Road Food

Looking back through our holiday photos, it didn't take me long to realize why most of my Spring clothes are a little more snug than I remember....

We made a lot of trips from our current home in Texas back to the motherland (Louisiana) during the holidays. There were several trips to Natchitoches to see my parents and then a couple of trips back home to New Orleans. If you didn't know, there is no shortage of good places to eat on the backroads of Louisiana. You won't find any golden arches, but you will find lots of delicious home cookin'.  Even the service stations have better food than most fancy restaurants in other states. I'm not kidding. The plate of fabulousness above came from a rundown old gas station in Zwolle, LA. Somebody's granny is in there cooking up some good ol' Southern comfort food 7 days a week. We stop in every time we go home.

Then there are these golden hunks of numminess:

Deep Fried Corn on the Cob and Chick-a-bobs

(deep fried chicken, smoked sausage, onions and bell peppers on stick)

A roadtrip to New Orleans in not complete without a greasy tray of deep fried goodness!

And of course being a born and bred Natchitoches girl, it just wouldn't be a trip home without a few Natchitches Meat Pies!

So yeah, I totally earned these extra 5 pounds and they were so worth it!!! Whoever said "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" hasn't been on a roadtrip with me!

But now that Summer is almost here, I'm trying to do a little better....

I know, I know....That's a lot of bacon, but life just isn't worth living without bacon. I really am trying to do better. My last post was about asparagus for goodness sake!

Baby steps.

Asparagus!

The Gridiron Gang recently discovered that we love asparagus. We had some delicious grilled spears at a family cookout last month and have been eating tons of it ever since. I've been roasting some in the oven with a little olive oil and Tony's, and it is SO GOOD! Now that we know we love it, we're ready to branch out and try some new recipes. So, if any of you loyal readers or occassional lurkers have some great asparagus recipes to share, we'd love to give them a try!

Distracted

I keep meaning to post about my husband crashing up the Mom-Mobile, my little Knucklehead getting his front tooth knocked out, me blowing up my KitchenAid mixer, the lawnmower that quit working just when I needed it most, and all the other craptastical things that have been happening around here. Just when I sit down to tell you all about it, I get distracted...Distracted by all the little blessings that make me realize all that other stuff isn't so important.

I have some new recipes to share and tons of fun photos are downloading as I type. I'll be back later, but right now I'm going back to play in the dirt.

Good thing the lawn mower is broken, I can enjoy these pretty weeds one more day!

Trying to Catch Up

Since my friend, Miz Janey, has insisted in her "teacher voice" that I get back to blogging pronto, I figured I better get something new posted right away. I finally finished the yearbook. (THANK YA, JESUS!)
If I ever raise my hand to volunteer again, I seriously hope someone will slap me. I spend the majority of my time doing projects for other people and rarely get around to finishing all my own projects. No more, I tell ya! For those of you who know me well, stop rolling your eyes. Seriously, NO MORE VOLUNTEERING. 

Now, on to more fun things...

My little scout earned his Tiger Cub badge on Monday night and bridged over to the Wolf pack. He is very excited about all the new projects he gets to work on. My eccentric little genius is all about projects. He loves to study, create and tinker...Cub Scouts is perfect for him! In other Knucklehead news, he has given up baseball to tackle tennis this Spring. He's having a blast learning the game and he's pretty good too. I loved watching him play baseball, but I'm secretly thrilled that we don't have that major time commitment to deal with right now. Baseball = 4 nights a week / Tennis = 1 night a week. (So YAY!) 

As for my sweet little Punkette, she seems to get taller, smarter and more beautiful by the day. I can't believe it's time to get her registered for Kindergarten in a couple of weeks! She's only making the age cutoff by 5 days. Although she'll be the youngest in her class, she's more than ready. I think having a super smart older sibling that loves to spend time with her and help teach her new things has been wonderful for her. She's already reading like a champ and loves doing math. Sorry to brag so much...but it's true! I have some totally awesome kiddos, who drive me bananas on a daily basis, but I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world! They are just growing up too fast and I want to slow down and savor every moment. Remind me of that when I'm feeling guilty for not volunteering anymore!

Coach is busy with Spring Training. The team looks better and stronger than ever before. They seem to be really focused and I can tell they all have a championship on their minds. I love Spring Ball. It's the most relaxed time of the year for a coaching family and there's so much possibility for an exciting season ahead. Of course, Spring Ball also means we only have a few weeks until we're off for the summer! I've been counting the days until Summer break since January.

As for me, I've been booking a few photo sessions here and there. Haven't been able to get out a lot with all the crazy weather (such is the life of an outdoor photographer), but things are definitely starting to pick up with the beautiful Spring days we've been blessed with lately. I finally got my garden planted and am thrilled to see new things spouting up everyday. I can already tell I planted too much basil again, so all my friends and family can get ready for another Summer of abundant pesto! Not that too much pesto is a bad thing. Yummmmmmmm, pesto.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We did! The little Knuckleheads wouldn't slow down long enough for a nice Easter pic, so the above photo is as good as it gets this year. The cobbler's children had no shoes....The photographer's children had no fancy photos.

~Gridiron Girl