I went camping this weekend. Well, sort of. We decided to leave early Friday afternoon and head out to Ohiopyle for the weekend. We’ve been there before but have never camped. The area is gorgeous and there is so much to do. There were four people and two dogs and we were ready to take on the woods. Unfortunately, the woods weren’t quite ready for us.
First of all let me state (which I also did to the men in charge later) that I didn’t even want to stay because the cicadas had me completely grossed out. I get it. They’re not dangerous. They won’t bite me. Some people even like them (weirdos). But if you’ve ever seen a stink bug land on me, you understand my deep hatred for creepy bugs. They were everywhere on the drive down and were under leaves throughout the woods. Or their shells were. Whatever. It was gross.
Anyway, you can’t drink in state parks, but we’ve always gotten away with it before. You dump the beer into a red solo cup and just try to keep the volume down. We might have been a little careless this time, but I guarantee we were not noisy. I mean maybe my drunk voice carries further in the woods, but I have seen us way worse. There was the time we got kicked out of Bear Run Campground for playing some extremely loud game that involved yelling about titties. There was the time we couldn’t get our favorite spot at Raccoon Creek State Park, so we threw hotdogs into the people’s campsite.
But this time, we got caught. In case you didn’t know, park rangers do have some authority. They are pretty tight with the real cops. They also don’t like when you continue drinking your beer while getting busted for drinking beer. We walked away with one citation between the four of us and a hefty fine (amount yet to be determined). And we had to leave the park bright and early Saturday morning.
The outcome of this was a ton of leftover food. After taking most of the meat to a friend’s place for a barbecue over the weekend, there was still so many veggies. Fast forward to tonight and a little recipe called “The Best Potato Salad”. I haven’t really cooked corn on the cob very much because it’s typically done on the grill or a fire. It was easy enough throwing it in the oven for 30 minutes and cutting it off the cob. The rest is pretty self explanatory and I combined it with seared tuna steak. Again a new dish for me, but a super simple one that Dave called “restaurant quality”.
The moral of the story? Don’t piss off park rangers. And you better believe I will be back for you, Ohiopyle. Also, go Pens!
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.
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 
Nothing feeds my hangover quite like spicy food. I’ve spent many of Sundays on the couch wishing Qdoba delivered or cursing myself for not having jalapeños in the house. Today’s medicine of choice? 
My carnivore of a husband does not feel the same, so I threw in a 
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.
