Baked Veggies

I love veggies. But if I'm honest, the way I like to eat them probably isn't the healthiest. I'm from the South so I like my green beans to be juicy - to have been cooked overnight with bacon mixed in. (My mom makes the BEST green beans around.) I also like my okra and my squash fried.

I found a recipe on Pinterest last week. The photo just made those veggies look SO good. I decided I would try it in order to eat some healthy veggies. I was worried I wouldn't like it since they weren't fried, but I was wrong! Woohoo!

P.S. - I grabbed my good camera to get some pics of these right out of the oven, but as life goes, the battery was dead. iPhone shots will have to do.

 The recipe actually uses potatoes, squash and tomatoes, but since Will & I aren't big tomato fans I substituted it for zucchini instead.

The recipe also called for fresh thyme leaves. Will was sweet enough to make a last minute grocery run to look for these, but he said they were out. I decided to just use dried thyme. I'm no herb expert, but I don't know if I should have done that. I'm not sure how much the difference between fresh and dried herbs affects the taste. Don't get me wrong, it was still delish, but next time I will probably just go without the thyme.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 small tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 medium yellow summer squash, sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 medium Yukon Gold potato, sliced 1/4-inch thick

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil over medium and cook onion until tender and lightly golden, 6 to 8 minutes.

Arrange the onion on the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Overlap tomato, squash, and potato on top of the onion. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with thyme and Parmesan, and drizzle with more oil.

Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until golden, 30 minutes more.

Recipe from Whole Living

So easy! And I'm loving my new healthy veggie dish!

Green Smoothies

I need your help! And I need you to be 100% honest with me. ( I had to throw that in there because for some reason I feel as though people aren't honest about not being able to taste spinach/kale in a green smoothie.) 

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So? Can you taste the "green" in a green smoothie? I've really been wanting to try these out. I am such a picky person that if I can taste spinach I probably won't like it. Spinach and kale are packed full of nutrients so I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

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Have you tried green smoothies? What are your favorite recipe combinations?

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Weekend Recap - The Dog Park

Do you ever have those weeks that you just don't feel like blogging? I felt like that last week. Hopefully I'm not the only one who has those moments! The past few days consisted of me asking Will over and over, "Come on, don't you wanna write a post for the blog this week??" So stay tuned, I think I may have convinced him.

This past Saturday involved laundry, laundry and more laundry. I hate laundry. But it was nice to get the house cleaned up and FINALLY put up those piles of clean clothes that I had avoided for a week. 

Saturday night we took Amanda (from The Sequined Spaniel) and her hubby, Tyler to Jerry's for their very first time ever. If you're in Memphis and never been to Jerry's, you are seriously missing out. Talk about the best snocone of your life. Hawaiian Ice, who?  

After church on Sunday, we went to the Overton Dog Park, aka Overton Bark. The weather felt perfect and I know the dogs have been going stir crazy being in the house so much. 

This was an Instagram shot from last night. I don't know how I created such a brat of a dog, but I love her! She sure has some #princessprobs though!

How was your weekend?

Weekend Recap - A Mad Dog

Saying that my sweet Ginger hates clothes is an understatement. She plain despises them. I've come to accept that fact and told myself not to waste money on dog clothes, but this raincoat was on sale at Target for 3 buck-a-roos so I had to get it. The process of Ginger wearing clothes goes like this: Put the jacket on her and then she stands there like a statue until it's removed. Literally. She won't walk, won't move her head, nothing. It's pretty funny.

I keep thinking that maybe she'll appreciate it when she has to walk outside in the rain. Maybe not.

 Besides laughing at Ginger's crazy antics this weekend, we had a nice, relaxing couple of days. Wednesday-Saturday, we had dinner with a different couple each night. I have said it before and I will say it again. I AM SO THANKFUL FOR OUR FRIENDS. (Click here to read more about how much I prayed for other married couple friends. GOD ANSWERS PRAYER.) 

