Valentines Day 2011

Oh My - I can not believe my last post was February 8th! Oops! In all fairness I have good reasons for being so busy lately. (more on that later!) 


I've been wanting to post about Valentines Day - so first things first... 


One thing unique about Derek and I, is we were engaged 7 months after we met and married after 15 months. Because of that we are still in the process of celebrating some holidays for the 2nd time together - which I find to be very fun. I can safely say the Valentines Day traditions have been officially set, with our 2nd Valentines Day behind us now. There is something about new traditions that feels extra cozy to me!


Our official tradition is simple but sweet... we watch Love Actually and I make Derek a specific dinner menu. I do think this year's dinner turned out even better than last years! Hopefully that tradition will continue too. 


Here's the menu:


Spinach Salad with a warm dressing - yum! 

Spaghetti Carbonara - YUM! 


This is a very special pasta my Uncle Craig made once for me and I immediately fell in love so luckily he taught me how to make it too! It can be a little time consuming - but definitely worth it for a special Valentine - I promise it's worth a try!!


Recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara: 


Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound pancetta
• 6 finely chopped cloves of garlic
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
• ground black pepper
• 1 box of spaghetti 
• 3/4 cup finely chopped parsley 
• parmesan cheese (I recommend fresh)
• 4 egg yolks

Begin by cutting the pancetta into small pieces and then cook it in a deep pan over a medium to medium high flame/heat. 

Once the pancetta is nice and browned, quickly add the garlic and pepper flakes. Be careful not to cook the garlic too long so it does not get bitter After a minute or so the garlic will become golden brown. Quickly add a cup or so of chicken broth and a generous amount of black pepper. Turn the heat down to medium / medium low and let the sauce reduce by about 1/2 the volume. (You can always add more broth if things take longer than you anticipate, and keep the volume down to about 1/2 cup. Drop to a simmer. 

Have the pasta ready to dump into the pot of boiling salted water when you add the broth to the above so they can finish somewhat together. In the meantime finely chop the parsley and have plenty of parmesan cheese ready. I recommend getting a fresh block of parmesan and grating it. This time I did it this way and I felt like it made a huge difference in taste! 

Beat the egg yolks together and then temper in about a ladle full of the boiling water from the pasta pot. (note: you temper by adding a minute amount of the boiling water into the yolks while whisking furiously so as not to cook the yolks and continue until the entire ladle is incorporated) 

By now the pasta should be ready. Drain it completely and put it in the pasta bowl and dump the pancetta mix in, continue mixing well as you add the yolk mixture, parsley, and the parmesan cheese. 

Enjoy!!!


Red Velvet Cake with butter cream frosting - DOUBLE YUM!!

And here is a picture of my very sweet Valentine enjoying it all! A Valentines Day success! 

The Challenge...(numero UNO!)

Sometimes a challenge feels good correction - sometimes completing a challenge feels great! not so good if the challenge doesn't turn out well. Regardless, this Kosama program we do has taught me that even though it's a little painful and exhausting, at the end of the day a good challenge feels rewarding and well worth it! 


With that, my husband and I more so I than both of us decided at lunch today it was a good time for another challenge! In fact - I kind of decided in my head that we should do a new challenge every month, but I'll ease Derek into that part of the plan. Anyway, without further adieu - our challenge...


The Challenge: Eating In To Win!
yes i feel a little "Minute to Win It"...


Length of Contest: 4 weeks 1/25/11 - 2/23/11


Rule #1 We will only eat out for lunches if it can be expensed (a.k.a. work lunches with clients). 


Rule #2 We will only eat dinner out one night per week 
(yikes! this one will by FAR be the hardest for us!!)


Rule #3 Starbucks/coffee/soda runs DO count - so they can't happen! (they add up fast too!)


We came up with this challenge because we realized we were eating out a lot this past fall and we promised each other that "after the wedding" as we said about many things this past fall we would not eat out as much and try to eat more at home to save money and to eat healthier. Plus my husband can't stop talking about "filling up the coffers" have you ever even heard of a coffer? I had not...but now I feel like they are supposed to be my bff. (ugh). He hasn't gone so far as to actually literally get us a coffer to fill up - but if he did...here's what I would have to figure out how to incorporate into my home decor. That would be an entirely different challenge.

coffersplural of cof·fer (Noun)

1. A strongbox or small chest for holding valuables.

2. The funds or financial reserves of a group or institution

We began tonight by adding up the past four weeks purchases at ANY restaurant, coffee house, fast food place or grocery store. (note: we did the past four weeks we were here - we excluded the honeymoon week since we were not here). I wasn't really sure what to expect the total to be - but it was (drum roll please!) $975.24. Do you think this is a lot? I couldn't decide...in my head I thought it would be more when i was estimating, but then realizing this is approximately $250/ week in food, that seems like quite a bit! Our Goal: is to spend $125/ week on food for the next 4 weeks, for a total of $500 and a total savings of $475.24! (helloooo... JAMAICA a little sooner if we can start pulling that off monthly!)


