End of July...

Well, as July comes to a close, our little family has been battling illnesses! I apologize it's been so long since my last post! I left last Friday to go on a Bachelorette weekend and came home to my poor sick husband! He was battling soar throat, chills, achiness, etc. all weekend! He was glad to have me back home to take care of him, but by Tuesday I got the exact same thing he had! By mid-week he was having to make me grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup! That's the beauty of marriage....it has been a team effort getting through this past week. I am so blessed to have such a sweet husband to take care of me. After lots of Nyquil, Clariton, Sudafed, etc.....we both still have a lingering cold/congestion! Ugh!

If you've called me this week, I'm sorry I haven't returned calls yet! I promise I'll call you back this week! ;)

I have lots to fill you in on since the last post! Let's start with Brittany Guidice's Bachelorette Weekend! It took place at the Amelia Island Plantation Resort and it was absolutely beatutiful! If I could put a soundtrack to this post, I would most definitely be playing the song Dynamite right now....that was our anthem of the weekend! I met so many great new girls and we had a blast! We danced up a storm by night and beached it by day. I haven't laughed so hard in such a long time! Thanks girls! We couldn't have asked for a better weekend to celebrate Miss Brittany!

Upon my return to Young Harris, last Monday marked one of the most dramatic days we've had in the mountains. I kid you not! Our little Jamie has been chasing a lot of squirrels lately. Well, Monday morning was no different. She ran out into the woods behind our cabin....except I caught a glimpse of gold fur running through the woods as well! It was a deer! I would see a flash of fur from the deer and then Jamie running through the woods, then I heard yelping and growling! I was so worried Jamie was going to hurt this deer, so I yelled out at her.....before I knew it, the deer was chasing Jamie up to our cabin! He was in full on attack mode! I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.....

Angry deer chases Jamie up to our cabin.

Fearless deer, just feet away from us.

Scared dog.

Deer waits in the woods for Jamie.

Jamie gets brave again....sniffs some bushes and.....

Out jumps a baby fawn! Click on this picture and look closely....you can see the white spots on it and everything! So that explains the angry deer...She was a protective mama!

Deer hunting down Jamie again... (This went on all day...until 8:00 at night!)

You think Jamie would learn her lesson by now!

I have never seen anything like this! Usually the deer up here are so timid, but this one was ready to pounce on old Jambo in pursuit to save her fawn. They went back and forth all day and into the night! Luckily, the deer was gone when we woke up Tuesday morning.

This weekend, Clayton took me to dinner to get me out of the cabin! After being sick all week it felt nice to get dressed and go somewhere!

Self-timed Photo in front of our Cabin.

Gorgeous sky on our drive home from dinner.

Lounging with Jamie.

Typical Saturday night at home :)

Oh, and did I mention she loves peanut butter now?

She'll do anything to get to her peanut butter!

Night, night!

More "Home Grown" & "Fresh Caught" Recipes!

I swear we aren't very primitive people....but we have thoroughly enjoyed cooking the fresh fish we caught in Destin along with using our home grown produce! We came home to find that everything had ripened while we were gone! I couldn't wait to hit the kitchen and use our home grown goods!

Yesterday morning I made muffins with our blackberries and blueberries! Our blackberry bush is out of control and Clayton found a blueberry bush outside of his office!

Berry Good Muffin Recipe

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup of milk
- 1/4 lemon juice
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup of berries (whichever you choose!)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix the milk and lemon juice, set aside.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
4. Add egg and oil to the milk mixture then combine with the mixture of dry ingredients.
5. Fold in berries.
6. Grease or line the muffin tins and bake for 22-24 minutes. For mini miffine, bake for 13-15 minutes.

I spilt my mix in half before adding the berries. I added blackberries (above) and blueberries (below).

Mmmmmm.....

Now for another Fish recipe we tried last night.... for those who don't like blackened fish! We grilled our Snapper with a marinade and then put fresh fuit salsa on top of it!

