Herbed Fish with Tomato and Olive Relish Recipe

 Oh me of my, this is the best dinner I've made in a long time! And easy, only took maybe 15 mins to prepare. Another HEB recipe, so I can't take all the credit.

I served it with fresh mango, my easy aspargus, and cresent rolls with honey butter drizzled on.

Asparagus

Discard woody ends. Cut in 3rds. Cook in pot on med-high heat, 1/2 inch of water, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and 2 tb butter. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover with lid, and simmer approx  5mins. My kids (and I) love to eat the Asparagus dipped in Girard's Light Ceaser Dressing.

Crescent Rolls with Honey Butter

I used Pillsbury refrigerated rolls. For butter, mix 3 tb room temp butter with appox 2 tb honey. I melted my butter too much, so it had to be drizzled. Don't melt your butter and you can spread it on, delish!

Olive Tapenade

This is a jarred spread from HEB. And it's delishious, even for those who don't like olives! It can be cooked or even just eaten out of the jar on a cracker or bread. If you can't find it, make your own with the list of ingrediants:
black olives, red bell pepper, zuchinni, capers, diced tomatoes, canola oil, dijon mustardd, sugar, garlic, salt, lemon juice, spices.

Herbed Fish with Tomato and Olive Relish

3/4 c. H-E-B Specialty Series Olive Tapenade

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 - 1 1/2 lb. fresh salmon or whitefish fillets

1 Tbsp.  Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tbsp. McCormick Italian Seasoning Grinder

1 or 2 lemons

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 450°F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray. Cut tomatoes in half; place tomatoes, olive tapenade and garlic over bottom of baking dish. Stir gently and place in oven 5 minutes.

2. In the meantime, drizzle fillets with olive oil; season both sides with Italian seasoning grinder.

3. Remove pan from oven; push olive mixture to edges of dish. Place fish in center and spoon olive mixture over fish. Squeeze half of one lemon over top and return dish to oven.

4. Bake 10 minutes or until fish just begins to flake when tested with a fork. Serve immediately with fresh lemon wedges.

*wall-e and justice league plates for the little guys*

~linked to Remodeliholic's Recipe linky party.

Inspired Home: Eclectic Ingenuity

I'm kind of loving lonny mags' april/may eclectic ingenuity feature. It starts on page 69, and there are some amazing loft shots as well. I look at this 1960's home, styled by Colleen Locke, and I see an outfit.

Black and white striped shirt, olive long maxi skirt with some cognac sandals and belt, maybe with a big white hobo bag. And a long, draped, sterling antler necklace with a peach rose. Anyone else seeing this? Has anyone ever read the haunting short story, The Yellow Wallpaper? Yeah, that could be me swimming in those stripes.

Sweet Treats: Strawberry Banana Streusel Muffins with Strawberry Butter

This is a compilation of about 3 different recipes. This strawberry muffins one (with user suggestions taken into account), and this cran-orange streusel and my banana one. Every recipe I ran into needing strawberries called for lemon or orange zest, and I am fresh out of both (though I do use a tad of lemon juice). So, why not use something else? Because I bought 4 huge packs of strawberries and need to use them before they go yucky.

Muffins:
2 mushy bananas (well mashed)
1/2 c milk
1 egg
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c flour
1 squirt lemon juice (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c chopped strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) oil an 8 cup muffin tin, or use paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, combine oil, milk, lemon juice, bananas and egg. Beat lightly. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Toss in chopped strawberries and stir to coat with flour. Pour in milk mixture and stir together.
3. Fill muffin cups. Top with streusel topping, then lightly sprinkle with sugar.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 minutes, or until the tops bounce back from the touch. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.Serve with Strawberry butter.

Streusel Topping:
2 TB flour
2 TB brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 TB cold butter
2 TB sugar (to sprinkle on afterwards)

* Combine all (except white sugar) in small bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Sprinkle white sugar on top.


