Lucas Corner Farmhouse

There's an Indian restaurant in town who has a House Salad that is SO GOOD.  I've always referred to it as "Cucumber Salad" but it also has corn and green bell peppers tossed in a thin ranch dressing. I made a variation of that last night at dinner at Mom's house to go with the Lemon Pepper Chicken she made. It was DELICIOUS.  We didn't have a bell pepper on hand, but we had a can of Medium Rotel.  It added a little extra kick to the otherwise cool salad. You can eat this as a side, or pour it over chicken like we did! WENDY'S CUCUMBER SALAD 2 medium cucumbers, diced 1 can yellow corn, drained, with 1/3 cup drained water set aside 1 can Rotel, drained (or diced tomatoes for a milder taste) 1/3 cup ranch dressing Toss the cucumbers, yellow corn, and Rotel in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the ranch dressing and drained water from the can of corn.  Pour over the diced veggies and toss. That's IT!

Each Saturday morning at our workout class at church. I try to write an exercise plan that is adaptable for various levels as fitness, and that is fun. This week's was one of my favorites! I picked four exercises (specifically, one primarily cardio-focused, one upper body, one lower body, and one whole body) and assigned each one to a suit in the deck of cards. We set the timer for 30 minutes, but finished the deck in 28 1/2 minutes! :) In the end, we did at least 91 jumping jacks, 91 burpees, 91 push-ups, and 91 flutter kicks! (I don't remember which two cards we had to repeat due to drawing the joker card). 

Fireflies. Rainstorms. Crickets. Katydids. Honeysuckle. It's summer y'all... Time for another batch of Honeysuckle Jelly! You know the tiny drop of liquid goodness (ok, nectar…but it's delicious)  that you get from one honeysuckle blossom?  Multiply that by a spoonful, and that's what it's like to have honeysuckle jelly on toast. mmmmm….. :) I first made this Honeysuckle Jelly a few years ago when the house we moved into had honeysuckle all along the wood line in the back yard.  It started because we were looking for a Honeysuckle Ice Cream recipe (still haven't made that) .…it's become a family favorite. When we moved into the house we're in now, I was incredibly excited because there were two bushes in the back yard with honeysuckle vines in addition to two more sections in the back of the yard with honeysuckle.  I made a batch and gave jars to family members, then waited for the next year to come around to make m

The first birthday party went great!  The weather was perfect for an outdoor party. :) I'm glad, because I really didn't want to have to redirect everyone to the church that's a walk through a big yard…in the rain! For the cake, I had intended on making a candy shell for the bottom half of the cake.  At the last minute, I decided to make the bottom half a huge rice krispie treat! :) (Thanks Sarah for the help with that!)   I did stick with the original plan to ice the cake with blue and green rosettes. I decorated a tshirt using leftover fabric from his crib skirt, and my mom made some shorts to match! We hung pennant flags from azalea bushes in the front yard and around his high chair ( Thanks to Julia and Sarah for helping with that)  and hung green and blue gallons from the Magnolia tree and on the mailbox ( Thanks Rachel for taking care of all the balloon inflating!!)   For seating, we set out camping chairs (and our Eagle's Nest Swing), and for

In less than one month, we'll be having a 1st Birthday at our house ( weird ). I've been asked since before he was born what the theme of the party will be…when my sister had her 1st Birthday, I don't remember us having a theme…but that was the days before Pinterest. ;) I've thought of several themes….from Lego Fireman to Sesame Street to SuperWhy ( my kid loves the music in the show and will stop what he's doing to listen and dance to every time they start singing! ).  BUT I decided I wanted to carry over the theme from his baby shower and baby tea…both matched his blue and green nursery with a tree on the wall. We have a gorgeous Magnolia tree in our front yard, so we've decided to set up most of the party in the shade of that tree.  Planning for a party at your house right at Spring Cleaning time is apparently a great way to motivate you to clean out your entire house and yard….just so you know….( if you stop by my house right now, don't judg

I started this blog a few months after Adam and I got engaged.  At the time, I didn't know if this blog would become a journal for just me and my family to read, a place to show what I was working on for my wedding (I wound up creating a separate place for that here ), or a place for recording married life.  Considering all of that, I appropriately named it after us… not overly creative, no, but it left wiggle room for whatever would come of this blog! A lot has changed since 2008 - we got married, lived on campus, lived off campus, I started new jobs, we got two pets, we moved, we both started new jobs, had a baby, he started a new job, and now I'm going to be a stay at home mom to a one year old at the end of this month! I think it's safe to say that it's time for a blog name change!  We're more than just A and W now…so, I guess I'll be brainstorming that…any suggestions? In the meantime, we're planning his first birthday party! Soon, I'll post s

Stuffed bell peppers are delicious. Honestly, I always buy bell peppers with the intention of stuffing them.....but they're a bit more work than I'm willing to put into dinner on a weekday, so they wind up getting used in some other dish. Well, that happened again! This actually started out as "What's-in-the-fridge-that-needs-cooked-and-would-taste-good-in-a-stew?" Stew. After I started throwing things into my dutch oven, Adam came into the kitchen and asked me what I was making. I spouted off some combination of words that resembled: "Jambalaya rice stew with green bell peppers and corn" .... He looked at me and said, "Well it smells good...smells like stuffed bell peppers....looks like stuffed bell peppers!" Stuffed Bell Pepper Stew was born. Obviously, you can adjust the ingredients to match what you like in your bell peppers, but here's what was in my stew tonight! 1 (or 1.5) lb ground beef 1 box Jambalaya rice mix (mine is f