Honey Lime Chicken & Veggies

This has become my quick go-to weekday meal when I just don't know what to make! It's so simple, yet Sebastien always has seconds (or thirds)! It's always nice when he gets excited about it every time we have it. Plus it's made with stuff that we always have at the house, so I don't ever have to make a special trip to the grocery store - amazing :)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
10 ounces chicken (I usually use 2 chicken breasts)
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 bags Asian veggies (steam in the bag kind - picture below!)

Directions:
1. In large plastic bag, combine flour & cayenne pepper. (I've started using more cayenne than just the 1/4 tsp because we like our food hot!)
2. Add 10 ounces cut into strips. Shake to coat.
3. Brown chicken in butter on all sides.

I cut them smaller before serving, but it's easier to cook this way!

4. Combine lime juice, honey, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce & pour over chicken.
5. Cook 1 - 2 minutes.
6. Add veggies to the pan (after you've steamed them of course) & mix it around just to get the sauce on everything... duh.
7. Enjoy!

*Last time I made this (last night), I added a little more of everything so we had more sauce to cover all the veggies. We're having the leftovers tonight! Perfect :)

XOXO,

Antique Shopping

Moving has been ... interesting. I don't necessarily have a smaller apartment, but the space is definitely laid out differently. I went from having a bathroom with 2 sinks & TONS of counter/cabinet space, to having a bathroom with a pedestal sink & a medicine cabinet. Don't get me wrong, my bathroom here is ADORABLE! We even have original black & white tiles :)

However, less counter and storage space means I can't really get ready in my bathroom. Problem? Mom will fix it! Now I just get ready at my desk! Great plan!

Oh but wait... my desk only has 2 drawers, so where can I keep all my desk stuff if I have to keep my make up & hair stuff in there too? Problem? Mom will fix it! "Get a new desk!" Easy enough.

So when Mom came to town, we decided to go to some antique shops in search of a keyhole desk because they have drawers down both sides. Sounds simple (& FUN!), but it wasn't so simple... and not so fun after awhile :( 

We looked all on Craigslist (eh), but I really wanted to have the fun of finding it at an antique store! So we went to Alexandria, VA - unsuccessful. It was a cute town for sure but didn't have what we were looking for...buuuuut it did have 2 GORGEOUS lamps & a mahogany planter for Mom! Yay!

The next day we went to Fredericksburg, VA - unsuccessful. Again, a cute town but didn't have what we wanted...except a cute "arrow" that sticks out from the wall with cute, festive wooden things hanging off of it! (For me) It's way cuter than it sounds.

We were having trouble finding any keyholes desks let alone ones that we liked. So...we went to Lucketts.

Yes, Lucketts, VA. The name alone says WINNER! Haha. But it was the BEST place for antiques. We actually came across this antique place on the way to Lucketts from Fredericksburg. Check it out! You will see why we had to make a Uturn!

Isn't it fabulous?? I was completely in love when we got inside & KNEW this is where I would find my desk. SUCCESS!! It was a type of store where a few different vendors rented out a space & displayed their pieces. Here is some of what they had downstairs:

OMG - LOVE LOVE LOVE. Seeing these pictures makes me wants to go back. There are so many treasures to be found in places like these. There was a whole upstairs too!

 I actually didn't take any pictures when we got to Lucketts because we were in a HUGE hurry to beat the closing time clock, but I ended up getting an awesome shelf at one of the stores there. It sits a little crooked, but I believe it was the top of a different piece of furniture. It's really different, and I LOVE it so much. Pictures of that later - still have to repaint it. 

Pictures of the desk later too because it went under a renovation! Just wanted to share some great places to go antique shopping and remind everyone of how much more fun it is to find a really special piece & change it to make it exactly what you want. Thanks for reminding me of that, Momma!!

