Blogging Brings Us Together {{GIVEAWAY!!!}}

On more than one occasion I have told y'all about the awesome blogging community.  I have met so many wonderful people that have become dear friends as a result of blogging. I truly cherish these precious friendships.

One of my sweet blogging amigas is Amy from One Artsy Mama.

We have fabulous banter throughout the football season, as our teams are rivals....and clearly my team is better.  The Ravens may have won the Superbowl, but the Steelers are still the best......sorry Amy.

I digress....yes we have fabulous banter, but she is also a great crafter and mentor for me.  I cannot wait for the day (which is hopefully very soon) that I get to hug her in person.

With that being said, today we are celebrating with Amy!  Last night her blog reached 4000 followers!!

A-MAZ-ING!

In honor of this awesome achievement we are celebrating with a $200 giveaway to either Amazon, Target, or Silhouette!!!!!!!!!

Help us celebrate and enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway is open to entrants ages 18 and over and ends at 12:00am EST on May 30, 2013. Approximate retail value $200.00. Number of entries received determines the odds of winning. One winner will be selected. This is a giveaway sponsored as a group buy, which means the bloggers pooled their money together to purchase this product for you. All liabilities and responsibilities with the product itself is directly responsible by Silhouette America. Winner will drawn by random.org from all verified entries, contacted by the email provided when entering, and announced on this page at the end of the contest. Winner has 48 hours to respond or prize will be redrawn. Entrant is responsible for the email address they provide, whether through typing it directly or through the Facebook entry method. One Artsy Mama is not responsible for lost, misdirected, or undeliverable emails. All prizes will be awarded, no prize substitutions allowed. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook and we hereby release Facebook of any liability. Information is provided to One Artsy Mama, not to Facebook, and your information is never sold or shared. Facebook, Target, Amazon, and Silhouette America are not a sponsor of this giveaway. Prize is mailed or emailed directly by Amy of One Artsy Mama. Protected tweets do not count as an entry method for tweeting; tweets must come from a public account. Bloggers in this group giveaway and their immediate family members in their household cannot enter or win the giveaway. International entrants are not eligible to receive the Silhouette Portrait unless they provide a valid US Shipping address.  No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.

What I’m Lovin’ Wednesday: Pizza {The Homemade Kind}

Y’all, if you asked me what my favorite food was as a child, I would tell you pizza.
If you asked me today what my favorite food was….. I would tell you pizza.  I’m a very predictable individual ;-)
But I can’t help it: I just love pizza.  I could eat it everyday, and would if it weren’t for all the calories!

The Mr. and I have been on the great pizza search since moving to Houston.  We must find the best pizza!  So far we’ve eaten some good pizza but still have yet to find great pizza….at least our favorite to pizza purchase.  Which is where this recipe comes in handy (Did you see that?! Did you see me get all clever and creative with that segue?!)

I think the best pizza is the pizza that caters to your every pizza desire, and the only way to do that is to make it yourself.  This is the best pizza in Houston because it's fast and exactly the way we like it (because we make it duh!).  Seriously, even though this is homemade, it doesn’t take any time, and I’ll tell you how……
Ingredients:
1 tsp active dry yeast
1.5 cups warm water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus more for drizzling

Directions:

DOUGH (make this before going to work in the morning)

1. Sprinkle yeast over water.
2. Combine flour & salt in a mixer, then slowly drizzle in EVOO with the mixer on a low speed. Mix in yeast/water mixture just until combined.
3. Using your fingers, spread EVOO to coat a separate mixing bowl.  Form the dough into a ball, & toss to coat dough ball in EVOO.  Cover with a moistened paper towel and place in front of a sunny window and go to work.

PIZZA

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Lightly drizzle EVOO on a large baking sheet and use your fingers to spread it around. Stretch the dough around to the edges of the baking sheet forming a large rectangle.
3. Before decorating your pizza, spread on a thin layer of marinara sauce.  When I use homemade marinara, I use this recipe.  But I only use that if I already have it on hand; I don’t go out of my way to make it for pizza (I’m lazy folks!).  More often, I use Prego (meat flavored); no shame in purchased sauce ladies; no shame!
4. Now decorate that pizza!  Sprinkle sliced veggies, meats, and of course cheese.  This is where you make the pizza your own!  Our favorite includes sliced green pepper, sausage, pepperoni, chipotle cheddar by Cabot, and mozzarella :-)
5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. We cook ours a little longer because the Mr. likes the peaks of the cheese a little crunchy.  Remove from the oven, slice, and dig in!

recipe based off of PW’s.

Fitch Please {Beauty Is Invisible}

Just in case you forgot.. ...beauty is invisible.

Thank you Ellen for this reminder! I hope YOU remember how truly beautiful YOU are!

Aprons & A Fork Story

It’s Monday! Nothing like a fresh clean slate to start the week, right?!
If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you’ve probably seen a lot of sewing pictures lately.  Well that’s because I’ve been sewing. Ha!  I’m such a mystery sometimes lol
I decided that I wanted to celebrate the mother’s in my smallgroup from church (Hi ladies!) with a homemade apron for Mother’s Day.  As I made each apron, I prayed specifically for that mom for the next year to be rooted in the Lord, to be a source of strength, peace, and encouragement for her children, for divine patience and maximized rest.  I selected a specific verse for her that I felt the Lord was leading me to pray, and let each mom know their verse.  I think people like to know how they are being prayed for.

I selected the fabric that I thought each mom would like and got to pinning, cutting, ironing, & sewing.

I included The Fork Story on the front of the bag pinned on with fabric pins.  I’m not sure where I got this story from (sorry!).  I also included my favorite verse of scripture to pray for others: Numbers 6:24-26.

The Fork Story

A woman diagnosed with a terminal illness, asked her Pastor to come to her home to discuss her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral, and what scriptures she wanted read, and which outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Then she said, “One more thing…I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.” The pastor was surprised.

The woman explained, “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably say to everyone, ‘Keep your fork.’ It was my favorite time of the dinner, because I knew something better was coming like velvety chocolate cake or deep dish apple pie – something wonderful.”

So it’s your turn….

Keep Your Fork.

The best is yet to come.

I think they liked them, at least I hope that they did lol   If you know someone who enjoys to cook and you would like to pray for them, I think this would be a great gift.  It really is a great blessing to others, but also to yourself to serve others with your gifts.
I plan on sewing a lot more this summer.  Do you have any suggestions for what I should tackle next?
Hope y’all have a great start to your week!

Green Thumb-date

It’s about time right? Our seedlings hit the ground, literally, back in March (see here) and I want to show you how life in the garden has been.  The Mr. and I have had so much fun tending to our new yard and especially the gardens.  I knew when we bought this house we were in for some fun adventures and this has definitely been one of them.  We truly look forward to lawn work on the weekends: there is something about getting dirty and creating something with your hands that is so rewarding. We are loving it! Ok I’m going to stop being a sapling (Ha! Sorry, I’m done with the corny vegetation puns), and show you our progress.

When we first churned the garden and planted everything this is what it looked like:

With only 2 months time, this is what it now looks like:

Crazy, right? lol

Here are the plants that have taken off in the raised garden.

I have been using the herbs in all of my cooking and totally loved it!

When I prune the herbs I’ve started preserving them for the fall and Houston “winter”. 

It’s weird to start thinking about preserving the herbs when it’s only May, but I guess that is the reality of seasons, right?

You may be wondering about the net in the back left corner.  Our neighbors warned us about the squirrels stealing fruit from their gardens, so we decided to build something to prevent them from getting our fruit while still allowing us to maintain the garden.  Individual cages seemed like too much work to get to each plant.  Instead we purchased some netting and poles and built a little house around the tomato plants using a staple gun to attach it to the fence.  We also put a door on it so that we could enter (well so I can go inside since the Mr. is too tall) to glean the fruit and maintain the garden. So far,

Hawley-1, squirrels- 0

:-)

Any bets on how long this will last?

