September Poem

Summer is coming to an end

August was so bittersweet

  

Enjoy the days, 

they're dwindling down

and cooling off the heat...

Come rest under a canopy 

of flowers smelling sweet...

Come watch the faeries acrobat 

and fly lightly off their feet

Will you miss these summer days 

Of carefree relaxation?

Or do you look for Autumn Fairies 

with anticipation?

September brings the equinox

The start of autumn harvest 

The changing of the leaves 

beautiful reds, yellows, and oranges...

I can't wait for FALL!!

Can You?

:-)

PROJECT UPDATE: Welcome Mat

I know it's been quite awhile since I started this project, and it took me awhile to finally bring it into completion.  I apologize for leaving you hanging on this! However, the end of August has been a whirlwind with some special guests, other blog posts filled with recipes, and my never ending health battle....

Well I'm sure a lot of my readers are wondering why I am ALWAYS sick with "Upper Respiratory Infections"... Well I have been to the Dr. three times in the past 3 weeks, and I am still not showing signs of recovery. So what IS wrong with me, you ask? Apparently, I have asthma, and was never diagnosed! So the past 3 weeks or so, have been trial and error with different medications, and so far nothing seems to be working. I have just been super miserable all month long, as it has been flared up, and it might have something to do with the ragweed floating around this season. I had a blood test yesterday to test for allergens, so hopefully we can find out what exactly is irritating my respiratory tract. Well enough of that crap...  

I wanted to update you on my project that I have been trying to finish! 

Do you remember this!?

THE WELCOME MAT!

I started painting it at the beginning of August...

I used acrylics, as well as some metallic and glitter paint to give it some sparkle!

I painted the flowers and surrounding stones all beautiful vibrant colors!

It kind of looks like stained glass, doesn't it?

I used some of the dry brushing technique I learned in Kathy Monaco's painting class 

with my Aunt Fi Fi! Do you see how I dry brushed a darker shade of orange around the yellow bricks to give it some depth?

Here is the finished product!! 

My mom is going to love it!

I am going to finish it off with a sealing spray, this way it can be placed outside and endure different kinds of weather....

Veggie Frittata & Strawberry Guava, Orange Juice, & Blueberry Smoothie

                                          

Today I have a super easy, and super YUMMY recipe for you all! 

I LOVE making these when I'm hungry for brunch, lunch, or even late at night, I'll make it before I go to bed. And it's super healthy! Full of veggies, full of protein! 

And I also have a little elixir surprise in store for you, to enjoy along side of this yummy dish!

So without further adieu, I present to you my recipe for 

Veggie Frittata with 

Guava Nectar, Orange & Blueberry Smoothie!

Ingredients for Frittata 

Half a Zucchini 

1 Tomato 

Half a small onion 

A few pinches of fresh parsley

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

So first you want to chop your veggies...

I used Zucchini, Tomato, & Onion, 

They are my FAVE together, and especially with eggs ...

Also be sure to give em a rinse first before chopping!

Coat your pan with some olive oil, fire up that heat and once that starts sizzling, 

throw in your veggies! 

These are going to have to cook for awhile before adding your egg.

So stir those around a bit, get them coated in the olive oil, and then turn the heat down a bit, place a lid over them, and let them cook from the steam! 

Set it and forget it for awhile...

Now you want to get out 2 eggs!

Scramble those...

Now after scrambling my eggs, I love to add salt & pepper, sometimes a little crushed red pepper for heat,

AND FRESH PARSLEY!

Let's go outside to my parsley plant to pick a few sprigs!

BUT WAIT!?!?!

WHO IS THIS????

Look who came to visit my Parsley plant today!

I was wondering why we were a bit scarce on the parsley this year...

Looks like Mr. Grubby found my secret stash...

He looked so content in there munching away, 

so I picked my few sprigs and let him be.

I wonder what beautiful color his wings will be when he becomes a beautiful butterfly one day...

Well that was a nice little surprise!

Have a nice day Mr. Grubby!

Now back to our recipe...

Rinse your garden parsley...

And add to your scrambled egg mixture!

Once that's all mixed, check on your veggies! 

If they are still not tender, leave them cook until they are!

Once they are cooked all the way through, you can add your egg to the pan now....

Make sure the egg covers the whole bottom of the pan, coating all of your veggies as well....

Put heat on low, place a lid over it, and let your eggs cook through.

While that is cooking, let's start on our magical elixir ! 

Ingredients 

Strawberry Guava

Orange Juice

Fresh Blueberries 

Ice

Magic Bullet

So for this recipe I used my handy dandy Magic Bullet...

This this is AWESOME for making smoothies of any kind.

I started by filling my bullet halfway with ice, 

then halfway with this YUMMY STRAWBERRY GUAVA to cover that ice, 

then the remainder of the bullet cup with the orange juice.

You want to blend that until there are no more huge ice chunks.

Once you have a nice blended consistency, now add a handful of blueberries!

By now your cup should already be pretty full of smoothie, so be careful not to make it overflow!!

Put the cap back on and blend again, just so the blueberries are crushed up into the mixture now!

Ok your smoothie is done now! Let's put our bullet cup in the fridge until it is ready to serve with our Frittata! Let's check on that now... 

