2, 4, 6, 11...

2...
Sorry for my absence blog...but I have been putting all my creative juices into our latest project....a NEW HOUSE!  Yes we are moving in 2 weeks into our second home.  We have been living in a townhouse in Charlotte while we search for our new home and are so excited to be moving...ok not excited about packing and moving again, but super excited to finally feel settled in Charlotte!!  I have been busy packing, organizing, and decorating!

4...
July 4th.  Yep I am a bad blogger and still have not blogged about July 4th:(  That does not however mean we did not have a wonderful time.  We, like always, went to Sunset Beach with the Lippards and Lees.  This is the first year that we have had to split the group up into two houses.  Sad because we want to all be together, but exciting because our group is growing so fast:)

We had a great menu: Hamburgers with Pimento Cheese and Bacon, Hot Dogs, Veggie Boats, and Rebecca made Gluten Free Tomato Pie!  While us girls were cooking dinner the guys set up a Corn Hole Tournament.  We drew names for our teams.  I picked Katie...she calls me Seantini so we named our team...K-tini:)  We did not win, but had lots of fun!

We spent the rest of our time at the beach enjoying the sun and sand!

We could not leave the Sunset trip without a big plate of George's Spaghetti and Meatballs (gluten free just for me:)

Happy Belated 4th!

6...
Ryan and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary...I can't believe we have been married for 6 years!  The 6 year gift is Iron and Candy.   We went shopping for a Cast Iron Skillet and I made a candy/flower boquet for the candy part of the gift!

This is the first year we are not taking a trip/vacation...but thats because we are buying a house instead!  We did however go out for a night on the town!  I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be married to such an amazing man.  We have a lot to be thankful for and even more to look forward to this year. Love you Ryan and Happy 6th Anniversary!

11...
My little brother, Jake, turned 11!  Sad we missed his party, but looking forward to a family beach trip next week!!

Happy Birthday Jake.

Custom Made

For Ryan's Graduation his parents wanted to give him a leather chair.  After lots of shopping around and searching on the internet we could not find anything we loved.  So.....we designed our own!  My MIL is a designer and got us into the factory where we picked out every little detail of the chair and last weekend it was finally done and delivered to our house!
The process was so fun!  Here is a picture of the inside of the warehouse.

 The custom make every piece by hand here so we got to see the entire process...

Ok so when we finished our tour, it was time to get down to business.  First pick out a chair... we sat in lots of chairs to see their comfort and size...

They had all the templets and patterns in the warehouse...

Then pick out fabric...

or leather...

Then these nice people cut and sew what you have chosen....

few more details to pick out....

Finally ready to place out order...

Fast forward 2 months and......

Isn't she pretty?  Our den smells like new leather and the chair is perfect!  Hard to imagine what it would look like when you pick out all the little details, but we are in love with the final product!!! 

Beach and Parmesan Crisps

We had yet another mini vaca...yes we are spoiled:)  This time we went to Figure Eight Island to see the newly weds:)  I have to first say we had a wonderful time....weather was perfect...

 we did a lot of relaxing...

had lots of fun playing in the water, Traci and I completed the hardest puzzle ever and read lots of magazines...

gooffed off alot...

and ate a lot of really good food...

 That being said I cannot tell you how sweet everyone was and genuinely excited to try to make gluten free food.  I of course never expect people to cater to me and usually feel like a burden, but my friends and family really go out of their way to make me feel "normal".   Traci made a gluten free berry trifle that was amazing!  She also made Parmesan Crisps with Goat Cheese Mousse.  Doesn't that sound so good?  Well it was!  I got the recipe...and permission to share with y'all:)  It is very easy, but still yummy.  Ok so here is what you need...
Ingredients:
1 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
6 oz. Goat Cheese
4 Tbsp heavy cream
1 Tbsp parsley
Salt and Pepper

1.  Have a clean egg carton ready to use (I didn't have this so I used muffin tin).  Preheat oven to 325 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2.  Place about 1 Tbsp of  Parmesan cheese on the pan and using your finger spread the cheese in an even layer.  Repeat leaving an inch between each one.

3.  Bake 8-10 min. until crisps are golden brown.  Remove from oven and let them cool for about 30 seconds.

 4.  One by one remove them with a rubber spatula and place them into the hollow of the egg carton/muffin tin to form a tulip.  Do this quickly before the cool and harden on the cookie sheet.

5.  Let them cool and then fill them up with this goat cheese mousse (or any other topping you want).

Goat Cheese Mousse:
1.  Place Goat cheese in a food processor and pulse a few times.
2.  Slowly add the heavy cream until mixture is moist, but still holds shape.
3.  Then add parsley, salt and pepper and pulse to combine.

4.  Put the mixture in a zip lock and place in fridge for a few minutes.

5.  Cut the corner of the zip lock bag and slowly pipe the mousse into the Parmesan crisps.

* I added some chopped tomato on top for some color!

Traci thanks for my new go-to appetizer!  She also suggests using these on top of a salad for your g free guests instead of croutons!  We had such a great time at the beach and can't wait to go again...

Tropical Ice Cream Cake

Ok I know I have been posting mostly dessert recipes lately...but this was so good I had to share.  It is ridiculously easy and perfect for this time of year!
Start with a cookie....shortbread, sugar cookie or maccaroon!  I used coconut macaroons.

Found these at Harris Teeter.  Then you carefully smash them and lay them on a spring foam pan.

Then use your first type of ice cream...I used raspberry sherbert first.  Using an ice cream scoop, place a layer of the ice cream on top of the crust and spread out evenly. Then place in freezer for 30 min.

Then do your next layer.  I used vanilla.  Again freeze for 30 min.

Then your final layer...I used orange sherbert.

Again freeze for 30 min-1hour and remove outside of spring foam pan.  Look at the layer goodness!!

This recipe is so versitle....you could use chocolate cookies or  brownies with mint chocolate chip and vanilla ice cream....oreo cookies with vanilla and oreo ice cream...or....well you get the idea!   It is so easy and there is zero baking!