Bows Primavera

Oh dear another one. What can I say I like food and I wanted to start compiling my favorites somewhere people can get them for themselves, I'm nice like that!
-2-4 zuccinnis
-1 Tbsp olive oil
-1 chili, diced
- 2-3 garlic cloves, pressed
-large package of ham, cubed
-peas (optional)
-6 cups bow ties
-grated parmesan (grated)


-start water to boil.
-quarter, seed and chop zuccini.
-brown zuccinni in frying pan with olive oil, chili and garlic.
-Add ham and peas. Allow to simmer while pasta cooks.
-Plate pasta top with veggies and meat and add parmesan to top.

Lasagna

One of my go to recipes. Can't beat it, it's super easy and fast! And now I can direct everyone here for the recipe everytime they loose it!

- 3 cups small curd cottage cheese
-2 eggs, beaten
-2 tbsp parsley
-1 1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 pepper
-1/2 cup parmesan cheese
-1 lb sage sausage
-6-8 lasagna noodles
-3-4 cups shredded mozzarella
-1 jar pasta sauce

Brown meat, drain. Simmer with sauce 15 minutes.

Boil noodles.

Mix cottage cheese, eggs, parsley, salt, pepper and parmesan.

Layer noodles, half of cotage cheese mixture, meat and sauce, mozzerella. Repeat.

Bake at 350 degrees until browned.

Relaxing... well sort of...

We had a nice but busy weekend. Some of the highlights. Shopping, eating out and a movie on Friday night to celebrate Uber finishing another class...well actually he finishes it on Tuesday but next weekend promises to be very busy so we celebrated early. We saw Harry Potter which I enjoyed. It was a little slow, definitely not the best of the bunch but I liked it anyway.
Saturday we went to the beach and walked a LONG way. Meant to have Uber look up exactly how far... oh wait 4 miles...

I found two larger sharks teeth. The tide was going out and I am sure there where hundreds of huge ones out there because there where tons and tons of shells, these I just happened to see while walking.

I've been wanting to display some of the teeth for a while so I finally got on it today. I had this Martha Steward box hanging around... (because I cant resist when they are on sale) so I got busy with some hot glue and here's what I came up with.

These are the best of what I had, there are probably another 80-90 in the jar most of which were collected while Mum and Dad were visiting.

I'll just add to it as I find more.

Another flower picture.

At the bottom of the clematis this little set of mushrooms is growing...makes me smile

So need your help I trying to decide. We hit up an awesome Williams Sonoma sale and I found this table cloth and I can't decide if I like it or not. So I figured I would ask you guys. Too much green? Too much fabric? Just not good? Both Uber and I said no... but then it grew on us or soemthing... so let me know what you think I have no issues either way....

Also I've heard bad reviews on their table clothes (but I asked and it's returnable if any of those things turn out to be true) I do have to say that this is not $140 quality which is disappointing because usually WS is great. I only paid $40 for it which isn't exactly cheap, but for the size and style it's great. The other thing I picked up was another Nordic Pan... I LOVE these things. So I made a Pound cake and banana bread and them put half of each together so Matt and I can take them to work. Can't wait to have some of the pound cake!

Alright. I am off to finish cleaning the house... did I mention we have company coming on Tuesday... not sure how much I will be around this next week. Can't wait to see what you say on the table cloth.

I had a lovely Thursday.

I finally picked up these cute pillows (from World Market) I had been eyeing them forever and they finally went 50% off! They remind me of my stuff and since I don't do outdoor pillows I thought I needed them. The blue one says ranunculus... which is awesome... I need to hunt some of those down to plant for next year, they supposedly grow here. I love them and I love their name. I mean really who named it that?

We have had a very long two weeks and tonight we just relaxed. We ate out on the patio, which we should really do more often.

Dinner was scrumptious. Grilled Salmon and zucchini. Uber does an amazing job with fish. This one was salt and peppered and then grilled with basil and shallots.

As I was making my shopping list I was also reading Mayfly's post about blueberry ice cream and thought I had to have it so because I have a slight problem with blueberries... I can't stop eating them.