Throughout the course of me making the smoothie, I was also checking my frittata every now and then. 

I kept scraping the sides around the eggs in the pan, and also poked some holes in the center with a fork to prevent air bubbles. 

When your eggs look like the picture below, they are done! 

The olive oil I used to grease the already nonstick pan ensures that my frittata will slide ride out onto and plate!

VIOLA!!!

Let's pour our magical elixir!!

I garnished with some fresh mint from the garden!

How refreshing does this look!?!?

A beautiful table scape for a beautiful day!

I can feel fall in the air already... 

The breeze on this day was so perfect, and the flowers are already starting to hide away...

LET'S DIG IN!!

This dish is so enchantingly delicious!

OOPS!

I ate the WHOLE THING!!!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I did!

Please try it out, and let me know if you have other ideas to add to the recipe! 

I'd love to hear!

Well, that is all! 

Have a 

MAGICAL DAY!

Aunt Linda & Cousin Jessie Visit From North Carolina PART 4 & 5 (FINAL SERIES POST!)

So here is my last post about my Aunt Linda and Cousin Jessie's visit to NJ 2 weekends ago.

So on Day 4 of their visit here, we all had plans to go to my mom's godmother's house down the shore.

Avi made some guacamole and I made some walnut and butterscotch morsel banana bread.

Both seemed to go over very well :-) 

It was nice to have some bbq and sangria, poolside.

They DID have a pool, but nobody really went in it.

We mostly just hang out around it with our drinks.

L to R: Me, Aunt Dor, Aunt Linda, Jessie, and My Mom

We spent the day there, and then my aunt and cousin went to see their old street in Brick. 

They used to live in Jersey before they moved to NC, so whenever they're in Jersey, they go visit their old neighborhood. So I got home and watched some tv, and then they came back later on.

Jessie and I tried watching The Great Gatsby, but we both fell asleep...

They were planning to leave the next day... bummer!

I went to bed, and woke up the next morning to my mom and my aunt knocking on my door...

They're staying one more day!!! Let's get dressed, we're going to the mall! 

So we went to Bridgewater mall, had some lunch in the food court, and then went shopping some more! We window shopped in Pottery Barn, William Sonoma, Francesca's where I bought a cute flowy leopard top on sale for $20, and some other cute little boutiques. Especially this one where we had way too much fun trying on some fake bangs...

I think we were annoying the less than happy lady who worked there, so we put them back on the rack , and headed on our way.  After the mall, we hit up TJ Maxx/Home Goods.  We spent sooooo much time in here looking at the cute little china, and Halloween Goods! 

I even found a pair of Coach shoes for a very affordable price, that actually FIT ME!!

It's very rare that I find shoes that fit me, so when I do, 

I splurge :-X 

They are cute little brown suede flat ballet slippers. I have been wanting a pair like that forever... So I just bought them, with some coaxing from the girls...

( I will show a pic in a later post) 

My mom ended up buying a cute little cake tier, 

which we later put some wafers on for dessert after dinner.

She also bought some lovely pumpkin soap which was only a few bucks and smells like HEAVEN

We went to Hobby Lobby for Jessie and My Aunt cuz they don't have one down by them.

Shortly after we went home cuz my dad had another amazing recipe up his sleeve!

I also bought a Halloween Apron for this season's fall baking festivities.

It has a cauldron on it with some cosmo glasses, and it says 

"Pick Your Poison"

It's SO cute!

When we got it home, my dad decided to model it for us as he cooked some

HOMEMADE PASTA AND PESTO SAUCE!

Dinner is served!

Tonight we dined Al Fresco! 

Would you like some tomato salad on the side?

They are "Ugly Tomatoes" 

straight from our garden!

How about some Italian Bread?

Dinner was so 

DELICIOUS!

After dinner we had some lovely dessert!

JUICY WATERMELON

and some FIGS, right from my grandmother's tree!

Before this trip, Jessie had never had fresh figs before!

My dad made her try one, and she was hooked since! 

I'm pretty sure she had at least 5 figs for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner, every day that she was at our house! My dad sent her home with them, because she loved them so much...

She even asked him how to grow a fig tree, and he said he is going to get her one for next year...

It started to get dark out and we heard some giggles...

who can that be joining us?

Some night fae, perhaps?

What a beautiful dinner and night it was...

But all good things must come to an end...

It was time to turn in, so we cleaned up dinner and headed inside.

Jessie, My Dad, Avi, and I decided to watch The Great Gatsby!

What an amazing movie this was!

It was shot so beautifully, 

I didn't expect anything less from Baz Luhrman...

I have been a fan From Romeo and Juliet, to Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom, 

I just think the guy has such an intriguing and imaginative way of storytelling.

His films are truly art that I find myself indulging in, time and time again! 

When the movie was over, we all called it a night, and I said my goodbyes to My Aunt and Jess...

I went to sleep, and when I awoke the next morning, they were already en route back to North Carolina!

I miss them already, and look forward to our next adventures together whether they visit here, or we visit there! 

I hope you enjoyed this series of posts about their visit.

They were seriously so adventurous, I just had to share every detail...