Amaize Sweet Corn- Truly The Best Corn Ever!

Today's post is sponsored by Amaize Sweet Corn. All opinions are strictly my own. 

It's summertime and we are all about the summer veggies. One of our favorites is the classic, fresh corn on the cob. I was watching a segment on a health-related news show a while back and was blown away to find out that close to 90% of our corn is genetically modified. I find that really scary to say that corn is such a common go-to vegetable for families. I was thrilled to be introduced to Amaize sweet corn. Amaize sweet corn is bred using traditional methods through hybridization and is not genetically modified. Amaize is grown locally using conventional farming methods.

So why is this corn so special? It is the sweetest, most crunchy corn I have ever tasted. Some corn tends to get mushy once its cooked. Not Amaize. It stays so crisp and pops in your mouth when you eat it. My family is pretty traditional when it comes to how we like our corn cooked. One of my favorite ways to prepare fresh corn is parboiled in some plain water and then seasoned and grilled on my stove-top cast iron grill. 

I love adding a little something extra to my grilled corn and either grated Parmesan or crumbled feta is a great addition. You can transfer your grilled corn onto a piece of aluminum foil and sprinkle lightly with your choice of cheese and a small pat of butter if desired. Put it back on the grill just for a couple minutes and you will have the most perfect corn on the cob! 

Feta adds a nice salty flavor that pairs perfectly with the abundant sweet taste of the corn. My family raved about how sweet and tasty the corn was. My husband insisted that I must have added sugar to it and I had to ensure him that I did not! It is just that delicious. 

Amaize sweet corn is only available for a limited time-- from June- September in select stores. I am so happy that it is available at my local Food Lion stores. I will be purchasing some to freeze so that we can have some extras for after the summer ends. Check out some of the cooking tips and recipes here and be sure to follow Amaize Sweet Corn on Facebook and Youtube. 

If you are lucky enough to get your hands on some Amaize sweet corn, let me know how you liked it! I am pretty certain that you will LOVE it :) 

Ordering Trees Online- Is it Legit?

Have you ever considered ordering trees or plants online before, but was a bit skeptical? We have been planting trees in our yard since removing the old, overgrown ones. Thankfully for us, we were super lucky to score trees on clearance at our local home improvement stores. So far we have several evergreens, a corkscrew willow and a weeping cherry. Now that the pretty trees are in the ground, we decided on a pretty shade tree. I did many hours of research online and read probably close to one hundred reviews.

We finally settled on getting a Tulip Poplar tree. I went to a few local places and they wanted anywhere from $109-$170 for one. This didn't include delivery or planting. I'm sorry, that was just way too much for one tree. After getting the other ones for so little, I got spoiled and didn't want to spend a lot. I decided to take a chance and order a tulip poplar online for way less than half the cost of what I found locally. The company I used is actually located in SC about an hour from where I live, so this made me feel a little better. I figured if the trees are grown and harvested in SC, then they should be able to thrive. Here is what I got...

I was so thrilled to see how well the tree was packed and that it arrived in excellent shape. I ordered a 4-5 foot tree and got exactly that! The tulip poplar is expected to grow up to 30-50 feet with about 5-7 feet of growth each year. In the spring, it will have bright yellow tulip-like flowers that attract hummingbirds. The leaves will be big and broad, perfect for shade all summer long. In the fall, the leaves are supposed to turn a very bright yellow. It will be beautiful for all seasons! If you want to know where I ordered the tree from, send me an email.

My little guy was so excited to help his dad plant the tree while I supervised. Now we just have to keep it watered and watch it grow. I will post an update later in the year to let you all know how she's doing :)

Easy Cheesy Stuffed Zucchini Recipe

I am a huge fan of all things vegetables, but unfortunately that's not really the case for my family. We try to have vegetarian meals a couple times a week and I feel like I get stuck making the same old things. One of my favorite summer vegetables is zucchini. I can eat it prepared in any way-- sauteed, baked, in soups or stews, and even raw with dips. My husband and daughters do not share my love of zucchini at all. I decided to come up with a way to make them at least give it a try again. I figured a little cheese and savory flavor would help with those picky eaters. I came up with the perfect dish that is big hit with my family. My husband had to admit that zucchini isn't as bad as he thought it was. 

Check out my delicious recipe for Cheesy Stuffed Zucchini...

