I'm back. I promise.

Yes, you are correct.  I haven't written a blog post in over threeish months.  My bad, y'all.  I've been planning a little thing called a wedding, and it has taken over my life.  However, now that we're just a few short weeks away from the wedding, my to-do list is much shorter.  So, I'm back.  And, since David and I dubbed February 'New Recipe' month, I've got lots to share.

Over Thanksgiving, David's mom made Snap Peas with Pancetta.  And we couldn't get enough.  So, this recipe, which combines our old favorite item--asparagus--and our new favorite item--pancetta, seemed too good to be true. 

Cooking Light might be my most favorite recipe website ever.  David and I browsed forever, and we finally narrowed it down to 20 new recipes we were going to try.  One of our favorites is Cooking Light's Pasta with Asparagus, Pancetta, and Pine Nuts.  I have altered the recipe just a bit.  I'm not a huge fan of pine nuts, and I despise using the oven when I can use the stovetop.  I always feel like I have no idea what's going on in there!  Click on the link to see their recipe, or read below to see mine!

8 ounces uncooked penne pasta

1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1 1/2-inch pieces

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 ounces diced pancetta (You can ususally find this already diced for you in the deli section of most grocery stores!)

the juice of two lemons

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup (1 ounce) any type Italian cheese


1. Begin cooking diced pancetta in skillet on stovetop, medium high heat. 

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; add asparagus to pot during last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain.

3.  Once pancetta becomes crisp, add garlic to pan.  Allow to saute a bit with the pancetta.

4.  Add pasta and asparagus mixture to pan with pancetta and garlic.  Mix well. 

5. Combine lemon juice and pepper, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

I'm not gonna lie, a lot of our new recipes are along the lines of this lemon-garlic-pepper mixture over pasta.  Once we had it, we couldn't get enough!  It's such a fresh flavor (and healthier!) alternative to a heavy red or white pasta sauce.

Next up? The to-die-for spinach salad with warm mustard dressing from my mama's cookbook.  mmmmm.....

My New Year's Resolutions...

I'm sharing these with as many people as possible.  Y'all gotta keep me honest!


These are kind of random---from running to makeup, I'm all over the place with my resolutions.  


1.  Keep my makeup brushes clean.  Do you guys do this?  I might be outing myself here as a dirty girl.  I cleaned them for the first time (um, ever) yesterday, and--holy crap--what came out was disgusting. So, I'm going to clean with soap and water on a weekly basis, and then disinfect with water and vinegar (2 parts to 1) on a monthly basis.

2.  Do the couch to 5K plan. Y'all, this is pretty much awesome.  I always get so bored running, but this plan has you alternating between running and walking every few minutes, so the time goes by really fast.   I know there are podcasts/playlists online that follow this plan.  The music will speed up or slow down when you're supposed to change pace.  That way, you don't have to worry about timing yourself.   I'm in the process of finding some good playlists, and I'll keep you guys updated.  There is a 5K in Athens for alumni on March 19th, and some friends are running that.  I'm thinking I might sign up for that.  

3.  Plan meals for the month.  I did this in November, and it felt so good to come home every night and know what I was making.  Plus, it really helped me to save money at the grocery store.  We only bought what we needed for those meals, and we've noticed a HUGE change in our grocery bill!  I always make sure there are a few easy recipes/week and a few more challenging recipes.  And, I'm flexible about what I make throughout the week.  So, if it was a rough day at work, I'll make an easier recipe.  

4.  Make new recipes.  When I planned out meals for the month, I realized that I pretty much make the same four things over and over and over again.  So, each week in January I added in a new recipe that I haven't made before.  Last night, I made Penne a la Betsy from the Pioneer Woman.  That's REALLY the name of the recipe.  David was making fun of me for naming a recipe after myself until I showed him the cookbook! Anyway, it was really good and really easy.  I've made three of her recipes--including a to-die-for Red Velvet Cake--so far this year, and each one has been fabulous.  I'll be blogging about those soon!

What are your resolutions?  Are they as random as mine?!

Anyone want to be a couch to 5K buddy with me?!

Remembering recipes

I absolutely love thinking about recipes that my mom used to make when we were little.  Family meals have such great memories that go along with them.  Yesterday, I remembered my mom and grandma making a tomato-less sloppy joe of sorts.  I remembered it was ground beef and rice, and we ate them on hamburger buns...but my memory ended there.