Speaking of friends, my friend Amanda lives in the Memphis area and just recently started her own blog. Go check it out!

Like normal, we went riding on Sunday afternoon. It was such a beautiful day with the perfect temperature for riding. My family came with us that day and there were several times I was bent over from laughing so hard. I so appreciate family time!

I'm excited to be reading along with Bon's Book Club too. Have you seen it? The book for February comes in the mail today and I can't wait to start it! Click here to buy "Gone Girl." Let me know if you'll be reading this book also!

I hope you had a great weekend!

If you are memorizing Philippians with us, (see here for print out) here is this week's verse:

"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and be so pure and blameless for the day of Christ."

Philippians 1:9-10 ESV

We're Famous (+ a video)

So, in case you didn't know, we're famous. I mean, who wouldn't be after being in the background on "Big Food" for 3 seconds? Since I'm sure you're so eager to go check this out for yourself, I'll give you the link righhhht here.

See us? 

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You might not care or you might be asking, "Gee, Courtney, why were you on TV?" Well, thank you for asking. I'll fill you in. It starts with a back story first.
One year ago yesterday, my middle brother left for Basic training with the Army. (Woohoo! Go Cody!) Ok, now fast forward 5 months and we're at his graduation at Fort Benning. (Although, I don't think there was anything fast about it for Cody.)
While we waited for the graduation to start, we look over and see this massive truck pulling this massive tank. Only it wasn't a real tank, it was a life-size tank made of cake. Yes, delicious strawberry shortcake. There was a camera crew there (see below) that was filming for this new show called "Big Food" on CMT. And that's that. The story of how we became famous. Exciting, huh?

Here are the masses flocking to the giant cake.

Cody is the taller one in the front row behind the flag guy. (in the right line) Oh and the guy who yells at the end always makes me laugh.

Yep, I enjoyed that cake.

So, all in all, I write this post to say I am so proud of both of my brothers!

Pay It Forward

I've joined the 2013 Creative Pay It Forward!

The details: The first 5 people to comment with their email and blog address, will receive from me, sometime in this calendar year, a gift - perhaps a book, a baked good, jewelry, music - a surprise in the mail! There will likely be no warning, and it will happen when the mood strikes me.

The catch: Those five people must make the same offer on their blog.

REMINDER: If you haven't entered Alyssa's giveaway yet, CLICK HERE. Don't miss out!

Followers to Friends Blog Party

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Do's and Don'ts of Blog Selfies (+ a giveaway!)

Unfortunately for me, most of these photos I'm about to share are DON'TS. I can't seem to get this selfie thing down. It's just so awkward for me to say, "Hey, take a picture of me. No, sorry, you can't be in the picture. Just me." I even felt uncomfortable asking my husband to be my photographer! Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just an awkward person. Nonetheless, last weekend I set out to get a good picture for my sidebar. You know, like those cute little "About Me" pictures all you bloggers have. Well, if you're putting two and two together, you'll notice that I still don't have a selfie up there on my sidebar so our photo shoot was unsuccessful. [wompwompwomppp] Did you get that little sound effect I just did?

Let's begin...

DON'T fuss at your hubby for not knowing how to work your camera. Heck, you don't even know how to work it.

DON'T casually pose at your art table. So. awkward.

DON'T make this face. Not cute.

...or this one for that matter.

DON'T spend half the time trying to make your hair look jusssst right. It won't work.

Like I said.

DON'T go outside in the freezing weather without a coat just to get the perfect picture...

DON'T give your husband this face when he tries to rush the process. 

DO get surprised by one of your sweet puppies with a big slobbery kiss! 

Well, there ya have it. If you have any DO's for me, please let me know! I could use all the help I can get!

Before you go, please go check out the pretty awesome giveaway happening at Ten Feet Off Beale. (And no, I'm not just saying it's pretty awesome because I am a part of the giveaway. Psh.) Alyssa has an amazing blog that I think you will love!