A vinaigrette that will change your life

I found this recipe on Cooking Light's website.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love Cooking Light?  I get their magazine every month, and I love looking through it and finding new recipes to make!

Pistachio Lemon Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons pistachios, finely ground in food processor
2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons maple syrup (the real stuff)
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt

The recipe that I used it in was Pork chops over couscous with Pistachio-Lemon vinaigrette.  This was divine, but while we were eating dinner I kept talking about all the different ways I could use the vinaigrette.  I think you could do it over chicken, you could use it as a salad dressing, you could mix it in a pasta salad or a sweet potato salad, it would probably be delicious over steak, it would be so good over a kale salad, etc.

You can double or triple or quadruple the recipe easily and keep it in a mason jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks (but it won't last that long).  Promise me that you are going to make this vinaigrette this weekend.  Seriously, just do it.  Delicious!

Sangria and Baked Brie!

When our friends were visiting, I decided that I'd make some sangria!  I had never made any before, and so I looked around at a bunch of different recipes to try and figure out how to make it.  I kind of picked parts from several different recipes, and this is what I came up with.  It was absolutely delicious!

The first step is to cut up all the fruit.  I used 2 lemons, 2 limes, 1 orange, 1 red apple, and one green apple.  You slice the citrus fruits and dice the apples.  Throw them in your pitcher.

Then you add the booze!  I decided to do a bottle of Spanish red wine (it's one of the cheapest bottles that I could find at Trader Joe's, all the recipes I read said to use cheap wine, so here you go).  Then I added a cup of orange flavored vodka and a cup of Triple Sec.  Then you should pop it into the fridge for several hours so that the fruit can soak up everything.  

This is the finished product.  We started drinking it, and I felt like it was missing something.  A few of the recipes mentioned adding something with bubbles like ginger ale or sprite.  Well, I didn't have any of those, but I did have a bottle of Prosecco.  I added a splash of that into each glass and it was perfect! Something worth mentioning, the fruit really soaks in the alcohol, so be prepared to be shocked when you take those first few bites of fruit.  It is seriously like taking a shot.  whew.  

Besides wine, one of my favorite things to buy at Trader Joe's is cheese.  They have very affordable cheese.  While I was there picking up the Spanish wine, I got some Brie and French bread.  This recipe is super easy and really delicious.  Put the Brie on a baking sheet and bake it at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Also throw your sliced bread in there too, so that it can get crusty and toasty and delicious.  While the cheese and bread are cooking, toast some sliced almonds in a skillet.  When the cheese is good and oozy then pull it out of the oven, put it on the plate, throw the almonds on top and drizzle with honey.  NOM.  I mean, SO GOOD!

You should make both of these of your next get together.  I think that you should make a double batch of the Sangria if you are entertaining people.  YUM!  I hope that you guys enjoy this as much as we did.  Happy eating!

Big Fat Spicy Sate Noodles (with Chicken)

Okay, so I was hesitant to blog this because one of my vegetarian friends just went on a rant about people adding meat to dishes that don't call for it... BUT it was delicious and I wanted to share! I added chicken to this because I wanted it to be the main meal instead of a side dish.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  :-)


Now, if you have been following the blog then you already know that I am lucky enough to have the entire month of August off!  The family that I was nannying for moved to Philadelphia last week, and I don't start with my new family until the end of the month.  So, what's a girl to do?  Well, I decided to pull out a bunch of old Rachael Ray cookbooks that I have stored away.  You want to know what I realized?  Greg eats such a bigger variety of food now than he did when we first lived together and got married!  These cookbooks have so much in them now that I know he will eat.

Exhibit A: Big Fat Spicy Sate Noodles (with chicken)

Here's the recipe- if you can read it then I guess you don't have to read my long post... But if you want to see how it goes instead of trying to read that tiny print then be my guest!  

Here's the line up- I forgot cilantro, but if you are one of those people that have a very strong aversion to cilantro then please just use flat leaf parsley.  I have two things to say about the line-up: I just dry roasted peanuts because that's what we have in our house, and I wish I had peeled the ginger and put it in the freezer for a few hours because it grates up SO much easier when it's frozen (so do that if you have time, okay?).