Strawberry Butter:
3 large strawberries
2 tsp confectioner sugar
stick room temp butter

*Blend and drizzle on muffins. Or maybe you just blend the strawberries and then lightly mix it in the butter for a thicker consistency. I don't know, directions were unclear, so play around with it. It looks disgusting, but I promise you it is not. If you use an awesome food processor unlike my old smoothie half-working blender, it will probably look better.

linked to Remodeliholic's recipe linky

and linked to Sweet as Sugar Cookies' Sweets for Saturday linky.

Faith, Hope and Charity

Jordan River Temple print by Hiya Papaya

While my weekends are usually crazy, aside from my child's little soccer game, most of our weekend was spent watching The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints semi-annual General Conference. Twice a year, in April and October, the members all over the world  gather to listen to our church leaders, who are divinely appointed apostles and prophets speak to us. Their talks are so inspiring, they help us see how to be stronger, better people and issue moments of warning at the same time, yet they are always full of love, hope and sincerity. I always listen intently with much faith and reverance am never disappointed. Not to mention the legendary Mormon Tabernacle choir singing, moves me to tears almost every time.

 together forever print by sugarfresh

I loved the talk by Richard G Scott's. He speaks about his family being together forever and how to strengthen family ties and marriages. Which was so touching to hear as he not only lost his wife recently, but two of his children, one of them as an infant while he was a young man. His little stories of his marital antics are so sweet.

search ponder and pray print by sugarfresh

 Another one of my favorite talks was Jeffrey R. Holland's. He explains what General Conference his and how it is divinely inspired (around the 3 min mark), and how God truly lives and communicates with us today. It was so powerful, but his always are.

Salt Lake City Temple print by katies clicks

Our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, spoke 5 talks this conference, that can be accessed here. There is also so much love in his voice, and he always has the best stories. I truly have a testimony that he and the other men and women called in these positions in the church are truly inspired by God, and that they communicate His messages. While I know there is a lot of misinformation about our faith in the world, my heart knows of it's truthfulness, and that God truly has a plan for each and every one of us. Past conferences, since 1974 can be seen here.

Fire Flowers

We saw this old overrun home while driving through our neighborhood this weekend. It was in sad shape, then we noticed a gaping hole on the side. After a slight suggestion by my husband, I grabbed my camera and ran out to see the extent of the damage.

I wonder if this home fire was accidental, did a family leave in the night in terror? Or, was it vacant and set fire by arsons/bored teens? Or, perhaps more common, it was a foreclosed home, set ablaze by a desperate family to escape the mortgage/bankruptcy. I am thinking the home was vacant, due to the fire marks and debris. There was a broken down swingset, shed and refrigerator in the backyard. A sad fate for any of the situations.

It was a small and thrilling discovery to see several wildly overgrown rosebushes on the property. I felt a pang of wonderment as how the roses in our rental turned diseased no matter the care we gave them (though they are returning)... yet the ones here that have been left with minimal rain and lack of pruning have thrived. Somehow, they have not been forgotten.

It makes me think... that even in the most desperate of situations, even in torment and the fires of our own personal lives, there will always be a seed of beauty to be gleaned from the experience.

There is a time of pain, but a season of hope. There is a time of destruction, but a season of renewal. There will always be some sort of pain... but always an even greater time of joy. For this, I am thankful for my God, my family, my faith... For I know, there are always good things to come:

... especially since the roses removed from their branches so easily... and fit very nicely into my little vases. May your day be as sweet as fresh cut roses, may good things come your way, may your outlook be one of progress and thankfulness. May you remember that you are not forgotten, that He is mindful of you and loves you.

Personal Style: Rule of Three

I didn't go anywhere today. But I thought, "Why not get at least a little bit cute?" Normally, I would have worn this shirt with ratty jeans (okay, pajama pants) and flip flops. I thought, there must be something simple I can do to work this and still feel "at home comfortable." I did technically break one rule with the brooch. Aren't brooches for like cardigans, jackets... basically things with a lapel? Well, I've always thought so, but I enjoyed using it on an old tee, and I think you can do it too.

So, I invented the Rule of Three.

