Saturday, February 26, 2011

Fettuccine with Tomato Cream Sauce

So, you will learn that pasta is an addiction in this house.  Not very good seeing I am a diabetic but I just cannot help it!  This can be made with any type of pasta, with or without meat...it's up to you! Tonight, I made mine with fettuccine and sweet Italian sausage.

  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 whole onion, diced fine
  • 2-3 Tbs of minced garlic
  • 30 ounces of tomato sauce
  • A little bit of salt, pepper and sugar (I don't measure, just to my taste)
  • 1/4 - 1/2 cup grated parmesan or parm reggiano cheese
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 pound fettuccine
Saute olive oil, butter, garlic and onions for 2-3 minutes. Add in the tomato sauce. Cook on med heat, stirring frequently for 15-20 minutes until reduced slightly. Add salt, pepper and sugar.  Add in cheese, mix well.  Pour in cream and mix well. Continue to heat for 10 minutes on med heat stirring often.

Toss with pasta and protein (sausage, scallops, shrimp etc).

Top with a bit of parm cheese and there you have it!

Yumminess!  Enjoy!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Whoopie Pies - Valentine's Day Edition

Well 2 things are certain, the Yankee's that are reading this will know what I'm talking about and the Hoosier's will have no clue! Well, most won't!  You see, whoopie pies are non existent here in the Midwest. Every time I talk about them, people ask me what I am referring to. I explain, they say yummy! Then I have to make them some. If you have never had a whoopie pie, you must make them now! Yummy! Yummy! That's all I have to say!  While there are many varieties, this is the standard version.

Anyways, Hubby will be home tomorrow! Yay!  Super excited about that! We are having Sunday dinner at my house.  Baked Ziti  = Yummy!  Hubby likes whoopie pies and I just so happen to have a a cute little heart shaped pan.  Dessert for Sunday dinner solved!



Before I give you the recipe, please make sure you have a good  mixer as mine is, well was, a hunk of junk and mid-way through mixing the filling it caught on fire. Yes, CAUGHT ON FIRE! I had a minor heart attack and my filling was ruined!  Thankfully Hubby has a super cool grandma who lives not that far from me and was on her way to church! She brought me her hand mixer so I could finish the job!

Okay so back to the task at hand...the recipe...
Whoopie Pies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk

In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed. When combined, add buttermilk and continue to mix on low speed until all ingredients mixed together.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray pan with non-stick spray. Bake for 10-12  minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched. To assemble pies spread filling on one cake and sandwich with another cake. I then rolled in Valentine non-perils.

Filling

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat together butter, powdered sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.




I am a failure!

Well, not really but it sorta feels that way!  I have finally found something I am bad at!  And I really dislike doing it as well. 

While at the store the other day I picked up a candy making kit. It looked really cute. A complete kit from Wilton for making Valentine's Day chocolate lollipops and candies. I figures, what the heck, I can do everything else why not give this a try! How cute would that be to give the kids homemade chocolate pops from momma!

Boy was I wrong! A little tedious and time consuming.  Time being something I lack in my life.   The kit came with 2 plastic molds for pops and 1 for candies. After letting my masterpieces harden up I popped them out. HORRIBLE is one way to describe them! Some of the "chocolate" stayed stuck in the molds. The "chocolate" looks all frosty. NOT at all like the pictures on the box.

So there you have it. I cannot make candies! I will probably give it another try another day when I'm not in such a cranky mood. And yes, I will be giving the kids these for Valentine's Day and they wont care what they look like as long as they taste yummy!







Strawberry Valentine's Day Cereal Treats

I made these a few weeks ago as a trial.  They went over wonderfully!  So, I decided to make them again for my son's snack day at preschool. These are not hard to make, can get a little messy if you aren't careful but they wonderful to eat!

(sorry for the crappy cell phone picture quality)


Strawberry Cereal Treats

1 bag of strawberry marshmallows
3 tbs butter
6 cups of rice cereal


Melt butter in pot. Add marshmallows and stir on med-low heat until melted. Stir constantly to prevent burning. Once melted, remove from heat and add cereal. Stir until well combined. Dump into a buttered 13x9 pan. Allow to cool. Spray a heart shaped cookie cutter with non stick spray and cut out treats.  Melt candy melts in a candy making squeeze bottle, disposable icing bag or ziploc baggie. Drizzle over the treats, allow candy to harden.

And there you have it! Delicious and addictive treats!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

I have a confession...