Chicken- not called for in the recipe.  If you are a vegetarian or you want to make it as a side dish, or if you want a meatless dinner then GO FOR IT!  It's totally amazing, and I'm sure it would be without the chicken too.   But I used the chicken and thinly sliced it.  A trick that makes that easier would be to throw the chicken in the freezer for about 15 min- so so so much easier to cut it thinly!

Umm, wine?  Check.  Need I say more?  

Cook the chicken with some salt and pepper, but don't over do it!  Remember, sliced thinly?  It only takes 4-5 minutes.  

Put the chicken in a bowl, or a plate.  Whatever makes you happy.  

Mince your garlic (far right), grate the ginger (middle, grating works way better than chopping because frankly, fresh ginger is a pain in the ass to chop up), chop up the cilantro (or parsley), and halve two limes.  I would like to note that my juicer (the yellow thing in the back) is BY FAR my favorite kitchen gadget.  If you don't have one then I think you should go by one... asap.  

Did I mention that you should boil some water and cook the noodles to al dente?  Well, do that.  While the noodles are cooking make sure to reserve a cup of starchy cooking water.  It kind of marries everyone together at the end.  (go Bulls!)

Now put the oil in your skillet and add the garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes.  Cook those for a few minutes.  It will smell delicious!

Next you are going to add tamari, chicken stock (vegetable stock if you want it to be meat free), and some of that starchy cooking water that you put in your favorite mug. Cook this out!  I think the recipe says to cook it on high 3-4 minutes.  I might take it a little further than that.  

Add the peanut butter- yuuuuuum!  Mix it in with a whisk.  I didn't use my whisk because it was rusted (YUCK- and I can't believe I just admitted that to you guys)- we will be buying a new one very soon.  By the way, you should reduce the heat to low at this point.

Once the peanut butter is incorporated then throw in the chicken (or not).

Squeeze in the juices of your two lemons.  Did I mention how much I love my juicer?  Seriously, you need to go to the store and buy one.  It will change your life.  

Add the noodles!  Mix them in, if it's too thick then add some more of that starchy cooking water from the noodles.  

Add the peanuts and the cilantro (or parsley) and mix that all together.  

 EAT!

I hope that you guys enjoy this!  Give me some feedback! 

Pineapple Chicken Salad Pitas

Kate and Mark gave me some recipes that they wanted me to cook this week.  I am pretty sure that Kate got it out of a magazine that said to buy a 7 lb. chicken, roast it the first night, and then use it over a few days to make several different meals.  A 7 lb. chicken is pretty big for just two meals (which is what I was going to make), so I decided to look for a healthier version of chicken salad to make that we can all have for lunch.  I found this recipe on Cooking Light's web-site.  I thought it sounded good, and I don't care for celery so I was super excited to find a recipe without celery.

Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups of chopped chicken breast (mine was roasted, but you could easily boil a couple of chicken breasts)
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- 1/3 cup light mayonnaise (I used less than that)
- 1/2 finely chopped green onions
- 1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I thought that this was in the fridge, but it wasn't!  I used a little light sour cream instead)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (8 oz) can of crushed pineapple in juice (drained, but I didn't worry about getting every drop out)
- 4 whole wheat pitas
- 8 Romaine lettuce leaves

Combine the first 11 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well.  Cut the pita in half, put in a piece of lettuce, and then some of the chicken salad.



The only problem that I had was that I couldn't get the pita to open up.  I just cut the half in half again and made I guess a flatbread sandwich.  It is really good.  Interesting flavor combination.  You should totally give it a try if you aren't crazy about traditional chicken salad.

The best pasta salad that I've ever had!

So, Mark and Kate have been talking about this pasta salad that they were going to make for about a week.  Each day I would come to work and the package of pasta would still be on the counter.  It's been an especially hectic week for them, and so I offered to make it for them yesterday.  I asked Mark to just e-mail me the recipe and I would make it so that they could have it to take with them for lunch.

Well, I didn't exactly get a recipe, so I guess you aren't going to either.  I got a text message that said this:

"Orzo, asparagus, parmesan (a lot), lemon juice, lemon zest, toasted slivered almonds, salt, pepper, craisins."  And the directions were, "She usually does the final mixing in a large skillet."

SO, here's what I did...

