Imitation Low Country Boil Recipe

Hello, folks! Today we're bringing you another quick and easy recipe!

Here's what you need to get started:
Shrimp: peeled, deveined, cooked
Sausage: the long tube kind, not the kind that looks like ground beef
Potatoes (as many as you feel like eating. On this occasion I used 4--2 medium and 2 very small.)
Cajun Seasoning
1/2 stick Butter
pinch of Salt and Pepper
1/4 Onion
optional: Corn, Peppers

To prepare:

Chop the onion into desired size pieces. I don't like biting into a huge chunk of onion so I cut mine fairly small.

Slice sausage into disks. I usually aim for disks about half an inch thick.

Peel and chop potatoes. I have several notes about this. 

1. You do not have to peel the potatoes if you like potato skins. I don't prefer it, but if you do--go ahead and leave it on!

2. If you use a less starchy potato, like a red potato, you will not get a mushy product. It will still taste great, it just won't look like the final pictures below!

3. The larger the potato slices, the longer it will take to cook. The size of the potatoes below had to boil about 10 minutes longer than usual because I left them so big.

To cook:

Dump all your cut up ingredients and the shrimp into a pot of water. 

Bring water to a boil.

Wait about 15 minutes.

To check to see if your food is done, pull out a potato wedge. Cut a portion off. If it is extremely soft, it is ready. You can also taste it. It should have the texture of...a potato. What's so great about this recipe is that the only portion that is not cooked is the potato and onion. You really only have to boil the ingredients as long as it takes to soften those two things up. The rest is already cooked--you're just heating it up!

Waiting for the food to boil. 

Once the potatoes are cooked all the way through, drain the pot into a colander.  Put all the food back in the pot. We still have to add butter and seasoning!

Add the half stick of butter and seasoning. I have no exact measurement for the seasoning--it's just to taste. I like to lightly cover the whole thing with a thin layer of seasoning. Then add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Finally, mix it all together, serve, and enjoy!

It's warm and delicious for these cold winter days. My husband hates soup so this is a great alternative for when I'm feeling like cozy foods!

CD Cover DIY

I give lots of CD's away whether for photography or mixed CD's, and sometimes it's nice to have simple, cute packaging for them.

All you need for today's DIY is:

-Scissors
-Glue
-A paper CD cover to trace
-Some decorative paper
[Needs to be at least 12 inches tall]
I use vintage wallpaper, so I have to be really gentle.  I would suggest using a paper that is at least as thick as construction paper. 

1.) First, take apart the paper CD cover that you want to trace.
2.) Trace the CD cover onto the back of your decorative paper.
3.) Cut it out

4.)  Fold the sides and the top
5.) Glue the sides so that you can fold down the edges.

 6.)  Firmly press down the edges.

You're finished!  Now go give someone special those sweet photos or tunes they've been waiting for!

Tree Branch Necklace Stand DIY

Hello, everyone!  Today's easy project was inspired by an attempt to organize my jewelry box. I wanted a way to organize my necklaces so that I would feel inspired to wear them.  I am a firm believer in trying to do things simply and inexpensively, and today's DIY is both cheap and easy! You won't even have to leave your yard!

For this Tree Branch Necklace Stand you will need only 3 or 4 things:

1. Several thin branches from a young tree or bush.

2. A vase

3.Necklaces

4. Rubberband/String/Twine (optional)

Step 1: Head outside and cut or break off several thin branches from a young tree or bush. I happened to have both, so I grabbed a couple branches from each plant.  Make sure you pull the leaves off the branches (or collect them in the winter when there are no leaves!).   Tip: You don't want to pull the leaves off in a way that will strip the branch. It's good for it to have little knobs or smaller branches coming off of it. Not only is it beautiful, the bumps and grooves help hold the necklaces in place.

Step 2: Arrange your branches in a lovely vase. It can be any size that is tall enough to support your branches. This is where the string/rubberband/ twine comes in. My vase has a wide enough mouth that the branches don't stand up well inside of it. If I gathered more I could possibly have enough that the branches could support one another, but I like the aesthetic of having just a few. Typing or banding the bottom of the branches help them stay clustered together, rather than drooping all around a wide mouth vase. Again, this stage is optional. If you have a vase with a small opening, or like the look of the branches sitting a little lower and being more spread out--you don't need to bind the branches.

Step 3. Display all your darling necklaces!

Happy DIY-ing!

Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna

Difficulty Level: Intermediate
This recipe is really easy, but the ingredients are kind of out of the ordinary for us.  That's why I consider this more of an intermediate recipe than an easy one.  I originally found this recipe on Pinterest here.  I changed some of the elements to be a little more our taste, and it was a real hit!  My husband said it was the best thing I've ever made!  Enjoy.

Ingredients
2 cooked chicken breasts [shredded or chopped]
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained, chopped
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Shredded Mozzarella Cheese [put half aside for later]
1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup tightly packed fresh basil, chopped, divided
12 lasagna noodles, cooked

Tip:  This was my first time cooking lasagna noodles.  They are huge!  I let them cook standing up, and then I used tongs to turn them over after they got a little soft.  Also, I only cooked them about 6-8 minutes so that they weren't so soft they'd rip.


Directions
HEAT oven to 350°F.

COMBINE chicken, artichokes, 1 cup mozzarella, and Parmesan. Beat cream cheese, milk and garlic powder with mixer until well blended [I used a whisk and some elbow grease, slowly adding the cream cheese]; stir in 2 Tbsp. basil. Mix half with the chicken mixture.

SPREAD half the remaining cream cheese mixture onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with 3 noodles and 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Repeat layers of noodles and chicken mixture twice. Top with remaining noodles, cream cheese mixture and mozzarella; cover.

BAKE 25 min. or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining basil. Let stand 5 min. before cutting to serve.

We had leftovers for days! Happy cooking.

Welcome to our blog!

First of all, hi!  Thank you for checking out our new blog "The Early Life."  In this blog Kristin and I [Ashley] hope to share what we are learning as new wives, new teachers, and new "on our own adults." We are creating this blog to share ideas, inspirations, and lessons learned with each other AND all of you.  We hope to share easy recipes, decorating and DIY ideas, teaching anecdotes, and anything else we fancy really.  We will both be posting, so feel free to follow along on our journey through the early life!

Coming this week:
Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna, Sausage and Shrimp Boil, Chicken Parmesan, Necklace Tree DIY, and CD envelope DIY.