The sun has yet to peak through the trees, but my alarm still sounds. The patterning of little feet against a crib wall, and the snorts and snuffs of a guard dog entertaining his charge wake me from my slumber. A smile spreads across my face. It is a good morning.
Off to the kitchen in a bleary eyed shuffle. A breakfast of pancakes and coffee to be made. Cheerful, toothy grins, tiny hands clapping, and grunts of appreciation fill the room with warmth and love. It is a good morning.
The sun greets us through the bay window. He is behind, as the day has already begun. But we still thank the Lord for the sun's appearance, for the blessings our day will bring. It is a good morning.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
I'm Becoming A Foodie...
Yep, that's right. I'm becoming a foodie. My waistline is not okay with this. Lately I've been whipping up all kinds of delicious dinners and lunches because I discovered Ree Drummond. Darn her. Why does she have to be so inspirational and relate-able?!
Anywho, like I was saying, I've been cooking a lot. Yesterday I made a strawberry cobbler, and a lasagna. The cobbler was whatever is less than sub par, but my lasagna was totes amazeballs. So I thought I'd share what I did. I didn't really follow any recipe or direction, and I had never made one before. But I had a general idea of what to do. I mean if you eat a lasagna once, you kind of instinctually know how to make it.
Is instinctually a word? It is now.
Sorry I don't have any pictures. I have no idea how to add them to my blog. Which is embarrassing, but eventually I'll get around to figuring the mechanics of this the host out. I am really ramble-y today...too much coffee...
So, anyway, here's what I did:
I browned two pounds of hamburger meat (we like super meaty sauce), making sure to get it chopped up in to teeny tiny clumps, and threw in some Italian seasoning while it was in the skillet. Once done, I drained it, slightly rinsed it, and lightly seasoned the meat. Then I tossed it in a bowl with one 26oz container of plain old red pasta sauce.
I then mixed about half of a 30oz container of ricotta cheese with about a fourth of a cup of parmesan and roughly a cup mozzarella, and two eggs. I just used pre-grated Walmart brand cheese, but freshly grated would be fun. I mixed/whipped that with a whisk until well combined.
Next I layered like a cup and a fourth or so of meat sauce on the bottom of a Pyrex dish (I don't really know how big it is. So use your best judgement on how big of a pan you need.). I dropped in enough pasta to cover the meat sauce as completely as possible, and evenly covered that with the ricotta mixture, not necessarily in a thin layer, but it wasn't really thick either. Then I repeated the process one more time with the meat sauce first, then pasta, then cheese.
At then end I slopped on some more meat sauce and drowned that with what cheese mix was left, covered the dish tightly with a double layer of foil, and threw it in a 350 F oven for about an hour. Just until the whole thing was fork tinder.
Now that I've tasted the fruits of my kitchen labor, I would probably add the other half of that ricotta to my meat sauce. We love cheese in my house, and the meat just seemed to be lacking. And to make your life much easier, I suggest using oven ready pasta. That's what I did. Because I don't have a pot big enough to boil the stuff in.
Now that I've shared my 'Sagna guidlines with you, I think I'll go enjoy some left overs. I'm hungry, and there is a ton left to eat!
Anywho, like I was saying, I've been cooking a lot. Yesterday I made a strawberry cobbler, and a lasagna. The cobbler was whatever is less than sub par, but my lasagna was totes amazeballs. So I thought I'd share what I did. I didn't really follow any recipe or direction, and I had never made one before. But I had a general idea of what to do. I mean if you eat a lasagna once, you kind of instinctually know how to make it.
Is instinctually a word? It is now.
Sorry I don't have any pictures. I have no idea how to add them to my blog. Which is embarrassing, but eventually I'll get around to figuring the mechanics of this the host out. I am really ramble-y today...too much coffee...
So, anyway, here's what I did:
I browned two pounds of hamburger meat (we like super meaty sauce), making sure to get it chopped up in to teeny tiny clumps, and threw in some Italian seasoning while it was in the skillet. Once done, I drained it, slightly rinsed it, and lightly seasoned the meat. Then I tossed it in a bowl with one 26oz container of plain old red pasta sauce.
