Spinach Artichoke Mac N Cheese

Ok, so...obviously I dont really have much money so I couldn't justify spending almost $20 on cheese alone. Because that's just crazy. So I bought a italian cheese blend with 6 types of cheese. So here is my slightly altered list of ingredients:

Salt
Mini Penne Pasta
2T EVOO
3T Butter
1/2 Large yellow onion
3+ cloves of garlic
3T flour
1/2 C Chardonnay
2C Whole Milk(because that's what I have at the moment)
dash of nutmeg
1-9oz box frozen spinach
1-9oz box frozen artichoke hearts
Black pepper
3 C Shredded 6 cheese Italian blend

Here are Rachael Ray's cooking directions:


Bring a large pot of water to a boil for pasta, salt water and cook pasta to al dente.

While the pasta water comes to a boil, place a medium pot over medium-low heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons, and the butter. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook the veggies until very soft, about 10 minutes. Then heat the broiler and position rack in the middle of the oven.

Turn the heat up to medium-high and sprinkle the flour into the pan. Cook for about 1 minute then whisk the wine into the pan, cooking for another minute to burn off the alcohol. Whisk the milk into the pan and bring up to a bubble. Add the nutmeg, spinach, artichokes, salt and pepper to the sauce and simmer until thickened and vegetables are warmed through, 2-3 minutes more. Add 1 cup of each of the cheeses to the sauce and stir until melted.

Toss the prepared sauce with the cooked pasta and transfer to a casserole dish. Sprinkle some more Fontina and Parmigiano over the top and bake until the cheese has melted and the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

In the words of Rach, "That's what's for dinner tonight!" :) I love Rach!

Homemade Vanilla Wafers

Vanilla Wafers

Praise Allrecipes.com. LOVE this website. I cant wait to try these tomorrow.

Mardi Gras food.

Jambalaya

This recipe sounds pretty good. I'm going to keep searching though.

As requested...

Here is a list of all the books that Violet got for her birthday. I was going to link them all up to the net but maybe I will later.

Good Night (children's board book)
Little Black Sambo
Paddington (board book)
Mary Had a Little Lamb(poems & rhymes)
Charlotte's Web
What Would Jesus Do?
Where the Sidewalk Ends
No Funny Business
The Goodnight Gecko
The Little Prince
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Treasury of Bible Stories
Treasury of Stories
The Rabbit
The Baby
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Giving Tree
The Golden Children's Bible

Violet is so lucky to have received so many great books from her aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends. She is also very lucky to have received some of the actual books from relatives! How special!

According to some family members, more books are on the way so when they get here I will update this list.

reading and eating

Ok, I updated my previous post with comments about each recipe. The party was wonderful, even though I wasn't too into the whole "first birthday" party idea. It was a nice get together though of all our best friends and closest family members. I only wish my grandparents could have been there and my brothers too! I couldn't believe all the books that Violet got that meant so much to people. I was also surprised that she received some of the actual books that the giver read when they were young! How thoughtful. I know she will love them forever!!

Ok, so now I have more incentive to read through HP a little quicker. Since Vi got some great books for her birthday and I was reminded of how much I love certain books I am excited to read through them again. (Charlotte's Web mostly.) Anyway, I'm 1/4 way through HBP. It's exciting for me to read since its been so long. I cant believe I started the series back in November and I'm still not done yet. But now I have no parties to plan(for a while, Justin turns 30 in November and has requested a "huge ass party.") and just living and raising a baby to do.

As far as cooking is going, I'm loving this resolution more than any other! I was thinking about knocking it off my resolution list and putting it on my "for the rest of my life" list. We'll see. After 1 year I'm sure its going to become more and more difficult. Plus, I will have developed favorites that I will want over and over.

I also think that I'm going to venture into the world of fennel. I've never cooked with it and I see it on every cooking show I watch(all 5-Rachael Ray, Martha Stewart, Everyday Food, America's Test Kitchen and Simply Ming). --Could you imagine how many I would watch if I had cable! Anyway, I cant wait to try it. I hope its not gross because a bulb of fennel is huge! I am going to start out where its not really the star ingredient and see if I like it. I love how the fawns smell like anise though! yummy. (though, I don't really like licorice root.--Star anise and licorice smell similar for those of you who dont know.)

