shrimp fettuccine alfredo [recipe]

I know that this recipe may not seem like much for most people, especially those more adventurous eaters. but the truth is that ever since Sean and I have been together, the only sauce we've eaten with pasta is red sauce, because he swore up and down that he didn't like cream sauces, blah blah blah. so finally, he agreed to try to a cream/cheese sauce, and it just happened to be alfredo because we already had the ingredients on hand.

Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo

[Facts]:

prep time: 20 minutes

cook time: 20 minutes

ready to eat: 40 minutes

makes: (6) servings

[Ingredients]:

• 1lb fettuccine pasta
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1lb cooked shrimp - peeled & de-veined
• 4 gloves garlic - minced
• 1 cup half & half
• 6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (we ended up using more like 8-9 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (substituted 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes)
• salt to taste 

[Directions]:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. In a large skillet, saute shrimp and garlic in the butter for about one minute. Pour in half and half; stir. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese in one tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly. 
3. After all Parmesan is added, mix in parsley and salt. Stir frequently making sure it does not boil. Sauce will take a while to thicken.
4. When sauce has thickened, combine with cooked pasta noodles; serve hot. 

[NOTE]: 

don't get me wrong, this shit was delicious, but next time, I'll probably either add more half & half, or cut the amount of pasta in half. I felt like it was way too much pasta for the little bit of sauce it made. we don't need to be cooking a pound of pasta at a time anyway, since it's only us eating.

enjoy! 

and happy Cinco de Mayo, friends!

Friday loves

• this tattoo that I stumbled upon via Pinterest. I've been thinking of getting something that represents the American Indian part of me, and I love this dreamcatcher. it's simple but beautiful. 

if you know the original source of this image, let me know so I can credit it properly!

• the ever so addicting Words With Friends game that I downloaded on my phone. I'm a word game fiend and so naturally, I'm hooked on it. I've been playing with friends as well as random opponents. if you want to play, shoot me an email!

• Mrs. Biscuit's kitty mugs. I need to find them, and soon. I don't know if I can live without them.

• Michael Scott's last episode of The Office. I have no words, other than I AM SO SAD.

image

• this pasta sauce recipe that we cooked last night. we used a lot more cheese than the recipe call for, and it turned out pretty well. if we make it again (which I'm sure we will, cause I get sick of eating red sauce), I'll probably only use half of the pasta. either way, it was delicious! I will have pictures soon! 

• Cole's roundup of rain boots. I've been wanting a pair of rain boots for what seems like forever, and Target chevron pretties are a callin' my name! 

• the whole navy blue/nautical thing that West Elm's got goin' on right now. more specifically, these napkins and these pillows, and this shower curtain. I would like them all in my home now, please and thank you.

• Clara's birth story. holy hell, there were a lot a terrified moments leading up to this girl's arrival, and you would have never known it if not for Sherry's heart wrenching post this week.

• Erika's kitchen makeover - specifically, the after pictures. I especially love the old gym locker in the pantry and the open shelves! oh, and the green cabinets don't hurt either.

• this bathtub. HUBBA HUBBA. 

Emily Henson Interiors via Lauren @ the little things we do

Happy Friday! <3

Friday Feast

So - i didnt have much of a response to my idea last week to start a Friday Feast link up. For anyone who missed it, i'd love to start a weekly link up where we contribute ( and thus exchange ) our favourite recipes, whether they be sweet or savoury, simple or gourmet. The budding chef in me would love to find more family and budget friendly recipes, but anything you like would be great! That being said, i didnt have many takers for the idea last week but that wont stop me starting it as a weekly post for myself. Who knows - perhaps it will evolve?

So, this week, i thought i'd start with one of my favourite quick, easy and fresh recipes: Sesame Crusted Salmon with Coleslaw.

Sesame Crusted Salmon With Coleslaw ( serves 2-4 )
* salmon fillets ( get one pieces for each person you'd like to serve )
* 1/2 cup of sesame seeds
* 1/2 small white cabbage, thinly sliced
* 1 large carrot, grated
* 2 sticks of celery, chopped finely

1. Putting the 1/2 cup sesame seeds on a small plate, coat both sides of each salmon fillet with seeds.
2. Heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil in frypan. Place salmon in, seeded side down.
3. Cook for 3- 4 minutes both sides ( or until cooked to your liking ).
4. In the meantime, mix chopped cabbage, grated carrot and chopped celery in large bowl.
5. ( This is where i alternate from time to time... ) Either dress coleslaw in store bought coleslaw dressing or mix 2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce with 1 tablespoon of lime juice, for a refreshing Asian style slaw.

