I'm Bringing Blogging Back, Yeah!

It's been ages. Well years, really, and the other day I missed blogging and wanted to start back up. My most recent news and excitement is that...drumroll....I got married? Who would've thought? I never thought it would happen, so from now on, I never say never. Wait, don't say never. Since my Mr. X hates social media (grandpa), I'm posting an individual photo. This day was memorable because it was a mess :) I had fallen over (surprise) during a softball game and had some nasty road rash. Well, that got infected so my short dress showed off my sweet Badgley Mischka heels, thank you eBay, and my ace bandaged leg.

Of course, the wedding was outside and rain is a must. So, it cleared enough for our 2.5 minute ceremony only to be poured on the whole time during pictures. We had so many laughs and I'm glad it didn't turn out cookie cutter. It was a mess, just like life :)

Hands Down, Best Grilled Cheese

I always make a lot of my recipes from Food Network and this one is going to be an all-time repeat offender in my kitchen. I made some tweaks as always.

The original recipe can be found at Food Network, but this was my take. Since Mr. X is a big wuss, he had a normal BLT so I made this recipe for one, easy enough.

Needs:

2 slices of Ezekiel bread (my fave!)

2 slices of garden tomato

1 big piece of kale

3 strips of bacon

1 T of mayo

1 T Franks Redhot

1 oz crumbled blue cheese

1. Cook bacon and pat dry

2. Toast bread

3. Mix mayo, bc, and hot sauce, spread on toast and assemble

This was so yummy that I actually thought about it for days and wanted it constantly. The FN chef suggested avocado, but I kept it off (sadly) because I didn't have any. There you go, dinner cooked in between commercials :)

Dorothy and Toto

I can't help but think of my all-time favorite movie,Wizard of Oz. Picture this: hail balls the size of quarters at times ( picture does not prove this) and....

Wind that blew our giant birch tree sideways. Also, there was sideways rain and thunder and lightning.

 

Now as any caring and loving mother of a fur baby would do, she lets her darling cat meander around town in the summer to play with neighborhood friends and other prey. Until the storm rolls in. Now my little Leonard is no tough guy so I ran out into this storm like Aunty Em searching for Dorothy, afraid he may get sucked into a cyclone. And all I could think was that the neighbors can safely claim I am insane. 

Thank Bob, because Leonard was fine ( just in need of a blow dryer) and I wasn't struck down by Zeus's lightning bolt.

Chicken and Sun-dried Tomato Penne

A woman at work raved about her friend's pasta dish so I attempted and made a bunch of changes, so I'm not really sure what the original is. However, whatever came it was delicious and flavorful. 

8 oz. cubed, cooked chicken

1 onion chopped

2 garlic cloves chopped 

2-3 c. Spinach leaves 

1 T each: parsley, basil, oregano, marjoram

2 T butter

1 T flour

1/2 c. Sun-dried tomatoes

10 oz. chicken broth

8 oz. penne

1/2 c shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Melt butter and add flour and cook one minute

2. Add 3-4 oz broth and cook garlic & onion

3. Add dried herbs, tomatoes, spinach, and chicken

4. Cook pasta to al dente

5. Add broth little by little as sauce thickens

6. Add pasta to sauce and cook another 2 minutes until done. Melt cheese

This was very yummy and something quite simple that I would do again for sure. Plus, it looks like the Italian flag.