Recipe Review: Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo Stuffed Shells

     I love pasta. Seriously, love it. Eat way too much of it. Once I gave up pasta for Lent but messed up and ate it because I forgot that Macaroni & Cheese was pasta. True story. Regardless, when this recipe happened across my Pinterest, I took immediate interest.

Original Recipe

    Does that not look amazing? Can't you just smell it through the screen? I've been meaning to try this out for a while now, but I'm lazy so it hasn't happened. Until last night.

     I'm having a root canal later today, so I decided I wanted my last meal to be something mouthwateringly delicious. I made a good choice. The original recipe followed step by step from above was quite yummy, but I've made a few minute changes to give it that little something extra.

1.) The Chicken: I'm pretty notorious for just winging amounts of meats. When I see two cups I think, "Okay, four tenderloins or two large breasts. That should about do it." So that's what I did. I chopped it up (while halfway frozen) into bite sized pieces, then popped it in some boiling water with two tablespoons of butter. As you can imagine, it was quite hot when done. Solution to shredding painfully hot chicken? Food processor. Just dump it all in there and pulverize it. You get a very finely chopped product that really lends itself well to this recipe.

2.) The Broccoli: Pretty much the same as above. I bought the florettes in one of those steamer bags, prepared it according to the instructions, then tossed it in the food processor. The resulting fine puree really makes stuffing the shells easy, and I imagine it would help get little ones to eat the broccoli, too. This trick works with my husband. :)

3.) The Mixture: I like flavor. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am, in your face flavor. I was worried I wouldn't get that with this recipe because it does not call for any seasoning beyond "salt & pepper to taste". I recommend adding one (1) teaspoon of minced garlic, salt and pepper (I always count to seven while shaking the container, but you do you), and then maaaaybe a little Italian seasoning. Just a pinch!

4.) Stuffing the Shells: Firstly, make sure your pot is big enough to support your jumbo shells. Mine almost was not. Once they're ready (they don't need to be as "well done" as regular pasta would be, because you're going to bake them), strain them and let them cool until you can handle them without burning your fingers. Using your hands, line them up in your pan (which should have a goodly helping of spaghetti sauce on the bottom), and hold them open with your fingers while stuffing them full of Alfredo-y goodness. It's a little messy, but definitely easier than trying to do it all with piping hot noodles and a spoon.

5.) My Main Change: I recommend adding a little spaghetti/marinara/red sauce to the top of the shells as well. Don't completely cover it so that they are swimming, but I'd say put about a teaspoon over each shell. The Alfredo and marinara pair exceedingly well, and the added red sauce keeps the shells from feeling like "naked" pasta.

One "batch" made enough for two meals, so we've got a ready-to-go pan in the freezer for some day later when I'm too lazy to do anything other than pop a frozen meal in the oven. My husband LOVED this. We did not have any left overs, and he was quite happy when I told him I was full and he could finish off what he wanted. This dish is deceptively easy, but as Jake so eloquently stated "restaurant quality" in taste. Trot it out when you're having company over and want to show off what a Domestic Goddess you really are.

Happy Eating! <3

Arts & Crafts: Reindeer Canvas

     I loooove Pinterest. That should really go without saying. I'm a twenty-something girl, of course I love Pinterest. I especially love the cute craft ideas I constantly see on there. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have a board with that exact title. Yet hardly ever do I actually do any of the things I've pinned. That seems to be the case for most of us, with the rare exception of the oh-so-perfect stay at home moms who aren't on a shoe string budget. (I'm not ribbing on you, I'm jealous. So stop staring at me and go back to Mod Podge and Pilates, or straightening your hair, or whatever the hell you do all day.) Regardless, when I came across the (suddenly popular on my feed) Glittery Deer Canvas I decided I was going to finally break down and do a Pinterest craft. Huzzah!  Not only would it be super cute and a fairly easy way to cut my eyeteeth on crafting, I could also kill two birds with one stone. This glittery deer craft was going to my my contribution to this year's Family Christmas!