And that be it - those proportions are all from memory. Because i only make this meal for Mick and myself, we usually end up with left over coleslaw for the next days lunch, but if you think you'll need more, than just up the amount of vegies by another half or so. Couldnt be easier!

homemade lasagna [recipe]

we had Kaley, Adam & Kullen over for dinner on Saturday evening. I made my first ever homemade lasagna and it was SO delicious, I knew I had to share it with you all. if you've been around here for a while, you know that I am no chef, so this was quite the accomplishment for little ol me.

as always, the recipe was found at allrecipes.com. I'll note the changes I made to the recipe in bold below. sadly, I didn't take ONE single picture of the dish, so you'll have to use your imagination to picture how wonderfully mouthwatering it was. 

Kaley was kind enough to make salads and garlic bread, which perfected the meal. Sean made these mint brownies, which were dangerously delectable... I'll be writing a post all about those this week, since I do have a picture of them on my camera!

World's Best Lasagna 

[Facts]:

prep time: 30 minutes

cook time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

ready to eat: 3 hours, 15 minutes

[Ingredients]:

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage (I don't like Italian sausage, so I substituted with a pound & a half of ground beef)
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I used dried parsley flakes = 4 teaspoons)
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced (about 18 slices)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

[Directions]:

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. 
2. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. 
3. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. 
4. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. 
5. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. (see notes below)
6. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
8. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. 
9. Repeat layers (noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, meat sauce & Parmesan). 
10. Top with remaining mozzarella (I just added another whole layer of mozzarella slices) and Parmesan cheese. 
11. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
12. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

[NOTES]: 

the directions were originally combined into about 5 steps, but I like it broken out more by actions than components of the recipe, so I got a little ENTER key happy. 

Sean accidentally bought the "no boil" noodles, so we eliminated step #5 that required cooking and draining the noodles. they actually turned out to be a little chewy, so I will probably use regular noodles next time. 

I made extra meat sauce and added an extra layer, which turned out to be too much meat for my tastes. next time, I'll probably add more ricotta to level it out, but that's just a personal preference.

this recipe fed five adults and two children on Saturday night, and we had two servings of leftovers for lunch on Monday!

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just so this post isn't completely photo-less, here are some that I took with my cell phone over the weekend:

this is the hard work that Bear contributed to the super duper cleaning of the house this weekend.

I got this shirt for $10 at Woot! and I love it. the shapes that make up Poe's face are ravens.

Happy Tuesday!

holly freaking homemaker [late post]

yeah, that's me. at least this week. ;) 

NOTE: Blogger hates me and did not automatically post this on Saturday, even though I had it scheduled to. 

I've decided it's time to be a grown up... meaning that I've got to start pitching in with cooking dinner and keeping up with the house. which means... no more waiting until the weekend, only to spend an entire day cleaning the crap out of my house. no more leaving dishes in the sink until I feel like washing them. no more unhealthy (yet incredibly easy) meals for dinner. no more buying crap food for lunch everyday at work. 

I'm proud to say that I haven't bought lunch at work in two weeks! it's amazing how much money you save when you just bring your own food to work everyday. this whole concept is completely foreign to me, but I think it's been a success so far! 

everyday when I get home, I try to do one or two small things around the house... like scoop the litter boxes or vacuum the hardwood floors. when we're finished with dinner, the dishes get washed and put in the dish drain, and the put away the following day. I'm cooking dinner at least 2-3 times a week, and I'm loving it. 

keeping up with the house work/chores and cooking meals together every night has proved to be awesome for Sean and I. we get that time in the evening to bond with each other instead of going our separate ways and fending for ourselves for dinner. unfortunately, we had been guilty of doing that in the past. teaming up to make sure the house is always in order is an automatic ego boost for both of us and we feel awesome about it. 

we decided we wanted to have our friends Kaycie & Adam over this Sunday. the Caps play at 12:30, and then of course, there's the Superbowl on later in the evening. since they'll be at our house pretty much all day, I decided to go all out and have a feast throughout the day. I've been searching allrecipes.com for good appetizer recipes, and I think I finally have a set list of dishes to make. 

let me just mention that I am not a chef... I typically do not cook and I certainly don't cook appetizers. so this is a first for me, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they turn out well!