- I boiled the pasta according to the package directions.
- I toasted the almonds in the large skillet, and once they were fragrant I put them in a dish by the stove.
- I cut the asparagus into about 1 inch pieces, and then I blanched them in about 1.5 in of salted boiling water and then immediately ran them under cold water to stop the cooking process(in the large skillet after toasting the almonds...  then of course I dumped the water)
- I zested on lemon and reserved it.
- I shredded about 1 1/2 or 2 cups of parmesan (come on and buy a block of it and get your box grater out)
- Then I put the pasta in the skillet and did a very light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, added the almonds, asparagus and a big handful of craisins.  I mixed that until everything looked incorporated.  Then I added the lemon zest and mixed until I thought that was mixed in well.  Then I added the juice of the lemon that I had zested.  Last but certainly not least...  the cheese.  Once again I mixed and mixed until it was all incorporated and yummy looking.
- I tasted and then added salt (not much since the parmesan is so salty) and pepper.

Let me just say... delicious.  I think when I was telling Greg about it last night I used the phrase "so good" more than 5 times.  This is SUPER easy and well... SO GOOD.

(Allison Ladner...  You have to make this ASAP.)

Amazing (and easy) Roast Chicken

Part of my job is to cook dinner for the family that I nanny for.  I cook 2 nights a week for them.  I've been exploring different recipes and trying to cook a variety of different things.  I love cooking, and so I was pretty excited when we agreed that this would be part of my duties.  The really fabulous part is that they buy enough for 4 people, and I am able to take half home for Greg and I to have.

I have been working for three weeks now, and here is what I have cooked:
- Lasagna
- Roast Chicken
- Sweet and Sour Pork
- Ground Turkey Enchilidas
- Pizza (mushrooms and spinach)
- Greek Chicken and Veggies

The roast chicken that I did is an Ina Garten recipe, and it's called Engagement Roast Chicken.  I think that she jokes that if you cook it for your boyfriend that he'll propose to you because it is so good.  Let me tell you, it is so good!  AND it is super easy to make.

Ingredients:
- 1 (4-5 lb) roasting chicken
- kosher salt and ground pepper
- 2 lemons
- 1 whole head of garlic (cut in half, crosswise)
- olive oil
- 2 Spanish onions sliced thickly
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Remove and throw away the giblets (gag).  OR buy a chicken without giblets.  Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken, don't be stingy!  Quarter the lemons, and add one to the inside of the chicken along with the head of garlic.  Next, rub the outside of the chicken with olive oil and then salt and pepper (I use a good bit on the outside too).  Tie together the legs with kitchen string and tuck the wings behind the body (this helps to make sure that everything is cooked evenly).

Put the chicken in a roasting pan (11x14 inch).  Put the onions and the remaining lemon pieces into a bowl and toss with olive oil, 1 tsp of kosher salt, and 1/2 tsp of ground pepper.  Then add the lemon and onions to the roasting pan (around the chicken).

Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  It is going to make your house/apartment smell heavenly!  Take the chicken out and place it on a plate, and cover with aluminum foil.  Let it rest for at least 10 minutes. 

She just puts her roasting pan on the stove top, but for some reason that makes me nervous, so I poured the onions, lemons, and all the juices into a sauce pan to make the gravy.  Put the heat on high/ medium high.  Add the wine and chicken stock.  Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until the sauce is as thick as you want.  Make sure that before you carve the chicken up that you pour the juices on the plate into the gravy.

-------------------

That's it.  Super easy.  The main change that I would make is reducing the amount of lemons.  I felt like it was too much lemon.  I would do 1/2 of a lemon inside the chicken, and the other half in the roasting pan with the onions.

I made mashed potatoes and green beans with it.  It was so good.  If you want an easy meal to impress whoever you are having over for dinner then this is it!

I wish that I had taken pictures of everything that I've made, but I have been slacking. I promise to do better!

What have you been cooking lately?  Is there another recipe that you guys want me to post from what I have already cooked?

It's Cooking Time

Hello!

It has been a while since I posted any recipes, and frankly it has been a while since I have been able to cook what I want when I want. Living with Greg's parents this summer was great, but I really missed having my own kitchen, with my pots/pans, knives, groceries, etc. It has been fabulous being able to organize my kitchen, use our cookware, and really make I want. I hadn't really realized how much I missed it.