So if you clicked over to the recipe you will notice it is actually blueberry cheesecake ice cream... oops! Didn't read that but it explains so much because when I bit into it I thought hmmm... to much cream cheese not enough blueberries. It's a very good recipe if you are looking for the cheesecake side of things not so much if you were wanting a blueberry overload... But I have a new goal now and that is to find the perfect blueberry ice cream recipe! And if you think it's odd that I didn't catch onto that whole cheesecake thing when it called for cream cheese I would just like to say that some of our other recipes also call for it and do not taste quite so cheesy!

So the reason I went to World Market was to pick up some canisters because I received a get 50% off 2 or more for kitchen canisters... among other things... this morning in my email. I had been wanting to find some funky ones for my laundry area and they had exactly what I was looking for... well in addition to a little extra... There were only two of these left and they were up on a top shelf so I was pulling the second one down and thought it was rather weird that it was lidless... but no biggy I could see the lid. WELL mid getting it down I realize something is in the jar.... something being a LARGE cockroach.... a LARGE ALIVE cockroach....ummm yeah... so I didn't scream or throw it or do anything drastic (very proud of myself) But I did have to go ask the girl at the front to please come kill it... (I didn't really say what it was because there were other customers I just asked her to please come kill something...hahaha) anyway it was pretty funny because the workers passed it around I think the supervisor ended up coming over and taking care of it... which included spraying it with cleaners and who knows what else because I walked away... I wish I had gotten a picture, I am not sure why I didn't... oh wait I know because I was TOTALLY grossed out and trying to keep my cool....ANYWAY

I needed them because when we were up at my grandmothers she had a canister in her laundry that she kept all her lost socks in which is totally a great idea. I bought two one for lost socks and misc items and one for garbage ... I have never been able to figure out what to put my garbage in because I am lacking in extra space. I really think this is going to work out perfectly. Oh and if anyone wants the coupon let me know I can email it to you!

I also completed a long overdue project tonight, I filled the other frame on my shelves!

I used one of my graphics as a stencil. It wasn't what I had originally planned for this frame but Mum told me I needed to start using some of my graphics on my pillows so though this isn't quite a pillow but it is on linen and I like it.

I can't seem to get a good picture of it. It looks so much better in person. In the picture it feels like it is missing something but I am looking at it right now and it looks fine... not sure what that's about. Oh but do notice Ubers hat holder in the background... ahem... yeah it's just so funny isn't it...

Alright well I am in bed even later tonight then yesterday but as you can see a LOT was accomplished tonight so I am not feeling to terrible about that. One more day and then the weekend!

Two dozen

I turned 24 today. Which is crazy! I am almost as old as Uber was when we got married. We celebrated last night because Sunday is all about church and being lazy. I have this issue with going out to eat on birthdays... I REALLY like to make an awesome meal at home. Which Uber seems to be totally cool with. He choose the menu this year and made it all by himself.

The appetizer was brie and crackers.

For the main course he made Caramelized Veal Chops with Balsamic Syrup and asparagus. This was AMAZING! It's a Williams Sonoma Recipe if you haven't checked out their online cookbook I would definitely suggest it!

This fun little toy arrived from my Gram. Its for tea which worked out perfectly because my mum had just mailed me some. You dump your leaves and water into it and let it steep and then when you are ready you set it on top of your cup and it drains in and viola! Scrumptious tea. I love it thank you!

Ubers mom and dad mailed me a fun little treat

A beautiful bird necklace. It's a lisa leonard piece and I am totally in love with it. I've worn it since I opened it but I cant seem to get a good picture of it on! I could never figure out why I was so drawn to it but Sherrill pointed out that it is a lot like my pillow designs.... duh!

Uber is an amazing gift giver... he didn't let me down this year.

I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar and I am SOO excited about this! I still have to schedule my lessons and I am really nervous (because what if I am terrible)! It came with a DVD to help you get started but it did nothing but frustrate me which is slightly disappointing because... well I wanted to start playing with it now! Uber was able to help me get it tuned though so that much has happened.

