Where Have I Been???

So, I guess I goofed on the posting a dish everyday... sorry!!!! Some things came up and we ended up moving to California to live with my sister for the summer. Stress has been a prevailing factor in my not posting in the past month. I am going to post more recipes on here soon. Also, I have some great pics of Henry and my nephews I will be getting on here soon as well. I have been looking into a completely sugar and refined carbohydrate free diet so maybe I will be posting some recipes of that nature soon..... Maybe not. Until then, I'm gonna have some pancakes for breakfast! :)

Mr. Henry Funny Face

Henry was in a strange mood today. He was very cuddly and laid back. Still whiney as all get out but it made it easier to bear when he would snuggle up with me on the couch. Also, he seemed to be making the strangest faces everytime I busted out the camera. I literally cried I laughed so hard at some of these. Enjoy!

Henry in his cuddly mood. (Please excuse Danny and his uncomfotable pose... he is so embarrassing!)

Hahaha!

This is the part where I start crying!

MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD

Yummy yummy in my tummy! This was a good one! I would double up on the good stuff like the sun dried tomatoes, olives and ricotta. For a pound of pasta it just didnt seem like enough fixins. I didn't used the tri-colored pasta either, didn't have it and I've gone to the grocery store everyday for the past three days and I am so over that.... I believe this was another Giada recipe.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
salt
1 pound tricolor pasta, such as bow tie or fusilli
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 to 3 teaspoons dijon mustard
Freshly ground pepper
2/3 to 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes (I would use at least 2/3)
1/4 cup fresh basil, julienned
1/4 cup diced onion
2 large pickled pepperoncini peppers, diced
3 tablespoons halved black olives(I used a whole can)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
1 1/2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 1/2 tablespoons grated romano cheese

Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente; drain, then rinse with cold water to cool.
Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette: Whisk the vinegar, mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in enough of the oil to make a smooth dressing; season with salt and pepper.
Combine the sun-dried tomatoes, basil, onion, pepperoncini, olives and oregano in a bowl. Add the cooked pasta, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Add the vinaigrette and both cheeses and toss. Chill until ready to serve.

It's only been like 4 days??? I'm already sick of blogging about food.... not a good sign! Haha!

Summer Pea and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad

I saw this on smitten kitchen a while ago and since it falls under the vegetarian category it was a perfect time to try it! Make sure you read through the directions once or twice before attempting because you could forget to cook the snow peas before you sliver them like I did. Not a crisis really, I just nuked them in some water for a couple minutes.

Summer Pea and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad

1 pound of small pasta
1/4 pound snow pea pods, ends trimmed
1/2 pound fresh summer peas, which yielded about 1 cup once shelled
3/4 to 1 cup Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and prepare a small ice water bath. Boil the snow pea pods for about two minutes, or until just barely cooked but still crisp. Scoop them out with a large slotted spoon and drop them in the ice water bath. Cook the peas for about 10 minutes (once again, this will be al dente, you can cook them longer if you prefer them softer), scoop them out with a large slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice water bath as well. Drain both peas. Cut the snow peas into thin slivers.

Add the pasta into the boiling water and cook it according to package instructions. Drain and let cool, then toss in a large bowl with peas and Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette, seasoning to taste.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

Makes about one cup of dressing

1 red bell pepper, roasted, skinned and seeded or the equivalent from a jar, drained
1/4 cup olive oil
2-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped shallot (about 1 small)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Several grinds of black pepper

Puree the red bell pepper in a food processor or blender as much as possible, then add the remaining ingredients and running the machine until the dressing is silky smooth. Adjust the vinegar level and seasonings to taste.

The finished product (look how cute the peas are all nestled inside the shell pasta:)

I did add about a half cup of crumbled feta cheese and would highly recommend doing so. Our verdict? Danny was not to hep on the mass amount of peas. I thought it was a lovely dish. I felt very posh eating it, which is not something I normally feel when eating due to my close relationship with heavy whipping cream.