Tonight, I decided to make Vodka Cream Sauce for pasta. I had made Rachael Ray's "You Won't Be Single for Long Vodka Cream Pasta" before, but I was feeling up for a challenge. When I googled that recipe I saw this one, "Penne with Vodka Sauce" by Giada de Laurentiis. I liked her recipe better because it called to make her Simple Tomato Sauce first, and I've been wanting to make a tomato sauce from scratch lately. I knew that would be a difficult task until I had a light go off in my head today about how to get rid of the chunks (which Greg and I hate). I got an immersion blender as a wedding gift, and I knew this would be the perfect occasion to use it! And as always, I made a few changes to suit our tastes.

Here the journey begins... It all starts with getting your veggies ready. You need one onion, some garlic (I used 6 small cloves, we LOVE garlic, so if you don't love it then use less), a carrot, and a stalk of celery.

Mince the garlic, and chop the onion. Throw them in the pot with a big dose olive oil and saute them until they are starting to get soft. A problem that I used to have was that I always burned my garlic, which is not the most delightful taste. I have found that if you put the garlic and onion in before the oil gets hot and then heat it all together, it doesn't burn as easily! I learned that from reading one of my cookbooks, and it is a tip that has really helped me.

Next, chop up the celery and carrot. Add them after the onions and garlic have started to soften, and cook them all together until everything is pretty soft. I think this took me about 15 minutes. Make sure that you keep stirring it so that nothing gets burned. Also, add a salt and pepper to taste. I love using kosher salt.

This is one place where I made a deviation from the recipe. I added a splash of red wine to deglaze the pan to get all that yummy goodness off the bottom. Now, Ina Garten says that you should always use a wine that you will drink because you don't want it to taste like cheap wine. Well, lucky for me, I actually like cheap wine. It's pretty much all I drink, and so I'm not going to tell you what I used (let's just say it was on sale, so we bought it). Just use whatever you drink!

I let the wine cook out a lot. The next step is to add your tomatoes. The recipe calls for crushed tomatoes, but I didn't have those because we don't eat them. I used cans of tomato sauce because that's what I had. I'm a firm believer in using what you have instead of running out to the store because "oh no! I have tomato sauce but not crushed tomatoes!" It didn't matter because it all gets blended in the end.

You mix everything together and let it simmer for at least an hour.

Next is the fun part! You taste. Decide what it needs, more salt? more pepper? Add whatever you think it needs. Then get your blender ready. Like I said before, I used my immersion blender because it's so much easier and less to clean up later. Make sure that you put the blender in all the way before you turn it on, other wise you will have a HUGE mess to clean up. You can also pour the mixture into a regular blender. Just make sure to take the plastic thing out of the lid of the blender and cover that with a towel, or the lid will blow off when you go to press blend. Something about the hot sauce expands, and if you thought your would have a mess with the immersion blender, look out because that will be a disaster!

After I got the sauce nice and smoother, I ladled out half of the sauce into a container that I am going to put in the freezer for another day.

First things first, put on a big pot of water. Make sure to salt it and add some olive oil to the water so that your noodles don't stick together, and it helps prevent your water from boiling over. I learned that tip from my mom.

Now on to the vodka part! Add a cup of vodka! Remember, use what you drink. =) You need to crank the heat up a bit and cook the vodka and sauce until it has reduced by 1/4. I didn't this like I should have tonight, and we had a ZING of vodka after taste. Next time, I will make sure to crank the heat up, which is what I did not do tonight. I just left it on low and let it cook about 20 minutes.

Bring the heat back down to low. When it stops bubbling like crazy, add 1/2 cup of cream. You don't want it to be too hot because the cream will curdle (yuck). Next, the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of grated parmesan, but I only had asiago. SO, I added 1/2 a cup of asiago. Mix it in, until it is nice and creamy.

Make sure you pay attention to the pasta. Drain it while it is al dente (it has a little bite to it). I put the pasta in our pasta bowl, and then ladled some of the sauce on top. I mixed it together, and then added some asiago and basil leaves on top.

Voila! A delicious italian dinner! We had some wonderful focaccia bread that we got from the Farmer's Market this morning that we had with it. It was very good, and Greg liked it!

