Yesterday I turned 35. I woke up expecting the fear of old age to set in, but it didn’t. I thought maybe I’d be sad that the days of my youth are officially over, but I wasn’t. I woke up and thought let’s do this. The outpouring of good wishes, love and even flowers was amazing. Gosh do I love my birthday.
I celebrated just like any other 35-year-old would. I drank copious amounts of wine with Dave, ate sushi and stayed up till 4 a.m. Facetiming with Tomdee (my best friend who just moved to Denver). Needless to say I was hurting today. I spent most of the day on the couch cuddling with Ivy, watching The O.C. on Hulu (Judge away. That show is freaking fantastic.) and napping.
Once 4:30 rolled around, I was like crap Dave will be home soon and LOOK AT YOURSELF. So, I showered and did what any amazing wife would do. I cooked.
It turns out all those things you just have laying around your kitchen, if you combine them, they make a meal. When I say this, I mean I typically run to the store that day to get what I need. I think most of us do. I dug around a bit, searched the Bible of recipes (Pinterest) and voila! a meal. By the way, did anyone else’s Pinterest get messed up today? I got kicked out of my account like someone was trying to hack it. I tell ya, the popularity from this blog is getting out of control.
Anyway, I went with the baked garlic parmesan chicken. Basically you mix together mayonnaise, garlic and parmesan cheese. Plop it on the chicken and bake it. Super easy. Then you top with Italian seasoned bread crumbs, which I didn’t have. I had plain. Like who even uses that? But I did have all the spices to make my own because I am a pro in the kitchen these days.
Then I decided that wasn’t enough. I wanted to add a veggie or something. I found frozen tortellini and thought why not? Keep in mind I am basically a zombie moving around the kitchen at this point. I went back to the Bible (I promise to stop calling it this.) and found a delicious sauce, whipped that shit up , threw some bread on the side and called it a day.
Well, not exactly. I was rushing around in my zombie state and almost overcooked the pasta. I am a maniac in the kitchen. Like stay out of my way, I have a million things going on. (It would literally be the worst cooking show.) I was rushing to strain the pasta and still had my oven mitts on. One got wet. I then went to get the chicken out of the oven with said mitt and burnt the crap out of my fingers. So, lesson learned, don’t use a wet mitt. After that ordeal, I decided I was better off on the couch with my animals. So, if you need me, that’s where I’ll be.
If you love artichoke hearts, you will love this recipe. The smell of them cooking mixed with fresh garlic was amazing. You’re basically making a pesto, so I got to bust out my new food processor. I am unfamiliar with these fancy gadgets and it took nearly 30 minutes for me to figure out why mine wasn’t working. The safety features they put on things these days, geez.
After combing all the ingredients and finally getting my pesto pureed, I added it to the chicken and pasta and piled on the spinach. If there is a way to add greens to anything (which there usually is), I’m in. The final product looks a lot different than the original, which I can only assume is because the pasta soaked up the vegetable broth. Or, more likely, I messed something up. Regardless, the outcome was delicious.
Tonight’s dinner was something new. I was at the grocery store the other day and forgot to pull a list together, so I decided to pick a recipe on the side of a pasta box. I went with Mezze Penne, which basically looked like smaller penne noodles. I love Brussels sprouts and lighter pasta dishes with oil-based sauce. The recipe was simple. As you can see, you cook the sprouts and pasta. Once the sprouts are thoroughly cooked, you brown them in a skillet with sage. I didn’t have sage, but after a quick search online, I found you could substitute poultry seasoning. Oh, the joys of the Internet! After the sprouts are brown, you add in the tomatoes until tender and then mix everything together.