30 Recipes In 30 Days

Ok. I'm blogging again. This really is a new record for me! The reason why you will be hearing from me everyday for the next 30 days is because I am trying to knock out one of my 101 goals. I have a goal to blog 30 recipes in 30 days so I am going to start today! Ok, I'm counting yesterdays recipe post too! If any of you guys have seen the movie Julie and Julia(Great movie!) then you will get a handle on what I am trying to accomplish... It will be very challenging considering I have trouble blogging once a month let alone once a day! Keep me in your prayers! Now, on to recipe #2.
I have made this one about a dozen times before and I LOVE it. It's Danny favorite meal I make as of right now actually. This can change at any moment so I'm not sure that's a legitimate way of proving to you how scrumptious it really is. I guess you will just have to try it for yourself! I got this idea from a magazine and can't really give you the exact recipe. This one just comes straight from the mind of Christie....scary.

Zucchini Ravioli

This is what ya gonna need....
3-4 small zucchini
1.5-2 pounds ravioli (I use half a bag of the frozen ravioli from Costco)
2 T olive oil1 t minced garlic
1/2 t salt1/4 t fresh ground peppa (yes, peppa)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
First you need to prepare your ravioli according to package instructions. BE CAREFUL! Usually they are very generous in the cooking time. Take care not to overcook your poor ravioli's or this dish will be a lumpy, clumpy mess. So once you get them Just barely cooked through set 'em aside.

Behold, the ravioli of choice

While you are waiting for the water to boil for your ravioli, you start working on your zucchini. Wash 'em up good and then slice them in half lengthwise. Then chop them into little moon shapes like so.....

Look at the cute little moon shape zucchini!

Once you have a bowl full of zucchini moons like this...


Then you are ready to rock and roll! Heat your oil in a pan over medium high heat then add your zucchini, salt and pepper. Cook it for 2-3 minutes till they start to get soft. (Go ahead, test one, or two, or three...) The add your garlic and cook for another couple minutes

Looking good!

Now add your perfectly cooked ravioli and grated Parmesan cheese and gently toss it to get everything all over each other... Voila!

Yummylicious!

Now, it looks a little more oily here than its supposed to because I got a little to excited with the olive oil. So, I just make sure I have extra Parmesan on the table to sprinkle on my plate and it soaks up that oil like it was never there!

A Boy and His Rocket

Henry's grandma Pizza got this for him for Christmas and he didn't do much with it other than push the buttons on it untill a couple of days ago.... He finally decided to ride it! Haha! here's a video of his first real ride!

Henry is One!!!!

My little boy turned one on the 16th April. I love him so much, and he really makes me so happy! We had a little party for him on the 17th. My cousin Sarah and her family came. Along with some friends from church. It really was a nice time. Henry had a blast and loved all his presents. The cake eating was not as exciting as i thought it would be. He didn't eat much of it, well, you know, I'll just let you see the video.

Well, you can't really see in the video but he ended up just smushing it all over his tray and not eating much of it at all. Silly boy. Maybe this is a sign that he won't like sweets at all. I doubt it... Then it was on to presents.

Henry and his sweet ball he got from Nanna!

Standing up all on his own! Such a big boy!

He LOVED his books from the Giffords

The group. He got a music set from the Rheads and one from Great Grandma Gladys! My is there going to be a lot of noise in my house from now on...

A party aint a party without BUBBLES!

We had a great time. Thank you to everyone who came!

Vegetarian For One Month!

So, one of my 101 goals is to eat vegetarian for an entire week. As I was going through all my vegetarian recipes in my mind I realized I could do it for more than just a week. I then went online and started finding all kinds of delicious looking vegetarian recipes! Well a couple of days ago I informed Danny we would be eating vegetarian for an entire month. To my dismay, he was not nearly as excited as I was! So, one day a week we will have meat.... Like today, we had some delicious BBQ chicken, homemade mac and cheese and green beans. MMMMMMMMM..... A-mazing! If anyone wants a killer BBQ recipe, let me know. Now, onto the vegetarian recipes. Yesterday, we did in fact eat vegetarian. I made a yummy mushroom and artichoke marsala. It turned out really, really, good. I got the recipe from smittenkitchen and she adapted it from Giada.