     Unnecessary necessary information: Family Christmas is the first weekend in December when my mother's side of the family gathers together in one house (which is no small feat) and play Dirty Santa. Gifts have been everything from George Foreman Grills to orange traffic cones to really nice watches, but the limit is supposed to be $15 bucks.  I never know what to get, since I'm a stereotypical black sheep that does not understand the ways of the species known as the cool kids, which the rest of my family is almost entirely made up of. So I always bring something I think is fantastic (one year I got a combo pack of Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias), that one poor, disgruntled cousin ends up with and that nobody else ever steals from them. They go home disappointed with their gift, and I go home feeling like a total loser. Ahhh, Christmas Traditions.

     Either way, this year my offering to the gods of familial harmony is going to be my Deer Canvas! The ones I saw on Pinterest were all just the silhouette of the deer's head, with either a solid color or stripes behind it. I wanted something a little more festive, so I decided to use a rearing reindeer as my silhouette and the names of Santa's sleigh team as my back ground. I wanted to go with the text from the famous poem (story? epic?) "A Visit From St. Nicholas", by Clement Clark Moore. Depending on which translation/edition you're looking at, it reads in part:

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer & Vixen!

On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder & Blitzen!"

     I started by stenciling my letters (in pencil, of course) on the blank canvas. Yes, I'm aware I left out Prancer. His name wouldn't fit. I had hoped to be able to fit each reindeer and punctuation on a separate line, but I could not find a stencil that was the right size. We only have a Walmart, and a crappy Walmart at that. They had three stencil sizes. Big, Bigger, and Tiny. I went with big, but that meant I couldn't fit everything I wanted on the canvas. C'est la vie.

     Next I outlined my letters with the paint I had chosen for them. I bought a green and a red, but the green did not turn out nearly as dark as I had hoped. The red felt much more "Christmasy" to me. I thought about doing the ampersand on the bottom in either green or gold, but I wasn't sure how it would look and wasn't willing to risk ruining the canvas. I'm po', honey chile. 

     Third Step is (Dun Dun Dun!!!!) fill in your letters. Looking at it now, I probably should have centered them on the canvas, but hindsight and all that. It was my first time, okay? Were you good your first time? (Yes, S@HM, we all know you were fantabulous at it the first time around. We can't all be as perfect as you, though, can we? So there!)

     Fourth, I traced my reindeer right in the center. I did it with pencil first (duh), then went over it with a gold paint marker. I read online that it made it easier to see, and boy did it. I had to sit directly under the light just to be able to see my pencil marks to go over them with the paint marker. Once you've got your outline, paint it inside with a thick, thick layer of Elmer's glue. Just like the stuff you used in grade school. (I don't know enough about different brands a glue to know if Walmart brand works as well as Elmer's, so I just swung for the real deal. It might have cost $1.50, total.) I don't think I did a thick enough layer the first time, because once I had "glittered" my deer I could still see the lettering through him. I think the thicker, the better.

     Cover your glue sodden reindeer silhouette with copious amounts of glitter. I opted for the super fine stuff just because I thought it looked prettier, but to each his own. Just pour it out in the general outline of your shape. Then let him sit for about 10-15 minutes.

     Tap your excess glitter off et voila! My reindeer turned out a little stockier than I meant for him to, but still. For my very first attempt ever at a canvas painting/stenciling/glitter craft, I think it turned out pretty darn good. I may try making another one just to fine tune my technique, but this is definitely going to be my Dirty Santa gift. Less than $15.00 for supplies (the canvas was a two pack!) and one entire Saturday was all it took! So go out and make your own! 

 Take that, Stay at Homes! coughcoughI'mOnlyPickingOnYouBecauseI'mJealouscoughcough.

     

Why I Didn't Audition for the Summer Musical

      I felt like I need to give an explanation, and I also felt like I needed to document that explanation here. Just for me, and for anyone else who happens by.