Ingredients: 

3-4 small zucchini 

4 ounces (half pack) of cream cheese 

Grated Parmesan cheese 

Garlic powder

Cracked pepper

Red pepper flakes (optional) 

Feta cheese

Seasoned bread crumbs 

Olive oil for your baking dish

Directions:
Spread cream cheese mixture evenly in the zucchini halves (layer will be thin). Sprinkle a little bit of feta on top of cream cheese mixture and then follow with the bread crumbs. Just a little of both will do. Bake in oven uncovered about 35-45Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a baking dish with your favorite olive oil and set aside. Cut the ends off each zucchini and then slice lengthwise in half. With a spoon, scoop out the seeds without taking away too much of the flesh. Mix cream cheese with a few sprinkles of Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to taste.  minutes depending on how big your zucchinis are. You can insert a fork to check for doneness. Enjoy!

You can serve this recipe as a side dish or even a main dish. Feel free to add or take away any ingredients to make it your own. Let me know if you try it!

Plan Your Wedding With Stationery from Minted #ad

I remember over 20 years ago when I was planning for my wedding, before the convenience of the Internet. I had to do a ton of running around for everything I needed. One of the first things on my long list of things to purchase was the wedding invitations. In those days we had to thumb through enormous catalogs with card samples. It took us probably 3 hours to get it all done between picking a layout, figuring out what we wanted printed, the ink color and font. Fast forward to 2015, we can now do all of those same things without leaving our house in a fraction of the time. Minted.com offers a wide variety of styles and themes to choose from.

Look at these gorgeous "Save the date" cards. 

You can really customize your order in any way to suit your needs. The website makes it so easy to break down the colors, themes, card style, paper type and more. I played around on the site to make my dream invitations and guess what? It took me all of 20 minutes and I never got off the couch!

I absolutely love this design and shape. I also like that Minted automatically shows the matching RSVP cards, envelopes, thank you cards, labels and more. Minted also auto-saves your recent product views in the event you want to go back for another look.

I think the hardest thing is having to settle on one design! If you are looking for beautiful wedding stationery, I highly suggest Minted. You can even get free samples to get to see stationery items up close.

A couple years ago, I had a billing issue (a mistake I made) and spoke with someone in their customer service department. I was so impressed by the level of customer care and my issue was resolved right away. They even sent me a personalized follow-up email to make sure everything was correct. Now that's what I call great service! Consider Minted for your wedding stationery needs. Be sure to connect with Minted on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for product promotions and updates.

I received a gift code to share my honest opinions about Minted.com. All opinions are 100% mine as always. 

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

I remember many years ago when we first moved into our home, the front and back yard was littered with various trees, shrubs and bushes. The previous residents were renters and let's just say that yard maintenance was not a priority to them. My husband and I spent countless hours, weekend after weekend chopping, trimming, pruning and removing anything that was manageable for us to do ourselves. We were pretty certain that the yard trash collection guys hated us because there was always a pile of branches, bags of leaves or some time of yard debris for months on end. I think it took us a good 2 years to really get the yard under control. We did have some plum trees, one Bradford pear and a couple other big trees that up to this day, we really never knew what kind they were.

Of course when you have large trees so close to your house, there comes a lot of risk. Every storm that blew through, we would panic that a large branch would crash through our bedroom window or it would break and fall onto the roof. It finally came the point of letting it all go. In late December, we had our trees removed with the exception of the Bradford pear since it was not causing any problems. It was really hard watching the trees that our daughters used to climb and swing from the branches get cut down. They were just too overgrown and the roots were getting way out of control. We just couldn't risk keeping them anymore. When all of the trees were removed it looked and felt so strange outside. We no longer had shade and our back yard became overly plain and sad looking. I have hinted around to my husband for probably more than 7 years that I really wanted a willow tree in the back yard. Now that all of our trees were gone, it made him a bit more open to getting one planted for me. Of course, he complained that I wanted so badly to hire The Local Tree Experts to get rid of the other trees only to turn around to get more trees.

We were looking around our local Lowe's recently and noticed that all of their trees were on clearance. Although we were just browsing, we came across a willow tree. Even better, the clearance price was only $5.00! My husband did not hesitate to buy it for me. I'm pretty sure he was side-eyeing me just a pinch :)

So here she is, my lovely corkscrew willow! The branches are supposed to have a curvy shape as the tree grows and it is supposed to be pretty for all 4 seasons. I'm so happy to watch her grow and add some much needed beauty and shade (eventually) to my big, empty yard. My hubby even threw in a few evergreens on the fence line. We are planning to plant a poplar tree on the other side since we need a fast-growing tree to give some extra shade. I guess good things come to those who wait. Even better, on clearance!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend xoxo