colors, cool effect.  Don't love the frame but you could change that out.

They also have different ones of these that you could do in a grouping in an office or study.  Again, I'd probably change the frame.

Like a Woman Posessed

My brother sent me an email yesterday with a subject line that read "Loser" because I had taken up knitting on my lunch break.  I could care less...it's not like he's never called me names before. 

And anyway, I am obsessed with knitting.  My friend Amanda introduced me to a book called Stitch N'Bitch which has easy to follow instructions on basic knitting as well as some starter patterns (like the hat I showed you last week here).   I don't think I could have started it without someone showing me what to do but this book has been really valuable when I get home and get stuck on something. 

Unfortunately, I only know how to make one thing.  A baby hat.  So I'm on my fourth one.  I love the little green one - just like a little baby pea!

Pictures don't do these justice and you can't feel how soft they are.  But the (is it bad that I had to look this up to spell it?) pièce de résistance is the one I made for my friend Reeves' baby to be.  I love it so much it is going to be hard to part with it.  But since I am a knitting fool I can probably do another one. 

Sorry, Reeves, if I ruined the surprise but it is way cuter in person!  I'll mail it soon! 

Obviously with said knitting obsession, I've had to purchase a few tools of the trade over the past couple of weeks.  One of the cutest things I've gotten is this Debbie Bliss book called Booties, Blankets and Bears. 

The only problem is that it is a leeeetle too advanced for me just yet being that I only know how to make a hat and all.  So, just for good measure I ordered the Debbie Bliss beginner book today (do NOT tell my husband or I'm gonna get it - I told him knitting was a cheap hobby).  Hopefully it isn't as complicated.  My coworker and friend, Diana, took one look at the book and bought a copy too.  So, at least we can work on these together in case we get stuck.