She's Movin | BBQ Shrimp Succotash

We officially have a mover on our hands. Little Miss on the go, and into everything these days. Including pulling-up and standing.

This is how I found her last night.

Let the baby-proofing begin.

Anyone else out there braving the Smocked Auction's sample sale in Dallas? My good friend Dot just moved to Dallas and went to the pre-sale yesterday. It was crazy. Let's just say that she has a little boy that is going to be set for the next year... and she also picked Annalee up a couple fun things too, including this adorable dress for her birthday.

Speaking of.... I can't believe she'll be ONE in 3 months. That's just crazy. Wasn't I just pregnant and typing "bump dates"?

Is it too early to start planning for her birthday? Surely that will take at least 3 months to plan, right?

All joking aside, what in the world do you do at a first birthday? Momma's, give me some advice!

Tuesday, we threw together a delicious dinner. Operation clean eating is going well, but we are both getting pretty tired of salads. Which I never thought I would say. I typically can eat a salad for just about every meal. Lately, it's the last thing I want for dinner.

But back to this recipe. I had planned on BBQ shrimpers on a salad, but nixed the salad and had to get creative with what we had in the fridge.

So, we'll call it BBQ shrimp succotash.

Prepare BBQ shrimp according to April's recipe.

Succotash 
1/2 bundle asparagus, chopped 
1 cup frozen corn
10 cherry tomatoes, halfed 
1 tbls garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Sauté asparagus in olive oil and garlic for 10 minutes. Add corn and tomatoes. Sauté 5-7 minutes until roasted. We served the shrimp on top, and poured some of the sauce on top to give the succotash that great flavor. We didn't even miss the bread on the side. Ok, maybe a little. But it was yumo!

Happy Thursday friends!

Papa Sam's Beef Stew

Sharing a family-favorite today. GranDe is the resident cook in the Elleard household, but Papa Sam has a few classics too, and this is one of them. We've made it a couple times ourselves, most recently this Sunday. It's perfect for a cold, rainy day. 

Papa Sam's Beef Stew

Serves 6-8 people

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 2-3 hours 

1 ½lbs sirloin beef tips (trim & cut to ¾ in size)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 beef stew seasoning pack 

1 can campbell’s cajun stewed tomatoes, slightly blended

1 can French onion soup

2 cans French style green beans, liquid removed

1 can small white navy beans, include liquid

6 large organic carrots, peeled and diced

3 small potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 medium white onion, sliced

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

1 teaspoon of lite salt

1/2 tablespoon black pepper

garlic powder, to taste

1 tablespoon Italian spice

1 oz worcestershire sauce

8 oz Cabernet Sauvignon vino

4 cups H2O, as needed

Directions

First, ice down or chill your favorite adult beverage. 

Heat olive oil in 2¼ qt. Dutch oven.

Add beef and lightly brown.

Spice meat with garlic powder only to taste while browning.

Add French onion soup and 2 cans H2O to meat, stir.

Add beef stew seasoning pack, stir.

Add veggies. Holding back potatoes and navy beans.

Add wine and all other spices and seasonings.

Add 2 cans water as needed to just cover the "fix-un’s."

Bring to a "bodacious boil" then simmer, stirring every other beverage or so.

Add potatoes and navy beans last hour or so of cook time.

Cook for “awhile,” or 2-3 hours until ready.

Note: Can be cooked in Crook Pot “But no stirring during beverage selection”

I hope you enjoy as much as we do!  It's a family favorite. 

Eating Clean | Target for your Feet!

This lenten season the hubs and I are taking a stab at eating clean. We are typically pretty good eaters, but decided we needed something to jump start even better eating - cutting out white enriched flour and added sugar. We are almost a week in, and I can already tell that I just feel better. My biggest temptations are {and have always been} breakfast treats and sweets. I've found some healthy clean eating recipes to help carve those temptations and wanted to share a few favorites.

Chewy Granola Bars | Mini Ham + Cheese Quinoa Bites

 Chicken Salad with Grapes | Sweet Potato + Black Bean Quinoa Salad 

Interested in more clean eating recipes? Follow my Pinterest Board. I'll be posting updates and sharing other recipes we love on the blog as well.