I then mixed about half of a 30oz container of ricotta cheese with about a fourth of a cup of parmesan and roughly a cup mozzarella, and two eggs. I just used pre-grated Walmart brand cheese, but freshly grated would be fun. I mixed/whipped that with a whisk until well combined.
Next I layered like a cup and a fourth or so of meat sauce on the bottom of a Pyrex dish (I don't really know how big it is. So use your best judgement on how big of a pan you need.). I dropped in enough pasta to cover the meat sauce as completely as possible, and evenly covered that with the ricotta mixture, not necessarily in a thin layer, but it wasn't really thick either. Then I repeated the process one more time with the meat sauce first, then pasta, then cheese.
At then end I slopped on some more meat sauce and drowned that with what cheese mix was left, covered the dish tightly with a double layer of foil, and threw it in a 350 F oven for about an hour. Just until the whole thing was fork tinder.
Now that I've tasted the fruits of my kitchen labor, I would probably add the other half of that ricotta to my meat sauce. We love cheese in my house, and the meat just seemed to be lacking. And to make your life much easier, I suggest using oven ready pasta. That's what I did. Because I don't have a pot big enough to boil the stuff in.
Now that I've shared my 'Sagna guidlines with you, I think I'll go enjoy some left overs. I'm hungry, and there is a ton left to eat!
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
The Bathroom Sink.
Recently I discovered a few lines of a song that truly spoke to me. While it is not an uncommon occurrence for a song to touch my heart, this one in particular made me question myself and my relationships. We all know music evokes emotions and memories. But should a handle full of words make you question your life?
"It's amazin', the amount of rejection
That I see in my reflection
And I can't get out of the way
I'm lookin' forward to the girl I wanna be
But regret has got a way of starin' me right in the face
So I try not to waste too much time
At the bathroom sink."
Powerful stuff, huh?
Sounds like she wants a change. She hates the world she lives in, yet fears what regret might follow if she were to give it all up and start fresh.
There must be something or someone toxic in her life?
So why and how am I moved in such a way, by this small phrase?
I don't want to lay blame, so I won't. But I will say there were, and are a few toxic people who I let poison my life. And for what? So I can stare at myself in the mirror some more and think about how awful of a person I am, because they said so?
There have been many days I have wished I could just cut ties without regret or messy endings, but that is not how life works, most of the time. We let people into our hearts, sometimes they make a wonderful impact on our lives, sometimes they slowly destroy our sense of self. Sometimes they are the ones who are closest to you, and sometimes they are people you hardly know.
These lyrics really hit me in the gut. And this is just my take based on the song in its entirety. The song is "Bathroom Sink"-Miranda Lambert, incase you're interested in giving it a listen. Maybe you'll listen to the song and hear a different story, maybe not. But my point is, at the end of the day we all have some venomous entity in our lives that must be squelched or claimed a necessary evil. It is not always easy to see what it is. So be mindful of what and who you let in, and what or who you cut out.
"It's amazin', the amount of rejection
That I see in my reflection
And I can't get out of the way
I'm lookin' forward to the girl I wanna be
But regret has got a way of starin' me right in the face
So I try not to waste too much time
At the bathroom sink."
Powerful stuff, huh?
Sounds like she wants a change. She hates the world she lives in, yet fears what regret might follow if she were to give it all up and start fresh.
There must be something or someone toxic in her life?
So why and how am I moved in such a way, by this small phrase?
I don't want to lay blame, so I won't. But I will say there were, and are a few toxic people who I let poison my life. And for what? So I can stare at myself in the mirror some more and think about how awful of a person I am, because they said so?
There have been many days I have wished I could just cut ties without regret or messy endings, but that is not how life works, most of the time. We let people into our hearts, sometimes they make a wonderful impact on our lives, sometimes they slowly destroy our sense of self. Sometimes they are the ones who are closest to you, and sometimes they are people you hardly know.
These lyrics really hit me in the gut. And this is just my take based on the song in its entirety. The song is "Bathroom Sink"-Miranda Lambert, incase you're interested in giving it a listen. Maybe you'll listen to the song and hear a different story, maybe not. But my point is, at the end of the day we all have some venomous entity in our lives that must be squelched or claimed a necessary evil. It is not always easy to see what it is. So be mindful of what and who you let in, and what or who you cut out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)