Springtime Asparagus Tortellini

Now that spring is here, I like to take advantage of the window of time when there's an abundance of fresh asparagus. This recipe makes a quick pasta with a creamy sauce and fresh asparagus. In about 30 minutes, you can have this vegetarian meal on the table, which leaves you more time to enjoy the nice weather that spring has to offer!

 

Springtime Asparagus Tortellini

2 packages three cheese tortellini, 9 oz. each 

1 small yellow onion, diced 

1 bunch asparagus, chopped into bite-sized pieces

4 garlic cloves, minced 

2 cups heavy whipping cream 

1 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste 

Oil for cooking 

1. Cook tortellini according to package instructions, drain, and set aside.
2. Preheat a pan over medium heat and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. 
3. Add onions and sauté until translucent.
4. Add chopped asparagus and sauté for 5 minutes or until desired tenderness. Add minced garlic, salt, and pepper.
5. Mix well and cook for about 5 more minutes.
6. Pour in heavy cream while stirring. Add shaved Parmesan cheese and stir until cheese is melted.
7. Stir in tortellini until completely mixed and cook for a couple of minutes.
8. Serve and enjoy.

If you're looking for other simple asparagus recipes for springtime, give these tried and true Harris Sisters' recipes a try:

• Roasted Asparagus Risotto
• Asparagus Couscous
• Garlic Roasted Asparagus

Enjoy!

Vintage Easter and Spring Decor Ideas

Now that we're counting down the days until spring, it's a good time to decorate for Easter. If you love vintage pieces, you can also incorporate them into your Easter and spring decor even if they didn't start out as Easter decorations.

This 1960s Metlox Poppytrail Lamb cookie jar is the latest piece I've added to my collection. Because it's a lamb, I thought it would fit right in with my Easter decorations. It still has the original crier in the hat and is in perfect working condition with no chips or cracks. We found this at an antique mall a few years ago while on vacation in the fall, so not only was I surprised to find this, but I think Ryan was surprised to hear that I wanted it to add to our Easter decorations (when I'm sure everyone else had their mind set on Halloween or maybe even Christmas decorations that time of year). The owner of the antique mall let us walk away with this guy for $30. We've since found him on Etsy and eBay for $75-$100, so we got a great deal on him, especially since usually the crier is no longer working and ours still works!

The next two pieces also didn't start out as Easter decorations, but that's how I use them now. Both are mid-century planters, so they're a little older than the cookie jar. The first is a lamb planter. These were popular baby shower gifts in the 1950s. I got this at a different antique mall from a vendor that was closing their booth. Everything in the booth was 50% off, so this was $3.00. This one has a yellow bow, but since they were originally baby shower planters, they often have pink or blue bows. All perfect colors to match your Easter decorations! These turn up at thrift stores, and you can also find them on Etsy and eBay, so it's easy to add a few extra lambs to your Easter decorations if you'd like to!

The second is a little chick hatching out of an egg and it's marked Japan. I got this one at a local thrift store for 99 cents. He's nestled into the table decorations and because of his size, he'd make a great Easter candy dish.

Next, we have a few vintage pieces that I've displayed together. I found this 1960s Inarco cake stand at a thrift store for $4. It features an embossed pattern of green apples and daisies, which is perfect for spring decor. I've used it as a pedestal for my trio of vintage 1950s Lefton rabbits.

I've got a few vintage pieces incorporated into the table setting, as well. At each place setting, I have a Depression Glass saucer topped with a vintage Anchor Hocking Champagne/Tall Sherbet Dish in the Wexford pattern. I have the sherbert glass filled with a mini bird's nest and eggs, but you could also fill it with Easter candy or an actual dessert for Easter dinner.

I have also added a vintage Smith Glass Early American Milk Glass Water Goblet in the crosshatch pattern to each place setting.

Bonus Tip:

Here's a bonus spring decorating tip that will work for you if your daffodils are blooming around the same time that you've decorated for Easter. This makes an easy centerpiece if you like the look of fresh flowers. And you can continue to refresh the centerpiece with different flowers from your garden to keep it out past Easter and well into spring. 

