The Garcia's

Monday, November 8, 2010

Happy Fall Y'all!

YEA.... It's Fall!!

YEA.... It's Fall!!

The weather is finally changing and now I feel like Fall is really here. I have to say that Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the colder weather, the smells of fall - spiced pumpkin, cider, and fires burning, love getting out my crock pot and cooking chili and roast and tomato soup and grilled cheese. I also love tights, boots, scarfs, and hats, all things that keep me warm during the fall. With all of that said, I think I love decorating my house for the fall the most.

I try to keep my decor for Halloween and Thanksgiving the same. We of course carve a pumpkin and it goes out on the front porch, but that is just about all of the Halloween decor I put out. Instead, I fill my tables with small pumpkins, gourds and some foliage. I do replace my Jack-O-Lantern with a cute scarecrow.

I hope you enjoy the decor I put up this year.

This is a new addition. I saw this at a gift shop when I was with my mom a few weekends ago. I thought it was really cute. I know our mail box needs a little work but that will have to come later.

My front porch!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I will be blogging about our Halloween weekend later this week so keep your eye open for the cutest turtle ever...

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Garden Vegetable Chicken Skillet

Garden Vegetable and Chicken Skillet

Photo by: Taste of Home

I normally don't blog about recipes but after last nights meal, that might change. On the menu last night at the Garcia's was Garden Vegetable and Chicken Skillet. I found this recipe in my Simple and Delicious magazine. On Sunday I was looking through the 6 month old magazine for some dinner ideas and ran across it. I deiced it was time to give it a try.

I chopped all the vegetables a head of time because Wednesday nights are really hard to get dinner on the table before we leave for church. What I really love about this recipe is that you are not limited to the list of vegetables given. I added yellow peppers to the mix and a few more carrots. Next time I am going to add more veggies to the mix . Also if you wanted to make it a little more heart healthy you could substitute olive oil instead of the butter.

Garden Vegetable and Chicken Skillet

1-1/2 lbs. boneless chicken, cut into cubes
1 medium yellow summer squash, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 Tbsp. butter
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup uncooked instant brown rice
1-1/4 cups water
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

In a large skillet, saute the chicken, squash, onion, and carrot in butter for 5-6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink; drain. Add the spinach, garlic, salt, thyme, and pepper; cook for another 2 minutes.

Stir in rice and water, Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in lemon juice.

This is a must try meal. Let me know what you think!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

DIY Art Project

The last time we were at Ikea we picked up these white frames for $2.99. I wanted them to go in our almost finished guest bath. Click here for some before and afters. It's still not done, we have a few minor things to do before it is completed.
Justin had a great idea to paint a really cool skyline on them, however the painting didn't turn out like Justin had hoped because the frame was so small. We scrapped that idea and starting brainstorming something new. While I was shopping at Hobby Lobby I came across some really pretty scrap paper that I thought might look good in the frames. I grabbed the paper on sale for only $1.00 for all three sheets. I measured and cut my paper and put them into the frames. For only $10.00 I have the perfect piece of art for our guest bathroom.

What is so great about this artwork is that when I am ready for a change I only need to get new paper. I love this because I like to change things up every once in a while.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Washington DC

At the beginning of October Justin and I took a trip to Washington, D.C. to visit our friends, the Grants. Justin and I flew out of Jackson early on a Friday morning. After waiting for an hour an a half for our delayed flight we boarded the plane and took off.

After landing in D.C., Kelly picked up us from the Metro and we went back to her house for lunch and a quick rest. Kelly has the cutest baby girl Addison. This is the same sweet baby who we had the Sip 'n' See for in July. She took a nap and ate, then out the door we went. Kelly's husband works in D.C. with computers. Since Justin is a computer guy too, we went a visited him at work. While in D.C. we just walked around the capital and had dinner at Union Station.

Over the next 3 days we toured a lot of D.C. and visited with the Grant Gang. Justin and I also had lunch with a family friend, Ms. Nancy. It was great see her. It had been about 15 years since we had seen each other (the last time I was in D.C. with my family).

We walked a lot while in D.C. One day we walked about 7.8 miles...yes, later that night we mapped it out on Google Maps. Here is the list of touristy things we did:

Toured the capital
Washington Monument
Lincoln Memorial
White House
Library of Congress
National Archives
Smithsonian American History Museum
Smithsonian Natural History Museum
International Spy Museum
Smithsonian Art Museum

This is a replica of the statue "Freedom" that resides on top of the Capitol.

Mixed in all of the touristy things we had some great hang out time with the Grants. I think all Justin and I did was get Addison off of her schedule. She was so much fun to play.

Our first night in D.C.