The waffle was left over from breakfast with Bryan and his folks at Tommy’s Country Ham House and I topped it with fruit from our Milk and Honey Organics produce basket. Kiwi, Satsuma, Honeycrisp Apple, Pear, and Blueberries drizzled with agave nectar! So yummy!
Posted in Organic, Photography
If you love beautiful photographs of delicious food, fun crafts and home decorating ideas that will make you smile, then check out Sweet Paul! They also have recipes to go along with the beautiful food pics and some DIY gift wrap inspiration! Enjoy!
Recently he’s been putting out digital magazines of his collections. Last year, he put out a Holiday edition that featured ideas for Thanksgiving and Christmas! So, if it’s your turn to host this year’s Thanksgiving feast for your family, and you still don’t know what you’ll be serving, check out some of Sweet Paul’s ideas here. Here’s a glimpse:
And for the latest Winter edition of Sweet Paul's Magazine, check this out!
Doesn't French Toast Stars sound like a fabulous Christmas Morning breakfast?!
Check out the adorable tartan Scottie ornaments!
Don't forget to check out back issues of the magazine on the left nav bar when you're viewing any of the editions.
My favorite edition to date is the Special Kids edition from this past spring! This article is full of recipes for homemade organic baby food! So great! And the rest of the magazine has adorable crafts and kid-friendly recipes and party ideas!
I always look forward to the next edition of Sweet Paul Magazine! I hope you will too! Enjoy!
Posted in Hospitality, Photography, Recipes, Resources
Tagged beautiful, crafts, digital download, entertaining, free, gifts, holiday, hosting, magazine, organic baby food, parties, Recipes, sweet paul, sweetpaulmag, thanksgiving, virtual magazine
I stumbled upon an amazing blog that is affiliated with a magazine called The Party Dress. It has wonderful ideas for themed parties, like the Popcorn Party pictured below, and it’s filled with beautiful pictures and tantalizing recipes that would make Martha Stewart drool. Check it out!
Picture from ThePartyDress.net
We love hosting themed parties! One of our favorites is a Book Exchange party. Everyone brings a wrapped book that they love and want to share (no pranks allowed, unless you want to). Then we follow white elephant rules for the exchange. It’s so much fun!
In addition to the book exchange, we theme the food and ask everyone to bring something to share (which takes a lot of stress and cost off of you as the host). My friends Rachel & Dave have done roasting parties (bring something to roast on the fire; bonfire and coffee provided) and a flat bread party (bring something to top flat bread: sauces, dips, spreads, etc.). At our last book party, we asked everyone to bring a healthful hors d’oeuvre to share. And this next one is an Irish Pub Party theme!
What themed parties have you thrown (or attended) that were a big success with the guests?!
Posted in Hospitality, Photography, Recipes, Resources, Time Management/Organization
Tagged blog, magazine, party ideas, popcorn party, Recipes, the party dress, themed parties
illustration by Dave Siglin
Our friends Dave & Rachel put together an awesome city guide for Greenville, SC, where we live. Rachel did most of the writing and researching, and Dave drew a special piece of artwork, featuring some highlights of the city (see illustration above). Go Team Siglin!!
Greenville, SC, truly is a great place! In fact, it was featured in one of USAirway’s in-flight magazines this past year, with an 18-page, full-color article! Rachel and I talk about the city guides on Design*Sponge often (after all, Design*Sponge is one of our favorite blogs to follow). So, it’s fun to finally see a post on Greenville there!
It was also fun to be one of the few who got to read it prior to press! Thanks for the sneak peek, Rachel! And one of my husband’s photos was featured there too! (Click on the picture below to be directed to his photography site. More pictures to be added soon.)
photo courtesy of Bryan McKinnon (my husband)
Check out the full city guide on Design*Sponge here: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/11/greenville-city-guide.html.