Sunday Funday Menu

APPS

• Homemade Meatballs with Kaley's secret meatball sauce ;)
• Dill Veggie Dip, served with baby carrots, sliced cucumbers, broccoli florets, and cherry tomatoes
• Sweet Fruit Dip, served with sliced apples, bananas, strawberries, and cantaloupe
• Bacon Wrapped Shrimp (I'm substituting the BBQ sauce for a pre-packaged McCormick's marinade)

DINNER

• Garden Salad with Italian dressing and garlic croutons
• Baked Ziti, served with cheesy garlic bread

DESSERT

• Chocolate Candy Bar Dessert (using Oreo cookies instead of wafers and Snickers candy bars)

so there it is, my first ever multi-course dinner menu! I'm pretty excited about all of this, to be honest. I actually cooked Sean's chicken Parmesan (his favorite) as a belated birthday meal a few weeks ago, along with the chocolate roll cake. I honestly just kind of winged it for the chicken Parm, so I guess I can't really post a recipe for that, but I do have pictures. if I have the time this weekend, those posts will be up! 

I'm also still working on a book review for The Help, but I'm having a hard time finding the time to put sufficient energy into it. I'm in the middle of reading 3 different books right now, but all is being put on hold for The Hunger Games. I've had multiple people tell me (just this week!) that they couldn't put it down and they read it fairly quickly (we're talking a day here), so I figured I'd go ahead and pick it up. I need a page turner right now to distract me from my English class. 

I think that's all for now... at least all my brain can handle at the moment. I hope you all are doing fantastic - I'm working on catching up on your recent posts! have a happy weekend, everyone!  

UPDATE: I went out with Sean and his friends last night and got completely way too drunk, resulting in the worst hangover known to man. I've spent the majority of the day in the bathroom puking my brains out. the only dish I actually cooked today was the meatballs... Kaycie and Sean cooked everything else. and for the record, my meatballs were delicious. 

tidbits & some Friday photos

sheesh. I have been horrible about blogging this week. I feel like all my posts lately have been fluff, so I apologize. I need to get back into the swings of things. my spring semester class starts tonight, but it's a 13 week class, so I won't be as stressed out as I was over the winter semester with that damn sociology class.

I'm going to make an effort to take better photos, and in doing so, I'm going to try my hand at participating in as many photo challenges as I can. I hope they encourage me to work harder at taking nice photos and being satisfied with them enough to publish them here on the blog.

there's a lot going on at the FoFinn household lately. we've recently reaaaaally started to budget ourselves and cut back on frivolous spending. I'm proud to say that I have not bought lunch at work one time this week, and it feels great. we're allowing ourselves a certain amount of cash to spend every week, and we can do what we please with it. I decided that instead of buying lunch everyday, I'm going to save my money and buy myself a Vera Bradley agenda calendar, haha.

this is a lot of text, so I'm going to break it up with some photos. I took my camera out the other evening and got some good shots of the meows, so I thought I'd share them for my fellow crazy cat ladies, along with a few shots from a Mardi Gras themed party I attended over the weekend.

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the prompt for today's Foto Friday challenge is Reflections. I took this at a friend's house over the weekend. a good friend of mine turned 30 on Saturday, and visited us from Louisiana, so we threw her a Mardi Gras themed bonfire party. it was the coldest day we had in a long time, so I made sure to bundle up!

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this week's challenge at Living Every Moment is "anything." any time there isn't a specific task or item to photograph, the kitties get the spotlight. this is Bear's ALERT!!! face.

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the awesome ladies who hosted the Mardi Gras party on Saturday night did an amazing job with the favors and little trinkets. there were beads, masks, and the birthday girl even got a boa to wear all evening. I took this shot using my 50mm lens, and I was really impressed with how it turned out, so I decided to use it for this week's Give Me Your Best Shot challenge. 

(for some reason, the button for GMYBS is not working, but the link is!)

