ROASTED GREEN BEANS

 

Growing up, green beans made an appearance on our table at least once a week. Unfortunately, they were of the canned variety, boiled until they were mushy. This resulted in me thinking that I did not like green beans, that they were something to be choked down but never enjoyed.

I was wrong.

When I was 18, I moved to Georgia. And let me tell you, Georgia knows how to cook fresh beans. I learned first hand how lovely fresh green beans are. The taste of a fresh green bean is simply not comparable to the canned ones. They are crisp and clean and delicious. As green bean season is approaching, my local grocery store has piles of them and my garden is full of buds on the bean plants (grow beans, grow!) Sometimes though, it's hard to think of a way to cook them other than just boiling them.  Enter: roasting. These roasted green beans are just yum.  I love the flavor of green beans cooked this way: lightly crispy and bursting with taste. Try them tonight!

 

 

Roasted Green Beans

from Shutterbean

 

 

Ingredients:

1lb green beans, trimmed

2 cloves garlic, sliced thin

2 swirls of olive oil

pinch of red pepper flakes

juice of half a lemon

salt and pepper

 

Preheat the oven to 400. On a large baking sheet, toss trimmed green beans with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes. Add salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Toss beans, and continue roasting for 15 minutes more, until beans are slightly browned and crispy looking. Serve warm.

 

Enjoy! 





HOMEMADE SCENTED PLAYDOUGH

Play dough is a favorite at our house. Truth? I fought against this. Play dough gets everywhere, the dried up pieces get stuck in the vacuum, it gets stuck in all the play pieces, my kids cannot open those little tiny plastic jars to save their lives. I tried to deprive my children from it-but in the end play dough is the clear victor. And secretly, it doesn't bother me. Especially now that I use this homemade play dough recipe I found on Pinterest.

This play dough is the best. It smells awesome, it's ready in 10 minutes, the colors are divine, it's super soft, and it's non toxic. And it can provide long stretches of entertainment for the littles. It also lasts forever (well, we made this batch over three months ago). We store it in a big Tupperware container and it has dried out at all! So while you may end up with dried chunks of it all over your floor, I promise it will be fun up until then.

 

Homemade Scented Play Dough

from The Idea Room

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tarter
1 package of unsweetened Kool Aid, color of your choice
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 cup water

Mix flour, salt, cream of tarter, and contents of the Kool Aid package together in a medium pot. Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat 3-5 minutes. When a ball forms, remove from heat. Remove play dough from pot (it will be very warm) and kneed until smooth. Play away!

Enjoy!

 

PLACES TO SEE: FLORA GRUBB GARDENS

 

 I have a love for plants and gardens. When the husband deployed a few years ago, I took Dylan and my sad self to visit his grandfather in San Diego. We went to the San Diego Botanical Gardens because I had heard they had an amazing children's garden (It's true. AMAZING. Visit if you can.). While there, on a whim, I picked up a book about container gardening. I went home to the desert and bought a ton of planters and went nuts. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, flowers; everything went into that teeny, tiny yard in containers and flourished. I've never looked back. Now, I have a huge garden with raised beds and I love every moment I spend in it.

So, for Mother's Day, my family took me to Flora Grubb Gardens, a place that I've been wanting to visit since I first read about them months ago in a Sunset magazine.

 

 

Folks, I am in love with a plant nursery.

 

 

 So beautiful, right? They are dedicated to low water plants and trees and the options are so amazing. The staff is super friendly and knowledgeable. They have people walking around with fresh squeezed lemonade like old-fashion cigarette girls. There are pathways and garden art and a playhouse.

 

 

It's basically plant heaven.

 

 

If you are in the San Francisco area and love plants, Flora Grubb Gardens is a must see. DO IT.

Don't hold back, you NEED those succulents. Enabling and I don't feel bad.

 

Flora Grubb Gardens

 

1634 Jerrold Ave, San Francisco, CA