For the love of greenbeans...

Last weekend the hubs and I went to my grandparents to do some picking and canning! My grandparents have a massive sized garden. They grow corn, green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, peanuts, and okra. They eat some fresh, give some away, and then they can the rest for winter.

I always try to make a point to go help over the summer because my grandparents are always so generous and give us lots of their produce. 

Not to mention, when we go, I get meals like this...

Why yes, that is chicken-fried-chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh corn, and fried okra. When I go to grandma's house, calories go out the window!

Ok, back to the canning. 
We spent Saturday morning picking...we got up super early to beat the heat and I am not a morning person hence the lack of pics of me.  I promise I did help!

Once it was all picked, it was time for some shucking, cutting the corn off the cob, and snapping the tips off the greenbeans. 

We left the corn with my aunt who was going to freeze it all and we got to work on the greenbeans. And by "we" I mean my grandparents and I...the hubs decided he needed to take a 3 hour nap in the middle of canning!

So fun! In total we canned 28 quarts of green beans and cut enough corn off the cob to make 16 bags full. My grandma's record for one day is 90 quarts of greenbeans! 
Seriously, my grandparents are amazing and so are those greenbeans!

Sidenote:

My hubs has said a few times that he thinks he could be a farmer. I am not so sure...case-in-point...here he is doing an impression of the donkey. Quite the little farmer!

Laney Goes to College

My baby of babiest sisters left for college yesterday. It seems pretty impossible that she is even old enough to drive let alone be heading to her freshman year of college! She chose to go to MU and yesterday was the big move in day! She was totally ready and I am so excited for her! Little Laney is so smart and grounded. She has the most passionate attitude and she is honestly a joy to be around. 

I am so excited to see what the next few years bring for her 

and I look forward to many trips to Columbia to visit! 

P.S...my parents have experienced this day 7 times! 

Can you even imagine? Erica was just 7 when our oldest brother left for college!

Natalie's Nursery

Meet my friend Liz and her precious daughter Natalie...

Liz and her hubby recently moved and baby Natalie needed her room decorated!

Liz was in love with this Pottery Barn nursery. 

She loved the tissue paper flowers and lanterns in the corner.

It didn't seem to hard so we gave it a shot!

We originally planned to make our own flowers out of tissue paper but when we went to Party City, we found lanterns,  flowers, and fans. It actually turned out to be cheaper just to buy them over making them...cheaper and less time consuming...sold!

Liz spent around $25 for all the supplies and this is what we came up with...

Some of the fans didn't make it through the first night so Liz had to do a little rearranging. This is her updated masterpiece...

So fun! So cute! So bright!

Happy Crafting! 

I love fried okra...like really love it! 

I don't eat it very often because I am sure that it is not good for me. 

I recently saw this pic on Pinterest...

It was like angels were singing when I saw the pic...totally delish!

I clicked on the link and was intrigued when I saw that it was baked and not fried!

I followed the recipe (except I left out the Cajun seasoning) and gave baked okra a try!

 

Toss the okra in a zip-lock baggie and pour the corn meal over the top.

Give yourself a little arm workout when you shake it up and coat the okra.

 

Dump it into a strainer so that the extra corn meal is removed. 

Place on a baking sheet, spray with canola, and bake! 

 

Ta-da! 

I was pretty crispy and yummy! 

I don't know that I'd say it was as good as fried okra but I totally felt better about eating it! 

Enjoy!