Looking for some fresh new kicks this season?  My everyday heels and flats are looking less-than-impressive these days, so I took advantage of Target's President's Day sale and re-stocked my closet yesterday with four new pairs of shoes, all below. Their sale has been extended through Saturday - use code GEORGE for 10% off.

Kelli Nude Pumps | Lainee Leopard Pumps | Celine Flats | Tevolio Hadia Bow Wedge 

Happy Tuesday friends! 

Hearts and Hugs

Our little stinker in her Valentine's day dress from cousin Emi. 

We had a great little Valentine's day week. that started a little early, aka, last sunday with doughnuts at Pure Eats after church.  The hubs had to travel early Friday to late Sunday, so we celebrated our Valentine's dinner at The Bistro on Wednesday, with Miss Annalee in tow - who was such an angel for us. After work we went to Ash Wednesday mass and decided just to go out and celebrate an early Valentine's. It was perfect.

J jetted off to Reno, NV early Friday and sweet pea and I had a nice low-key weekend - complete with pj's. Fixer-upper reruns, and lots of snuggle time.

I think Miss Annalee has finally found hr grove for sleep - going down between 8-9 and sleeping until around 7. It's been so nice for momma, but also for her - she wakes up so happy and rested! She has also been taking some good naps. Why are sleeping babies so darn cute?

That's mommy's Valentine's gift from daddy in the pic... he knows I love a good Lilly scarf!

J sent beautiful flowers to the office on Friday, and Mimi sent Annalee home with lots of valentine goodies for mommy and daddy. The card was my favorite.

Annalee is officially on the move these days. Time to start cleaning the floors and baby-proofing the house. Maybe that's how we'll spend our snow day today.

Happy President's Day my friends! We have a good couple inches on the ground already.

Stripes on Friday

Stripes Stripes and more Stripes! I'm obsessed. Everywhere I turn I see more that I love, so I thought today I would round up some of my favorites for Five on Friday. 

{one} Blue French Ticking Stripe Napkins

$28.00 via Etsy  

 {two} Striped Canves Tote 

$29.99 via Target

{three} Striped Boat Neck Tee

 $14.94 via Old Navy

{four} Factory Striped Scarf

$23.50 via. J.Crew Factory

{five} Striped Cardigan w/ Elbow Patch

$21.99 via GroopDealz

Join in the link-up for Five on Friday. Grab the button below and write about five of your favorites. 

Hope everyone has a great Friday. J is out of town, so it's just me and little bit for a few days. 

We have some Valentine's crafting to do - and a couple of Ikea boxes staring at me ready to be unpacked. New bar stools. YAY! We've been adding some final touches on the house that we never got around to two years ago when we moved. I think we just ran out of time and money. haha Once we finally finish, I'll get a post up. 

Looking forward to Sunday and cheering on our Auburn Tiger... Cam the man. Go Panthers! 

Happy weekend friends! 

Tasty Tuesday: Crockpot Beer Can Chicken

Happy Groundhog Day friends!! Guess who is excited for an early spring?!? This gal & her momma.

The snow was fun, but I'm so looking forward to warmer days ahead. Long walks and grilling out - and daylight when I leave the office. Are ya with me? 

For Tasty Tuesday I thought what could be better than a summertime favorite - brought indoors. Today I bring you Crockpot Beer Can Chicken. It's super simple and involves three ingredients. 

via.

Ingredients

1 lb. bone-in chicken 

{I used four legs and two thighs but, you could also try chicken breasts}

Tony Chachere's

1 can of beer - you're choice!

Place chicken in slow cooker breast side down if you're using them.

Pour beer over top.

Cover with Tony's. 

Cook on high for 4-5 hours {7 hours on low} until chicken is tender and falling off the bone. 

Remove chicken carefully from slow cooker and place on platter. I served with steamed broccoli and the most delicious twice backed potatoes. 

Cheers to the faint taste of spring my friends! 

New Month Newbies

Instead of new week newbies, we have some new month newbies today.

