As an aside...my lunch today.

...I just want to make a small post about my lunch. It's an old friend...an old stand-by if you will...

Have you met the Mama? Mama Celeste?

She's a special friend of mine since my childhood. :) I wouldn't recommend her in the microwave though...she's a leathery hard mess. Oven only please.

happy new year-- I'll get the wine!

I will be ringing in the new year with hubby and the pups this evening tuning in to Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve 2010.

I'll show you my countdown spread a little later. Yum!

just signed up for my first challenge--

I'm really terrible at follow-through...but I am going to give it a shot!

I just signed up for my first challenge:

courtesy of http://www.read52booksin52weeks.com

click on the pic to sign up.

this is quite the challenge. yikes!!

clean room = happy lady

I finally cleaned our room. Thank the lord!

Well...one half of it. haaa

portuguese chourico mac & cheese

Lunch/ Dinner Portuguese Chourico Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

Yes, I know. I'm amazing. :D

eeew

The hubby has been sick all night and all day today-- I love how my little pup Oliver tries to comfort him....by sitting on his head. Awww.

And then of course-- I can't show you one without showing off the other...Pierre:

I have such a cute family. :D

Chicken Tetrazzini

This was soooo easy to make! This chicken tetrazzini was creamy, cheesy, buttery goodness. Here's how it was made:

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package spaghetti, broken into pieces
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
3. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat, and gradually stir in chicken broth and cream.
4. Return to heat, and bring to a low boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add wine, then stir in cooked spaghetti and chicken. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish, and top with Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly brown

(Thank you to Mary @ allrecipes.com for the base recipe)

This was absolutely delicious.

Pair with a nice glass of dry white wine-- Chardonnay or even Table.

Mmm.....

last night's chili pasta recipe.

Not sure if anyone actually reads this...but in case you are interested, here is last night's recipe:

Chili Shells

1 pound ground beef
1 pound medium shells
jar of plain spaghetti sauce
2 tablespoons of cumin
1 tablespoon of dry minced onions
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
salt and pepper to season the meat
and about as much as you can stand (heat wise) of chili powder

Brown the meat with salt and pepper. Drain. Add sauce and all spices to the pain with meat. Stir and simmer for 45 minutes.
Boil your pasta-- 12 minutes roughly-- drain. Mix everything together in your pasta pot.
Serve with a super ton of sharp cheddar cheese!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

red.

WAIT!! Can't forget the wine :DDD

these are a few of my faaaavorite things...

I've been cooking (as per usual) and finding new use for the digital camera. In fact-- I'm going to document just a few of my favorite things...

Starting with-- possibly the best dish in the world-- Chili Spaghetti!

It's really kind of delicious. Here it is close up:

mmmm....

mounds of sharp cheddar cheese.

...and now I am full.

Another favorite of mine-- best invention known to man:

The Keurig

The best smelling candle (clearly):

Yankee Candle's Blueberry-- Do you have a favorite Yankee Candle scent?

So these are just a few of my favorite things. :D

Jingle Chicken Tetrazzini?

So I have the next week off before I start my new job and since I will clearly have nothing to do (or want to do) besides cook and hang out in my flannel p.j.'s-- I have crafted a list of this week's meals. ....here we go (as always inspired by jen @ mommablogsalot.com):

Sunday: Chicken Tetrazzini

Monday: Broiled Steaks with rice pilaf and vegetables.

Tuesday: Tacos

Wednesday: Homemade Chourico Macaroni & Cheese

Thursday: English Muffin Pizzas

Friday: Lasagna

Saturday: Soup & Sandwiches

I should probably have had lunch before typing that all out. I'm starvvvvingggg!

oooh daybook

i got this idea from Jen E. over @ http://www.mommablogsalot.com

Today…

Outside my window: Two feet of snow. Plowed. Pushed aside the road with brown and black specks on top of icy white mounds. In other words: cold.
I am hearing: cars pass by. people drive like maniacs in the snow. for what purpose???
I am thinking: 2010 is going to be super. I am thinking about how it's truly going to be a new start for me. I am so optimistic. I am so hopeful!!! "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it."-- Anne Shirley/ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
I am hoping: These next 3 days go by fast!
I am reading: Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris-- The second in the Sookie Stackhouse series.
I am creating: This blog update for you. Nothing much else then a clutter of thoughts to sort out.
I am wearing: My black wool jacket. Have I mentioned it's below freezing?
Plans for the week: Work today, tomorrow and until 4pm on Thursday. Over to the inlaws Thursday evening for Christmas eve. Come home-- cook homemade mac & cheese (will share the recipe later) for the next morning to bring over to my mom and dad's house. Friday-- Christmas Day-- Michael and I are off to celebrate christmas with my sister, her boyfriend, mom, dad and grandmother. Then finally Saturday I am going to see the movie Nine.
What an action packed week!!

a blog about sorting. this goes here..

This may make no sense or it might make tons of sense...hear me out...

It started when I was younger. I would take an old notebook and a pencil and while watching my favorite shows, I would wait for the commercials. I would draw on my paper lines down and then accross to form boxes-- squares (picture a jeopardy board). At the top of each column I would write a category for the commercials (Cars, Soap, Toys etc.). When a commercial would come on I would name the commercial and put it in its appropriate category along with the time. I did this so much I had a whole notebook full of commercials- all sorted. I was probably 7 or 8 years old when this started.

The control I had over where things went has more than likely now crept into my current domestic life. I get extremely stressed when things are not in their proper order or place. Though I am not perfect and leave things every once in a while out of place...I cannot tolerate others to do this at their leisure either.

What a double standard for my poor husband who may occasionally leave towels on the bathroom floor and be nagged at by my total dislike...then he turn around and me do it as well.

Ahh domestic life...living with another. I am getting better, honest. Just please don't leave your empty cola cans in the sink...


...there's a place for those too.

i'm not tired.

I pulled together a chicken scaloppine with shells and even corn muffins around 11pm last night. Just a truly courageous feat. ha!

Thank you Lidia Bastianich! What a woman!

recipe courtesy of Lidia Bastianich from:

Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen

The muffins I haven't even tried yet. Though Michael said they were good. They look a little wonky-- but that's what you get for a 15 minute recipe at just about 11:00 at night!

Okay just tried one....delish!!

Off to do the laundry!

i never said i was good at it.

That is Michael (my husband) and I on our glorious wedding day. It was August 17th, 2007. I worried about what kind of wife I was going to be far before this day...

I had observed my grandmother and my mother my whole life thus far. Two completely different ways to approach the life of domesticity.

One a steadfast Portuguese woman with strong ties to tradition-- the cycle: wake at dawn, cook, clean, sneak a sip of wine and repeat until the day is through. A rigorous schedule of making sure the household was perfect and dinner was served every night made from scratch.

The other, working long and hard hours to come home to a husband and two children that would take advantage of her motherly role (regardless of how tired she was). She was never so tired that she couldn't boil some pasta or even dial out for pizza when needed. She was always doing and doing. Sometimes just so tired from balancing work, children, husband and dinner...she would succumb to exhaustion. My dad would cover her with a blanket on her perfect country floral covered couch.

Perfect.

Everything.

Both worked and still work very hard at keeping appearances. I fall in the middle. I am a new generation of "doing". I work and juggle like my mother. I also clean the floor on my hands and knees like my grandmother. What ties them together is the common bond domestics. Is it our role? As women is this all we are?

We

are

more.

We are a generation of do-ers, balancers, thinkers and creative goddesses.

I take pride in the mix that I am today. A delicious mix. I am your dose of delicious domestics.

:)