Bourbon Cream Corn

I go in waves. Sometimes I do everything I can to make substitutions to make my meals healthier. Sometimes I give in to my southern roots and make things just the way I want. There is no way I was cutting corners on this one, so dieters beware!
Tonight we had friends over for dinner. Friends of my hubs from childhood. Friends we really don't get together with often enough. But it also means I didn't take pictures until I was putting the leftovers away! Oh well!
We had brisket and brie quesadillas. I have already reviewed those here, and they are to die for!
So I went on a pinterest hunt for a good side. I thought a scratch cream corn would be good and started looking around. They all looked yummy, but when I saw this one titled Bourbon Cream Corn, I knew I had to try it.
Besides my aversion to measuring I followed the recipe pretty close.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 cup of chopped shallots (about 4 large) I couldn't find fresh so I used jarred, I didn't use a whole cup.
• 3 garlic cloves, minces
• 1 large red bell pepper, coarsely chopped I had orange mini peppers at home so I used those.
• 3 cups of fresh corn kernels, cut from about 5 medium ears I cut 6 ears of corn, but didn't really change measurements of anything else, it worked great.
• 2/3 cup of whipping cream, divided
• 1/4 cup of good quality bourbon
• 1-1/4 cup of chopped green onions (about 6), divided

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt butter in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add shallots and garlic.  Sauté for 2 minutes.
3. Add red bell pepper.  Sauté for 1 minute.
4. Add corn.  Sauté until ALMOST tender, about 2 minutes.
5. Add 1/3 cup cream, plus the bourbon.
6. Simmer until sauce thickly coats corn, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes.
7. Add remaining 1/3 cup of cream, plus 1 cup of the green onions.
8. Simmer until sauce thickens enough to coat corn thinly, about 2 minutes or longer.
9. Season creamed corn to taste with salt and pepper.
10. Transfer to serving bowl.
11. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of green onions.
12. Serve.

As far as directions go, the only thing that changed was all the cook times were much longer than the 2 minutes instructed. I just watched it and cooked it until it was done. Per directions it should be done in about 10 minutes, per me it took about 20. 

This was super yummy and I will definitely make again. I also think it is a suitable travel dish, just put it in a corning ware instead of serving bowl and keep warm.   You know it's a keeper when your guests ask for the recipe before they leave! Yay!

Bronco Wreath!

I am loving changing my wreaths with the season. I have learned 2 big lessons from wreaths lately.
My front door must get a crazy amount of Denver sun! My last wreath totally faded the blue burlap and won't be able to be stored and used again. I am just going to unmake it and keep the form for my next project! And this one all my letters are melting off! I don't think hot glue is strong enough to fight the mile high sun! So I recommend super glue!

Anyway, I found THIS blog through pinterest and thought it was perfect! Hers is blue and orange of Auburn, mine is blue and orange of the Denver Broncos!

Basically what you need is

styrofoam wreath form
yarn
letters
hot glue gun/glue
ribbon or scrap material
spray paint

I started wrapping my wreath, it took FOREVER! After you start wrapping you can wrap some parts neater and some messier, some tighter some looser, it all depends on the look you want. You seriously can't go wrong. Then at the end I just tucked the yarn in under the last few wraps.
I spray painted my letters and left them to dry.
I sat with a glass of wine and wrapped the rosettes. HERE is her rosette tutorial. 
Then I hot glued every thing on. Rosettes and letters.
Then they got hot and fell off and I reglued them with super glue!

I have decided I need a new wreath hanger. Mine is obviously meant for the holidays and my new found love of wreaths needs one that is much more versatile!

And my door apparently needs a touch up! No idea where that scratch could have come from!

Lemon Garlic Chicken and Pasta, because sometimes you just need Italian!

So I'm gonna cheat here. I don't have a pin for this. In fact I can't even find the website I found this on in the first place. I just have my written recipe and what I do with it. But you could pin this and then it would have it's own pin! :)


Lemon Garlic Chicken

1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 T butter
1 cup water
6 T lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp chopped parsely
1 package cream cheese (you can use fat free)

Season chicken breast with oregano, salt, and pepper.
Melt butter in a skillet and brown chicken breasts. About 4 minutes a side.
Placed browned chicken breasts in crock pot.
In the skillet mix water, lemon juice, garlic, and bouillon and bring it to a boil.
Pour mixture over chicken in crock pot.
Cook on low 6 hours.
Add parsley to crock pot 30 minutes before it's done. 
About 15 minutes before it's done remove chicken.
Cut room temp cream cheese into small cubes and whisk into the juice in the crockpot.
Once it's thoroughly mixed replace chicken in crockpot.

Serve over rice or pasta with a sprinkle of parsley and Parmesan cheese.

We had this tonight over pasta with my 1 hour skillet focaccia bread. I was in the mood for Italian!

You could serve this with spaghetti squash, add some sauteed or roasted veggies. It would be amazing with some toasted pine nuts too! This one is a major keeper in our house!
Tonight the hubs said, "This is a great meal babe!" And you know if it's picky hubs approved it's good for anyone!

Art party Extraordinaire!

My bitty girl just had her golden birthday! We went through themes and what she wanted and she settled on an ART party. It really was a fantastic party for my creative girl!

I went to ETSY to look at invites and found this PERFECT one! 

And for ideas I went straight to pinterest!!!!

Here is the art setup table.

 This has so many great ideas!
 I did the popcorn! It was a hit!

My  cakespiration. I made the cake at our shop. Splatter painting it was a blast!

 The kids had so much fun painting! I put a bucket with water out for them to rinse their brushes in.

Used the raised flower bed as the easel.

The end result!

I found this photo backdrop and thought it was awesome!!!!!!
I am so glad I did it I got the BEST pictures from it! I just used a rubber band and banded them together on top and threw them over the top of the fence.

B Mack and Momma

Bitty Girl and one of her best friends

Momma and Bitty Girl

Beautiful birthday Bitty!

The hubs and I

Bitty and the neighbor

B Mack was hot, and OVER pictures! But this is one of my favorites!

This is by far my favorite birthday party ever!

Skillet foccacia bread

I love me some foccacia bread. I could eat bread, oil, cheese, and grapes for dinner multiple times a week! The hubs likes a little more than that so I don't get to do it all that often.
I really like making my own bread. I don't own a bread machine. Honestly, I don't really know what a bread machine does. I do just fine with my hands and my oven.
So I found a pin that lead me here! It says 1 hour skillet foccacia bread. Quick and I get to use my favorite kitchen item???? Yes please!
I love my cast iron skillet. If you don't have one you need to run to the nearest store and get one NOW!
Her instructions are great, I won't bore you with mine.
Only things I did different are that I brushed with olive oil instead of butter, and I only used rosemary.

Yummy in my tummy! New fav dipping bread recipe! And easy peasy too!