Just this week the jalapenos and cherry tomatoes have started coming in. 

We are looking forward to some homemade salsa!Do see that spinach?!  This is the Mr.’s favorite plant right now.  I think it's really pretty lol

It’s about ready to be planted next to the lattice.

I can’t wait for a delicious spinach salad!The birds of paradise (left) have such a striking orange color.
For Easter we went away for the weekend (see here), but before we left we had several strawberries that were almost red.  But when we got back they were all gone :-( Since we still have yet to sample our strawberries we’re really hoping this next batch of blooms produces fruit (top right).   I love using fresh parsley (bottom right) in my cooking these days!

The apples (left) have gotten so large the that tree is starting to bend over, especially with all of the rain lately in Houston.  We’ve put up some cages for the branches to lean on.  The oranges (top right) and lemons (bottom right) are coming in, but very few have ripened yet.  I mentioned on Wednesday though how excited I am to start cooking with the lemons :-)To be honest, I really didn’t think the black berries, blue berries, or grapes would work. I have been pleasantly surprised.  They’re growing, and now I’m wondering how they will taste when they ripen.And of course, here are my gardening buddies,

both big and small :-)

Do you have a summer garden growing this year? What have you been growing? Hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!

What I’m Lovin’ Wednesday- Lemons

Remember when I told y’all about planting my lemon tree?  Well the lemons are starting to arrive and I’m so excited!!!!! But I think I’m already getting a little tired of lemonade, so I decided to scroll through what the internet has to offer for lemon recipes.  You know me: I like variety :-)

check ‘em out!

Mason Jar Lemon Meringue Pie // Lemon Meringue Pie S’mores

Lemon Soufflé // Lemon Butter Bundt Cake

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes // Lemon Sugar Cookies with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Lemon Buttermilk Raspberry Tart // Lemon Rhapsody Cake

 Lemon Crisps // Lemon Cream Roulade

Lemon Bars // Frozen Meyer Lemon Mousse

Meyer Lemon Pudding with Blueberries // Lemon Buttermilk Pancakes

Lemon Pancakes with Lemon Syrup // No-bake Lemon Berry Tarlets

Have you made these before?

What other lemon recipes can you recommend to me?

I can't wait to get cookin'!!!!

CUP-cakes

I’ve got a BIG sweet tooth.  I would definitely consider myself a choco-holic.  Anyone else?
When I get those chocolate cravings, I’ve just got to address them.  If not they get OOC.
However, if I bake something, it’s probable that I might eat the entire baked-good over the next couple days. Not good.
So, instead I’ve found a way to satisfy my occasional sweet tooth without tempting myself with an entire chocolate cake.  This is my sweet tooth compromise :-)
Ingredients
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, plus extra to sprinkle on top
powdered sugar for sprinkling on top.
*This recipe makes 2 CUP-cakes.
Directions

1. Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, & salt.
2. Add in milk, melted butter, lightly beaten eggs, & vanilla. Then fold in the chocolate chips.
3. Pour the batter evenly into 2 coffee mugs.  This may seem obvious, but make sure the mugs are microwave safe.  Then sprinkle a few more chocolate chips right on top of the batter.  Remember, the more the merrier ;-)
4. Microwave both cups at the same time for 2 minutes on high.  Each microwave strength is different so make sure you monitor your mugs.  As you watch it in the microwave the batter will rise but will fall back down.  The cakes will be completely cooked but will also have a nice ooey gooey bottom.
5. As the cakes are cooling sprinkle them with some powdered sugar.  The longer the cakes cool that firmer they will be.
6. Go curl up on the couch with your sweetie and your sweet treat.

Have a SWEET weekend friends!!!!!