I like to collect all of my vintage milk glass bud vases and use them to display fresh daffodil blooms. You could also use your vintage milk glass vases to display other spring blooming flowers, such as tulips, irises, sweet peas, peonies, stock flowers (gillyflowers), lily of the valley, ranunculus, freesia, gardenias, or forsythia branches.

For this display, I used milk glass vases in varying heights to add visual interest. Milk glass vases are available individually at thrift stores, estate sales, and antique malls, but you can often find collections of them on Etsy or eBay if you'd like to buy a whole group at once.

Milk glass vases are easy to decorate for different seasons. You can see these same vases decorated for both Halloween and transitional Halloween to fall/Thanksgiving decor in our Halloween Home Tour. And pop over to our 12 Vintage Days of Christmas post to see how to decorate milk glass for Christmas.

I hope this gives you some ideas about how you can repurpose vintage items to decorate for Easter. For more vintage Easter and spring decorating ideas, make sure to check out Harris Sister Deanna's Spring Home Tour. 

Spring will be here before you know it!

River Sirens Themed Photo Shoot

Spring is nearly here, and today we thought we'd share with you a photoshoot that we did back in 2019 at our Girls' Weekend trip to Helen, GA. The cabin that we rented for the trip had a babbling brook that ran behind it. We thought it would be perfect for this photoshoot.

The inspiration for this photoshoot was loosely based on the river sirens from the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, although we opted to go with a more ethereal look for our costumes.

Here's The Harris Sisters' version:

And here's the inspiration from the movie:

How to Plan Your Own River Sirens Photoshoot

Make a Shot List and Consider Shot Order

We started off with list of photos we were interested in getting during this photoshoot. 

That way, we had a plan and we wouldn't miss out on any of the photos we wanted while we were all together and in costume. Because you are working with water, you'll need to be aware that once your dress is wet, you can't go back and take photos of it dry. The order you take your shots will be very important.

Our mission was to get photos of:

• on dry land (river in background/before we got wet)
• wading in water
• kneeling in water

Other popular options that we did not explore are:

• sitting in water
• floating in water 
• emerging from water

Some of the shots on your shot list will be determined by the depth, clarity, stillness, and type of water you're working with. For example, if you manage to secure a waterfall for your location, your photo shot list will look very different from someone who's working with a small stream or brook.

We were working with water that was rushing over a small bank of rocks, so while some of these shots would have been beautiful, they may not have been practical for us.

What to Wear for Your River Sirens Themed Photoshoot

When we plan photoshoots, we are all in charge of our own clothing. The first step is to find your inspiration photo and to decide which direction you're going to go in for your photos. River or water photoshoots can range from sirens to mermaids to woodland fairies.

We decided to evoke an ethereal aesthetic with long, flowing dresses that featured sheer overlays and flower accents. We choose three different colors (pink, gray with floral embroidery, and peach) to show our different personalities, but you could also opt for a monochromatic color scheme.

While you see that we're barefoot in the above photo, our best tip is to wear water shoes for the actual shots in the water. They'll keep you from stepping on rocks and debris when you're in the water.

Make Sure to Add Accessories

If you look closely, you'll notice a few extra details in these photos, and they weren't difficult or expensive to add. See if you can spot these accessories:

• floral crown
• feather hair decoration
• floral ribbon belt
• butterfly hair clip
• vintage oak leaf brooch

Down to the River to Pray

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

As I went down in the river to pray

Studying about that good ol' way

And who shall wear the starry crown

Good Lord, show me the way

O sisters, let's go down

Let's go down, come on down

O sisters, let's go down

Down in the river to pray

As I went down in the river to pray

Studying about that good ol' way

And who shall wear the robe and crown

Good Lord, show me the way

 ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

We hope this post inspires you to plan your own photo shoot for your sisters or girlfriends. This was a fun one for the Harris Sisters to do.