Three Garlic Pasta

from: Jesser Original

Ingredients
1 (10 or 12 oz.) pkg. frozen broccoli, cooked according to package directions
1 can Campbell's (Healthy Request) cream of mushroom soup
2 cans (I use the big ones) chicken
1 c. grated mild cheese
1 tube low salt or low fat Ritz crackers, crushed
a splash of milk

Directions
Mix up broccoli, soup, milk and chicken (drain the cans of course). Top with the ritz crackers and then the cheese. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

from: Martha

Ingredients
1 head plus 8 cloves garlic
1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese for grating

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°. Wrap garlic head in foil, or place in garlic roaster; roast until soft and golden, about 1 hour. Let cool, trim tip of head; squeeze out cloves, using back of knife. Transfer to small bowl; set aside.

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, and run under cold water to stop cooking.

Thinly slice five cloves of unroasted garlic. Finely chop remaining three cloves. Heat oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add sliced garlic; toast until golden and crisp. Remove garlic with slotted spoon; set aside. Add chopped garlic; sauté until translucent, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add roasted garlic and white wine; let simmer about 3 minutes. Add pasta, parsley, red pepper, and salt and pepper to taste; toss. Serve sprinkled with toasted garlic slivers. Grate Parmesan over each serving.

Happy Fall!


With the first official days of fall under our belts, we spent most of the day Sunday on a Fall Foliage trip. We went back to Georgetown, where Matt and I (and Loki) had first taken our shiny new camera for its inaugural trip. This time we were accompanied by most excellent friend, Holly and her darling offspring, Liam. We had lunch and got sodas at the soda fountain and then drove up aways to see the color. Photos are plentiful and here. The color and the day we selected to see it on was gorgeous and the company superb. Continue reading “Happy Fall!”

BPOH Final Week – Patios!

Welcome to the final week of Blogger Parade of Homes! This week features our outdoor spaces. Other than our balconies and front yard, which I've already shown, all that remains is our little back yard. It's mainly a patio with a side-yard, but that suits us well because neither of us likes to cut the grass or do much gardening. The back yard opens from our family room and runs back along the garage … our garage is in the back of the house at the alleyway, so that's the side of the garage you see there and the alley way behind. The furniture we got from Target and this photo was taken right after we got it, which is good because it hasn't held up well between “the elements” and our dear doggie. The umbrella and lights still look great though! On the right there's a little ledge … that is the fire pit (which I don't have a good photo of, sorry) which is gas, making it very convenient to warm up chilly fall nights. Continue reading “BPOH Final Week – Patios!”

Pregnancy Casserole

OK, so we all know that weird things come along with pregnancy … and for me it's not been cravings so much as aversions. Strong aversions. The biggest one is to veggies. I used to have a spinach salad with lunch almost every day. The thought now repulses me. I used to be able to eat some nice steamed asparagus or broccoli or whatever with any meal. No more. Practically the only veggies I like still are baby carrots or zucchini (in small amounts). The only way I will really eat my veggies is if they're carefully hidden under carbs or cheese.

Of course, being pregnant, nutrition wise, I really need to eat my veggies, so what a crummy time to develop an aversion to them! So to those ends, I created the pregnancy casserole. It ain't gourmet. And it certainly won't win any nutritional awards (though all things considered, it could be a lot worse!), but it's quick, contains a relatively high ration of veggies to bad stuff and I find it to be yummy. Though I'm not certain that those without elevated hormones would agree. Whatever. Check it out anyhow.

Premier Night #1


So tonight's TV lineup contains the first premiers that I really care about … namely The Office and Grey's Anatomy. Of course, in fine serial fashion, both of these great shows left us with white-knuckle cliff-hangers (though I've only had to endure The Office's since Sunday) and I'm very keen to pick up where we left off. I'm anticipating the excellent love pentagon between Mc. Dreamy, Mc. Steamy, Mc. Vet, Addison and our heroine this evening and of course seeing what kind of hot water Izzy's gotten herself into. And possibly even more tantalizing … what is to become of Jim and Pam? Some advice for you, Pam. Marry your best friend … not some jerk who left you at a hockey game.

So tonight I will crowd the couch with Mom and Kelly and watch the stories unfold. I can't wait!

TraveLog

As previously mentioned, I've been wanting to create a system of cataloging places I want to visit when I finally get (back to) a certain place. So I took a couple of hours yesterday and created the TraveLog. Basically, I've organized things by destination (NYC, San Francisco, etc) and then into categories under each (eats, shops, sights, other). I've rated them if I've been there and skipped that bit if I haven't. It may not be completely done … I'm toying with the idea of sub-classifying destinations (the various regions underneath the heading of “France”, etc). But we'll see. For now … I am happy with it.

I went with a vintage travel poster theme … and I used a new technique to include a custom font (it uses flash and javascript and I only understand about 75% of it). If it works out well, I will be able to use loads of custom fonts on the site. So that would be nice! Well enjoy!

Pregnancy Casserole

from: Jesser Original

Ingredients
1 (10 or 12 oz.) pkg. frozen broccoli, cooked according to package directions
1 can Campbell's (Healthy Request) cream of mushroom soup
2 cans (I use the big ones) chicken
1 c. grated mild cheese
1 tube low salt or low fat Ritz crackers, crushed
a splash of milk

Directions
Mix up broccoli, soup, milk and chicken (drain the cans of course). Top with the ritz crackers and then the cheese. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

BORING

OK, first off, how cool is it that the computer randomly picked that MOTD to repeat on Talk Like a Pirate Day (which I wouldn't have even known about if it weren't for Shannon). But it made me laugh.

I have really nothing to post about today because other than spending an abbreviated day at work, not a lot happened yesterday. I went to the OB again … they screwed up my appointment so that I had the same appointment I had last time, basically. I got to hear the heart beat again, so that was cool.

I should have gone back to work after my appointment, but I hadn't planned on it, so I went on home figuring I could use the time to do some of the 100 things I want to do but seldom have time for … but as soon as I got home, the sinus headache I'd been working on all day decided to go from like a 2 to a 12 and *nothing* I did could convince it to go away. So I spent pretty much all evening lying in bed listening to a book on MP3 and moaning. Loki thought I was incredibly boring. He didn't get walkies … in fact, he barely got dinner.

Before I finally decided to give up and just go to bed (around 8:20), I took my prenatal vitamin, a benedryl and a tylenol. When Matt called at 10:30 my headache was still there. When I got up to pee at 12:10, it was still there. But when I got up to pee again at 1:42, it was gone. And so far, it's stayed away.

And now I've got to work late to make up the time I wasn't here yesterday … See? I should have just come back to work and felt miserable here.

*whine ended*

Very Official Weekend


Another busy weekend has zoomed by, very full of doings. Friday we had my parents and Kelly over for breakfast for dinner. I have a lot of great breakfast recipes, but I never seem to get around to making them because I never have time on weekdays and it always seems like we're too busy on weekends. So we requested everyone wear their jammies and had breakfast for dinner. It was quite enjoyable. After dinner we watched a few eps of The Office (American version) a show I'd never really seen a lot of … though not because I wasn't interested. Lack of time. One of the funniest shows I've seen in a long time. Continue reading “Very Official Weekend”