Okay, so I have a confession to make. And to be honest, it is an embarrassing one! I don't really even want to tell you but I feel the need to.  There is a show and I love this show. Well, not love per say, I just can't find the right word for it I guess. It is such a horrible show! I honestly have no idea why I watch it. I vowed for a few years to never even watch a second of it. Until I got sick.

There I was, laid out on the couch, had been throwing up for hours (sorry for the visual), the kids were napping and there was nothing on the TV. As I was flipping thru the channels, there it was. Rude, crude and nasty.  There were a bunch of drunk morons making complete fools of themselves for the whole world to see! Out of curiosity, I let it stay. I did not change the channel. Big mistake! Little did I know, an addiction was forming.  See, it was apparently a marathon day of said show. After about 5 minutes in to watching this disgusting ridiculousness, I was setting my DVR to record every single episode of Seasons 1 and Season 2. I even set the DVR to record all new episodes of Season 3!

I have since watched every single episode there is to date. From 2009 up until today.  And while I know I have wasted a huge portion of my life that I can never get back, I don't care.  There is something about those stupid guidos and guidettes spending their summers on the Jersey Shore that I find interesting.

So their you have it. My confession. And yes, I am embarrassed to admit it. Please don't think any less of me! It is my guilty pleasure!

Do you have any "guilty pleasure" TV shows?

The BEST Banana Bread Recipe EVER!

In a very old black covered cook book in my mother's house, at the very back, hand written by grandmother, is the world's BEST banana bread recipe. 

I never met my grandmother, my mother's mother.  She passed away the year before I was born. I would have LOVED to have met her. But it just wasn't in my cards.

And now,  you should consider yourself lucky because I'm about to share it with you! Well, you don't have to consider yourself anything...I am going to share it with you anyways! Luck has nothing to do with it! And be prepared. I LOVE to cook, and bake, and decorate cakes and cookies and well, anything you can put in your mouth...I love to create it! So, alas...Here is the first of many recipes I am going to share with you....In the future I will have pictures to go along with the recipes but, to be honest, I ate it before I even thought to take a picture of it! Oops!

1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas (best with very well ripe ones)
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Cream shortening, sugar and eggs. Mush the bananas and add them in there. Then mix in vanilla, salt and soda. Add flour until mixed. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 375 F for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

5 down...5 to go...

So we are on day 5 of 10 of B being out of town. Cleveland to be more precise.  I hate it when he leaves. I love the OT on the paycheck but not having him here to be my relief after 5 PM is a bummer! The kids miss him, I miss him. I must keep telling myself, 5 more days, 5 more days....

On the flip side...I'm sorta kinda glad he is away on business! Don't get me wrong, I would rather him be home with us, but him being home means more work for me!  More cooking, more laundry, another, much larger person to clean up after.   While I do like not having to take the dog out, not having to to be scared at night (yes, I'm a chicken when it comes to the dark and being alone), I LOVE not having to listen to the horrific snoring coming from the other side of the bed!

Anyways, the kids are napping and I should be napping myself, ya right! I'm at least going to go try to watch some shows that are piling up on my DVR!

Monday, February 7, 2011

My Story...

Well, I figured I would start this and see where it goes...

I have 2 beautiful children, D is my 4 year old son. My first born. The second love of my life. I'll get to the first and the third a little later. He took a little bit to get here! I had been with my husband for 5 years, married 1, again, more on that later.  Shortly after we got married we decided we were not waiting anymore. I went to the doc and low and behold, I needed a little help. What a blow! It took me a little bit to come to the realization that I couldn't do this on my own. So, a few pills and some shots and scheduled, you know what, later....NOTHING! How disappointing to go to the doc and voila! It didn't work! All that for nothing.

Okay, we try it again. Same thing. A few pills, some shots and regularly scheduled..ya know...and then the wait. This time I knew. I knew it had to work...so I bought a pregnancy test. Took it to work with me. Waited all of, well, no time...and took the test. Yes, I took a pregnancy test in the bathroom at work. And much to my surprise...POSITIVE...no way I thought. Well, I had back up! Another test. So I took it. Yes, I still had to pee...did that on purpose just in case! Well, POSITIVE again! By now I'm freaking out!. God thing hubby worked in the cubicle next to me!  So, I went back to my desk, called the doctor and told them the outcome. They scheduled me for an ultrasound. That phone call began a whirlwind of a 9 month period!

On July 25th, my son was born. DRB! Beautiful in every way. Someday remind me to tell you how exactly he got here because it was not so lovely and beautiful as he was, and still is!

Okay, lets back up a little as it appears I just went off on a wild tangent...yes, I called the birth of my son a wild tangent...

The 1st love of my live...B...ahhh B...where do I even begin with him. Long story short, well, I guess it really is a short story!  I met B in Florida. I was B's boss. Yes, I have been B's boss from day one! HAHAHA! You see, I did not like B when I met him. I wanted to fire B very badly! Well, silly me!  I don't know how exactly but one day I found myself breaking rules and cavorting with "the help" (don't tell him I called him that!)

Anyways, I found myself on an outing with B and a couple others from the office.  When all was said and done, I was strapped to B and hauled 300 feet in the air only to be dropped. Stupid skycoaster. Stupid me for being petrified. Smart B, for taking me on that stupid thing, knowing he would be the only thing I had to hold on too!

Well, somehow from that day on, we were stuck with each other. Our second "date" involved me doing another very stupid thing. What?? I cannot show my fear and weaknesses! I am strong! I am a woman and can do anything! HAHAHA. I know I know! Well, I was on a giant green horrible roller coaster. Mind you, my first, and what turned out to be my LAST roller coaster ever!

Okay, enough reliving that! 

Well, no one knew our our "friendship". And at that time that's all it really was. Stupid me, again....I told my boss that I was dating an employee. Yes, STUPID move I know. But I didn't want to get caught down the road and lose my job. Well, silly me, the next day, that very same thing happened. Fraternizing with Employees. Yes, that is what I was FIRED for! Whatever!

Fast forward 4 months. Well, rewind 2 months, which really is only fast forwarding 2 months. We moved in together. Spent 2 months living together in Florida before we took the plunge. Well, more like packed up our car and drove to Indiana. For good. To live. Hmmm, what was I thinking!  You see, September 11th happened (moment of silence please).  The new company we both worked for was deeply affected by the horrific events and well, our jobs were in the balance. So, we decided to pack up and find a better opportunity. Yes, after 4 months I packed up everything I owned and moved 850 miles away to Indiana. With a man I barely knew! Silly me!

Well, 4 years later, in 2005,  I married B. And that was that!

And then came D in 2006.

And then came N in 2008.

Ahhhh, N. My little surprise! After all we went thru to bring D in to this world, I knew another wouldn't be any easier. If anything it would be harder.

Boy was I wrong!

I was exploring the options on having another child when I got sick. Really sick. Flu sick. I couldn't eat, or drive much less stand up!

I think we were driving to the grocery one day, me, B and D...and I felt HORRIBLE! Out of no where, B asked me if I was pregnant...HAHAHAHA...I laughed! Not a chance in...well you know where.

Just for the heck of it I bought a test. A double stick one just be sure. Low and behold, both them suckers later. I was on the phone crying my eyes out to my mom. I was pregnant, again. She of course did not believe me and questioned why I was crying like a baby. After much convincing, she believed. Why was I crying you might ask. Well, I was freaked out! I had to plan for D and it was in my head I would plan for this one too. You will learn eventually, I need to plan, everything! And when this joyous occasion, well,  just popped up on me...I was freaking out!

Thankfully the shock only lasted a few minutes. Then, all was right in our world.  And 9 months later, my precious little princess NMB joined our family! Ill tell you about that another day as well. Her arrival was, well, not so great. Just like her brothers!

And there you have it...In a rather long nutshell! I need to learn to shut up don't I? 

So here we are 2011, I'm nearing a milestone birthday in  my life that I don't like to talk about. But, I am married to B, Have D (4) and N (2) and we are one big happy family!

And on that not I have to go because N is crying and screaming that Bubby hit me and D is running in after her yelling, no I didn't, you is lying.....Ahhhh, the joys of being a Yankee Hoosier Momma!

Yankee...Hoosier....What?

Well, just what it says...I'm a Yankee Hoosier Momma.  I am a Yankee born and true, a Hoosier by I do and a momma of two. Hmm, maybe I should be a poet. Look mom, I can rhyme!   So, that's my story, in a nut shell. A very, very small nut shell! Someone told me once, I should blog about my crazy life, well, someone, this is for you! Who knows if you or anyone else will ever read this silly old thing but oh well, Ill give it a whirl!

Oh, and you can call me Heather if you want! Yankee Hoosier Momma is a little long!