     I have been dying to know what the Summer Musical would be since December. Musical theatre is one of the joys of my life, and I think it always will be. However, at the end of May we were offered a rental home in a smaller town just outside of our already tiny town. We're thrilled to finally have a semi-permanent place of our own here in Mayberry, seing as we've been looking for over a year. Unfortunately, this means we now live nearly 30 miles from the local community theatre as opposed to 15. I realize an additional 10-15 miles may not seem like much, but when you already spend a substantial amount ($200+) in gas each month driving back and forth to work it really adds up. Gas prices aside, we’ve never lived anywhere that we’ve truly had the option to make it our own. Our landlords are pretty much giving us free reign with regards to painting and decorating (within reason), and I’m very excited to get started. I may not be able to be a housewife just yet, but gosh darn it when I’m off work I can pretend I am! (I spend more time Pinteresting new ways to clean a home [and less time actually cleaning it] than any sane person should.) ;) Rehearsals added to a forty hour work week don't really allow much time for that. Especially when you haven't had a chance to fully unpack and set up your house yet. I know myself well enough to know that the first thing to get tossed by the wayside when I start work on a show is any and all housework. This is including, but not limited to, cooking dinner, so that any attempts at healthy eating also go out the window. Which leads me to my other reason for not auditioning: I’m too fat to dance.

     My weight has always been a real struggle for me. I’ve yoyo-ed over the years, but since my 20th birthday I’ve gained over 100 pounds. My New Year’s Resolution this year (like every year since I was around ten) was to lose weight and become healthier. I started out pretty well. I was eating better (notice how I said “better” and not “great”) and I had even started maintaining a daily exercise program. I felt better. My knees didn’t ache as much, I had more energy, and I lost  a few pounds. Then we started rehearsals for our Spring Show. *Poof* All of my willpower and resolve disappeared. I just didn’t have it in me to get up at 6:00 am, do a fifteen minute workout before work, sit at a desk typing for eight hours, run home and grab a PB&J, sit in rehearsals for three hours, get home by 9:00, do another fifteen minute workout, keep my house clean, and still have time to enjoy a personal life. By the time the show was over, we had moved back in with family and I didn’t have a place I felt comfortable exercising. Not because anyone would have cared, but simply because that’s something I prefer to do in private. Regardless, I haven’t lost anywhere near the amount of weight I was hoping to have lost by the time auditions for the Summer Musical rolled around. I had been looking forward to auditioning since December, and had this vague idea of losing a ton of weight, magically blowing everyone away at auditions, and landing an amazing role. Needless to say, that is not what happened. Not to sound like a fifteen year old girl weeping in the bathroom during prom, but I can’t stand to look at pictures of myself at the moment. I’m much too large to be traipsing around on stage, pretending I can dance without getting winded. Unless of course we had been going to do Hairspray. In which case I would have auditioned with “Big, Blonde, and Beautiful”.  ;) Now that I’ve heard they're doing The Wedding Singer I’m a million times more bummed out. It’s one of my absolute favorite movies. I realize the stage show is different, but still. Waaah.

      Please don’t think that I think it matters one way or the other if I’m in the show or not. I’m not trying to imply that I’m the local theatre queen or that anyone would be devastated by the fact that I’m sitting this show out. Or have even noticed that I hadn’t auditioned. Hell, they may even be relieved. In which case, :-P to them.

      Break a leg!

Recipe Numero Uno: Cream of Empty Cupboard

     Last night was one of those nights where I just threw together something random and told my poor husband, "If it tastes bad you don't have to eat it." That happens a little too often, but experimentation is how we learn, right? What I came up with is something we'll definitely have again. Especially during this memorably cold Alabama winter. (Seriously, I didn't wear a coat once last year. I've been freezing for weeks now!)

