tomatoes, cucumbers, & fresh mozzarella

Another garden inspired dish – This has been my afternoon snack every day for the past week…

that is a sticker you see on the tomato, it’s from the grocery store – my tomato plant is producing but can’t keep up with our tomato consumption.

There’s not much to this one! And that’s why I love it.   After planning out meals and packing lunches I have nothing left in me to plan out what I will actually eat.  So I love that I can grab 3 ingredients, chop, add salt & pepper, eat and enjoy!

 

bring your child to work day

...does not exist.  Because it's not normally a very productive thing to do.  But I have been having some guilt lately about leaving the kids with sitters to work so I swung by the house and picked up my middle daughter Molly.

She mostly chatted with arre and gave her lessons on how to be tough (this was following a previous lesson of how to be patient).  I'm not sure yet but I think it was helpful. 

Have a wonderful weekend and let me know if your kids (or sister-in-laws) need someone to explain life lessons to them..molly's your girl!

cucumber soup

It’s summer!  we are free!

And it’s HOT.  So what better than a cold cucumber soup inspired by your garden.  I say inspired because I only had one cucumber ready to use but it definitely inspired me!  This recipe comes from Susan Mason’s cookbook.  Here are your ingredients (plus all purpose flour not shown)

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 cucumbers seeded, peeled, chopped
• 1 leek sliced, white part only
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• salt & pepper
• 1 cup heavy cream
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

peel, remove seeds and chop:

 

melt butter (2T)

 

add leeks (sliced, white part only), bay leaf and chopped cucumbers

 

saute for 20 minutes while you change diapers, wipe tears, break up fights, sit for a performance of a circus, wash your hands, go back to your stove…

remove bay leaf and add 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour and stir to form paste

 

Add 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cups chicken stock

 

simmer for 30 minutes

go take pictures of container garden

   cucumbers                                  jalapenos                            okra

   

tomatoes                                                     basil & rosemary

 

come back to your simmering cucumbers (assuming it has been 30 minutes..)

puree in food processor

put it in the fridge to cool and wait

 

When chilled, add 1 cup heavy cream, plus juice from 1/2 lemon, salt , pepper.  Mine was a bit lemony so maybe add lemon juice a little a time until it’s just right!

serve with fresh dill

i love donuts

do you?

I am looking for a doughnut recipe that I can make at home..any ideas?

p.s. notice s&j chalkboard

pretty in pink

We have been working on a few pink frames for nurseries lately (the girl baby boom continues!) and I got a little carried away looking through old pink photos so I thought I would share a few.  But first -  we are excited about this one!  We are using the wood below to frame this precious vintage alphabet print for the nursery of a little girl we can’t wait to meet ..soon!

 

and on to a few findings from the archive:

 

 

 

 

if you have any pink s&j frames to share please send us a picture!

story time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

translation: A story. Once upon a time is a fox and a hound dog.  Do you know what it is?  It’s a guess.  The fox and the hound!  They became BFFs. By MJ. Oh I love stories don’t you? I love to read.  The End

Checking In...

Please excuse our (seemingly never-ending) absence. We've been a bit busy as of late.

s t e w a r t  &  j a m e s  has been getting some well-deserved attention (what, i can be proud of our little enterprise, can't i?!) and our lives didn't get the memo to otherwise slow down. So here are - or aren't, rather.

here are a few previous posts that will hopefully enhance your start to summer (even if it is technically still a few weeks away):

-a summer sip (can't wait to get my hands on one of these in approximately 2.5 hours)
-good use for your summer produce
-good eats at the beach (and athens for that matter (this is a good time to go - very few students and absolutley no football!)

 and don't forget, we'll be in Charleston in just a few weeks!


Now I'm off to figure out how to make my real life look like the cover of the latest Anthology magazine.

xx