Mushroom Marsala Pasta with Artichokes
(Adapted from Giada DeLaurentis)


Serves 4 to 6
3 tablespoons olive oil1 small onion, finely chopped

1 pound mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned and chopped into small bits (I used baby bellas)

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1 tablespoon for pasta water

1 cup dry Marsala wine

1 pound pasta,

1/2 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed (I used canned)

3/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for one minute. Add the mushrooms and one teaspoon of the salt. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms have cooked down, about 10 minutes (though this took me much less time). Add the Marsala and continue cooking until almost all the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in remaining salt. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and add it into the mushrooms, Marsala and onions Add the artichoke hearts, Parmesan and cream and cook until the artichokes are heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and pepper, then adjust seasonings to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

Doesn't it look delicious? It was. So, you may very well see more vegetarian recipes from me the next month. Hope you enjoy! And please, wish me luck. This is going to be a difficult month for Danny:)

Easter

So, Easter was wonderful. General conference was also that weekend so that made it extra special.... FOOD was there so it was perfect. We went to my cousin Sarah's house and had dinner with her family, Heather, and Suzanne. It was lots of fun and the food was grrrrrrreeeeaaaaattttt! I did a little Easter bucket for Henry, it wasn't much since we are so po! It had bubbles, a book and a little submarine for the bathtub that I was sure Henry would LOVE. Wrong. Henry was scared to death of the thing and tried to make and emergency exit from the bathtub! Wish I could have caught that on video....

Henry discovering his Easter BUCKET. Yeah, thats how we roll.

Bubbles!!!!!

Henry playing with the evil submarine before he knew it was ALIVE!!!

Some of the cousins at Easter

101 in 1001

So I ran across this website http://www.dayzeroproject.com/ and have decided to give a go! The jist of it is you make 101 specific goals you want to achieve in 1001 days. Simple. It took me like a week to make my list. Hope this inspires others to make a list of their own! I am going to blog about each goal I complete and will update the list with the dates completed etc. So, my start date is March 16th 2010. So.... my end date will be December 11th 2012.

Christie's 101 in 1001
1. Have no credit card debt
2. Run a 10k
3. Read 50 new books (2/50)
4. Go to 10 different museums (0/10)
5. Visit 5 national parks (0/5)
6. Do all 3 levels of the Biggest Loser Workout
7. Start a book club
8. Be able to do 20 push ups in a row
9. Finish my first draft of "East Street Alley Girl"
10. Go to Temple Square with Henry and Danny
11. Completely organize our "junk room"
12. Go camping as a family
13. Make THE crepe cake.
14. Organize all my recipes into binders
15. Go to the commodification of fun (Disneyland)
16. Have a successful vegetable garden
17. See a Broadway play/musical
18. Learn canning and can something I grew.
19. Have a murder mystery dinner party.
20. Have a garden full of hydrangeas
21. Learn to knit
22. Create a 'signature dish"
23. Start composting
24. Make my own homemade bread for a month.
25. Have an art exhibit
26. Volunteer at a nursing home
27. Prepare a 72 hour kit
28. Randomly choose 10 of the worlds countries and read a book on the history. (0/10)
29. Blog "A day in the life of Christie" with pictures
30. Host Christmas dinner
31. Take Henry sledding
32. Go on a one day vacation by myself
33. Learn basic sign language
34. Finish Henry's name art project.
35. Do Danny's Darth Vader art project
36. Take a kickboxing class
37. Do a week long detox
38. Give an anonymous gift
39. Watch the sun rise and set on the same day.
40. Read 5 biographies. (0/5)
41. Make and send 5 care packages to a family member or friend. (0/5)
42. Watch all of the AFI 100 movie list that aren't rated "R"
43. Pay it backward in a drive through.
44. Go on a picnic.
45. Set someone up on a blind date.
46. Try 20 new restaurants (2/20)
47. Don't use the computer for an entire weekend.
48. Learn CPR
49. Donate blood 2 times (0/2)
50. Stop junk mail.Completed!
51. Write a letter or send a card once a month (1/33)
52. Finish a 2000 piece puzzle
53. Eat a raw diet for 1 week
54. No sugar for 1 week.
55. Go to the temple once a week for one month
56. Sell something on e-bay.
57. Sell a piece of artwork
58. Create a piece of art for someone
59. Read 10 or Random House 100 Greatest Novels (0/10)
60. Scan all photos into computer and backup on CDS
61. Blog everyday for 1 month.
62. Go to the San Diego Zoo
63. Send someone flowers
64. Learn French
65. Fly a kite
66. Eat Vegetarian for 1 week.
67. Do a random act of kindness for a stranger.
68. Have a year round herb garden
69. Buy a DSLR camera.
70. Build a birdhouse.
71. Learn how to sing
72. Have a girls night out.
73. Dye my hair.
74. Blog 30 recipes in 30 days on my blog. (2/30)
75. Make a time capsule to open when Henry is 18.
76. Learn to shoot a gun
77. Subscribe to my favortite magazines
78. Do 3 Operation Beautiful. (0/3)
79. Purchase artwork off etsy.
80. Make the bed everyday for 1 week.
81. Wear my Anthropologie dress
82. Plant a tree.
83. Go to a roller derby.
84. Go to a BYU theater production.
85. Don't look a Facebook for 1 week.
86. Make homemade ice cream.
87. Complete the 50 questions
88. Learn to french braid.
89. Take someone's engagement photos.
90. Buy a grill and have a cookout.
91. Get washboard abs.
92. Make my own natural household cleaning products.
93. Take piano lessons.
94. Scuba dive.
95. Go on a boat at Lake Powell
96. Re-finish computer desk.
97. Go to a General Conference session
98. Read the Book of Mormon cover to cover in 3 months.
99. Make homemade lemonade.
100. Get a picture of my apartment in a design magazine.
101. Make another 101 list.