Posted in Photography, Random
Tagged city guide, Dave & Rachel, design sponge, Greenville SC, photography, ShadowLight
Our friends, Greg and Catherine, joined us for dinner on Friday night. Catherine focuses on a raw vegan diet as much as possible, so we wanted to have a fun spread. They did, however, provide some venison that had been given to them. Everything was delicious and very simple. Greg and Catherine arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon. We prepped the Raw Pumpkin Pie and began the meat marinade while we caught up and enjoyed each others’ company. We ate around 5 and finished with a great board game. It was so much fun to cook as couples and try new things.
Nothing says southern hospitality like a glass of iced tea! (Of course it's sweet!) All photography in this post courtesy of Bryan McKinnon, www.shadowlight.smugmug.com.
The Spread: Brown Rice Bar with Fresh Mix-Ins, Pan-fried Venison, Tossed Salad with Mushrooms and Tomatoes, Carrot Salad with Cinnamon, and Sweet Tea.
Meat for the Man Folk: venison marinated in apple cider vinegar, garlic salt, onion salt, pepper and olive oil for 1 hour prior to battering in Italian panko (bread crumbs) and pan frying in canola oil. Yum!
Fresh Raw Ingredients for the Rice Bar: tomatoes, zucchini, apples, carrots, green onions, radishes, green and red peppers, white onions, pumpkin, garlic.
More Rice Bar Add-Ins: Pomegranate, Goat Cheese, Parsley, Paprika, Curry, and Mint Leaves. I highly recommend the combination of garlic and curry. This was a great feature and I will definitely serve it again. So tasty, and everyone gets to pick their own add-ins! You can please vegetarians, and it doesn't matter if the rice gets cold because it still tastes great!
We concluded the evening with a rousing game of Settlers of Catan, Organic French Press Coffee for the ladies and Earl Grey Tea for the men. (Okay, I took this pic, obviously.)
Posted in Kitchen, Photography, Recipes
Tagged brown rice, catan, catherine hosack, cooking, double date, raw, rice bar, salad, settlers, sweet tea, unfried rice, vegan, veggies, venison
Raw Pumpkin Pie: all photography in this post courtesy of Bryan McKinnon, www.shadowlight.smugmug.com.
My friend Catherine and her husband Greg were coming over for dinner Saturday night. She eats a mainly raw vegan diet, so I wanted to make a special treat that neither of us had tried before: Raw Pumpkin Pie. We followed the recipe by Veronica Bosgraaf in the Gluten-Free e-Cookbook I posted a link to a while back, and it turned out surprisingly well! I couldn’t believe how much the filling looked like a traditional pumpkin pie. I brought an extra slice to my friend Lonnette at work, and she raved about it on Facebook, asking for the recipe. So, here you go…
Ingredients for Crust: 2 c. almonds, 1 c. dates, 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon.
Pulse crust ingredients in food processor, then press into glass pie plate.
Next, take half of a small pie pumpkin (about 6" diameter), peel, pit, and cube. That's right folks, no cooking involved. Make sure you have a sturdy peeler or use a sharp knife.
Filling Ingredients: 2 c. pumpkin puree (this means you will need to pulse the pumpkin cubes before measuring this ingredient), 1 to 1 1/2 c. dates, 1/4 c. raisins, 1/2 c. cashews, 2 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. each nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom, and a dash (1/8 tsp.) salt. We also added about 1/3 c. water to get the right consistency (add this slowly, 1 Tbsp. at a time, as each pumpkin may have a varying amount of moisture).
Pulse on low in food processor for several minutes. Ours took about 10-12 minutes and about 1/3 c. water to look right. Scrape into pie crust.
Spread evenly into crust and refrigerate for 2 hours, or till set.
The Finished Product: Raw Pumpkin Pie
I served mine with a dollop of whipped cream; Catherine had hers all natural.
Mel & Catherine (no, we did not plan to match)
Posted in Photography, Recipes
Tagged bryan mckinnon, catherine hosack, gluten-free, photography, pumpkin, pumpkin pie, raw, recipe, ShadowLight, vegan, veronica bosgraaf
One of my beautiful poms! All photography in this post by Bryan McKinnon, www.shadowlight.smugmug.com.