Fish Marinade Recipe

Combine all ingredients:
- 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
- 1 clove of garlic, minced (I just used the jar garlic!)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Fruit Salsa

Combine all ingredients:
- 1 mango
- 3 kiwis
- 1 peach

Directions:

1. Marinate the fish filets in the marinade for one hour prior to grilling.
2. Put the grill on low heat and place the fish right on the grill rack (lightly oil prior to grilling).
3. Grill fish for 3-4 minutes, then flip and grill the other side for 3-4 minutes.
4. Remove and top with fruit salsa!

And if you have extra fruit salsa left over? Turn it into dessert! I took our left over tortillas from Fish Taco Night, topped them with butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Baked them for 5-7 minutes on 450 degrees in the oven! Then we topped them with the fruit salsa! Delish!

Lastly, we came home to three huge red tomatoes on our tomato plant! I sliced into those babies and made a BLT for lunch today! (I don't think you need the directions for that one!) However, I did attempt to make a healthier version by using turkey bacon rather than the real stuff! It was great!

We have never grown our own fruits and vegetables until now, and have enjoyed every minute of it! It's so exciting and it's pretty fulfilling to know that you're eating something you grew all by yourself! If you've never done it, I encourage you to give it a try!

Blackened Fish Recipes!

This is one of our favorite ways to eat fresh fish! So far, we have used this recipe with Mahi Mahi, Redfish, and Snapper...and they're all DELISH!

You can do SO much with this fish:

- Eat it as is and serve it up with some rice and veggies!

- Put it on a salad

- Put it on a Sandwich

- Make Fish Tacos (Which is our personal favorite!)

Ingredients:

FISH
- Fresh white fish
- 2-4 chopped green onions
- 1/2 - 1 stick of butter
- Blackened Seasoning (I prefer Zatarain's)
- Foil

SPICY TARTAR SAUCE (I found this on Food Network... Clay and his coworkers loved it!)
- 1 cup of mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon of chopped pickled jalapenos
- 1 tablespoon of minced onion
- 1 garlic clove chopped (I used the jar kind!)
- 1 teaspoon of hot pepper sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder
- 1 pinch of salt

Fish Directions:

- Rub butter on both sides of fish, then sprinkle the Blackened Seasoning all over both sides of the fish.
- Take a large piece of foil and create a tray with it  folding up all four sides of the foil (see picture below).
- Lay the fish in the foil tray.

- Slice the remaining stick of butter in to 1/4 inch slices. Lay the butter around the endges of the foil.

- Lay the remaining slices on top of the fish along with the chopped green onions.
- Place the foil container on the grill and cook on low heat for aabout 5-10 minutes.

Spicy Tarter Sauce Directions:

- Combine all ingredients.

- Refridgerate 30 min to 1 hour before serving!

Home from Vacation!

After spending 10 lovely days in Destin, we finally returned home on Sunday! We had a wonderful vacation filled with a good mix of relaxation (for me) and activity (for Clayton)!

Our trip included:

• Reading... I got to finish two books while on the beach!
• Fishing... We caught Snapper, Dolphin, and King Fish!
• Fireworks
• Celebrating our One Year Engagement Anniversary!
• Crab Island
• Boating
• Eating at our Favorite Restuarants
• Lounging on the Beach
• Swimming in the Pool
• Shopping/Antiquing
• Going out in Baytowne
• Watching the Blue Angels Show
• AND NOT ONE SPOT OF OIL OR TAR BALLS!! The beaches of Destin are still beautiful!!

You know I enjoyed my vacation, because this paparazzi hardly took any pictures! Now that I'm home, I'm mad at myself for not getting any good ones! I have more pictures of fish and airplanes than people....and I promise I'll never let that happen again (I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted, Clay!)

Happy Fourth of July!

Playing games with the girls!

Sweet Sis-in-Law!

All 3 of these gentlemen got iced!

Liz and I made a Fourth of July Cake!

Enjoying Crab Island!

Sunset in the Destin Harbor!

Fishing with the Mitchells!

Flipper and Friends kept trying to steal our fish from us!

Better view of Flipper!

Us girls (Becky, Holly, and me) caught our limit in Snapper!

Our patient captains!

Blue Angels Day!

Vern enjoying the show!