Sweet Home Alabama

Hi, it's been a looooong time. I'm sorry! I will try to be a better blogger.

The last time that we spoke, Greg and I had no idea where we would be after June 5 (when our lease was up in Savannah). We were not sure when Greg would hear about a possible internship, which is his last step of his master's degree in Sport Management. He applied for several different opportunities that could have had a us moving anywhere in the US. Well, he had worked a tennis tournament in Charleston, and applied for an internship with the Family Circle Cup there. We found out in early May that they wanted him to come be one of their interns for the fall. Needless to say, we got busy trying to find a place to live and decide what to do for the summer.

We had already pretty much decided that we wanted to come home for the summer to spend time with family and friends. It's really the last summer that Greg is going to ever have, and so we made the decision to spend the summer together. I think it has been a great decision! We have been living with Greg's parents, and made visits to my parents and some friends. We are really enjoying the time together before his busy internship starts.

We have moved our things to a storage unit in Charleston, and we will be moving there at the end of July. I am in the process of job hunting, which I hate, but it has to be done. If anyone has any suggestions or connections in Charleston, please let me know!

Greg's sister is here at his parent's this summer also, and it has been really fun cooking with her. She'll cook one night and then I'll cook the next. I am learning a lot from her. She likes to bake, and I don't because I hate having to actually measure things out which is a necessity in baking. We have been able to do a lot of things that we have never done before. On Monday, Greg smoked a boston butt and I made the Fisher's Family BBQ sauce. It was delicious!

That's an update on what's been going on. I wish that I had some pictures that I could post, but we haven't had anything exciting to take pictures of. There are some big things coming up and I will be sure to take pictures. We are heading back to Savannah for the weekend of the 4th of July for on of my sweet baby's 1st birthday party. Then we are heading to Gatlinburg for a week with my parents. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to show you!

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!

Our babies

Greg and I have a love for our two sweet dachshunds. A month and a half ago we got puppy fever, and we talked about rescuing a dachshund v. adopting a puppy. I think that if we had more patience we would have waited to adopt, but we really were wanting to go ahead and get a puppy. So, we found a dachshund breeder that is about half an hour from where we are living. We went up, and we had actually already narrowed it down to one or two by price since we don't have $600-up to spend on a puppy.

So, we were going up and discussing our strategy because I know how tempting it is to just fall in love and want to take one home immediately. Greg's response was, "I'll be the voice of reason." HA. I laughed and told him that when my parents go look at dogs, my dad is the one that falls in love with one and has to get it. But he knew that wouldn't be how he reacted (yeah right). SO, we got there and he saw her, Penni. He picked her up and I tell you what, it was OVER. He had already fallen in love and was ready to leave. Greg didn't even LOOK at the other puppies. So, I was trying to talk and negotiate with the breeder, and I said to Penni, "You want to go home with us?" And Greg's face lit up like a Christmas tree . He was SO excited about taking her home.

Now parenting a puppy is an adventure. The first week, I got a text message that said, "come home and save me from these mutts." ha. It's hard potty training especially since we live in an apartment on the third floor, but we make it work. We crate train which is truly a live saver. It's great for apartment living.

So, for now, our family is complete. We have two children, Hershee and Penni. It's always an adventure with two dogs. They are wonderful, and I am so happy that Greg fell in love with dachshunds!

Here is a video of the dogs from the other day. They are both hams. Every time that I get the camera out Penni is posing! Hershee use to hate the camera, but she has warmed up to it now that she sees how Penni does.

And they love to video chat with my mom and dad. We have gotten to where we Skype on Sundays and I always have Penni in my lap watching Mom. And of course Mom and Dad have recently gotten a puppy too, and so we compare the two of them over video chat talking about potty training, and weird things they do.

How did you potty train your dog? Do you crate train?

P.S. Greg is VERY unhappy that Kate Gosselin was not sent home last night. He wanted to post his rant on my facebook page, but I wouldn't let him. He is mad at YOU America for voting for Kate Gosselin to stay on.

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?

A taste of Birmingham

This weekend has been really nice! Greg did not have to go up to Georgia Southern this weekend for baseball games, and so we were actually able to spend some time together! We decided that we would go up to Hilton Head, SC for the day just to get away. They have Tanger Outlets, yummy restaurants, and numerous other places to shop.

I know exactly why Greg wanted to go there. It was not because he wanted to go shopping, it was not because he wanted to spend some more of our gift cards from the wedding, and it wasn't because he wanted to tell me what he thought of the dress that I bought for Easter. Greg wanted to go up to Hilton Head, SC because they have one of his all time favorite restaurants there. SO, needless to say, we went to Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q for dinner.

One of the main reasons that we love Jim 'N Nicks is because it reminds us of home. With it being Greg's favorite restaurant we went there a good bit before we moved to Savannah. We would go with Greg's parents when we were visiting them, or we would go on date night there, and we even went after Greg's graduation from Birmingham Southern. It is always good to go there because it reminds us of home and how much we really miss Birmingham.

Of course the smell of bar-b-q almost knocks you down when you get out of the car, and Greg was so excited to be there that he wanted to get inside as quickly as possible so that we could get a basket of:

CHEESE BISCUITS! Absolutely delicious! They come with a honey/butter that I had never put on them because I think that they are delicious enough as is, but I tried it for the first time. It is really like having a dessert. YUM. I'm on a mission to figure out how to make them.

We were excited to order. I never know what to get because I love everything. I get the big salad a good bit, or I get the baked potato, or the pork plate. But yesterday I decided to go with the pork sandwich on multigrain bread with fries. It did NOT disappoint. Greg, who usually gets the pork sandwich go the Pig in the Potato Patch. YUM!

We were going to get dessert, but sadly they did not have the Lemon pie and so we decided to skip out on dessert. It was a lovely day spent away from home.

I have some fun recipes planned for this week, and so I will be updating throughout this week with pictures and reviews on how everything goes. We hope that you are doing well!

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 :-)