Where has the time gone?!

Well...darn it all, time has flown by & I haven't posted anything in forever. I'll blame it on pregnancy, family illness, way too much time spent on useless websites such as Gilt, facebook, and TheBump.com, as well as enjoying an active work and social life! However, check out my new blog, "Welcoming Ava" for the latest on our family's newest addition. Thanks for looking!

Summer Harvest Pasta

First of all, I do realize that the majority of my postings involve food. What can I say, I love to eat great food. However, I'm still learning to cook great food. I struck a winner with this Summer Harvest pasta. Remember the garden we planted earlier this summer? The tomatoes, herbs, green onions, lettuce, and a few of the peppers are finally ready to harvest. It's really fun to have so many fresh ingredients right in the backyard. I brought in what I could, washed, cut, and sauteed, added some corn and goat cheese from the farmers market, tossed it all with olive oil, S&P, and colorful pasta from TJ Maxx of all places. Voila, dinner was served.

I heart Jodi's Peanut Butter Cake

OMGoodness this cake is amazing! We had it at an office staff party a few weeks ago and I begged and pleaded for the recipe. Luckily you don't have to beg.

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

Combine and bring to a boil:
2 sticks margarine
1 cup water
1/2 cup peanut butter

Add:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Bake in a large cookie sheet at 350 degrees for around 20 minutes

To make frosting, bring to a boil:
1 stick margarine
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add 1 pound (!!!) powdered sugar, mix and spread over the warm cake. Proceed directly to the treadmill. Kidding! But really...

Blog & Ye Shall Receive...

I wrote earlier today about my lack of garden. Andy must have read the blog, and TA DA! I now have a real garden in my backyard :) So exciting! It was a nice little afternoon project and I love it...

Patio Garden













NAME THAT HERB!!!!!

Hey, all you herb-lovers out there!!! What the heck is this???

I'm Baaaaack!

It's been a while. I totally apologize for the blog neglect, which I will attribute to a combination of being busy with life and perhaps more than a little addicted to facebook. I'm back, and will try to keep updating this more regularly from now on. You're welcome.

So...I was quite excited this spring to start my first garden. Early on, I had big aspirations of planting an outdoor garden in the backyard. Maybe next year. However, I did manage to get a patio garden up and running. It includes various varieties of peppers, lettuce, green onions, tomatoes, parsley, sugar snap peas, and a mysterious herb (see "Name That Herb!" below. I was given a few varieties of herbs to plant--a generous gift, yes, but the herbs came to me in unmarked containers. I sniffed them, tried to guess the variety, and even trolled Google in search of an answer, and still have no idea what the #$*& it is. Any advice would be much appreciated!).

The photo at the top shows off my proud first dish made from veggies I harvested from my garden. I made it for the 4th of July. Here is the recipe...

Barbeque Chicken Pasta Salad with Lime (12 servings)
1 lb. spiral pasta
2 c. frozen peas
1 c. frozen corn kernals
1 store rotisserie chicken, shred the meat
1 1/2 c. BBQ sauce
1 t. hot sauce
2 T. lime juice
1/2 c. sour cream
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks
4 tomatillos, chopped (instead, I used regular tomatoes FROM MY GARDEN!!!) :)
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
1) Cook pasta, and during final 2 minutes, add peas and corn and stir it all together.
2) Drain pasta mixture and rinse with cool water
3) In large bowl, whish together the BBQ sauce, hot sauce, and lime juice. Add the chicken and toss to coat.
4) In second large bowl, combine the sour cream, pasta and vegetable mixture, celery, red onion, carrot, and tomatillos (or tomatoes). Toss well to coat. Fold in the chicken and cilantro, mixing until just combined. Season with S & P as needed.

Fall Weekend in Chicago

We just got back from a wonderful weekend in Chicago. We headed over there with friends Brandan & Kaly, Rich & Tracie, and Curt & Amanda. We stayed at the Ritz courtesy of Andy's work discount (ooh la la!) and had a fabulous time shopping, dining, drinking, and dancing. We had several great meals, including usagiya for sushi (usagiyasushi.com) and Riccardo Trattoria for great Italian food (riccardotrattoria.com). Both were a little off the main drag (short cab ride away) but very, very well worth the effort. I am still craving the Honey Moon chicken from usagiya as well as the olive bread and goat cheese salad from Riccardo. So amazing! I literally licked my plate clean at usagiya (classy, I know...) Our last meal there was Chicago-style pizza at Giordano's. Always good. Oh, and the shopping was fun, too. We spent three hours in Nordstrom at their Half-Yearly Sale and all found good deals. I do love Chicago!