We've been so excited about cooking with all of our new fun tools  that I can't think of a better time to meet this challenge head on.


So here goes nothing! (oh lordy - why am i ALREADY craving Jimmy Johns?! damn...) 


I'd love to hear feedback on what you think of this!!

Sunday Funday!

In my days at college which i fondly refer to as the glory days "Sunday Funday" meant for yet another wonderful day of fun with your friends - as if going out Thursday, Friday and Saturday wasn't enough "quality" time with your pals. Generally playing yard olympics, finishing the keg from the night before, ordering pizza and not so much studying for that chem. test you are taking at 8am Monday morning were on the itinerary. 


These days - my idea of the perfect "Sunday Funday" was waking up with my husband, making breakfast, cleaning the house together, working on wedding thank-yous and verbally planning our next trip to Jamaica as we seem to do daily now. Derek and I talked today about how we used to go crazy when we didn't have something to do on a Sunday, and now today getting off the couch seemed like too many scheduled events!


I was able to motivate myself to make my husband somewhat of a proper dinner this evening. In light of my fond memories of college "Sunday Funday" I was craving my favorite dining center soup - Pizza Soup! 


I didn't have the recipe - but I let my fingers do some research through the google and combined all the pizza soup recipes with my memories of this glorious concoction to come up with the following:


Pizza Soup!


Ingredients:
3/4 Box of Cooked Rigatoni
1 family size + 1 regular can of tomato soup
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 - 1/2 bag of Pepperoni's cut in half
1/4 tsp. Basil
1/4 tsp. Oregano
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
Shredded Mozzarella 

ingredients = check!
(think I went to Target today?!)

Fresh shredded motz is best!

Make the tomato soup as directed on the can, use milk.
(and even a little extra milk for a little creamier texture)
Add all seasonings and the parmesan cheese. Stir well. 

Add the pepperoni's and cooked noodles.
Stir again and let warm/simmer on medium for about 20 minutes 

Top with the Mozzarella - and voila FINISHED PRODUCT!
My husband was sweet enough to say
"it looks like something from the Food Network" - i love him!

It was delicious - i must say! I think in the future I will add mushrooms and maybe some Parmesan Cheese as a garnish as well. 

Derek said he LOVED it - and that it makes for a great comfort food in these days of the below the 0 temperature mark. yuk!

Check the "cool" box below if you plan to try this! 

(just curious!)

You're gonna catch a cold...

You will find that I tend to be the girl who listens to songs and makes it a hobby to try and figure out the true meaning and message the songwriter was trying to convey.

I LOVE this song: Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri. I think the song is actually a man hatin' song, but it has a line in it that I've taken upon myself to interperet in a way that related to my week better. If you listen she says "you're gonna catch a cold, from the ice inside your soul".

This is the premise to my rant on mean people. I am very over mean people. I seem to keep getting slapped in the face not literally thankfully! this week by mean people. The worst of it is - I'm realizing that actual "mean people" are not just people who get upset about one thing, or do one specific mean action. The people I am tired of are the day in and day out mean people - the people who - after time - it becomes painfully evident after you've spent months making excuses in your head for them they are mean ON PURPOSE! That is the worst kind of mean...

i.e. - "you're gonna catch a cold - from the ice inside your soul" A word to the permanantly mean people - you better start carrying around an unlimited refill prescription for z-packs.

I know it sounds a little Miss America - but do wish people were more accepting of the day to day behavior of others. Imagine a world thank you John Lenon where everybody treated everybody else with respect at the minimum but also genuine friendliness.
I am going to make an effort to be nicer to people, I am not going to make dirty faces to people who cut me off on the road ok-make that I'm not going to give people the bird, If somebody around me seems to be struggling with something - I'm going to try not to think in my head I'm too busy to help them, I hope they don't ask me. I'm going to offer help and a friendly face, I'm going to say Good Morning! to people at my office yes - even on Mondays to brighten the mood.

My point is, I believe being mean is probably more exhausting and I am glad to know already I am not somebody who evidently enjoys being mean, but I believe there are still plenty of ways I can improve myself.

I'm going to even apply this to my marriage or try to. If Derek gets home late I'm going to try to think positively not completely annoyed about how it's ruining my day. I'm going to keep focus on the small things and be nice in small ways. It's easy for a lot of people to not cheat on their spouses which obviously would be considered in the "mean" category" But I bet it's a lot less easy to remember to say sweet nice things - and act on those. Actions speak louder than words and I'm going to act nice!

Is that too much to ask out of everybody else?? So go out of your way to be a little nicer today. I bet you will feel better and maybe it will be contagious!

Who's with me??