*Three minimal accessories to posh up an otherwise unremarkable outfit.*

1. Red lipstick Rimmel moisture renew in Red Alert 900... (will do a post on wearing red lipstick soon)
2. Vintage brooch
3. Awesome shoes.... ones that compliment your outfit but are still comfortable.

I had a belt and rolled jeans to make 5 things I normally wouldn't do while just lazing around the house in a few pics, but the 3 pieces work just fine for me to turn a boring outfit into something a little less boring.

I even jazzed up my mom ponytail, by making it a tad higher than usual, wrapping it loosely for a bit of a mess and pulling the top part out like a crazy woman and twisting in a bobby pin for a bit of 'oomph'.

Sparkles... old vintage brooches can be found anywhere. I got this at an antique mall for very cheap. Tip: Brooches can be heavy.. if pinning on a loose shirt, grab it through a bit of your bra strap to stabilize it better.

 I loved these shoes like a lot. Thrifted, of course. They were too big... so I just tucked the strap since there were no holes for my size. Maybe I'll drill 'em later, but maybe not, the tuck looks kind of cute.

 See, cute but maybe too much going on with the belt and the side tuck. You think?

 hubs told me to walk as I stood there cluelessly...

 He always manages to get a bum shot.

 

My pound puppy, rescued when she was 4 months old... before I even met my husband.

She's almost 9 now, I love my Jackie Chup, though it makes me sad to see her aging,
and even sadder knowing what this lady did to her dog!

This is what he calls a 'perspective shot" So people can see how low I am to the ground since I'm barely 5"

Love him too, such a sweetheart. When we were dating and first married, people used to stop and

ask him if he was a model. Made me feel like a toad... a happy one, but a toad nonetheless.

So ladies, remember the Rule of Three. What small 3 things can you do to jazz yourself up today?

*shirt: target/ jeans: delias thrifted/ brooch: vintage thrifted/ shoes: apt 9 thrifted/ belt: vintage thrifted*
*linked to Clothed Much's Rule Breaking Monday... visit for lots of other rule breakers

*linked to Mom of Two Boys Fashion Fridays

Sweet Treats: Banana Bread Chocolate Chip and Blackberry Muffins Recipe

I was going to make banana bread. My last loaf was amazing... except for the entire burnt two inch layer on the bottom in that we had to hack away the delicious bread to eat. Let's just say, I'm still learning how to use this decrepit oven of mine.

I thought I would try muffins this time due to the tragedy of my first and last bread experiment. I used a very basic recipe, then as I loaded up the tin for the second batch thought, "Hey, lets have fun with this and try a few things out".

*please excuse my not so beautiful looking pan, thanks*

So, for one row of muffins, I added raisins. Another row, semi-sweet chocolate chips. Another row, blackberries... and one little muffin I mixed in all three (that one coveted muffin was delicious, especially all warm and gooey and smothered in butter!) I'm glad I mixed in some flavor, b/c quite honestly the first batch of banana/walnut muffins were a little bland.

So, as you can see, I still managed to burn these babies a smidgen... even though I seriously cooked them for almost 10 mins less than the suggested time. Maybe I had it set on the wrong heat? Yeah, that must be it... I will be more careful next time, because there WILL be a next time. I used his banana bread recipe and added a few things:

♥ Banana Muffins with Mix-Ins ♥

1/2 c oil
2 eggs
1 c sugar
4 mashed bananas (mashed very, very smooth.... no lumps!)

~mix all together in a bowl, then add in:

2 c flour
1 TB baking soda
1 pinch salt
3/4 c chopped walnuts
cinnamon
dash pure vanilla extract
1 c of either~ raisins, chopped blackberries or semi sweet chocolate chips (c. chips+blackberries are awesome)

~ Grease/flour muffin tin or use cupcake liners. Bake at 350 degrees 25 mins or until toothpick inserted in  center of muffin comes out clean. Top with a bit of butter (I use Smart Balance, makes me feel healthier) and serve.

 *If you are in a major blackberry mood, then try my scones or these ideas*

OH! Linked up to Sweet as Sugar Cookies' Sweets for Saturday
and  The Vintage Farmhouse