A Recipe A Week: Week 1



I'm challenging myself to a recipe a week! Visit my page to learn more.

I'm super excited about this week's recipe! If you're from the South, you're going to love it :) It's good ole shrimp n' grits Charleston, SC style!

Week 1: Shrimp N' Grits

Creamy Cheddar Cheese Grits

from Southern Living 2009 Annual Recipes

4 Tbsp. butter, divided

5 cups milk                 

2 tsp. salt                    

1/2 tsp. hot sauce        

1 garlic clove, pressed 

1 1/2 cups uncooked   

stone-ground     

white grits          

1 (10 oz.) block sharp 

white Cheddar    

cheese, grated    

1. Bring 2 Tbsp. butter, next 4 ingredients, and 5 cups water to a boil in a medium-size Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Gradually whisk in grits, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 1/2 hours or until thickened.  Stir in cheese and remaining 2 Tbsp. butter until melted. Serve immediately.

-INSPIRED BY EMERIL LAGASSE

Quick-Cooking Creamy Cheddar Cheese Grits:

Substitute 2 cups uncooked quick-cooking grits for stone-ground grits. Decrease water and milk to 4 1/2 cups each. Prepare recipe as directed, cooking grits 10 to 15 minutes or until thickened.

Hominy Grill's Shrimp and Grits

from Southern Living 2009 Annual Recipes

2 lb. unpeeled, medium-size raw

shrimp (31/40 count)

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour            

5 bacon slices, chopped             

1 (8 oz.) package sliced fresh     

mushrooms             

3 garlic cloves, minced               

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice            

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

2 tsp. hot sauce                          

1/2 tsp. salt                                

Creamy Cheddar Cheese Grits   

1. Peel shrimp; devein, if desired. Toss shrimp with flour until lightly coated, shaking to remove excess.

2. Cook bacon in a medium skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet.

3. Saute mushrooms in hot drippings 4 minutes or just until mushrooms begin to release their liquid. Add shrimp, and saute 3 to 3 1/2 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink. Add garlic, and saute 1 minute (do not brown garlic). Add lemon juice and next 3 ingredients; serve immediately over Creamy Cheddar Cheese Grits. Sprinkle with bacon.

-HOMINY GRILL, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

I love Wednesday because it's hump day, and the week is half over!

But, of course, I love Wednesday too because it's time for What I'm Loving Wednesday at Jamie's!

I'm loving that I won Natalie's giveaway at Blonde at Heart! I can't wait to get my pretty bracelet :)

I'm loving the fresh squeezed lemonade I made over the weekend!

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I'm loving that the Flowertown Festival is this weekend in Summerville, and I get to go!  The Flowertown Festival is a big arts and craft show that they do in the Spring every year in Summerville, SC outside of Charleston. They have the festival at Azalea Park when all the azalea bushes are in bloom, and it makes for a beautiful and fun day looking at everyone's arts and crafts booths! Oh yea...and lets not forget the yummy food :)

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I'm loving these gorgeous wreaths from Etsy!

lunatiqueart

FaSewLaStitches

ItzFitz

AnnaHailey

And just in case you forgot, I'm loving my awesome husband today too :)

What are you loving today?

Link up here to let us know!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!

Top 2 Tuesday

Happy Tuesday ya'll! I'm loving participating in Top 2 Tuesdays with The Undomestic Momma!

Top 2 Celebrity Hairstyles

1. Carrie Underwood

I wish my hair would cooperate and do something like Carrie Underwood's! From curly, to straight, to up-dos, to side swept, long or short, her hair always looks gorgeous. Her hair is my absolute favorite! I even tried to model my hairstyle for my wedding after hers :)

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2. Jessica Alba

I always have an internal battle going on about my hair.  I've kept my hair long most of my life, but when I have long hair all I can think about is cutting it short.  When I finally give in and cut it short, I spend forever trying to grow it back out because I miss my long hair! I love these short styles of Jessica Alba. She's making me want short hair again!

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Link up for Top 2 Tuesday to share your top 2 celebrity hairstyles!

Hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday!

Miscellany Monday

It's Monday!

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend! I definitely did since I got to spend it with my mom :)

And now it's time for Miscellany Monday with Carissa @ lowercase letters! I'm excited because today I have a lot of randomness on my mind!

{army wives}

I absolutely love the Lifetime Network series Army Wives. Ironically, I actually saw my first episode a couple of weeks before I got shipped off to basic training. Anyway, being in the Army myself, I find myself being able to relate a lot to the show in the good and the bad. Last nights episode was definitely the bad. If you watch the show, and did not see last nights episode, I will not spoil it for you. But in last night's episode you finally find out who died. I seriously cried my eyes out the whole episode! I still can't believe it :(

{ikea}

While my mom was in town this weekend, we made a trip up to Charlotte, NC to Ikea. We had never been before so we were really excited to go see what it was all about. I still can't believe how huge the store was! They had awesome show rooms set up with different combinations of furniture, art, and decor options. Since we're in the middle of remodeling our kitchen, the kitchen showrooms were my favorite! I got a super cute set of containers for my flour, sugar, and other items :) If you're thinking of remodeling or just redecorating a room, I would definitely recommend just going and walking through the show rooms to get some ideas.