I recently went fancy and bought Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla to bake with. Its so funny because I'm so used to imitation vanilla that the Madagascar Vanilla doesn't smell like vanilla to me. I hope I'm not broken in the vanilla dept. :( I have a whole bottle though so maybe by the end of it I will prefer it. I made some snickerdoodles for Violet's birthday party and they didn't taste as good to me with the fancy pants stuff... 0-1. I think I will try sugar cookies next because you can really taste the vanilla in those.

That's all for now...oh wait, no its not...here is a link to of these. Martha Stewarts Whole living website with some recipes that are good for your skin,
I may be trying some of these soon.

That's all folks!

Vi's birthday party food!

OK people, I did a whopping 3 minutes of research online and found a few really yummy recipes that I am going to try at her party. I hope everyone likes them. here goes.

Fruit Salsa & Cinnamon Chips

2 kiwis
2 apples(I bought Pink Lady)
8oz raspberries
16oz strawberries
2T sugar
1T Brown Sugar
3T Fruit Preserves(I bought Black Raspberry)

Chop all ingredients into itty bitty pieces & chill 15 min before serving. (slice apples last so they dont brown)

(I did not add any sugar and it was plenty sweet. It was also very good when fresh but once it started marinading it got a little syrupy. Overall, it was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy it, it was the only thing I had to refill at the party)

Archer Farms(From Target) makes cinnamon tortilla chips, but if you want to make your own....

10 Flour Tortillas
Spray Butter
2C cinnamon sugar

Ok, this is where a bunch of different ideas from people come into play:

You can cut up the tortillas first, spray them with butter and shake them in a bag of cinnamon sugar.
you can spray the tortillas whole sprinkle them with C&S and then break them up when they are done cooking.
There are really a million ways of doing this, but there are 2 ideas.
Anyway, bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. They will get more crispy as they cool.


Bacon & Cheese Frittatas

6 eggs
1C Milk
2T melted butter
1/2t salt
1/4t pepper
1C shredded cheddar cheese
5 strips bacon(cooked & chopped)
Chives(optional garnish)

1. beat eggs, milk, butter, s & p.
2. pour in dish, sprinkle with bacon & cheese(& chives)
3. bake 350 25-30 min in a casserole dish(9x13 I think) or until knife comes out clean.
****I plan on making mini frittatas in a mini muffin pan, I will post cooking time when I figure it out.

(These were AWESOME! I recommend adding some chives or scallions though...and less bacon.)

Smokies

2 packs smokies
18oz bbq sauce
1C brown sugar
1/2C ketchup
1T worcestershire
1/3C chopped onion(I'm using a yellow)

cook on low in a crock pot for 1 hours.

(These were also awesome! A huge hit at the party, but seriously, when aren't smokies a hit?!)

Veggie Dip

1 package Knorr's Spring veggie soup mix
16oz Sour cream

1. mix together and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving so dried ingredients reconstitute.

(This is a great standby to always have on hand. Justin and I love this recipe. We also love adding Ranch dressing to sour cream and dunking our veggies in it...sometimes we just use Sour Cream)

M&M's

1 large bag of m&m's

1. pour into a bowl....hahaha. april fools, I mean, February fools...wow, I'm dumb.

January resolutions

Recipes, check!
Cowboy Spaghetti
Sloppy Joes
Beef Stroganoff
Chicken on a Stick
Chicken Hot Pot
Stuffing

Christmas gifts, um...not yet.
being a wonderful wife and mom, check!

Make a quilt for Vi, I have a couple of ideas brewing....mostly I need to decide on a color scheme or theme.

Read more, eh...sorta.
I finished Order of Phoenix, finally! I've only had time to read about 1 chapter at a time which made the last 7-8 chapters take FOREVER! I started Half-Blood Prince last night. Reading this book will be like reading it for the first time because I've only read through it one time...when it first came out. So, since I was on readers-high when it came out I know I read way too fast and I have forgotten most of what actually happened, other than the death of someone. Except, I can't remember how said person dies so that will be interesting.