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and since GMYBS and Photo Story Friday are linked together, I'll go ahead and post that one as well. this is Lily's spot on the couch. she will fight for this cushion, and the other meowers know not to even think about parking their asses here.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli
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last weekend, I decided to implement a weekly meal plan for dinners in our house and I really think it's helped us to stay on track. we were spending SO much money at the grocery store on a weekly basis on a bunch of crap that we didn't need. having a specific plan for meals has forced us to only get what we'll need for that week and is therefore saving us money each week. now... this only started last week, so I'm not an expert at this or anything, but it's working well damnit. 

as you can probably tell from my sidebar, I've been doing a lot of reading as of late. I made myself a rather ambitious goal to read at least 50 books this year, and I've already finished 3 books this year, and we're not even out of the first month yet. I completed The Help yesterday afternoon (three cheers for a snow day!), and it was such a good read. I'll be writing a lengthy review over the weekend, so stay tuned! I picked up 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult last night and I'm hooked already.

I'll be back later today with a Fill in the Blank Friday post!

Happy Friday, ya'll!

ketchup

ugh, I have been a sucky blogger. even though I blogged almost everyday of the week last week, I feel like I haven't written anything of substance in a while. unfortunately, my sociology class doesn't end until Friday at midnight, so I'll most likely be busy all this week.

AND I'm finally getting my ass back in the gym tonight (I haven't been since before Christmas... shame), and I'm really excited about it. I got so busy and caught up with the holidays, and then I was sick for a few days, and now I've got this damned class... I haven't even thought about working out. but I need to get back on track with exercising and eating right and there's no time like the present! 

we had a very successful holiday party this weekend - it was our fourth (or fifth?) annual Secret Santa party, and this year we decided to add a little twist and ask that everyone come decked out in their ugliest holiday sweaters. the sweaters were hideous and hilarious. 

Kaley and I organized mostly everything with the exception of two dishes. we had a traditional holiday meal, complete with ham, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, green bean casserole, mac & cheese, and biscuits. Kaley made a cake and pumpkin pie for dessert and we made that damn candy cane bark as well. it turned out really well, but it was a giant pain in the ass to break up those candy canes.

we made mustache favors... which didn't really turn out that well, but they made for some funny photos. we gave out prizes for the tackiest sweaters and did a white elephant/steal a gift game. it was a GREAT night and I think all our friends had a blast. I'm already thinking of good ideas for next year's party! 

at some point in the evening, we decided it would be a good idea to pretend we were 21 again and partake in beer bongs. I'm not sure WHY we thought it was a good idea, but I definitely paid for it on Sunday. I spent the entire day in bed with a horrible headache and bouts of nausea and beer shits throughout the day.

ANYWAY. I just wanted to let ya'll know that I might be a little too busy for blogging this week. I will, however, be filling out last week's blanks with Lauren. if I have time, I'll upload all the pictures I took at our Secret Santa party this evening. I'm also incredibly behind on my Reader too, so if you haven't seen any comments from me lately, that's why! 

Happy Monday!

hey good lookin, whatcha got cookin? [Etsy goods]

it's no secret that Sean is the cook in our home. now, let's not be confused... I CAN cook, and I'm actually a good cook... I just don't prefer to, especially when there's another willing person to do the dirty work. 

in order to become more of a big girl good wife, I've been helping out in the kitchen more. I mentioned in this post that I even made a majority of our Christmas dinner dishes, which was a huge accomplishment for me, being that it was my first holiday meal. 

I've been rotating with Sean on cooking duty at home, and even picked up the ingredients to make a few special things at home as well. Saturday evening, I'll be making Sean his favorite meal as a belated birthday gift, chicken Parmesan.

ANYWHOZITS. the whole point of this post is that now that I'm a big girl pro master chef and all, I needs to get myself a supah cute apron to wear around my house when I'm making those complicated dinners and desserts. HA!

where else did I perform my search, but the lovely, oh so helpful, Etsy. 

behold... and help me choose!

[the bella]

[sunny side up]

 [ruffled half]

[modern folksy]

[the tattoo parlor]

[by the sea]

[silver spoon]

(if you've been here a while, this fabric may look familiar... 

it's the same as my camera strap!)

[baker's delight]

[mustache]

[love bird]

[blue fans]

so, tell me readers... 

what does your apron look like? is it a half or a full? is it sleek and sophisticated or girly and full of ruffles? also, what do you put in the pocket? keep any goodies in there that I should know about?

