rusted lace

photo by kristen bach

edisto subtle beauty

i went to edisto island in december- never had seen the marsh in it's winter colors. the day i visited, there was a heavy mist blowing across the marsh, adding to the somber and subtle beauty. enjoy!

words and photographs by rebecca wood

greys and browns

photo by kristen bach

spanish moss

i will never forget my first time seeing spanish moss...i think i even brought some back to athens, hoping it would grow.  you head to south georgia and it is everywhere.  it definitely sets a tone of mystery and beauty.  here are some moss covered trees that i recently admired in thomasville, georgia.

photos and words by kristen bach

white wood

photograph by rinne allen

glittered magnolias

all of us here at beauty everyday have other work that we do, in addition to this blog, our books, etc...rebecca runs a pottery studio, i am a photographer, and kristen owns a sweet shop in town, treehouse. there was a great article about kristen's shop in our local paper recently, that focused on a class that our friend hope hilton leads there, called "Craft, Inc". hope has a great group of talented pre-teens who are creative *and* have a good sense of the business side of things. for the holiday markets they made different things to sell. one of the things they made were these glittered magnolia leaves and i love them. this is another good way to bring something from the outside in the wintertime...just paint on some glue and then sprinkle with glitter and let dry- instant sparkle! {addendum: treehouse teacher lindsay troutman originally introduced the glittered magnolia craft to everyone at treehouse...here is a link to her tutorial on how to make them. enjoy!}

words & photographs by rinne allen

freckled tin

photos by kristen bach

roasted sweet potato gnocchi

roasted sweet potato gnocchi, a winter comfort meal at it's finest.  this one was fun to make and was a perfect meal to make on a chilly day. 

ingredients

3 cups of roasted sweet potatoes (about 4 medium sweet potatoes)

16 oz ricotta cheese (drained)

1 1/4 cup shredded parmesan

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2-3 cups flour (more or less) 

directions

-wash sweet potatoes and place in oven

-turn oven on to 400 degrees to roast them

-remove potatoes from oven when they are tender, it usually takes 30-40 minutes

-cool potatoes and remove the insides and place in a bowl

-mash the potatoes with a fork or ricer

-combine the cheeses and salt

-add flour bit by bit, I like to mix the flour in with my hands

-when you are able to form into a ball and the dough is less sticky, transfer to a clean, floured  surface

-kneed the dough, adding more flour if it begins to stick

-when your dough gets to a consistency where you can roll it into a snake, you can stop adding flour

-divide the dough into 6 parts

-roll the dough into a long snake shape

-cut into small 1 inch or so pieces

-make intentions with  the tines of a fork

-place the finishes gnocchi on a floured cookie sheet or surface cooking the gnocchi 

-bring some salted water to a boil

-in small batches carefully drop 20 or so gnocchi in the boiling water

-gnocchi should cook for 1-3 minutes, until they pop up to the surface

-remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon

-repeat until all gnocchi is cooked   

to complete the dish i like to toss gnocchi with some browned butter, kale, roasted pecans, parmesan, and kale.