Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Three Bean Salad at a Potluck - Hit or Miss?

So here it is-a post on something that is discussed very little.  The secret competition of who brings the best dish to a potluck.  

Come on-you know what I'm talking about.  You get an invite to a potluck from a friend.  You accept and say "I'll bring a salad".   The day arrives, you spend all morning preparing this beautiful salad.  You toss it in a bowl, throw on the lid and away you go.  Once at the potluck, you place your salad on a table with all the other offerings. 

From this point it's going to go one of two ways-your dish will be a hit or a miss. If it's a hit, everyone is asking for the recipe.  If it's a miss, you have lots of leftovers that you drag home. 

Unfortunately, this is how I usually feel when I bring my Three Bean Salad to a potluck.  It's most often a miss but the thing is I love bean salad and don't mind the leftovers, so I keep making it.  No one ever asks for the recipe.  I keep telling myself it's because bean salad just isn't that popular.  But in case you're like me and love bean salad here's the recipe and pictures of the most recent potluck I was at-where all the food was yummy! 

Three Bean Salad (Click here for original recipe) 

1 can (15 to 16 ounces) cut green beans, drained
1 can (15 to 16 ounces) cut yellow beans, drained
1 can (about 16 ounces) red kidney beans, drained
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup sliced purple onion
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

*I also like to add chick peas

Rinse beans; drain. Combine beans, green pepper, and sliced onion. Whisk together remaining ingredients; pour over bean mixture. Toss well and chill for at least 4 hours.
 

What's your favorite potluck dish?

~Elizabeth

Friday, July 12, 2013

Random Post of Many Topics

Good Morning All!  (You might be thinking I'm awfully chipper for an early morning post but it's a beautiful day.)  First, it's a vacation day for me, second the kids are still sleeping (I'm sure not much longer than it takes me to write this paragraph) and we're having a girl's night away in Ottawa.   Am feeling very blessed today.  So here is just some random stuff.

The Book Trees
So if you've been following my blog faithfully you would have read my post on Our Love of Books.   This week I had an opportunity to do a guest blog post for Ottawa Valley Moms on the wonderful concept of Book Trees.  Click here to read the post if you missed it.  I'm sure for those that saw all my Facebook status updates earlier in the week you might be thinking oh my gosh, is she still talking about that.  And I am.  

Working with Ottawa Valley Moms has been fantastic.  As I'm still fairly new to blogging it has been a learning experience for me and the team at Ottawa Valley Moms are wonderful teachers.  I hope to have the opportunity to write more guest blog posts for them and maybe someday meet these amazing ladies in person! 

What Have The Kiddies Been Up To

Every time I'm talking to my mom on the phone (she lives in NS) she asks "So what are the kids doing now".  And it always seems like such an odd question.  I usually say Dustin is sleeping and Emma is having her bedtime snack.  I think what my mom really wants to know, because she doesn't see them all the time, are things like is Dustin talking, can Emma write her name, bigger milestone events like that. So here it is mom-the stuff I never think to tell you. 

Dustin
Loves giving high fives and playing ring around the rosy.  We got a new toy box and he loves opening the lid, pulling out all the toys, crawling in and then playing inside the toy box.  He stands at the door and cries when daddy or mommy go outside and don't take him-he loves being outdoors. 

Emma
Is practicing writing her name and getting pretty good.  She's been really into taking pictures on her digital camera and then pretends to text or send them to people on her play computer.  She also loves being outside and watching her garden grow (blog post on that later).  Just the other day I heard her say to Dustin (as he was standing on the seat of one of his push tractors) "On your bum, how many times do I have to tell you that!".  Hmmm-I wonder where she heard that. 


Today's Moment

On Fridays, sometimes I get a chance to join up with SouleMama to share a moment. She encourages people to share a single photo, no words - capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment you want to pause, savor and remember. Check out last week's moment. 


So this week's moment is Dean cutting hay.  What I really should have captured was the look in Dustin's eyes in watching his daddy drive around and around the field.  He was mesmerized and I know would have been out on that tractor riding around with him given the chance.  Emma was more interested in the sticky Popsicle that was dripping all over her hand.  I can picture my kids in a few years slinging square bales and then maybe in a few more years driving the tractor and baling hay themselves.  It's inevitable.  Dean was I think 9 when his Grandpa was showing him how to drive equipment.  



Don't you just love the blue sky?  I think I hear Dustin stirring (pretty impressed I got this post done). Thanks for reading and have a fantastic and safe weekend.  Love to all. 

~Elizabeth

Friday, July 5, 2013

Today's Moment - Stop and Smell the Flowers

Joining up with SouleMama today to share a moment. 

From SouleMama: A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Strawberry Picking

You've got to love this time of year...we are finally getting local, fresh produce!  First up-strawberries.  We went picking at a local farm over the weekend.  I wasn't sure how the kids would do and was getting ready to send them over to Nana's.  And then Dean offered to come with us to help pick.  So we packed everyone into the truck, grabbed our baskets and off we went.  The kids actually did really well.  Dustin ate lots of rotten strawberries he kept picking off the ground and Emma had a minor melt down when her rubber boot got stuck in a deep, muddy puddle which she choose to walk through.  Dean did most of the picking as I chased the kids up and down the rows trying to keep Emma from walking on the ripe strawberries and Dustin from eating them.  To some of you this might be sounding like a disaster but to me it was a success.  We walked out of there with two baskets of fresh strawberries and the rain held off until just before we were leaving. Here is some pictures of the adventure:





I was able to get a few strawberry shortcake desserts and two batches of jam out of our harvest. Anyone else been out picking?  What have you done with your harvest?


~Elizabeth