Mini Shell Pasta with Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce

This recipe is absolutely delicious. Greg and I made it for our Valentine's Dinner this past year, and it is super easy and SO good! It is a recipe by Jamie Oliver, whom I love! Have you been watching his new show on ABC? It's called Food Revolution, and he has moved to a small town in WV and is trying to overhaul their school lunches, and basically the community's outlook on food and healthy eating. It's a fantastic show, and if you haven't seen it I think you should give it a go.

Okay, so back to the recipe. Here are the ingredients:

- 10 slices of smoked bacon or pancetta (Jamie Oliver recommends free range or organic)

- small bunch of fresh mint (only use the leaves, and throw away the stalks)

- butter (how ever much you want, I think I used 1/4 a cup or 1/2 a stick)

- 2 cups of frozen peas

- 2 tablespoons of heavy cream (I might have used a little more than this)

- 1 lemon

- 6 ounces of finely shredded parmesan cheese (I bought a chunk and shredded it myself)

- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper (I use kosher salt, it's all I cook with. I love it.)

- 1 pound of mini shell pasta

- Olive oil

The first thing you do is bring a big pot of water to a boil. Add your pasta and cook as directed. Make sure that you add plenty of salt to the water to give the pasta some flavor. And I always add a bit of olive oil to the water to keep the water from bubbling over, and it helps the pasta not to stick together.

Have a large frying pan over medium heat and add the oil and butter. Add the bacon to the pan with some pepper and cook until it is crispy and golden! YUM. Once the bacon is done add the peas and give the pan a good shake to cook the peas. After a minute or two add the heavy cream and mint.

Drain the pasta when it is done cooking, but make sure you save some of the water that you cooked the pasta in. I just grabbed a coffee cup and filled it with water before I drained the pasta.

Add the pasta to the frying pan. Halve your lemon and squeeze the juice over the pasta.

Mix it all together and once it is bubbling, and the sauce has thickened you can take it off the heat, and it is ready to go! If the sauce is too thick for your taste, then just add the reserved cooking water until it is thinned out however you like it.

OH! Last, but certainly not least, add the shredded parmesan! (my favorite) Mix it in and NOW you are ready to serve.

This is perfect for a romantic night in because you'll have plenty of leftovers (and it's still delicious the next day), or this would be super easy if you are having people over for dinner. You just put it in a big serving bowl and let people get as much as they want.

So, there you go. An update since I have been slacking lately. I hope that everyone is doing well, and leave me some love!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I know, I know. Some of you are probably wondering why in the world am I posting a soup recipe in middle/late March. Well, I remember that I posted a picture on Facebook a few months ago and Allison asked me for the recipe and I never got around to it. Well, she lives in Denver, CO and they got a TON of snow yesterday, and so I figure she would probably like to have some soup. Here in Savannah, it's going to be 78 degrees today, so it's not something that I would cook right now but if I don't post it now I'll never remember to do it until next fall. ha! Allison! Here you go!

This is so easy! You just throw everything into the crockpot and let it cook 4-6 hours.

• 1 pound shredded, cooked chicken (I boil the chicken until it is cooked through and then let it rest a minute and shred it with a fork)
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed (I use a can of tomato sauce since Greg hates chunks of anything in his food)
• 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped (I use onion powder rather than an onion for the same reason listed above)
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers (I run these through the food processor because of Greg's hate for chunks)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups water (I don't really add water unless it looks really thick)
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Enjoy!

Chicken Lasagna

Greg's cousin, Bill, and his wife Michelle got us this cookbook for one of our wedding showers back in November. They are both reporters for the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. This is a cookbook of recipes that were lost by people when Katrina happened, and they wrote in to the paper (where they had originally found the recipes) and asked for them to reprint it. It is really neat because each recipe has notes from the people that wrote in looking for the recipe and why it was important to them. Super cool cookbook, with some really good recipes.

I actually have grease splatters all over the cookbook before ever using it because this recipe has been laying open on the counter for weeks. I have wanted to cook this for a while, but with mine and Greg's crazy schedule, it's hard to find time.

