Good Eats and Cool Treats

During the hot summer months here in the deep South I'm always looking for something we can eat in the evening that is good, healthy and doesn't require an oven! We discovered a wonderful little restaurant in Gulfport, MS a few years ago that served the best shrimp salad. It had lots of chopped onions (David loves onions) and a little "bite" to it so I decided I would try my hand at my version of the New Orleans Bistro shrimp salad.

Shrimp Salad

1 lb. cooked shrimp

2 tsps. lemon juice

1 c. mayo (I used lite mayo and you can use fat free)

1 small onion, minced

salt and pepper to taste

ground red pepper (use sparingly)

1 stalk celery, finely sliced (optional)

Combine all ingredients together, mixing well. Refrigerate at least one hour. The longer this stuff "cooks" in the refrigerator, the better it gets!

That's it! How easy is that?

I serve it with crackers and fresh fruit......YUMMY!

A few years ago when I was in Weight Watchers, one of my good friends gave me this receipe. I call it "Guiltless Chocolate Pie". You only need a box of chocolate fat free, sugar free jello pudding and pie mix, fat free milk and "free" Cool Whip.

Here's all you need (plus a pie crust of course)

Follow the directions for making the chocolate pie on the jello box

Fold in 1/2 of the Cool Whip, reserving the other 1/2 for the top of your pie when it's ready

Whisk the jello, Cool Whip and milk together until it has a smooth consistency

Here it is in the pie shell (cook the shell according to the directions - a graham cracker crust is good too) . Put it in the refrigerator until it is firm

I always have a little extra left over so I poured the remaining mixture in my "faux" margarita glasses, plopped a big ol' spoonful of Cool Whip on top and added a strawberry! Am I Paula Deen or what?

Janie over at Southern Lagniappe has a wonderful chicken salad receipe on her blog. I asked her if she minded if I told ya'll about it and she was sweet enough to let me include it.

Best Ever Chicken Salad

Receipe courtesy Fairfield Grocery

Shreveport, Louisiana

3 lbs. skinned and boned chicken breasts

1 (49 1/2 oz) can chicken broth

1 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped water chestnuts, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

3 cups mayo (I found this to be a little too much mayo so you might want to decrease this amount)

1 tsp. ground red pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. white pepper

Place chicken breasts in a large skillet, add chicken broth. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered, 30 min. or until chicken is done.

Remove chicken from skillet and let stand 15 minutes or until cool to touch. Shred chicken.

Combine shredded chicken, celery, water chestnuts and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir together mayo, red pepper, salt and white pepper until well blended. Spoon over shredded chicken mixture, stirring to coat. Cover and chilll at least 4 hours.

Yield: Makes about 8 (1-cup) servings

I do not follow this receipe exactly. I don't include the red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, or water chestnuts. Also, I just boil the chicken in water (not using the broth) until done and then "shred" it in my blender. After that I combine the shredded chicken with the onion, mayo, salt and pepper and add a little red pepper, mixing well. It still turned out very good!

These salads are always good, it doesn't take long to make either one, and they don't have a lot of ingredients. I'll bet if you try them, you'll like them too!

I went to one of my favorite interior decorating stores this past weekend and I have lots of pictures to show ya'll.

Tomorrow (Thursday) my sweet little Taylor is having her tonsils out so please keep her in your prayers.....

UPDATE: Taylor came through her surgery just fine.....thank you all for saying a little prayer for Ta-Ta.

Girls Just Gotta Have Fun!

On Friday I met Rhoda in a quaint little town about an hour from where we both live to meet another blogger, Wanda. Wanda was having the grand opening of her shop and had invited us to check it out, so being the faithful junkers that we are, we gladly accepted her invitation to come see her and her shop.

Sylacauga is a little town which I have traveled through many times on the way to my sister's home. I've always admired the darling little homes on the main boulevard going through the town. Today I took a few pictures of some of the houses along the way....

I have always been attracted to this style house

Ya gotta know food would be involved in any shopping expedition. This grill was recommended to us and it did not disappoint

Chicken salad and fresh fruit - we ate out on the covered porch

After eating we took off for some shopping!

This shop had a lot of high-end merchandise showcased beautifully. There was quite a bit of monogrammed items and lots of wonderful dishes



I love anything monogrammed

These bird plates were so pretty

I wish I'd bought this cup and I may have to next time I go through the town


Another little shop that we visited was Mary Lee's. She was so sweet and just oozed Southern charm



Her shop carries new clothes, consigned clothes and furniture

Take a look at this handpainted armoire

Of course, we love bunnies!