He is interested in learning as well so if nothing else one of us should put this to use.

Anyway I had a lovely day. Today was fun too we went out to eat with friends and I managed to make it through with NO SINGING!!! I am SSSOOOO happy about this!

So...

I chopped most of my hair off... I like it. Some people don't, Uber does. Other people haven't noticed... really it is like 5 inches shorter...how is this not noticable? Anyway, I will grow it out long again now, I have just had an urge to chop it off for a while so I decided to go with it now so it could grow out again before it gets too hot...

Uber brought me flowers... which I LOVE!

Mum sent me the chocolate fondue pot (thingy) in her last box and I LOVE the design on the bowl. I never realized how easy it is to do! It came in just in time for the first good batches of strawberries and blueberries in the stores. YUM! We did this for desert on V-day. We are not big into the festivities and we DEFINATELY don't eat out.

We just went to The Fresh Market and loaded up on TONS of fruit and vegtables (see photo below also) SCRUMPTIOUS Asparagus also a first for this year. Love these things! Uber will cook them for me so that is always a bonus! We ate them with Brats... is this wierd? I am so excited for nice produce to be back!! I plan to gorge myself this summer!

This photo is totally sideways but whatever! I am thinking strongly about joining in the felt food making... to bad I have too much stuff to do already...

Bananas, Acorns and Pinecones

Pure Scrumptiousness let me tell you. This used to be a weekly item when Uber worked at a port in SoCal and got free bananas. Since moving to Florida not so much because it means I have to remember to buy them. Anyway I think I pretty much have this recipe down to perfection. It was originally my moms (I am not sure where she got it from) I hope she doesn't mind me sharing it... I pretty much throw what ever I want in once I am done following the recipe. Two of my favs are brown sugar and honey. Pecans to me are a given but since some people are allergic I often leave them out now.

Banana Bread
Yield: two loaf pans or one Bundt pan

3 ½ cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups mashed brown bananas (3-4 large)
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Optional ingredients:
1 cup chopped pecans
¼ cup brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 350°F
Heavily spray 2 loaf pans.
Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl. Stir until just blended. Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 5 minutes then turn on rack to cool completely.

What's better than banana bread in a loaf? Banana bread in the shape of acorns that's what. I found this pan at Williams Sonoma after Christmas on SALE I had been eyeing it FOREVER and now am asking myself why I didn't get two?!?

one batch filled up three pans.

These puppies disapeared SO fast. It was actually rather scary considering I KNOW the dough makes two loafs....

Isn't it SO CUTE!

On to other cute things. I finally made some felt pinecones. I have seen them quite a few places and thought they were so cute. I am not sure I did them quite right but I am happy with them... now if I just knew what I am going to do with them... because I have a feeling there is going to be more!

Happy New Year!

We had a very fun and laid back christmas. Lots of food.... we definately have our priorites straight! I think I gained 10 pounds... I went through the pictures we took and not only did we forget to take any group shots we forgot to take any out of the kitchen!
We did Surf and turf for Christmas eve....

Meet the Surf...
Yeah this picture may look familiar... what can I say I like to play with my food...

This is my Grammy making a SCRUMPTOUS cake!!! OHHHH MAN!

My Papa

murderer #1...AKA my Uncle

murder #2, we all know who this goober is!

my Aunt who is not so interested in playing with the food... but I made her touch it!!!

So for all of you who haven't seen Grammy's new kitchen all finished here are some shots! I hope she doesn't mind. First of all it turned out GREAT! She has fabulous taste!

The back splash... I love this tile I plan on having some of it my own house some day... it is SSSOOOO pretty!

That oven is sooo fun by the way! And as Papa and Uber found out it is fluent in French... now if they just knew french....

Here's the water closet that she did some redecorating in it is SO cute!

Well I hope you all had a fun New Years. We didn't do much of anything... yeah we are lame! Uber starts school this next week so I will hopefully be around here a little more!