Reverb 10 - December 24th-28th

December 24: Everything's OK

What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?

honestly, this prompt is really hard for me. I can't remember a time this year in which I worried about things being alright, and therefore, there wasn't really a moment that served as reassurance of that either. 

I guess I just always try to keep a positive outlook... it's been one of my goals this year to stay optimistic. I always know things will work out, despite how bad they seem at the time. even when times are tough, something good usually comes of it, and it's most likely a lesson learned. I don't really need a specific moment to know that things will turn out just fine. 

I'll continue to keep my outlook as positive as possible in the future, including the year ahead. I want to look on the bright side of things and not stress about things that are out of my control. it takes a bit of patience to live this way, but it's the best thing for my sanity. 

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December 25: Photo

Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.

I took this picture of myself (well, my legs & feet), back in August at the beach during our anniversary vacation. it's amazing how much one photo, taken on my cell phone no less, can reveal so much about a person. this picture pretty much represents everything I am... laid back, beach goer/lover, book reader extraordinaire, relaxed & mellow. I want to be all those things and more in the future as well, so I feel like this photo is a perfect representation of me as a person.

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December 26: Soul Food

What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?

Thanksgiving & Christmas dinner, which are pretty much the same in our family household, consist of some of my favorite foods, and therefore are the winners for this prompt. these meals include: turkey, ham (for Christmas dinner), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, asparagus, steamed broccoli, biscuits, and gravy.

I was definitely more appreciative of both meals this year, because instead of parking my ass on the couch to watch football, I spent both days in the kitchen cooking. these meals are what I look forward to all year long, so it's not hard to imagine why I consider them to be the meals that touched my soul. I wish I could eat them everyday... I think the wait and the anticipation is what makes them so special. :)

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December 28: Achieve 

What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.

I think this is pretty obvious, but I would love to be a mother next year. I know I'm too young to say that my clock is ticking, but I have this intense feeling of baby fever... I want to be a mama very badly, and I know that next year will be the right time for us. we're settled in our lives and our careers (for the most part), and although I know everyone says "you'll never be ready," I think we're ready. 

I honestly cannot even describe how happy I'll be when I become a mother... I know it'll be one of those moments that I'll never ever forget, and I'm certain that the feelings will not be able to be put into words. I think I'll feel ecstatic, happy, successful, nervous, excited, relieved, terrified, and content... all at the same time. 

I'm so excited to experience pregnancy and motherhood. I can almost guarantee that I will love being pregnant and will love all the new emotions I will get to feel. obviously, I've never been a mom before, so I can't really grasp how amazing the feeling is to grow a baby. I can't wait to be a mom, and for Sean to be dad... I think we'll both make great parents one day, and I will consider myself extremely blessed if that day is in 2011. 

as for the last part of the prompt, the only way I'd be able to reenact the feeling of being pregnant and having a baby is to do so, therefore, unless I found out today that I was pregnant (which I'm not, by the way), I could not possibly experience that feeling today. 

asparagus & mozzarella stuffed chicken breasts.

yes, a recipe. I know, it's weird for me too. but I posted about this recipe making it's way into our home back here, and I never updated you guys on how AWESOME it turned out.

Sean found the recipe at allrecipes.com, of course - it's right HERE. we fooled with it a little bit, adding a bit more mozzarella and asparagus to the filling, and also adding in grinded garlic pepper on the outside of the chicken breast. you'll see.

[Facts]:
-serves two people

-prep time 20 minutes

-cook time 25 minutes

-ready to eat in 45 minutes

[Ingredients]:

• (2) large boneless skinless chicken breasts
• (16) stalks of asparagus, with the ends trimmed 
• (1) cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
• (1/4) cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• salt, pepper, and garlic pepper to taste

[Directions]:

• Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease an 8x8-inch baking dish. (We used foil, but still sprayed with Pam).
  
