Carolina Summer: June 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011

Wow... It's Been a While...

So, my internet has been down since Sunday afternoon. Not much has gone on, just getting things prepared for Big Belles birthday in a couple weeks. Hopefully I can get everything caught up this weekend.

This is what the Belles have been up to:

Not much. Just hanging out. And being ever so cute!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Cool Eats: Cucumber Egg Salad

This is a great little twist on traditional egg salad. The amount of ingredients I use makes a lot, but it will be used for our lunches for a couple days. It's easy to scale down because most of it is "to taste".

Cucumber Egg Salad

What you will need:
12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
2 large cucumbers
1/4 cup+ sweet relish
1/4 cup+ mayo
1/8 cup+ mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Place eggs in large sauce pan and cover with cold salted water. Bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and cover. Let stand for at least 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the cucumbers.

Peel and chop eggs. I like mine a bit chunky.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir everything together. Make sure to taste it. I hadn't originally planned to include mustard, but, with my husband's suggestion, added it to give a bit of tang to the salad. I also added about 1/4 cup additional mayo and 1/4 cup additional sweet relish. It all depends on what you like, but I think this is a good starting point. Once you've reached the right taste for you, add some kettle chips and lemonade and you're done. Easy-peasy!

Serving Suggestions:
Serve as a sandwich on fresh white bread, croissant, or stuff into a pita. Or serve it on a bed of lettuce and eat it with a fork. Also makes an excellent appetizer on crackers.

Garnish:
Semi-peel an extra cucumber. Slice and add to sandwich. The bit of green on the slices will add nice color, plus the slices will add crunch to the sandwich.
To fancy-up your cracker appetizer, curl a small, extra thin strip of peel over the salad.

Alterations:
To make this more bikini-friendly, use the egg whites only and lite mayo. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Monday Hops

Not So Moody Monday

Friday, June 3, 2011

A Day at the Lake

Today we had our first "Day at the Lake" of the summer! AJ caught 10 fish- that's right, 10! Colleen sat in the water and loved every minute of it; she did try to eat a couple mussel shells though. The water was nice and warm and with the wake from passing boats, it almost felt like the beach. Almost.