I asked my mom about it this morning, and she told me the secret ingredient was Campbell's Chicken Gumbo Soup (of which, they now make a light version!).  After I did a little bit of research, I found that there are a two restaurants in the Midwest (my mom grew up in Kansas) that are famous for their 'loose meat' sandwiches-- NuWay Cafe and Maid-Rite. 

I'm beyond excited to give my grandma a call and see if they've eaten there, and if this was her inspiration behind her memorable recipe.  And, of course, after all this memory diving, I'll be making these for dinner!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 can Campbell's chicken gumbo soup

1/3 c. chopped onion (more if you like onions!)

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 tsp. mustard

hamburger buns (toasted)

Cook beef until just brown.  Add onion, soup, mustard, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Serve on hamburger buns.

Mmmmm. Definite comfort food.

What recipes do you make (or want to make) that remind you of family and home?

Current Addiction: Vegetable Bird's Nests

Oh. My. Goodness.

Any of y'all out there big Trader Joe's fans?!  I don't shop there all the time, but when I do, I always pick up a bottle or two (...or five) of Two Buck Chuck and these to-die-for vegetable nests. 

They are a mix of julienned carrots, onions and kale, dipped in a tempura batter.  You can find them in the frozen section, and all you have to do is pop them in the oven.  They bake up deliciously crispy, and the box also contains two packets of soy for your dipping pleasure.

Whenever I make these, I always make some teriyaki chicken to go along with them.  Here's my recipe!

• 1 pound chicken, cut into bite size pieces
• 3 tbls. corn starch
• 2 tbls. soy sauce
• 1 tbls. sesame oil
• ginger, to taste
• garlic powder, to taste
• 2 tbls. vegetable oil
• 2 c. broccoli
• 1/2 c. sliced carrots

1. Place chicken pieces in sealable container or bag.  Add cornstarch and toss to coat.  Add soy sauce, garlic powder, and ginger.  Toss to coat.
2. In a large skillet or wok, heat vegetable oil and sesame oil.  Add chicken and cook approx. 4 minutes.
3. Once chicken is almost done (very little pink throughout), add broccoli and carrots.  Stir-fry for about 5 minutes or until tender.

The cornstarch is the trick--it helps keep all those fabulous flavors on the chicken as you stir-fry.  Once I learned this trick, I started using it all.the.time.  Add some hot sauce instead of soy sauce...amazing.

If we're lucky enought to have some bird's nests on hand, we just eat the chicken and veggies with those.  If we're fresh out of the nests, we'll make some rice to serve with our stir-fry.

Stir-fry is quickly creeping up the what-to-make-for-dinner-tonight list. 

:)

Ten Words...

And here's my first non-food post. My bad, y'all.

When David and I first got engaged (yay!), my mom said she had a 'job' for me. 

She required that I come up with 10 words that I wanted my wedding to be.  That way, whenever we make major decisions about the wedding, we can always look back to the 10 words and make sure that it's right in line.

I get distracted easily.  Really, really easily.  And--although I am madly in love with great weddings sites like Weddingbee, The Wedding Chicks, and 100 Layer Cake--I knew (or rather, my mother knew) that I would become overwhelmed.  And, before long, my wedding would be going in a thousand different directions. 

So these 10 words have been our direction.  And they've served us well.  With 6 (ish...) months to go, I really feel that everything we've done for the wedding really exemplifies these 10 words.  So, directly from an email to my mother six months ago, here are my 10 words...

• intimate
• traditional
• modern
• stress free (for our wedding party) (i hope this doesn't count as two words)
• different (just a little. not so much that it's weird.)
• fun (duh.)
• simple
• bright
• personal
• homemade

As you can see, my words are a bit all over the place (um, hello, 'traditional' and 'modern'!).  It's really exciting to see our wedding turning into all of these words.  And, if something doesn't fit?  It goes!  No matter how much I like it or how many blogs I see the idea on. 

My yellow and grey wedding inspiration!

If you're planning a wedding, take some time to think about your 10 words. The process really helped to focus my thoughts into what I really wanted our wedding to be.

What 10 words best describe your wedding--past or future?!