XOXO,

Red Snapper & Black Beans

While waiting for the Texas Bar Results to come out, there was no doubt in my mind that Sebastien had passed. However, when we found out it was actually true we wanted to celebrate!! Instead of going out to a fancy dinner, I decided to clean the house & cook one myself... ah the celebration of the poor :)

Here is Tobias waiting in the clean family room 

Even though the snapper was a bit pricey, this dish turned out yummy, so it was worth it for a once in a while type of thing!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup canned black beans, drained & rinsed
3 Tbs chopped red onion
2 Tbs olive oil, divided
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp salt, divided
1/8 tsp pepper, divided
1-2 drops hot pepper sauce (although I added a lot more!)
3 Tbs flour
2 red snapper fillets, 8 oz each (you can also use grouper)
1.5 tsp butter
1 Tbs minced fresh cilantro

Directions:
1. In saucepan, combine beans, onion, 1 Tbs oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, 1/8 tsp salt, dash pepper, & pepper sauce. Cook, uncovered, over low-heat for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, in shallow bowl, combine flour, & remaining salt & pepper. Dip fillets in flour mixture.

I wasn't sure if I could cook it with the skin on or not, so I decided to take it off...grossest thing EVER. It felt sooo fishy.

3. In a large skillet, heat butter and remaining oil over medium heat. Cook fillets 5-6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Top with bean mixture; sprinkle with cilantro.

Not the best picture, but I love when my boys play together!! And how do you like our "kitchen table"??  It doubles as a coffee table. HA! 

 Hope you enjoy making this dish too!!

XOXO,

Rally to Restore Sanity

So this is a little bit late, but on October 30th I took advantage of living in DC & went to my first "political" rally! Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert (of The Daily Show and Colbert Report fame, respectively) put on a Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on the National Mall. There was an estimated 250,000 people in attendance to hear the musical guests and other speakers.

Sebastien & I got separated from our group and thought we would just catch up with them when we got there...didn't happen.

Here I am sporting my Halloween shirt!

Always exciting to see the Capital

People on their way to the Rally

These people were from Hawaii!! Crazy

There were so many people there our phones didn't even work!

This is where we waited until we got in. 

There were 3 different sections - VIP (who knows how you get in there!), Special Guest (had to have a ticket), and regular...ew. No one wants to be just regular! So I sat on an electrical box until we convinced the guards at the gate (yes guards!) to let us in as Special Guests :)

SWAT Team!

Collective Cheek Pop!

Haha I liked this instruction - laugh like a mad scientist! This is the view from my seat on the box

Kid Rock

Finally Inside!!!! WOO!

It was a really fun day with GREAT weather!! The overall message was basically think for yourself. Try to see through the games that are being played in the media and politics right now and vote for who you think is right and who can change what needs to be fixed. There was no blatant support for either democrats or republicans, which I thought was great. Thank you Jon & Stephen!!

XOXO,

DC Day Trip: Skyline Drive

A couple weeks back, I decided it would be fun to take advantage of the beautiful fall season here on the East Coast & go to Skyline Drive. It's actually part of Shenendoah National Park in Virginia. It took the three of us (Sebastien, Tobias, & myself) about 2 hours to get there from DC, but that included us getting lost...oops! It should probably take about 1.5 or so.

It costs $15 to take the 1.5 drive down Skyline - something I wasn't aware of until we got there...

This was our first attempt at a family picture on the mountain

A fellow traveler offered to take it for us

We brought a picnic in the fabulous picnic backpack/basket Isa gave me for Christmas last year, but there weren't really any places to picnic except giant areas in the forest where you couldn't see the pretty views. Even though we were STARVING, I didn't want to stop there. We drove about 30 miles in & found a spot at an observation spot that seemed to be big enough to set up a picnic.

We had stopped at the Farmer's Market in DuPont earlier that day & gotten some cranberry pecan bread & a couple jars of jam that we wanted to try :) YUMMY!!

Notice Tobias is wearing his Texans bandana b/c they had a big game that day! 

Sebastien is on this picnic because the game was not on TV :)

I went to Skyline Drive when I was little & living in Va, & I just remember the trees being SO beautiful! I kind of jumped the gun going so early into Fall this time though. The trees hadn't really changed that much, so while the view was really pretty, it wasn't the full "Skyline Drive Effect" that I had hoped for.

My mountain version of the "feet on the beach" picture

So as you can see, it's pretty but there aren't a whole lot of colors going on. Maybe we'll get to go another time this month! Fall trees changing is one of my FAVORITE things, so I want to be sure I take full advantage while I'm in a place where they actually change!!

XOXO,