Thursday, June 12, 2014

Pasta Creation

I made up a recipe tonight and it turned out pretty great.

Amanda's Pasta Creation

Ingredients
1 large chicken breast - cubed/cooked  
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 package pepperoni, chopped
12 oz bowtie pasta
1 Bag spinach
1/4 cup italian dressing
1/2 jar of marinara sauce
Some Cheese (I used shredded Mozzarella and Romano)
Spices
Olive Oil

1. Cook the pasta per package instructions
2. Heat some olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions and red peppers, as well as a bit of paprika and Italian seasoning, for about a minute
3. Add the spinach, cover and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes
4. Add the chicken, pepperoni, and tomato. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes
5. Add the pasta, marinara sauce, and Italian dressing, stir well
6. Mix in a handful or two of cheese (to taste).


It is really good. I like cheese so I mixed even more into my bowl at the table. The only thing that could make it better is if you had time to cook the chicken the same day, you could cook it in the spices as well and add more flavor. I had cooked the chicken in advance so I didn't have this option.


Monday, June 2, 2014

Golden Birthday

I just celebrated my Golden Birthday this past weekend.

It did not exactly go as expected, but it still was good. I spent all day Friday at work trying to figure out what I Wanted to do in the evening to celebrate my Birthday - even asking friends and everyone for ideas. Well, that was all time wasted. I arrived home to a cranky, mess of an over-tired, sick toddler who did not understand why we couldn't "eat Birthday" right then and there when I walked in the door. All of that stress and the lack of plans sent me into a hormonal tailspin. It ended up with me upstairs cooling off while DH fed the boy some leftovers for dinner.

Once I got my sanity back, I came downstairs. We made birthday hats out of contruction paper and ate leftover work cake to appease the boy. DH got me a beautiful mamma necklace, and in light of recent comments from me about turning into a Buddhist, a paper-water desk thing (yeah that description is nonsensical.. oh well). Then, MIL and I ran out and picked up our dinner (we went for Arby's so I could at least get Jalepeno Poppers), and rent a movie. We watched The Book Thief. Excellent book, and was handled very well in the transition to a movie. I highly recommend it.

Saturday I got my real Birthday Meal (well, round one). I have been craving this since Mother's Day (when I thought of it and it didn't work out) - DH, Ben and I went to Duluth Grille for Breakfast. I got the Corn Beef Hash. LOVE that stuff. Then we met MIL and FIL back at home, spent the afternoon just relaxing, the boy was still pretty tired/not feeling 100%. In the evening, FIL made us fresh-caught Canadian Walleye (that he just brought back from his fishing trip. It was delicious. Then we watched Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels as FIL had not seen it and its a great movie.

Sunday Morning early, MIL and FIL had to leave. MIL has been here the entire week, FIL a night on either end of the week. Its always hard to see them go. Ben enjoys them so much, and they are great to have around (very helpful). I mean, it is nice to have a bit of quiet after having guests for awhile, but there is also so much I had hoped to do with them that we didn't get to do! Maybe next time.
I spent most of Sunday at my parent's house.. Mostly relaxing. In the evening we celebrated our Birthday's (my brother and I). The meal and company were both great.

I have to admit. This is not how I pictured spending my Golden Birthday when I was younger... But its suprising what you don't know when your a kid. When I was a kid, I always was a bit sad I had to wait so long for it when other kids had big birthday parties for their Golden Birthdays when we were younger. But, I soothed myself back then by thinking that since I would have it as an adult I could do something REALLY big, like a big trip or a big party. Of course, that is not how life works out. 8-year old me did not realize how much more having a kid and a pregnancy would mean to me then a trip or party.  An 8-year old doesn't understand that you can have anything, not everything, and the anything I have is pretty darn awesome. I happily threw away notions of a trip or party if it means I have the family I want. Happy Birthday to Me :)