I went to my friendly, local grocer this Saturday and picked up two pomegranates. They were on sale for $2.49 each. When I got to the cash register, the first one rang up as $2.79. So, I asked the cashier to adjust the order. As a secondary note, the item was misspelled in their system (pomagrenete). I was able to spell the item correctly, so the manager gave me both for $2.49 total. Who says vocab lists never got you anywhere?! Anyway, here’s what you really want to know…how to eat a pomegranate:
1. Cut pomegranate in half.
The juicy kernels are called arils. Some Mediterraneans eat the white segments between the arils, but I discard it with the skin.
2. Cut each half into 3 or 4 segments. Hold each segment by its end and invert the segment's arc, forcing the arils to loosen and separate.
3. Discard skin and white segments. Enjoy!
The name pomegranate means seeded apple. It’s often used as a religious symbol of fruitfulness, as each fruit contains around 600 arils! This fruit is delicious on its own, and is often added to Persian dishes, like soups and salads.
Caution: the juice will stain, so if you’re feeding it to children, I recommend letting them wear play clothes and eating outside. If the juice gets on something you really like, like it got on my white kitchen curtains in my first pomegranate experience, simply rinse with cold water and wash immediately.
Posted in Kitchen, Photography
Tagged bryan mckinnon, how to, pomegranate, ShadowLight
One of my dear friends got married today. It was around 80 degrees, which is a little high for October, but it was perfect. The wedding was at their church and they hosted a picnic reception outdoors in the shade. It was beautiful! Congratulations to Philip and Sarah! I wish you both the best!
Beautiful Ceremony
The Happy Couple
Cupcake Kisses
Adorable Decorations
Roomies from Summer 2004 at the Wilds
Beautiful Flowers
The Reception
Balloons and Lanterns lined the path into the reception
Love running into old friends: Kim and I were roommates summer 2000
More Flowers
Me and the Bride. Love that girl!
Favors
Posted in Photography, Random
Tagged flowers, philip van reijn, reception, sarah strawhorn, wedding
God has been so good to us! We’ve had a very busy few weeks couple of months, but even through some difficulties, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Lord has been teaching us so many things through church, teaching the names of God to our fourth grade Sunday School class with Dave & Rachel, various discussions and times of prayer, and personal study. I’ve been reading a really good book recently, called Turn Away Wrath by Rand Hummel. It’s a simple layout and easy to follow with practical illustrations with good use of scripture references to backup the key concepts.
Bryan’s job here is changing gears in a fast way and we’re not sure how much longer he’ll be with the company. So, we’re looking for a job for him, either here or wherever God has for us. We’ll see what the Lord does. Either way, we have to be ready. If he’s unable to find a job for a while, we have some reserves and no debt, but I’d like to keep our savings growing and I’m not sure we’d be able to remain status quo without his income contribution. So, we’re being flexible and getting ready for change (which can sometimes be a little scary).
We’ve been able to sell one of our cars. This was a great story: we actually sold it to a couple in our church who needed a second vehicle. We put it up on FB and the blog late on Friday night, got a call Saturday, and signed the car over on Sunday, with cash in our pockets. Praise the Lord! The hope is to sell the other one too and buy one vehicle, like a small SUV, wagon, or truck, that would be good for hauling stuff, if and when the need arises.
I also started a new side business selling JuicePlus+ (check out the JuicePlus page on this blog for more details). I’ve done a lot of research on it (and so have lots of medical journals and doctors). It’s a great product! I thought that the more I researched, the more I’d be disinterested and become more and more skeptical, but the opposite is true. I love that it’s made from whole foods (17 fruits, vegetables, and grains)! I love that it’s organic (tested twice to ensure there’s no pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, etc.)! I love that it’s cheaper than a cup of coffee each day (about $1.39 per adult per day, and you can get a free children’s subscription with every adult’s)! And I love that it fits with my lifestyle (still wanting to be a personal trainer and stay-at-home mom some day in the future)! Oh, yeah, and I’m still training two PT clients (they’re so much fun!).