View of the shop from the front. Mary Lee said a lot of the merchandise on the top shelves belonged to her family members and was for display only

We spotted this little garden chair which we thought was so cute and vintage-looking



House across the street

Now on to Wanda's shop

Rhoda really liked this black table....the prices were very reasonable


Look what she's done to the hutch....below is a close up of her "tea stained" scrapbook paper that she lined the back of the hutch with




I would love to have the glass top table but really have no place for it

These chippy green doors were so sweet. Wanda got them for a steal and they were not for sale but made for a great display

Here's the little black table again

Random pictures of Wanda's store

There was a little room that was set up like a garden room....really cute!

And here we all are.....me in the white shorts, Rhoda and Wanda (note to self: don't stand next to tall skinny people!)

I hope ya'll enjoyed this little shopping trip as much as we did. I enjoy Rhoda's company so much. Not only is she a talented decorator (if you follow her blog you know what I mean) but she is such a warm, sweet, genuine lady.

Ya'll have a happy and safe weekend!

Blogging Buddies

Last Friday I went to Birmingham to meet up with Rhoda. She posted on her blog about how we've been e-mailing for about a year and how much we have in common. On top of that, she lives only a couple of miles from my son's home. After meeting her hubby, she gave me the "grand tour"! Girls, let me tell you, while the pictures you see of her house on her blog are great, it's nothing compared to the "real thing." What a treat it was to finally see it in person. But I think the best part is what a wonderful lady Rhoda is....all I expected and then some!

We left her house to go junkin', antiquing, eating (of course), shopping....in other words, a day of retail therapy.

There is an area we went to that I'd visited once before called Cahaba Heights. Rhoda posted about this area in one of her previous posts. Ohhh, a lot of eye candy!

We're both loving this color green....and look at the front of this chest

Another vignette we liked featuring that yummy green

I'm finding myself being drawn to the shabby chic, chippy, worn look of furniture so I really liked this tableOutside are a lot of wrought iron pieces...I thought the prices were a little high

I would love to have this table and chairs (minus the blue fabric). I have a friend who has this table on her patio and I'm hoping she'll sell it to me soon!

There goes Rhoda around to her patio area with my iron candelabra

Hey Rhoda, come back here!

Here is the entrance to her back yard....so pretty!

We had an absolutely wonderful time talking and getting to know each other. I think I've found a new shopping buddy and it's too bad we don't live any closer (on second thought, it might be a good thing cause we'd probably get in a lot of trouble!) We are planning another little shopping excursion this coming Friday. There is another blogger opening her little antiques/flea market shop in a small town about an hour away from both of us. We'll let ya'll know all the fun we have checking that out.

Drive Bys

My name is Judy and I am a house stalker!! Come along with me and we'll stalk out some of my favorites:

First up is a little peek in a neighborhood about two blocks from my house. These are patio homes where mostly retired folks live but they keep up their houses and grounds beautifully. I love this little white picket fence that separates these two yards.

In the same area I spied this little iron gate that looks like it leads to a secret garden....love that!

Now this arbor was my inspiration for the one in my yard.

Let's go across town to some of the most charming houses you'll ever see. While they are not the large McMansions that are popping up everywhere, the character of these well-cared for homes is evident.

There is an area in town called "The Garden District." This is one of my husband's favorites houses in that area.

I like this place a lot. I also got a picture of the side of the house they use as a patio.



I love this wall of french doors

I love awnings and window boxes and would love to have the type of house where I could use an awning. That red really pops!

There's no telling how old this tree is. It is in the middle of a strip of property surrounding some of the bigger homes in the Garden District and located in front of the grand old First United Methodist Church.



Here's a little peek at that church from the side.

Ohhh, look at this black fence and arbor/gate thingy!





















Wouldn't you love to be swinging on this porch swing?





















This is our governor's mansion.
Great example of a true Southern antebellum mansion.
This home was originally built by an old family here in town who made their fortune in the lumber business. It was purchased and remodeled some years ago. During remodeling, it burned but has since been restored.


My daughter's best friend lives here. A few years ago, best friend met and married a doctor who treats her like the princess she is. She is one sweet girl and we love her very much! Her grandmother and my mother are also best friends.












Well, that completes my little drive by for now. I have lots more pics and will be posting them at a later date. I hope you found something to give you inspiration!