MUSHROOMS AND RICE WITH CHICKEN IS NICE

INGREDIENTS:

• Two medium/large boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
• Two bags boil-in-the-bag ready rice. 
• One can cream of mushroom soup.
• salted, sweet cream butter
• salt
• pepper
• minced garlic
• Tony Chachere's

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Assuming you're like me and just buy the biggest bag of frozen chicken you can, take some out to thaw. I used two decent sized breasts so that we'd each (theoretically) get a whole one.
2. Once the chicken is thawed, cut it into pieces about the size of your thumb. I'm paranoid about chicken being under cooked, so I cut it bite sized to be sure it cooks thoroughly. Put in a skillet with a tablespoon of butter and cook on medium high heat. 
3. Add salt, pepper, and garlic to taste. I buy the jar of minced garlic that you keep in the fridge, because I feel it has more flavor and less salt than garlic powder. Going out on a limb here and saying I used between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp of garlic.
4. Add the Tony C's to taste. I didn't measure, but I think I used around a teaspoon. Cook until chicken is done all the way through. I don't like mine to be tough, so I let it get nice and golden on each side and call it a day.
5. Prepare the rice according to the instructions on the package. As I've mentioned, I was super tired, so I just popped mine in the microwave. Make sure you're smarter than me and don't use a plastic bowl. I ruined my best mixing bowl in the microwave last night. And then I cried for half an hour. At least.
6. In a pot that's half again as big as what you'll think you'll need, heat the soup. I use the can of cream of mushroom, then a slightly less than a can of water. For a little extra flavor, add a tablespoon of butter. I find that a whisk is more useful than a spoon when preparing canned soup.
7. Once soup is well mixed and hot, add in the cooked chicken and rice. This is why your pot needs to be so big. Mix well. I added a dash or two more Tony C's as well.
8. Dinner is served! We ate this by itself, but I wouldn't have minded some crackers. It made enough for my husband and I each to have two good sized bowlfuls, and only took about 30 minutes to prepare.

     That's all, folks! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. The Buhr has been sickly lately, so this was a good "I don't feel well" dish. I'll try and remember to take pictures of any recipe I'm going to post from now on, but this was a spur of the moment thing. Let's just pretend it looked like this.

*Disclaimer* This is a random picture I found on Google. I do not own it.

 Stay warm!
     -Katherine

Day Three

     In today's news, I have officially started an exercise regimen. I hesitate to type "weight loss" regimen, but it's that too. More than anything I want to be healthy. Losing a substantial amount of weight is going to be a big part of that. In the last five years I have gained over ONE HUNDRED pounds! That's absurd! And really, really bad for me. Looking back at pictures from high school and the short time I spent at college, it breaks my heart thinking of how little self confidence I had. I was freakin' gorgeous! What I considered grossly overweight then is something I would kill for now! Actually, it's only about fifteen pounds shy of what I now consider my ideal weight.

     I started Monday morning with Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer. I actually bought this two years ago with the intention of using it to get in shape before our wedding, buuuuut that didn't happen. So now I'm starting it simply in a quest to be healthier. Hopefully since there's no date or event I'm striving towards I'll be able to stick to this. The name 10 Minute Trainer is pretty misleading. Yes, each routine is only ten minutes (if you don't count the warm up/cool down part). BUT for the program to work like they advertise, they recommend doing three routines a day and following a diet. It's still way less intense than Mr. Horton's other programs (P90X, anyone? Or would you rather live?), but it's definitely more involved than they insinuate. Which is fine, I'm just lazy.

     To begin with I had been getting up half an hour earlier to do one routine before getting ready for work, then doing the other one or two routines (depending on the day) when I got home in the evening. The last few days I have been so exhausted that I just haven't been able to haul myself out of bed in the mornings, so I've been doing all routines in the evening. Also, I'm not strong enough yet nor do I have enough stamina to do everything 100%. Case and point, push ups are a no go for me. Too, the program came with a resistance band that is necessary for several moves, especially in the Total Body and Lower Body routines. Yeah, well, I lost that sometime when we moved. So I need to get another one. Right now I'd say I'm able to do about 75 - 80% of what the program recommends.