We’re also downsizing. We’re selling a bunch of excess furniture, accessories, etc. (Check out the For Sale! page on this blog.) And we spruced up the house with new carpet, fresh paint, and decluttering. The new carpet has made significant improvements; it was a TON of work though. We saved a bunch of money by tearing out the old carpet and removing the toilet so they could lay linoleum in the bathroom. And we moved the furniture ourselves for an additional savings. And the house is officially a wallpaper-free zone! If the next house we want to buy has wallpaper in more than one room, I’m pretty sure it will be a deal breaker for me! Way too much time and effort to remove it!
We made a long weekend vacation to Colorado over Labor Day weekend to see friends and visit their church. Redeemer Bible is a church plant from our church here, Heritage Bible Church. Heritage does Shepherding Groups every other Wednesday night. It’s a chance to be involved in a small group and get to know each other in a more intimate and caring setting. We usually meet in homes and sip coffee or tea as we share what we’re learning and pray for one another. Over the last three years, God has moved in the hearts of about 75% of the small group we were involved in to move out of Greenville and help other churches. Some moved to Atlanta and Michigan, others are moving to Ohio, some are praying about other church plants in DC and NYC, and many have already moved to Brighton, Colorado. Our trip to Colorado was wonderful! We brought along some of our best friends, and really enjoyed ourselves. And who doesn’t love Colorado?! We spent a good long vacation there last October and helped the pastor and his family get settled into their new home. It’s our dream to be able to be out there.
So after all that, last night we met with our realtor and the house will be going on the market today! Again, we’ll see what God does. In the meantime, we are ready to go yet willing to stay.
One thing that’s unique with our situation is that we have an amazing realtor (Mark Hoagland of Keller Williams Realty) that I’ve known for years (back from my Ohio days) who now goes to the same church as we do. After he took pictures of the house, we sat down to a delicious dinner. We finished the evening with hot tea and signing documents. Check out the menu:
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Sweet & Spicy Chicken (I used the sweet & spicy rub I’ve talked about so much and baked the chicken for 40 minutes in a 400F oven), Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Cauliflower (chopped up half a head of cauliflower, sprinkled it with 1 tsp. of minced garlic and 1/3 block of fresh parm and baked at 450F for 30 minutes), Fresh Salad (prepared by the realtor and his wife, it included fresh lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, sunflower seeds, and a balsamic vinagrette), and Whole Wheat Pitas (served with butter, fresh mint, feta cheese and sliced radishes).
The MLS# is 1211903 (click on the number for the listing and pictures of the house). In the meantime, we ask you to pray with us for direction and God’s timing. Thanks so much! Ready to go, willing to stay, and enjoying the journey along the way!
~Melissa
Posted in Photography, Random, Recipes
Tagged cauliflower, chicken, for sale, house for sale, JuicePlus, keller williams, life changes, mark hoagland, pitas, ready to go, rub, salad, SC, taylors, willing to stay
In April, my husband Bryan and his best friend Joshua took a road trip to NYC over a weekend (No Girls Allowed!). I can’t wait to go to NYC with him next time! Anyway, they came back with these gorgeous pictures! Thought you’d enjoy them. If you like these, my husband’s photography website is www.shadowlight.smugmug.com. We love capturing special moments for people, so please call us if you have one coming up. Happy Independence Day!
Meet My Husband Bryan!
Meet Best Friend Joshua
Cityscape
Dusk
The Universal Soldier - To All Who Gave Us Freedom, Thank You!
Long May She Wave!
May every church we see remind us of the freedom of religion we have been bestowed.
Brooklyn Bridge
iHeart Apple!
Twinkle Lights
Central Park
Lady Liberty
Posted in Photography, Random
Tagged 4th of July, Bryan, freedom, Independence Day, July 4th, liberty, NYC, photography, ShadowLight