Happy February friends! It's time for candy hearts, valentine kisses, king cakes, moon pies and beads.  But first, let's get organized.

I love a new month. A fresh clean calendar, a new "to-do" list and a clean slate to make things happen. Today, I wanted to share a few items to get ahead, start fresh and feel good about yourself.

SPREAD CHEER

Does anyone else tune-in for Emily Ley's sunday sales? Every Sunday she lists 3 items for sale - everything from planners to notecards - at a fraction of the cost. Great little gifts for Mother's Day, Easter and Valentine's. If you don't already follow her on Insta - join in the fun now and mark your calendar for Sunday at 9 p.m.

Speaking of little gifts or happies for Valentine's Day, Easter, etc. I'm trying to get better about these holidays sneaking up on me. I used to be really great about remembering birthdays, and especially holidays, sending little treats to my friends, their babies, and co-workers.  But 2015 got busy and all my creative, crafty, think-ahead planning sorta got thrown out the window... right along with sleep.

Talk it up to this new parenting thing, but I miss my old thoughful self.

So starting this month, I'm making an effort. Join me! Today, check your calendar - or Facebook if needed {no shame} and make a list of birthday's and holidays in February and March. It's always great to be thinking a month ahead... but let's not get too ahead of ourselves. We're still shopping for February. {Feb 8 - Emi, Feb 14 - St. Valentine's Day, Feb 29 - Megan} You get the hang of it. {Mar 6 - Lyns, Mar 8 - Jesse, Mar 11 - Hadley, Mar 12 - Allie, 18 - Mimi/Matt... sounds like I have some planning to do for March. }

Need a birthday reminder? Try the Happy Birthday App or Birthday Alarm, a free service to send you a text or email as a reminder. It also allows you to send a free card, order a gift, or send them a text.

KEEP MOVING

I'm also back on the Fitbit bandwagon. I'm charged up and ready for a good week! Does anyone else have fit bit challenges with friends?  Maybe that could be some motivation to get back to my 10,000 steps a day. For all you mommas-to-be, I'm convinced this was one reason I was able to stay in shape throughout my pregnancy. That little reminder on my wrist kept me moving. 

Some quick ways to get more steps in today - 

Instead of sending an email or text, walk to your co-workers office and chat. 

Instead of mailing a check to the business around the corner, hand-deliver. 

Going  home for lunch - slide on those kicks and take a walk around the block. 

Going out for lunch - make a lap around the block after you eat. Or pick a place you can walk from your office.

Keep a gym bag packed in your car. 

Go immediately after work. Heck, change before you leave the office. Don't go home and temp yourself with a glass of wine and that cozy sofa. It will be waiting for you when you get home an hour later. 

STAY IN THE KNOW

I'm constantly trying to stay up to date on news - both local and national - and let's be honest. Who has time to read four newspapers, watch the daily news, and keep tabs on CNN throughout the day. 

Not this gal. 

What I do have time for - one email.

The Daily Skimm. A daily email (Monday thru Friday) with the latest news and tie-bits to keep you engaged in conversation at happy hour. Join today for free!

The hubs keeps tabs on the news via The Drudge Report. Good for skimming the headlines. 

PLAN TIME WITH A LOVED ONE

Schedule a date night and a girls night now - before the month fills up. 

One piece of advice we always got when we were dating or newly engaged was to make time for a date night. So once we got engaged and picked a date, we did. We got married on the 27th of May, so starting in September we planned something fun for the 27th of each month - and it couldn't be wedding planning related. We went ice skating, carved pumpkins, treated ourselves to a fancy dinner out, planned a movie night - with lots of buttery popcorn, went for a bike ride, etc. It was great! 

We tried to keep it up after getting married. Then life happened. 

So, once we got pregnant and learned the due date, we started our tradition again. This time on the 10th of the month, since baby Lyons was due on June 10, we did something fun on the 10th of each month leading up to June. This year, we decided to keep up that tradition and plan a date night on the 10th of each month again... so February 10 it is. Time to call a sitter.  

Here's to getting organized and staying motivated this month. Best of luck!