DROPPAR series

Please excuse the wooden counter top....like I said, we're remodeling :)

{under my umbrella}

 

I guess that's what I get for being so excited about it being Spring and nice weather last week.  Yep, it's back to cold weather again, AND it's raining :( I think I need a better umbrella. Does anyone else ever have the problem when it's windy and raining a good gust of wind flips your umbrella inside out? Happens to me every time.

Raindrops Keep Falling Umbrella in Paisley

{blessed in this economy}

We received good news this weekend that my husband finally found a good job in this economy! Since he graduated from college, he's had a really hard time finding a job and was still working at the same place he was when he was in school. I'm so proud of him and happy that he will be doing something that he will enjoy. It's nice to see that college degree pay off!

Link up and let us know your random thoughts today!

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Friday Confessional

It's finally Friday!

Friday is my absolute favorite day of the week :)

And to make it better, it's time for Friday Confessional with Dandelion Wishes!

I confess... that I hate chemistry my chemistry teacher! Seriously, being the teacher that sucks the least is not a compliment to your teaching. And the grades on the last test from the class as a whole should indicate that to you!! Sincerely, your chemistry class....ugh!

I confess... that my brackets are not looking so hot this year for March Madness :( I refuse to ever listen to "expert" picks EVER again!

I confess... that my dad is currently beating me in my brackets...sigh...

I confess... that I'm loving watching all the games anyway!



I confess... that I still haven't started getting ready for my Army PT test.  It's in two weeks...

I confess... that while my mom is in town this weekend, we will may eat too much!  It's a hobby of ours, and we've already been planning :)

Well I think that's enough confessing for one day :)

Go over to Dandelion Wishes to link up your confessions!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

It's Wednesday!

Y'all know what that means...time for What I'm Loving Wednesday at Jamie's!

I'm loving that my mom is coming for the weekend tomorrow!

I'm loving that my sister will be here on Saturday!

I'm loving Spring already, and it's only been here for four days!

I'm loving my Jack Rogers! They're so cute and go with anything I'm wearing!

I'm loving these sunglasses!

{Prada}

{Ralph Lauren}

{D & G}

And, as always, I'm loving my sweet husband!

What are you loving today?

Top 2 Tuesday

Today I am playing along with Top 2 Tuesday!

Top 2 Dream Rooms!

1. Living Room

I definitely have dreams of having a big living room one day! I think living rooms are really important in a house because that's what everyone sees when you have guests!  I would love to have a living room with lots of windows to let a lot of sunshine in to brighten up the room. Something contemporary and cute but cozy so me and my husband have plenty of snuggle space :)

2. Patio

Ok, so I know that this isn't technically a room, but it's something I want really bad! And as long as we're dreaming.... :)

I definitely want to have a nice patio where I can sit outside and enjoy the beautiful South Carolina sunshine! I'd love to have a covered area so I could have a grill outside and nice tables and chairs without them getting weathered too bad. Plus it'd be nice to be in the shade sometimes on those hot summer days. Of course, I would need a pool for that also!!

Well, it was definitely nice to dream :)

Now back to reality...

Be sure to link up to Top 2 Tuesday and share your dream rooms!

Miscellany Monday

Happy Monday!

I thought if I sounded excited about it that I could convince myself to get excited, but the truth is I'm so so sad that my spring break is over and back to school I go today :(

Anyway, to make my day a little better I'm playing along with Carissa's Miscellany Monday at lowercase letters!

{Yankee Candle}

I absolutely love Yankee Candle! I love that no matter what season it is, they have a candle that makes my house smell just like that time a year.

One of my favorite Yankee Candle's is the Sun & Sand candle!

If you're wondering what it smells like....

...it smells exactly like the beach!

{spring}

Yesterday was finally the first day of Spring! I'm hoping that means no more cold spells and the warm weather is here to stay *fingers crossed* :)

Here are just a few things that I love about spring!

{cajun shrimp}

I am absolutely in love with OPI's 'cajun shrimp' color nail polish!  I went to get my nails done one time, and I had a color all picked out.  While I waited for them to get to me, I went through all the nail polish and found 'cajun shrimp'. I actually liked the color I had already picked out better, but I put it back all because I thought that 'cajun shrimp' was a way funner name for nail polish!! How ridiculous, I know, but it's been a favorite of mine ever since :)

Well I think that was pretty random :)

Link up your random thoughts with Carrissa at lowercase letters!