Weekend in Asheville

We had a jam packed, beautiful fall weekend in Asheville this past weekend. The weather was perfect- chilly in the morning and it warmed up to low 60's during the day. This is going to be a long one, hope you enjoy!

Friday we started out lunch at Neo Cantina. In honor of a long weekend, we ordered white sangria- so refreshing and delicious.

The food was even better. I have never had such an amazing quesadilla in my life. I'm still dreaming about it and I will probably try to recreate it soon! It's called "the Asheville" and is packed with goat cheese, spinach, pico de gallo and black beans. 

We shopped all afternoon and had dinner at the club, but I was too tired to think about taking photos. After dinner, my sister introduced me to a "Dirty Shirley" which might be my new favorite cocktail....have you had one? It's a Shirley Temple with Vodka! Brilliant.

This is the view overlooking the golf course from the club we stay at. It's beautiful.

Then we went antique shopping and I found an irresistible bench for Stephen's man room. After that we headed to the Biltmore Estate, along with about 8,000 other people. It was SO crowded. I guess that is what happens the first weekend the Christmas decorations are up in the house! We had a blast touring and walking around the estate, nonetheless.

 Saturday night, we went back and had dinner at the Biltmore Inn. There is now a winery, several restaurants and the Inn on the property of the Estate. The girls continued their fun at a wine tasting before dinner!

And at the Inn for dinner...

My grandma lives in Asheville and she joined us for dinners both nights. It was so nice to be with her on Veteran's Weekend...my Grandpa was there in spirit. 

I thought about our Veterans all weekend long, including my sweet Grandpa. God Bless them! 

Christmas Cookies

I am back from a wonderful weekend in the mountains of North Carolina. I can't wait to share some pictures, but before I do I have to share this recipe that I made last night when we got home. You would think I would be tired after a really long drive, but after browsing pinterest for hours in the car and reading about everyone getting ready for Christmas, I decided I HAD to do something when I got home. I found this in the Southern Living Christmas at Home Issue that I picked up last week.
 So, here is what I made. You are going to want to make these!

FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER-CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup creamy peanut butter 

3/4 cup sugar 

1 large egg 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels 

Parchment paper

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together peanut butter and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in chocolate morsels.

2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

3. Bake at 350° for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets on a wire rack 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack, and let cool 15 minutes.

They are simply, delicious!! I had all of the ingredients at home besides the chocolate chips and parchment paper, major plus. And there is something wonderful about the smell of peanut butter baking in the oven, no? This is going into the recipe box and I will definitely be making another batch come Christmas to package up for little gifts. 

By the way, ELF was on tv last night, and the combination of that and cookies baking in the oven has me a little more in the spirit of the holidays, I love it.

Do you have any awesome Christmas cookie recipes to share? I am going to pack these cookies up and take them to work before I eat them all! Hope you had a wonderful weekend...xoxo

Weekend Getaway

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I am so excited to be taking a little getaway this weekend to the mountains of North Carolina with both Stephen's family and mine. While the men play golf and watch afternoon football, we are planning to tour the Biltmore, eat fabulous food, go shopping of course, and hopefully squeeze in a wine tasting! Hope you all have a great weekend scheduled as well! xoxo

Sarah Jane Studios

I came across the most adorable line of prints this morning (via pinterest, of course) and the more I looked at this website the more I loved. Here are a few of my favorite prints from Sarah Jane. These would be stunning in a little gallery wall in a nursery, for all of you moms out there! However, I think any room needs a touch of whimsy, and these would do that job perfectly. I'm inspired!

To see more of this shop, check out the website here. 

Have a wonderful day! xoxo

Birthday Wish List

Wow, I cannot believe it is already the second week of November! Since it is my birthday month, I wanted to share my lust list at the moment. This year for my birthday, I am asking for only "practical" things- like shoes, clothes, accessories for the home, and money towards a new sofa. Very practical, right? Things I will use EVERY day! No more jewelry for me this year! Here's the list.

Frye Boots

a new watch is practical, right?

New end table for the sofa

Tie Neck Blouse

I'm sure there will be more to come (just being honest!)....

Sweet hubby- those are actual links you can follow through to ;)

Chicken Stew for the Soul

Last night my sweet husband made us this stew for dinner. Soup/stew just sounded good because we both have some sort of cold after the weekend. I'm sure it has nothing to do with tailgating at 9 am at Carter Finley Stadium on Saturday (GO PACK!) 

Anyway, this recipe comes from my girl Christy Jordan and her cookbook Southern Plate. Christy says,

 "Please make this chicken stew. Its that good. Its so good that it actually bothers me to think that some of you might only look at the photos, read the tutorial, and never make it. Its so good that if I could, I would seriously arrange a time and place for all of us to meet up under a tent somewhere in the middle of the country just to serve you this chicken stew."

SOLD. 

CHICKEN STEW

Ingredients:

1 chicken

2 lg onions, chopped

7 cups water

4 cups canned tomatoes

6 med.potatoes, peeled and diced

3 Tablespoons sugar

2 cups frozen or canned whole kernel corn

2 Tablespoon butter

5 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons pepper

Directions:

-Cook chicken until done in water. Remove chicken from broth and discard skin. Separate meat from bones and shred meat.

-Dip off as much fat from the broth as possible.

-Simmer potatoes in 1 cup of broth in covered saucepan until done, do not drain. Mash potatoes slightly, keeping them lumpy.

-Add corn, onions, tomatoes, sugar, salt, and pepper to broth.

-Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

-Add potatoes and chicken and simmer slowly with lid off for at least 45 minutes.

-Right before serving, stir in butter and let it melt. Best if made a day ahead and reheated to serve.

(Y'all did expect butter to be in the stew right? We are in the South! haha)

Christy says to make a day ahead but we had ours the night of, and will be having those leftovers for lunch today. She also says it freezes well, which is great because Stephen and I are not good about eating leftovers for days at a time. I already packed up two containers of the soup for the freezer to have on another cold night. I also made some Crescent Rolls (round kind, love those) to serve with the stew, but I think mini saltines would have been great too. 

Everything I have made by Christy has been SO delicious and she somehow understands we don't want to spend a fortune at the grocery store and spend all night cooking. She makes it simple. Her dishes are southern and they remind me of something you would expect your mom to whip up. If you do not have her cookbook, I highly recommend it!!

Have a great Tuesday! xoxo

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to my best friend, a fabulous, wonderful, beautiful, caring and lovely mom! I am so blessed to have her as my mom and she deserves a wonderful day today. We had a great time together this weekend and I wish I was still home today with you! Love you Mom!

I also want to wish my sweet, beautiful friend Ashley a belated Happy Birthday, also. We were
 fast friends from the minute we met at orientation at Meredith, roommates, bridesmaids in each
other's weddings and now she is a fabulous mom herself.
Somehow in the craziness of last week I lost track of the date!
Happy Birthday Ash! Love you!

us back in the day!!

I am trying to fend off a cold and hopefully will be feeling 100% soon. Have a great day!