Well, Mr. Rutledge has been after me for quite some time to get back to writing. This blog is a lot of fun and a good stress relief for me. However, life has been pretty hectic. The Rutledges have been really busy lately… since I last blogged we have had my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary (heck of a party with lots of great food!), my college drop-out sister moved in with us (you love me, Sister) on top of generally keeping busy growing a human.
To be honest, that’s really all I think about--growing this child. After 4 sonograms they’ve finally determined it is a boy, but I really have my doubts. It’s “their” fault I have doubts at all. I always thought couples went to the doctor and were told “It’s a BOY!” or “Yay, it’s a GIRL!” That doesn’t happen. Not here at least. We get told, “It’s a boy…wait, No! I can’t tell for sure.” Or, “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a girl, but don’t buy anything just yet.” So on our fourth go-round when the lady said, “Yep, it’s a boy” I have to admit I still have my doubts. It really doesn’t matter. All I want is a little precious one to grow and love… in 4 more months!
So I guess we are officially preparing for Baby Boy Rutledge. I’m thinking we will just call him “B” till Kindergarten and let him pick his own name because The Lord knows we can’t agree on one! Mr. Rutledge and I are great life partners. We really do life pretty well together (and by “life” I mean less than two years, but hey- we are happy and it’s working!). The exception is naming a child. That’s a big responsibility. Rutledge is a great name, but it lends itself to a certain nickname which neither of us is fond of.
This whole being made fun of for your name thing is rather foreign to me (Cami Trout. And I never once was made fun of for my name!) Why? Because my coolness was just too much for anyone to brave poking fun at me. I mean I wasn’t super scrawny with the nick-name “cue sticks.” I didn’t have a lazy eye. Or a patch. Or bifocals. I didn’t get cut from the 3rd string volleyball team in 7th grade. I didn’t lose 13 golf balls in my first 18 holes as a high school “athlete.” I certainly didn’t have legs 16 inches longer than my waist measured (which meant my pants always fit just right). I have fantastic posture and, I have two very supportive brothers who would never mock their adorable sister. So really, people just didn’t make fun of me. I was sort of in that untouchables category where all of you wish you’d lived in junior high. Sorry. Population: 1.
Let’s be real. If my kid’s biggest issues is being called “Dick Butledge” he is totally winning junior high. He is at least being ridiculed for something he can 100% blame on his parents and legally change at 18.
Ok. Ok. Enough of how I’m going to mess up my kid. This kid has made me want to eat an ungodly amount of seafood (mostly tuna salad which I’ve always found super disgusting) and pickled foods. However, Mr. Rutledge doesn’t think a giant jar of pickles, pepperocinis, 15 packets of tuna in water, cucumbers, onions, mayo, crackers and ice cream is a suitable grocery list. So I’ll share a few things we have been eating:
Gorgonzola Salad- I’m back to the world of vegetables. It’s too late for my waistline, but maybe not yours! This salad was pretty delicious. I made the dressing as written in the recipe. However, you can easily save time and calories and just give your salad a nice balsamic drizzle just before eating. You can definitely leave out the bacon (my husband would NEVER) or use grilled chicken.
Crawfish Etienne – Mr. Rutledge finally put those beer burners and steel pots to use (He may have been brewing beer all along in them, but what do I care about that?). We had a little crawfish boil a few weeks ago and he did a fantastic job. One of us screwed up and ordered about 15 extra pounds of crawfish and the other one of us had to cook them. Then we all worked as a big happy family and peeled the crawfish abundance and saved them for this recipe. And man, o live it was yummy! This meal is NOT light, but it is a fun splurge meal. If you don’t have a ridiculous amount of crawfish, use shrimp or even chicken.
This recipe is from Lone Star Eats cookbook.
Ingredients:
1 lb crawfish tails
1/4c unsalted butter
1 small bunch green onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2c minced parsley
1/2c unsalted butter
3T flour
2c half and half
3T sherry
Salt, cayenne, black pepper, Tabasco to taste
16 ounces fettuccine, cooked al dente and drained
Directions: Saute the unrinsed crawfish tails in 1/4 cup butter in a skillet until cooked through. In another skillet, sauté the green onions, garlic, and parsley in 1/4 cup butter until tender. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, until lightly browned. Add the half and half gradually, stirring constantly. Stir in the sherry and crawfish tails. Season to taste with salt, cayenne, black pepper and Tabasco. Cook just until thickened. Serve immediately.
Honey Lime Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Cilantro Rice – This chicken recipe is new for us and we love it. As for the green beans, my good friend Terrie Jo swears by these. And if there is one thing I know about Terrie- she always knows what she’s talking about. Ask her husband Mike. ;) We followed this recipe for the chicken and it paired awesomely with Terrie's green beans.
To make green beans, trim the ends of your fresh green beans. Spread evenly on a baking sheet and roast at 450 for about 10-15 minutes. Once the green beans are roasted, transfer them to a serving bowl and too with a little crushed red pepper, cilantro, green onions and fresh lemon juice. Toss, serve and fall in love!
Salted Caramel Ice Cream- I’ve always had a passion for ice cream. It might have flourished last Fall when the Schwann’sman first came by our house. Mr. Rutledge claims I slightly over-purchased on their frozen novelties. There may even be a few tasteless pomegranate-blueberry bars still buried in our garage freezer. BUT that does not mean I’m not devastated by the Blue Bell recall. I will be making weekly ice cream until Mr. Rutledge lifts the Braums/Schwann ban of 2015. Last week we made Key Lime Pie ice cream. I ate it, but didn’t love it. So we will try this recipe this week!
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