• Place each chicken breast between two sheets of heavy plastic (resealable freezer bags work well - this is the method we used) on a solid, level surface. Firmly pound the chicken with the smooth side of a meat mallet to an even thickness of about 1/4 inch. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.  
• Place 8 spears of asparagus down the center of a chicken breast, and spread about 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese over the asparagus. Repeat with the other chicken breast, and roll the chicken around the asparagus and cheese to make a tidy, compact roll. Place the rolls seam sides down in the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle each with about 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs.This is also where we added the grinded garlic pepper.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the juices run clear when pricked with a fork, about 25 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Our chicken actually took about 32 minutes to cook all the way through... just a heads up. It was a little thicker than the 1/4 inch thickness the recipe called for.

[Pictures]:

this is what it looked like before we baked it.

and after. it was delicious. we served this dish over a side of wild long grain rice, and it was perfect. the melty cheese with the crunchy asparagus made for the perfect difference in texture. the breadcrumbs with the garlic pepper made all the difference in the world for the flavor of the chicken.

 

and it even looks pretty when you cut it open!

it was a night of noms, indeed! let me know if you try this recipe out and if you make any changes to it.

it's the year of the cicadas!

Last Friday evening, we had a little girls night, and it was one of the best nights I've had in a while. We all met at Kaley's house and started cooking. I made my homemade macaroni & cheese (I'll post the recipe at the end of this post), Aubrey made her famous nuggets (which are amazingly similar to Chick Fil A nuggets), and Jen brought brownies. We all brought our own wine (except Steph... slacker!), and our party pants. ;)

We started off the night cooking and drinking wine, and catching up as more girls arrived. It was a ruckus in the Poag house - all talking over each other and having our own conversations in equally loud voices. Drinking wine and smoking about a billion cigarettes in the mosquito infested heat outside. Laughing about things babies do, and breaking Kullen's water table. Spraying enough bug spray to coat an elephant. Celebrating the year of the cicadas. Venting about life, and raving about life. 

After we all ate, (and refilled our wine glasses for the 3rd time), we decided to break out Kaley's Secret Santa gift - Partini. I'm still a little confused as to how this is meant to be a drinking game, but we made it work. We molded things out of clay, bounced balls, hummed songs we didn't even know, and did a little charades. The game was a hell of a time, and we were laughing SO hard at the different games we had to play, and how bad we all sucked at it. Well, I guess I should say how bad mine and Kaley's team sucked, haha. 

We spent the rest of the evening talking and gossiping (only a little ;)), drinking more wine, comparing cameras, and laughing at each others' funny stories.  It was just so nice to be in the company of amazing women and have both deep and shallow conversations all night long. To forget our troubles for only a couple hours to enjoy either others' company and laughter. To indulge in good food and drink and not count calories or worry about getting too much sodium.

And of course, there are pictures to prove our good time.

And as promised, the recipe for MandeeFoFandee's homemade macaroni & cheese:

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter

1 large block of Velveeta cheese

1lb of elbow pasta

Bread crumbs (I used Italian bread crumbs)

Milk

Steps:

1. get a pot of water on the stove, since it takes a while to start boiling. unless you have one of those fancy pants stoves that boils water in 90 seconds. if that's the case, I hate you.

2. preheat oven to 350.

3. once you have your water on the stove, melt the stick of butter in a medium sized pot on low/medium heat. when the butter is melted, add 3/4 of the Velveeta cheese. 

hint: I usually chop it in 4 equal sized pieces, and then take 3 of those pieces and cube them so that they melt faster. make sure you put the rest of the 1/4 back in the fridge so it doesn't get soft... you'll thank me later.

4. add a few dashes of milk when it starts melting to get a creamy consistency... if it's too thick, it won't cover all the pasta. 

5. make sure you keep stirring so it doesn't get all thick on the top. do this until it's all completely melted.

6. cook pasta al dente. pour the pasta in a strainer and cool it with cold water. 

hint: I run the cold water over the pasta and stick my hands in there and move it around so that ALL the pasta cools off.

7. when the cheese is melted, pour 1/2 of it into a non stick or glass pan (usually 9x13 pan works fine). 

8. add the pasta. pour the rest of the cheese in and mix it with a spatula until it's all covered. 

9. then take the rest (1/4) of your Velveeta and slice it thin, placing slices on top of the pasta. 

10. sprinkle with bread crumbs and stick it in the oven (uncovered) for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown on top. 

PS - if you are trying to watch what you eat and keep healthy, I would not recommend making this dish. It is extremely delicious, and you will want to eat the entire pan in one sitting. You've been warned. 

Happy Tuesday!