     I haven't been dieting at all. Our anniversary is this weekend, so I know I wouldn't stick to any sort of diet. My plan is to go Monday or so and stock up on some "diet friendly" foods. By which I mean stuff that isn't frozen or canned and is made of less than 30% preservatives. The program recommends a "2 Day Jump Start" that involves Shakeology shakes and a lot of salad. I don't have $ 130 to drop on protein shake mix (not kidding, that's the cost of a one month supply) and despite my best efforts I cannot eat salad. It's just gross to me. So instead I'm going to go the Boondock Bootycamp route and hit up the Walmart for some Slim Fast powder and a few apples and cucumbers. Praise the Lord Jiff makes a delicious all natural peanut butter now, so I don't have to buy the nasty kind. I love food way too much to trust myself to adhere to any diet plan, so really I'm just trying to eat better things in moderation. I realize this means I won't have the results advertised on the program, but that's okay. I'd rather this take longer and be something I can reasonably and happily keep doing for years than go on a super strict diet that will get results but that makes life less enjoyable. The whole point of this is so I can enjoy life to the fullest extent possible. That, to me, does not say meticulously planning every single bite of food I put in my mouth and shunning cake for the rest of forever.

     I'm going to post my "Before" pictures now. Actually, I guess they're just pictures, because I still look like this. But it's only been five days. I'll try and post new pictures every week to show what (if any) progress I've made. THESE ARE NOT FLATTERING. You've been warned.

Pardon the picture quality, this is the best my phone will do. Many thanks to my husband, the Buhr, for his mad photography skills.

Day Two: Good Things For Those Of Us Who Have Been Waiting

MY HUSBAND STARTS HIS NEW JOB ON MONDAY!!!!!! 

     It's like a Happy First Anniversary present from the Great & Powerful! Not Oz, the other one. After more than two years of searching, and applying, and constant rejection and stress, my wonderful, talented, determined, and hard working husband will begin a stable, full time job, with set hours and pay. PRAISE THE LORD! Take that, Economy! I'm so grateful for the family and friends who have been there for us these last couple years. It has not been easy. Not at all. But once again, perseverance paid off! Now we're both fortunate enough to have stable jobs with set hours. I couldn't be happier. Eeeee! :-D

     Yesterday also marked our former anniversary, and four years that we've been "official". Oh, and it was the first birthday of our youngest and sweetest dog, Otter. All in all a fantastic day that I have absolutely no complaints about! Woohoo!


     -Katherine

Day One

     Well, this is awkward. Hi there. I'm Katherine. I left all the areas describing me blank because I never know what to write in them. Where do I even start? I love Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, Supernatural, Ghost Hunters, and pretending to be a housewife. Yeah, the title of my blog is kind of misleading. Sorry about that. Hope we can still be friends! I actually work a fairly normal desk job. 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, Monday through Friday. Someday, though, I really think I'd love nothing more than to be a housewife. I know, I know, I'm setting us back a hundred years. Sue me. (Just kidding, please don't. I have nothing of value.)

     All I know is, right now, the idea of a quiet life in a little house in the country appeals to me. Then again, I wanted to be a gypsy pickpocket when I was six, an Elf (Tolkien, not Santa), a vet up until I was 16, an actress (who is forced to marry Gerard Butler when WW3 breaks out while I'm visiting the UK. We raise sheep and border collies in a tiny cottage in the Scottish countryside. I was a weird kid.) until I was 18, and an assistant stage manager for a while (because I was too chubby to make it as a performer). Once I wanted to be Cate Blanchett's personal assistant after watching Devil Wears Prada. Today I want to be a housewife.

     I'm way closer to becoming this than anything else I've ever wanted to be! Husband: check. Home: check. A million daily chores and people and animals to care for: check. The financial stability to stay home and focus on creating a domestic heaven: errrrr.... let me get back to you.

     "What are you even talking about? She's just rambling. Why am I reading this?" I don't know! I'm not writing this expecting to get followers or a fanbase or money. I guess this is just another attempt at keeping a journal of sorts. Will I blog everyday? Probably not. Will this be something other people care about and want to read? Hopefully! Will I chronicle my victories and misadventures as a young, inexperienced wife in this crazy world? That's the plan. And who knows, I may even post some recipes. Because I'm fancy like that.

     So stick around if you want! I can be pretty funny sometimes. ("Nagatha Christie. Hehe.... I'm funny in the wall.") In the meantime, I'm going to type. And work. And do laundry. And maybe find my purpose somewhere along the way. Until next time!

     - Katherine