Here are the ingredients:

- 1 stick of butter

- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

- 4 cups of milk

- 1 tablespoon garlic salt, plus 1 teaspoon

- 3 teaspoons parsley flakes

- Salt

- Black pepper

- Pinch of red pepper flakes

- 1 tablespoon water

- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

- 1 (4.5 ounce) can chopped green chiles with their liquid

- 3 tablespoons dried chopped onion

- 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic

- 1 teaspoon onion powder

- 12 lasagna noodles

- 2 cups Swiss cheese

- 2 cups Monterey Jack-Cheddar cheese mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

The first step is to make the sauce. You melt the stick of butter down over medium heat. Add the flour and make sure that it blends well. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly, until all of it is added and the mixture is smooth. (I freaked out a little because it wasn't thick and creamy like I expected, but it thickens up the longer that it cooks). Add 1 tablespoon of the garlic salt, 2 teaspoons of the parsley flakes, slat and pepper to taste, and then add the red pepper flakes. Simmer the sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally while you cook the chicken.

I used chicken tenders because it is easier to cut them into cubes. Pour a tablespoon of water into the skillet, and add the chicken, green chiles (I ran these through the food processor because Greg won't eat chunks of anything), dried onion, fresh garlic, onion powder, the remaining 2 teaspoon of parley flakes, and the remaining 1 teaspoon of garlic salt and salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked (about 7 minutes). Add the cooked chicken to the pan of sauce, and cook over very low heat for about 15 minutes.

OH, make sure you have already cooked the lasagna noodles. I started them when I was making the sauce, and they were done by the time I cooked the chicken.

Coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of the sauce, so that the noodles don't stick to your pan. Place a layer of 2 lasagna noodles in the pan, and top with cheese, then sauce, and then another layer of cheese. Repeat until all of your ingredients are done.

Cover your dish with aluminum foil and back for 1 hour. I baked it for 45 minutes covered and then 15 uncovered to get some color on the top. Let it sit for about 15 minutes before serving.

Here was the finished product! I wish that you could smell the lasagna as it cooked! I couldn't wait until it was done because it smelled so good. And Greg, who was hesitant about me making it because he isn't a fan of new foods was pulled in by the delicious smell as it cooked.

So, there it is. I would say that it turned out perfect! It was a wonderful meal, and I imagine it would be perfect for a cold wintery night, but it was just fine for last night. We really enjoyed it and of course will be enjoying the leftovers this week.

In other news, Dancing with the Stars started last night, and we were both so excited. I have some how gotten Greg pulled into watching it with me. We were really excited to see Chad Ochocino and Erin Andrews. Those are our favorite by far. And, truth be told, Greg actually called and voted! HA! We are excited to see everything that happens this season. Who are your favorites?

Welcome!

Hello blogger world,

I have always blogged with LiveJournal, but I feel that our community has faded due to recent events. SO, I decided to start fresh with a completely new blog. How does that sound to you? We are going to focus on updates on what is happening in our crazy life, yummy recipes that we try (and like), and I'm sure there will be plenty of updates on our adventures of parenting a puppy.

What's been happening lately? Let's start with Greg! Greg is on a marketing team with some of his classmates called GrandSlam Marketing. They do all kinds of different things for the GSUbaseball team. So, he has been spending WAY more time in Statesboro this semester than he had to last semester. He goes up for baseball games every weekend. What does he do up there? Sometimes he does merchandise, and sometimes he does on-field promotions, and I think today he did public relations (or something like that) for the first time. It has been a lot of work, but he is getting some really great experience.

I've had the flu since Thursday night. BOO! It has been pretty unpleasant. I had to call into work on Friday morning, and I have spent the whole weekend being lazy with the dogs (since Greg has been consumed with baseball games). I love my job, but it is not very fun catching what all the lovely babies bring to school.

Needless to say, I have not been cooking this weekend since I have not been eating anything. BUT, last weekend I was watching Food Network and I saw Giada De Laurentiis, and she was cooking a meal that looked absolutely delicious! It was Penne in Almond Sauce. It was very good, the texture was different, and it was just good to do pasta in a different way! And, it was super easy to make, especially if you use already cooked chicken rather than having to cook it yourself. You should totally check it out, here is a picture of how it turned out:

That's all for now, I better get back to resting on the couch because tomorrow I must return to the crazy babies! We've got to pay the bills somehow :-)