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