Tuscan Chicken Birthday Dinner

CIMG7380.JPG, originally uploaded by ModernJune.

You must try this recipe that Martha sent me last week! It is so super yummy! You can get the recipe over at Martha's place, Grilled Tuscan Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon. I coupled it with a light green salad, St. Louis potatoes and grilled garlic toast.

I had fun making the herbed butter for the toast earlier that day. I picked some fresh rosemary, basil and thyme, chopped it up with some minced garlic, and whipped it into some softened butter. I then put it into the fridge until grill time! It's just so easy-peasy yet so yum!

The St. Louis Potatoes are also simple and delish! Just cut up some new potatoes and a big ol' onion, then mix in herbs and butter. Season with salt and pepper. I prepared the potatoes ahead of time by cutting them up and soaking them till right before I left for the pool. Next just throw it all in a few layers of foil, seal it tight and throw it on the grill. Please don't ask me how long to cook it, I really don't know! I put the potatoes on first and cook them until their almost completely done, and them move them to the side to let them keep steaming while I cook the meat.

One of my costume friends used to make this dish while we all worked for the St. Louis Opera. We all lived in a high rise apartment with a great roof top patio. The patio had grills, tables and a super view of the Arch. We would all bring a dish to share, some beer and enjoy the sunset! Good times!

gardening

I heard Don tell his sister that I used to be a gardener once. I took great offense to that, but today I realized that he was right. This morning while putting out the recycling I was shocked at how bad my yard looks -- my gardens are overrun with weeds and the grass is long in some spots, non existent in others and then the weeds in the middle are brown and crunchy! Yikes, this is so not OK.

So, I skipped my walk, I skipped my blog, I skipped my email. And I thought to myself, how would fly lady crisis clean a back yard? Well the whole yard was shady at that moment so I decided to start where the sun would hit first. I grabbed my bucket, filled it my tools, and went to work. I worked in 6 foot sections: weeding, cleaning, and creating a new tidy edge of grass. Once I finished a section I swept off the brick boarder so it all looked much better. I continued until I was driven inside by two hungry kids that needed some breakfast.

Later that morning Maddie and I cleaned out the mulched play area and the sand box. That makes such a difference -- the area is under a huge Oak tree that drops twigs and leave 365 days a year.

It took about 2 hours to cleanup 1/4 of the yard. That is not too bad! I am off now to mulch the areas that I cleaned out -- that will make all the difference. I was hoping to find a few annuals to plop in and add a little last minute color, but the local garden shop had nothing. I should not be surprised given the time of year and the heat, but I was bummed not to be able to put something new in.

The photos are from our last trip to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden!