Cozy Cooking
During the week, I am usually all about quick and easy meals with minimal clean up. For these recipes, I always check to see what my dear friend the Pantry Chef is up to. Her meals are easy, cheap and most importantly, delicious!
But last night, I was feeling adventurous and creative and with the “cooler” weather in Arizona, I was ready to try something new, cozy and complicated. Something that would make me spend some more time than normal in the kitchen. Our temperatures are finally out of the 90s and into the low 80s and it feels good here! I was no longer afraid to turn the oven on. So, I searched some of my favorite blogs and found this delicious recipe.
I found last nights dinner at For The Love of Cooking. With a few slight changes (for time’s sake) we had a delicious meal Baked Penne Pasta with Mushrooms.
I cut the recipe in half but, in retrospect, could have used more sauce for sure. It was so good. I also did not have time to simmer the sauce for a few hours but it simmered for about ten minutes while the penne cooked and that was enough. The recipe at For the Love of Cooking called for an immersion blender. I don’t have one of those but would love one for my upcoming birthday. Hint, friends. Hint. Instead I used a masher to blend the roasted tomatoes and it worked just fine.
This part was my favorite – roasted tomatoes to make the sauce, stuffed with garlic and topped with olive oil and onion. Delish!
Roasted Tomatoes and Onions with Garlic
The finished product!
We have plenty of leftovers too for lunches and future dinners. This would be a great meal to take to a new neighbor or a new mom.
Tomorrow I’ll spend some time talking about working out while growing a baby!
Due to Popular Demand…
well..not really. But kind of. A few of you have asked where I have been and why I have stopped writing. There’s really no reason, just that things have been busy.
May 8th, the date of my last post, seems so long ago! Since then, we have made Arizona our home and made new friends that already feel like family!
I have done some awesome fun things over the past two months. Here’s a few:
- Journeyed to the Grand Canyon
- Painted our house (inside only)
- Went to Las Vegas
- Had so many friends and family visit, its hard to count!
- Two months of Crossfit have left me MUCH stronger. I will write more about that later.
- Bunco Queen (every month I play and I have WON some category every time!)
- ALMOST completed my personal training certification class.
- Got my CPR certification
- Joined the Officers’ Spouses’ Club here and the Key Spouse initiative
- Made plans to go back to Chicago, back to DC and to Alabama
- Committed to my first half marathon!
I can’t wait to see where this year takes me. I am back and ready to share my experiences, the ups and downs, and mostly the fun parts of my life AND catch up on yours!
