Day 4 Week 5 – Fettucini in honor of Owen

So here I am at home again on a Sunday morning with a sick kid. Pretty soon these kids are going to cause me to lose some street cred. or Church cred. At the very least make me look like a slacker. But nevertheless, I am here again and have a chance to catch up with the Jolog. Let's see, I have made it to Feb 3rd (by the way it was still crazy cold here. I was beginning to think that groundhog doesn't know what he is talking about) which was baby Owen's birthday. I spent almost the entire day at the hospital waiting on that little boy to make his grand entrance. Much like a Dowdle, he was fashionably late. It was exciting and challenging since I had both of my kids with me. Lots of running in circles and squealing in the waiting room. And the kids were pretty wild too! I am sure all of nice people who had to share that space with us were wishing Owen would hurry up get here already! So around 3pm, we rushed home ate a quick dinner and jumped back in the car to head back to the hospital to welcome our new little family member. I just told that whole play by play so that you could see how pressed for time we were. Since we needed something super fast, I found another super quick Real Simple recipe that was delicious and satisfying. Fettucini with Cream Sauce, Peas, and Chives. The recipe was for the basic Cream Sauce, a good thing to have in your repertoire. The sauce takes about 10 min to make and you just add your favorite pasta and a few extra upgrades (peas and fresh chives).

The kids LOVED this and so did I. What is not to love about a creamy cheese sauce over pasta? I am sure the gigantic bowl I ate was not very healthy, but I feel like it was better than the standard Mac and Cheese from the box. Anytime, I can use fresh ingredients I feel a little better about feeding it to my kids. Don't get me wrong... we eat our weight in Kraft mac n cheese around here, but it is nice to mix it up every now and then.

Fettucini with Cream Sauce

1 lb of dried pasta

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

1 1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 cup (4 oz) grated parmesan

10 oz frozen peas

2 TBSP chopped chives

Cook pasta according to the package directions. In a large saucepan, over medium-low heat, warm the cream, milk, salt, and pepper. Add the cooked pasta and Parmesan and stir until the cheese melts and the sauce thickens, 2 to 3 min.

Stir 10oz frozen peas into the pasta with cream sauce and warm over medium heat until heated through, about 3 min. Top with 2 TBSP chopped chives.

Day 1 Week 5 – Dear Diary,

Sorry Bloggy friends. I have been really lazy with my blogging lately. This is why I was never good at diaries or journaling. A few years ago I found my little 4th grade diary with the lock and key (do you remember those. super cute) and had a great time reading the entries. But much to my dismay after the first several daily entries they started to taper off to once a week then once a month until they said stuff like..."Dear Diary, I am so sorry that it has been 6months since I wrote to you , but i am so busy..." Funny how even in the fourth grade I loved to use the "so busy" excuse. If that is really true, I have been SO busy for 22 years! Sigh. My husband is right, I can be so dramatic.

So anyway, even though my blogging has been pitiful, I have doing really well with the cooking. Last week was crazy with my new little nephew being born... Let's take a moment to check him out...

Mr. Adorable! Cheeks so squishy they are just asking to be pinched!

Even with hanging out at the hospital all day waiting on Owen to arrive I managed to run home in time to cook a quick meal for the family. I guess I am more competitive than I thought. I can't stand the thought of ruining this 5 week streak. This is big for me. I have to say I am pretty proud.

I am torn because I feel like I need to condense these posts to catch up, but last week was packed with new and a delicious meals. Those meals really deserve adequate attention... Hmm. Bear with me as I try to play catch up again...

So Monday night, the first night of month 2 (wow!!!) I tried a new Real Simple recipe. I am so excited to finally be writing about this recipe! It is pretty brilliant and delicious. I would have never thought of doing this and it is so easy! So it is called Last Minute Lasagna but for my records I am going to change the name to Ravioli Lasagna. Just makes sense to me. So easy and good and got my kids to eat spinach! So without further ado here it is in all of its cheesy glory...

Ravioli Lasagna

1 (24 to 26 oz) jar marinara sauce

2 (20 oz) packages refrigerated large cheese ravioli

1 (10 oz) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375º. Spoon a think layer of sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.

On top of the sauce, layer a third of the ravioli, half of the spinach, half of the mozzarella, and a third of the sauce; repeat. Top with the remaining third of ravioli and sauce. Sprinkle with the Parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 min. Uncover and bake until bubbling, 5 to 10 minutes.

Note: Using cheese ravioli allows you to skip the time consuming process of boiling the lasagna noodles and mixing the cheese filling. Like I said, brilliant!

Day 1 Week 3 – We're half way there...Livin on a prayer.

I don't really know why I decided to go with that title. It really doesn't have anything to do with today's post. Other than I am half way through January and Bon Jovi is always relevant. I am a few days behind in my blogging so I will do my best to remember every morsel of Monday night's meal for this post. Why should you suffer because I am a procrastinator?

This week is busy. I have meetings 3 out of 5 nights which means I had to get a little creative with the meal planning. But that is what makes this a challenge, right? For those of you who are uber busy and need a few working woman recipes to stick in your back pocket, this is the week for you. Monday night's quick and easy dinner of choice...Chicken Stir Fry.

I had no written recipe for this one. In fact, I have never cooked stir-fry. That is a Steve specialty. But we talked it over and decided having him cook the meal (although extremely easy on me) would pretty much be cheating on the challenge. So he stood behind me spouting out directions like "a little more of that...Whoa whoa that is enough!" while I cooked this for the very first time. Considering I didn't have an actual recipe and I don't handle being told what to do very well, it came out pretty good. When I was finished I wrote down the recipe for myself and my blog friends. Love you honey, but I don't plan on cooking with you "coaching" over my shoulder ever again.

Chicken Stir Fry

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 or 4 chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces

2 bags frozen stir-fry veggies

2 cloves of garlic, minced (or 1 tsp of bottled minced garlic)

4 tbsp soy sauce (we use reduced sodium)

2 tbsp teriyaki sauce

4 cups cooked rice

Put 1 tbsp oil and chopped chicken in wok or large skillet.

Heat to med-high and cook chicken until almost done

Add garlic and cook chicken the rest of the way.

Add 3 tbsp Soy and 2 tbsp of Teriyaki.

Add veggies and toss until combined.

Cover and simmer for 5 min. Uncover and stir. Cover and simmer 5 min more.

Vegetables should be a little crisp. Don't over cook or they get soggy.

Add soy sauce to taste.

Serve over hot rice.

Doesn't get any easier than that.