I do have a rule that I am allowed to change up to 3 things on this list during the 1001 days.

Blah Blah

There goes my goal for blogging every week! I need to be a bit more realistic and maybe shoot for every month. I just want to list ten things that are making me smile today. Random things.
1. Swifer dusters
2. Burt's Bee's chapstick
3. Sqealing Henry
4. Peanut butter toast
5. Getting snail mail
6. 8 hours of sleep
7. 50 degree weather
8. Sunshine:)
9. Muppet Treasure Island
10. Naps

Mommy's Sous Chef

Henry is such a good helper. For example, when I am cleaning or cooking in the kitchen he almost always keeps me company. He will inspect all my cooking tools to make sure they are properly cleaned. He separates the dirty ones from the clean ones by throwing the dirty ones on the floor. After he has finished sorting he begins "cleaning" them himself. This is done by covering them with his saliva of course. Then, he leaves them there for me to see what a good job he did.

Goggles

I have been trying to get a good picture of Henry with these nifty goggles on. He is not a very good sport. Yes, I tried to explain that they will be great fun to look at when he is older but that didn't help. I did get a few but not any with them over his eyes. He would look so great in them. His dad loves to wear goggles, usually its a the pool...usually. Anywho, Here's what i got!

Front Window

Henry has a new hobby. He likes to look out the window and watch all the goings on. I told him that he had better watch out because he may see something he shouldn't like in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Rear Window. Poor Jimmy Stewart got in a whole heap of trouble and ended up with two broken legs. Henry listened patiently (HA!) and then went on drooling all over the window.

The erie view. Who knows what he could witness out these windows!

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! I tried to warn him!

Henry's New Habitat

It was pretty hard living in an attic for 2 months... Dont get me wrong, I am grateful we had family willing to put up with us. However, I am soooo happy to have a place of our own again. Henry may be happier than I am. He has enjoyed exploring his new surroundings.

So happy to have a home again!

Finally he has his own room! No more living in closets or offices!

A place for all his things.

So happy that he has to sing a song! Like mother like son!

The Ping Pong Bandit

Danny likes ping pong. Really likes ping pong. He was so excited when he saw a poster at BYU advertising a ping pong tournament! Could there really be people who like ping pong as much as Danny? Apparently yes, and some who like it even more... There were 67 people who signed up to play in the tourney.

The official brackets. Geeze, someone has way to much time on their hands....

There he is!

The Ping Pong Bandit is ready for action. Thanks to Melanie and family for the awesome Christmas present! He looked like an idiot wearing those shorts to school when it was snowing but the shirt made up for it... a bit.

His first match. I couldn't really watch the whole thing. Everytime I would watch a point he would lose the point. Henry was supposed to watch and give me updates but he was more interested in the blue curtains. So I thought for sure Danny had lost as he walked over with a somber look. He had won! Jerk.

GOOOOOO! DADDY!

Browsing in between matches. He he he...

Danny and his ping pong twin talking strategy between matches.

Danny to his new opponent: "Don't kill me to bad" Isn't he such an optimist! I have to admit, as soon as I saw his opponent I knew it was over.

The Ping Pong Bandit has been defeated!

It wasnt untill we got out to the car that Danny realized that it was double elimination. He should be called the Ping Pong Doofis.