Just being silly

Here's a silly moment from a few weeks ago, not to be forgotten. 

Cape Cod Pasta

This recipe is worth saving on your computer, writing down in a cookbook, sharing with your friends and cooking as often as possible. This pasta dish is not as healthy as I'd prefer, but I think that's why it tastes so darn good.

I served the pasta with a side salad and some whole wheat bread and butter. 

Cape Cod Pasta
                                          

1/2 package center cut bacon, chopped
14 ounces of veggie pastaHalf yellow onion, chopped2 cloves of garlic, chopped16 ounces heavy creamBay leaf (if you have it)
1/2 cup low sodium chicken brothChopped basil, at least two tablespoons for cooking and some for garnish

*you could add peas, corn, broccoli...anything you like.
*you can sub pancetta for the bacon

Place a large pot of salted water on the stove.

While you are waiting for the water to boil cook the chopped bacon in a non-stick pan over med-high heat and crisp it up. Be sure to not burn or on't overcook.

Once the bacon is crispy, take a few paper towels and some tongs and sop up some of the bacon grease and throw away. But make sure to leave about two tablespoons of grease in the bottom of the pan. Then add the chopped onions, salt and pepper and cook until they are soft, about 10 minutes. Add your garlic and let cook for another two minutes, or so.


Add noodles to your boiling water. ( I used orecchiette pasta instead of the veggie pasta) 


Add the cream and two tablespoons basil.  Allow for the cream reduce by half. Taste it. Does it need something else? If so, add something else that may flavor your sauce! (salt, crushed red pepper, parmesan cheese, the options are endless) Finally, add chicken broth to lighten it up the sauce. Let it simmer until it thickens a bit. 

At this point the sauce is done. ( unless you plan to add peas, broccili or some type of vegatble) 

In another pot bring water to a boil, then add two large breasts of chicken. Cook until there is no pink in the center. (I don't own a meat thermometer, so I just slice it and half to check). Once the chick is cooked, shred it using two forks.

Then add the chicken, (vegetables) and cooked pasta to the sauce. 

Give it all a good stir and let it simmer for just a few more minutes, and then you are done!

Simple. Easy. Delicious.

** My dad couldn't stop talking about how much he liked it. It was so good, we even ate the leftovers again the very next night!

 -original recipe from Heidi Darwish

Capturing my dad in the moment.

Just a view from our window that evening. 

Sometimes you just feel like ice cream

I had an extreme craving for ice cream the other night, and anybody who's ever had a craving like this before knows you can't just ignore it! Since we didn't have any ice cream at home, my dad, Lola and I headed out the door to Main Plaza Convenient Store. It's about 3 blocks from our condo, and the evening couldn't have been lovelier for a walk. When we got to the store the worker said Lola could come in, which was really cool! He even didn't care that I was one penny short when paying. That's just two more reasons why we like this convenient store way more than Hippos (another convenient store that is closer to our condo, but has fewer options and is extremely over priced).

After we got our 2 pints of ice cream and an ice cream bar (don't judge-- we didn't eat both pints in one night) that my dad at while inside the store, we headed to Main Plaza to take pictures of the cathedral and water fountains. The fountains have been shut off for the winter months, but as of a few weeks ago they turned them back on. They aren't anything terrific like the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas, but they are still pretty cool to look at and photograph.

It's nice to be spontaneous once in a while. It almost always results in a lot of fun! I will remember nights like these for the rest of my life.

Lola

Her name is Lola....

She's the perfect mix of cute and ugly if I've ever seen one! She came to us via a friend of the family. She was just a little puppy... maybe 3 or 4 months old. We all thought she was darling, but that wore off pretty quickly. Do you want to know why??

Well.....

She turned into the Tasmanian Devil!

No joke.

In the year and a half we have owned her she has:

1.) Chewed a massive hole in our living room sofa.
2.) Chewed the majority of the outdoor furniture cushions.
3.) Ruined one of my favorite pairs of underwear.
4.) Peed on my dad's bedspread.
5.) Peed on my bedspread. Did I mention it's all white?
6.) Peed on my dad's bedspread.... again!
7.) Chewed the leg of our dining room table.

I know I must have missed a few here and there, but all in all you get the point. It's not that we haven't tried training her, it's just that she's untrainable!

But even with all that said, she has still managed to grow on me.... just a little. It's crazy.

She's a part of the family now. She joins us at the dinner table, swims with us, watches movies with us, helps clean up after dinner, but most importantly she's my dad's BFF.

What's for dinner?

One of the reasons I enjoy living downtown is because I get to cook in a really awesome kitchen. In fact, it's the nicest kitchen I've ever gotten to use. My dad decided to remodel our condo back in August, and since then I have been whipping up some delicious dinners. For instance, on Wednesday night I made use of leftovers (something I rarely do) and made spaghetti and meat-sauce. I used the leftover ground meat from Monday night's taco recipe. On a side note, the taco recipe is totally easy to make and definitely worth trying! Then I added store-bought tomato sauce, italian spices, freshly cracked black pepper and let it simmer while I cooked the pasta. About thirty minutes later I had a tasty spaghetti dinner! One of many more meals to make, and share on the blog!

And a meal at out house wouldn't be complete without Lola hovering over me hoping to get a little bite.